Background: Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is a chronic progressive disorder which is a leading cause of chronic kidney disease (CKD). As an important pathogenesis of DKD, the overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the in fl ammatory response have been considered central mediators in the progression of DKD. Herbal products are increasingly being applied as antioxidants and anti-in fl ammatory agents. Of those, the effect of hydroxyl saf fl ower yellow A (HSYA) on oxidative stress and in fl ammatory reactions has gradually been investigated for DKD treatment, which may provide therapies for DKD with new insights and promote its application in clinical practice. Methods: We searched CNKI, the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, the Wanfang Database, PubMed, and Embase from the establishment date of the database to 22 April 2022. The included literature in our study was randomized controlled trials (RCTs) using HSYA to treat DKD. We performed a meta-analysis by calculating the standard mean difference (SMD) with a 95% con fi dence interval (CI). The inverse-variance method with a random effect was used in our meta-analysis using Stata software and RevMan software. Results: A total of 31 articles with 31 groups containing a total of 2487 participants were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled results showed a statistical improvement in the following measurements: fasting blood glucose (FBG), postprandial blood glucose (PBG), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), urinary albumin excretion rates (UAER), serum creatinine (SCR), hypersensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor- α (TNF-α ), fasting insulin (FINS), total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TGs), hemoglobin A1c (HbA1C), homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and malondialdehyde (MDA). Conclusion: HSYA can effectively treat DKD by inhibiting in fl ammatory reactions and oxidative stress, decreasing blood glucose and blood lipids, and improving renal function indices. However, more RCTs are still needed in the future to further demonstrate the effect of HSYA on biomarkers of oxidative stress and in fl ammatory reactions in patients with DKD due to the low quality and small sample size of the literature included in this study.


Summary: The pharmacologic profile of a novel and selective ETB antagonist, IRL 2500 (JV-(3,5-dimeth-ylbenzoyl)-N-methyl-(D)-(4-phenylphenyl)-alanyl-L-tryptophan) was examined in conscious spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) and Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats. The initial vasodepressor response to endothelin-1 (ET-1) and IRL 1620 (0.5 nmol/kg, i.v.) was significantly reduced in conscious WKY rats pretreated with IRL 2500 (10 mg/ kg, i.v.). The secondary and sustained pressor response to these agonists, however, was not altered by IRL 2500. The linear peptide antagonist BQ 788, although also inhibiting the initial depressor responses, attenuated the secondary pressor response to IRL 1620 and potentiated the pressor response to ET-1. IRL 2500, administered alone to naive conscious SHRs produced a - 37 ± 8 mm Hg reduction in blood pressure, followed by a secondary pressor response (+ 38 ± 7 mm Hg) with a duration exceeding 90 min. Pretreatment with either the ETA-selective antagonist BQ 123 or with the nonselective ETA/ ETB antagonist SB 209670 resulted in marked potentiation of the depressor response and significant attenuation of the secondary rise in pressure. These results indicate that in the conscious rat, IRL 2500 acts as an ETB1-selective antagonist. In addition, ETA receptor activation contributes to the sustained pressor response to IRL 2500 in the conscious SHR. Furthermore, IRL 2500 may also exert a non-ET receptor-mediated vasodilatation in the SHR.


A review of colonoscopy and polypectomy is done, since its origins. A brief description of techniques and medication is presented, as well as indications, limitations and contraindications.


similar to those on MRI with the ''sausage in a tube'' appearance. On CT, findings were interpreted as metastatic ovarian cancer in 2 women. Path showed poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma in 9/10, mixed müllerian tumor in 1/10; invasion of adjacent uterus, ovary, cul de sac, mesentery/peritoneum or bowel was present in 6/10 women. Conclusions: Primary tubal carcinoma usually presents at an advanced stage. In our series a prospective diagnosis was not made on CT or US. However, the correct diagnosis was suggested based on MRI in our small sample with similar findings in all cases: a solid enhancing adnexal mass partly or completely located within a dilated fallopian tube.


An armored T-28 aircraft was used to make observations of the interiors of Swiss hailstorms during the summers of 1982 and 1983. The main objective was to determine the presence of any accumulations of supercooled raindrops in the so-called "Big Drop Zone." The principal finding was that extremely few supercooled raindrops were found in the Swiss storms. On the other hand, concentrations of ice particles, principally in the form of graupel, were of the order of 10^3-10^5 m^-3. Since there were so few supercooled raindrops, attempts to glaciate them by seeding in order to reduce the potential for hail do not appear to be appropriate. The observations strongly suggest that an ice process is the predominant precipitation mechanism.


Premix membrane emulsification is a promising method to produce colloidal lipid carrier systems, e.g. triglyceride
nanoemulsions, with small particle sizes and narrow particle size distributions for intravenous administration. The
stability of these systems can be affected by Ostwald ripening. The process of Ostwald ripening in emulsions of
medium chain triglycerides stabilized with sucrose laurate was monitored by particle size measurements with photon
correlation spectroscopy. Two different preparation methods were used and the concentration of free emulsifier
measured to learn more about the influencing parameters.

The concentration of free sucrose laurate turned out to be the main influencing parameter and should be about zero to
minimize Ostwald ripening in the emulsions.


It was reported that substance P had beneficial effects in the healing of acute tendon injury. However, the relationship between substance P and degenerative tendinopathy development remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of substance P in the pathogenesis of tendinopathy. Healthy and tendinopathy tendon were harvested from human and tenocytes were cultured individually. The expression levels of genes associated with tendinopathy were compared. Next, substance P was exogenously administered to the healthy tenocyte and the effect was evaluated. The results showed that tendinopathy tenocytes had higher levels of COL3A1, MMP1, COX2, SCX, ACTA2, and substance P gene expression compared to healthy tenocytes. Next, substance P treatment on the healthy tenocyte displayed similar changes to that of the tendinopathy tenocytes. These differences between the two groups were also determined by Western blot. Additionally, cells with substance P had the tendinopathy change morphologically although cellular proliferation was significantly higher compared to that of the control group. In conclusion, substance P enhanced cellular proliferation, but concomitantly increased immature collagen (type 3 collagen). Substance P plays a crucial role in tendinopathy development and could be a future therapeutic target for treatment.


Mesoporous TiO2 with highly crystalline pore wall has an enormous potential for applications in photocatalysis, catalyst support, drug delivery, etc. However, with the sintering temperature increasing, the crystallinity of the pore wall increases while the mesopore structure tends to collapse. In this work, we presented a novel strategy for creating highly crystalline mesoporous TiO2 (MT800) by using carbon to protect the pore structure at elevated temperature. The structural characterization indicates that MT800 has highly crystalline anatase phase and processes high surface area. The photocatalysis performance was evaluated by organic degradation and the results show that MT800 has superior photocatalysis activity to the TiO2 (T800) calcined at 800°C without carbon, because of the synergies of crystallinity and mesostructure.


Global Internet users increasingly rely on virtual private network (VPN) services to preserve their privacy, circumvent censorship, and access geo-filtered content. Due to their own lack of technical sophistication and the opaque nature of VPN clients, however, the vast majority of users have limited means to verify a given VPN service's claims along any of these dimensions. We design an active measurement system to test various infrastructural and privacy aspects of VPN services and evaluate 62 commercial providers. Our results suggest that while commercial VPN services seem, on the whole, less likely to intercept or tamper with user traffic than other, previously studied forms of traffic proxying, many VPNs do leak user traffic---perhaps inadvertently---through a variety of means. We also find that a non-trivial fraction of VPN providers transparently proxy traffic, and many misrepresent the physical location of their vantage points: 5--30% of the vantage points, associated with 10% of the providers we study, appear to be hosted on servers located in countries other than those advertised to users.


Consumers frequently consume hedonic products together with other consumers and derive value from this shared experience. This article investigates the impact of shared consumption, a type of social influence that determines the enjoyment of joint experiences, in the context of a typical hedonic product: movies. The authors argue that this type of influence has important consequences for the diffusion curves of hedonic goods that are consumed together and the effectiveness of advertising in generating launch and postlaunch sales. An empirically validated agent-based model simulates the U.S. motion picture market, with new movies launching, competing, and exiting. The agent-based model serves as a means to demonstrate the essential role of shared consumption for explaining movie life cycles and tests how advertising expenditures accelerate and/or acquire movies' demand in markets with varying levels of shared consumption. The results provide key theoretical insights for the new product diffusion of hedonic products and help managers predict the financial consequences of their strategic decisions.


Summary The Upper Ordovician (late Caradoc-Ashgill) Point Leamington Formation is essentially composed of fine-grained, thin-bedded turbidites that accumulated in a deep marine environment below wave-base. Immediately underlying, and apparently conformable with the formation, there are about 120 m of red, red-green and grey bioturbated cherts overlain by late Llandeilo-early Caradoc black shales—these argillaceous, 'pelagic', sediments conformably overlie about 800 m of mafic pillow lavas and flows of the Lawrence Head Volcanics (middle Exploits Group). The Point Leamington Formation, up to 2200 m thick, together with the mainly fine-grained, thin-bedded turbidities, contain locally abundant wet-sediment deformation in horizons up to tens of metres thick, although most of the thickest horizons appear to represent multiple events. Conglomerate-filled gullies, channels and canyons occur within the finer grained Point Leamington Formation facies-associations. The formation is overlain, gradationally, by the deep-water conglomeratic Goldson Formation, interpreted as submarine canyon deposits; with the Ordovician-Silurian boundary occurring towards the top of the Point Leamington Formation or towards the base of the Goldson Formation, based on the presence of lower Llandovery corals in limestone boulders within an olistostrome near the gradational boundary between these formations. Wet-sediment deformation occurs as: (i) coherent folded layers; (ii) semi-coherent folded layers; (iii) chaotic balled or brecciated sediments; (iv) boudinaged layers; (v) faulted layers, involving normal, reverse and thrust faults, and best seen on a micro- to meso-scopic scale. Clastic dykes, other liquefaction and fluidization structures, together with convolute lamination, also occur either isolated from, or in association with, the above listed wet-sediment deformation styles. The wet-sediment deformation generally appears to be related to gravity-controlled slope failure, in surface to near-surface mass failure or at unspecified depth of burial, on a margin with a regional south to south-eastward downslope dip, although some folds may be interpreted as thrust-related (tectonic) deformation in wet sediments. The overall stratigraphy, sedimentology and structure suggests Upper Ordovician to Lower Silurian deep marine sedimentation in small fault-bounded and fault-controlled basins, some of which contained relatively coarse-grained, small-diameter, submarine fans. Regional considerations are consistent with the succession having accumulated in a thrust imbricate system, active during sedimentation, with new evidence to indicate Ashgill-Llandovery volcanism and magmatism that can be related to initial subduction followed by possible crustal extension. Sometime during the Ashgill, subduction appears to have ceased as all the intervening oceanic crust was consumed and volcanic arc activity shut down. During late Ashgill-Llandovery time, thin continental crust of the 'Gander' terrane to the east then underplated the 'Dunnage Zone', probably leading to foreland basin development, analogous to the plate tectonic processes in the Banda Arc today. Thus, there was a reversal of subduction polarity from the eastwards subduction of pre-Caradoc times, such that the remnant backarc basin became, for a while, a forearc as the wide backarc or marginal basin floored, at least in part by oceanic crust, telescoped. Contemporaneous sinistral shear appears to have been important in the late Ordovician-Silurian, during which time unspecified 'suspect' terranes may have slipped in and out of the Dunnage Zone. The contemporaneous Ashgill-Llandovery bimodal igneous activity can be explained by phases of crustal transtension as re-entrants in opposing plates slid past each other, followed by phases of transpression to re-activate the thrust imbricate system.


Red cells from LK sheep represent an important paradigm for control of KCl cotransport activity, as well as being important to sheep erythroid function. A previous report (Godart et al., 1997) suggested that autologous plasma markedly inhibits red cell KCC activity and identified the presence of the bicarbonate/CO2 buffer system as the probable cause. Findings were restricted, however, to red cells from patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) swollen anisotonically and carried out at a very high O2 tension (c.700 mmHg). It was therefore important to investigate the generality of the effect described and whether it was also relevant to the two main stimuli for KCC activity encountered most often by circulating red cells in vivo - low pH in active muscle beds during exercise and high urea concentrations in the renal medulla during antidiuresis. Results confirm that inhibition was significant in response to anisotonic swelling with KCC activity in MOPS-buffered saline (MBS) vs. bicarbonate-buffered saline (BBS) and in MBS vs. plasma both reduced (by about 25 and 50%, respectively). By contrast, however, inhibition was absent at low pH and in high concentrations of urea. These findings suggest therefore that red cell KCC activity represents an important membrane permeability in vivo in red cells suspended in plasma. They are relevant, in particular, to sheep red cells, and may also be important by extension to those of other species and to the abnormal red cells found in human patients with SCD.


Humulus Lupulus L. (Hop) is a dioecious and perennial plant of Cannabaceae that important medical and industrial plant in the world , which has traditional uses in treatment insomnia ,restlessness , nervous tensions , irritability , charleyhorse , etc. The reportage antibacterial and antifungal effects and potentially giving them anticancer of plant . There is a method for determining of alfa and beta-acids for medicinal uses of hops extracts in pharmacopeias such as BP and USP, but it takes more times and has low precision and accuracy in analysis data. Thus it is useless for many industries. 2-Methyl-3-buten-2-ol, myrcene and alfa-humulene are three main constituents in essential oil part of Hops extracts were determined in the extract directly as simultaneous analysis. The method was based on internal standard by Gas chromatography. Determined amount of the extract was shaking with determined amount of dichloromethane and after separation of the dichloromethanic phase, the internal standard was added and injected to a temperature programmed GC. Concentration of main fractions like as 2-Methyl-3-buten-2-ol, myrcene and alfa-humulene were determined by internal standard method and with calibration curve of each substance. The method was validated and used for comparing some Iranian and other countries Hops extracts. This study revealed that the concentration of 2-methyl-3-buten2-ol, myrcene and alfa-humulene in Hops extract was 12.6, 30.6 and 2.5 mg/100ml respectively , also considering validation percentage of precision 2.8%, 3.9% and 29.9% respectively .


ABSTRACTMechanical and electromagnetic interference (process noise) is common in seismic data recorded to monitor and characterize induced microseismicity during industrial injection and production operations. We have developed a case study of adaptive cancellation to reduce observed process noise in passive seismic data recorded during the 2014 injection test at the CO2 Lab research site in Spitsbergen. Our results suggest that adaptive cancellation is effective when major sources of interference are readily identifiable. Adaptive cancellation requires these sources to be instrumented separately but conceivably with low-cost sensors. We suggest that adaptive cancellation should be considered routinely when planning microseismic monitoring operations when strong industrial or anthropogenic noise is anticipated. Interference suppression algorithms are sufficiently simple that they could be implemented in acquisition systems to avoid archival of noise reference data.


In the last three years, more than 70,000 scientific articles have been published in peer reviewed journals on the application of histochemistry in the biomedical field: most of them did not appear in strictly histochemical journals, but in others dealing with cell and molecular biology, medicine or biotechnology. This proves that histochemistry is still an active and innovative discipline with relevance in basic and applied biological research, but also demonstrates that especially the small histochemical journals should likely reconsider their scopes and strategies to preserve their authorship. A review of the last three years volumes of the European Journal of Histochemistry, taken as an example of a long-time established small journal, confirmed that the published articles were widely heterogeneous in their topics and experimental models, as in this journal's tradition. This strongly suggests that a journal of histochemistry should keep its role as a forum open to an audience as broad as possible, publishing papers on cell and tissue biology in a wide variety of models. This will improve knowledge of the basic mechanisms of development and differentiation, while helping to increase the number of potential authors since scientists who generally do not use histochemistry in their research will find hints for the applications of histochemical techniques to novel still unexplored subjects.


The levels of hormones of hypothalamo-hypophyseal-adrenal system were measured in 14 10-14 year old children with infantile cerebral paralysis (ICP) with central catecholaminergic motor insufficiency. Contents of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), hydrocortisone (HC), somatotropic hormone, prolactin (P) were examined before and during Nacome administration (62.5 mg once daily in the morning). 110 patients of the same age with ICP and 18 children with acquired encephalopathy (EP) formed the control group. The elevations of ACTH, HC and P were revealed in spastic forms of ICP. Meanwhile nearly normal hormonal levels were observed in hyperkinetic forms of ICP and EP. The more pronounced effect was noted in "dopamine-dependent" children in which the drug's administration resulted in normalization of clinical and biochemical indices. Hyperkinetic phenomena revealed the connection between the character of neuromotor dyskinesias and the state of hypothalamo-hypophyseal-adrenal axis which is regulated by dopamine. The data obtained show hypofunction of dopaminergic neurotransmitter cerebral systems in patients with ICP that plays important pathogenetic role in development of disease with systemic manifestations.


The best hope of controlling the herpes simplex virus type 1 and type 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2) pandemic is the development of an effective vaccine. However, in spite of several clinical trials, starting as early as 1920s, no vaccine has been proven sufficiently safe and efficient to warrant commercial development. In recent years, great strides in cellular and molecular immunology have stimulated creative efforts in controlling herpes infection and disease. However, before moving towards new vaccine strategy, it is necessary to answer two fundamental questions: (i) why past herpes vaccines have failed? (ii) Why the majority of HSV seropositive individuals (i.e., asymptomatic individuals) are naturally "protected" exhibiting few or no recurrent clinical disease, while other HSV seropositive individuals (i.e., symptomatic individuals) have frequent ocular, orofacial, and/or genital herpes clinical episodes? We recently discovered several discrete sets of HSV-1 symptomatic and asymptomatic epitopes recognized by CD4 + and CD8 + T cells from seropositive symptomatic versus asymptomatic individuals. These asymptomatic epitopes will provide a solid foundation for the development of novel herpes epitope-based vaccine strategy. Here we provide a brief overview of past clinical vaccine trials, outline current progress towards


We report a new case of solitary intestinal fibromatosis (SIF) in a neonate with intestinal obstruction in the first day of life. At the laparotomy was found to be due to a solid mass in the jejunum. A segmental jejunal resection with anastomosis was performed. Histologic examination showed a SIF. The postoperative course was excellent in contrast to cases of congenital fibromatosis with multiples lesions, which carries a poor prognosis.


We present a dc model to simulate the static performance of electrolyte-gated organic field-effect transistors. The channel current is expressed as charge drift transport under electric field. The charges accumulated in the channel are considered being contributed from voltage-dependent electric-double-layer capacitance. The voltage-dependent contact effect and short-channel effect are also taken into account in this model. A straightforward and efficient methodology is presented to extract the model parameters. The versatility of this model is discussed as well. The model is verified by the good agreement between simulation and experimental data.


Aim: The purpose of the study was to assess the results of topical use of gentian violet (GV), among the babies with exomphalos major in our institute. Methods: The study was carried out retrospectively in a tertiary care hospital during the period from 2005 to 2010 inclusive. Exomphalos patients were classified as major if diameter was >5 cm and/or had liver in the sac as content. These patients were initially preferentially treated conservatively with topical 1% GV over the sac resultig a ventral hernia to be repaired later. Results: A total of 84 exomphalos patients were admitted during the study period. Among them, 37 neonates (26 males and 11 females) had exomphalos major (EM). Ten of them were prenatally diagnosed. The mean gestational age at delivery was 35 weeks, and mean birth weight was 2.1 Kg. Mean age at presentation was 3.7 days. Thirty (81%) had other associated anomalies, mostly cardiac (66.6%) and pulmonary (46.6%). Ten patients with EM needed early operation because of ruptured sac, and other anomalies. There were 2 pre-operative and 8 postoperative deaths in this subgroup. Twenty seven patients were treated conservatively, among these 4 died of overwhelming sepsis. Remaining 23 patients left the hospital with a ventral hernia planned to be repaired at 1 year of age. Overall mortality in our series was 37.83%. Conclusion: Initial conservative treatment of the sac with GV results in satisfactory outcome for infants with EM who cannot undergo immediate closure.


There is much concern about the potential for invasive species to enter the only marine region left with no known exotics - the Southern Ocean. Attention has focused on planktonic larval travel, shipping (ballast water and hull fouling) and marine debris as transport mechanisms. There is, however, another source of transport for biota across the Polar Frontal Zone - hitchhiking on megafauna, such as seals. In this study we report the frequency and burden of barnacles Lepaa australis attached to Antarctic fur seals Arctocephalus gazella coming ashore to breed at Bird Island, South Georgia. In the austral summers of 2001/2002, 2002/2003 and 2003/2004, female fur seals with barnacles attached arrived at Bird Island in late November/early December and peaked in mid-December. About 4 % of female fur seals carried barnacles, with the mean burden being - 10 barnacles. Pedunculate barnacles seem, therefore, to be entering the Southern Ocean in large numbers every year in the South Georgia region and probably elsewhere. We also found adult barnacles attached to a macaroni penguin and (perhaps the furthest and fastest travelling marine larvae) young stages (cyprids) on the leg ring of a wandering albatross. Barnacle plates provide a hard substratum to which other fouling marine organisms can attach, and thus travel as secondary hitch-hikers. We found polychaete worms (Spirorbidae) and a bryozoan colony (Ceneporella antarctica) encrusting a stalked barnacle attached to a pycnogonan (Collosendeis scotti). We suggest that fouling hitch-hiking barnacles (on migrating megafauna) offer a considerable natural mechanism for potential colonisers of Antarctic waters, This is of particular importance at the current time given the context of strong regional warming in the Scotia Arc-Antarctic Peninsula region.


Sorbitol plays an important role in carbohydrate translocation in Rosaceae fruit trees such as apple, pear, and peach and may also contribute to the stress response as a compatible solute. Leaf disc experiments showed enhanced sorbitol accumulation under salt, osmotic, and low-temperature stresses. Northern blot analysis indicated a higher level of mRNA encoding sorbitol-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (S6PDH), a key enzyme in sorbitol biosynthesis, under stress conditions. Thus, sorbitol accumulation under stress may reflect an increase in sorbitol biosynthesis related to expression of the S6PDH gene. Abscisic acid (ABA) also increased in apple leaves under low-temperature conditions. Further investigation revealed that the addition of ABA enhanced S6PDH expression in apple leaves, indicating that S6PDH is an ABA-inducible gene. These results suggest that ABA-mediated S6PDH plays a role in sorbitol biosynthesis in various stress responses and is involved in photo-synthate translocation.


This clinical report describes a combined lateral-crestal approach to elevate the sinus floor when placing implants on a wide maxillary posterior ridge. The buccally enlarged osteotomy broadens vision of practitioners and facilitates access of instruments in the sinus. Compared to the traditional lateral approach of sinus lift, the proposed technique may offer a more conservative treatment modality. And a clinical study with sufficient subjects and long term follow up is needed to validate the potential and limitations of the proposed technique.


Let G be a finite group. The table of marks of G arises from a characterization of the permutation representations of G by certain numbers of fixed points. It provides a compact description of the subgroup lattice of G and enables explicit calculations in the Burnside ring of G. In this article we introduce a method for constructing the table of marks of G from tables of marks of proper subgroups of G. An implementation of this method is available in the GAP language. These computer programs are used to construct the table of marks of the sporadic simple Mathieu group M24. The final section describes how to derive information about the structure of G from its table of marks via the investigation of certain Mobius functions and the idempotents of the Burnside ring of G. Tables with detailed information about M24 and other groups are included.


Aim of this study was to compare Holstein-Friesian (HF) and Rendena (RE) cattle breeds for milk coagulation and composition traits predicted by mid-infrared spectroscopy using official milk recording samples of 28 single-breed dairy herds of northeast Italy. Individual milk samples (n = 3,622) from 1,786 cows were analyzed for rennet coagulation time (RCT, min), curd firmness (a30, mm), and composition traits. A linear mixed model was used to study the effect of breed and environmental factors on RCT and a30. Breed was the most important source of variation for coagulation traits. In particular, milk from RE coagulated earlier and showed a firmer curd than milk from HF cows. Rennet coagulation time was shortest at the beginning of lactation, and a30 was better at the beginning and end of lactation. In conclusion, RE produced milk more suitable for cheese processing than that of HF. Clotting characteristics of RE breed should be considered when developing strategies useful for the valorization of this local genetic resource.


Although major advances in the treatment of cancer have resulted in improved survival rates, serious infections continue to be a major source of morbidity and mortality in the immunocompromised patient. Patients may experience prolonged periods of bone marrow suppression accompanied by neutropenia as a result of the underlying disease, and as a result of treatment with myelosuppressive chemotherapy, intensive radiotherapy, or both. Neutropenia is the single most important factor predisposing patients with cancer to infection. The risk of developing infection increases as neutropenia persists, and this risk is consistently greater at lower neutrophil levels. Infection in a patient with neutropenia is regarded as an emergency situation requiring immediate action; progression of localized to disseminated infection leading to sepsis may be so rapid that, if not detected early, mortality is high. In the presence of neutropenia, the manifestation of infection leading to life-threatening septicemia is altered. The usual signs and symptoms of infection may be minimal or absent, hindering early and accurate diagnosis of infection. To provide a means of early and more accurate diagnosis of infection in the patient with neutropenia, a nursing protocol has been developed that incorporates preventive interventions, guidelines for early detection of impending infection, and measures to control infection.


This paper investigates the impact of parental education on child health, exploiting a compulsory schooling law implemented in China in 1986 that extended schooling from 6 to 9 years. It finds that it is maternal, rather than paternal, education that matters most for child health. There are also important differences in the effect according to child gender. An additional year of mother's education raises boys height-for-age by 0.163 standard deviations, whilst there is no statistically significant effect on girls height. Parental education appears to have little effect on weight-for-age of children. Estimated effects on height are driven by the rural sample, where an additional year of mother's education raises boys height for age by 0.228 standard deviations and lowers the probability of a boy being classified as stunted by 6.6 percentage points. Results therefore suggest that - at least in rural areas - son preference in China has additional impacts beyond the sex-ratio at birth.


This article introduces the Marshall–Olkin generalized Erlang-truncated exponential (MOGETE) distribution as a generalization of the Erlang-truncated exponential (ETE) distribution. The hazard rate of the new distribution could be increasing, decreasing or constant. Explicit-closed form mathematical expressions of some of the statistical and reliability properties of the new distribution were given and the method of maximum likelihood estimation was used to estimate the model parameters. The usefulness and flexibility of the new distribution was illustrated with two real and uncensored lifetime data-sets. The MOGETE distribution with a smaller goodness of fit statistics always emerged as a better candidate for the data-sets than the ETE, Exp Fréchet and Exp Burr XII distributions.


The primary purpose of this study has been to validate the in vitro graft-vs.-host reaction as an experimental system. Time-dose studies have been presented for cells obtained from spleen, thymus, cortisone-treated thymus, inguinal lymph node, mesenteric lymph node, thoracic duct, and bone marrow cells. Both the degree of splenomegaly and the onset of spleen enlargement were found to be dependent on the number and source of cells tested. The effect of several immunosuppressive agents was examined. Amantadine was found to suppress completely the graft-vs.-host reaction in vitro when present at a concentration of 75 µg/ml. Pretreatment of effector cells with mitomycin C prevented their subsequent ability to cause a graft-vs.-host reaction. The effect of X irradiation on immunocompetence of spleen cells in vitro paralleled the known effect of irradiation on in vivo immunocompetence. Preimmunization did not increase the number or effectiveness of immunocompetent cells when measured under standard in vitro conditions. Preimmunization did, however, permit persistence of immunocompetence after immunosuppressive doses of X irradiation. Studies using congenic lines, moreover, indicated that the preimmunization effect could be demonstrated in strain combinations differing only in factors determined by the H-2 complex of genes. A weak graft-vs.-host reaction could be detected in strain combinations not involving differences at the H-2 locus. The potential of the in vitro graft-vs.-host reaction as a highly reproducible, quantifiable, internally controlled, and experimentally accessible system for study of such critical problems as cell differentiation and cell interactions is discussed.


Climate change is predicted to hamper crop production due to precipitation deficits and warmer temperatures inducing both water stress and increasing herbivory due to more abundant insect pests. Consequently, crop yields will be impacted simultaneously by abiotic and biotic stressors. Extensive yield losses due to such climate change stressors might, however, be mitigated by ecosystem services such as insect pollination. We examined the single and combined effects of water stress, insect herbivory and insect pollination on faba bean yield components and above‐ and belowground plant biomass under realistic field conditions. We used rainout shelters to simulate a scenario in line with climate change projections, with adequate water supply at sowing followed by a long period without precipitation. This induced a gradually increasing water stress, culminating around crop flowering and yield formation. We found that gradually increasing water stress combined with insect herbivory by aphids interactively shaped yield in faba beans. Individually, aphid herbivory reduced yield by 79% and water stress reduced yield by 52%. However, the combined effect of water stress and aphid herbivory reduced yield less (84%) than the sum of the individual stressor effects. In contrast, insect pollination increased yield by 68% independently of water availability and insect herbivory. Our results suggest that yield losses can be greatly reduced when both water stress and insect herbivory are reduced simultaneously. In contrast, reducing only one stressor has negligible benefits on yield as long as the crop is suffering from the other stressor. We call for further exploration of interactions among ecosystem services and biotic and abiotic stressors that simulate realistic conditions under climate change.


This study focuses on the perception of numerosity of item sets placed in retail displays. Previous studies have demonstrated that the item sets' perceived numerosity decreases as the number of polygonal shapes placed in a panel behind a display increases. Such a result was explained by a non-spatial clustering phenomenon exerted by the shapes. Our research reveals the perceptual mechanisms underlying the described effect. Using an eye-tracking procedure, we highlight that upon augmenting the number of polygonal shapes in the decision-making context- (a) there is a significant decrease in the number of total fixations per display; (b) there is an underestimation of the perceived numerosity of item sets involved. The findings suggest that the mere presence of visual shapes can alter perception generating complex objects or "super-items", which tend to perceptually replace entire item sets. We also propose managerial implications in terms of category management and merchandising.


In contemporary business process management software, the context in which a process is executed is largely static. While the execution of the process itself may be flexible, on-the-fly changes to the context, i.e., physical or logical surroundings, are either limited or impossible. This paper presents concepts for enabling context switching at runtime for the object-aware process management paradigm. Such context switches are enabled at various granularity levels, such as shifting entire process instances to different systems, or migrating sub-processes between different parent processes. We further contribute the algorithms employed in our proof-of-concept implementation and discuss use cases in which context switching capabilities can be utilized. Implementing these advanced concepts helps showcase the maturity of data-centric BPM.


This paper examines the incentive effects of division of labor on worker effort, in the absence of the scale effects studied by Adam Smith. The game-theoretic model gives two results. (1) Suppose workers are identical and risk-neutral, and there is stochastic observation of group output by the firm offering compensations subject to some worker-participation constraint. Then the firm can arrive at the same first-best outcome with or without division of labor. However, if workers are risk-averse, division of labor can give the firm strictly greater profit. (2) A deepening division of labor magnifies this positive incentive effect; but if workers are heterogeneous, or if there are certain informational imperfections in the production process, this incentive advantage of division of labor could be impaired or even reversed. The first result may help explain the emergence of division of labor in the early stages of industrialization without relying on the Smithian advantages, which are also present in some labor deployment schemes without division of labor. The second result throws light on some recent anecdotal evidence of a shallowing division of labor in some areas of modern manufacturing. These factors affecting the efficiency of division of labor are then further discussed in the light of recent empirical findings on division of labor and team work, such as those in Katzenbach and Smith (1993). Copyright (c) 1997 Massachusetts Institute of Technology.


Purpose: The ETV6 gene has been reported to be fused to a multitude of partner genes in various hematologic malignancies with 12p13 aberrations. Cytogenetic analysis of six cases of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia revealed a novel recurrent t(8;12)(q13;p13), suggesting involvement of ETV6. Experimental Design: Fluorescence in situ hybridization was used to confirm the involvement of ETV6 in the t(8;12)(q13;p13) and reverse transcription-PCR was used to identify the ETV6 partner gene. Detailed immunologic characterization was done, and owing to their lineage promiscuity, the leukemic blast cells were analyzed for NOTCH1 mutations. Results: We have identified a novel recurrent t(8;12)(q13;p13), which results in a fusion between the transcriptional repressor ETV6 (TEL) and the transcriptional coactivator NCOA2 (TIF2) in six cases of childhood leukemia expressing both T-lymphoid and myeloid antigens. The ETV6-NCOA2 transcript encodes a chimeric protein that consists of the pointed protein interaction motif of ETV6 that is fused to the COOH terminus of NCOA2, including the cyclic AMP–responsive element binding protein–binding protein (CBP) interaction and the AD2 activation domains. The absence of the reciprocal NCOA2-ETV6 transcript in one of the cases suggests that the ETV6-NCOA2 chimeric protein and not the reciprocal NCOA2-ETV6 is responsible for leukemogenesis. In addition, ETV6-NCOA2 leukemia shows a high frequency of heterozygous activating NOTCH1 mutations, which disrupt the heterodimerization or the PEST domains. Conclusions: The ETV6-NCOA2 fusion may define a novel subgroup of acute leukemia with T-lymphoid and myeloid features, which is associated with a high prevalence of NOTCH1 mutations.


This is a study of 42 developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America in which we first examine the impact of trade liberalisation on economic growth, investment share of GDP, openness, trade balance and current accounts (as percentages of GDP). Both panel data and country by country data are used to measure the impact of liberalisation on domestic economic growth measured in PPP terms from the data available in Heston, Summers and Aten (2001) study. Domestic economic growth is often positively related to liberalisation for many countries of our sample. Next we analyse the impact of growth on trade balance and current account to examine whether higher economic growth due to liberalisation leads to adverse effect on balance of trade. Trade balance is normalised by GDP to take into consideration different sizes of countries. We also allow control variables in both sets of regressions such as terms of trade, advanced countries? growth rates, liberalisation and debt related variables. The balance of payments constrained growth model uses foreign exchange constraint that limits growth and using the Harrod multiplier, Thirlwall and Hussain derived a growth equation which is apparently constrained by balance of payments. We use this model in the first part as a behavioural equation and establish that liberalisation promotes growth and such output growth in pre-liberalisation period is lower than that in post- liberalisation period. Panel data of 42 countries, regional panel for three regions (fixed effect and random effect models) and country by country analysis (OLS regression) is conducted. These relationships suggest that liberalisation promotes growth but growth itself has negative effect on trade balance for a large majority of countries. This study uses the latest available data on real GDP, growth rates of individual and advanced countries and examines the relationship between liberalisation and growth, liberalisation and trade balance and also the impact of exchange rate or terms of trade policies on trade balance. One of the models in a cross-section regression study makes use of political and security variables and concludes that the convergence or ?catchingup? hypothesis is supported and extreme political repression tends to constrain growth. One unit change in liberalisation index leads on average to1.62 percentage point change in growth rates on average, ceteris paribus.


The use of coding error control is an integral part of the design of modern communication systems. Capacity-approaching codes such as turbo and LDPC codes, discovered or rediscovered in the past decade, offset near-Shannon-limit performance on the AWGN channel with rather low implementation complexity and are therefore increasingly being applied for error control in various fields of data communications. This article describes a generic multilevel modulation and coding scheme based on the use of turbo-like, or LDPC codes for DSL system. It is shown that such codes provide significant gains in performance and allow an increase in data rate and/or loop reach that can be instrumental to the widespread deployment of future DSL services. Such techniques are also suitable for general multilevel modulation system in other application areas.


A quantitative descriptor of local atomic environments is often required for the analysis of atomistic data. Descriptors of the local atomic environment ideally provide physically and chemically intuitive insight. This requires descriptors that are low-dimensional representations of the interplay between atomic geometry and electronic bond formation. The moments of the local density of states (DOS) relate the atomic structure to the electronic structure and bond chemistry. This makes it possible to construct electronic structure based descriptors of the local atomic environment that have an immediate relation to the binding energy. We show that a low-dimensional moments-descriptor is sufficient as the lowest moments, calculated from the closest atomic neighborhood, carry the largest contributions to the local bond energy. Here, we construct moments-descriptors that project the space of local atomic environments on a 2-D map. We discuss in detail the separation of various atomic environments and their connections in the map. The distances in the map may be related to energy differences between local atomic environments as we show by analytic considerations based on analytic bond-order potentials (BOP) and by numerical assessment using TB and density-functional theory calculations. Possible applications of the proposed moments-descriptors include the classification of local atomic environments in molecular-dynamic simulations, the selection of structure sets for developing and testing interatomic potentials, as well as the construction of descriptors for machine-learning applications.


Performance is a crucial attribute for most software, making performance analysis an important software engineering task. The difficulty is that modern applications are challenging to analyse for performance. Many profiling techniques used in real-world software development struggle to provide useful results when applied to large-scale object-oriented applications. There is a substantial body of research into software performance generally but currently there exists no survey of this research that would help identify approaches useful for object-oriented software. To provide such a review we performed a systematic mapping study of empirical performance analysis approaches that are applicable to object-oriented software. Using keyword searches against leading software engineering research databases and manual searches of relevant venues we identified over 5,000 related articles published since January 2000. From these we systematically selected 253 applicable articles and categorised them according to ten facets that capture the intent, implementation and evaluation of the approaches. Our mapping study results allow us to highlight the main contributions of the existing literature and identify areas where there are interesting opportunities. We also find that, despite the research including approaches specifically aimed at object-oriented software, there are significant challenges in providing actionable feedback on the performance of large-scale object-oriented applications.


SIR,-It was heartening to see in Mr. N. S. Painter's article on diverticular disease (24 August, p. 475) his allusion to our modern refined diet in the aetiology of this condition. In this connexion, and with further reference to our previous letter (2 March, p. 579) raising the question of intestinal transit times in Africans living on unrefined maize, a small sample of these transit times has now been completed, through the kindness of Dr. J. P. Bostock, radiologist to the Eshowe and Empargeni Hospitals in Zululand, who has been helped by Dr. W. E. G. Butler, of the latter hospital. Standard doses of barium were given to two groups of these tribal Africans: (1) Six farm labourers on their usual diet of unrefined maize; and (2) six patients in the wards of the Empargeni Hospital, on a similar diet, but with a slightly higher protein content. Both groups were subjected to daily radiographic examinations to study the transit of the contrast medium. The results are shown in the Table.


The graph convolution network has received a lot of attention because it extends the convolution to non-Euclidean domains. However, the graph pooling method is still less concerned, which can learn coarse graph embedding to facilitate graph classification. Previous pooling methods were based on assigning a score to each node and then pooling only the highest-scoring nodes, which might throw away whole neighbourhoods of nodes and therefore information. Here, we proposed a novel pooling method UGPool with a new point-of-view on selecting nodes. UGPool learns node scores based on node features and uniformly pools neighboring nodes instead of top nodes in the score-space, resulting in a uniformly coarsened graph. In multiple graph classification tasks, including the protein graphs, the biological graphs and the brain connectivity graphs, we demonstrated that UGPool outperforms other graph pooling methods while maintaining high efficiency. Moreover, we also show that UGPool can be integrated with multiple graph convolution networks to effectively improve performance compared to no pooling.


Lip-reading is crucial to understand speech in challenging conditions. Neuroimaging investigations have revealed that lip-reading activates auditory cortices in individuals covertly repeating absent—but known—speech. However, in real-life, one usually has no detailed information about the content of upcoming speech. Here we show that during silent lip-reading of unknown speech, activity in auditory cortices entrains more to absent speech than to seen lip movements at frequencies below 1 Hz. This entrainment to absent speech was characterized by a speech-to-brain delay of 50–100 ms as when actually listening to speech. We also observed entrainment to lip movements at the same low frequency in the right angular gyrus, an area involved in processing biological motion. These findings demonstrate that the brain can synthesize high-level features of absent unknown speech sounds from lip-reading that can facilitate the processing of the auditory input. Such a synthesis process may help explain well-documented bottom-up perceptual effects.


Many secure communication libraries used by distributed systems, such as SSL, TLS, and Kerberos, fail to make a clear distinction between the authentication, session, and communication layers. In this paper we introduce CEDAR, the secure communication library used by the Condor High Throughput Computing software, and present the advantages to a distributed computing system resulting from CEDAR's separation of these layers. Regardless of the authentication method used, CEDAR establishes a secure session key, which has the flexibility to be used for multiple capabilities. We demonstrate how a layered approach to security sessions can avoid round-trips and latency inherent in network authentication. The creation of a distinct session management layer allows for optimizations to improve scalability by way of delegating sessions to other components in the system. This session delegation creates a chain of trust that reduces the overhead of establishing secure connections and enables centralized enforcement of system-wide security policies. Additionally, secure channels based upon UDP datagrams are often overlooked by existing libraries; we show how CEDAR's structure accommodates this as well. As an example of the utility of this work, we show how the use of delegated security sessions and other techniques inherent in CEDAR's architecture enables US CMS to meet their scalability requirements in deploying Condor over large-scale, wide-area grid systems.


&NA; This series of review articles outlines the complex cause of HIV-related cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) particularly the interactions of viral factors, complications of antiviral therapy such as metabolic derangement, and chronic systemic inflammation. These factors, directly stemming from chronic HIV infection, are important in the pathogenesis of HIV-related CVD. Addressing each issue has likely underpinned the improved morbidity and increased life expectancy enjoyed by patients in the modern era of HIV management. The global management of HIV-related CVD may, however, be simpler than previously imagined, as the disease likely follows a pathway shared by multiple systemic diseases. Other chronic systemic diseases, including diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and autoimmune disease, share numerous pathophysiological mechanisms with HIV and provoke similar cardiac complications. CVD risk management in patients living with HIV (PLHIV) may be optimized by drawing upon existing knowledge of chronic systemic diseases which may open up new concepts in treatment and address the current shortfalls in cardiovascular management of PLHIV.


Summary:  The nuclear factor‐κB (NF‐κB) pathway is a critical regulator of innate and adaptive immunity. Noncanonical K63‐linked polyubiquitination plays a key regulatory role in NF‐κB signaling pathways by functioning as a scaffold to recruit kinase complexes containing ubiquitin‐binding domains. Ubiquitination is balanced by deubiquitinases that cleave polyubiquitin chains and oppose the function of E3 ubiquitin ligases. Deubiquitinases therefore play an important role in the termination of NF‐κB signaling and the resolution of inflammation. In this review, we focus on NF‐κB regulation by deubiquitinases with an emphasis on A20 and CYLD. Deubiquitinases and the ubiquitin/proteasome components that regulate NF‐κB may serve as novel therapeutic targets for inflammatory diseases and cancer.


SUMMARY
Knowledge graphs are an increasingly common data structure for representing biomedical information. These knowledge graphs can easily represent heterogeneous types of information, and many algorithms and tools exist for querying and analyzing graphs. Biomedical knowledge graphs have been used in a variety of applications, including drug repurposing, identification of drug targets, prediction of drug side effects, and clinical decision support. Typically, knowledge graphs are constructed by centralization and integration of data from multiple disparate sources. Here, we describe BioThings Explorer, an application that can query a virtual, federated knowledge graph derived from the aggregated information in a network of biomedical web services. BioThings Explorer leverages semantically precise annotations of the inputs and outputs for each resource, and automates the chaining of web service calls to execute multi-step graph queries. Because there is no large, centralized knowledge graph to maintain, BioThings Explorer is distributed as a lightweight application that dynamically retrieves information at query time.

AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION
More information can be found at https://explorer.biothings.io, and code is available at https://github.com/biothings/biothings_explorer.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


Proprioception refers to the senses of body position, movement, force and effort. Previous studies have demonstrated workspace and direction-dependent differences in arm proprioceptive sensitivity within the horizontal plane. In addition, studies of reaching in the vertical plane have shown that proprioception plays a key role in anticipating arm configuration dependent effects of gravity. This suggests that proprioceptive sensitivity could vary with the direction of arm displacement relative to the gravitational vector, as well as with arm configuration. To test these hypotheses, and to characterize proprioception more generally, we assessed the direction-dependence and arm postural-dependence of proprioceptive sensitivity in 3D space using a novel robotic paradigm. A subject's right arm was coupled to a 7-df robot through a trough that stabilized the wrist and forearm, allowing for changes in configuration largely at the elbow and shoulder. Sensitivity was evaluated using a "same-different" task, where the subject's hand was moved 1–4 cm away from an initial "test" position to a 2nd "judgment" position. The proportion of trials where subjects responded "different" when the positions were different ("hit rate"), and where they responded "different" when the positions were the same, ("false alarm rate"), were used to calculate d', a measure of sensitivity derived from signal detection theory (SDT). Initially, a single initial arm posture was used and displacements were performed in six directions: upward, downward, forward, backward, leftward and rightward of the test position. In a follow-up experiment, data were obtained for four directions and two initial arm postures. As expected, sensitivity (d') increased monotonically with distance for all six directions. Sensitivity also varied between directions, particularly at position differences of 2 and 3 cm. Overall, sensitivity reached near maximal values in this task at 2 cm for the leftward/rightward directions, 3 cm for upward/forward and 4 cm for the downward/backward directions. In addition, when data were grouped together for opposing directions, sensitivity showed a dependence upon arm posture. These data suggest arm proprioceptive sensitivity is both anisotropic in 3D space and configuration-dependent, which has important implications for sensorimotor control of the arm and human-robot interactions.


Jealousy is a key emotion studied in the context of romantic relationships. One seminal study (Dijkstra, P., & Buunk, B. (1998). Jealousy as a function of rival characteristics: An evolutionary perspective. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24 (11), 1158–1166. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672982411003) investigated the interactions between a participant's gender and their reactions to the attractiveness or dominance of a romantic rival. In a vignette-based study, it was found that women's jealousy was more responsive than men's to a rival's attractiveness, whereas in contrast, the rival's dominance evoked more jealousy from men than from women. Here, we attempt to replicate these interactions in two samples (N = 339 and N = 456) and present subsequent meta-analyses (combined Ns = 5,899 and 4,038, respectively). These meta-analyses showed a small, significant effect of gender on jealousy provoked by rival attractiveness, but no such response to rival dominance. We discuss the potential reasons for these findings and future directions for research on jealousy and rival characteristics.


Studies on the determination of genetic divergence among genotypes are important tools in breeding programs, contributing to the identification of parents with considerable productive potential. However, little is known about the combinatorial capacity of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) accessions and its adaptation to the different regions of Brazil. The objective of this study was to evaluate the morpho-agronomic traits from 102 sweet potato accessions from the Germplasm Bank of Embrapa Hortaliças. The experiment was laid out as an augmented block design comprised of 102 treatments. Nineteen above ground traits were measured using descriptors for the respective parts. Estimated values of broad sense heritability were high for the traits mean branch length (95.75%), immature leaf color (85.06%), and predominant branch  color (90.57%). Coefficients of environmental variation were below 30.00% for all variables, except for branch weight (51.62%). The 102 clones analyzed presented broad genetic variability for the different traits evaluated, especially for branch weight, and branch length, and mature leaf color.


The industrialization of the agricultural sector has resolved, at least in Europe, United States and Japan, the thousand year-old problem of the lack of food. Unfortunately, during the last years the environmental limits of such an agriculture clearly exploded. Through our contribution we define the concepts of traditional and modernized styles of farming. We also hypothesize three future scenarios for modernized agriculture. We shall study in particular the "return of techniques" scenario that foresees the conversion to sustainability through the return of traditional techniques. In order to analyze this scenario, we shall introduce the Sraffian framework of the "reswitching of techniques" from the neo-ricardian theory (Sraffa 1960). Sraffa, within the "reswitching" framework, pointed out that a low-capital-intensive technique may be competitive both at a relatively low and high rate of profit. Finally, we shall show that, at least theoretically, it is possible that traditional agricultural techniques could be convenient in a context of both low and high profit level.


A systematic study was undertaken to assess the effects of the magnitude and nature of principal stress rotation on the cyclic resistance of sands. Test results over a range of α_σc and 〖∆α〗_σ indicate that that the weakest cyclic resistance at a given initial α_σc always correspond to 45° stress rotation, and for a given magnitude of stress rotation (fixed ∆α_σ) the liquefaction resistance generally depends on the magnitude of the torsional shear stress applied on the horizontal plane. A limited number of experiments were carried out to investigate the applicability of the Skempton & Henkel pore pressure formulations for generalized 3D initial stress states. Skempton's pore pressure parameter formulations for isotropic material have been extended to cross anisotropic materials, and it was shown that the principles are applicable even for cross anisotropic materials under generalized initial loading conditions.


Although price promotions have increased in both commercial use and quantity of academic research over the last decade, most of the attention has been focused on their effects on brand choice and brand sales. By contrast, little is known about the conditions under which price promotions expand short-run and long-run category demand, even though the benefits of category expansion can be substantial to manufacturers and retailers alike. This paper studies the category-demand effects of consumer price promotions across 560 consumer product categories over a 4-year period. The data describe national sales in Dutch supermarkets and cover virtually the entire marketing mix, i.e., prices, promotions, advertising, distribution, and new-product activity. We focus on the estimation of main effects (i.e., the dynamic category expansive impact of price promotions) as well as the moderating effects of marketing intensity and competition (both conduct and structure) on short- and long-run promotional effectiveness. The research design uses modern multivariate time-series analysis to disentangle short-run and long-run effects. First, we conduct a series of unit-root tests to determine whether or not category demand is stationary or evolving over time. The results are incorporated in the specification of vectorautoregressive models with exogenous variables (VARX models). The impulse-response functions derived from these VARX models provide estimates of the short- and long-term effects of price promotions on category demand. These estimates, in turn, are used as dependent variables in a series of second-stage regressions that assess the explanatory power of marketing intensity and competition. Several model validation tests support the robustness of the empirical findings. We present our results in the form of empirical generalizations on the main effects of price promotions on category demand in the short and the long run and through statistical tests on how these effects change with marketing intensity and competition. The findings generate an overall picture of the power and limitations of consumer price promotions in expanding category demand, as follows. Category demand is found to be predominantly stationary, either around a fixed mean or a deterministic trend. Although the total net short-term effects of price promotions are generally strong, with an average elasticity of 2.21 and a more conservative median elasticity of 1.75, they rarely exhibit persistent effects. Instead, the effects dissipate over a time period lasting approximately 10 weeks on average, and their long-term impact is essentially zero. By contrast, the successful introduction of new products into a category is more frequently associated with a permanent categorydemand increase. Several moderating effects on price-promotion effectiveness exist. More frequent promotions increase their effectiveness, but only in the short run. The use of nonprice advertising reduces the category-demand effects of price promotions, both in the short run and in the long run. Competitive structure matters as well: The less oligopolistic the category, the smaller the short-run effectiveness of price promotions. At the same time, we find that the dominant form of competitive reaction, either in price promotion or in advertising, is no reaction. Short-run category-demand effectiveness of price promotions is lower in categories experiencing major new-product introductions. Finally, both the short- and long-run price promotion effectiveness is higher in perishable product categories. The paper discusses several managerial implications of these empirical findings and suggests various avenues for future research. Overall, we conclude that the power of price promotions lies primarily in the preservation of the status quo in the category. (Category Demand; Empirical Generalizations; Long-Term Promotion Effects; Competitive Strategy; Marketing Mix; Econometric Models; Time-Series Analysis)


Public sector IT spending currently absorbs more than £17 billion of public spending annually in the UK. Under Labour, British expenditure in this area dwarfed that of any other European Union nation, with many contracts costing billions of £s and running for periods up to 18 years. The UK also has perhaps the most concentrated government IT market in the world. So the Treasury announcement of an effective freeze in central government IT spending has sent shock waves through a major private sector industry. Here Jerry Fishenden decodes what the new Conservative/Liberal Democrat government is seeking to do and why it has determined on such a radical stance.


SMK Kesehatan Surabaya is a vocational school that has two majors, which is nursing and pharmacy. Tracer study is one of elements of accreditation and used to determine academic policies especially in the preparation of the curriculum. Tracer study process in SMK Kesehatan Surabaya currently experiencing some problems, namely the questionnaire format that less informative, there has been no feedback from the graduate user and alumni, there has been no details data of graduate user, alumni data is less valid, data collection takes a long time and repeatedly, and the issue of data security is not guaranteed. The solution that can solve the problem is making tracer study applications to facilitate the implementation of tracer study, so data collection of alumni more accurate and quicker than before, there is feedback from the graduate user and alumni, as well as there is a report tracer study that used the stages of Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) which includes the step of system analysis, system design and system implementation. The result showed that based on testing, application that have been made can help in obtaining feedback from users graduates and the alumni and generate report the tracer study of tables and charts that will facilitate the SMK in determining policy, and as a reference to repair curriculum to improve the quality of alumni in the future.


Rhetoric is an engine of social discourse and the art charged with generating and swaying emotion. The history of rhetoric provides a continuous structure by which we can measure how emotions were understood, articulated, and mobilized under various historical circumstances and social contracts. This book is about how rhetoric in the West from Late Antiquity to the later Middle Ages represented the role of emotion in shaping persuasions. It is the first book-length study of medieval rhetoric and the emotions, coloring in what has largely been a blank space between about 600 CE and the cusp of early modernity. Rhetoric in the Middle Ages, as in other periods, constituted the gateway training for anyone engaged in emotionally persuasive writing. Medieval rhetorical thought on emotion has multiple strands of influence and sedimentations of practice. The earliest and most persistent tradition treated emotional persuasion as a property of surface stylistic effect, which can be seen in the medieval rhetorics of poetry and prose, and in literary production. But the impact of Aristotelian rhetoric, which reached the Latin West in the thirteenth century, gave emotional persuasion a core role in reasoning, incorporating it into the key device of proof, the enthymeme. In Aristotle, medieval teachers and writers found a new rhetorical language to explain the social and psychological factors that affect an audience. With Aristotelian rhetoric, the emotions became political. The impact of Aristotle's rhetorical approach to emotions was to be felt in medieval political treatises, in poetry, and in preaching.


s-hemolytic streptococci group B (GBS) cause infections of the urinary tract, endometrium, amnion, and superinfection of wounds, with complications in 2% -4% of cases in pregnant woman.The infection transmitted to newborns is a cause of sepsis and meningitis with high incidence of mortality.A recent report on a multicentric study of the ISS, showed that detection of S. agalactiae in pregnant women in different realities of healthcare, ranging from 3.9% to 19.4%. This survey covers a sample of 29607 women screened in a total of 36852 childbirths, with a positivity of 4183 subjects equal to 14.1%. Thanks to the GBS Study Group of Piemonte and Valle d'Aosta microbiology laboratories, with the support of 42 study centres have been involved. Collection techniques, types of medium, environmental of incubation of the culture, possible enrichment in broth, of the swabs of 28491 women during 2006/2007 have been considered. 24.36% were vaginal swab while 75.64% vagino/rectal. According to data collected at 31 centers with eligible data (22,175 pregnant) GBS positivity was 12.7% (CI [Confidence Interval] + / -95%: 13.1% -12.2%) with wide variability between individual centers (2% -22.6%). The enrichment broth is used by 6 out of 9 centers with positivity> 15% (M: 20.05%), from 6 to 14 with positivity between 10-15% (M: 12.61%), from none to 8 centers with less than 10% positivity (M: 4.95%).This multicentre survey underlined the preference for vagino/rectal swab, as recommended by the literature. The frequency of GBS positivity of pregnant women on the whole samples is similar to that found in other national surveys, even if with large differences between the different centers.The sensitivity tends to increase with the use of enrichment techniques, whose use is uneven between the centers, perhaps indicating the need for greater uniformity of protocols based on the results of microbiological analysis EBM (Evidence Based Medicine).


Background: Celiac Disease (CD) is an autoimmune condition caused by the ingestion of gluten in genetically susceptible individuals. Previous screening studies of CD have shown wide-ranging prevalence estimates. We sought to describe the prevalence of diagnosed CD in the United States (US) using a large, electronic, population-based database, and identify associated conditions of interest. Methods: From a large commercial database (Explorys), we identified a cohort of patients with CD between April 2012 and April 2017, based on Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine-Clinical Terms (SNOMED-CT). From this cohort, we calculated the prevalence of CD and were able to identify associations between CD cases and other conditions. Results: Of the 35,854,260 individuals in the database, we identified 83,090 cases of CD, with an overall prevalence of 231.7/100,000 persons (0.23%). Prevalence was higher in females than males [odds ratio (OR) 2.40; 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 2.36-2.43, p < 0.0001], whites versus non-whites (OR 2.25; 95% CI 2.20-2.30, p < 0.0001) and adults (≥ 18 years) versus children (< 18) (OR) 2.60; 95% CI 2.53-2.67, p < 0.0001). CD was found to be associated with many other medical conditions. Conclusions: In this large study, we found that the estimated prevalence of diagnosed CD in the USA is considerably lower than previous screening estimates, suggesting a large burden of undiagnosed CD. We were also able to identify strong associations between CD and many other medical conditions.


This paper reviews the application of the Volterra series expansion to fiber-optic communication systems and performance evaluation of dispersion maps. It is shown that under certain conditions periodically dispersion-managed multispan systems can be approximated by simple single-span systems with dispersion precompensation. This single-span approximation can help us to identify equivalent system configurations and estimate optimum system parameters. To set an example, the single-span model is employed to analyze transmission systems based on the return-to-zero on-off-keying modulation format and direct detection.


Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous contaminants in estuarine environments, but little is known about the distribution and fate of PAHs in wetland sediments and plants. The effect of PAHs on common salt marsh plants, and the PAH distribution within the plants, sediment, and atmosphere were evaluated to determine if PAHs were transported from the sediment into the plants, and if the PAHs affected plant growth. Four salt marsh plant species, Spartina alterniflora, Phragmites australis, Solidago sempervirens and Distichlis spicata were grown in pots of PAH contaminated sediment containing mean total PAH concentrations of 355 mg/kg (ppm). During the growing season, the plant height, aboveground biomass, percent survival and percent flowering were measured. After approximately three months, the plants were harvested, cleaned, and analyzed for PAHs. PAH compounds were detected in all of the samples, but the highest concentrations were found in samples of the contaminated sediment. The root sample concentrations were generally about one order of magnitude lower than that of the sediment, and were strongly correlated with the concentration in the sediment in which they were grown. The concentrations in foliage were low (<1.8 mg/kg total PAHs), did not correlate with sediment concentration, and decreased for the higher molecular weight compounds. Concentrations in plants grown in contaminated sediment were higher for most of the compounds, but were not linearly related to sediment concentrations. These data suggest that both atmospheric deposition and sediment concentrations are factors in PAH contamination of foliage. All of the plants were impacted by the contaminated sediment to some degree. The Distichlis were the most affected, and did not survive at the highest concentrations, although Distichlis grown at a lower mean concentration (200 mg/kg) survived, and appeared healthy. Solidago and Phragmites grown in contaminated sediment were shorter than the control plants, and produced less above ground biomass. The Spartina showed the least impact, and grew well in the contaminated sediment, although the plants were smaller than the controls.


Recent studies to learn physical laws via deep learning attempt to find the shared representation of the given system by introducing physics priors or inductive biases to the neural network. However, most of these approaches tackle the problem in a system-specific manner, in which one neural network trained to one particular physical system cannot be easily adapted to another system governed by a different physical law. In this work, we use a meta-learning algorithm to identify the general manifold in neural networks that represents Hamilton's equation. We meta-trained the model with the dataset composed of five dynamical systems each governed by different physical laws. We show that with only a few gradient steps, the meta-trained model adapts well to the physical system which was unseen during the meta-training phase. Our results suggest that the meta-trained model can craft the representation of Hamilton's equation in neural networks which is shared across various dynamical systems with each governed by different physical laws.


Ticagrelor and rosuvastatin are often used concomitantly after atherothrombotic events. Several cases of rhabdomyolysis during concomitant ticagrelor and rosuvastatin have been reported, suggesting a drug-drug interaction. We showed recently that ticagrelor inhibits breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) and organic anion transporting polypeptide (OATP) 1B1, 1B3, and 2B1 -mediated rosuvastatin transport in vitro. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of ticagrelor on rosuvastatin pharmacokinetics in humans. In a randomized, cross-over study, nine healthy volunteers ingested a single dose of 90 mg ticagrelor or placebo, followed by a single 10 mg dose of rosuvastatin 1 hour later. Ticagrelor 90 mg or placebo were additionally administered 12, 24, and 36 hours after their first dose. Ticagrelor increased rosuvastatin area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC) and peak plasma concentration 2.6-fold (90% confidence intervals 1.8-3.8 and 1.7-4.0, P=0.001 and P=0.003), and prolonged its half-life from 3.1 to 6.6 hours (P=0.009). Ticagrelor also decreased the renal clearance of rosuvastatin by 11% (3-19%, P=0.032). The N-desmethylrosuvastatin:rosuvastatin AUC0-10 h ratio remained unaffected by ticagrelor. Ticagrelor had no effect on the plasma concentrations of the endogenous OATP1B substrates glycodeoxycholate 3-O-glucuronide, glycochenodeoxycholate 3-O-glucuronide, glycodeoxycholate 3-O-sulfate, and glycochenodeoxycholate 3-O-sulfate, or the sodium-taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide substrate taurocholic acid. These data indicate that ticagrelor increases rosuvastatin concentrations more than two-fold in humans, probably mainly by inhibiting intestinal BCRP. Since the risk for rosuvastatin-induced myotoxicity increases along with rosuvastatin plasma concentrations, using ticagrelor concomitantly with high doses of rosuvastatin should be avoided.


Four different genes have now been found to contain AD-associated mutations or polymorphisms. While the pathogenic mutations in the early-onset FAD genes, APP, PS1, and PS2 directly cause AD with nearly 100% penetrance, in a larger subset of AD cases with onset over 60 years (maximally for onset at 61-65 years), inheritance of the APOE4 allele confers increased risk for AD but is not sufficient to cause the disease. Together, these four genes appear to account for approximately 50% of FAD cases. We are actively screening the genome for additional FAD loci by genotyping markers in over 400 FAD nuclear pedigrees and affected sib-pairs (83% late-onset and 17% early-onset). We have recently discovered genetic linkage to a novel FAD locus on chromosome 12 as well as another putative locus on chromosome 3 (unpublished findings). Positional cloning strategies are currently under way to identify these potentially novel FAD genes. A common event which is associated with all of the known FAD genes is the excessive accumulation of the A beta peptide and deposition of beta-amyloid in the brain. Thus, a common pathogenic pathway for AD neuropathogenesis appears to center around the cellular trafficking, maturation, and processing of APP, and the subsequent generation, aggregation, and deposition of A beta (or more specifically, A beta 1-42). APP and presenilin gene mutations most likely act as either gain-of-function or dominant negative gene defects which may ultimately lead to the transport of APP into intracellular compartments that promote the enhanced production of A beta or A beta 1-42. AD patients who carry an APOE4 allele experience increased amyloid burden in their brains compared to APOE4-negative AD cases. Thus, the presence of APOE4 would also appear to lead to abnormal generation, aggregation, or clearance of A beta in the brain A beta, perhaps by working in concert with its neuronal receptor, LRP. While the exact mechanisms by which the known FAD gene changes lead to the onset of AD remain unclear, the available data indicate that novel therapies aimed at curbing the generation, aggregation, and deposition of A beta would appear to carry the greatest potential for the effective treatment of this formidable disease.


The nine-arm modular multilevel converter (9A-MMC) has been recently proposed as a reduced MMC topology variation for six-phase drive applications, with 25% reduction in the number of employed arms and associated components, compared to a standard dual three-phase MMC, however with a limited output voltage amplitude. This paper proposes a hybrid 9A-MMC comprised of half-bridge submodules (SMs) in both the upper and lower arms, and full-bridge SMs in the middle arms. By employing the negative-voltage state of the full-bridge SMs, the hybrid 9A-MMC avoids the limitations imposed on the dc-link voltage utilization, while achieving further reduction in the component count, compared to a standard 9A-MMC with identical half-bridge SMs. The operating principles of the proposed hybrid 9A-MMC are illustrated with mathematical analysis, whereas its characteristics are verified through both simulation and experimentation. An assessment of the proposed topology quantifying its employed components is also provided, in comparison to other MMC-based six-phase machine drives.


Sweet potato is one of the most important food crops in the world. All parts in sweet
potato are found to be nutritive. The purpose of this study was to investigate the total
polyphenol contents and antioxidative activity of the solvent extracts of sweet potato.
The petroleum ether, chloroform, butanol and aqueous extracts have were obtained
from three genotypes of storage roots which were purple flesh sweet potatoes from
Tambunan (TSP), orange flesh sweet potatoes from Ranau (OSP), purple flesh sweet
potato sweet from Ranau (RSP). The total polyphenol content of the solvent extract
were assessed using the Folin-ciocalteu method which varied from 12.54 mg GAE/g
to 125.4 mg GAE /g in the solvent extracts. The butanol extract had the highest total
polyphenol content followed by chloroform, petroleum ether and aqueous extract. The
purple flesh sweet potatoes contained more phenolic compound than orange fleshed
sweet potato. The antioxidative activity of the extracts were evaluated using 2,2'-
diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay and compared to BHT (positive control). The
butanol extract in all three genotypes of storage roots of sweet potatoes exhibited
higher a antioxidative activity (ranging from 35.37% to 97.28%) when compared to
BHT (ranging from 38.1 % to 90.48%) in the DPPH scavenging assay at concentration
0.02 mg! mL to 0.1 rng/mL concentration whereas the petroleum ether, chloroform ,
and aqueous extracts showed less potent antioxidant activities.The butanol extracts
from all the which had the highest polyphenol content, were found to posses the best
antioxidant activities as well. These extracts were further analysed using HPLC. And
several significant peaks were detected. The results suggested that the butanol extract
of sweet potato is a good source of antioxidant.


We propose an approach for matching deformed and occluded shapes using dynamic programming. Our algorithms handle noise and shape distortions by allowing matching of merged sequences of consecutive small segments in a shape, with larger segments of another shape, while being invariant to translation, scale and orientation transformations of shapes. We illustrate the effectiveness of our algorithms in retrieval of shapes on two different two-dimensional datasets: one of static hand gesture shapes and another of marine life shapes.


Subjective expected utility theory assumes that decision-makers possess unlimited computational resources to reason about their choices; however, virtually all decisions in everyday life are made under resource constraints - i.e. decision-makers are bounded in their rationality. Here we experimentally tested the predictions made by a formalization of bounded rationality based on ideas from statistical mechanics and information-theory. We systematically tested human subjects in their ability to solve combinatorial puzzles under different time limitations. We found that our bounded-rational model accounts well for the data. The decomposition of the fitted model parameter into the subjects' expected utility function and resource parameter provide interesting insight into the subjects' information capacity limits. Our results confirm that humans gradually fall back on their learned prior choice patterns when confronted with increasing resource limitations.


To consider key issues in understanding effective treatment and recovery, the author reviews selected principles and unresolved puzzles about the context of addictive disorders and the structure, process, and outcome of treatment. The principles focus on the process of problem resolution, the duration and continuity of care, treatment provided by specialist versus nonspecialist providers, alliance and the goals and structure of treatment, characteristics of effective interventions, and the outcome of treatment versus remaining untreated. The unresolved puzzles involve how to concepualize service episodes and treatment careers, connections between the theory and process of treatment effective patient-treatment matching strategies, integration of treatment and self-help, and the development of unified models to encompass life context factors and treatment within a common framework.


Medium voltage (MV) high power applications are usually realized using high voltage semiconductors (3.3kV and above) operated in hard switching mode with low switching frequencies (several hundreds of Hz). However, for high power DC-DC converters employing a transformer for galvanic isolation, it is attractive to increase the switching frequency so that the transformer size can be reduced. In this paper, switching properties of 6.5kV IGBT within a DC-DC LLC resonant converter are presented, highlighting interactions between semiconductor and circuit properties, which both must be simultaneously considered in order to achieve the best utilization of a high voltage power semiconductor operating at higher switching frequencies. Experimental results are presented to illustrate characteristic operating conditions.


This short paper presents a work on the design of low noise microwave amplifiers using particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique. Particle Swarm Optimization is used as a method that is applied to a single stage amplifier circuit to meet two criteria: desired gain and desired low noise. The aim is to get the best optimized design using the predefined constraints for gain and low noise values. The code is written to apply the algorithm to meet the desired goals and the obtained results areverified using different simulators. The results obtained show that PSO can be applied very efficiently for this kind of design problems with multiple constraints.


We propose a method to estimate mode choice models, where preference parameters are sensitive to the spatial context of the trip origin, challenging traditional assumptions of spatial homogeneity in the relationship between travel modes and the built environment. The framework, called Spatial Latent Classes (SLC), is based on the integrated choice and latent class approach, although instead of defining classes for the decision maker, it estimates the probability of a location belonging to a class, as a function of spatial attributes. For each Spatial Latent Class, a different mode choice model is specified, and the resulting behavioral model for each location is a weighted average of all class-specific models, which is estimated to maximize the likelihood of reproducing observed travel behavior. We test our models with data from Portland, Oregon, specifying spatial class membership models as a function of local and regional accessibility measures. Results show the SLC increases model fit when compared with traditional methods and, more importantly, allows segmenting urban space into meaningful zones, where predominant travel behavior patterns can be easily identified. We believe this is a very intuitive way to spatially analyze travel behavior trends, allowing policymakers to identify target areas of the city and the accessibility levels required to attain desired modal splits.


Microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) are believed to play an important role in regulating the growth of neuronal processes. The nerve growth factor-induced differentiation of PC12 pheochromocytoma cells is a widely used tissue culture model for studying this mechanism. We have found that contrary to previous suggestions, the major MAPs of adult brain, MAP1 and MAP2, are minor components of PC12 cells. Instead two novel MAPs characteristic of developing brain, MAP3 and MAP5, are present and increase more than 10-fold after nerve growth factor treatment; the timing of these increases coinciding with the bundling of microtubules and neurite outgrowth. Immunocytochemical staining showed that MAP3 and MAP5 are initially distributed throughout the cytoplasm. Subsequently MAP5 becomes associated with microtubules in both neurites and growth cones but MAP3 distribution remained diffuse. Thus MAP3 and MAP5, which are characteristic of developing neurons in the juvenile brain, are also induced in PC12 cells during neurite outgrowth in culture. In contrast MAP1, which is characteristic of mature neurons, does not increase during PC12 cell differentiation. These results provide evidence that one set of MAPs is expressed during neurite outgrowth and a different set during the maintenance of neuronal form. It also appears that the PC12 system is an appropriate model for studying the active neurite growth phase of neuronal differentiation but not for neuronal maturation.


A control scheme that balances the switching losses in the full bridge phase shift zero voltage switching DC-DC converter topology is presented. Typically, this type of converter is employed for battery chargers in electric vehicles because of advantages including high power capability, zero voltage switching, and galvanic isolation. Unfortunately, this topology has different switching and conduction losses between leading and lagging legs of the full bridge stage. If this converter is operated in full rated load condition, it is not necessary to consider the unbalanced losses because losses are almost the same. However, there are a variety of batteries charging schemes including sinusoidal ripple current charging, pulse charging and the optimized current charging, which might be operated in light or half load conditions. In low load condition, the disparity of unbalanced losses is increased. The degradation between leading and lagging leg devices grows over long term operation and affects the reliability of the converter. In order to balance the losses of the legs equally, the switching pattern needs to be considered. This approach is quite applicable for pulse and sinusoidal ripple current charging, because these charging methods require a rest period. This paper proposes an optimal switching pattern control scheme that incorporates thermal balance control and a discontinuous conduction mode detector. As a result, uncompensated thermal losses between the legs are balanced. Heat dissipation of the leading leg was reduced by approximately 16% compared to that of the conventional switching pattern. The proposed scheme was validated in PSIM.


Localization of protein kinase A (PKA) via A-kinase-anchoring proteins (AKAPs) is important for cAMP responsiveness in many cellular systems, and evidence suggests that AKAPs play an important role in cardiac signaling. To test the importance of AKAP-mediated targeting of PKA on cardiac function, we designed a cell-permeable peptide, which we termed trans-activator of transcription (TAT)-AKAD for TAT-conjugated A-kinase-anchoring disruptor, using the PKA binding region of AKAP10 and tested the effects of this peptide in isolated cardiac myocytes and in Langendorff-perfused mouse hearts. We initially validated TAT-AKAD as a PKA localization inhibitor in cardiac myocytes by the use of confocal microscopy and cellular fractionation to show that treatment with the peptide disrupts type I and type II PKA regulatory subunits. Knockdown of PKA activity was demonstrated by decrease in phosphorylation of phospholamban and troponin I after β-adrenergic stimulation in isolated myocytes. Treatment with TAT-AKAD reduced myocyte shortening and rates of contraction and relaxation. Injection of TAT-AKAD (1 μm), but not scrambled control peptide, into the coronary circulation of isolated perfused hearts rapidly (<1 min) and reversibly decreased heart rate and peak left ventricular developed pressure. TAT-AKAD also had a pronounced effect on developed pressure (−dP/dt), consistent with a delayed relaxation of the heart. The effects of TAT-AKAD on heart rate and contractility persisted in hearts pretreated with isoproterenol. Disruption of PKA localization with TAT-AKAD thus had negative effects on chronotropy, inotropy, and lusitropy, thereby indicating a key role for AKAP-targeted PKA in control of heart rate and contractile function.


Understandability, reuse, and maintainability of analytical queries belong to the key challenges of Data Warehousing, especially in settings where a large number of business analysts work together and need to share knowledge. To tackle these challenges we propose Ontology-based OLAP where an ontology acts as superimposed conceptual layer between business analysts and multidimensional data. In Ontology-based OLAP, dimensions and facts are enriched by concept definitions capturing the semantics of relevant business terms used to define measures and to formulate analytical queries. Using traditional ontology languages, it is, however, very difficult to capture the hierarchical and multidimensional conceptualizations of business analysts. In this paper, we propose hierarchical and multidimensional ontologies to better capture these structural specificities. We define and implement the abstract structure and semantics of multidimensional ontologies as rules and constraints in Datalog with negation and represent multidimensional ontologies as Datalog facts. In addition to reasoning over multidimensional ontologies (open-world) we discuss their grounding in Data Warehouses (closed-world) as the fundament of Ontology-based OLAP.


BACKGROUND
Urea transport depends on the diffusion through cell membrane and the facilitated urea transport. Two groups of urea transporters (UT-A and UT-B) have been identified in mammals, and both are involved in intrarenal recycling of urea. The aim of our study was to examine the renal urea handling in rats with chronic renal failure (CRF).

METHODS
CRF rats were induced by 5/6 nephrectomy followed by a high-protein (HP) diet to increase the progressive loss of renal function for 5 months. Functional studies on water and urea handling were performed. RT-PCR, immunoblotting and immunohistochemistry were used to identify UT-A proteins in remnant kidney.

RESULTS
A significant decrease in creatinine clearance consistent with development of CRF was observed. The remnant kidneys were hypertrophied, and total renal mass was increased. Urine production increased markedly, whereas urine osmolality and solute-free water reabsorption decreased significantly. Fractional urea excretion was increased reaching values of 105% -/+ 8%. UT-A protein was localized in pars recta by immunohistochemical studies, and it was identified as UT-A2 in outer medulla from remnant kidneys by RT-PCR and immunoblotting.

CONCLUSION
In uremic rats, an urea transporter type UT-A2 was expressed in the pars recta, suggesting a possible relation with the fractional urea excretion increase. This expression may be a consequence of an adaptive mechanism in the handling of urea during development of CRF. Further studies will be necessary to elucidate the contribution of this mechanism to renal damage observed in the progression of CRF.


In the existing process of maneuvering target tracking, the target's actual trajectory can not be foreseen precisely. A commonly attempt is under the assumption that the target's trajectory is prefixed. The prefixed model is usually not inosculated with the target's actual trajectory, and the target's tracking precision can not be guaranteed. In this paper a parameter identification model is presented. This model identifies the target's trajectory dynamically, adapts to the variation of working cycle, and covers kinds of possible state of the maneuvering target. An adaptive filtering is then employed to analyze the tracking. We call it as a whole adaptive tracking in this paper. Simulations verify that this adaptive tracking algorithm effectively improves the tracking precision.