According to the majority opinion of Justice Scalia in District of Columbia v. Heller, pre-Second Amendment adoption English history informs the Amendment's meaning. The majority opinion discusses the historical background after analyzing the language of the Amendment: "Putting all of these textual elements together, we find that they guarantee the individual right to possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation. This meaning is strongly confirmed by the historical background of the Second Amendment. We look to this because it has always been widely understood that the Second Amendment, like the First and Fourth Amendments, codified a pre-existing right."My paper investigates the actual historical practice in England regarding gun rights before the adoption of the Second Amendment. It focuses on four topics involving rights to bear arms in England of that era: the Declaration of Rights, the writings of Blackstone, the Game Laws, and the Militia.The paper concludes that although Heller purports to be based on pre-second Amendment historical practice, its description of that practice is more mythical than real.


The nonuniform substrate thermal profile and process variations are two major concerns in the present-day ultra-deep submicrometer designs. To correctly predict performance/ leakage/reliability measures and address any yield losses during the early stages of design phases, it is desirable to have a reliable thermal estimation of the chip. However, the leakage power sources vary greatly due to process variations and temperature, which result in significant variations in the hotspot and thermal profile formation in very large scale integration chips. Traditionally, no leakage variations have been considered during full-chip thermal analysis. In this paper, the dependence behavior among the process variability, leakage power consumption, and thermal profile construction are established to effectively extract a reliable statistical thermal profile over a die at the microarchitectural level. Knowledge of this is the key to the design and analysis of circuits. The probability density functions of temperatures are extracted while considering the leakage variations due to the gate-length and oxide-thickness variations and while accounting for the coupling between the temperature and the total leakage. Two applications of the developed analyzer are investigated, namely, the evaluation of the hotspots' relocations and the total full-chip power estimation. Finally, the accuracy and efficiency of the developed analyzer are validated by comparisons with Monte Carlo simulations.


Despite their success in massive engineering applications, deep neural networks are vulnerable to various perturbations due to their black-box nature. Recent study has shown that a deep neural network can misclassify the data even if the input data is perturbed by an imperceptible amount. In this paper, we address the robustness issue of neural networks by a novel close-loop control method from the perspective of dynamic systems. Instead of modifying the parameters in a fixed neural network architecture, a close-loop control process is added to generate control signals adaptively for the perturbed or corrupted data. We connect the robustness of neural networks with optimal control using the geometrical information of underlying data to design the control objective. The detailed analysis shows how the embedding manifolds of state trajectory affect error estimation of the proposed method. Our approach can simultaneously maintain the performance on clean data and improve the robustness against many types of data perturbations. It can also further improve the performance of robustly trained neural networks against different perturbations. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that improves the robustness of neural networks with close-loop control.


Background: This study investigates the possible effect of monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI), selegyline (l-deprenyl), in combination with oral antidiabetic-gliclazide (OAD), in preventing oxidative stress in streptozotocin-induced diabetes model in male Swiss Albino rats by measuring oxidant stress/DNA damage and antioxidant levels. Methods: Diabetic rats were divided into four groups (n = 10) as [1] diabetic untreated (DM), [2] deprenyl treated (DM + D), [3] gliclazide treated (DM + O), and [4] gliclazide and deprenyl treated (DM + O + D). Controls were divided into two groups (n = 8) [1] untreated (C), and [2] deprenyl treated (C + D). Gliclazide 5 mg/kg and/or MAOI 0.25 mg/kg daily were given orally by gavage for 4 weeks. At the end of the 12th week, catalase and superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels in erythrocyte lysates (EL); total antioxidant status (TAS), 8-hydroxy-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), malondialdehyde (MDA), and vitamin A and E levels in plasma, MDA, and MAO in liver homogenates were determined. Results: Diabetic rats showed a decrease in EL-SOD, plasma TAS, and vitamin E, and an increase in plasma 8-OHdG, plasma, and liver MDA levels (p < 0.05). Gliclazide and/or deprenyl decreased 8OHdG levels and increased antioxidant levels and survival when compared with untreated diabetic rats (p < 0.05). The lowest 8-OHdG levels were determined in the DM + O + D group. Conclusions: The combined treatment of deprenyl and gliclazide may contribute to the control of the physiopathological mechanisms underlying both the process of aging and type 2 diabetes by reducing oxidant stress and DNA damage, improving antioxidant status, and increasing survival, and may have implications for further clinical studies.


Students' performance in examinations is often weaker than in other forms of assessment. Yet it should not be assumed that examination technique is innate or skill based. Successful examination performance calls on students to synthesize information and to demonstrate academic competence. Successful academic performance is primarily concerned with articulatory principles of subject formation and appropriation. However, research into seminars, lectures and examination performances mostly seek to establish a relationship between 'performance' and 'potential', with much attention focused discretely upon either organizational considerations or the reluctant learner. By emphasizing the social construction of learning situations, this project locates the learning process within a notion of collective social experiences and mutual cooperation. In the broader sense it is interested in questions of meaning and understanding and the process by which concepts are constructed and understood. This process depends on 'ritualization', 'participation frameworks' and 'embedding' (Goffman, 1981). Some students experience difficulties in participating in the ritualized behaviour, which may affect their academic development. By seeking to investigate students' perception of how they use seminars to develop their academic expertise, this project seeks to contribute to our understanding of the learning process, in particular, the relationship between students' participation in the examination process and assessment strategies.


This paper presents a cross-flow filtration chip for separating blood cells (white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets) and obtaining blood plasma from human blood. Our strategy is to flow the sample solution in parallel to the membrane, which can generate a parallel shear stress to remove the clogging microparticles on the membrane, so the pure sample solution is obtained in the reservoir. The cross-flow filtration chip includes a cross-flow layer, a Ni-Pd alloy micro-porous membrane, and a reservoir layer. The three layers are packaged in a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) frame to create the cross-flow filtration chip. Various dilutions of the blood sample (original, 2 × , 3 × , 5 × , and 10×), pore sizes with different diameters (1 µm, 2 µm, 4 µm, 7 µm, and 10 µm), and different flow rates (1 mL/min, 3 mL/min, 5 mL/min, 7 mL/min, and 10 mL/min) are tested to determine their effects on filtration percentage. The best filtration percentage is 96.2% when the dilution of the blood sample is 10 × , the diameter of pore size of a Ni-Pd alloy micro-porous membrane is 2 µm, and the flow rate is 10 mL/min. Finally, for the clinical tests of the immunoglobulin E (IgE) concentration, the cross-flow filtration chip is used to filter the blood of the allergy patients to obtain the blood plasma. This filtered blood plasma is compared with that obtained using the conventional centrifugation based on the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The results reveal that these two blood separation methods have similar detection trends. The proposed filtration chip has the advantages of low cost, short filtration time, and easy operation and thus can be applied to the separation of microparticles, cells, bacteria, and blood.


Objectives: Unexpected ICU readmission is associated with longer length of stay and increased mortality. To prevent ICU readmission and death after ICU discharge, our team of intensivists and data scientists aimed to use AmsterdamUMCdb to develop an explainable machine learning–based real-time bedside decision support tool. Derivation Cohort: Data from patients admitted to a mixed surgical-medical academic medical center ICU from 2004 to 2016. Validation Cohort: Data from 2016 to 2019 from the same center. Prediction Model: Patient characteristics, clinical observations, physiologic measurements, laboratory studies, and treatment data were considered as model features. Different supervised learning algorithms were trained to predict ICU readmission and/or death, both within 7 days from ICU discharge, using 10-fold cross-validation. Feature importance was determined using SHapley Additive exPlanations, and readmission probability-time curves were constructed to identify subgroups. Explainability was established by presenting individualized risk trends and feature importance. Results: Our final derivation dataset included 14,105 admissions. The combined readmission/mortality rate within 7 days of ICU discharge was 5.3%. Using Gradient Boosting, the model achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.78 (95% CI, 0.75–0.81) and an area under the precision-recall curve of 0.19 on the validation cohort (n = 3,929). The most predictive features included common physiologic parameters but also less apparent variables like nutritional support. At a 6% risk threshold, the model showed a sensitivity (recall) of 0.72, specificity of 0.70, and a positive predictive value (precision) of 0.15. Impact analysis using probability-time curves and the 6% risk threshold identified specific patient groups at risk and the potential of a change in discharge management to reduce relative risk by 14%. Conclusions: We developed an explainable machine learning model that may aid in identifying patients at high risk for readmission and mortality after ICU discharge using the first freely available European critical care database, AmsterdamUMCdb. Impact analysis showed that a relative risk reduction of 14% could be achievable, which might have significant impact on patients and society. ICU data sharing facilitates collaboration between intensivists and data scientists to accelerate model development.


Background and Objectives: Globally, suicide is a pertinent public health crisis that affects almost all nations cross-culturally. Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in many countries, even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit worldwide. India, a nation developing rapidly, is also not free from the leashes of suicide deaths. COVID-19 augmented the rate of suicide due to multifaceted determinants. Adequate empirical evidence about data on suicide is also scarce. Materials and Methods: This review synthesizes determinants, available demographic correlates, and reported rates of suicide published in the Indian context. The authors conducted a thorough literature search to find published English free full-text scientific articles related to suicide during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Indian context. Databases relied on for literature were PubMed, Google scholar, and PLOS one databases using comprehensive search strategies to avail the maximum number of studies. Results: Ten out of 76 studies available in the initial search were analyzed thoroughly for ruling out determinants, rates, and sociodemographic correlates of suicide. Fear of COVID-19 infection, financial crisis, mental breakdown, and job loss are cardinal reasons attributed for suicide, and male suicides are more prevalent in this arena. Interpretation and Conclusions: Findings portray factors such as fear of COVID-19 diagnosis, apprehension to become infected, financial crisis, loss of job, and isolation are some of the significant determinants quoted out. The study points out the need for multifaceted policies in preventing this public health crisis.


Cost-effective diagnostic platforms for rapid pathogen detection are always incumbent in both developing and developed worlds. However, exorbitant diagnostic expenses and the inability to detect pathogens early are a matter of concern for the sustainability and affordability of healthcare devices, which are crucial for deciding how to provide healthcare solutions to the masses, especially in developing countries. Herein, we present the rapid and real-time detection of Salmonella Typhimurium using an inexpensive lab-built surface plasmon resonance (SPR) imaging set up. Pathogen detection is accomplished with the aid of a monoclonal antibody immobilized on a 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-carbodiimide): N-hydroxysuccinimide-modified self-assembled monolayer covalently bonded to a Au thin film. Successful pathogen detection is performed at two concentrations, ~1.5  ×  108 and ~1  ×  106 cfu ml−1, in phosphate-buffered saline solution. The developed system is capable of detecting bacterial cells within 6–7 min after their injection into the SPR sensor surface. The present study reveals a cost-effective device having high potential for pathogen detection without any labelling tags.


To reach the expecting goal of lower leakage ratio and longer operation life(lower wear ratio) for finger seal, great efforts have been made continuously to obtain good structure of finger seal with advanced optimization design technology. A cooperation Nash equilibrium mathematical model of multi-objective optimization for finger seal is presented in current work based on Nash equilibrium of game theory. In this solution, the reciprocal of leakage ratio and the wear ratio value for finger seal are thought as the payoff functions and the game is solved by genetic algorithm. The numerical simulation in the paper shows that the finger seal with better performances can be achieved by using Nash equilibrium method. This means Nash equilibrium method can be used as a new multi-objective optimization method for finger seal performances optimization.


Abstract Consumption of lycopene, a carotenoid without provitamin A activity, has been associated with a lower risk of prostate and breast cancer. Lutein is another carotenoid that may be associated with a reduced risk of age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in adults 65 years of age and older. Bioactive compounds such as lycopene and lutein, derived from natural plant sources, have been shown to act at low substrate levels through the action of intrinsic cytokines and growth factors and their receptors within tissues, particularly those of the fibroblast growth factor and transforming growth factor β families. The effects of grapefruit-derived and commercial lycopene and lutein preparations on androgen independent cultured malignant type II tumor cells [Dunning R3327AT3 or AT3 cells (androgen-responsive, slow-growing tumor cells with well developed epithelium and stroma)] were compared to their benign parent type I tumor epithelial cells (DTE). Results demonstrated that both lycopene, in an α -cyclodextrin water soluble carrier, and lutein inhibited malignant AT3 cells in a concentration and time-dependent manner. No such effect was observed when benign DTE cells were examined, demonstrating selective inhibition of extremely malignant AT3 prostate cancer cells relative to their benign parent. Lutein demonstrated a similar but slightly diminished response as lycopene. When cells were treated with cocktails of lycopene and lutein, no synergistic or additive effect occurred. These studies are consistent with epidemiological studies that show inverse relationships of these carotenoids with prostate cancer.


The common patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing protein 3 (PNPLA3) variant I148M predisposes to nonalcoholic liver disease but not its metabolic sequelae. We compared the handling of labeled polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and saturated fatty acids (SFA) in vivo in humans and in cells harboring different PNPLA3 genotypes. In 148M homozygous individuals, triglycerides (TGs) in very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL) were depleted of PUFAs both under fasting and postprandial conditions compared with 148I homozygotes, and the PUFA/SFA ratio in VLDL-TGs was lower relative to the chylomicron precursor pool. In human PNPLA3-148M and PNPLA3-KO cells, PUFA but not SFA incorporation into TGs was increased at the expense of phosphatidylcholines, and under lipolytic conditions, PUFA-containing diacylglycerols (DAGs) accumulated compared with PNPLA3-148I cells. Polyunsaturated TGs were increased, while phosphatidylcholines (PCs) were decreased in the human liver in 148M homozygous individuals as compared with 148I homozygotes. We conclude that human PNPLA3-I148M is a loss-of-function allele that remodels liver TGs in a polyunsaturated direction by impairing hydrolysis/transacylation of PUFAs from DAGs to feed phosphatidylcholine synthesis.


New CMOS rail to rail second generation current conveyor circuits are proposed. First a class A current conveyor circuit which operates from a single supply of 1.5 V with a rail to rail voltage swing capability is given. The circuit is then modified to work as a class AB while maintaining the rail to rail swing capability. The class AB circuit works from supply voltages down to +1.1 V with standby current of 56 /spl mu/A. These new current conveyor realizations are insensitive to the threshold voltage variation caused by the body effect, which minimizes the layout area and makes both circuits a valuable addition to the analog VLSI libraries. PSpice simulation confirms the attractive properties of the proposed circuits.


Resistance Nodulation cell Division (RND) efflux transporters are thought to be involved in mediating multidrug resistance in Gram‐negative bacteria, including Vibrio cholerae non‐O1. There are six operons for putative RND‐type efflux transporters present in the chromosome of V. cholerae O1 including two operons, vexAB and vexCD, which had already been identified. All of the six operons were cloned from V. cholerae non‐O1, NCTC4716 by the PCR method, introduced, and expressed in cells of drug hypersusceptible Escherichia coli KAM33 (AacrAB, AydhE). Only vexEF conferred elevated minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of some antimicrobial agents in the E. coli cells. However, VexEF did not confer increased MIC of any drug tested in tolC‐deficient E. coli KAM43 cells. On the other hand, when E. coli KAM43 was transformed with vexAB, vexCD or vexEF together with tolCVc of V. cholerae NCTC4716, we observed elevated MICs of various antimicrobial agents. Among them, E. coli KAM43 expressing both VexEF and TolCVc showed much higher MICs and much broader substrate specificity than the other two. We also observed ethidium efflux activity via VexEF‐TolCVc, and the activity required Na+. Thus, VexEF‐TolCVc is either a Na+‐activated or a Na+‐coupled transporter. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the requirement of Na+ for an RND‐type efflux transporter.


The paper discusses practices and patterns for the development of maintainable and testable software using the React and Spring Boot frameworks. There have been many textbooks written on both React and Spring Boot, but little in the way of comprehensive research studies and critical analyses in the literature.

The paper draws from a well-known software development guideline for encapsulation and modularity, namely the `Law of Demeter', but differs from it in a number of ways. It extends the application of the principle of least knowledge to non-pure object-oriented programming languages, first-class JavaScript functions, and the properties of React components. Additionally, it introduces component closure factories, which address the prop drilling problem in React. Component closure factories differ from other solutions to this problem that make state global and make it more difficult to reuse components. Providing guidelines in relation to the development of testable React and Spring Boot applications is important in that these technologies are widely used in industry.

In addition to the principle of least knowledge and component closure factories, the paper discusses a number of supplementary practices and provides a case study.


Galactic nuclei are expected to be densely populated with stellar- and intermediate-mass black holes. Exploring this population will have important consequences for the observation prospects of gravitational waves as well as understanding galactic evolution. The gas cloud G2 currently approaching Sgr A* provides an unprecedented opportunity to probe the black hole and neutron star population of the Galactic nucleus. We examine the possibility of a G2-cloud-black-hole encounter and its detectability with current x-ray satellites, such as Chandra and NuSTAR. We find that multiple encounters are likely to occur close to the pericenter, which may be detectable upon favorable circumstances. This opportunity provides an additional important science case for leading x-ray observatories to closely follow G2 on its way to the nucleus.


The experience of child/adolescent sexual abuse (CASA) has been clearly linked to regulatory deficits, alcohol consumption, and an increased risk for alcohol abuse/dependence. However, it has been emphasized that not all CASA-exposed individuals share such experiences; rather, alternative factors may increase one's vulnerability to alcohol-related outcomes. This article aims to theoretically examine the potential influence of effortful control (EC), a key construct in the development of self-regulation, as a vulnerability factor to alcohol use disorders following CASA. Within the diathesis–stress model, research is reviewed which supports the relations among lower EC abilities, the experience of CASA exposure(s), and the enhanced likelihood of alcohol use disorder development. It is posited that as EC is lower, less severe CASA is needed to facilitate risk for alcohol-related psychopathology via impairment in neuroendocrine and behavioral regulation. In turn, CASA exposure may negatively impact developing EC and also increasing likelihood of alcohol use disorder development. To this end, a thorough description of EC is provided, shared pathways between EC and CASA are reviewed, and finally, these pathways are linked to alcohol use.


Hb A2 and its variant B2 (alpha 2 delta 2(16)(A13)Gly----Arg) were quantitated in the blood of subjects with three different types of beta-thalassemia and with the delta-B2 anomaly in cis or in trans to the beta-thalassemia determinant. In one family, the delta-B2 mutation was in cis to a newly discovered codon 47 (+A) frameshift. The levels of Hbs A2 and B2 were nearly the same and approximately 70% higher than those in simple Hb B2 heterozygotes. In two additional families, the delta-B2 variant was in trans to either a deletional beta-thalassemia (1,393 bp) involving part of the beta-globin gene and part of the beta-globin gene promoter, or to the -88 C----T promoter mutation. In both instances, the Hb B2 level was increased by approximately 80%, but the Hb A2 level was increased by approximately 270% and 200%, respectively. These data indicate two mechanisms that will cause an increase in delta chain production. One is consistent with a general mechanism concerning the relative excess of alpha chains in beta chain deficiencies which will combine with delta chains to form variable levels of Hb A2 dependent on the severity of the beta chain deficiency. The second concerns the loss of beta-globin gene promoter activity, perhaps by an absence of (or decreased) binding of specific protein(s) to this segment of DNA and a concomitant increase in delta-globin gene promoter activity in cis.


A small consort of strings joins a full-sized wind ensemble in Sinfonietta. Although it is not a concerto, Sinfonietta flips the classical notion of an orchestra on its head. Whereas the Classical orchestra represented a string ensemble with wind and brass coloration, Sinfonietta takes a full wind ensemble and adds strings for coloration, blending and melding the string timbre with the wind ensemble medium. As this work is not a concerto, balancing the relatively weak quartet of strings with the full wind ensemble creates challenges, which Sinfonietta addresses in four ways. It uses the strings as individual and string tutti soloists with sparse accompaniment. It creates windows inside heavy textures to allow the strings to appear. It doubles the strings with instruments of similar timbre to add strength in fuller tutti sections. Finally, it uses the disparity of acoustical power between the strings and full wind ensemble to create dramatic tension. Sinfonietta relies upon American folk music as a point of departure along with the unique sound combinations available with this instrumentation. The pentatonic melodies, open harmonic intervals, and regular phrase structure serve as building blocks for the music. The sound of the human voice, integral to the singing of folk tunes, is embraced in the ii ornamentation of the solo lines. Along with this mimicry is a moment of actual singing by members of the ensemble. Since wind players, brass players, and vocalists all require a breath to make their music, Sinfonietta also celebrates the sound of the human breath. Written into the score are instructions for the whole ensemble to breathe audibly together. This airy, musical sound is integral to both the sound of the human voice as well as the sound of a pipe organ, the timbre of which is emulated at the piece's final climax.


Background: Cataract surgery is mainly performed under topical anesthesia achieved either by tetracaine solution (0.5%–1.0%) or gel (0.5%), or by 2% lidocaine gel. This paper reviews the current knowledge about these two drugs, with special emphasis on a published prospective comparison between them. Methods: The main pharmacological aspects of topical anesthetic agents are summarized, explaining the difference between the ester (tetracaine) and the amide (lidocaine) compounds. Tetracaine is available as single-use eye drops, or as a multidose gel containing benzalkonium chloride, a preservative not contained in the multidose lidocaine gel. A literature search was performed, using "tetracaine", "tetracaine gel", "lidocaine", "lidocaine gel", "lidocaine jelly", and "cataract surgery" as keywords, and compiling cross-references. A total of 25 studies were identified and included in this review. Of them, seven were uncontrolled studies describing different experiences with the drugs of interest, and 18 were controlled studies. Six studies directly compared tetracaine eye drops or gel with lidocaine gel before cataract surgery. Results: Both tetracaine solution and gel and lidocaine gel proved to be effective in providing analgesia before cataract surgery. Both drugs were comparable with needle injection anesthesia when intracameral lidocaine was added to topical treatment. Direct comparisons indicate better activity for tetracaine when used at the 1% concentration in single-dose units, or in the gel form at a 0.5% concentration. Patients showed a slight preference for the agent that caused the least discomfort when administered (lidocaine), while the surgical complication rate and the surgeon satisfaction were the same with either drug. Conclusion: Tetracaine solution and lidocaine gel were equally effective in providing topical anesthesia for cataract surgery in the published studies. Tetracaine was found to be better than lidocaine only if augmented by either increasing the concentration to 1% (solution) or by increasing the penetration by adding benzalkonium chloride (gel).


Background: It has been hypothesized that the critical closing pressure of cerebral circulation, or zero-flow pressure (ZFP), can estimate intracranial pressure (ICP). One ZFP estimation method used extrapolation of arterial blood pressure as against blood-flow velocity. The aim of this study was to improve ICP predictions. Methods: Two revisions have been considered: (1) the linear model used for extrapolation is extended to a nonlinear equation; and (2) the parameters of the model are estimated by an alternative criterion (not least squares). The method is applied to data on transcranial Doppler measurements of blood-flow velocity, arterial blood pressure, and ICP from 104 patients suffering from closed traumatic brain injury, sampled across the United States and England. Results: The revisions lead to qualitative (eg, precluding negative ICP) and quantitative improvements in ICP prediction. While moving from the original to the revised method, the ±2 SD of the error is reduced from 33 to 24 mm Hg, and the root-mean-squared error is reduced from 11 to 8.2 mm Hg. The distribution of root-mean-squared error is tighter as well; for the revised method the 25th and 75th percentiles are 4.1 and 13.7 mm Hg, respectively, as compared with 5.1 and 18.8 mm Hg for the original method. Conclusions: Proposed alterations to a procedure for estimating ZFP lead to more accurate and more precise estimates of ICP, thereby offering improved means of estimating it noninvasively. The quality of the estimates is inadequate for many applications, but further work is proposed, which may lead to clinically useful results.


The role of endemic weeds in the epidemiology of spotted wilt must be determined in order to develop an integrated system to manage the disease. Field studies were conducted from 1990 through 1992 to determine concurrently the incidence of spotted wilt and population dynamics of thrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) on seven warm season weeds and three crop species planted in microplots. Weeds examined were Senna obtusifolia (L.) H. Irwin & Barneby (syn. Cassia obtusifolia L.] (sicklepod), C. occidentalis L. [syn. S. occidentalis (L.) Link.] (coffee senna), Jacquemontia tamnifofia (L.) Griseb. (smallflower morningglory), Ipomoea lacunosa L. (pitted morningglory), Sida spinosa L. (prickly sida), Desmodium tortuosum (Sw.) DC. (Florida beggarweed), and Xanthium strumarium L. (common cocklebur). Crops evaluated were Arachis hypogaea L. (peanut), Nicotiana tabacum L. (tobacco), and Capsicum annuum L. (bell pepper). All of the weed species were endemic to the southeastern Coastal Plain and all crops were commercially produced in the vicinity of the test site. Most of the weeds were closely related to species identified as hosts of tomato spotted wilt tospovirus (TSWV). TSWV was rarely detected in any of the weed species, while incidence in all crops increased at a linear rate throughout the growing season. Order of spotted wilt incidence in crops was peanut > tobacco > bell pepper. Thrips species diversity differed among weeds and crops. Thrips vectors were highly attracted to susceptible crops, especially peanut. While the weed species we studied were susceptible to spotted wilt, they were not preferred hosts for the thrips vectors. Any occurrence of spotted wilt in weeds is probably due to random feeding by the vector. The warm-season weeds studied did not contribute significantly to the epidemiology of spotted wilt.


Ovary tumor and pregnancy is a rare and serious condition with an unexpected outcome as it can interfere with the course of pregnancy. The authors report a case of a large juvenile granulosa cell tumor diagnosed at 33 weeks of pregnancy during a routine ultrasonographic examination. Pain, nausea and vomiting at the 35th week brought the suspicion of torsion.


PlantGDB (http://www.plantgdb.org/) is a genomics database encompassing sequence data for green plants (Viridiplantae). PlantGDB provides annotated transcript assemblies for >100 plant species, with transcripts mapped to their cognate genomic context where available, integrated with a variety of sequence analysis tools and web services. For 14 plant species with emerging or complete genome sequence, PlantGDB's genome browsers (xGDB) serve as a graphical interface for viewing, evaluating and annotating transcript and protein alignments to chromosome or bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC)-based genome assemblies. Annotation is facilitated by the integrated yrGATE module for community curation of gene models. Novel web services at PlantGDB include Tracembler, an iterative alignment tool that generates contigs from GenBank trace file data and BioExtract Server, a web-based server for executing custom sequence analysis workflows. PlantGDB also hosts a plant genomics research outreach portal (PGROP) that facilitates access to a large number of resources for research and training.


The NO-generating abilities of aromatic N-nitroso compounds (nitrosoureas, nitrosamides and nitrosamines), and N-acetyl-S-nitroso-DL-penicillamine at ambient temperature were compared by employing the Griess reaction. 3,3-Dibenzyl-1-(4-tolyl)-1-nitrosourea showed the greatest NO-generating ability among the tested compounds. The NO-generating ability of the aromatic N-nitrosoureas and N-nitrosamides was greater than that of the N-nitrosamines, presumably reflecting differences in electrostatic repulsion between the carbonyl oxygen and nitroso oxygen in these compounds. In addition, a conjugative effect between the aromatic ring carbon and neighboring nitrogen influences the NO-generating ability; the conjugative effect in the case of N-nitrosoureas and N-nitrosamides having an ortho-alkyl substituted aromatic ring, or N-nitrosamines having a bulky N-group, such as tert-butyl, is decreased by an increase in steric hindrance around the nitroso group. The N-NO bond then becomes more stable. The NO-generating ability was related to the reciprocal of the ID50 value for growth inhibition of cultured L-5178 Y cells by the aromatic N-nitroso compounds. On the other hand, NO production from the aliphatic N-nitroso compounds was not observed under our conditions, and these N-nitroso compounds did not show effective cytotoxic activity.


The solidification behavior of slags is a complex subject due to the varied chemical compositions of steelmaking slags. However, recent experimental developments, using the fact that slags that do not contain significant quantities of transition metal oxides are transparent, has allowed the development of opti-cal techniques to observe slag solidification behavior. While "curiosity based research" was the initiator of such studies, it has quickly become apparent that observation of the phenomenon of slag solidification has lead to a much deeper understanding of the role of slag solidification behavior in the process of the continuous casting of steel. In this paper findings from observation of slag solidification will be discussed with reference to developments in continuous casting.


U.S. Poultry exports over the past twenty years have risen dramatically. But, concern over Salmonella has threatened access to some traditional export markets. This paper examines the economic forces driving recent reductions in Salmonella on U.S. chicken and discusses the implications of these reductions for U.S. poultry exports. Empirical results suggest that plant size and regulatory changes have contributed to a 50 percent reduction in Salmonella on chicken. These lower Salmonella levels will likely strengthen the U.S. bargaining position in trade negotiations and enhance the U.S. reputation in world trade but will not likely result in immediate export gains.


Abstract. We have investigated the seasonal and diurnal variation of SAPS (Subauroral Polarization Streams) occurrence based on 3663 SAPS events identified in DMSP ion drift observations in the Northern Hemisphere during July 2001 and June 2003. Their relationships with high latitude convection electric field, substorm, and ionospheric conductivity have been addressed. SAPS occurrences show a clear seasonal and diurnal variation with the occurrence rates varying by a factor of 5. It is found that the convection electric field might play a dominant role in association with SAPS occurrence. Peak convection electric fields mark the occurrence maximum of SAPS. Substorm might play a secondary role related to SAPS occurrence. It account for the secondary maximum in SAPS occurrence rate during December solstice. Our work demonstrates that the substorm induced electric field can develop SAPS during relatively low global convection. Somewhat low fluxtube-integrated conductivity is favorable for SAPS to develop. Another topic is the temporal relationship between SAPS and substorm phases. SAPS can occur at substorm onset, substorm expansion and recovery phases. Most probably SAPS tend to occur 60 min/45 min after substorm onset during quiet/more disturbed geomagnetic activity, respectively. This indicates that enhanced global convection helps SAPS to develop quicker during substorms. The peak plasma velocity of SAPS is increased on average only by 5–10 % by the substorm process.


Specific and non-specific mechanisms of defense and damage were studied in 296 poultry breeders, 20 of them were diagnosed the exogenic allergic alveolitis (EAA), the so-called "breeder's lung". The following characters were found: an increase in the blood leucocyte phagocytic activity, non-specific neutrophilic damage values, specific neutrophilic damage and specific lymphocyte damage values, lactate dehydrogenase activity, circulated immune complexes level, immunoglobulins A and M in blood serum in breeders with EAA. Only breeders with service of 1-5 and 11-15 years have shown no changes in non-specific neutrophilic damage values. A decrease in the T-lymphocyte content, theophylline-sensitive and theophylline-stable lymphocyte subpopulations in blood serum of breeders with EAA were observed as well.


Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a vital technology for the cost-effective mitigation of anthropogenic CO2 emissions. However, a key obstacle to its deployment on a large scale remains its cost – both capital and operating costs. In this context, the development of improved sorbents is a key research priority. Consequently, there is a vast global effort to develop new materials for this purpose, with literally thousands of new materials having been proposed since the beginning of the millennium. One common element of these contributions is that they focus on the equilibrium capacity of the material to absorb CO2 and rarely, if ever, other key factors such as transport properties. To date, the majority of this effort has cost significant amounts of time and resources and has almost exclusively focused on developing sorbents with increased CO2 capacity and/or reduced heat of regeneration. Given that sorbent regeneration largely dictates operational cost, this would, on the surface, appear rational. However, it is vital to recall that the cost structure of $ per MWh of electricity generated is composed of contributions from both capital and operational costs. Consequently, this single-minded focus on equilibrium CO2 capacity and heat of regeneration excludes the contribution of transport and kinetic properties which determine the equipment size and thus the capital cost. Therefore, in order to develop sorbents which will result in a non-negligible cost reduction, it is essential to move beyond equilibrium-based metrics of sorbent performance. In this paper, we present a new methodological approach for sorbent screening which explicitly includes rate-based phenomena. Our approach uses both monetised and non-monetised performance indicators. Our results suggest that whilst equilibrium CO2 capacity is a key determinant of process performance, transport properties (e.g., viscosity) and other thermophysical properties (e.g., heat capacity) have a significant effect on the capital cost, and thus on the price of the carbon captured. The key contribution of this work is the identification of the minimum set of thermophysical and kinetic parameters which must be reported in order to justify the claim of adequacy for a new sorbent for CO2 capture in particular and gas separations in general.


HIV infection undermines the immune system by causing a gradual loss of CD4+ T cells. Eventually, the weakened immune system is no longer able to offer resistance to opportunistic infections and the HIV-infected individual will develop AIDS. Even after 30 years of intensive research on HIV, there is still no proficient HIV vaccine. After the failure of the largest vaccine trial to date, in 2008, the need for a better understanding of the mechanisms controlling HIV infection has become painfully evident. In this thesis, we investigated 1) the cause of chronic immune activation during HIV infection and, 2) the characteristics of T-cell responses that provide protection against HIV-disease progression.

Activation - We show that the two main sources of body-wide immune activation that cause HIV disease progression stimulate different cell types. Both HIV-RNA and bacterial translocation contribute to the overall immune activation, but HIV-RNA mainly causes activation of CD8+ T-cells, while CD4+ T-cell activation seems primarily caused by bacterial translocation. We also investigated whether very early tempory treatment of HIV infection could prevent chronic immune activation. Despite a better prognosis of the early treated HIV-infected individuals, we found that early temporary therapy did not lead to reduced levels of immune activation after stop of treatment.

Protective T-cell responses – Although cytotoxic T-cell responses are widely held responsible for the control of HIV infection, CD8+ T-cell depletion in monkeys was shown to have no impact on the lifespan of infected cells producing virus. We hypothesized that because CTL responses that prevent HIV disease progression occur only in a small number of HIV-infected individuals, the effect of those protective CTL responses on the life span of HIV-infected cells may easily go unnoticed. To our surprise we found that even the most protective CTL responses do not shorten the life span of productively infected cells in vivo. For the development of a vaccine, we must therefore likely focus on T cells that recognize HIV-infected cells before they start to produce new viral particles, or on CD8+ T cells that act in a non-cytolytic way. When we studied the characteristics of the most protective CD8+ T cells in HIV-infected individuals, namely those that interact with one of the protective HLA molecules HLA-B27 or B57, we found that these T cells provide protection via completely different mechanisms, making it even more difficult to identify the characteristics of a protective CD8+ T-cell response.

The current challenge is to translate the fundamental steps that have been taken in identifying the sources of immune activation and the parameters of protective T-cell responses in HIV infection into better therapies that effectively reduce immune activation and lead to a working T-cell vaccine.


Underwater sensor networks (USN) are used for tough oceanographic missions where human operation is dangerous or impossible. In the common mobile USN architecture, sensor nodes freely float several meters below the surface and move with the force of currents. One of the significant challenges of the mobile USN is localization. In this paper, we compare the performance of three localization techniques; Dive and Rise Localization (DNRL), Proxy Localization (PL) and Large-Scale Localization (LSL). DNRL, PL and LSL are distributed, range-based localization schemes and they are suitable for large-scale, three dimensional, mobile USNs. Our simulations show that, DNRL and LSL can localize more than 90% of the underwater nodes with high accuracy while LSL has higher energy consumption and higher overhead than DNRL. The localization success and accuracy of PL is lower than the other techniques however it can localize underwater nodes faster when small number of beacons are employed. 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


Low-grade inflammation (LGI) has been suggested to be involved in the development of chronic diseases. Healthy dietary patterns, such as the Mediterranean diet (MD), may decrease the markers of LGI. Healthy Nordic diet (HND) has many similarities with MD, but its effects on LGI are less well known. Both of these dietary patterns emphasize the abundant use of fruits and vegetables (and berries in HND), whole grain products, fish, and vegetable oil (canola oil in HND and olive oil in MD), but restrict the use of saturated fat and red and processed meat. The aim of this narrative review is to summarize the results of studies, which have investigated the associations or effects of HND on the markers of LGI. Altogether, only two publications of observational studies and eight publications of intervention trials were found through the literature search. Both observational studies reported an inverse association between the adherence to HND and concentration of high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP). A significant decrease in the concentration of hsCRP was reported in two out of four intervention studies measuring hsCRP. Single intervention studies reported the beneficial effects on interleukin 1Ra and Cathepsin S. Current evidence suggests the beneficial effects on LGI with HND, but more carefully controlled studies are needed to confirm the anti-inflammatory effects of the HND.


In this paper, we introduce a new hierarchical model for human action recognition using body joint locations. Our model can categorize complex actions in videos, and perform spatio-temporal annotations of the atomic actions that compose the complex action being performed. That is, for each atomic action, the model generates temporal action annotations by estimating its starting and ending times, as well as, spatial annotations by inferring the human body parts that are involved in executing the action. Our model includes three key novel properties: (i) it can be trained with no spatial supervision, as it can automatically discover active body parts from temporal action annotations only, (ii) it jointly learns flexible representations for motion poselets and actionlets that encode the visual variability of body parts and atomic actions, (iii) a mechanism to discard idle or non-informative body parts which increases its robustness to common pose estimation errors. We evaluate the performance of our method using multiple action recognition benchmarks. Our model consistently outperforms baselines and state-of-the-art action recognition methods.


Recent recommendations from the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force suggest that screening mammography for women should be biennial starting at age 50 years and continue to age 74 years. With these recommendations in mind, we proposed a study to evaluate women at our institution in whom breast cancer is diagnosed within 1 year of a previously benign mammogram. A retrospective chart review was performed over a 4-year period. Only patients who had both diagnostic mammograms and previous mammograms performed at our institution and a pathologic diagnosis of breast cancer were included. Benign mammograms were defined as either Breast Imaging Reporting And Data System 1 or 2. Analysis of the time elapse between benign mammogram and subsequent mammogram indicative of the diagnosis of breast cancer was performed. A total of 205 patients were included. The average age was 64 years. From our results, 48 patients, 23 per cent of the total, had a documented benign mammogram at 12 months or less before a breast cancer diagnosis. One hundred forty-three (70%) patients had a benign mammogram at 18 months or less prior. This study raises concern that 2 years between screening mammograms may delay diagnosis and possible treatment options for many women.


Objective To investigate the protective effects of polarizing cardioplegia with Na(superscript +) channel inhibitor tetrodotoxin (TTX) in ex vivo rat heart preservation. Methods Using a Langendorff preparation, Wistar rat hearts were arrested and preserved with St.Thomas (STH) solution (n=10) or with polarizing cardioplegia (TTX, n=10) for 7 h in hypothermic storage (10℃). All the hearts then underwent 30min of reperfusion. Pre-ischemia and post-ischemia indexes of the rat hearts were determined, including the hemodynamic parameters, myocardial enzymology, ATP content and ultrastructural changes. Results The recovery of hemodynamic parameters of the hearts in TTX group were better than those in STH group (P<0.01). In comparison with STH group, the leakage of creatine kinase (CK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in TTX group was significantly lower (P<0.05) and ATP level maintained a relative high level with better protected myocardial ultrastructure. Conclusion TTX polarizing cardioplegia provides more effective long-term hypothermic preservation of isolated rat hearts than STH.


This article provides the first cross-national review and synthesis of available statistical and research evidence from three developed countries, the UK, Australia and the USA, and from sub-Saharan Africa, on children who provide substantial, regular or significant unpaid care to other family members ('young carers/caregivers'). It uses the issue of young carers as a window on the formulation and delivery of social policy in a global context. The article examines the extent of children's informal caregiving in each country; how young carers differ from other children; and how children's caring has been explained in research from both developed and developing countries. The article includes a review of the research, social policy and service developments for young carers in each country. National levels of awareness and policy response are characterized as 'advanced', 'intermediate', 'preliminary' or 'emerging'. Explanations are provided for variations in national policy and practice drawing on themes from the globalization literature. Global opportunities and constraints to progress, particularly in Africa, are identified. The article suggests that children's informal caring roles in both developed and developing nations can be located along a 'caregiving continuum' and that young carers, globally, have much in common irrespective of where they live or how developed are their national welfare systems. There is a need in all countries for young carers to be recognized, identified, analysed and supported as a distinct group of 'vulnerable children'.


As XML formats have been widely adopted for representing business documents both within and across enterprises, XML to XML translation becomes a common and critical component for business process integration. Due to limitations of popular approaches such as XSLT for XML translations, we designed a model driven development framework for XML to XML translation with the additional benefits of code re-use and strong built-in model validation. We further applied this framework to the domain of business performance management, converting documents from human-readable XML format to machine-readable XMI format


The present study was conducted to assess community myths, perceptions, knowledge, attitudes, practices (KAP) of the pastoral farmers and explore mycobacterial infection management practices. Both structured questionnaire survey and participatory rural appraisal approaches were used. This study revealed that mycobacterial infection especially tuberculosis as referred to in vernacular as akakonko, akasubba or akafuba because of the persistent cough and other respiratory symptoms. Knowledge attitudes and practices: congestion under extended family homes, sharing of household utensils, consumption of untreated milk and drinking untreated water as means of mycobacterial infections spread to humans. Perceptions: sharing the drinking straws and cigarette sticks. Community myths: witchcraft, family history and genetic heritability. Mycobacterial infections and Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) were closely linked and these infections issued stigmatisation among the community members. Mycobacterial infection management methods: Sixty five percent (65 %) of the respondents visited traditional healers and used local herbs while 35% visited health centres and used modern medicines. The multivariate model identified sex, marital status, and age influencing the choice of managing mycobacterial infections. Sustainable community intervention require a thorough understanding of traditional indigenous knowledge, attitudes, practices myths, beliefs and perceptions in designing disease prevention and control strategies at the human- environment-animal interface in the pastoral ecosystems of Uganda. Keywords: Knowledge, Mycobacterial infections, Participatory methods, Pastoral communities, Uganda


In situ observations of the contact between a halite indenter and a flat silicate plate immersed in saturated solution indicate that the indenter deforms in two sequential stages: the first involves rapid inward dissolution of the free faces around the edge of the contact accompanied by slow vertical convergence caused by vertical dissolution and the elastic response to the shrinking contact. The second stage consists of rapid vertical convergence by plastic flow complemented by removal of the flowed material by inward dissolution. The contact between the indenter and plate evolves into a dynamic network of steep channels and islands that moves about throughout the process. This study exhibits some of the advantages of confocal microscopy in observing dynamic processes.


Condensed tannins (CTs) account for up to 20% of the dry matter in forage legumes used as ruminant feeds. Beneficial animal responses to CTs have included improved growth, milk and wool production, fertility, and reduced methane emissions and ammonia volatilization from dung or urine. Most important is the ability of such forages to combat the effects of gastrointestinal parasitic nematodes. Inconsistent animal responses to CTs were initially attributed to concentration in the diet, but recent research has highlighted the importance of their molecular structures, as well as concentration, and also the composition of the diet containing the CTs. The importance of CT structural traits cannot be underestimated. Interdisciplinary research is the key to unraveling the relationships between CT traits and bioactivities and will enable future on-farm exploitation of these natural plant compounds. Research is also needed to provide plant breeders with guidelines and screening tools to optimize CT traits, in both the forage and the whole diet. In addition, improvements are needed in the competitiveness and agronomic traits of CT-containing legumes and our understanding of options for their inclusion in ruminant diets. Farmers need varieties that are competitive in mixed swards and have predictable bioactivities. This review covers recent results from multidisciplinary research on sainfoin (Onobrychis Mill. spp.) and provides an overview of current developments with several other tanniniferous forages. Tannin chemistry is now being linked with agronomy, plant breeding, animal nutrition, and parasitology. The past decade has yielded considerable progress but also generated more questions — an enviable consequence of new knowledge!


The author discusses the results of examination conducted by means of continuous ECG recording for many hours, intracardiac electrography, and programmed electric stimulation of the heart in patients with ischemic heart disease and arrhythmias. It was established that ventricular extrasystoles, including the so-called precursors of ventricular fibrillation, are recorded in most patients suffering from chronic ischemic heart disease and acute myocardial infarction, in 66 and 95% of those examined, respectively. The article gives the electrophysiological criteria of the diagnosis of sino-atrial, atrial, nodal atrio-ventricular, supraventricular in additional paths of stimulation conduction, and ventricular paroxysmal tachycardia.


UNLABELLED
The methodology is described in detail for the population-based Isle of Youth Study (ISYS) for epidemiological evaluation of CKD associated with cardio-cerebral vascular disease, arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and other risk factors.

BACKGROUND
Chronic kidney disease emerges as an important and growing global health problem associated with an increase in the incidence and prevalence of the above mentioned diseases. ISYS Objectives: Ascertain CKD morbidity and its relation to chronic vascular diseases and other risk factors in whole population of Cuba's Isle of Youth special municipality.

METHOD
96.6% of the Isle of Youth's total population (80,117 inhabitants) was studied, all ages and both sexes, November 15, 2004-April 30, 2006. The public was offered general information on the objectives and benefits of the study, and participants provided informed consent. Active screening was performed via personal interview questionnaire and urine sample to determine markers of kidney damage: proteinuria and hematuria (Combur-10-Test) and microalbuminuria (Micral-Test), according to a diagnostic algorithm. For those testing positive for any marker, serum creatinine was studied and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) calculated - in adults by Cockcroft-Gault and Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) formulas and in children aged <15 years, by Schwartz - to stratify CKD by stages. Blood pressure, height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) were determined.

EXPECTED RESULTS
Prevalence of kidney damage markers in general population and risk groups; relationship in population between CKD and cardio-cerebral vascular disease, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and other risk factors; comparison of Cockcroft-Gault and Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) formulas for measuring the GFR and their application to studies involving mass population screenings; and stratification of CKD in population.

CONCLUSIONS
ISYS Phase I, active screening of markers for renal damage was concluded using the methodology described above; results are pending publication. (Abstract) Erratum Almaguer López M, Herrera Valdés R, Chipi Cabrera J, Toirac Cabrera X, Castellanos Rabanal O, Bacallao Gallestey J. Design & methodology of the Isle of Youth community-based epidemiological study of CKD, cardio-cerebral vascular disease, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus (ISYS). MEDICC Review. 2007;9(1):23-9. The correct formula for MDRD appearing on page 27 is: MDRD GFR = 186.3 x serum creatinine (mg/dL)-1.154 x age-0.203 x 0.742 for females x 1.21 if the person is black.


Congenital ectropion uveae (CEU) is a rare disorder, resulting from the proliferation of iris pigment epithelium on the anterior surface of the iris. We report the case of a 3-year-old boy, who was recently diagnosed with glaucoma, on treatment with two topical antiglaucoma medications and referred to us for further evaluation and management. His visual acuity, at presentation, was 6/7.5 (Cardiff) in both his eyes. Slit-lamp examination of both his eyes revealed the presence of ectropion uveae, with intraocular pressure (IOP) of 32 mm Hg. Gonioscopy in both eyes showed anterior insertion of iris. On Fundoscopy, both eyes showed glaucomatous disc changes. He had no systemic associations. Owing to inadequate IOP control, despite optimal medical therapy, he underwent trabeculectomy with intra-operative application of Mitomycin-C. However, the IOP reduction post-trabeculectomy was inadequate, and he subsequently required a bleb needling, which also failed. Hence, he underwent Ahmed glaucoma valve implantation in his right eye, with a favorable final outcome. IOP in the right eye was brought under control following multiple surgical interventions and additional medical treatment. CEU in children can be associated with refractory childhood glaucoma. It is important to evaluate for glaucoma in CEU cases to prevent blindness, especially in young patients and improve their overall prognosis.


We present a Deep Convolutional Neural Network architecture which serves as a generic image-to-image regressor that can be trained end-to-end without any further machinery. Our proposed architecture, the Recursively Branched Deconvolutional Network (RBDN), develops a cheap multi-context image representation very early on using an efficient recursive branching scheme with extensive parameter sharing and learnable upsampling. This multi-context representation is subjected to a highly non-linear locality preserving transformation by the remainder of our network comprising of a series of convolutions/deconvolutions without any spatial downsampling. The RBDN architecture is fully convolutional and can handle variable sized images during inference. We provide qualitative/quantitative results on 3 diverse tasks: relighting, denoising and colorization and show that our proposed RBDN architecture obtains comparable results to the state-of-the-art on each of these tasks when used off-the-shelf without any post processing or task-specific architectural modifications.


Zirconium dioxide (zirconia) has a great affinity for inorganic and organic phosphate. Previous work from this laboratory demonstrated the utility of phosphate-modified microparticulate zirconia as a support for protein separations. We have extended this investigation to include the study of ethylenediamine-N,N'-tetramethylphosphonic acid (EDTPA), a phosphonate analog of EDTA, as a surface modifier for zirconia. Our work explores the use of EDTPA-modified zirconia (PEZ) for its potential use as a high-performance inorganic cation-exchange support for the separation of proteins. The phosphate groups in EDTPA very effectively block the sites responsible for strong interactions of hard Lewis bases with zirconia's surface. Modification of zirconia with EDTPA provides a "biocompatible" stationary phase, resulting in high mass recoveries of proteins. We compare PEZ with inorganic phosphate-modified zirconia to show increased efficiency, as well as unique selectivities for chromatography of proteins on the chelator-modified surface. Finally, the selectivity, efficiency, and separation mechanism are reported. The studies show that PEZ is a useful high-performance ion-exchange support for the separation of cationic proteins and for modulating the sites responsible for the high affinity of zirconia toward certain classes of anions.


Shifting the perspective in the analysis of classical Japanese poetry from textuality to performative strategies opens up new possibilities of interpretation. Despite some extremely restrictive features predominant in Japanese poetry such as the shortness of the tanka or haikai , strict rules for the usage of poetic vocabulary or of allusions and citations, these lyric forms endured almost unchanged for many centuries: Poetry was one of the main cultural assets in a strictly hierarchical society, and it was shared by practically all strata of literates. Focusing on the circumstances of production and reception of poetry enables us to reconstruct other features than the textual meaning of the poems. The first part of this essay explores the possibilities of applying the terminology of performance studies to poems and poetic practice, the second part focuses on poetic treatises and analytical terms from the late Tokugawa period. It will be argued that both poetic as well as analytical practice do not primarily follow hermeneutic principles, but privilege the moment of creation/reception of poems and the capacity to capture the mood of the moment.


Purpose of review This article reviews the most recent publications on innate immunity in the small intestine. We will go over the innate immune receptors that act as sensors of microbial presence or cell injury, Paneth cells as the main epithelial cell type that secrete antimicrobial peptides, and mucosal production of immunoglobulin A (IgA). In addition, we will give an update on examples of imbalance of the innate immune response resulting in clinical disease with the most relevant example being Crohn's disease. Recent findings Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are involved in B-cell homing to the intestine, rejection of small intestinal allografts, and recruitment of mast cells. The TLR adaptor Toll/interleukin-1 receptor domain-containing adapter-inducing interferon-&bgr; is necessary to activate innate immunity after Yersinia enterocolitica infection. Moreover, MyD88 is required to keep the intestinal microbiota under control and physically separated from the epithelium, and RegIII&ggr; is responsible for the bacterial segregation from the lining epithelial cells. In Crohn's disease, ATG16L1 T300A variant promotes a proinflammatory response; and miR-196 downregulates a protective immunity-related GTPase family M protein (IRGM) polymorphism leading to impaired clearance of adherent Escherichia coli in the intestine. Summary The intestine is continuously exposed to dietary and microbial antigens. The host has to maintain intestinal homeostasis to keep the commensal and pathogenic bacteria under control. Some of the mechanisms to do so are by expression of innate immune receptors, production of antimicrobial peptides, secretion of IgA, or autophagy of intracellular bacteria. Unfortunately, in some cases the innate immune response fails to protect the host and chronic inflammation, transplant rejection, or other disorders may occur.


Heavy smoking can induce airway inflammation and emphysema. Macrolides can modulate inflammation and effector T-cell response in the lungs. However, there is no information on whether erythromycin can modulate regulatory T-cell (Treg) response. This study is aimed at examining the impact of erythromycin on Treg response in the lungs in a rat model of smoking-induced emphysema. Male Wistar rats were exposed to normal air or cigarette smoking daily for 12 weeks and treated by gavage with 100 mg/kg of erythromycin or saline daily beginning at the forth week for nine weeks. The lung inflammation and the numbers of inflammatory infiltrates in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were characterized. The frequency, the number of Tregs, and the levels of Foxp3 expression in the lungs and IL-8, IL-35, and TNF-α in BALF were determined by flow cytometry, RT-PCR and ELISA, respectively. Treatment with erythromycin reduced smoking-induced inflammatory infiltrates, the levels of IL-8 and TNF-α in the BALF and lung damages but increased the numbers of CD4+Foxp3+ Tregs and the levels of Foxp3 transcription in the lungs, accompanied by increased levels of IL-35 in the BALF of rats. Our novel data indicated that erythromycin enhanced Treg responses, associated with the inhibition of smoking-induced inflammation in the lungs of rats.


We propose using (bilinear) sum-of-squares programming for obtaining inner bounds of RoAs for dynamical systems with polynomial vector fields. We search for polynomial as well as composite Lyapunov functions comprised of pointwise maximums of polynomial functions. Results for several examples from the literature are presented using the proposed methods and the PENBMI solver.


Van der Waals (VDW) forces arise from quantum mechanical fluctuations of local charge densities. Whereas computing VDW interactions between two atoms requires only 2-body interactions, by definition, computing interactions between macroscopic bodies required multi-body interactions, where the presence of a third atom affects how any two atoms interact, and a fourth atom affects the first three, and so on. Often, 3-body interactions have been found to be small, and 4-body and higher interactions are almost always neglected in calculating interactions between atoms. But is it possible that 4-body and higher order interactions can actually be more important than 3-body interactions, and indeed comparable to 2-body interactions? We explored the following question: how important is the sum of 4-body and higher order interactions? A set of problems involving finite and infinite chains was explored numerically and analytically, including a single chain, a pair of parallel, long chains and a two-dimensional array of long, parallel chains. The "coupled dipole method" was used, providing a type of "nanoscale Lifshitz theory" for calculations of nanoscale VDW interactions. Calculations were made for the static polarizability, as well as the VDW interaction between chains. This latter energy was compared with that found by summing 2-body interactions for the chains. It was found that when a "coupling constant" ν, which is the polarizability per unit volume of the material, is large, then the sum of 4-body and higher order interactions dominates both the 2-body and the 3-body interactions. In addition, it was found that for all geometries examined, a divergence of the polarizability and a dynamical energy instability occur simultaneously when ν reaches a limiting value ν max , giving a well-known polarization catastrophe.


We report the first multiscale, systematic field-based testing of correlations between orbital scale advanced spaceborne thermal emission and reflection radiometer visible near-infrared (VNIR)/shortwave infrared (SWIR) reflectance and thermal infrared relative emissivity and outcrop scale Raman spectroscopy, VNIR reflectance, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) mineralogy and chemistry in a saline dry lakebed. This article is one of three reports describing the evolution of salt deposits, meteorological record, and surface and subsurface salt mineralogy in Dalangtan, Qaidam Basin, a hyperarid region of the Tibet Plateau, China, as potential environmental, mineralogical, and biogeochemical analogs to Mars. We have successfully bridged remote sensing data to fine scale mineralogy and chemistry data. We have defined spectral end-members in the northwestern Qaidam Basin and classified areas within the study area on the basis of their spectral similarity to the spectral end-members. Results of VNIR/SWIR classification reveal zonation of spectral units within three large anticlinal domes in the study area that can be correlated between the three structures. Laboratory Raman, VNIR reflectance, XRD, and LIBS data of surface mineral samples collected along a traverse over Xiaoliangshan (XLS) indicate that the surface is dominated by gypsum, Mg sulfates, Na sulfates, halite, and carbonates, with minor concentrations of illite present in most samples as well. Our results can be used as a first step toward better characterizing the potential of orbital reflectance spectroscopy as a method for mineral detection and quantification in salt-rich planetary environments, with the benefit that this technique can be validated on the ground using instruments onboard rovers.


The effects of drying, packaging conditions and storage time on proximate composition of chia seeds were investigated. Chia seeds were dried at 63 °C for 30 min (low-temperature long time–LTLT) and at 75 °C for 30 s (high-temperature short time-HTST) using dry oven, air/vacuum-packed and stored for ten weeks. The effect of heat processing (drying) on chia seeds had significant difference (p 0.05) in moisture and protein contents. Except for fiber content, there was no significant difference (p > 0.05) in moisture, ash, fat and protein of chia seeds dried at LTLT and HTST before storage. During storage time, there was significant decrease of proximate composition of chia seeds and the decline was the lowest in raw chia seeds followed by seeds dried at HTST and the highest by seeds dried at LTLT. In both drying conditions, ash, fat and protein contents were significantly greater in vacuum than in air packaging although the impact was vice versa for moisture and fiber contents. On the expense of improved shelf life, palatability and digestibility expected as effect of drying, this study suggests HTST and vacuum packaging for storage of chia seeds.
Keywords: Chia seeds; proximate composition; drying; packaging condition; storage.


This paper develops a dynamic Luenberger productivity growth indicator and decomposes it to identify the contributions of technical change, technical efficiency change and scale change. The Luenberger productivity growth indicator is estimated using Data Envelopment Analysis. The empirical application focuses on panel data of Spanish meat processing firms over the period 2000-2010. The dynamic Luenberger indicator shows productivity decrease of on average -0.003 in the period under investigation, with technical regress being the main driver of change, despite technical and scale efficiency growth.


Introduction: Non-specific lung inflammatory events caused by severe asphyxia may be intensified by the way we resuscitate the newly born. Assessing lung injury is potentially important because if alternative resuscitation approaches induces similar inflammatory responses or less lung injury. then we may choose the resuscitation approach that is most gentle, and easiest to perform and learn. We investigated the levels of lung inflammatory markers by comparing different ventilation, chest compression and inhaled oxygen fraction strategies in resuscitation of newly born pigs at cardiac arrest. Materials and Methodology: Progressive asphyxia in newborn pigs was induced until asystole occurred. With current resuscitation guidelines as a reference group, pigs were randomized to receive initial ventilation before chest compressions for 30s, 60s or 90s, or to compression-to-ventilation ratios 3:1or 9:3, or to resuscitation using pure oxygen or air. We analysed inflammatory markers in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL), IL8 and TNFα, and lung tissue qPCR for genes matrix metalloproteinases (MMP)2, MMP9, TNFα and ICAM-1. Results: BAL-levels of TNFα and IL8 tended to be higher in the 30s group compared to 60s group (p = 0.028 and p = 0.023, respectively) as was gene expression in lung tissue of ICAM-1 and MMP2 (p=0.012 and p=0.043, respectively). MMP2 expression was slightly higher in the 30s group compared to 90s group (p = 0.020). No differences were found between pigs resuscitated with C:V ratio 9:3 and 3:1 or pure oxygen versus air. Conclusion: Compared to current guidelines, with respect to lung injury, resuscitation with longer initial ventilation should be considered. Longer series of chest compressions did not change the lung inflammatory response, neither did the use of air instead of pure oxygen in severely asphyxiated pigs resuscitated from asystole.


This paper presents the computational investigation of compact heat exchangers that are primarily used in dissipating heat generated by electrical and/or electronic components and assemblies. In order to assess the effect of pin cross-section on the pressure drop and heat transfer capabilities, six different types of pin cross sections, namely, elliptical, straight circular, 2o tapered circular, 4o tapered circular, drop and hexagonal, were computationally investigated. The heat exchanger channel is characterized by the presence of the fins mounted vertically on a horizontal base plate in a staggered arrangement along the flow direction. Aluminum was considered to be the material of pin fins. The fluid flow inside the heat exchanger channels is assumed to be three-dimensional, incompressible and steady. Pressure, temperature and velocity profiles at different locations within the computational domain are considered for different Reynolds number. The thermal and fluid dynamic characteristics of six pin fin heat exchangers along the computational domain are discussed in detail. We have shown that a small amount of tapering significantly improves the performance of heat exchanger. The results show that the overall performance of elliptical pin fins is better than other pin cross sections considered. This makes the elliptical fin arrays a promising cooling device for high thermal loaded electronic components.


Objective: The purpose of this study was to measure the fetal nasal bone between 11–14 weeks of gestation in order to elaborate a reference range for the Brazilian population. Methods: In this prospective and transversal study, crown-rump length, nuchal translucency, and nasal bone length were measured in 171 singleton pregnancies between 11 and 14 weeks of pregnancy. For statistical analysis the linear regression was used. Results: 171 singleton pregnancies which newborns had a normal phenotype were included in this study. A reference range of fetal nasal bone was elaborated. Median and percentiles 5 and 95 were also determined. The reference range was done after adjusting the coefficient of determination (R2) was 59.4% (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The length of the nasal bone showed a linear growth between 11–14 weeks of gestation.


Every government faces its own particular challenges. For a small-scale democracy, the size of its society might be the obvious limitation. Most discussion about small societies thus focuses on the governance failures caused by this small size. This book argues that it would be more useful to explore the governance successes that also occur. Based on the research for his PhD thesis at the University of Oxford, Scott Douglas explores successful examples of effective public sector practices in small societies. This book does not claim to have found the one and only recipe for success. Instead it poses the question: which governance practices have been proven to work in small societies, and what can we learn from them?


There is currently no vaccine to prevent dengue (DEN) virus infection, which is caused by any one of four closely related serotypes, DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, or DEN-4. A DEN vaccine must be tetravalent, because immunity to a single serotype does not offer cross-protection against the other serotypes. We have developed a novel tetravalent chimeric protein by fusing the receptor-binding envelope domain III (EDIII) of the four DEN virus serotypes. This protein was expressed in the yeast, Pichia pastoris, and purified to near homogeneity in high yields. Antibodies induced in mice by the tetravalent protein, formulated in different adjuvants, neutralized the infectivity of all four serotypes. This, coupled with the high expression potential of the P. pastoris system and easy one-step purification, makes the EDIII-based recombinant protein a potentially promising candidate for the development of a safe, efficacious, and inexpensive, tetravalent DEN vaccine.


The efficacy of Infliximab and Cyclosporin A as medical rescue therapy in patients with corticosteroid refractory acute severe ulcerative colitis (ASUC) is well established. We aimed to identify predictors of failure of medical rescue therapy and colectomy during the same admission in this population.

 Patients hospitalized with ASUC who received infliximab or cyclosporin A after failing intravenous corticosteroid therapy between 1st January 2013 to 31stJuly, 2020 at two Australian tertiary IBD centres were retrospectively analysed. Patients who underwent colectomy during the same admission after medical rescue therapy were defined as non-responders. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify predictors of colectomy during same admission.

 226 episodes of ASUC [110 (48.7%) female, median disease duration 2 years] were analysed. 104 (46%) episodes required rescue therapy [94 episodes received medical rescue (16 cyclosporine/78 Infliximab) and 10 underwent direct colectomy]. In patients receiving medical rescue therapy, 16 (17%) underwent colectomy during same admission and 28 (29.8%) underwent colectomy by 12 months. On multivariable analysis, UCEIS score at admission [Coef 0.100 (0.02-0.17), p 0.011] and CRP on Day 3 post-rescue therapy [Coef 0.004 (0.0007-0.007), p 0.018] were significant for predicting colectomy during the same admission. A score with 1 point for each variable (UCEIS score ≥ 7 and CRP value of ≥ 22 mg/L on day 3 post medical rescue therapy) was developed. A score of 2 points had sensitivity 57%, specificity 97%, PPV 80%, NPV 91%, accuracy 89% for predicting colectomy during the same admission and sensitivity 33%, specificity 94%, PPV 80%, NPV 67%, accuracy 69% for predicting colectomy at 12 months.

 UCEIS and CRP on day 3 after rescue therapy are predictors of non-response to medical rescue therapy and need for colectomy during the admission for the ASUC episode. Combination of UCEIS ≥ 7 and CRP ≥ 22mg/L on day 3 post medical rescue therapy has a PPV of 80% for colectomy during same admission and at 12 months. The score can be used to make decisions about colectomy or further medical rescue therapy.


Planning for many manipulation tasks, such as using tools or assembling parts, often requires both symbolic and geometric reasoning. Task and Motion Planning (TAMP) algorithms typically solve these problems by conducting a tree search over high-level task sequences while checking for kinematic and dynamic feasibility. While performant, most existing algorithms are highly inefficient as their time complexity grows exponentially with the number of possible actions and objects. Additionally, they only find a single solution to problems in which many feasible plans may exist. To address these limitations, we propose a novel algorithm called Stein Task and Motion Planning (STAMP) that leverages parallelization and differentiable simulation to efficiently search for multiple diverse plans. STAMP relaxes discrete-and-continuous TAMP problems into continuous optimization problems that can be solved using variational inference. Our algorithm builds upon Stein Variational Gradient Descent, a gradient-based variational inference algorithm, and parallelized differentiable physics simulators on the GPU to efficiently obtain gradients for inference. Further, we employ imitation learning to introduce action abstractions that reduce the inference problem to lower dimensions. We demonstrate our method on two TAMP problems and empirically show that STAMP is able to: 1) produce multiple diverse plans in parallel; and 2) search for plans more efficiently compared to existing TAMP baselines.


Recent research on the notion of altruism in terrestrial life has focused on certain altruistic behaviors, which are regarded as beneficial to animal life, especially with respect to individual animal species. Such findings throw light on individualoriented mechanisms and their evolution in helping to clarify so-called intentional interactions between individuals based on discrimination of other individuals and remembered information as advanced by developments in biological information processing, ranging from molecular recognition to activation of the neural system. In 2006, Nowak classified these mechanisms into five types. In the current study, we have zeroed in on the process of autolysis universally observed in all terrestrial lives, as characterized by genetically programmed death accompanied by altruistic self-decomposition, whose model we call the "programmed self-decomposition model (PSD Model)". In our view, altruistic phenomena target no specific individuals yet prove beneficial to the ecosystem, in part and as a whole. Using our PSD Model we ran evolutionary simulations of altruistic phenomena in the SIVA Series, which is an artificial life system designed to resemble a terrestrial ecosystem, and one that excludes both discrimination of individuals and interactions between individuals. In our simulations no individual-oriented evolutionary mechanism was observable while the ecosystem-oriented mechanism positively contributed to the evolution of the altruistic gene. Our research has thus sought to determine factors that promote superior evolutionary characteristics of altruistic phenomena in a terrestrial ecosystem model. The current study argues that the high heterogeneity and complexity of a terrestrial environment and the eternality of evolutionary time play an important role in the selective process of programmed death in the terrestrial ecosystem, which is accompanied by altruistic selfdecomposition. Based on the above findings, we investigated the inseparable relationship existing between a terrestrial ecosystem and the altruistic gene.


This book covers an unusual field which is not, to my knowledge, covered by any other single publication. Despite too-numerous errors (the book abounds in misprints and mis-spellings) it will be very useful at the research and postgraduate teaching level. The field covered is floral and pollen biology, and breeding and reproductive systems and their control. The treatment is general, but with much emphasis on plant breeding applications. It is not, however, a text book of plant breeding, though it will be a very useful reference for plant breeders seeking information about systems of controlled crossing by the use of incompatibilities, male sterilities or sex-modification systems. The bibliography is commendably full (34 pages) and the index adequate. The book is, as one expects of Springer, very well made. N. W. SIMMONDS


PURPOSE
This study aimed to streamline workflow from arrival to premedication by decreasing patient wait time to increase value in a high-volume academic outpatient oncology infusion unit. The streamlining process involved identifying and prioritizing patients for treatment by driving out waste in patient flow.

METHODS
The plan-do-check-act (PDCA) method and Lean Methodology were used in completing a project to streamline a defined subset of patient experiences within an outpatient oncology infusion unit in an academic comprehensive cancer center. Wait time for patients whose labs were completed before treatment day and within normal limits and whose orders were signed the day before treatment was collected manually for a period of 5 months and tracked via value stream and control charts.

RESULTS
Postimplementation, patients experienced a decrease of 17 minutes in mean patient arrival to premedication start time (preimplementation 77 minutes, postimplementation 60 minutes). Additionally, a value stream analysis demonstrated that in the new process, patient touch points were decreased by two, and value-added time was increased by 17%.

CONCLUSION
By using the systematic PDCA tool, the team was able to identify opportunities to reduce waste in the system and streamline patient care. The results demonstrated a significant improvement in reducing patient wait time from arrival to premedication start time and increasing percentage of total value added during a patient's treatment cycle.


: Data are given on the incidence of the malignant melanoma in the German Democratic Republic. The latter steadily increased from 1955 to 1975, i.e., from 1.55/100,000 (male) and 1.80/100,000 (female) to 3.1/100,000 (male) and 4.3/100,000 (female). A genuine increase of the incidence can be proven by age standardization from 1968 to 1975. Between 1955 and 1975 the incidence in men and women doubled in the German Democratic Republic. The death rate from malignant melanomas is about stationary. The survival rate in men lies about 50%, that in women is higher. In the Federal Republic of Germany about 1,674 incidences in 1969, about 1,825 in 1974, and more than 2,000 incidences of malignant melanomas in 1975 were to be expected. UV radiation and chemical carcinogens influence the incidence of the malignant melanoma in our area.


Little is known about occupational risks for coronary heart disease. A few specific toxins encountered occupationally are known to affect the heart, most prominently carbon disulfide, nitroglycerin, and carbon monoxide. Of these, carbon monoxide is the most common occupational exposure; it is also a common environmental exposure due to vehicle exhaust. Environmental tobacco smoke, noise, heat, and cold are suspected occupational risk factors for cardiovascular disease. In addition, stress at work may increase heart disease, although little is known conclusively with this regard. Unemployment may also increase risk of heart disease. Shift work, which disrupts circadian rhythms, has also been linked to heart disease, although there again, the data are far from conclusive. Physical activity at work, either too much or too little, can also be a risk factor for heart disease. While in general, more physical activity results in less heart disease, heavy lifting (in occupational and nonoccupational settings) has been associated with increased risk of heart attack. Further epidemiologic research into all these areas is warranted.


The placenta is the first embryonic organ, representing the connection between the embryo and the mother, and is therefore necessary for the embryo's growth and survival. To meet the ever-growing need for nutrient and gas exchange, the maternal spiral arteries undergo extensive remodeling, thus increasing the uteroplacental blood flow by 16-fold. However, the insufficient remodeling of the spiral arteries can lead to severe pregnancy-associated disorders, including but not limited to pre-eclampsia. Insufficient endovascular trophoblast invasion plays a key role in the manifestation of pre-eclampsia; however, the underlying processes are complex and still unknown. Classical histopathology is based on two-dimensional section microscopy, which lacks a volumetric representation of the vascular remodeling process. To further characterize the uteroplacental vascularization, a detailed, non-destructive, and subcellular visualization is beneficial. In this study, we use light sheet microscopy for optical sectioning, thus establishing a method to obtain a three-dimensional visualization of the vascular system in the placenta. By introducing a volumetric visualization method of the placenta, we could establish a powerful tool to deeply investigate the heterogeneity of the spiral arteries during the remodeling process, evaluate the state-of-the-art treatment options, effects on vascularization, and, ultimately, reveal new insights into the underlying pathology of pre-eclampsia.


CONWIP (constant work-in-process) as a pull production system have been widely studied by researchers to date. The CONWIP pull production system is an alternative to pure push and pure pull production systems. It lowers and controls inventory levels which make the throughput better, reduces production lead time, delivery reliability and utilization of work. In this article a CONWIP pull production system was simulated. It was simulated push and pull planning system. To compare these systems via a production planning system (PPS) game were adjusted parameters of each production planning system. The main target was to reduce the total WIP and achieve throughput and delivery reliability to minimum values. Data was recorded and evaluated. A future state was made for real production of plastic components and the setup of the two indicators with CONWIP pull production system which can greatly help the company to be more competitive on the market. Keywords—CONWIP, constant work in process, delivery reliability, hybrid production planning, PPS.


The footwall breccia is one of the main Ni-Cu-(PGE) ore-hosting units of the Sudbury camp. This polymict, matrix-supported, contact-metamorphosed breccia occurs between the Sudbury Igneous Complex and the footwall rocks along the west, north, and east margins of the Sudbury structure. In areas where there are depressions or embayments in the footwall, the footwall breccia and basal units of the Sudbury Igneous Complex are thickened, and the footwall breccia is variably mineralized. Mineralogical and textural variations of footwall breccia samples from the Strathcona embayment in proximity to the Fraser mine suggest that the mineralogy and texture of this unit vary as a function of proximity to the Sudbury Igneous Complex, proximity to ore, and location within the embayment. The most mafic footwall breccia mineralogy is present proximal to the base of the Sudbury Igneous Complex within a transition zone. The presence of relatively mafic, hydrous, and Cl-rich silicate minerals (e.g., biotite and amphibole) characterize the footwall breccia matrix around ore zones and form an alteration halo of up to 5 m thick. Textural variations include a coarsening of quartz and feldspar grains with increasing proximity to the Sudbury Igneous Complex contact. Textural coarsening also occurs from the margins of the Strathcona embayment to the center. Together, these mineralogical and textural variations influence the color of the footwall breccia matrix and can explain some of the gray colors that are typical of mineralized footwall breccia. These variations also constrain the timing of formation of this unit and suggest that at least three phases of footwall breccia exist.


Since 1972, Dolores Krieger has taught Therapeutic Touch to thousands of health professionals around the world. In Accepting Your Power to Heal, she now shows all of ushow to master this powerful energetic healing practice. Krieger points out that while this is not a "miracle cure," Therapeutic Touch has proven to be safe and helpful in the treatment of a variety of conditions from PMS, headaches, burns, and bone fractures to asthma, reproductive problems, cancer, and AIDS. She encourages us to acknowledge our own innate healing abilities and provides experiential exercises to teach us the basic Therapeutic Touch techniques. The miracle, if there is one, is that we can all participate in the healing process and help our friends, partners, families, and even pets to feel better.


Nuclear transport in neurons differs from that in non-neuronal cells. Here we developed a non-opsin optogenetic tool (OT) for the nuclear export of a protein of interest induced by near-infrared (NIR) light. In darkness, nuclear import reverses the OT action. We used this tool for comparative analysis of nuclear transport dynamics mediated by nuclear localization signals (NLSs) with different importin specificities. We found that widely used KPNA2-binding NLSs, such as Myc and SV40, are suboptimal in neurons. We identified uncommon NLSs mediating fast nuclear import and demonstrated that the performance of the OT for nuclear export can be adjusted by varying NLSs. Using these NLSs, we optimized the NIR OT for light-controlled gene expression for lower background and higher contrast in neurons. The selected NLSs binding importins abundant in neurons could improve performance of genetically encoded tools in these cells, including OTs and gene-editing tools.


Purpose: To test for an association between high-grade acute organ toxicity during adjuvant radio(chemo)therapy (R(C)T) and treatment outcome in patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).
Material and Methods: Institutional review board approval was obtained for this retrospective tudy. From 09/1994-10/2008, 294 HNSCC patients were treated with adjuvant R(C)T at our department. They received normofractionated (2Gy/fraction) irradiation to include associated nodal drainage sites for a cumulative dose of 60-64Gy. From 01/2002 until 12/2009, 91 patients received additional concomitant cisplatin-based chemotherapy. Toxicity during treatment was monitored weekly according to the common-toxicity-criteria (CTC);any toxicity grade CTC≥3, including mucositis, dysphagia or skin reaction, was considered high-grade acute organ toxicity. The influence of possible prognostic factors on overall survival and loco-regional control was studied by uni- and multivariate Cox regression.
Results: We found a statistically significant association between high-grade acute organ toxicity and both overall survival as well as loco-regional control. Patients with CTC≥3 acute organ toxicity had a 5-year-overall-survival and loco-regional-control rate of 90% and 97%, respectively, as compared to 24% and 74% in patients without such toxicity (p<0.01). Multivariate analyses revealed that this association was independent from other factors that may influence treatment toxicity, especially concomitant chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy.
Conclusion: Our data suggest that normal tissue and tumour tissue may behave similarly with respect to treatment response, as high-grade acute organ toxicity during R(C)T was associated with better outcomes in our patient population. Therefore, the hypothesis should be further analyzed on the biomolecular and clinical level and other tumor entities in prospective clinical trials.


The remains of Spinosuchus caseanus Huene, 1932 were collected in Crosby County, Texas from Late Triassic Dockum Group rocks. These rocks cropped out along the breaks of the White River that are just north of an old postal road in Crosby County, Texas. With the exception of these remains, the immediate type locality was otherwise barren of fossils. The 22 postaxial presacral vertebrae that comprise the type specimen of Spinosuchus caseanus correspond to the kind and number observed in basal dinosauromorphs and basal archosauromorphs, especially Trilophosaurus buetineri. The enigmatic neodiapsid S. caseanus was initially considered to be a basal saurischian dinosaur (Coelophysis aff longicollis Case). This idea was based largely on Case's referrals of questionable cranial, caudal, and pelvic material from Crosby and nearby counties which did not duplicate any elements of the type specimen. These referrals are not accepted in the present study and no new ones are proposed. The diagnostic characters of Spinosuchus Caseanus relate to the extreme elongation of the dorsal neural spines. The shafts of the neural spines are elongate rods with a squarish cross section whose comers are blended into the zygapophyses by well developed and fragile webs of bone reminiscent of the vertebral lamellae of diplodocoid sauropods. The distal tips of the neural spines are anteriorly expanded into an elongate asymmetrical \hatchet blade\ in lateral view. Spinosuchus Caseanus lacks the incorporation of posterior dorsal vertebrae into the sacrum. S caseanus retains synacephalous ribs and synapophyses on more than just the last dorsal vertebra. In S. Caseanus, the parapophyses and diapophyses on the first few cervical vertebrae are flush with the anterior edges of their respective centra whereby the diapophyses overhang the parapophyses. S caseanus lacks hyposphenes and hypantra on the neural arches. None of the preserved vertebrae of S. caseanus are sacrals. [More in manuscript]