Offline reinforcement learning enables learning from a fixed dataset, without further interactions with the environment. The lack of environmental interactions makes the policy training vulnerable to state-action pairs far from the training dataset and prone to missing rewarding actions. For training more effective agents, we propose a framework that supports learning a flexible yet well-regularized fully-implicit policy. We further propose a simple modification to the classical policy-matching methods for regularizing with respect to the dual form of the Jensen–Shannon divergence and the integral probability metrics. We theoretically show the correctness of the policy-matching approach, and the correctness and a good finite-sample property of our modification. An effective instantiation of our framework through the GAN structure is provided, together with techniques to explicitly smooth the state-action mapping for robust generalization beyond the static dataset. Extensive experiments and ablation study on the D4RL dataset validate our framework and the effectiveness of our algorithmic designs.


Two multivariate calibration methods, including principal component regression (PCR) and partial least square (PLS), have been used for the determination of rosuvastatin in the presence of its oxidative degradation products. The PCR and PLS techniques are useful in spectral analysis due to the simultaneous inclusion of many spectral wavelengths instead of the single wavelength used in derivative spectrophotometry, thus a great improvement in the precision and predictive abilities of these multivariate calibrations is observed. A calibration set was constructed for the mixture and the best model was used for the prediction of the c oncentration of the selected drug. The proposed procedures were a pplied successfully in the determination of rosuvastatin in laboratory‐prepared mixtures and in commercial preparations. Rosuvastatin was analyzed with mean accuracies 99.93 ± 0.866 and 99.99±0.645 using the PCR and PLS methods respectively. The validity of the proposed methods was assessed using the standard addition technique. The proposed procedures were found to be rapid and simple and required no preliminary separation. They can therefore be used for the routine analysis of rosuvastatin in quality‐control laboratories.


The present study is undertaken to evaluate the protective effects of vitamin C (VC) against methomyl-induced oxidative stress and testicular injures in Wister rat. Male rats were randomly divided into 4 groups of 6 rats each. The route of application selected for the study was oral gavage for 28 consecutive days. Group 1 was served as a control, whereas group 2 was supplemented with VC (200 mg kg-1 body weight, bw). Group 3 was administered with a dose of methomyl equivalent to 1/10 LD50 (2.034 mg kg-1 bw), whereas group 4 was co-administered VC and methomyl as the same dose of groups 2 and 3, respectively. Sub-acute exposure of rats to methomyl for 28 consecutive days resulted in a significant increase in testicular lipid peroxidation (LPO) and a decrease in glutathione (GSH) level. In addition, the testicular activities of catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) enzymes were significantly decline in response to methomyl exposure. Furthermore, histopathological studies in testis of rats treated with methomyl exhibited incomplete spermatogenic series in seminiferous tubules and necrosis of spermatogoneal cells lining seminiferous tubules. Notably, the co-administration of VC modulated the biochemical parameters and the intensity of histopathological findings. The effect of VC on transcriptional activity of four key stress and apoptosisrelated genes (CASP3, CASP9, Tp53 and Bcl2), in response to methomyl exposure in rats, was investigated. Results revealed a significant up-regulation in the level of the expression for the tested genes, however supplementation of VC to methomyl-treated rats modulated the observed significant up-regulation in the level of the expression for those genes, indicative of an protective interfering role in the signaling transduction process of methomyl-mediated toxicity. In conclusion, these data suggested that administration of VC may partially protect against methomyl induced testicular oxidative damage and apoptosis-related genes.


Abstract. Vulnerability to groundwater pollution in the Senegal River basin was studied by two different but complementary methods: the DRASTIC method (which evaluates the intrinsic vulnerability) and the fuzzy method (which assesses the specific vulnerability by taking into account the continuity of the parameters). The validation of this application has been tested by comparing the connection in groundwater and distribution of different established classes of vulnerabilities as well as the nitrate distribution in the study area. Three vulnerability classes (low, medium and high) have been identified by both the DRASTIC method and the fuzzy method (between which the normalized model was used). An integrated analysis reveals that high classes with 14.64 % (for the DRASTIC method), 21.68 % (for the normalized DRASTIC method) and 18.92 % (for the fuzzy method) are not the most dominant. In addition, a new method for sensitivity analysis was used to identify (and confirm) the main parameters which impact the vulnerability to pollution with fuzzy membership. The results showed that the vadose zone is the main parameter which impacts groundwater vulnerability to pollution while net recharge contributes least to pollution in the study area. It was also found that the fuzzy method better assesses the vulnerability to pollution with a coincidence rate of 81.13 % versus that of 77.35 % for the DRASTIC method. These results serve as a guide for policymakers to identify areas sensitive to pollution before such sites are used for socioeconomic infrastructures.


The landscape of our financial system is dominated by institutional investment. The funds move markets when they act, and corporate empires can rise, fall or change hands on the tide of institutional opinion and the flow of equity. Today, in many ways, these institutions are the City, such is their influence over the whole financial process. They are at the heart of the expectation machine; the Capital of capital. These all-powerful financial players cast a long shadow over the worlds of investment, corporate and venture finance, and yet City outsiders - from private investors to company directors - many of whose expectations and fortunes are tied to the flow of equity, know little about them. They may glimpse parts of the process through the, frequently distorted, lens of the press; they may find their activities and fortunes affected by the movements of institutional players, but rarely do they understand the subtle and complex relationships that drive behaviour of the City. It is remarkable, in view of the power wielded by the big investment institutions, how little has been written about them, especially from an analytical rather than anecdotal standpoint. The financial world, and the business world it drives, need a better understanding of the City and the behaviour of equity - the "visible" part of what the City does. In The City; Inside the Great Expectations Machine , Investment Analyst Tony Golding takes you inside the equity market and explains its structure, dynamics and behaviour. An easy-to-read, comprehensive analysis of the big investment institutions who dominate the stock market, with key insights into their impact on the City, industry and the private investor. This book will explain how the institutions achieved their ascendancy, acquire their funds, invest those funds and significantly influence other City activities and the corporate world in the process. The book will trace the flow of funds through the City and offer valuable insights into how fund managers behave, what drives their performance, the pressures they are under and the effects of their actions on the investment and corporate worlds. The behaviour of the investment institutions - pension funds, insurance companies, unit trusts, investment trusts - touches, in one way or another, the great majority of those living in the UK. To an extent that few outside the City appreciate, they dominate the London stock market, both in terms of ownership and activity. This text examines the way these institutions work, how fund managers invest and the implications of their investment behaviour. Institutional investors own 75 per cent of the shares quoted in the UK. In no other major economy - including the USA, where the institutional control is a much more modest 55 per cent - do the investment instituions exert such a grip on the corporate sector. It is not uncommon for large and medium-sized British companies to have 80 or 90 per cent institutional ownership. Share-prices are determined by the fund managers working in a small number of large institutions. The nostalgic idea that price setting in the stock market is the result of a multitude of individual decisions is, this text argues, a dangerous illusion. The book provides information about the investment institutions around which the stock market revolves, arguing that their perceptions and their actions determine the level of share-prices and much else besides, such as the success or failure of a takeover bid. It asks: what motivates fund managers and how do they make their decisions?; How do companies communicate with their institutional shareholders, especially in regard to the task of managing expectations? What companies do fund managers like or dislike, and why? And to what extent do they rely on the investment analysts employed by the investment banks for information and advice?


Wireless sensor networks have been widely deployed to perform sensing constantly at specific locations, but their energy consumption and deployment cost are of great concern. With the popularity and advanced technologies of mobile phones, participatory urban sensing is a rising and promising field which utilizes mobile phones as mobile sensors to collect data, though it is hard to guarantee the sensing quality and availability under the dynamic behaviors and mobility of human beings. Based on the above observations, we suggest that wireless sensors and mobile phones can complement each other to perform collaborative sensing efficiently with satisfactory quality and availability. In this paper, a novel collaborative sensing paradigm which integrates and supports wireless sensors and mobile phones with different communication standards is designed. We propose a seamless integrated framework which minimizes the number of wireless sensors deployed, while providing high sensing quality and availability to satisfy the application requirements. The dynamic sensing behaviors and mobility of mobile phone participants make it extremely challenging to estimate their sensing quality and availability, so as to deploy the wireless sensors at the optimal locations to guarantee the sensing performance at a minimum cost. We introduce two mathematical models, a sensing quality evaluation model and a mobility prediction model, to predict the sensing quality and mobility of the mobile phone participants. We further propose a cost-effective sensor deployment algorithm to guarantee the required coverage probability and sensing quality for the system. Extensive simulations with real mobile traces demonstrate that the proposed paradigm can integrate wireless sensors and mobile phones seamlessly for satisfactory sensing quality and availability with minimized number of sensors.


In this work, we perform security analysis of using an e-mail as a self-service password reset point, and exploit some of the vulnerabilities of e-mail servers' forgotten password reset paths. We perform and illustrate three different attacks on a personal Email account, using a variety of tools such as: public knowledge attainable through social media or public records to answer security questions and execute a social engineering attack, hardware available to the public to perform a man in the middle attack, and free software to perform a brute-force attack on the login of the email account. Our results expose some of the inherent vulnerabilities in using emails as password reset points. The findings are extremely relevant to the security of mobile devices since users' trend has leaned towards usage of mobile devices over desktops for Internet access.


This paper investigates the pricing patterns of 161 IPOs that occurred in 2009-2017 in the Euronext markets of Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon, and Paris. Across all the IPOs, we find a first-day raw return of 1.4% and an industry-adjusted return of 1.2%. After one year, the average raw returns are slightly higher, around 4.5%, and the average adjusted returns are negative, around -2.7%. These first-day returns are lower whilst long-run returns are higher than those reported in other studies, most notably in those that use periods that overlap our sample Healthcare is the industry that presents a higher initial underpricing (2.3% industry-adjusted return), whilst the Technology industry presents the higher year underperformance (-29.5% industry-adjusted return). Mainly, results are in line with the market conditions and investor sentiment hypotheses according to which, when market conditions are bad (crises), uninformed investors are not so active and optimistic in the IPO market, hence initial underpricing and subsequent underperformance tend to be lower.


The peach root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne floridensis, is an emerging pathogen of peach (Prunus persica) and other crops currently known only to occur in Florida, USA. Molecular and morphological analyses are commonly used to differentiate M. floridensisfrom other root-knot nematodes species found in Florida, but it may be difficult to distinguish M. floridensisfrom M. arenaria without DNA sequencing because of the similarity of the DNA fragment size obtained with the commonly used DNA primer sets. An economical, reliable, and rapid method has been routinely used in our laboratory and allows these two nematode species to be differentiated without sequencing using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). The mitochondrial (mtDNA) region between COII and 16S was amplified using the C2F3/1108 primer set and digested with HinfI and SspI. Digestion of the PCR product with HinfI yielded two unique fragments of approximately 770 bp and 370 bp for M. floridensis, which consistently allows for a fast and easy distinction between the two nematode species regardless of whether the sample is comprised of female or juvenile.


X-linked Dystonia-Parkinsonism (XDP) is a Mendelian neurodegenerative disease endemic to the Philippines. We integrated genome and transcriptome assembly with induced pluripotent stem cell-based modeling to identify the XDP causal locus and potential pathogenic mechanism. Genome sequencing identified novel variation that was shared by all probands and three recombination events that narrowed the causal locus to a genomic segment including TAF1. Transcriptome assembly in neural derivative cells discovered novel TAF1 transcripts, including a truncated transcript exclusively observed in probands that involved aberrant splicing and intron retention (IR) associated with a SINE-VNTR-Alu (SVA)-type retrotransposon insertion. This IR correlated with decreased expression of the predominant TAF1 transcript and altered expression of neurodevelopmental genes; both the IR and aberrant TAF1 expression patterns were rescued by CRISPR/Cas9 excision of the SVA. These data suggest a unique genomic cause of XDP and may provide a roadmap for integrative genomic studies in other unsolved Mendelian disorders. Highlights Genome assembly narrows the XDP causal locus to a segment including TAF1 XDP-specific SVA insertion induces intron retention and down-regulation of TAF1 CRISPR/Cas9 excision of SVA rescues aberrant splicing and cTAF1 expression in XDP Gene networks perturbed in proband cells associate to synapse and neurodevelopment


Atg17, in complex with Atg29 and Atg31, constitutes a key module of the Atg1 kinase signaling complex and functions as an important organizer of the phagophore assembly site in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We have determined the three-dimensional reconstruction of the full S. cerevisiae Atg17-Atg31-Atg29 complex by single-particle electron microscopy. Our structure shows that Atg17-Atg31-Atg29 is dimeric and adopts a relatively rigid and extended "S-shape" architecture with an end-to-end distance of approximately 345 Å. Subunit mapping analysis indicated that Atg17 mediates dimerization and generates a central rod-like scaffold, while Atg31 and Atg29 form two globular domains that are tethered to the concave sides of the scaffold at the terminal regions. Finally, our observation that Atg17 adopts multiple conformations in the absence of Atg31 and Atg29 suggests that the two smaller components play key roles in defining and maintaining the distinct curvature of the ternary complex.


Abstract This paper reports on findings from a large Australian research project that explored the relationship between contract cheating and assessment design. Using survey responses from 14,086 students and 1147 educators at eight universities, a multivariate analysis examined the influence of a range of factors on the likelihood that different assessment types would prompt considerations of contract cheating in students. Perceptions of likelihood were highest among students who speak a language other than English at home. Perceptions of likelihood were also higher among students who reported there to be lots of opportunities to cheat, and amongst students who were dissatisfied with the teaching and learning environment. Perceptions of likelihood for certain assessment types were also higher in commerce and engineering than in any other discipline. Overall, four assessment types were perceived by students to be the least likely to be outsourced, however these are also the least likely to be set by educators. The analysis indicates that educators are more likely to use these assessment tasks when they report positively on organisational support for teaching and learning.


Secondary school students face many choices about tertiary education. Some will have a career path in mind and choose to attend an institution that offers a relevant programme, while others will choose a programme offered by an institution that has been selected for other reasons. This paper investigates whether students enrolled in one of the three accredited landscape architecture programmes in New Zealand first chose their career rather than first selected an institution. It also reports on the factors that influenced these choices. Ninety-seven first-year landscape architecture students were invited to complete a self-administered questionnaire. Seventy-five per cent chose a career in landscape architecture first, rather than first selecting an institution. In choosing a career, extrinsic motivations were more important than family or institutional influences, but institutional influences were more important than family or extrinsic factors when selecting a provider. The main factors influencing choice have implications for the profession; they also have implications for institutions regarding programme distinctiveness. Many factors play a role in these choices, including selection of subjects at school. Survey respondents reported on their choices of subject at secondary school and the usefulness of those subjects to their landscape architecture programme. A particular combination of secondary school courses may be a useful signal for students to consider landscape architecture as a possible career path.


Three transcripts map to the varicella-zoster virus (VZV) open reading frame (ORF) 67, which encodes glycoprotein IV (gpIV). All of these transcripts are polyadenylated and are transcribed from left to right towards the genomic terminal short repeats. Previous Northern (RNA) blot analyses suggested that the most abundant of these transcripts (1.65 kb) might code for gpIV. We performed S1 nuclease protection and primer extension assays and determined that the 5' terminus of the 1.65-kb transcript maps 91 bp upstream from the gpIV initiation codon. An AT-rich region (ATAAA), -28 bp from the cap site, is a potential TATA box, and at -71 bp there is a consensus CCAAT box motif. The 3' end of the 1.65-kb transcript is 20 bp downstream of two overlapping polyadenylation signals, AATAAA and ATTAAA, and just downstream of the 3' terminus is a GU-rich sequence. These results are reminiscent of data from our analysis of the VZV gpV gene, confirming that VZV appears able to use unusual TATA box motifs. Many canonical TATA sequences are present upstream from these VZV transcriptional start sites but, apparently, are not used. We tested sequences upstream from the gpIV cap site for promoter activity in transient expression experiments by cloning a DNA fragment (+63 to -343 bp) into pCAT3M, which contains a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter gene. This clone showed little constitutive promoter activity but was activated more than 200-fold by infection with VZV and 5-fold with herpes simplex virus. The two known VZV transactivating genes (those for ORF 4 and ORF 62) were tested for their abilities to activate expression from the gpIV promoter by using their cognate promoters. The ORF 4 gene was minimally active, whereas the ORF 62 gene gave twofold induction; both genes, acting together, gave fivefold induction. However, replacement of the IE62 promoter with the immediate-early cytomegalovirus promoter in the ORF 62 construct gave over 40-fold induction of chloramphenicol acetyltransferase activity under the gpIV promoter in the same assay.


AbstractThe way in which the history of colonialism might link up with the formation of postcolonial migrant identities remains insufficiently examined. Through a comparison between transnational business practices of Khoja Ismaili Muslim settled in the British and Portuguese colonial territories of East Africa and in contemporary Angola, the present paper aims to discuss the impact of colonial experiences in the configuration of postcolonial business cultures. Articulating several guiding empirical questions, we will attempt to show that the continuing centrality of the nation-states in which Ismaili transnational economic activities are embedded, the notion of a disadvantageous network closure, concomitant with the importance of face-to-face contacts, the mutual trust and understanding sustained through personal relations, and the tendency for national loyalty to prevail over religious belonging (whenever any potential conflict between the two exists) constitute crucial dimensions of an accumulated colonial knowledge which is significant in the analysis of the Ismaili competitive advantage in postcolonial Africa. This argument will be developed on the basis of a multi-sited ethnographic research. The U.K. and Portugal emerged as a strategic passage for our encounters with East African Ismailis from former British and Portuguese colonial territories. The current Angolan context, absent from the available literature, was selected as a postcolonial term of comparison.


Quantum mechanical simulations of hydrogen abstraction by hydroxyl radical from methanol and ethanol yield barriers that agree very well with those measured experimentally. Analysis of the multi configurationally wave function indicates that the strength of the C-H bond is the electronic parameter that has a major contribution to the barrier for H-abstraction. Similar analysis applied to 2-deoxy-D-ribose shows that the strength of a C-H bond together with the steric accessibility of the hydrogen determine that H4 is the most susceptible hydrogen for abstraction by a hydroxyl radical. Quantum mechanical simulations of β-cleavage show that a concerted mechanism in which a water molecule assists in the bond breaking process is more likely than a Sin mechanism. However, the polar transition state suggests that the environment of the DNA and the surrounding water will have an important effect on the reaction.


Author(s): Kuhn, Randall; Richards, Jessica; Roth, Sarah; Clair, Kimberly | Abstract: Los Angeles faces a housing crisis of unprecedented scale. After years of underinvestment, in 2016/2017 LA County voters approved Measures H and HHH, which provided an infusion of resources for homeless services, permanent housing, and integrated outreach through the LA County Homeless Initiative (HI). An estimated 58,936 individuals in LA County remain homeless as of January 2019, 75% of them unsheltered and living on streets, in tents, or encampments. Our best estimates suggest that the homeless population has grown since 2017.HI takes a Housing First approach to homelessness, with the largest amount of total funds allocated to housing solutions. However, rehousing is often subject to delays in construction and case management. These delays, combined with persistent market forces driving new homelessness, have left the county well short of its targets. While no forecasts were issued, the initial gap analysis for HI had assumed a 34% reduction in the total homeless count from 2016 to 2019. The count has in fact increased by 26% over that period, meaning 28,000 more homeless clients than anticipated on any night. Whereas cities with comparable homeless crises such as New York have focused on increasing the availability of emergency shelters and safe havens in addition to permanent housing, LA County's relatively low investment in transitional options has resulted in persistent levels of unsheltered homelessness.Research has shown that homelessness has severe health consequences. Homeless individuals have a high risk of mortality, with a recent LA County Medical Examiner report finding an average age of death of 48 for women and 51 for men. Homeless individuals have much higher risks of mental illness, substance abuse, infectious disease, chronic illness, violence, and reproductive health risks than the general population. Much less is known about the health burdens associated with being unsheltered, but most evidence points to substantially greater health risks given the more intense exposures to violence, weather, pollution, poor sanitation, and behavioral risk. Research is just beginning to quantify the burdens of living on the streets.Our analysis of the LA County homelessness response drew on expert interviews, data analysis, and document review. Beyond the growing numerical gap between HI's targets and actual trends, we identified five critical service gaps that require immediate attention: Taking a person-centered approach that recognizes both the diversity of client needs and the limitations of existing resources, yet honors the principle that everyone deserves housing; Improving access to emergency shelters by reducing legal and political barriers to construction and adopting "low barrier shelters" that facilitate entry; Delivering comprehensive street medicine and other services to unsheltered homeless populations using evidence-based models that support the path to housing and recovery Adopting more extensive outreach models that engage citizens, empower homeless clients and leverage mobile technology so that case workers can focus on clients most in need; Strengthening data collection and research methods to understand the consequences of unsheltered homelessness, pilot new service models, and evaluate rehousing efforts.


Since the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, several attempts have been made to block its provisions in the states. Among these, ballot propositions challenging the individual mandate have occurred in five states, with four more scheduled for November 2012. We first provide state-level estimates of public opinion on the ACA since the beginning of 2010, and we show that, consistent with models of partisan resonance, polarization of public opinion is greatest near elections that politicize health care. We then use synthetic control methods to estimate the causal effects of the high-profile public campaigns surrounding these proposition elections, finding these effects to be conditioned by the broader political context of the campaign. In Ohio, where the campaign took place without simultaneous major candidate elections, we find effects on opinion of about seven percentage points. These effects are fairly short-lived, persisting a few months.


Privacy, authentication, confidentiality and non repudiation are the most desired security attributes for all vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) applications. A lot of solutions have been presented to address these issues. However, they are mostly dependent on centralized certificate architecture and some sort of hardware-based security. These solutions are expensive to carry out and lack the incentive for both users and service providers to deploy, which make them especially difficult to be implemented during the important initial deployment stage of VANET. In this paper, we present a distributed security architecture for VANET that does not rest on expensive security hardware or elaborate security infrastructure. The architecture can be incrementally deployed, facilitating small companies to jump in the VANET business, and can fill the void during the VANET initial deployment phase. Our solution is based on spatial and temporal restricted certificates, which are issued upon user's request and can be used for various VANET applications. Due to the restricted nature of these certificates, the certificate revocation process is simple and efficient, which solves another drawback of existing solutions.


subgroup within the Jewish community) have a particularly low incidence of carcinoma of the cervix. It is theoretically possible that all the apparent differences are the result of the proportions of Israeli women in the two groups. The authors state that the overall relative risk is of borderline significance. This must be some new use of the word significance. The 95',, confidence interval of the risk factor includes 1, and it would be more usual to state that the study had failed to show any significant difference between the two groups. It is clearly important that studies like this are published, even when, as in this case, the results are essentially negative and even when factors such as smoking and the sexual history of the partners are unaccountably ignored. However, to present associations which do not reach statistical significance as if they proved a causal relation is irresponsible. Editors should be on the lookout for pitfalls and use expert statistical advisers more often than they do.' JOHN V PARKIN II University Department of Surgery, Krankenhaus Merheim, 5000 Cologne 91, West Germany


A variety of text processing tasks require or benefit from semantic resources such as ontologies and lexicons. Creating these resources manually is tedious, time consuming, and prone to error. We present a new algorithm for using the web to determine the correct concept in an existing ontology to lexicalize previously unknown words, such as might be discovered while processing texts. A detailed empirical comparison of our algorithm with two existing algorithms (Cilibrasi & Vitanyi 2004, Maedche et al. 2002) is described, leading to insights into the sources of the algorithms' strengths and weaknesses.


An assessment of various threats to the olive ridley turtles at Rushikulya rookery of Orissa in India was investigated during 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons. Data on adult mortality, predation of eggs and juveniles, beach erosion and Casuarina plantation along the beach were collected. Turtle mortality was low at Rushikulya compared to rest of the Orissa coast. However, other anthropogenic pressures such as Casuarina plantation close to high tide level, beach erosion and artificial illumination that have emerged as visible threats at this rookery. Protection of nests and minimization of artificial illumination are some of the immediate steps required for safeguarding sea turtles at the Rushikulya rookery.


Adeno-associated viral (AAV) capsid proteins, thought to be a rate-limiting step in the production of recombinant AAV (rAAV), are translated from spliced mRNAs. Improvement of the native AAV nonconsensus donor sequence increases splicing yet leaves the relative levels of VP1- and VP2/3-encoding mRNAs unchanged, and thus provides a means to increase delivery of correct ratios of AAV capsid proteins. This effect is independent of the AAV serotype used, and occurs whether the rep and cap genes supplied in trans are on the same or separate expression vectors. In the split-vector system, replacement of the more traditionally used cytomegalovirus promoter with that of the AAV5 P41 promoter allowed for even greater levels of splicing, and together with an improved intron donor, led to a 10- to 15-fold increase in the levels of splicing, rAAV production, and transduction compared with levels achieved by traditional cotransfection methods. Thus, the enhancement of splicing presents a useful method to enhance rAAV production via transient transfection.


A highly sensitive CMOS-based sensing system is proposed for permittivity detection and mixture characterization of organic chemicals at microwave frequencies. The system determines permittivity by measuring the frequency difference between two voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs); a sensor oscillator with an operating frequency that shifts with the change in tank capacitance due to exposure to the material under test (MUT) and a reference oscillator insensitive to the MUT. This relative measurement approach improves sensor accuracy by tracking frequency drifts due to environmental variations. Embedding the sensor and reference VCOs in a fractional- N phase-locked loop (PLL) frequency synthesizer enables material characterization at a precise frequency and provides an efficient material-induced frequency shift read-out mechanism with a low-complexity bang-bang control loop that adjusts a fractional frequency divider. The majority of the PLL-based sensor system, except for an external fractional frequency divider, is implemented with a 90-nm CMOS prototype that consumes 22 mW when characterizing material near 10 GHz. Material-induced frequency shifts are detected at an accuracy level of 15 ppmrms and binary mixture characterization of organic chemicals yield maximum errors in permittivity of 1.5%.


During the development of a human embryo, the position of eyes moves medially and caudally in the viscerocranium. A statistical model of this process can play an important role in embryology by facilitating qualitative analyses of change. This paper proposes an algorithm to construct a spatiotemporal statistical model for the eyeballs of a human embryo. The proposed modeling algorithm builds a statistical model of the spatial coordinates of the eyeballs independently for each Carnegie stage (CS) by using principal component analysis (PCA). In the process, a qGaussian distribution with a model selection scheme based on the Aaike information criterion is used to handle a non-Gaussian distribution with a small sample size. Subsequently, it seamlessly interpolates the statistical models of neighboring CSs, and we present 10 interpolation methods. We also propose an estimation algorithm for the CS using our spatiotemporal statistical model. A set of images of eyeballs in human embryos from the Kyoto Collection was used to train the model and assess its performance. The modeling results suggested that information geometry-based interpolation under the assumption of a q-Gaussian distribution is the best modeling method. The average error in CS estimation was 0.409. We proposed an algorithm to construct a spatiotemporal statistical model of the eyeballs of a human embryo and tested its performance using the Kyoto Collection. key words: computational anatomy, spatiotemporal model, embryo, Carnegie stage, growth


BACKGROUND
Bronchodilators are commonly used in the management of bronchiolitis. A recent systematic review showed that bronchodilators produce modest short-term benefit among patients with mild or moderate bronchiolitis.

OBJECTIVES
To compare epinephrine versus placebo and other bronchodilators in infants less than 2 years of age with bronchiolitis.

SEARCH STRATEGY
Electronic searches were conducted on the following bibliographic databases: The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (issue 1, 2003), MEDLINE (January 1966 to May 2003), and EMBASE (January 1988 to May 2003). The reference lists of all selected articles were examined for relevant studies. Primary authors were contacted for information on additional trials.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Studies were included if they: 1) were RCTs comparing epinephrine with placebo or other bronchodilator; 2) involved children less than two years with bronchiolitis; 3) presented at least one quantitative outcome.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Searches were screened and inclusion criteria applied independently by two reviewers. Quality was assessed by two reviewers using the Jadad scale and allocation concealment. Data were extracted by one reviewer using a structured form and checked by a second. Separate analyses were conducted for the two types of control groups (placebo, non-epinephrine bronchodilators) and for patient status (inpatient, outpatient).

MAIN RESULTS
Fourteen studies were included. Quality ranged from one to five (Jadad scale) with a median of three (inter-quartile range: two to three). Allocation concealment was adequate in six trials and unclear in eight. Among inpatient studies comparing epinephrine and placebo (n = five), there was one significant outcome favouring epinephrine: change in clinical score at 60 minutes post-treatment (SMD -0.52; 95% CI -1.00,-0.03). For outpatient studies (n = three), change in clinical score at 60 minutes (SMD -0.81; -1.56,-0.07), change in oxygen saturation at 30 minutes (WMD 2.79;1.50,4.08), respiratory rate at 30 minutes (WMD -4.54;-8.89-0.19), and "improvement" (OR 25.06; 4.95,126.91) favoured epinephrine. Heart rate at 60 minutes post-treatment favoured placebo (WMD 11.80; 5.20,18.40). Admission rates and change in oxygen saturation at 60 minutes post-treatment were not significantly different. For inpatient studies comparing epinephrine and salbutamol (n = four), only one of the seven outcomes was statistically significant: respiratory rate at 30 minutes favoured epinephrine (WMD -5.12; -6.83;-3.41). Among outpatient studies (n = four), change in oxygen saturation at 60 minutes (WMD 1.91; 0.38,3.44), heart rate at 90 minutes (WMD -14.00; -22.95;-5.05), respiratory rate at 60 minutes (WMD -7.76; -11.35,-4.17) post-treatment and "improvement" (OR 4.51; 1.93,10.53) favoured epinephrine. Admission rates were not significantly different (OR 0.40; 0.12,1.33). Pallor at 30 minutes post-treatment was significantly higher in the epinephrine group (OR 6.00; 1.33,27.00).

REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS
There is insufficient evidence to support the use of epinephrine for the treatment of bronchiolitis among inpatients. There is some evidence to suggest that epinephrine may be favourable to salbutamol and placebo among outpatients. A number of large, multi-centered trials are required to examine the effectiveness of epinephrine compared to placebo and salbutamol for infants presenting to outpatient settings. There is a need to develop a validated, reliable scoring system that is sensitive to important clinical changes in patients with bronchiolitis.


Fish oils are the most common source of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs), mainly eicosapentaenoic acid(EPA). It has been pointed out protective effects and beneficial effects of EPA on body weight reduction, heart health, blood lipid profile, cardiovascular diseases and other diseases. Based on its biological activities, EPA may be developed to a complementary and alternative medicine through further research. In this paper, the pharmacological effects of EPA were summarized by reviewing the recent related literatures.


The performance (or quality) of a product is often checked by measuring the radiated sound (noise) from the vibrating structure. Often this test has to be done in an environment with background noise, which makes the measurement difficult. When using a (pressure) microphone the background noise can be such that it dominates the radiated sound from the vibrating structure. However, when using a particle velocity sensor, the Microflown [1,2], near the vibrating structure, the background noise has almost no influence (it is almost cancelled) and the sound from the structure is measured with a good S/N ratio. The experimental results are explained in terms of the different boundary conditions at the surface of the vibrating structure for the pressure and the particle velocity.


Lung cancer, broadly divided into small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), is the leading cause of cancer-related death in both the United States and China (1,2). The majority of new cases are advanced NSCLC at the time of diagnosis, and epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) are recommended to be the standard treatment option for advanced NSCLC patients harbouring activating EGFR mutation (3). Several randomized controlled trials that enrolled patients with EGFR-mutated NSCLC demonstrated that EGFR-TKI was superior to chemotherapy in terms of progression-free survival (PFS) and objective response rate (ORR) (4-7). However, concomitant administration of EGFR-TKIs standard chemotherapy is controversial.


Abstract: The sympathetic nervous system is one of the major pathways involved in immune‐neuroendocrine interactions. Disturbances in these interactions are likely to have consequences during lymphoproliferative diseases. Work derived from our group as well as from several others led us to the hypothesis that the overstimulation of the immune system that characterizes this type of pathology results in decreased sympathetic nerve activity in lymphoid organs. To explore this possibility, we used as a model lpr/lpr mice, which develop a genetically determined autoimmune, lupus‐like lymphoproliferative disease. We show that 18‐week‐old female C57Bl/6J lpr/lpr mice, which do not show overt symptoms of the disease but already have increased IgM and IgG2a levels in the blood, have decreased noradrenaline (NA) concentration and content in the spleen, but not in the kidney, as compared to normal C57Bl/6J littermates. Lpr/lpr mice do not express normal Fas, and therefore apoptosis cannot be triggered through this receptor. The defects in sympathetic innervation in the spleen of lpr/lpr mice prompted us to evaluate whether NA could influence lymphoid cell mass by inducing apoptosis. We found that NA can directly induce apoptosis in normal lymphoid cells via β‐adrenergic receptors. From the reported results we propose that reduction in sympathetic nerve function in lpr/lpr mice contributes to aggravation of the disease and suggest that in addition to the incapacity to mount Fas‐mediated apoptosis, a second proapoptotic mechanism, namely, that triggered by NA, is defective in these animals because of reduced availability of the neurotransmitter.


Control and monitoring systems of the water level tank is one of electrical, computer instrumentation that needed in industrial process. This paper presents control and monitoring systems of water level in a tank based on ultrasonic sensor. The ultrasonic sensor is a device that can measure the distance of an object by using ultrasonic wave deflection. The control system is designed using relay as a switch which is controlled by a microcontroller with hysteresis control law. For monitoring and measurement data, the interface device is also designed using the Processing software in form of graphic, bar chart, pump state, and charging/discharging duration. Testing result shows that the ultrasonic sensor that used able to measure water level of 5 cm to 25 cm with error measurement 4.93%. A hysteresis control system that designed can produce output responses according to the setpoint value without generating relay's chattering. As an addition, monitoring system of water level can be displayed in the form of a software interface on the Processing interactively.


The Pine Hollow and South Ashland fields located in Pittsburg and Coal Counties, Oklahoma, established a combined reserve exceeding 200 bcf of gas. The Hartshorne Sandstone of early Desmoinesian (Pennsylvanian) age is the producing zone at a depth of 4000 ft (1200 m). Gas, probably of biogenic origin, migrated into the reservoir shortly after deposition. Subsequent folding and faulting of the Ashland anticline resulted in repositioning of the gas in a downthrown fault trap. The upthrown anticline portion of the Hartshorne is water-bearing. Moderate well costs and high individual reserves have resulted in excellent economics. Competitive bidding on federal leases has resulted in a high bid exceeding $1 million for one tract in the South Ashland field.


Follicular lymphoma (FL) is the most common low-grade B-cell non Hodgkin lymphoma in the Western hemisphere. A significant proportion of FL undergo histologic transformation to diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Using cDNA microarray analysis, we identified an expressed sequence tag GI#10952525 consistently differentially expressed in transformed follicular lymphomas (tFL). This was characterized as RhoF, a novel member of the Rho family. Rho GTPases play central roles in cytoskeletal dynamics, cell-cell interactions, and intracellular signaling pathways involved in migration, proliferation and survival. Dysregulation of Rho proteins are key events implicated in tumorigenesis. To define the role of RhoF in lymphocyte physiology and lymphoma transformation, we assessed its expression across phenotypically defined lymphocyte subpopulations, using quantitative real-time PCR. We determined relative RhoF levels in immunomagnetic bead purified normal lymphoid subpopulations [naive B-cells, memory B-cells, germinal center B-cells and T-cells], reactive lymphoid tissues (n=5), cell lines [derived from t(14;18) tFL (n =3), de novo DLBCL (n=7), and T-cell malignancy (n=3)] and tissue from primary human lymphoid neoplasms [FL (n=5), de novo DLBCL (n=5), tFL (n=5), CLL/SLL (n=4), anaplastic large cell lymphoma (n=8), mantle cell lymphoma (n=5), and T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (n=5)]. RhoF was expressed at significantly higher levels in B-cells relative to T-cells. We saw this pattern in purified lymphocyte subpopulations, in cell lines, and in primary lymphoma tissue samples. Notably, we detected elevated levels of RhoF transcript in B-cells of germinal center (GC) origin, both in the reactive and neoplastic samples of GC-derived B-cells. The highest transcriptional levels of RhoF were in malignant B-cells of GC origin; both in heterogeneous primary tissue samples and in homogeneous tissue culture preparations. To investigate its functional role, we cloned RhoF into a vector coding for a C-terminal polyhistidine- and V5 epitope-tag. We expressed the constructs in HEK 293T cells, and purified the RhoF-containing complexes using a tandem affinity purification approach. We ran cell lysates through a nickel column; non-interacting proteins were washed off under native conditions and the bound RhoF complexes eluted with imidazole. Eluate was immunoprecipitated with sepharose-bound anti-V5 antibody. Immunoprecipitated complexes were denatured and resolved by 1D-PAGE. Unique bands representing RhoF interacting proteins were isolated and enzymatically cleaved with trypsin. Resultant peptides underwent liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry. Data were searched against the NCBI nr.FASTA nonredundant protein database using the SEQUEST algorithm and false positive rates determined with INTERACT and ProteinProphet. Among several putative RhoF interactors, we identified ATM as an important RhoF binding partner. In conclusion, our demonstration of the differential expression of RhoF in GC-derived cells and its upregulation in tFL provide evidence for a connection between the role of this novel protein in B-cell development and malignancy. In addition, evidence of an association between RhoF and ATM may provide a link between DNA repair, cell cycle control and morphological dynamics.


Several searches for new proton emitters were performed recently at ATLAS using the Argonne Fragment Mass Analyzer equipped with a Double‐Sided Si Strip Detector. Proton emitting states were observed in odd‐odd spherical nuclei 164Ir and 170Au. 164Ir is the fourth Ir proton emitter. A proton line was associated with the highly deformed odd‐odd nucleus 130Eu. The proton emitter 135Tb was also observed. It is the first proton emitting Tb isotope. The estimated cross section for producing 135Tb is about 2 nb. The properties of the proton emitters deduced from this work helped to understand the role of core vibrations and neutrons in proton decay. In view of the present results the full delineation of the proton drip‐line between Z=50 and Z=83 is feasible. In order to cope with small cross sections and short half lives expected for even more exotic proton emitters several modifications of the FMA implantation station were implemented. Measurements were also performed at the target position using a catcher to ...


Previously we showed how we measured pedagogy and revealed its association with learning outcomes of sixth-form college mathematics students. In this project we followed a similar approach to the study of university transition. We particularly sought to identify the students' perceptions of the transitional experience, and measure the association with learning outcomes. We drew on longitudinal surveys of students entering different programmes in five universities. Following them into their first year or so, allowed us to track their 'disposition to complete the course' and their 'disposition to study more mathematics', inter alia. We developed and validated two 'fit-for-purpose' measures of students' perception of their transition, one we call 'perception of the transitional gap/jump' and one we call 'degree of positive feeling about the transition'. We report some statistically and educationally significant associations between these and the students' developing dispositions, and discuss the prospects fo...


In her seminal work Models and Analogies in Science , Mary Hesse (1966) establishes an important function of metaphor in scientific theorizing – the explanatory function of metaphor in scientific models. While Hesse was concerned with scientists communicating with each other, this paper investigates whether this crucial function of metaphor can also be found when scientific experts communicate with a lay audience of students in the discourse setting of college lectures. For this purpose, we analyze transcriptions of five filmed US-American college lectures in biology, chemistry, psychology and philosophy. Our detailed analysis of authentic language data shows that what Hesse (1966: 157- 177) labeled "the explanatory function of metaphor" is indeed systematically exploited for didactic purposes by the professors when communicating scientific concepts to their students. Additionally, our examination also points out that in this educational setting, the explanatory function of metaphor sometimes merges with the heuristic function of metaphor, particularly when students engage in 'creative' discovery in their learning process. Last but not least, although we demonstrate that metaphor has the power to further the students' understanding of the scientific concepts at hand, our analysis also reveals that some metaphor use by the professors might also lead to misconceptions of the respective topics.


Objectives: It has been suggested that dietary selenium (Se) deficiency is implicated in the etiology of cardiovascular disease. In this study, we examined the antioxidant status of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) determining the blood and plasma Se concentrations, plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) and blood and plasma Se-dependent glutathione peroxidase (SeGSH-Px) activities. Patients: Venous blood samples were taken from 70 randomly selected AMI patients (50 men, 20 women) aged 36 to 86 years at the Coronary Care Unit of the Medical Clinical Center in Belgrade 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 days after admission to the Unit and 20 healthy volunteers (men 12, women 8) aged 39 to 79 years. Methods: Blood and plasma Se was determined by AAS; SeGSH-Px activity spectrophotometrically at 37 °C, and MDA using colorimetric methods with thiobarbituric acid. Results: In comparison to the control group, AMI patients had significantly lower blood and plasma Se levels and SeGSH-Px activities and significantly higher plasma MDA level. AMI patients who underwent thrombolytic therapy had significantly higher levels of plasma MDA in comparison to those without the therapy. Decreased blood and plasma Se levels and SeGSH-Px activities and increased levels of plasma MDA indicate low antioxidant status of the patients and therefore, led to decreased ability of their organisms to abolish free radicals. Conclusions: These results suggest that lipid peroxides might play an important role in the genesis of ischemic heart disease. The higher level of plasma MDA in AMI patients who underwent thrombolytic therapy indicate that peroxides might be included in the occurrence of reperfusion syndrome.


To date, research on the transition to parenthood and associated changes in relationship satisfaction (RS) has focused predominantly on mothers with their firstborn. This study targeted fathers to investigate their trajectories of RS with a particular focus on emerging differences between first- and second-time fathers. It furthermore considered various predictors such as the role of age, education, income, duration of relationship, marital status, child's biological sex, and child temperament. Data from a total of 606 fathers from the prospective longitudinal cohort study DREAM were analyzed. The analyses included assessments of four measurement time points (T1: prepartum; T2–T4: postpartum) over a period of more than 2 years. Latent growth curve modeling was applied with RS as the dependent variable and number of children as one of eight predictors of growth over time. First-time fathers showed higher initial RS, however experienced a steeper decline in the transition to parenthood than second-time fathers. At 8 weeks postpartum, first-time fathers still reported higher RS than second-time fathers. While RS continued to decline for first-time fathers up until 14 months postpartum, second-time fathers experienced an increase in RS. At 14 months and 2 years postpartum, second-time fathers showed higher RS scores than first-time fathers. Similar to first-time mothers, first-time fathers seem to experience a stronger RS decline during the transition to parenthood than second-time fathers, suggesting that especially couples becoming parents for the first time should be prepared for expected changes in their relationship.


English is a foreign language rather than a second language in the mainland of China; therefore, lack of real life environment for English learning is an inevitably realistic limitation.  The development of the technology provides a language environment which is more real than the traditional teaching environment for English learners. This essay probes into the theoretical foundation, practical significance and problems of the computer and Internet assisted adult English teaching. Teaching adults English based on computer and Internet aims to promote the sound development of adult English teaching.


As the importance of food and nutrition becomes more widely recognized by practitioners and researchers in the health sciences, one persisting gap in the knowledge base remains: what are the economic factors that influence our food and our health? Food and Nutrition Economics offers a much-needed resource for non-economists looking to understand the basic economic principles that govern our food and nutritional systems. Comprising both a quick grounding in nutrition with the fundamentals of economics and expert applications to food systems, it is a uniquely accessible and much-needed bridge between previously disparate scholarly and professional fields. This book is intended for upper level undergraduates, graduate students, and health professionals with no background in economics who recognize that economics affects much of their work. Concerned because previous encounters with economics have been hampered by math hurdles? Don't be; this book offers a specialized primer in consumer economics (including behavioral economics of food consumption), producer economics, market-level analysis, cost-effectiveness, and cost-benefit analysis, all in an accessible and conversational manner that requires nothing more than middle-school math acumen. Grounding these lessons in contemporary issues such as soft drink taxes, food prices, convenience, nutrition education programs, and the food environment, Food and Nutrition Economics is an innovative and needed entry in the rapidly expanding universe of food studies, health science, and their related fields. Available in OSO:


: This paper makes comparisons of some of the pharmacological properties of the opiate analgesics and the tricyclic antidepressants in order to justify the clinical examination of the tricyclics as potential analgesic or proanalgesic agents in man. Preliminary animal data suggest that the tricyclic agent clomipramine (Anafranil, Geigy) will potentiate the effects of morphine, pentazocine and cyclazocine.


Minoxidil is an antihypertensive that works by directly dilating peripheral vessels. The agent produces vasodilation via a cyclic AMP-mediated effect on arteriolar smooth muscle, with little effect on veins. There have been associations with its use and cause and/or exacerbation of pericardial effusions. This reported adverse effect resulted in a black box warning in the US, which states that minoxidil may cause pericarditis and pericardial effusion that may progress to tamponade. Specifically, patients with renal impairment not on dialysis and individuals with congestive heart failure are reported at higher risk. Here we report a case of a patient with underlying renal disease who presented to the hospital with hypertensive urgency. He developed a pericardial effusion soon after restarting minoxidil, which did not resolve until this medication was discontinued, despite undergoing a pericardial window. J Med Cases. 2015;6(2):65-67 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14740/jmc1928w


Background/aim Cam deformity (CD) is likely a bony adaptation in response to high-impact sports practice during skeletal growth. We ascertained whether a dose–response relationship exists between the frequency of football practice during skeletal growth and the presence of a CD in adulthood, and if the age at which a football player starts playing football is associated with the presence of a CD in adulthood. Methods Prevalence of a CD (α angle>60°) and a pathological CD (α angle>78°) was studied using standardised anteroposterior (AP) and frog-leg lateral (FLL) radiographs that were obtained during seasonal screening. The age of starting to play football with a low frequency (LF; ≤3 times/week) and high frequency (HF; ≥4 times/week) was retrospectively assessed. The differences in prevalence of a CD per hip, in either view, between groups were calculated by logistic regression with generalised estimating equations. Results 63 players (mean(±SD) age 23.1(±4.2) years) participated, yielding 126 hips for analysis. The prevalence of a CD in the FLL was 40% (n=82) in players who started playing HF football from the age of 12 years or above, and 64% (n=44) in those playing HF football before the age of 12 years (p=0.042). This was also true for a pathological CD (12% vs 30%, p=0.038). The AP views revealed no difference. Conclusions Our results indicate a probable dose–response relationship between the frequency of football practice during skeletal growth and the development of a CD, which should be confirmed in future prospective studies.


The study investigated viability of Bifidobacteria isolates from breast-fed infants in soymilk with the aim of producing a beverage with health- improving potentials from an affordable source. Strains of Bifidobacteria spp isolated from breast-fed babies were identified on the basis of morphological and biochemical characteristics. The pure isolates were inoculated into sterile soymilk and their viability was studied at ambient (28 ± 2 o C) and refrigeration temperatures (4 ± 1 o C) The bifidobacteria isolates were identified as B. adolescentis and Bifidobacterium longum . The inhibitory effects of the Bifidobacteria isolates were tested on Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. B. longum was found to be viable for 35 days and inhibited Escherichia coli better than Staphylococcus aureus . Changes in the physico-chemical characteristics of the inoculated soymilk were also monitored over the storage period. Crude protein increased from 1.76 to 2.14% and 1.96% in soymilk samples stored at ambient and refrigeration temperatures respectively. The study has shown that B. longum which is supported by soymilk exhibits antimicrobial activity against tested food borne pathogens – indicating that probiotic soymilk could be produced from B. longum and soymilk.


Purpose: To evaluate the knowledge and behaviors of ophthalmologists in Turkey concerning micronutrition support in patients with age related macular degeneration (ARMD). Methods: This study involved 1,845 ophthalmologists. A scientific poll was sent to all participants by email. The survey covered the following: demographic features, subspecialty knowledge about micronutrition preference for prescribing micronutrition to age related macular degeneration patients, and the reason for this preference. If a participant indicated that he or she prescribed micronutrition, the participant was also asked to indicate the source of the treatment and supplemental treatments. Results: Of 1,845 ophthalmologists, 249 responded to the survey. Of the respondents, 9% (22) never, 43% (107) sometimes, 37% (92) frequently, and 11% (27) always used micronutrition. The most frequent prescribing subgroup was general ophthalmology (22%), followed by the retina-uvea subspecialty (13.9%). The micronutrition prescribing ratio was 54.8% in retina-uvea specialists when the "frequent" and "always" responses were combined. There was no statistically significant difference between subgroups with respect to prescribing micronutrition. Among the ophthalmologists prescribing micronutrition, 57.1% of them did not use the Age-Related Eye Disease Study-1 (AREDS) criteria, and only 31.3% prescribe micronutrition according to AREDS criteria. The results for the general ophthalmologist and retina-uvea specialist subgroups were similar, 56.3% vs 20.2%, and 54.1% vs 36.1%, respectively. Micronutrition was not recommended for the following reasons: expensive (55.4%), low patient expectancy (40%), no effect (30%), and low patient drug compliance (25.4%). Moreover, 55.2% of the clinicians recommended physical activities, dietary changes, and smoking cessation; 7.3% did not recommend these behavioral changes. Conclusion: This survey demonstrated that micronutrition preference in age related macular degeneration was low in ophthalmologists in Turkey. Additionally, retina specialists have a lower rate of prescribing micronutrition. Micronutrition support and behavior such as smoking cessation, dietary changes, etc. should be recommended more often to patients with age related macular degeneration.


Objective: Dysphagia is a 'hidden' disorder that can present with a range of consequences including fatality. It is important for intervention to be timeous and adopt a team approach, with each professional displaying understanding of both dysphagia and each other's roles. The nurse is at the epicentre of service provision in hospitals and is ideally positioned to collaborate with the speech-language therapist to manage dysphagia. The state of collaboration, however, is not ideal. Reasons perpetuating this need, to be understood to facilitate improved care by nurses for patients with dysphagia. Design: The aim of the study was to describe the caseload of dysphagia patients seen by nurses, their experiences caring for patients with dysphagia, and nurses' views on inter-professional training. Setting: A qualitative, exploratory study was conducted with nurses working at two government hospitals in Johannesburg, South Africa. Subjects: An open-ended semi-structured interview was conducted with nine nurses working with adult patients. Descriptive and inductive thematic analysis was used, comparisons were made between the responses, and data were categorised according to emerging themes. Results: Results confirmed that while experience improved care, gaps in dysphagia knowledge, inexperience and contextual challenges adversely impacted efficiency of dysphagia care. Inter-professional training and recognition of nurse intervention positively impacted on interactions with dysphagia. Conclusion: Nurses have a central role in dysphagia care in acute settings. The study confirmed that multidisciplinary management, inter-professional training and inter-professional relations contribute to overall improved service delivery in dysphagia in acute settings, with nurses at the epicentre.


Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present the methods and findings of an experimental game designed to extend the concept of index-based livestock insurance in northern Kenya, and analyze patterns of game play. The paper is designed to inform others who may be attempting something similar to this work in other developing country agricultural settings. Design/methodology/approach - The paper presents the following: descriptive context of the issue, explanation of the game design to match the conditions in the area, details of how the authors explained the game, and regression analysis of play by participants. Findings - Games designed to reflect key elements of the local production system can be an effective way of explaining financial products to rural producers in developing countries. Research limitations/implications - It remains to be seen if the extension effort leads to more informed consumers of insurance products, which the authors hope to address in future work. Also, the approach described in this paper is very labor intensive, which could limit use in a wide ranging extension program. Social implications - The authors were able to explain the idea to groups that were mixed: female and male. It will be interesting to see if there are any gender dimensions to insurance use. In addition, with competing claims to livestock with complex property rights, there is a need to monitor how insurance interacts with social ideas of livestock ownership. Originality/value - This is a completely new idea in the area of arid and semi-arid livestock production, the challenge is pronounced, and as insurance becomes more important in the development economics toolkit, the authors believe others can benefit from seeing what they have done.


The lack of an adequate model of post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE), in which, similarly to the human condition, chronic spontaneous focal seizures follow a single episode of traumatic brain injury, has hampered the identification of clinically relevant epileptogenic mechanisms and the development of effective therapies. We studied the electrophysiological, behavioural and structural consequences of a clinically relevant model of closed head injury, the lateral fluid percussion injury (FPI), in the rat. We found that a single episode of severe FPI is sufficient to cause PTE. Chronic electrocorticography (ECoG) demonstrated spontaneous chronic seizures that were partial, originated from the neocortex at the site of injury, and progressively worsened and spread over time. The cases of epilepsy in the post-traumatic population increased over time following injury. Post-FPI epileptic rats exhibited pauses in their behaviour, facial automatisms and myoclonus at the time of epileptiform ECoG events. In vitro local field potential recordings demonstrated persistent hyperexcitability of the neocortex at and around the site of injury that was associated with intense glial reactivity. These results for the first time demonstrate persistent hyperexcitability of the injured neocortex and define a useful model for pathophysiological studies of basic mechanisms of spontaneous epileptogenesis and for preclinical screening of effective antiepileptogenic drugs.


Formal ontologies can be seen as mathematical objects that form the range of a classical "Tarskian" semantics interpretation mapping of first-order language constructs that could represent situations, functions or procedures related to a given domain. Some design methods and techniques such as view integration that were originally developed for large databases, where the "data models" and their semantics typically are limited to a particular application, could be relevant for this purpose, and we analyze parallelisms and fundamental differences between databases and ontologies. In particular the ORM (Ob jectRole Modeling) method, or rather its precursor NIAM, with its rigorous distinction and handling of so-called lexical and non-lexical knowledge proved to be an interesting candidate to help identify and clarify a number of these issues, and a number of examples are given. We report on research within STARLab's DOGMA Project that indicates how such methods may or must be adapted to be usable in the context of ontologies, and how they may then help to define ontology updates, the role of domain constraints, and future tools that assist in e.g. the alignment of ontologies.


NLRP3 inflammasome plays critical roles in a variety of human diseases and represents a promising drug target. In this study, we established the in vivo functional activities of JC124, a previously identified NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitor from our group, in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease and acute myocardial infarction. To understand the chemical space of this lead structure, a series of analogues were designed, synthesized, and biologically characterized. The results revealed the critical roles of the two substituents on the benzamide moiety of JC124. On the other hand, modifications on the sulfonamide moiety of JC124 are well tolerated. Two new lead compounds, 14 and 17, were identified with improved inhibitory potency (IC50 values of 0.55 ± 0.091 and 0.42 ± 0.080 μM, respectively). Further characterization confirmed their selectivity and in vivo target engagement. Collectively, the results strongly encourage further development of more potent analogues based on this chemical scaffold.


Recurrent neural networks (RNNs) have shown excellent performance in processing sequence data. However, they are both complex and memory intensive due to their recursive nature. These limitations make RNNs difficult to embed on mobile devices requiring real-time processes with limited hardware resources. To address the above issues, we introduce a method that can learn binary and ternary weights during the training phase to facilitate hardware implementations of RNNs. As a result, using this approach replaces all multiply-accumulate operations by simple accumulations, bringing significant benefits to custom hardware in terms of silicon area and power consumption. On the software side, we evaluate the performance (in terms of accuracy) of our method using long short-term memories (LSTMs) on various sequential models including sequence classification and language modeling. We demonstrate that our method achieves competitive results on the aforementioned tasks while using binary/ternary weights during the runtime. On the hardware side, we present custom hardware for accelerating the recurrent computations of LSTMs with binary/ternary weights. Ultimately, we show that LSTMs with binary/ternary weights can achieve up to 12x memory saving and 10x inference speedup compared to the full-precision implementation on an ASIC platform.


Staphylococcal alpha-toxin forms heptameric pores on eukaryotic cells. After binding to the cell membrane in its monomeric form, the toxin first assembles into a heptameric pre-pore. Subsequently, the pre-pore transforms into the final pore by membrane insertion of an amphipathic beta-barrel, which comprises the "central loop" domains of all heptamer subunits. The process of membrane insertion was analyzed here using a set of functionally altered toxin mutants. The results show that insertion may be initiated within an individual protomer when its NH2 terminus activates its central loop. The activated state is then shared with the central loops of the residual heptamer subunits, which results in cooperative membrane penetration. This cooperation of the central loops commences while these are still remote from the lipid bilayer. Nevertheless, it is subject to modulation by the target membrane, which therefore acts across a distance much like an allosteric effector. However, while allosteric transitions usually are reversible, membrane insertion of alpha-toxin is an irreversible event, and we show here that it can proceed to completion in a domino-like fashion when triggered by as little as a single foreign atom within the entire heptamer.


In this paper, a grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) multistring power conditioning system with PV input current reduction control is proposed. An improved maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method for the multistring converter is suggested. The suggested MPPT algorithm tracks the maximum power point even though measurement errors exist. To reduce the PV current variation introduced by the inverter, a PV current variation reduction control is suggested. This PV current variation reduction control reduces the PV current variation without additional components. The low current variation reduces the filter size and improves the MPPT efficiency. All algorithms and controllers are implemented on a single-chip microcontroller. Experimental results obtained on a 3-kW prototype show high performance such as a MPPT efficiency of 99.7%, an almost unity power factor, a power efficiency of 96.7%, and a total harmonic distortion of 2.0%.


Many STEM degrees require passing an introductory physics course. Physics courses often have high failure rates that may disproportionately harm students who are marginalized by racism, sexism, and classism. We examined the associations between Learning Assistant (LA) supported courses and equity in non-passing grades (i.e., d, drop, fail, or withdrawal; DFW) in introductory physics courses. The data used in the study came from 2312 students in 41 sections of introductory physics courses at a regional Hispanic serving institution. We developed hierarchical generalized linear models of student DFW rates that accounted for gender, race, first-generation status and LA-supported instruction. We used a quantitative critical race theory (QuantCrit) perspective focused on the role of hegemonic power structures in perpetuating inequitable student outcomes. Our QuantCrit perspective informed our research questions, methods, and interpretations of findings. The models associated LAs with overall decreases in DFW rates and larger decreases in DFW rates for students of color than their white peers. While the inequities in DFW rates were lower in LA-supported courses, they were still present.


: The anthropometric and anatomical features of the pterygopalatine fossa were studied in 63 skulls of subjects belonging to 3 age groups, 60 roentgenograms of subjects without deformations of the facial skull were analyzed for the same purpose, and 50 patients with various deformations of the facial and cerebral skull were examined. The authors have detected a relationship between the length and width of the pterygopalatine fossa and the size of the posterior facial height, which fact should be born in mind to prevent the complications of bone reconstructive surgery in the middle zone of the facial skull.


The frequency of words and syntactic constructions has been observed to have a substantial effect on language processing. This begs the question of what causes certain constructions to be more or less frequent. A theory of grounding (Phillips, 2010) would suggest that cognitive limitations might cause languages to develop frequent constructions in such a way as to avoid processing costs. This paper studies how current theories of working memory fit into theories of language processing and what influence memory limitations may have over reading times. Measures of such limitations are evaluated on eye-tracking data and the results are compared with predictions made by different theories of processing.


Automatic detection of encoding and language of the text is part of the Greenstone Digital Library Software (GSDL) for building and distributing digital collections. It is developed by the University of Waikato (New Zealand) in cooperation with UNESCO. The automatic encoding and language detection in Slavic languages is difficult and it sometimes fails. The aim is to detect cases of failure. The automatic detection in the GSDL is based on n-grams method. The most frequent n-grams for Czech are presented. The whole process of automatic detection in the GSDL is described. The input documents to test collections are plain texts encoded in ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-2 and Windows-1250. We manually evaluated the quality of automatic detection. To the causes of errors belong the improper language model predominance and the incorrect switch to Windows-1250. We carried out further tests on documents that were more complex. We devote them a separate article.


The humoral immune responses against three different antigens of Brucella abortus were monitored by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in cattle vaccinated with B. abortus S19 or experimentally infected with Yersinia enterocolitica serotype 0:9. Immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM responses against (i) B. abortus lipopolysaccharide (LPS), (ii) total cytoplasmic proteins depleted of LPS (LPS-free CYT), and (iii) B. abortus 18-kDa cytoplasmic protein were measured. Vaccinated animals and Yersinia-infected animals developed high anti-LPS IgM and IgG titers, which overlapped with those obtained with sera from B. abortus 544-infected animals used as positive controls. In contrast, only a slight or negative IgG and IgM response against LPS-free CYT and the 18-kDa protein was detected in vaccinated or Yersinia-infected cattle, although its levels were always significantly lower than those of B. abortus 544-infected animals. These data indicate that cytoplasmic proteins of B. abortus could be useful for the differential diagnosis of bovine brucellosis.


The 3D position estimation of pedestrians is a vital problem in the development of virtual reality, augmented reality, and the internet of things. The learning-based inertial odometry is a very potential auxiliary method of pedestrian positioning due to its low position drift and immunity to external environmental influences. However, in many cases, the drift error of the heading is still the main factor that causes the rapid divergence of the position estimated by the learning based inertial odometry. This paper proposed a graph optimization-based estimation method to fusing learned based inertial odometry and magnetometer measurements for obtaining lower drift position. The proposed algorithm does not need to calibrate the magnetometer bias, and effectively resist the influence of magnetic interference in the indoor environment, and can provide a very reliable absolute magnetic heading correction. Test results show that the proposed method can obtain better positioning performance than other methods using calibrated magnetometer observations.


Enhancement of plant defense through the application of resistance inducers seems a promising alternative to chemical fungicides for controlling crop diseases but the efficacy can be affected by abiotic factors in the field. Plants respond to abiotic stresses with hormonal signals that may interfere with the mechanisms of induced systemic resistance (ISR) to pathogens. In this study, we exposed grapevines to heat, drought, or both to investigate the effects of abiotic stresses on grapevine resistance induced by Trichoderma harzianum T39 (T39) to downy mildew. Whereas the efficacy of T39-induced resistance was not affected by exposure to heat or drought, it was significantly reduced by combined abiotic stresses. Decrease of leaf water potential and upregulation of heat-stress markers confirmed that plants reacted to abiotic stresses. Basal expression of defense-related genes and their upregulation during T39-induced resistance were attenuated by abiotic stresses, in agreement with the reduced efficacy of T39. The evidence reported here suggests that exposure of crops to abiotic stress should be carefully considered to optimize the use of resistance inducers, especially in view of future global climate changes. Expression analysis of ISR marker genes could be helpful to identify when plants are responding to abiotic stresses, in order to optimize treatments with resistance inducers in field.


Acute ethyl alcohol ingestion is an uncommon but well-documented cause of hypoglycemia in infancy and childhood. 1 We wish to report two cases of ethanol-induced hypoglycemia seen on our pediatric service in a five-month period. Both were caused by the ingestion of Scope, a mint-flavored mouthwash with a 16% ethyl alcohol content. Report of Cases .—Case1.—A 3-year-old boy was noted to be ataxic and less active than usual by his parents before breakfast on the morning of admission. The child had last eaten the previous evening and had slept the entire night without incident. He had an episode of generalized tonic-clonic movements of his extremities lasting approximately two minutes. He was rushed to the emergency room where he was found to be arousable, but kept lapsing into periods of unconsciousness. History showed that the mother had found a nearly empty 720-ml (24-oz) bottle of Scope mouthwash (which had


Objectives To characterise the prevalence and associations of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in a multiethnic cohort of patients with SLE. Methods Using a standardised protocol, baseline demographics, per visit disease activity (Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index-2K) and treatment data, and annual recording of organ damage accrual (Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics/American College of Rheumatology (SLICC-ACR) Damage Index) were captured on patients with SLE from a single tertiary centre. The presence of MetS, defined using modified updated joint consensus criteria, was assessed at the final visit from patient records. Serum concentrations of adipocytokines were measured by Quantibody. Results 116 patients, with median (Q1, Q3) age at enrolment of 39.5 (31.4–51.1) years and disease duration of 6.1 (1.4–12) years, were followed for a median of 6.7 (4.1–8.1) years. The prevalence of MetS was 29% (34/116), while the prevalence of MetS components varied: hypertension (59%), low high-density lipoproteins (HDLs) (51%), hypertriglyceridaemia (32%), obesity (16%) and hyperglycaemia (22%). In univariable analysis, MetS was associated with baseline organ damage (OR 4.34; 95% CI 1.80 to 10.48; p<0.01) and organ damage accrual (OR 2.34; 95% CI 1.02 to 5.36; p=0.04) but not with disease activity. In multivariable analysis, baseline organ damage remained significantly associated with MetS (adjusted OR 3.36; 95% CI 1.32 to 8.59; p=0.01). Glucocorticoid use was not associated with MetS or any of its five components. High serum concentrations of resistin were significantly negatively associated with MetS (OR 0.17; 95% CI 0.04 to 0.70; p=0.014). Conclusion MetS was common in a multiethnic cohort of patients with SLE, with the most frequent components being hypertension and low HDL. An independent association was found between MetS and organ damage but not glucocorticoid exposure or disease activity.


Four cultivars of phalaris were evaluated for their ability to survive a severe drought in 1994 in an existing grazing experiment at 2 sites near Canberra. The effect of rotational grazing and set stocking on persistence of phalaris measured as basal cover, pasture composition in spring and animal production from the pastures was assessed over the next 4 years. Basal cover of all cultivars declined sharply in 1994, but had recovered by August 1995 at a site with a relatively deep soil profile. Recovery was slower at a site with a shallower soil profile. Sirosa declined more in basal cover than Holdfast and Australian at the latter site. All of the cultivars survived the drought well but Sirosa may be more sensitive to overgrazing in drought. Compared with set stocking, rotationally grazed pastures had a higher (P<0.001) proportion of phalaris for all cultivars 2 years after management treatments began, and a higher (P<0.005) basal cover for 2 winter-active cultivars after 3 years. Overall, a divergent effect of grazing management on basal cover (management × year interaction) could only be demonstrated at P = 0.08 because of a large effect of site variation for another winter-active cultivar, Sirosa. Phalaris basal cover did not decline with set stocking and it was concluded that rotational grazing was beneficial, but not crucial, for the persistence of winter-active phalaris cultivars in this environment. Site factors and their manipulation by management were also important for the persistence of phalaris. A review of the persistence of phalaris over the entire 9 years of the grazing experiment concluded that all cultivars displayed good persistence under conditions of reasonable soil fertility. The importance of good establishment for a high presence of phalaris in later years was emphasised.


Anti-inflammatory therapy, centered on inhaled steroids, suppresses airway inflammation in asthma, reduces asthma mortality and hospitalization rates, and achieves clinical remission in many pediatric patients. However, the spontaneous remission rate of childhood asthma in adulthood is not high, and airway inflammation and airway remodeling persist after remission of asthma symptoms. Childhood asthma impairs normal lung maturation, interferes with peak lung function in adolescence, reduces lung function in adulthood, and increases the risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Early suppression of airway inflammation in childhood and prevention of asthma exacerbations may improve lung maturation, leading to good lung function and prevention of adult COPD. Biological drugs that target T-helper 2 (Th2) cytokines are used in patients with severe pediatric asthma to reduce exacerbations and airway inflammation and improve respiratory function. They may also suppress airway remodeling in childhood and prevent respiratory deterioration in adulthood, reducing the risk of COPD and improving long-term prognosis. No studies have demonstrated a suppressive effect on airway remodeling in childhood severe asthma, and further clinical trials using airway imaging analysis are needed to ascertain the inhibitory effect of biological drugs on airway remodeling in severe childhood asthma. In this review, we describe the natural prognosis of lung function in childhood asthma and the risk of developing adult COPD, the pathophysiology of allergic airway inflammation and airway remodeling via Th2 cytokines, and the inhibitory effect of biological drugs on airway remodeling in childhood asthma.


BACKGROUND
According to official statistics, men suffer more occupational diseases (OD) than women. Nevertheless, the unequal distribution and participation in the labor markets between men and women should be kept in mind. The purpose was to assess the gender impact in the recognition of OD in Spain, examining interaction and confounding factors.

METHODS
An incidence study of the occupational diseases declared through the official OD reporting forms from 1999 to 2009, provided by the General Subdirectorate of Social and Labor Statistics of the Ministry of Employment and Social Security, was conducted. The variables included were: reporting year, sex, age, occupation and economic activity of the company. Rates and crude relative risks (cRR) by these variables were calculated. Adjusted RR were also computed by using multivariate Poisson regression.

RESULTS
During the study period a total of 243,310 OD were reported in Spain, with a sex ratio of men to women of 1.07. Correlation existed between occupation and business activity, thus the OD rates and RR were computed by these variables separately. By occupation, men had a crude RR of 1.067 (95%CI:1.058 to 1.076) versus women, while wen the analysis was adjusted by all the variables, the RR was 0.507 (95%CI:0.502 to 0.512). By economic activity of the company, the sense of risk was reversed too in the adjusted analysis (cRR=1.065, 95%CI:1.056 to 1.074 versus 0.632, 95%CI:0.626 to 0.638).

CONCLUSIONS
Although crude OD rates were lower in women than in men during the period 1999-2009 in Spain, when these rates were adjusted by company activity or worker occupation, age and year of OD declaration, RRs become almost 50% higher in women than in men for the majority of occupations and types of company activity.


We propose an original particle-based implementation of the Loopy Belief Propagation (LPB) algorithm for pairwise Markov Random Fields (MRF) on a continuous state space. The algorithm constructs adaptively efficient proposal distributions approximating the local beliefs at each note of the MRF. This is achieved by considering proposal distributions in the exponential family whose parameters are updated iterately in an Expectation Propagation (EP) framework. The proposed particle scheme provides consistent estimation of the LBP marginals as the number of particles increases. We demonstrate that it provides more accurate results than the Particle Belief Propagation (PBP) algorithm of Ihler and McAllester (2009) at a fraction of the computational cost and is additionally more robust empirically. The computational complexity of our algorithm at each iteration is quadratic in the number of particles. We also propose an accelerated implementation with sub-quadratic computational complexity which still provides consistent estimates of the loopy BP marginal distributions and performs almost as well as the original procedure.


Abstract Pumice has been used as an abrasive with medical applications for over 2000 years. Introduced into traditional Chinese medicine in the mid-eighteenth century, it has been employed as part of a decoction (tea) in combination with a range of herbs and other geopharmaceuticals (including amber, cinnabar, mica and the bones of fossil vertebrates) in the treatment of gall bladder cancer, urinary conditions, dry and hacking coughs, and anxiety disorders. Pumice has had a relatively stable literary history in Western medicine. 'Spuma maris' (sea foam) has been a source of some confusion in classical literature, a situation exacerbated by some medieval revisionist texts. In a medical context, the term most commonly refers to pumice. Pumice has been employed since classical times in preparations acting as dentifrices, cleansers for ulcers (particularly of the skin and cornea), cicatrizing agents to help wounds scar efficiently, an active ingredient in eye ointments and powders in both farriery and human medicine, sneeze-inducing powders, and abrasives for removing body hair and assisting in the production of fine powders of resistant pharmaceutical ingredients.


Most pituitary adenomas are sporadic, but 3-5% can occur in a family and hereditary context. This is the case of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1), Carney complex (CNC) and familial isolated pituitary adenomas (FIPA). FIPA is an infrequent condition that occurs in a family context, not associated with MEN type1 or CNC. FIPA kindred can be homogeneous (all adenomas affected in the family having the same tumor phenotype) or heterogeneous (different tumor phenotypes in the affected members). We describe a Congolese family in which two sisters and a cousin were diagnosed with a prolactinoma (homogenous FIPA) at the ages of 29, 32 and 40 years, respectively. The patients presented with macroadenomas at the time of diagnosis, non-invasive tumors and good biological response to cabergoline treatment (maximum dose of 1.5 mg/weekly). Of these two sisters, one went through a pregnancy without complications. Because no MEN1 and CNC clinical and biochemical features were detected during the 12-year follow-up, these genes were not investigated. The genetic analysis of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor interacting protein (AIP) was normal. As nearly 80% of patients with FIPA do not have a mutation in the AIP gene, future studies in these families are required to identify other affected genes involved in their physiopathology.


IMPORTANCE
Evidence suggests that long-term trajectories of major depressive disorder (MDD) are heterogeneous. The Danish Psychiatric Central Research Register (DPCRR) provides a rare opportunity to examine patterns and correlates of long-term trajectories in a large sample of patients with moderate to severe MDD.

OBJECTIVE
To characterize patterns and correlates of 10-year course trajectories of MDD in the DPCRR.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
A cohort containing 11 640 individuals born in Denmark in 1955 or later with their first recorded MDD diagnosis in the DPCRR between 1995 and 2002 was established. Patients were followed for 10 years from the date of their initial MDD diagnosis. Data were obtained from Danish civil and psychiatric national registers in June 2013 and were analyzed from April 4, 2014, to December 17, 2015. Correlates of trajectory class membership were sex, characteristics of the first recorded MDD episode (ie, age, severity, inpatient treatment, and record of suicide attempt or self-harm), and psychiatric diagnoses in parents (ie, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, substance abuse, and anxiety or somatoform disorders).

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
The outcome variable was past-year contact at a psychiatric hospital with a main diagnosis of MDD during each of the 10 years following the initial MDD diagnosis. Trajectories were modeled using latent class growth analysis.

RESULTS
The sample included 11 640 individuals (7493 [64.4%] women) aged 18 to 48 years (mean [SD], 31.4 [7.3]) at their first recorded MDD diagnosis. Four trajectory classes were identified: brief contact (77.0%) (characterized by low probability of contact after 2 years); prolonged initial contact (12.8%) (characterized by high decreasing probability of contact during the first 5 years); later reentry (7.1%) (characterized by moderate probability of contact during the second 5 years); and persistent contact (3.1%) (characterized by high or moderate probability of contact throughout). Female sex (odds ratio [OR] range, 1.82-2.22), inpatient treatment (OR range, 1.40-1.50), and severity at first recorded MDD episode (OR range: moderate, 1.61-1.84; severe, 1.93-2.23; and psychotic, 2.73-3.07) were associated with more severe trajectories. Parental anxiety (OR, 1.34 [95% CI, 1.10-1.63]) and depression (OR, 1.63 [95% CI, 1.28-2.09]) were associated with the prolonged initial contact and later reentry classes, respectively. Parental schizophrenia was associated with the persistent contact class (OR range, 2.55-3.04).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
Most people treated for moderate to severe MDD in Danish psychiatric hospitals do not receive additional MDD treatment after 2 years; however, a minority receive specialty treatment for up to a decade. Observable heterogeneity in the course may be indicative of underlying etiologic differences.


Abstract Over the past two decades, hospitality strategy researchers have made several attempts to develop models aimed at capturing the competitive strategies of hospitality firms. These efforts, although comprehensive in their own respect, were unable to verify the applicability of models proposed by Porter (1980) and Miles and Snow (1978) to the hospitality industry. The objective of this article is to develop a multidimensional causal model for the lodging industry, primarily using Porter (1980, 1985), that addresses the complexity and multivariate nature of relationships making up the strategy construct. This model, once tested, will provide lodging strategic business unit managers an overall strategic orientation as well as a resource allocation decision framework for their firms.


As doctors, we often consult closely with colleagues regarding treatment and diagnosis. However, for a reproductive endocrinologist like myself, sometimes the most important colleague is one who does not have an office down the hall. Ob/gyns are likely the first specialists to field patient questions about fertility, and patients rely on ob/gyns to alert them when they need to see a fertility specialist.


Historically speaking, reading and writing among African Americans were collaborative acts involving a wide range of texts that held social, economic, political, or spiritual significance. One of the constants of literacy collaboratives was being regularly and purposefully engaged with print within a meaningful social context. During the summer of 2009 we reconstructed a communal approach to engage 12 adolescent males (ages 12–17) with reading and writing texts as we examined the sociocultural benefits of writing for these young males during a 5-week qualitative case study framed by a theory of Black literate lives and communities of practice. We offer that there may be a need to (re)theorize writing for African American adolescent males, particularly those who are underperforming in schools and who are experiencing incidents that produce vulnerability at a disproportionate rate.