The 140 kDa insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-binding protein complex in human serum consists of three subunits: an acid-labile, non-IGF-binding glycoprotein (alpha-subunit), an IGF-binding glycoprotein known as BP-53 or IGFBP-3 (beta-subunit), and IGF-I or IGF-II (gamma-subunit). This study investigates the regulation, by salt and glycosaminoglycans, of ternary (alpha-beta-gamma) complex formation, measured by incubating radioiodinated alpha-subunit with a mixture of IGF-I and IGFBP-3 and precipitating bound radioactivity with an anti-IGFBP-3 antiserum. Increasing NaCl concentrations progressively decreased ternary complex formation without any effect on binary (beta-gamma) complex formation. In 0.15 M-NaCl, the association constant for the ternary complex was 0.318 +/- 0.092 nM-1, 100-fold lower than that for the binary complex. Glycosaminoglycans also inhibited ternary complex formation without affecting the binary complex. Heparin [50% inhibition at 0.27 +/- 0.08 units/ml (1.5 +/- 0.4 micrograms/ml)] was more potent than heparan sulphate (50% inhibition at 15 +/- 7 micrograms/ml), with chondroitin sulphate even less potent. The inhibition by heparin was due principally to a decrease in binding affinity, from 0.604 +/- 0.125 to 0.151 +/- 0.024 nM-1 in the presence of 0.25 units of heparin/ml, with a slight decrease in the number of apparent binding sites from 1.05 +/- 0.08 to 0.85 +/- 0.15 mol of alpha-subunit bound/mol of beta-subunit. Since the ternary IGF-binding protein complex cannot cross the capillary barrier, it is proposed that a decrease in the affinity of the complex, mediated by circulating or cell-associated glycosaminoglycans, may be important in the passage of IGFs and IGFBP-3 to the tissues.


The performance of Volt/VAr optimization has been significantly improved due to the integration of measurement data obtained from the advanced metering infrastructure of a smart grid. However, most of the existing works lack: 1) realistic unbalanced multi-phase distribution system modeling; 2) scalability of the Volt/VAr algorithm for larger test system; and 3) ability to handle gross errors and noise in data processing. In this paper, we consider realistic distribution system models that include unbalanced loadings and multi-phased feeders and the presence of gross errors such as communication errors and device malfunction, as well as random noise. At the core of the optimization process is an intelligent particle swarm optimization-based technique that is parallelized using high performance computing technique to solve Volt/VAr-based power loss minimization problem. Extensive experiments covering the different aspects of the proposed framework show significant improvement over existing Volt/VAr approaches in terms of both the accuracy and scalability on IEEE 123 node and a larger IEEE 8500 node benchmark test systems.


My title, Liberal Despotism, is a trope for oriental despotism. The image of oriental despotism is a familiar one. As Hegel writes of oriental forms of government, the nations of the East knew only that one is free--that is, the sovereign. All others are subjects of sovereign power who must be governed through force and coercion. The hallmark of despotism in this instance is that one is governed by others and not by oneself. The subject is at the mercy of caprice and not self-will. Whether for reasons of geography, culture, race, or a combination thereof, these subjects are considered to be either lacking the qualities for the practice of freedom or subject to oppression that inhibits the realization of that freedom. Indeed, it is possible that both situations may coexist; that is, due to oppression a subject may have no possible recourse to develop the capacity for freedom, but given appropriate opportunity, education, and training is nonetheless capable of becoming "free" (that is, an autonomous and rational individual) at some later point in time. Yet the notion of "liberal despotism" appears oxymoronic. How can a doctrine that claims to uphold individual liberty and freedom possibly be construed as despotic? Recent studies that take as their point of departure Michel Foucault's notion of "governmentality" have argued that this duality (that is, the bifurcation of the population into subjects who govern themselves and those who are governed by others) within liberal reasoning is neither contradictory nor hypocritical. (1) Rather, they argue that the process of compartmentalizing populations into those that are expected to govern themselves and those that require some form of tutelage or coercion is constitutive of liberal reasoning itself. This article examines how governmentality studies and recent analyses of authoritarian modes of government both within liberal and nonliberal societies might relate to the study of the arts of government in contemporary China. The article takes as its primary focus of analysis recent developments in China's population-planning program. This program is an exemplary instance of the complexities of government and subjectivity in China insofar as it highlights how important aspects of the relationship between the state and the population have been conceived within Chinese governmental reasoning during the Maoist and Dengist eras and how, in the new circumstances of the market economy, that relationship is undergoing a process of conceptual and institutional reconfiguration. Since the early 1980s, the Chinese state itself has accorded the population-planning program the status of a fundamental state policy (jiben guoce) and regards the tasks of the program as crucial to the overall realization of development strategy for China. Given also that it touches upon the reproductive and familial lives of almost every subject in China, the population-planning program is well worthy of consideration as an instance of how Chinese subjects are both governed and resist being governed in the contemporary period. Furthermore, as the policy emphasis is explicitly placed upon rural China, the population-planning campaign also offers an opportunity to examine the crucial question of party/people relations (dangqun guanxi), (2) which goes to the heart of government concerns with maintaining social stability. The population-planning program has been the subject of much controversy primarily because it is seen as an imposition of state will upon target subjects without their consent. In so doing, critics of the population policy would seem to concur with Hegel's assessment that the central problem in this instance is the absence of self-determination upon the part of the target subject. The use of the term subject in this article carries two connotations. The first is the subject in the sense of one who is under the dominion or rule of a sovereign. (3) The second refers to the self-determining subject. …


ADAGE is a project to define and build a domain-specific software architecture (DSSA) environment for assisting the development of avionics software. A central concept of DSSA is the use of software system generators to implement component-based models of software synthesis in the target domain [SEI90]. In this paper, we present the ADAGE component-based model (or reference architecture) for avionics software synthesis. We explain the modeling procedures used, review our initial goals, show how component reuse is achieved, and examine what we were (and were not) able to accomplish. The contributions of our paper are the avionics reference architecture and the lessons that we learned; both may be beneficial to others in future modeling efforts.


During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of mobile phone data for monitoring human mobility patterns has become increasingly common, both to study the impact of travel restrictions on population movement and epidemiological modelling. Despite the importance of these data, the use of location information to guide public policy can raise issues of privacy and ethical use. Studies have shown that simple aggregation does not protect the privacy of an individual, and there are no universal standards for aggregation that guarantee anonymity. Newer methods, such as differential privacy, can provide statistically verifiable protection against identifiability but have been largely untested as inputs for compartment models used in infectious disease epidemiology. Our study examines the application of differential privacy as an anonymisation tool in epidemiological models, studying the impact of adding quantifiable statistical noise to mobile phone-based location data on the bias of ten common epidemiological metrics. We find that many epidemiological metrics are preserved and remain close to their non-private values when the true noise state is less than 20, in a count transition matrix, which corresponds to a privacy-less parameter per release. We show that differential privacy offers a robust approach to preserving individual privacy in mobility data while providing useful population-level insights for public health. Importantly, we have built a modular software pipeline to facilitate the replication and expansion of our framework.


For the last decade, the manufacturing cost per transistor has been exponentially decreasing. The test cost, however, has been decreasing at a much slower rate and now occupies a significant portion of the total cost of a microprocessor. To address this problem, many companies have planned to gradually move away from functional testing to less expensive structural and system level testing. The fundamental cost difference between these techniques comes from a reduction in the number of pins directly driven by the tester. This work describes a new technique that allows a tester to determine if all of the pins on a chip have acceptable leakage without requiring the tester to actually contact each individual pin.


Members of the Bovini genus are classified as grazers. Smaller species of ruminants are not expected to be able to digest particularly fibrous diets and are more often classified as intermediate feeders or browsers. Anoas (Bubalus spp.) are interesting in this respect as they are the smallest representatives of the Bovini, being only 10-20% of the body weight of other species of the same genus. A feeding trial was carried out with four lowland anoas (Bubalus depressicornis) at London Zoo, investigating diet digestibility by total fecal collection and passage rates by the simultaneous administration of a fluid (Co-EDTA) and a particle (Cr-mordanted fibre <2 mm) marker. The diet consisted of legume hay, dairy cow pellets, browse, fruits, and vegetables. The achieved digestibility coefficients averaged 70±4% for dry matter and 57±7% for cell walls (NDF). Mean retention times for the total gastrointestinal tract were 25±4.1 hr for fluid and 39±6.7 hr for particles, respectively. The ratio of forestomach particle:fluid retention was 2.14±0.40. Additional information regarding anoa diets in captivity was collected through a survey targeting all institutions that have anoas in their collection currently. Suitability of the provided diet was evaluated using the ratio of unstructured:structured feeds (unstructured feeds pellets, grains, produce; structured feeds=roughage, browse) on a dry matter basis and an assumed complete consumption of offered unstructured diet items, with only the remaining intake capacity being met by structured items. The use of this ratio reliably predicted one facility that reported chronic diet-related problems. As other ruminants, anoas should receive a diet with restricted amounts of concentrates and fruits. The comparatively high fibre digestibility and the high selective particle retention in the forestomach suggest a classification of an intermediate/grazing ruminant.


Alzheimer's disease (AD) is hallmarked by amyloid plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, and widespread cortical neuronal loss (Selkoe, 2001). The "amyloid cascade hypothesis" posits that cerebral amyloid sets neurotoxic events into motion that precipitate Alzheimer dementia (Hardy and Allsop, 1991). Yet, faithful recapitulation of all AD features in widely used transgenic (Tg) mice engineered to overproduce Aβ peptides has been elusive. We have developed a Tg rat model (line TgF344-AD) expressing mutant human amyloid precursor protein (APPsw) and presenilin 1 (PS1ΔE9) genes, each independent causes of early-onset familial AD. TgF344-AD rats manifest age-dependent cerebral amyloidosis that precedes tauopathy, gliosis, apoptotic loss of neurons in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus, and cognitive disturbance. These results demonstrate progressive neurodegeneration of the Alzheimer type in these animals. The TgF344-AD rat fills a critical need for a next-generation animal model to enable basic and translational AD research.


Reactive oxygen metabolites (ROMs) contribute to the pathophysiology of intestinal inflammation. Our aim was to ascertain the involvement of ROMs in experimental ileitis in rats produced by toxin A of Clostridium difficile. Intraluminal toxin A caused a significant increase in hydroxyl radical and hydrogen peroxide production by ileal microsomes starting 1 h following toxin exposure and peaking at 2-3 h, and this was inhibited by pretreatment with DMSO, a ROM scavenger, or superoxide dismutase (SOD), which inactivates ROMs. In contrast, mucosal xanthine oxidase increased only slightly after toxin A exposure, and allopurinol, an inhibitor of xanthine oxidase, had no effect on toxin A-associated intestinal responses. Induction of neutropenia resulted in reduction of toxin-mediated free radical formation, fluid secretion, and permeability. The enterotoxic effects of C. difficile toxin A were associated with increased ROM release in ileal tissues, and the ROM inhibitors DMSO and SOD inhibited these effects. This suggests that ROMs released during toxin A enteritis are released primarily from neutrophils invading the inflamed bowel segment.


In surveillance applications, tracking a specific target by means of subsequent acquisitions over the monitored area is of great interest. Multitemporal HyperSpectral Images (HSIs) are particularly suitable for this application. Multiple HSIs of the same scene collected at different times can be exploited to detect changes using anomalous change detection (ACD) techniques. Moreover, spectral matching (SM) is a valuable tool for detecting the target spectrum within HSIs collected at different times (target rediscovery – TR). Depending on the monitored area and the specific target of interest, TR can be a challenging task. In fact, it may happen that the target has spectral features similar to those of uninteresting objects in the scene and the use of SM techniques without additional information can generate too many misleading detections. We introduce a new TR strategy aimed at mitigating the number of alarms encountered in complex scenarios. The proposed detection strategy combines the SM approach with the unsupervised ACD strategy. We focus on rediscovery of moving targets in airborne HSIs collected on the same complex area. False alarms mitigation is achieved by exploiting both the target spectral features and the temporal variations of its position. For this purpose, SM is performed only on those pixels that have undergone changes within multiple acquisitions. Results obtained applying the proposed scheme on real HSIs are presented and discussed. The results show the effectiveness of the fusion of spectral and multitemporal analysis to improve TR performance in complex scenarios.


A method was developed for the purification of rotavirus RNA from fecal extracts in order to permit the sensitive identification of group A rotavirus in fecal specimens by the polymerase chain reaction. Sequential reactions with reverse transcriptase and Taq polymerase with directed primers from rotavirus gene 6 yielded characteristic 259-base-pair fragments that were then visualized by silver stain on a polyacrylamide gel. As few as 500 genomic copies of purified rotavirus RNA could be detected in this manner. However, when the method was applied to fecal samples with added rotavirus virions, inhibition was noted in many of the fecal extracts which were tested. The inhibition could be reversed by dilution of the fecal extract, but sensitivity was also reduced by a corresponding dilutional factor. The inhibition was quantitatively removed by an added step in the extraction process that utilized chromatographic cellulose fiber powder (CF11 powder) to purify the rotavirus RNA during a series of rapid washing and elution steps. After CF11 purification, rotavirus RNA could be detected in experimental fecal samples at dilutions 1,000- to 10,000-fold beyond the detection limits of standard techniques such as enzyme immunoassay and the direct visualization of RNA following polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Furthermore, following purification by CF11, rotavirus RNA could be detected in all of seven enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay-positive fecal samples obtained from a child with rotavirus gastroenteritis; when CF11 purification was not performed, rotavirus RNA could be detected in only four of these samples, even after the removal of inhibitors by dilution of the extracts. Large-scale identification of rotavirus in fecal specimens may be possible by use of CF11 purification of viral RNA prior to sequential reactions with reverse transcriptase and Taq polymerase in a modified polymerase chain reaction.


One possible way to define the end of lifetime for a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is to set a threshold for the number of disconnections among the sensor nodes so that above this level the WSN becomes unable to provide the quality of services required by the users or even totally loses its ability to provide any service at all. Disconnections isolate sensors or group of sensors which cannot deliver their acquired data, thus constituting a sparse nonfunctional WSN, although some of its isolated or grouped sensors remain operational. A possible way to overcome such a problem is to provide an alternative reliable connection via other types of nodes to support the communication among isolated parts of a disconnected network. This paper proposes the use of cooperative multiple input multiple output (MIMO) techniques to support communication among static sensors in a sparse WSN and a relay network composed of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) keeping the WSN connected, thus extending its lifetime. Simulations of the proposed approach are performed and the acquired results highlight the benefits of this proposal.


Biopharmaceutical manufacturing is one of largest sectors in the world and purification steps are expensive. Packed-bed resins are widely used, but are limited by diffusion mass transfer. Convective mass transfer media offer improved productivities using high flowrates. Electrospun nanofibres are a non-woven with an open structure and high surface area. Cellulose acetate was electrospun into reproducible adsorbents and activation methodologies were evaluated. Aldehyde activation caused degradation. Epoxy, carboxyl and cyanuric chloride activations were successful and recommended for cellulose nanofibres. Compressing cellulose acetate nanofibres improved mechanical strength. Functionalisation to diethylaminoethyl and carboxyl adsorbents showed the highest DBC10% values at the lowest compression load of 1 MPa at 20 and 27 mg /mL, respectively. However, at this load the DBC decreased for increasing flowrate, whereas, the DBCs of higher loads were consistent. Glucose isomerase is an important industrial enzyme used as a sweetener in the drinks industry. Immobilised glucose isomerase by epoxy activation showed similar initial activities in static and dynamic assays, which represented batch and flowthrough process, respectively. The activity of free enzyme was notably higher in the static assay than the immobilised, but the poorer mixing in the dynamic assay reduced its activity. The retained activity of nanofibre-immobilised glucose isomerase in the dynamic assay supports its application to flowthrough reactors. Protein A chromatography is an expensive stage in antibody manufacture and was immobilised by cyanuric chloride and spacer arms. For comparison, an aldehyde activation was developed with glycidol modification, which was preferred to that of cyanuric chloride, recording equilibrium and DBC10% capacities of 4.37 and 2.99 mg/mL, respectively. The versatility of electrospun cellulose adsorbents are characterised in protein binding and biocatalysis applications, showing static and dynamic operations. The continued development of nanofibres into largescale systems and a whole process context will reveal their full benefits to bioprocessing.


I consider an optimal taxation problem in a directed search model with moral hazard. I show how a constrained efficient allocation can be achieved as an equilibrium allocation with unemployment benefits, income taxes, and subsidies for job creation. In particular, optimal income taxes are lump sum when the social welfare function is utilitarian, but they take the form of nonlinear income taxes when it is non-utilitarian. Furthermore, the income tax function has a simple form, with a clear relationship with the social welfare function, which makes a sharp contrast with the formula obtained in the standard Mirrleesian taxation literature.


Introduction: Purulent pleurisy is a severe form of acute respiratory infection. They are a major concern in pediatric practice. The aim of our work is to study the epidemiological, clinical, therapeutic and progressive profile of purulent pleurisy (PP) in children in Senegal.

Patients and methods: This is a retrospective and descriptive study, including children aged 0 to 15 years hospitalized for PP from January 2014 to December 2017 at the Albert Royer Hospital Center. The positive diagnosis of PP was retained in front of the purulent, cloudy or citrine aspect of the pleural puncture fluid with the presence of altered neutrophilic polymorphonuclear cells.

Results: The hospital frequency of PP was 0.6%. Sex ratio 1.42. The average age was 49 months. The age group of 6 to 36 months was the most represented. Malnutrition was present in 13 patients. In 91% of cases pleurisy was unilateral and right in 59% of cases. Pneumonia was radiologically associated in 54 children and pneumothorax in 19 children. The lethality was 6.6% (8 patients). The low socioeconomic level (p=0.0001) and the appearance of frankly purulent pleural fluid (p=0.002) were statistically significant associated with this mortality.

Conclusion: Purulent pleurisy is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Prevention involves vaccination, strengthening strategies to combat malnutrition and supplementation with zinc and vitamin A.


BACKGROUND
Ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury is a serious pathologic event that occurs due to restriction in blood supply to an organ, followed by hypoxia. This condition leads to enhanced levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6 and TNF-, and stimulation of oxidative stress via enhancing reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. Upon reperfusion, blood supply increases, but it deteriorates condition, and leads to generation of ROS, cell membrane disruption and finally, cell death. Plant derived-natural compounds are well-known due to their excellent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. Quercetin is a flavonoid exclusively found in different vegetables, herbs, and fruits. This naturally occurring compound possesses different pharmacological activities making it appropriate option in disease therapy. Quercetin can also demonstrate therapeutic effects via affecting molecular pathways such as NF-B, PI3K/Akt and so on.

METHODS
In the present review, we demonstrate that quercetin administration is beneficial in ameliorating I/R injury via reducing ROS levels, inhibition of inflammation, and affecting molecular pathways such as TLR4/NF-B, MAPK and so on.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION
Quercetin can improve cell membrane integrity via decreasing lipid peroxidation. Apoptotic cell death is inhibited by quercetin via down-regulation of Bax, and caspases, and upregulation of Bcl-2. Quercetin is able to modulate autophagy (inhibition/induction) in decreasing I/R injury. Nanoparticles have been applied for delivery of quercetin, enhancing its bioavailability and efficacy in alleviation of I/R injury. Noteworthy, clinical trials have also confirmed the capability of quercetin in reducing I/R injury.


CONTEXT
Given the health risks of HIV/AIDS and the risks of teenage pregnancy in general, pregnant HIV-positive adolescents in Kenya need maternal health care services that account for their HIV status. However, research on their access to and use of these services is scant.

METHODS
To examine maternal health care utilization, pregnancy history data collected in 2009 on 506 pregnancies among 393 HIV-positive female adolescents aged 15-19 enrolled in HIV/AIDS programs in Kenya were analyzed. Multilevel logit models were used to identify the variables associated with use of prenatal care, prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV, skilled attendance at pregnancy outcomes and postnatal/postabortion care.

RESULTS
Use of PMTCT services was less common than use of prenatal care services among HIV-positive female adolescents (67% of pregnancies vs. 84%). These adolescents made four or more prenatal care visits in only 45% of pregnancies. In addition, use of skilled care during or after abortion or miscarriage was low (20%). The odds of receiving PMTCT services and skilled assistance were higher in Nairobi than in other regions (odds ratios, 3.8 and 2.7, respectively). HIV-positive adolescents were less likely to use maternal health care services for higher-order pregnancies than for lower-order pregnancies (0.4-0.6). They were, however, more likely to receive prenatal care and PMTCT services when their husband rather than someone else was responsible for the pregnancy (3.7 and 4.9, respectively).

CONCLUSION
Pregnant, HIV-positive adolescents need maternal health care services--including PMTCT care--that take into account parity, paternity dynamics and regional variations in use.


The years from 1890 to 1905 were tumultuous ones for church-state relations in France. The Third Republic (1870–1940) sought a more secular state while remaining ever mindful that the majority of French were at least nominally Roman Catholic. Anticlericalism became the unifying theme of an otherwise factious government, and a formal separation of church and state took place in 1905. The church in France, for its part, dreamed of reviving its former power and influence. Some in the church looked back and saw the restoration of the monarchy as the way to realize the dream; others worked to establish a presence in the modern world of factories and department stores. All were concerned with the decline in the number of communicants and the growth of socialism. Feeling threatened and increasingly forced into a defensive stance, the church determined to hold ground and, periodically, even to go on the offensive.


A new method of removing rotenone from contaminated water using molecularly imprinted polymeric microspheres (MIPMs) is described. The MIPMs were prepared by the emulsifier-free polymerization method. The removal efficiency and selective recognition ability of the MIPMs were studied. The highest removal efficiency was observed at pH = 8. Moreover, the MIPMs can be re-used for at least 10 times without losing any removal efficiency. The MIPMs provided a selective, simple, reliable and practicable solution to remove rotenone from contaminated water.


Recent studies suggest a role for the microbiota in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), potentially arising from their role in modulating the immune system and gastrointestinal (GI) function or from gut–brain interactions dependent or independent from the immune system. GI problems such as chronic constipation and/or diarrhea are common in children with ASD, and significantly worsen their behavior and their quality of life. Here we first summarize previously published data supporting that GI dysfunction is common in individuals with ASD and the role of the microbiota in ASD. Second, by comparing with other publically available microbiome datasets, we provide some evidence that the shifted microbiota can be a result of westernization and that this shift could also be framing an altered immune system. Third, we explore the possibility that gut–brain interactions could also be a direct result of microbially produced metabolites.


The effective reuse of domain theories in problem solving requires the problem-solving agent to identify general theories whose properties "scale up": they hold for a class of problems of varying size. Otherwise, the agent will be overwhelmed by the cost of indexing and retrieving a huge collection of domain theories, each of which applies in very restricted cases. Furthermore, these general theories need to be represented in a manner that is as independent as possible of the circumstances of particular cases. This paper describes research on analysis and reformulation of domain theories. The perspective of this work is to view a problem space as though it were physical space, and the actions in the problem space as though they were physical motions. A domain theory should then state the laws of motion within the space. Following the analogy with physics, a representation is a coordinate system, and theories are reformulated by transforming coordinates. The mathematical basis for this analogy is briefly given, and illustrated on two simple examples.


The design and construction of low-loss monolithic transmission lines are critical to systems which require that terahertz-power be guided to the antenna front ends. Two types of novel monolithic guiding structures, designed for the 0.3-2.0 THz and 0.1-0.3 THz ranges, respectively, are proposed. The novel waveguides are constructed from dielectric materials and structures which are available in monolithic technology so that the integration of active devices is possible. Propagation in each of the waveguides is characterized over relevant frequency ranges by applying a mode-matching technique, which takes into account all forms of electromagnetic coupling as well as losses in the dielectrics. The structures are predicted to exhibit excellent power confinement and low losses. >


Recently, several techniques and devices have been suggested for achieving endo-bronchial volume reduction in patients with emphysema. The proposed devices include bronchial blockers, bronchial valves, glues, biomodulators, and stents for bronchial fenestration; all could be positioned only with flexible bronchoscopy. The current available evidence on safety and efficacy for these methods is based on animal studies and patient case series at best; therefore, all the results should be seen with caution. However, the preliminary work reviewed here suggests that most of the proposed techniques can work, and seem to be safer than surgical volume reduction. We do not yet have a proven, widely applicable endobronchial palliative treatment for severe emphysema, but we have a rapidly growing area of new research in interventional pneumology with preliminary results that challenge traditional medical thinking.


LT and HSCT are now potentially curative treatments for many medical conditions. Dermatologic manifestations are one of the sequelae after transplantation. To study the prevalence and associated risk factors of dermatologic manifestations after pediatric LT and HSCT. A 20‐year retrospective cohort study was conducted in children, aged ≤15 years, who received LT or HSCT from January 1, 1997, to December 31, 2017. Medical records were reviewed for data collection until December 31, 2018. A total of 70 LT and 51 HSCT recipients were included. The percentages of overall dermatologic manifestations after LT and HSCT were 64.3% and 64.7%, respectively. Viral infection was the most common manifestation in both groups, with mucocutaneous HSV infection as the most prevalent. One HSCT recipient developed leukemia cutis. GVHD was revealed in 27.5% of HSCT recipients. Impetigo and xerosis were significantly observed in patients using azathioprine and prednisolone. Approximately two‐thirds of pediatric LT and HSCT recipients experienced dermatologic manifestations, potentially associated with immunosuppressive agents. Thus, regular skin examination and optimized immunosuppression would be beneficial in these recipients.


The contributors to Cocaine analyze the contemporary production, transit, and consumption of cocaine throughout the Americas and the illicit economy's entanglement with local communities. Based on in-depth interviews and archival research, these essays examine how government agents, acting both within and outside the law, and criminal actors seek to manage the flow of illicit drugs to both maintain order and earn profits. Whether discussing the moral economy of coca cultivation in Bolivia, criminal organizations and drug traffickers in Mexico, or the routes cocaine takes as it travels into and through Guatemala, the contributors demonstrate how entire ways of life are built around cocaine commodification. They consider how the authority of state actors is coupled with the self-regulating practices of drug producers, traffickers, and dealers, complicating notions of governance and of the relationships between economic and moral economies. The collection also outlines a more progressive drug policy that acknowledges the important role drugs play in the lives of those at the urban and rural margins.
 Contributors. Enrique Desmond Arias, Lilian Bobea, Philippe Bourgois, Anthony W. Fontes, Robert Gay, Paul Gootenberg, Romain Le Cour Grandmaison, Thomas Grisaffi, Laurie Kain Hart, Annette Idler, George Karandinos, Fernando Montero, Dennis Rodgers, Taniele Rui, Cyrus Veeser, Autumn Zellers-León


Stunting syndrome (SS) is a viral enteric disease of turkey poults. The etiologic agent (stunting syndrome agent [SSA]) of this disease has been reported recently. The objective of this study was to develop a method for in vitro propagation of SSA. Primary cells, various continuous cell lines, and embryonated eggs were evaluated. Turkey embryos that were inoculated via the amniotic cavity at 24-25 days of incubation were susceptible to SSA infection. The jejunal maltase activity of SSA-inoculated turkey embryos was significantly (P < or = 0.001) lower than that of control embryos. D-xylose absorption was also altered in SSA-infected turkey embryos. The extent of reduction of D-xylose absorption and maltase activity in the infected embryos was nearly identical to that observed when day-old poults were infected with SSA. The intestines from the infected turkey embryos were pale, thin walled, and distended with fluid. Electron microscopic examination of the intestinal fluid and epithelial cell lysate of infected embryos revealed pleomorphic membraned SSA viral particles. SSA that had been serially passaged in turkey embryos retained its ability to induce SS in day-old poults. All the primary and continuous cells that were evaluated did not support the replication of SSA on the basis of cytopathic effects, electron microscopy, and turkey embryo inoculation. Inoculation of chicken embryos by various routes failed to support SSA. All routes of inoculation, other than the amniotic route at 24-25 days, failed to support SSA in turkey embryos. The results of the this study indicate that the SSA was successfully propagated in turkey embryos that exhibited alterations in embryo intestinal absorption and digestive enzyme activity similar to poults with SS. Successful propagation of SSA in turkey embryos should prove beneficial for future studies including characterization of SSA, prevention and control strategies, and enteric disease modeling.


The characterization of cells with tumour initiating potential is significant for advancing our understanding of cancer and improving therapy. Aggressive, triple‐negative breast cancers (TNBCs) are enriched for tumour‐initiating cells (TICs). We investigated that hypothesis that VEGF receptors expressed on TNBC cells mediate autocrine signalling that contributes to tumour initiation. We discovered the VEGF receptor neuropilin‐2 (NRP2) is expressed preferentially on TICs, involved in the genesis of TNBCs and necessary for tumour initiation. The mechanism by which NRP2 signalling promotes tumour initiation involves stimulation of the α6β1 integrin, focal adhesion kinase‐mediated activation of Ras/MEK signalling and consequent expression of the Hedgehog effector GLI1. GLI1 also induces BMI‐1, a key stem cell factor, and it enhances NRP2 expression and the function of α6β1, establishing an autocrine loop. NRP2 can be targeted in vivo to retard tumour initiation. These findings reveal a novel autocrine pathway involving VEGF/NRP2, α6β1 and GLI1 that contributes to the initiation of TNBC. They also support the feasibility of NRP2‐based therapy for the treatment of TNBC that targets and impedes the function of TICs.


Three-dimensional cutting process of single grain in the shape of polygonal pyramid was simulated by coupled Euler-Lagrange method. The method makes the workpiece material free from its meshes. The material allowance can be removed without mesh separation criterion. The simulation results show that workpiece material flows to the side and front owing to the pressing of cutting plane. Chip flows out along the front of the grain upward. The deformation of workpiece material contacted with grain edge is very severe. Therefore there is large machining stress concentration at the contact zone of grain edge. It results in biggish residual stress and cutting temperature at the side and bottom of the groove. The contact stress at edge angle of abrasive grain is biggest. Therefore grain wear is severe in the position


ABSTRACT The deep anoxic shelf of the northwestern Black Sea has numerous gas seeps, which are populated by methanotrophic microbial mats in and above the seafloor. Above the seafloor, the mats can form tall reef-like structures composed of porous carbonate and microbial biomass. Here, we investigated the spatial patterns of CH4 and CO2 assimilation in relation to the distribution of ANME groups and their associated bacteria in mat samples obtained from the surface of a large reef structure. A combination of different methods, including radiotracer incubation, beta microimaging, secondary ion mass spectrometry, and catalyzed reporter deposition fluorescence in situ hybridization, was applied to sections of mat obtained from the large reef structure to locate hot spots of methanotrophy and to identify the responsible microbial consortia. In addition, CO2 reduction to methane was investigated in the presence or absence of methane, sulfate, and hydrogen. The mat had an average δ13C carbon isotopic signature of −67.1‰, indicating that methane was the main carbon source. Regions dominated by ANME-1 had isotope signatures that were significantly heavier (−66.4‰ ± 3.9 ‰ [mean ± standard deviation; n = 7]) than those of the more central regions dominated by ANME-2 (−72.9‰ ± 2.2 ‰; n = 7). Incorporation of 14C from radiolabeled CH4 or CO2 revealed one hot spot for methanotrophy and CO2 fixation close to the surface of the mat and a low assimilation efficiency (1 to 2% of methane oxidized). Replicate incubations of the mat with 14CH4 or 14CO2 revealed that there was interconversion of CH4 and CO2. The level of CO2 reduction was about 10% of the level of anaerobic oxidation of methane. However, since considerable methane formation was observed only in the presence of methane and sulfate, the process appeared to be a rereaction of anaerobic oxidation of methane rather than net methanogenesis.


Purpose: To develop a method to track lungtumors in rotational cone beam projections during rotational radiotherapy and cone beam CT scanning.Method and Materials: A multiple template based tracking algorithm was developed and used to track tumors in rotational cone beam projections. Templates were generated by creating DRRs of ten phases of 4DCT. These templates were generated for a sequential set of angles matching the projections of a CBCT scan. The position of the tumor in each template was derived from contours drawn on 4DCT. Shifting of the templates was used to allow for a greater tumor motion ranges. The mutual information between projections and templates was computed and used as one parameter in a probability function used to track tumor position. Tumor distance traveled and phase change between successive projections were also incorporated into the probability function. This output was compared to physician specified tumor locations on each cone beam projection. In addition to a patient study, the method was tested on a respiratory motion phantom programmed to exhibit sinusoidal motion in the SI direction. Results: In the phantom study, the SI motion of the tumor was tracked with a mean absolute error (MAE) ranging from 1.2mm to 1.6mm and a 95th percentile absolute error (P95) ranging from 3.2mm to 3.7mm. For the patient study, the SI motion was tracked with MAE ranging from 1.7mm to 1.9mm and P95 ranging from 3.4mm to 3.9mm. Conclusion: The algorithm has demonstrated the feasibility of tracking tumors in rotational x‐ray images. Further development is needed in order to achieve accuracy similar to that of fixed gantry fluoroscopic tracking.


In this paper, we generalize the construction of distributed space-time block codes (DSTBCs) using amicable orthogonal designs which are originally applied to co-located multiple-antenna systems. We also derive the closed-form expression of average symbol error probability (SEP). The result is obtained in the form of single finite-range integral whose integrand contains only the trigonometric functions. Using the asymptotic (high signal-to-noise ratio) SEP formulas we show that the orthogonal DSTBCs achieve full diversity order. We also perform Monte-Carlo simulation to validate the analysis.


In this paper, a set of non-parametric identification techniques are used in order to obtain second order models plus dead time for an underdamped system. Initially, non-parametric techniques were used to identify the system from the temperature data of a coal-heated oven. In this case, the identification techniques proposed by Stark, Jahanmiri - Fallahi and Ogata were used, which require obtaining two or three points of the step response for the system under study. In addition, the Matlab PID Tuner app was used to identify the underdamped system and compare the results with the other methods. The results show that the PID Tuner and the method proposed by Ogata are the ones that best represent the dynamics of the underdamped system, taking into account the values for the Integral Absolute Error (IAE) and the correlation coefficient. With the Stark method an IAE of 181.56 was obtained, while with the PID Tuner the best performance was achieved with an IAE of 21.59. In terms of the results obtained with the cross correlation, the best performance was achieved with the PID tuner and the Stark method.


PURPOSE
To objectively compare the content of structured reports (SR) vs nonstructured reports (NSR) for magnetic resonance enterography (MRE) of pediatric patients with Crohn's disease, and to evaluate referring clinicians' subjective assessment of reports.

METHODS
This institutional review board-approved, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant retrospective study included 25 pediatric subjects (15 male, 10 female; mean age = 14 years [range: 9-18 years]) with Crohn's disease imaged with MRE. Three radiologists independently interpreted all examinations using both NSR and SR, separated by 4 weeks. Reports were assessed for documentation of the presence or absence of 15 key reporting features. A total of 30 reports (15 NSR [5 per reader] and 15 SR [5 per reader]) were randomly selected for review by 3 referring physicians, who subjectively evaluated the reports independently.

RESULTS
NSR documented the presence or absence of 7.7 ± 2.5 key features, whereas SR documented 14.0 ± 0.8 features (P < 0.001). SR resulted in increased documentation of 12 of 15 features including stricture (P < 0.001), fistula (P < 0.001), fluid collection (P = 0.003), and perianal disease (P < 0.001). Referring physicians preferred SR regarding ease of information extraction, clarity of anatomy, and ability to identify disease phenotype (P < 0.01 for each).

CONCLUSION
The use of structured reporting in describing pediatric Crohn's disease, MRE resulted in significantly increased reporting of key features. Referring clinicians also demonstrated a subjective preference for SR.


The U.S. public is skeptical of speed cameras because they are seen as revenue generators. Many cities do indeed raise funds via traffic tickets, although they are primarily issued by police officers, not cameras. Ironically, cameras are poor long-term sources of revenue and therefore can directly address revenue concerns. Our survey of the U.S. public shows concerns about revenue are associated with greater opposition to cameras and greater distrust of the government. We find that re-framing cameras as a tool to prevent revenue-oriented ticketing increases public support. Finally, we recommend several institutional changes to help gain and maintain support.


The increase of interest in broadband antennas is connected with the expansion of frequency range of satellite communication systems. The object of our research is a broadband antenna of quasi-pyramidal horn type without side walls (T-horn). The given antenna may be used in the capacity of excitation source of a parabolic antenna or in the capacity of an antenna array element. The basic excited wave for such an antenna is TEM-wave. We examine two independent models of the antenna. The first is static, it is based on idea of TEM-horn as a part of infinite biconical line with current distribution and follows the travelling wave law. The second model is based on spectral presentation of electromagnetic field when solving integral equation for boundary problem.


In this article, I trace the emergence and impact of legislation that regulated film in Argentina from 1957-1976—a tumultuous period given that military governments continually interrupted democratic administrations. Contrary to what has been long held that censorship began during the revolucion libertadora, I make the case that censorship legislation was first passed during the democratic government of Arturo Frondizi (term of office 1958-1962). This legislation prioritized the projection of a poster-image of the nation, the protection of Catholic values, and the promotion of shared national beliefs. This early legislation paved the way for the instauration of film censorship in 1968—as well as the regulations on censorship approved up until March 1976, when a new dictatorship took over—, but was met with antagonism from several different social actors at that time. Several resonant cases illustrate the dynamic censorship-freedom of expression that characterized the 1958-1976 period.


This thesis explores Muslim women's religious identities and the processes through which they construct and narrate these identities by comparing Bosnian and UK Muslim women. Disproportionate political and media attention on Muslim women in Europe has in turn prompted an increase in academic interest. However, most academic research neglects the experiences of the indigenous European Muslim women thereby maintaining the image of the foreign 'other'. This research forges a more inclusive approach by considering the views of indigenous European Muslim women. The study is based on interviews with 20 Muslim women, four focus groups and observation of the activities of three Muslim women's organisations. I subscribe to a feminist perspective where participants' voices are privileged and, since I belong to both communities, the complexities of my positionality were constantly reflected upon during the course of the research. My analysis is organised around three main themes that emerged from my participants' accounts of religious identity: family life, hijab and women's organisations. Family was identified as an important factor in these women's early perceptions of Islam. However, violent events – the war in Bosnia and the effects of 9/11 and 7/7 in the UK – affected women's reflections on what it means to be a Muslim woman in Europe, initiating independent re-evaluation of religious identity. This process was transformative, often resulting in a decision to wear the hijab and/or to seek out spaces that encourage a positive sense of Muslim identity such as women's organisations. During the process of constructing their religious identities, women, in both countries, faced challenges from the societies they live in and also from their families. Their agency is constantly questioned. I argue that two contrasting socio-cultural and historical contexts affect the diversity of lived experiences of the Muslim women and the way they organise, while the similarities, inspired by their faith, lie in skilful negotiation of their religious identities in face of many challenges.


A novel algorithm named Missing-Rate-Oriented Selective (MROS) algorithm - including: Most-Similar (M-S) algorithm and Attribute-Selective Imputation (ASI) approach-is proposed to achieve effective Mean Identification Rate (MIR) with minimal imputation effort for multi-classification systems in a complex and High Missing Rate (HMR) dataset. This dataset was developed from real server power supply failure cases which are characterized by categorical variables and 96.66% of the samples contain missing values – with 43.33% of the samples in the HMR region (40%~64.44%). Experiments prove MROS algorithm is capable in achieving effective MIR over the full missing rate range with minimal imputation effort, notably achieving 80%~86% MIR in HMR region with an imputation rate between 15.61% and 25.07%.


To solve the self-control problem of grouting pressure stabilization in grouting engineering, a grouting pressure stabilization control system based on adaptive Fuzzy-PID control was studied. Grouting pressure was dynamically measured and controlled by this system with sensor technology, microcomputer technology and control technology, the interface between the sensor and the host computer was designed. Based on 80C196 chip microcomputer,KP,KI and KD of PID control are automatically adjusted by fuzzy control rule,and electric control valve was controlled to keep grouting pressure precise and stable by adaptive Fuzzy-PID Control. Simulation experiments results show that: the system is able to adapt to changes of object parameter, and achieves the desired targets with good control quality, high accuracy and fine stability.


Abstract In 2006, the European Union launched its new free trade strategy Global Europe with the explicit goal of increasing European competitiveness. This article explores the positions of trade unions and other social movements on Global Europe. Importantly, while Northern social movements and trade unions from the Global South reject Global Europe due to its impact of deindustrialisation on developing countries, European trade unions support it in so far as it opens up new markets for the export of European manufactured goods. It will be argued that this has to be understood against the background of the dynamics underlying the global economy and here in particular uneven and combined development. Due to the uneven integration of different parts of the world into the global economy, workers in developed countries may actually benefit from free trade, while workers in the Global South are more likely to lose out. It will, however, also be argued that while these different positions within the social relations of production are shaping the position of trade unions, they do not determine them. Over time, through direct engagement, trade unions in the North and South may be able to establish relations of transnational solidarity.


Context: The patient-centered infertility care (PCIC) approach emphasizes the patient's role in choosing the most appropriate clinical approach in infertility care. The concept can improve the patient satisfaction with care performed as well as the efficacy of the treatment. In addition, this concept can also lead to improve collaboration between patient and care provider, ultimately supporting a more cost-effective health-care scheme. Aims: This study was developed in order to determine patients' experience in their PCIC.Settings and Design: This is a descriptive study. We conducted the study in two fertility care clinics, Clinic A and Clinic B. Subjects and Methods: The Patient-Centeredness Questionnaire-Infertility (PCQ-I) was used, consisting of 7 essential themes. The questionnaire was completed by consenting patients in two infertility clinics. Statistical Analysis Used: The questionnaire was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 21 version statistical software. Results: Eighty-eight Clinic A patients who completed the questionnaire responded that the best element of their treatment received was communication (correlation with global score [CGS]: 0.747), whereas the least acceptable aspect was the low accessibility (CGS: 0.211). A total of 20 Clinic B patients responded that the best element of their treatment received was respect for the patient's value (CGS: 0.866), whereas the least acceptable aspect was also the low level of accessibility (CGS: 0.193). Conclusions: The PCQ-I can be used to evaluate patients' experience during treatment and may help the health-care provider to improve their performance.


Video segmentation is an application of computer vision aimed at automating the extraction of an object from a series of video frames. However, it is a difficult problem, especially to compute at real-time, interactive rates. Although general application to video is difficult because of the high range of image scenarios, user interaction can help to reduce the problem space and speed up the computation. This paper provides new method to detect the ball position by creating and analyzing the trajectory. It is very challenging to detect and track the ball from the broadcast soccer video. Candidate collection by use of the heuristic false candidate reduction, the Kalman filter based trajectory mining, and the trajectory evaluation is used to obtain the trajectory of ball.


The three isozymes of lactate dehydrogenase, each encoded by a separate gene, are developmentally regulated and differentially expressed in tissue-specific patterns. The lactate dehydrogenase-C (LDHC, mouse Ldh3) gene is temporally expressed exclusively in the germ line during spermatogenesis, whereas lactate dehydrogenase-A (LDHA, mouse Ldh1) and B (LDHB, mouse Ldh2) genes are active in somatic tissues. To determine, therefore, whether overexpression of Ldh1 would perturb spermatogenesis, we constructed a transgene in which a sequence from the promoter region of human LDHC was coupled with mouse Ldh1 cDNA. Among nine (three males, six females) founder lines that were identified as being transgenic for the construct, one male transmitted the gene through its germ line. Homo- and heterotetramers containing the LDH-A subunit were detected in homogenates of testes from transgenic animals. We conclude that the human LDHC promoter contains the necessary regulatory sequence(s) for specific expression of mouse Ldh1 as a transgene during spermatogenesis. The fertility of the founder animal was not impaired.


S1R,-Professor T. N. A. Jeffcoate in his article on "Drugs for Menopausal Symptoms" (Brit. med. J., January 30, p. 340) shows little sympathy with the sufferings of menopausal women, and expresses the opinion that most of their complaints are neurotic and can be traced to environmental causes. Even admitting that most of the symptoms are vasomotoric, there are other troublesome skin, vascular, articular, and mental conditions from which menopausal women may suffer. Menopause is the time of a woman's life when the ageing process advances, and in modern times the loss of good looks entails serious handicaps for women in occupational or social life. These women deserve our sympathy and help,


This thesis argues for the importance of preserving film object exhibition documentation for the benefit of future research, using TIFF's exhibition program as the dominant case study. Academic writing on film exhibition is discussed through works that focus on the physical film object/screening, the film exhibition institution, and the film object beyond celluloid. The thesis analyzes what constitutes strong documentation, using examples from professionals and other film exhibition institutions. TIFF's film exhibition department history is listed as a form of preserving the full list of exhibitions that were housed at TIFF. The material preserved by TIFF regarding their exhibition history has been quite limited. The exhibition files are included and then analyzed to determine what is missing that may limit future study. Successes in preservation are also addressed. Lastly, potential steps to address gaps in documentation are detailed.


Abstract Art gallery programs tailored to the needs of people living with dementia are becoming more popular worldwide. This study aimed to observe the effects of six consecutive weekly discussion-based small group visits to the National Gallery of Australia Art and Dementia program on the salivary cortisol (SC) diurnal rhythm, salivary interleukin-6, quality of life (QoL), depressive symptoms, and cognitive function. Twenty-five participants (17 female; mean age 84.6 ± 7.27 years) completed the study with data collection at baseline, post-intervention, and at a six-week follow-up. Statistical methods were selected based on data distribution. The waking to evening (WE) SC ratio was altered (p = 0.016) (Baseline: 1.35 (1.19, 1.64), Post-intervention: 1.72 (1.54, 1.96), Follow-up: 1.44 (1.22, 1.79)) in the 22 participants who provided viable saliva samples. The WE SC ratio was higher post-intervention compared with baseline (p = 0.011), indicating a more dynamic SC rhythm, but returned to baseline levels at follow-up (p = 0.020). Interleukin-6 levels were unchanged (p = 0.664). In the total sample, no improvements in QoL (Proxy) (p = 0.165) were observed. However, self-reported depressive symptoms differed (p = 0.006), decreasing post-intervention (2.00 (1.00, 2.00)) compared with baseline (3.00 (2.00, 4.50)) (p = 0.015), and verbal fluency was affected (p = 0.027), improving from baseline (2.00 (0.00, 3.00)) to post-intervention (2.00 (0.50, 4.00)) (p = 0.027). Art and Dementia programs appear to have quantifiable benefits, including improved hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function, justifying a longer controlled trial inclusive of physiological outcomes.


On the Front Lines: Managerialism in Substance Abuse Agencies by Jocelyn Lewiskin, LCSW Advisor: Mimi Abramovitz Neoliberal economic policies have led to changes within the field of human services in the United States since the mid-1970s. These policies, which seek to reduce the role of the federal government through tactics such as privatization, continue to be evident across human services organizations today. This policy approach is operationalized through New Public Management (NPM), which is also referred to as 'Managerialism', and is characterized by output-orientated, quantitative focused, performance based measures and evidence-based practice. These characteristics have impacted the workforce in human service organizations. Using qualitative semi-structured interviews of front line workers, this dissertation will examine the effects of Managerialism on workers in the sector of substance abuse treatment within the larger human services context. These front line workers offer a unique perspective since substance abuse treatment is an area within social service delivery that has seen many policy transitions towards a Managerialism model.


Data clustering describes a set of frequently employed techniques in exploratory data analysis to extract natural group structure in data. Such groupings need to be validated to separate the signal in the data from spurious structure. In this context, finding an appropriate number of clusters is a particularly important model selection question. We introduce a measure of cluster stability to assess the validity of a cluster model. This stability measure quantifies the reproducibility of clustering solutions on a second sample, and it can be interpreted as a classification risk with regard to class labels produced by a clustering algorithm. The preferred number of clusters is determined by minimizing this classification risk as a function of the number of clusters. Convincing results are achieved on simulated as well as gene expression data sets. Comparisons to other methods demonstrate the competitive performance of our method and its suitability as a general validation tool for clustering solutions in real-world problems.


A new algorithm is proposed for pen-input on-line signature verification incorporating pen-position, pen-pressure and pen-inclinations trajectories. Preliminary experimental result looks encouraging.


Hexagonal flower-like CdS nanostructures were successfully synthesized through a facile hydrothermal method with thiourea as sulfur source. By combining the results of X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), the structural and morphological characterizations of the products were performed. The photocatalytic activity of CdS nanostructures had been tested by degradation of Rhodamine B (RB) under UV light compared to commercial CdS powders, which indicated that the as-syntherized CdS nanostructures exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity for degradation of RB. The possible growth mechanism of CdS nanostructures was proposed in the end.


Every day a huge amount of newly created information is electronically published in Digital Libraries. Complementary to the usual vision, we envisage a Digital Library not only as an information source where users may submit queries to satisfy their daily information need, but also as a collaborative working and meeting space of people sharing common interests. CYCLADES is a system, which combines several technologies from the Information Retrieval and Digital Library area, providing a highly personalized environment where not only users may organize (and search into) the information space according to an individual flavor, but, and more importantly, also provides support for advanced collaborative work. In particular, users may build communities, may become aware of each other, exchange information and knowledge with other users, and may get recommendations from the system based on preference patterns of users. We will present some experimental results showing the effectiveness of CYCLADES in relating users with similar interests to each other. This is important as it may help users to get aware of other users sharing similar interest and to enter maybe into long-term relationships.


Purpose: On the basis of results from small studies using conventional ambulatory catheter-based esophageal pH testing, it has been suggested that exclusion of the meal periods from the analysis is important to ensure optimal diagnostic accuracy. Our aim was to evaluate the results of 48-hour ambulatory catheter-free pH testing depending upon whether the meal period was included or not and determine whether this affected the test's diagnostic accuracy. Methods: 48-hour ambulatory catheter-free esophageal pH tests were analyzed both with the meal period included and excluded in consecutive patients. The patients were divided into two groups based upon whether they were studied on or off PPI therapy. pH parameters evaluated included the total% acid exposure time (AET), total # episodes and Demeester score for day 1, day 2 and the total duration of study. The paired t-test was used to compare pH parameters with meals to without meals. Agreement of final results was also evaluated using the following definitions of an abnormal study: total AET > 5.3%, supine AET > 6.3% or upright AET > 6.7%. A P-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: 103 patients were studied (56 on PPI, 47 off PPI; 60 female; mean age 60 ± 17 yrs). The most common indications for testing were GERD and unexplained chest pain. There were no significant differences in total AET or Demeester score whether meals were included or not. In contrast, there was a difference in total # episodes with significantly more occurring when meals were included. Nevertheless, there was excellent agreement in terms of final diagnosis for total (95–100%), supine (100%) and upright (96–98%) AET. Identical findings were found for both groups studied (i.e., on PPI and off PPI) and when day 1, day 2 or the full 48 hours were evaluated. Conclusion: Exclusion of the meal period does not improve the diagnostic accuracy of 48-hour ambulatory catheter-free esophageal pH testing.


The area of coalgebra has emerged within theoretical computer science with a unifying claim: to be the mathematics of computational dynamics. It combines ideas from the theory of dynamical systems and from the theory of state-based computation. Although still in its infancy, it is an active area of research that generates wide interest. Written by one of the founders of the field, this book acts as the first mature and accessible introduction to coalgebra. It provides clear mathematical explanations, with many examples and exercises involving deterministic and non-deterministic automata, transition systems, streams, Markov chains and weighted automata. The theory is expressed in the language of category theory, which provides the right abstraction to make the similarity and duality between algebra and coalgebra explicit, and which the reader is introduced to in a hands-on manner. The book will be useful to mathematicians and (theoretical) computer scientists and will also be of interest to mathematical physicists, biologists and economists.


Many eukaryotic cell surface proteins are attached to the plasma membrane by glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchors. Trypanosomatid parasitic protozoa such as Leishmania and Trypanosoma brucei make extensive use of this method of protein surface attachment. The perceived importance of GPI-anchored proteins makes the GPI biosynthetic pathway a good target for anti-parasite chemotherapy. The terminal step in the pathway is the addition of complete pre-formed GPI anchors to the carboxyl-termini of proteins. This involves replacing a GPI signal sequence with a GPI anchor in a transamidation reaction. Two of the proteins involved in this step have been identified in yeast and mammals. One of these components, GPI8, has significant homology to a family of plant cysteine proteinases, the legumains, and GPI8 is therefore believed to be the catalytic subunit of the transamidase. The work described in this thesis focussed on the cloning of the GPI8 gene from Leishmania mexicana and its characterisation. The predicted protein shares 31% identity with yeast and human homologues. The nucleotide sequence of a fragment of the T. brucei GPI8 gene has also been obtained. Targeted gene replacement of the single copy L. mexicana GPI8 produced GPI8 null mutants. The loss of GPI8 was confirmed by Southern blotting. The phenotype of the GPI8 null mutants was analysed with the following findings: (1) Mutant promastigotes grow well in culture. (2) GP63 is not detected on the promastigote surface and is greatly reduced in promastigote lysates. (3) Episomal re-expression of GPI8 restored GP63 to the cell surface. (4) GPI8 null mutants are able to infect macrophages in vitro to approximately wild type levels, and replicate within macrophages. (5) GPI8 null mutants are capable of forming lesions in mice. These data show that GPI-anchored proteins of L. mexicana are not essential for growth of promastigotes, invasion of macrophages by promastigotes, or infection of mice. It remains to be established if GPI-anchored proteins are required for survival in the sandfly. Sequence comparison of L. mexicana, yeast and human GPI8 proteins identified two potential active site cysteine residues. Mutation in which Cys216 was converted to a glycine led to loss of GPI8 activity, as assessed by GP63 surface expression, indicating that this may be the active site cysteine. Recombinant GPI8 was produced in E. coli and used to inoculate rabbits for the production of anti-serum. These antibodies detected recombinant protein but failed to detect protein in L. mexicana cell lysates. Antibodies raised against a peptide of GPI8 also recognised recombinant GPI8, but not GPI8 in L. mexicana lysates. A protein of 38-40 kDa, however, was detected in cell lysates of T. brucei with the antirecombinant GPI8 antibodies. This antiserum gave a similar immunofluorescence pattern in T. brucei to those of an epitope-tagged ribosomal protein, QM. There is some overlap in fluorescence patterns between tagged QM and the endoplasmic reticulum marker protein BiP. This suggests that GPI8 is located in the ER of T. brucei, the same subcellular location that has been identified in yeast. A fusion protein of GPI8 and GFP was expressed in L. mexicana to attempt to localise GPI8 in this organism. The fusion protein, however, was unable to restore GPI8 function in the null mutant, therefore data on its localisation cannot be inferred.


The development of visual hallucinations after loss of vision is known as the Charles Bonnet syndrome. This phenomenon was first described in 1760 by Charles Bonnet and others during their observations of elderly patients with degeneration of the retina or cornea. To date a clear association between visual hallucinations and neurosurgical procedures has not been reported. Because of their clear demarcation, however, surgical lesions in the cerebrum offer a unique opportunity to determine the pathoanatomical aspects of visual hallucinations. During a 3-year period, 41 consecutive patients who acquired visual field defects after neurosurgery were examined for the occurrence of visual hallucination. Postoperatively, four of these patients experienced visual hallucinations. In two of them an upper quadrantanopia developed after the patients had undergone selective amygdalohippocampectomy. In the other two patients a complete hemianopia developed, in one case after resection of a parietal astrocytoma and in the other after resection of an occipital glioblastoma multiforme. The visual hallucinations were transient and gradually disappeared between 4 days and 6 months postoperatively. The patients were aware of the fact that their hallucinations were fictitious and displayed no psychosis. Electroencephalographic recordings were obtained in only two patients and epileptic discharges were found. Deafferentiation of cortical association areas may lead to the spontaneous generation of complex visual phenomena. In the present series this phenomenon occurred in approximately 10% of patients with postoperative visual field defects. In all four cases the central optic radiation was damaged between the lateral geniculate nucleus and the primary visual cortex. The complex nature of the visual hallucination indicates that they were generated in visual association areas.


Humans have an astonishing ability to remember with high fidelity previously viewed scenes with robust memory for visual detail (Konkle et al., 2010). To better understand the mechanism that affords us this massive memory we investigated the automaticity of encoding into visual long-term memory. We studied this in two ways across three experiments. First, measuring the effect of limiting the time of encoding by varying the allotted time to encode each image while keeping overall time of study constant. Second, measuring the effect of an attentionally-demanding concurrent task on subsequent retention by systematically varying the levels of demand imposed by the concurrent executive task. If encoding is automatic neither shorter exposure nor concurrent demand should influence subsequent recognition. If executive attention is required than memory performance should decline as load is increased and encoding time decreases. We tested scene memory using a standard massive memory paradigm with a heterogeneous (452 real complex scenes) and a homogenous (304 doors) image set examining if time of encoding and concurrent tasks affects scene memorability. Even when encoding a very rich heterogeneous set of images the encoding time mattered, with a significant reduction in performance from 3 seconds (d'= 1.11) to 1 second (d'=.60) study time. Interestingly, further reduction in encoding time to 0.5 seconds shows no significant decrement suggesting that encoding might follow a two-step process. Further, high fidelity encoding is reduced when during encoding there is a competing working memory task both for heterogeneous (d'=.91 for no load to d'=.41 for high load) as well as homogenous (d'=.65 for no load to d'=.21 for high load) image sets with amplified reduction when there is little idiosyncratic detail in the image. Results suggest that visual recognition memory encoding is the outcome of a two-stage rather than an automatic process. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.


An influential recent literature argues that women are less likely to initiate bargaining with their employers and are (often) less effective negotiators than men. We use longitudinal wage data from Portugal, matched to balance sheet information on employers, to measure the relative bargaining power of men and women and assess the impact of the gender gap in bargaining strength on the male-female wage gap. We show that a model with additive fixed effects for workers and gender-specific fixed effects for firms provides a close approximation to the wage structure for both men and women. Building on this model we present three complementary approaches to identifying the impact of differential bargaining strength. First, we perform a simple decomposition by assigning the firm-specific wage premiums for one gender to the other. Second, we relate the wage premiums for men and women to measures of employer profitability. Third, we show that changes in firm-specific profitability have a smaller effect on the wage growth of female than male employees. All three approaches suggest that women are paid only 85-90% of the premiums that men earn at more profitable firms. Overall, we estimate that the shortfall in women's relative bargaining power explains around 3 percentage points – or 10-15% – of the gender wage gap in Portugal.


In this paper, we present sketchy-ar-us, a modified, real-time version of the Loose and Sketchy algorithm used to render graphics in an AR environment. The primary challenge was to modify the original algorithm to produce a NPR effect at interactive frame rate. Our algorithm renders moderately complex scenes at multiple frames per second. Equipped with a handheld visor, visitors can see the real environment overlaid with virtual objects with both the real and virtual content rendered in a non-photorealistic style.


Low-activation Fe-Cr-Mn alloy and 316L stainless steel were irradiated with 92 MeV Ar ions at about 500°C, to fluences of 0.8~1.7×1021 ions m-2 .After irradiation, cross-sectional specimens were investigated with transmission electron microscopy.Cavities with high number density were observed in the peak dose regions. The cavity number density reaches maximum at Ar concentration peak, while cavity mean size is consistent with displacement damage profile. It is indicated that Ar atoms can enhance cavity formation in a manner similar to helium. There are thresholds of dose and dose rate for the bi-modal size distribution of cavities. The significant growth of a small portion of cavities in the peak damage region at the highest ion-fluence is ascribed to the effect of interactive sink strength of cavities.


A Virginia hospital has used newspaper advertisements to solicit Ontario patients who are waiting for hip- or knee-replacement surgery. The ads promote the medical services of US orthopedic surgeons and call attention to exasperatingly long waiting lists for the same surgery in Canada. "Pain doesn't wait," they state. "Neither should you." The hospital says it has been receiving more than 100 calls a week inquiring about the procedure, which costs $15000 (US).


Mussel shell mounds surround all offshore oil and gas platforms in California. These biotic reefs are formed when large clumps of mussels are dislodged from the superstructure. In 1997, we surveyed the fish assemblages on the mussel mounds surrounding seven platforms in the Santa Barbara Channel and in the Santa Maria Basin, California. The objectives of this study were (1) to document the fish assemblages on the mussel reefs, (2) to investigate the spatial patterns of use of parts of mussel reefs by various fish species and (3) to compare species assemblages, population densities and fish sizes on the mussel reefs with those on adjacent platform bottoms. We observed at least 35 species on the mussel mounds, 18 of which were rockfishes (genus Sebastes). Most of the species that were found both in large numbers and were encountered at a number of mussel mounds were solitary, benthic forms. Most species appeared to be non-randomly distributed among parts of the mussel mounds with different percent shell cover. All species combined and all rockfish species tended to be slightly but significantly over-represented on areas of 80-100% cover (all species: X 2 = 227, n = 5, P < 0.001, all rockfishes: X 2 = 211, n = 5, P < 0.001). Species richness, density (fish 100 m -2 ) and mean lengths of fishes were all less on the mussel mounds than on the platform bottoms. However, cluster analysis revealed that the species composition on each mussel mound is more similar to its adjacent platform bottom than to other mounds. There did not appear to be a distinct mussel mound community, instead the mussel mounds should be considered as an integral part of the oil platform system.


The purity of Werner state in non-extensive formalism associated with two different constraints has been calculated in a previous paper by Bagci et al.17 Two different results have been obtained corresponding to ordinary probability and escort probability. The former has been shown to result in negative values thereby leading authors to deduce the advantage of escort probabilities over ordinary probabilities. However, these results have only been for a limited interval of q values which lie between 0 and 1. In this paper, we solve the same problem for all values of non-extensive index q by using a perturbative approach and show that the simultaneous use of both types of constraint is necessary in order to obtain the solution for a whole spectrum of non-extensive index. In this sense, the existence of these different constraints in non-extensive formalism must not be seen as a deficiency in the formalism but rather must be welcomed as a means of providing solution for all values of parameter q.


This paper summarises fiscal developments over the past 10 years in 16 industrial countries, based on OECD data and projections. Several countries that had substantial fiscal deficits early in the 1990s turned to surpluses by the year 2000, with some countries improving their fiscal balances by 5% of GDP or more, even abstracting from the effects of strong economic growth. But in many countries - especially the largest economies - this strong performance had given way to the reappearance of large fiscal deficits by 2003. Based on current fiscal legislation, the OECD expects to see no clear improvement in cyclically adjusted balances by 2005. All countries' fiscal positions in 2003 were worse than had been expected in late 2000, but after abstracting from the effects of a surprisingly weak economy, the negative surprise was largest for the United States, followed by the United Kingdom and Ireland. Sustainability calculations suggest that preventing rising net debt ratios requires a fiscal adjustment of some 7% of GDP in Japan, 2½ to 3% of GDP in the United States, 1½% of GDP in the United Kingdom, and about 1% of GDP in France and Germany. Italy's fiscal position is strong enough to stabilise the debt ratio at its current high level, but not strong enough to bring the debt ratio down appreciably.


The blood-related cancer leukaemia was the first disease where human CSCs (cancer stem cells), or LSCs (leukaemic stem cells), were isolated. The haematopoietic system is one of the best tissues for investigating CSCs, since the developmental hierarchy of normal blood formation is well defined. Leukaemia can now be viewed as aberrant haematopoietic processes initiated by rare LSCs that have maintained or reacquired the capacity for indefinite proliferation through accumulated mutations and/or epigenetic changes. Yet, despite their critical importance, much remains to be learned about the developmental origin of LSCs and the mechanisms responsible for their emergence in the course of the disease. This report will review our current knowledge on LSC development and finally demonstrate how these discoveries provide a paradigm for identification of CSCs from solid tumours.


Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is well known as a strong risk factor for both end stage renal disease and cardiovascular disease. To clarify the association of polymorphisms in the PPAR genes (PPARD, PPARG, and PPARGC1A) with the risk of CKD in Japanese, we examined this association among the Japanese subjects using the cross-sectional data of J-MICC (Japan Multi-Institutional Collaborative Cohort) Study. The subjects for this analysis were 3,285 men and women, aged 35–69 years, selected from J-MICC Study participants; genotyping was conducted by multiplex polymerase chain reaction-based Invader assay. The prevalence of CKD was determined for CKD stages 3–5 (defined as eGFR < 60 ml/min/1.73 m2). Participants with CKD accounted for 17.3% of the study population. When those with PPARD T-842C T/T were defined as reference, those with PPARD T-842C T/C and C/C demonstrated the OR for CKD of 1.26 (95%CI 1.04–1.53) and 1.31 (95%CI 0.83–2.06), respectively. There were no significant associations between the polymorphisms in other PPAR genes and the risk of CKD. The present study found a significantly increased risk of CKD in those with the C allele of PPARD T-842C, which may suggest the possibility of personalized risk estimation of this life-limiting disease in the near future.


Cellulose synthesis, but not its degradation, is generally thought to be required for plant cell growth. In this work, we cloned a dinoflagellate cellulase gene, dCel1, whose activities increased significantly in G2/M phase, in agreement with the significant drop of cellulose content reported previously. Cellulase inhibitors not only caused a delay in cell cycle progression at both the G1 and G2/M phases in the dinoflagellate Crypthecodinium cohnii, but also induced a higher level of dCel1p expression. Immunostaining results revealed that dCel1p was mainly localized at the cell wall. Accordingly, the possible role of cellulase activity in cell cycle progression was tested by treating synchronized cells with exogenous dCelp and purified antibody, in experiments analogous to overexpression and knockdown analyses, respectively. Cell cycle advancement was observed in cells treated with exogenous dCel1p, whereas the addition of purified antibody resulted in a cell cycle delay. Furthermore, delaying the G2/M phase independently with antimicrotubule inhibitors caused an abrupt and reversible drop in cellulase protein level. Our results provide a conceptual framework for the coordination of cell wall degradation and reconstruction with cell cycle progression in organisms with cell walls. Since cellulase activity has a direct bearing on the cell size, the coupling between cellulase expression and cell cycle progression can also be considered as a feedback mechanism that regulates cell size.


ABSTRACT We determined imipenem, imipenem-relebactam, ceftazidime, and ceftazidime-avibactam MICs against 100 CRE isolates that underwent whole-genome sequencing. Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemases (KPCs) were the most common carbapenemases. Forty-six isolates carried extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs). With the addition of relebactam, imipenem susceptibility increased from 8% to 88%. With the addition of avibactam, ceftazidime susceptibility increased from 0% to 85%. Neither imipenem-relebactam nor ceftazidime-avibactam was active against metallo-β-lactamase (MBL) producers. Ceftazidime-avibactam (but not imipenem-relebactam) was active against OXA-48-like producers, including a strain not harboring any ESBL. Major OmpK36 porin mutations were independently associated with higher imipenem-relebactam MICs (P < 0.0001) and showed a trend toward independent association with higher ceftazidime-avibactam MICs (P = 0.07). The presence of variant KPC-3 was associated with ceftazidime-avibactam resistance (P < 0.0001). In conclusion, imipenem-relebactam and ceftazidime-avibactam had overlapping spectra of activity and niches in which each was superior. Major OmpK36 mutations in KPC-K. pneumoniae may provide a foundation for stepwise emergence of imipenem-relebactam and ceftazidime-avibactam resistance.


Zebrafish possess the innate ability to fully regenerate any neurons lost following a retinal injury. This response is mediated by Müller glia that reprogram and divide asymmetrically to produce neuronal precursor cells that differentiate into the lost neurons. However, little is understood about the early signals that induce this response. Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) was previously shown to be both neuroprotective and pro-proliferative within the zebrafish retina, however CNTF is not expressed following injury. Here we demonstrate that alternative ligands of the Ciliary neurotrophic factor receptor (CNTFR), such as Cardiotrophin-like cytokine factor 1 (Clcf1) and Cytokine receptor-like factor 1a (Crlf1a), are expressed within Müller glia of the light-damaged retina. We found that CNTFR, Clcf1, and Crlf1a are required for Müller glia proliferation in the light-damaged retina. Furthermore, intravitreal injection of CLCF1/CRLF1 protected against rod photoreceptor cell death in the light-damaged retina and induced proliferation of rod precursor cells in the undamaged retina, but not Müller glia. While rod precursor cell proliferation was previously shown to be Insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R)-dependent, co-injection of IGF-1 with CLCF1/CRLF1 failed to induce further proliferation of either Müller glia or rod precursor cells. Together, these findings demonstrate that CNTFR ligands have a neuroprotective effect and are required for induction of Müller glia proliferation in the light-damaged zebrafish retina.


A new method for optical biasing is developed to improve the performance of quasi-interferometry with coded correlation filtering. First, by defocusing a mask, a quadratic phase factor is added to the object under test; this yields background fringes. Second, a linear phase factor is introduced by off-axis shifting of masks. The formulas describing these two effects are derived for various possible configurations. The condition of invariance is discussed. Simplified systems are also studied to obtain continuous changing of sensitivity independent of quadratic phase biasing. Some experiments and applications are illustrated.


Background: Ocular trauma among children is responsible for a high incidence of uni-ocular blindness. Objective: To evaluate the pattern of presentation and complications from broomstick eye injury at University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Benin City with a view to proffering solutions on ways to reduce this trend. Materials and Methods: The hospital records of all consecutive patients who suffered ocular trauma from broomstick injury and presented at the eye clinic of the UBTH between 2003 and 2014 were evaluated. Information retrieved from the case records included social demographic characteristics, interval between the occurrence of injury and presentation, mechanism of injury, activity at time of injury, examination findings, treatments and complications. Data were analyzed using SPSS, IBM, Chicago, USA. Results: A total of 20 eyes in 20 patients were seen. They were all children <14 years old. The mean age was 7.10 ± 4.03 (standard deviation) years. The male: female ratio was 3:1. Twelve children (60%) sustained trauma from broomstick shot as a missile with a rubber band and/or catapult sling by other children and siblings while at play. Ten children (50%) presented within 24 h of occurrence of the injury. Nineteen (95%, n = 19) of the children were blind at presentation in the affected eye with visual acuity ranging from count finger to no light perception. Ninety percent (90%) of the cases were open globe injuries. Only 10% (n = 2) were closed (lamellar) injuries. Most of the patients had multiple complications such as corneal laceration (80%), traumatic cataract (40%), endophthalmitis/panophthalmitis (55%) and orbital cellulitis (15%). Conclusion: Ocular trauma from broomstick results in devastating, penetrating eye injury with loss of vision. Young male children are vulnerable as targets of dangerous game-play. Primary prevention is important by sensitization of caregivers and children of the risks. There is a need for effective supervision of children when at play.


Neanderthals were reliant upon the landscape to meet vital resource needs, including lithic raw materials; however, these resources were neither ubiquitously distributed nor of equal quality or abundance. Raw material economy studies are particularly effective in assessing Neanderthal behavioural ecology, as lithic artefacts represent a constant feature of Middle Palaeolithic archaeological assemblages that can also be reconstructed and linked to their past distributions and character in palaeolandscapes. Therefore, lithic assemblages yield significant informational potential on Neanderthal technological adaptations to environmental constraints. However, while such studies have repeatedly demonstrated evidence for lithic raw material management and maintenance in response to procurement distances, methodologies must go further to consider not only distance, but terrain as well. This can be demonstrated by delineating economic zonation over modelled three-dimensional landscapes rather than planar space, and utilising these to determining the energetic and time constraints on mobility. Additional costs and constraints can be indicated by palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, including the distribution and character of lithic raw materials as well as climate conditions, faunal, and vegetative distributions,which would have influenced site placement and subsistence and mobility strategies as well as technological provisioning strategies. To address these issues, this research employed an interdisciplinary approach to the study of Neanderthal raw material economy in three late Middle Palaeolithic sites in northeast Italy: Grotta di Fumane, Grotta Maggiore di San Bernardino, and Grotta del Broion. Lithic prospection determined the uneven distribution and variable quality and abundance of lithic raw materials around each site. Palaeoenvironmental reconstructions demonstrated that biomes were variably distributed and productive. Terrain modelling generated least-cost paths and energetic and temporal costs surfaces based on terrain difficulty. Linking these in terms of mobility to the techno-economic assemblages of the study sites, the results of this research showed that technological provisioning strategies reflect Neanderthal ecological adaptations to the costs and constraints imposed by their landscapes. Inter-site comparisons demonstrated that the environmental variability specific to each site played a role in determining its use and function within a regional system of residential mobility. In conclusion, this research demonstrates that Neanderthal technological behaviours can be perceived within the ecological contexts of settlements systems.


The influence of different orifices on the result of measuring the same pressure distributions is the subject of this note. A circular cylinder is exposed to an air stream perpendicular to its axis and its pressure distribution is repeatedly determined. The pressures measured on the downstream half of the cylinder do not change for the orifice sizes used in the tests.


Purpose: Fibromyalgia syndrome (FS) is a form of nonarticular rheumatism. The main criteria are the widespread musculoskeletal pain and tender points at multiple characteristic sites which are associated with several vegetative and functional symptoms. Depression is the most frequent psychiatric concomitant of FS. Etiology is unknown, connection between disturbances of serotonin metabolism and pathogenesis is postulated. Pharmacological therapy with analgetic and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs is not very effective. Positive effects were reported in some patients treated with antidepressant drugs, especially serotonergic agents. Material and methods: In the study a novel antidepressant drug mirtazapine was used characterized by selective blockade of 5-HT2 and 5-HT3 receptors. In an open trial participated 29 patients with FS, who met 1990 ACR criteria for fibromyalgia. All were treated with mirtazapine for 6 weeks. Intensity of pain, sleep disturbances, fatigue and other symptoms were measured using visuale analogue scale, severity of depression was evaluated with HDRS and BDI. Results: An open trial completed 26 patients, the majority of them experienced a clinical improvement at the end of the study as a consequence of 40% reduced intensity of fibromyalgia symptoms as well as reduced severity of depression. The significant correlation between reduction in depression after 6 weeks of mirtazapine treatment with the reduction on all four main symptoms of FS suggests a common pathophysiology of depression and symptoms of fibromyalgia. The data thus far obtained indicate the blockade of 5-HT2 and 5-HT3 receptors with mirtazapine as an effective and promising method in FS. Conclusions: Further double-blind placebo-controlled study are required to confirm our results.


HbA1c is widely used for diagnosis and management of diabetes and prediabetes, but HbA1c may be high or low relative to underlying glucose levels in different individuals-"mismatches." We hypothesized that "high mismatches" could lead to overdiagnosis, and "low mismatches" to underdiagnosis of diabetes and prediabetes. We pooled 31generally healthy subjects without known diabetes from the Screening for Impaired Glucose Tolerance study (n=1571) and the VA Screening for Diabetes study (n=1535); each had a 75g OGTT and a 50g glucose challenge on separate days. Subjects were 66% male, 65% black, with mean age 52 year, BMI 30 kg/m2 and HbA1c 5.6%. By ADA OGTT criteria, 56% had normal glucose metabolism (NGM, FPG 125 or 2hPG >199). To approximate glucose levels during the day, we took the mean of each subject's OGTT FPG and 2hPG, and 1 hPG after 50 g glucose. Linear regression was used to derive [predicted HbA1c = 0.0078*GLUC + 4.70], from which the HbA1c Glycation Index (HGI) for each subject was expressed as [observed-predicted HbA1c]. Subjects were divided into tertiles according to their HGI levels: "high mismatch" (high HGI), "no mismatch" (mod HGI), and "low mismatch" (low HGI). The "high mismatch" group was enriched in African-Americans (84%) and males (78%) but otherwise clinically comparable, all p Conclusion: "Mismatches" in HbA1c vs. glucose are common, and could lead to errors if the diagnosis is based only on HbA1c - overdiagnosis in "high mismatches", and underdiagnosis in "low mismatches." FPG and/or OGTT should be used to complement HbA1c in diagnosing diabetes and prediabetes. Disclosure A. Gonzalez: None. X. Cui: None. L.R. Staimez: None. C.N. Ford: None. F.N. Khan: None. P.W. Wilson: None. L.S. Phillips: Other Relationship; Self; DIASYST Inc.. Research Support; Self; Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Eli Lilly and Company, Novo Nordisk Inc., Sanofi-Aventis, PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Roche Diabetes Care Health and Digital Solutions, AbbVie Inc., Vascular Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., GlaxoSmithKline plc., Pfizer Inc.. Other Relationship; Self; Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Merck & Co., Inc.. M. Rhee: None.


Sr or Ba filled type-I Ge clathrate single crystals were prepared using high pure elemental Ga, Ge, and Sr or Ba as the starting materials, and Ga as a flux. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) were used to characterize the crystals, respectively. The results show that large and well-crystallized single crystals can be prepared under optimum synthesis condition. The composition of the crystals is in good agreement with the nominal composition (M8Ga16Ge30, M=Sr, Ba). Raman spectra of the single crystals were studied at room temperature and several of the Raman active vibrational modes in the crystals have been identified.