This paper studies the depiction of the marriage contract in Dutch, French and English genre paintings from the 14th to 18th centuries. Increasingly, scholars have recognized that visual imagery influences the development of legal norms and institutions. During the period studied several genre artists produced paintings that dealt with themes that were central to the issues surrounding the marriage laws, such as the rights of women or whether marriage is a sacrament or a contract. Interestingly, many of the themes depicted in the collective body of marriage contract art echoes and amplifies the issues surrounding the rights of women and the scope of the marriage contract in the writings of John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Although it is impossible to measure the impact this collective body of work had on changing the law, the artistic and legal themes expressed in these paintings illustrates the "pre-formative" role of art in terms of signaling where change may occur in our legal norms and institutions. This analysis of the depiction of the formation of the marriage contract may also be of some interest to family law scholars given the renewed interest in the historical foundation of marriage law as a result of the debate over same-sex marriage. The analysis of visual representation of the marriage contract yields another data point for marriage scholars researching the history and origin of society's conception of marriage as either a contract or a sacrament.


Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text. Background. Improving both patient and graft survival after kidney transplantation are major unmet needs. The goal of this study was to assess risk factors for specific causes of graft loss to determine to what extent patients who develop either death with a functioning graft (DWFG) or graft failure (GF) have similar baseline risk factors for graft loss. Methods. We retrospectively studied all solitary renal transplants performed between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2018, at 3 centers and determined the specific causes of DWFG and GF. We examined outcomes in different subgroups using competing risk estimates and cause-specific Cox models. Results. Of the 5752 kidney transplants, graft loss occurred in 21.6% (1244) patients, including 12.0% (691) DWFG and 9.6% (553) GF. DWFG was most commonly due to malignancy (20.0%), infection (19.7%), cardiac disease (12.6%) with risk factors of older age and pretransplant dialysis, and diabetes as the cause of renal failure. For GF, alloimmunity (38.7%), glomerular diseases (18.6%), and tubular injury (13.9%) were the major causes. Competing risk incidence models identified diabetes and older recipients with higher rates of both DWFG and nonalloimmune GF. Conclusions. These data suggest that at baseline, 2 distinct populations can be identified who are at high risk for renal allograft loss: a younger, nondiabetic patient group who develops GF due to alloimmunity and an older, more commonly diabetic population who develops DWFG and GF due to a mixture of causes—many nonalloimmune. Individualized management is needed to improve long-term renal allograft survival in the latter group.


A system is always may-terminating, if and only if from every reachable state, a terminal state is reachable. T his publication argues that it is beneficial for both catching nonprogress errors and stubborn, ample, and persistent set sta e space reduction to try to make verification models always may terminating. An incorrect mutual exclusion algorithm is used as an example. The error does not manifest itself, unless the first action of the customers is modelled differently from other actions. An appropriate method is to add an alternative first action that models the customer stopping for good. This meth od typically makes the model always may-terminating. If the model is always may-terminating, then the basic strong stubborn s et method preserves safety and some progress properties witho ut any additional condition for solving the ignoring problem. Furthermore, whether the model is always may-terminating can be checked efficiently from the reduced state space.


Results from Blind Test Series 1, part of the Collaborative ComputationalProject in Wave Structure Interaction (CCP-WSI), are presented. Partici-pants, with a range of numerical methods, simulate blindly the interactionbetween a fixed structure and focused waves ranging in steepness and di-rection. Numerical results are compared against corresponding physicaldata. The predictive capability of each method is assessed based on pres-sure and run-up measurements. In general, all methods perform well inthe cases considered, however, there is notable variation in the results(even between similar methods). Recommendations are made for appro-priate considerations and analysis in future comparative studies.


Sterck, Jozien G. H., Jenneke Klein-Nulend, Paul Lips, and Elisabeth H. Burger. Response of normal and osteoporotic human bone cells to mechanical stress in vitro. Am. J. Physiol. 274 (Endocrinol. Metab. 37): E1113–E1120, 1998.—Bone adapts to mechanical stress, and bone cell cultures from animal origin have been shown to be highly sensitive to mechanical stress in vitro. In this study, we tested whether bone cell cultures from human bone biopsies respond to stress in a similar manner as animal bone cells and whether bone cells from osteoporotic patients respond similarly to nonosteoporotic donors. Bone cell cultures were obtained as outgrowth from collagenase-stripped trabecular bone fragments from 17 nonosteoporotic donors between 7 and 77 yr of age and from 6 osteoporotic donors between 42 and 72 yr of age. After passage, the cells were mechanically stressed by treatment with pulsating fluid flow (PFF; 0.7 6 0.03 Pa at 5 Hz for 1 h) to mimic the stress-driven flow of interstitial fluid through the bone canaliculi, which is likely the stimulus for mechanosensation in bone in vivo. Similar to earlier studies in rodent and chicken bone cells, the bone cells from nonosteoporotic donors responded to PFF with enhanced release of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and nitric oxide as well as a reduced release of transforming growth factor-b (TGF-b). The upregulation of PGE2 but not the other responses continued for 24 h after 1 h of PFF treatment. The bone cells from osteoporotic donors responded in a similar manner as the nonosteoporotic donors except for the longterm PGE2 release. The PFF-mediated upregulation of PGE2 release during 24 h of postincubation after 1 h of PFF was significantly reduced in osteoporotic patients compared with six age-matched controls as well as with the whole nonosteoporotic group. These results indicate that enhanced release of PGE2 and nitric oxide, as well as reduced release of TGF-b, is a characteristic response of human bone cells to fluid shear stress, similar to animal bone cells. The results also suggest that bone cells from osteoporotic patients may be impaired in their long-term response to mechanical stress.


The economic challenges in the Caribbean can be linked in significant measure to the region's external vulnerability. This paper looks at trends in financial flows in the context of the region's need to strengthen its resilience. It starts by focusing on three concepts: vulnerability, fragility and resilience-building. Vulnerability is looked at as a 'structural' variable, dictated by geography and reinforced by economic forces. Fragility is looked at as a 'process' variable, a recurring feature of the workings of the institutions, underscored by a shortage of resources, and missing systems for accountability and effectiveness in delivery. Building resilience in Caribbean economies is the most challenging variable – to generate a net inflow of funds, sustain competitiveness and grow the wellbeing of their citizens on a persistent path.


BACKGROUND
Over the last decade, there has been an increasing awareness for the potential harm of the administration of too much oxygen. We aimed to describe self-reported attitudes towards oxygen therapy by clinicians from a large representative sample of intensive care units (ICUs) in the Netherlands.

METHODS
In April 2019, 36 ICUs in the Netherlands were approached and asked to send out a questionnaire (59 questions) to their nursing and medical staff (ICU clinicians) eliciting self-reported behaviour and attitudes towards oxygen therapy in general and in specific ICU case scenarios.

RESULTS
In total, 1361 ICU clinicians (71% nurses, 24% physicians) from 28 ICUs returned the questionnaire. Of responding ICU clinicians, 64% considered oxygen-induced lung injury to be a major concern. The majority of respondents considered a partial pressure of oxygen (PaO2) of 6-10 kPa (45-75 mmHg) and an arterial saturation (SaO2) of 85-90% as acceptable for 15 minutes, and a PaO2 7-10 kPa (53-75 mmHg) and SaO2 90-95% as acceptable for 24-48 hours in an acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) patient. In most case scenarios, respondents reported not to change the fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2) if SaO2 was 90-95% or PaO2 was 12 kPa (90 mmHg).

CONCLUSION
A representative sample of ICU clinicians from the Netherlands were concerned about oxygen-induced lung injury, and reported that they preferred PaO2 and SaO2 targets in the lower physiological range and would adjust ventilation settings accordingly.


Investments into the production technology of the future require a firm basis in the needs
of production industry. However, gathering, sorting and ranking cross-industrial future
needs remains a steep challenge to technology developers. Gathering feedback from just
one or a few case companies can result in a biased set of priorities, since feedback from
specific industrial sectors may often be highly influenced by their industry- and productspecific
challenges. This paper describes a structured method called "Keyword Mingling"
that addresses the collection of such feedback in a multi-partner workshop format.
The workshop method presented in this paper resolves this by using a highly interactive
"mingling" technique to get participants in a large group workshop (between 15 - 20
people) to answer a specific question. The participants discuss ideas in smaller groups,
share their findings to the group at large, co-operatively organize the input from all
participants into functional categories, and finally perform a 'ranking' of the results. The
outcome is a prioritized list of concerns to focus research efforts on, providing workshop
analysts with a finished structure for reporting the results. The method was tested in two
workshops within the project "The Operator of the Future" and resulted in plenty of
positive feedback from participants, who felt that the input was relevant, well-structured,
and easy to agree with due to the consensus categorizing.


ACY-1215 is a novel and selective oral inhibitor of HDAC6 currently in Phase I clinical trials in combination with bortezomib or lenalidomide in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. Inhibitors of HDAC6 have demonstrated anti-cancer proliferative activity in various cancer types, including Her2+ breast cancer. Blocking HDAC6 activity has been shown to cause Her2+ breast cancer cell growth inhibition through various mechanisms, including destabilization of Her2 mRNA and protein. In the present work, the impact of HDAC6 inhibition has been investigated on Her2+ breast cancer cell growth and cell migration using HDAC6 inhibitor alone or in combination with either a Her2 inhibitor (lapatinib) or a PI3K inhibitor (GDC-0941, IPI-145 and CAL-101).

Anti-tumor activity of ACY-1215 was investigated using a panel of nearly 100 human tumor cell lines derived from the major cancer types and Her2+ breast cancer cells were among the most sensitive cells to ACY-1215. Combinations of ACY-1215 with either the Her2 inhibitor lapatinib or PI3K inhibitor GDC-0941 demonstrated synergistic cytotoxicity against these cancer cells. To illustrate the effects are due to HDAC6 inhibition, we used a highly HDAC6 selective inhibitor ACY-775, which has greater than 1,500 fold of selectivity against HDAC6 over Class I HDACs (HDAC1, 2 and 3), in our experiments. ACY-775 is able to sensitize Her2+ breast cancer cells MDA-MB-453 and BT-474 to lapatinib, and PI3K inhibitors (IPI-145, GDC-0941 and CAL-101). ACY-775 also blocks cancer cell migration in the presence of absence of epidermal growth factor (EGF). In agreement with the proposed mechanism of HDAC6 mediated Her2+ breast cancer cell death, ACY-1215 treatment correlated with decrease of Her2 protein, p-EGFR and p-AKT in a Her2+ breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-453.

By taking advantage of our highly selective HDAC6 inhibitor ACY-775, we have shown growth and migration suppressive activities by HDAC6 inhibition in Her2+ breast cancer cells. These findings suggest selection of metastatic Her2+ breast cancer for further in vitro and in vivo validation and mechanism of action studies with ACY-1215 in combination with novel and approved standard of care therapeutics for breast cancer.

Citation Information: Mol Cancer Ther 2013;12(11 Suppl):B280.

Citation Format: Min Yang, David Tamang, Simon Jones. Histone deacetylase (HDAC) 6 inhibition potentiates the cytotoxicity of lapatinib and PI3K inhibitors on Her2+ breast cancer cell lines. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2013 Oct 19-23; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2013;12(11 Suppl):Abstract nr B280.


Well-logs, high resolution shallow seismic, and VSP surveys were conducted in a experimental well near Priddis, Alberta, to test their feasibility in characterizing the near-surface stratigraphy and hydrogeological characteristics of the Paskapoo Formation. According to the analysis of well logs, the well penetrates interbeds of sandstone-shale layers and five porous zones were identified at depths of 28, 39, 50, 62 and 120 m, ranging from 0.34 to 0.58. Among these porous zones, there were three water-bearing zones at depths of 28, 50 and 120 m. Based on the P-wave velocities calculated from the sonic log, surface-wave analysis was carried out to estimate S-wave velocities. Up to depths of 40 m, the respective P-wave velocities for the sandstone and shale units were 2250 m/s and 2080 m/s, and 1220 and 1150 m/s for the S-wave, respectively. Using a microphone-geophone analysis, the airwave was characterized by high frequency and broadband. The integral interpretation of all the datasets and well-logs show a good correlation between all of them. The water-bearing zones (28 and 50 m) and the strong reflector at 76 m were resolved by the surface seismic and VSP data.


HUMAN GENOMEPARIS-- A European consortium is about to launch an effort to pinpoint every key spot in our genetic code where cells turn genes on and off by adding a methyl group to cytosine, one of the four nucleotides that make up DNA. Variations in methylation between healthy and ailing tissues could give researchers a better understanding of what goes wrong in some diseases. The consortium announced at the Genomes 2000 meeting here last month that it has won initial funding for the project, which aims to grind out methylation maps for every kind of tissue.


Introduction: Kidney biopsy, providing the insightful information for most kidney diseases, is an invasive diagnostic tool with certain risks ranging from the least severe macroscopic hematuria to the most severe life-threatening bleeding necessitating renal artery embolization. We aimed to compare the postbiopsy bleeding complications between 2 common methods and to further explore the risk factors of bleeding complications in patients using the negative pressure suction puncture (NPS) method. Methods: We retrospectively collected the data from percutaneous native kidney biopsies in 2016. The clinical, laboratory tests, pathological findings, and the occurrence of bleeding complications following kidney biopsy were analyzed. The kidney biopsy was performed in our center by experienced nephrologists with 2 different methods, namely, NPS method and real-time ultrasound-guided needle (RTU) method. We compared rates of complications between 2 methods and evaluated univariate and multivariate association of risk factors with bleeding complications in the NPS group. Results: 626 kidney biopsies were performed between January 2016 and December 2016. There were 83.2% (521/626) participants in the NPS group and 16.8% (105/626) in the RTU group. There were more participants in the RTU group needing >1 needle pass during biopsy than those in the NPS group (61.0 vs. 14.7%, p < 0.001). Acute kidney disease (AKD) occurred before the procedure of kidney biopsy accounted for 13.8% (72/521) in the NPS group and 1.9% (2/105) in the RTU group. The renal pathological findings revealed higher number of glomeruli in the NPS group than in the RTU group (26.8 ± 13.0 vs. 17.2 ± 8.6, p < 0.001). The incidence of bleeding complications in the NPS group was lower than that in the RTU group (9.2 vs. 21.9%, p < 0.01). Logistic multivariate regression showed that AKD was independently associated with bleeding complications after kidney biopsy in the NPS group. Conclusion: Regarding the bleeding risk, there was noninferiority of NPS over RTU. AKD contributes to higher risks of bleeding complications after kidney biopsy.


Maximum-likelihood estimation of the parameters of a continuous-time model for irregularly sampled data is very sensitive to initial conditions. Simulations may converge to a good solution if the true parameters are used as starting values for the nonlinear search of the minimum of the negative log likelihood. From realizable starting values, the convergence to a continuous-time model with an accurate spectrum is rare if more than three parameters have to be estimated. A discrete-time spectral estimator that applies a new algorithm for automatic equidistant missing-data analysis to irregularly spaced data is introduced. This requires equidistant resampling of the data. A slotted nearest neighbor (NN) resampling method replaces a true irregular observation time instant by the nearest equidistant resampling time point if and only if the distance to the true time is within half the slot width. It will be shown that this new resampling algorithm with the slotting principle has favorable properties over existing schemes such as NN resampling. A further improvement is obtained by using a slot width that is only a fraction of the resampling time


The extracted cocoyam starch (100CYS) and pigeon pea starch (100PPS) were blended in three ratios (70CYS/30PPS, 50CYS/50PPS and 30CYS/70PPS) (%, w/w) and microwaved. The aim was to alter the compositional and some physicochemical properties of the starches to enhance their functionality for industrial applications. The microwave-irradiated starch samples resulted in decrease in moisture, lipid and ash contents of the modified starch samples but an increase in the protein content. The apparent amylose (AAM) content of the modified control starches increased and that of the treated starch blends (SBs) decreased upon microwave (MW) radiation. For the MW-irradiated SBs, the values of bulk density, dispersibility, water absorption capacity and pH were in the range 0.75-0.83g/mL, 82.0-86.0%, 75.00- 91.38% and 6.7-7.2, respectively. MW modification increased the swelling power (SP) of the modified SBs (M50CYS/PPS, M70CYS/30PPS) but decreased the SP of the remaining starch samples. Apart from M100PPS, MW irradiation resulted in increase in water solubility index of the remaining modified starch samples (starch blends and 100CYS). The MW-irradiated control starches decreased for peak, trough, final and setback viscosities. In contrast, these pasting viscosity parameters increased when SBs were MW-modified. With the exception of the 50CYS/50PPS blend, MW radiation lowered the breakdown viscosity of modified control starches and starch blends, whereas the pasting temperatures of the studied starches increased.  Keywords: Cocoyam starch, pigeon pea starch, physicochemical properties, microwave modification, starch blends


In this work, the electronic bandstructure of GaAs1−xBix/GaAs single quantum well (QW) samples grown by molecular beam epitaxy is investigated by photomodulated reflectance (PR) measurements as a function of Bi content (0.0065 ≤ x ≤ 0.0215) and substrate orientation. The Bi composition is determined via simulation of high-resolution x-ray diffraction measurement and is found to be maximized in the 2.15%Bi and 2.1%Bi samples grown on (100) and (311)B GaAs substrates. However, the simulations indicate that the Bi composition is not only limited in the GaAsBi QW layer but extends out of the GaAsBi QW towards the GaAs barrier and forms a GaAsBi epilayer. PR spectra are fitted with the third derivative function form (TDFF) to identify the optical transition energies. We analyze the TDFF results by considering strain-induced modification on the conduction band (CB) and splitting of the valence band (VB) due to its interaction with the localized Bi level and VB interaction. The PR measurements confirm the existence of a GaAsBi epilayer via observed optical transitions that belong to GaAsBi layers with various Bi compositions. It is found that both Bi composition and substrate orientation have strong effects on the PR signal. Comparison between TDFF and calculated optical transition energies provides a bandgap reduction of 92 meV/%Bi and 36 meV/%Bi and an interaction strength of the isolated Bi atoms with host GaAs valence band (CBiM ) of 1.7 eV and 0.9 eV for (100) and (311)B GaAs substrates, respectively.


The aim of this research is to investigate the relationship between parental attitudes perceived by the students, self-compassion and compassionate love levels, and differences occur in parental attitudes, self-compassion and compassionate love levels according to various variables. The research was conducted with 326 university students studying in different departments of Sakarya University Faculty of Education. Parental Attitude Scale (PAS), Self-Compassion Scale (SCS), the Compassionate Love Scale (CLS) and Information Collection Form were applied in the study. The research data were analyzed by correlation, T-test and One Way (ANOVA). The results of the research revealed that the self-compassion level of the students who perceived the parents' attitudes as democratic was high, whereas the self-compassion level of the students who perceived the parental attitudes as authoritarian and protective-demanding was low. It was also found out that the students who perceived their parents' attitudes as authoritarian and protective-demanding had high compassionate love levels.  The present study demonstrated the authoritarian and protective-demanding parental attitudes perceived by university students differed according to sex, the democratic parental attitude differed in terms of the number of siblings, and the compassionate love differed in terms of gender. It was revealed that there was a negative relationship between self-compassion and compassionate love.


Addition of silicon promotes the development of a stable phase Ti5Si3 through thermomechanical treatment in TiAl-based alloys develop, while carbon seems to be a promising element for generating both solid solution effect and dispersion strengthening by precipitation of TiC or Ti2AlC during subsequent processing of such alloys. In this study, elemental powder mixture of 58Ti-30Al-6Si-6C (at%) was selected to find the structural changes during mechanical alloying (MA) process in order to understand the mechanism of alloying as well as study the subsequent thermal stability and evolution of phases. The results obtained would be useful towards in situ synthesis of titanium aluminide composites that are targeted to serve applications involving high tempearture. Such route will enable precipitation of harder Ti5Si3 and TiC particles within a matrix of TiAl through hot isostatic pressing (HIP). Firstly, MA of the chosen powder mix was performed up to 40 hours. The structural evolution of MA powders and/or annealed powders was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The stability of milled powders was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to study the phase transformations. Then, 10% of MA powder or the so called 'precursor' was incorporated into Ti-45Al-2Cr-4Nb-1.5Mn (at%) baseline matrix or baseline elemental powder, and was packed into stainless steel tubes after thorough blending. The sealed tubes were subjected to HIPing under a pressure of 150 MPa at 1100°C for 4 hours, followed by furnace cooling to room temperature. After HIPing, the resulted composites were annealed at 1150°C for 4 hours. The composites were evaluated for their mechanical properties and deformability at room and elevated temperatures. The results indicate that the synthesized composites have indicated extensive workability at a temperature of 800 oC as well as good mechanical proporties up to this temperature.


We read with interest the recent article of Papadopoulos et al. The Euro was accepted with remarkable alacrity by the peoples of the eurozone. The franc, mark, guilder, lira, and other currencies were effectively replaced within one week in February 2002. The euro changeover was effective, efficient, and essentially painless. The currency has prospered with 20% growth since its introduction and is now worth approximately 70 pence sterling and one US dollar 15 cents. In the first few months of the euro, we too noticed several children presenting to our emergency department having decided to see how well the euro went down. These were children in the oral exploratory ages of 1–3 years. As a consequence and for guidance to our emergency department colleagues, a ''eurometer'' was made (fig 1). Some of the euro coins are small and some ended up in the upper airway, the oesophagus, and the stomachs of toddlers and preschool children (fig 2). We have seen 22 such patients in first eight months of this year. A few euroretrievals were required. The UK's euro debate sees the euro as a threat to the national pound. Has anyone else considered the euroaspiration? ''Should the UK stay in or out of the euro?'' ask the headlines? Sweden plunged into controversy when it consulted its people in a euro referendum. Denmark is sitting on the fence. The UK is discussing and dallying on the issue. All accident and emergency departments in the eurozone ought to be cognisant of the potential of the 1 cent coin to lodge in the oesophagus or sit in the upper airway. The differential diagnosis of any toddler with acute upper airway obstruction should, in the eurozone, include eurostridor. We, like Dr Papadopoulos and colleagues, warn that if one aspires to euroconvert, one must accept euroaspirations.


Peace is the key source of all virtues. Unfortunately, since long all the world especially Muslim ummah is facing extremism and terrorism. It is very tragic are mostly those who are having the labels of Islam. One of the many reasons for this is the weakness of beliefs. Today many people have misconceptions about basic beliefs of Islam. Such people are responsible for destroying the peace of society. The best and easy solution to avoid all these riots and setting up peace is to focus on improving their beliefs. Without this the desire to establish peace is nothing more than a dream. In spite of the intention of eliminating the riots with the latest cameras, sensors, radar and all the richest resources available in the world's developed countries. There is not a single woman who travels far away from the remote and is not afraid of anyone except Allah. But the Islam, fourteen centuries ago, showed that a woman travelled alone from ?ir? to Makkah and would not have been afraid of anyone except Allah. It was possible only when the prophet (pbuh) spent his life preaching in Makkah about the purification of beliefs. In history, it is always a tradition that whenever corruption is increased on earth, Allah altered this corruption by the prophets and all the prophets started their mission with correction of beliefs.


In Parkinson disease patients who receive long-term antiparkinsonian medication, their original symptoms of rigidity, tremor and related motor disturbances markedly improve or disappear. However, the condition is still far from satisfactory in terms of maintaining independence in daily life activities even in these patients in whom the drug treatment is for improving motor disturbances. The reason is that they show abnormal behavior characterized by "spending the entire day in an idle state, which is perceived as laziness."This behavior is very annoying for the patient and the family. Despite the excellent effectiveness of drug treatment, this propensity toward idleness in mental and motor functions is not improved. Despite the denial of the depressive state and the absence of obvious cognitive disorder, such patients lack ambition and spend their time idly. However, although their motor function remains subliminal, such patients can carry out motor activities when the situation requires, but usually they do not have the drive to move. If we use the current nosological descriptions, the former is called "bradyphrenia" or psychic akinesia or slowness of thinking and the latter is called "akinesia". Akinesia is composed of two cardinal elements "bradykinesia" and "hypokinesia". Bradykinesia is the evaluation of quality of appeared motor behavior, and hypokinesia is the poverty of movement behavior. These two symptoms differ essentially. Hypokinesia is much more essential and is a cardinal element of akinesia. It indicates that the current drug treatment is ineffective for the improvement of hypokinesia and bradyphrenia. That is, these symptoms are a result of a dysfunction different from that causing residual motor symptoms or a result of other additional dysfunctions developing during the pathophysiological course of the disease. The dopamine (DA) system of the dorsal striatal pathway projecting from the substantia nigra pars compacta (A9) to the dorsal part of the striatum (motor striatum) functions in the control of speed and dexterity of movement. On the other hand, the DA system through the medial forebrain bundle projecting from the ventral tegmental area (VTA-A10) to the nucleus accumbens, ventral striatum (limbic striatum) and the cortex is associated with hypokinesia and bradyphrenia. This association can be confirmed by a long-term follow-up of Parkinson disease patients and experimental animal models lesioned in the ventral DA pathway (mesolimbic and mesocortical pathways).


Nanostructured materials have assumed increasing scientific and technological interest due to the significant improvement of mechanical properties compared to their coarse-grained counterparts. Nanostructured electrodeposited copper film, for example, is of interest for applications in ultra large-scale integrated (ULSI) devices. However, the microstructure evolution of the copper film at room temperature, which is termed self annealing, can cause reliability problems. The understanding of the microstructure, in particular the stability of the electrodeposited Cu film, relative to its mechanical properties, is essential to the further development of the performance and reliability of the resulting devices. In this work, the microstructure and mechanical properties of electrodeposited copper films have been investigated. These copper films were electrodeposited in an additive free acidified copper sulphate solution by employing either direct current (DC) or pulsed current (PC) of different current densities. The microstructure of the films has been studied using electron microscopy and the mechanical properties have been examined using nanoindentation. It has been noted that the microstructure of the thicker electrodeposited copper films was controlled by deposition parameters. It has been found that the substrate has no significant effect on the texture of the thick copper films formed where the growth direction is parallel to . The twin density in the deposited copper film seems varying with the off-time of the deposition and the highest twin density was observed in the sample deposited with 0.02 s on time and 2 s 3 off-time. Self-annealing (grain growth at ambient condition) of the deposited copper film has been confirmed using focused ion beam imaging and back-scattered electron imaging. Grains with parallel to the film normal direction have a large propensity to grow than those with other orientations. The nanoindentation results show that the high hardness over elastic modulus ratio measured is associated with the high twin density.


This paper introduces a novel algorithm that decomposes a given shape into meaningful parts requiring only strokes to specify foreground and background regions. The user is asked to draws freehand sketches to provide some facets as belonging to the desired part of the surface, and then an energy function is constructed based on graph Laplacian. Finally, a solution of minimizing energy function is provided and then segmentation is finished. We have presented an effective interactive system with an easy-to-use UI for mesh segmentation. The experiment results show that our algorithm is robust, fast, and capable of producing satisfactory results with regard to the human intuition and geometric attributes.


This paper reports on the development of an affordable, environmentally friendly, and sustainable method for mitigating effects of fluorides in water. This contaminant has leached from the soil and rocks in the earth's crust that contributed to pollution of both surface and underground waters with negative effects on the safety of consumers. Dangers associated with consumption of fluorides include dental and skeletal fluorosis in man plus animals as well as impaired brain development. This implies that fluoride ions have a capability of limiting the intellectual ability of consumers to make them dependent throughout their entire life. The fluoride ion in drinking is a non-biodegradable pollutant that requires removal. Previously applied removal methods had several challenges such as expensive, ineffective, and not regeneratable. This study investigated the use of solid polythene material derived from the disposed waste thus meeting the criteria for low cost, value addition and sustainable technology. The polythene material was modified with a tertiary ammonium compound to enable its complexation with the fluoride ions in water. The modification was confirmed by FTIR analysis. Complexation parameters such as concentration, temperature, and pH were investigated. The complexation mechanism was found to fit the Langmuir model isotherm having an adsorption capacity of 18.545 mg g-1 and was of Pseudo first kinetics. This indicates that the complexation followed a physio sorption process. The results obtained demonstrated that the heterogeneous material is effective and has a potential application for treatment of fluoride laden water. It is envisioned that the material be packed in cartilages and applied at a point of use to improve the quality of fluoride laden waters and solve the problem of population in areas naturally fluoridated. Every drink taken from these sources is a potential poison that affects both the brain and bones. The use of this modified material to purify water will contribute towards the improvement of the peoples' self-esteem and make them generous with their smile.


The inferior vena cava (IVC) is a large retroperitoneal vessel formed by the confluence of the right and left common iliac veins. Anatomically this usually occurs at the L5 vertebral level. The IVC lies along the right anterolateral aspect of the vertebral column and passes through the central tendon of the diaphragm around the T8 vertebral level. The IVC is a large blood vessel responsible for transporting deoxygenated blood from the lower extremities and abdomen back to the right atrium of the heart. It has the largest diameter of the venous system and is a thin-walled vessel. These anatomic characteristics make it ideal for transporting large quantities of venous blood. Many veins contain one-way valves to ensure the forward flow of blood back toward the heart. The IVC, however, does not contain such valves, and forward flow to the heart is driven by the differential pressure created by normal respiration. As the diaphragm contracts and creates negative pressure in the chest for the lungs to fill with air, this pressure gradient pulls the venous blood from the abdominal IVC into the thoracic IVC and subsequently into the right heart. The IVC enters the right atrium of the heart after coursing through the diaphragm, entering the posterior inferior aspect of the atrium. The IVC enters the right atrium inferior to the entrance of the superior vena cava (SVC).The IVC is a mostly symmetric vessel with a few exceptions. Due to the IVC residing on the right side of the vertebral column the vessels entering the IVC from the left side of the body, like the left renal vein, are longer than their anatomic counterparts on the right. Other left-sided veins, like the left adrenal and left gonadal vein, first join the left renal vein before joining the IVC and continuing as venous flow returning to the heart. This differs from the right side of the body where the right adrenal and right gonadal vein directly join the IVC without first joining the right renal vein. Anatomic variants venous of anatomy involving both right and left sides have been described.Blood from the left and right femoral veins enters the IVC via the left and right common iliac veins, respectively. Blood from the abdominal viscera travels into the portal vein and enters the IVC via the hepatic veins after traversing the liver and its sinusoids. Venous blood from the abdominal wall reaches the IVC through lumbar veins. Ascending lumbar veins connect lumbar veins to the azygos vein and this provides some collateral circulation between the inferior vena cava and the superior vena cava. This potential for a collateral flow could be critical if either of the larger veins becomes obstructed.Below is a list of (most common) vertebral levels at which different veins enter the IVC.


Abstract Drawing on ideas from ecocriticism, literary animal studies, and post-colonial studies, as well as anthropology and cultural studies, this article examines the representations of animals in contemporary Sino-Mongolian literature and art, and the various connections between these representations and issues related to ethnic and environmental politics. I propose that the intensive engagement of Chinese-Mongolian writers and artists with animals is related first and foremost to the central role that animals, both wild and domesticated, have traditionally played in Mongolian nomadic pastoralist culture. However, I also argue that it is closely connected to two interrelated processes that are currently taking place in Inner Mongolia: the severe degradation of the Inner Mongolian grassland and the rapid sinicization of China's Mongols. I suggest that in the context of this environmental and cultural crisis, the engagement with animals reflects anxiety about the fate of the Inner Mongolian grassland, the fate of real animals, which, for centuries, have been closely associated with this landscape and Mongolian nomadic culture, and, most importantly, the fate of Mongolian culture itself. I also argue that Sino-Mongolian writers and artists use literary and artistic animals to construct and assert Mongolianness as part of their search for an 'authentic' ethnic identity, and to comment critically on the impact that Chinese domination has had on the Inner Mongolian grassland, its indigenous human and non-human inhabitants, and Mongolian culture and identity. Finally, I propose that through their ethnic environmentalism, Chinese-Mongolian artists and writers have made an important contribution to the development of China's environmental movement.


. The study aims to determine the most preferred e-service quality attribute chosen by customers and classify customers based on their preferences andsociodemographic characteristics in Malang city. This research used quantitativeapproach with descriptive research. The research objects were 105 respondents ofinstagram online shop customers in Malang selected using quota sampling method. Theanalysis methods used were cluster and conjoint analysis. The results showed thatInstagram online shop customers in Malang were classified into 2 segments; the firstsegment (adults) was college students and employees above 20 years of age with IDR2.5 – 5 million incomes per month. Meanwhile, the second segment (teenagers) washigh school and college students under 20 years of age with less than IDR 1 million permonth revenue. Both segments prioritized fulfillment (product shipments) when theywould like to shop in instagram. The least e-service quality attribute considered bycustomer was efficiency (information efficiency).


Despite the rapid improvement of autonomous driving technology in recent years, automotive manufacturers must resolve liability issues to commercialize autonomous passenger car of SAE J3016 Level 3 or higher. To cope with the product liability law, manufacturers develop autonomous driving systems in compliance with international standards for safety such as ISO 26262 and ISO 21448. Con-cerning the safety of the intended functionality (SOTIF) requirement in ISO 26262, the driving policy recommends providing an explicit rational basis for maneuver decisions. In this case, mathematical models such as Safety Force Field (SFF) and Responsibility-Sensitive Safety (RSS) which have interpretability on decision, may be suitable. In this work, we implement SFF from scratch to substitute the undis-closed NVIDIA's source code and integrate it with CARLA open-source simulator. Using SFF and CARLA, we present a predictor for claimed sets of vehicles, and based on the predictor, propose an integrated driving policy that consistently operates regardless of safety conditions it encounters while passing through dynamic traffic. The policy does not have a separate plan for each condition, but using safety potential, it aims human-like driving blended in with traffic flow.


Although fistula-in-ano was one of the earliest diseases to affect mankind, its association with carcinoma was not reported in the medical literature until the early part of this century. This association may manifest itself in several ways: (1) a fistula may be associated with cancer elsewhere in the colon; (2) cancer, either primary or recurrent, may present as a fistula; or (3) cancer may develop in a fistula-in-ano. This paper concerns the third situation. The development of cancer in fistulous tracts or draining sinuses has not been limited to fistula-in-ano. McAnally and Dockerty reported nine cases of carcinoma in sinuses of chronic osteomyelitis and one in a chronic empyema tract. Gillis and Lee described 34 cases in which carcinoma appeared at the site of war wounds sustained 18 to 31 years previously. A squamous-cell carcinoma arising in a pilonidal sinus which had been present for 20 years was reported by


The current standard treatment of Malignant Gliomas includes surgery, followed by Temozolomide (TMZ) - Radiotherapy. It leads to increased survival as compared to radiotherapy alone. However, haematological toxicities are also increased by the combination treatments. Therefore, it is important to carry out further preclinical studies, to develop more effective treatment for these tumors. 2-Deoxy-D-Glucose (2-DG), an inhibitor of glycolytic energy metabolism, has been shown earlier to differentially inhibit repair processes, growth and survival of cancer cells. It has been tolerated very well in combination with radiotherapy in clinical trials on Malignant Gliomas. In this study, we investigated the effects of combination of clinically relevant concentrations of 2-DG (0.5mM and 1mM) and TMZ (2µM and 5µM) ± Radiation (1Gy) on cell proliferation, total cellular damage (TCD) and colony formation in an established Glioblastoma cell line (U251MG), and primary cultures derived from malignant glioma tumor pieces. The monolayer cultures were grown on cover slips and stained with Acridine Orange (0.002%) after drug treatments and irradiation, for the study of cellular damage and death. Exponentially growing cells were exposed to drugs and Gamma irradiation. Drugs were removed 4 hrs after irradiation and cultures were processed for different assays of cell death and damage. Our results showed that combination of 2-DG with TMZ±Radiation significantly inhibited the cell proliferation up to 6 days. The TCD was significantly increased by the combination of drugs in primary as well as in established cell line. Cell proliferation as measured by MTT assay showed that drugs ± radiation significantly reduced proliferation response. Cell survival inhibition after combination of TMZ+2-DG+Gamma (2µM+0.5mM+1Gy) showed more than additive effects. These results suggest that targeting glycolytic energy metabolism by agents such as 2-DG can enhance the efficacy of TMZ+Radiation Therapy for Malignant Gliomas, without increasing toxic side effects


Since 2005 the giant radio galaxy M87 has been observed in the 100 GeV e nergy domain with the MAGIC Telescope. Results from the analysis will be presented at IC RC 2007.


Background and aims: The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the quality of randomized controlled clinical trial reports in diabetes research in Iran and the secondary objective included identifying any associations between CONSORT quality and surrogate markers of article quality, including high and low impact factor and SJR journals. Methods: 184 RCTs studies conducted on Diabetes mellitus in Iran. ANOVA and Pearson correlation was used to analyze the relationship among group with each article for reports of (RCTs) conducted on Diabetes mellitus that were index in ISI, Scopus, PubMed or other international journals index based an impact factor and SJR index. For the purposes of this study, we selected all articles published in English and indexed in PubMed, ISI, Scopus and other international journals between 2004 to 2014. Results: In all, 269 articles were retrieved from the search of the ten databases. Of these, 184 articles were selected. The mean CONSORT score of the 184 RCTs was 8.11 out of 17 (31.7%, range 6–12, SD 1.38). The poorest-reported items were all item. No paper adequately reported all items in the CONSORT checklist. There was no correlation between the quality of CONSORT score and the IF and SJR Journals (Pearson:-0.065, P: 3.84.29). In addition, there was no statistical difference in CONSORT score between group and within group IF or SJR journal designs (ANOVA: P value: 0.7, the mean CONSORT score of the 184 RCTs was 8.63 from 17 scores). Conclusion: In conclusion, our findings suggest that the that the authors, funding agencies, peer reviewers, and journal-editors in RCTs in diabetes has an important role to enhance the quality of RCTs and collaborate to enhance the integration of CONSORT into the RCT publication process Evolution and further extension of CONSORT will hopefully help to incorporate studies with alternative methodologies.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand how family businesses (FBs) build their collective identity through transgenerational narratives. The authors examine the processes through which organizational meanings are socially constructed through narratives about individuals who are closely linked to the organizations (and their family).

Design/methodology/approach

Based on qualitative research, the authors study a 180-year old Spanish Pharmaceutical FB. Using longitudinal data, the authors analyze the narratives of six family members and two non-family executives. The authors use open-ended questions to allow interviewees to elaborate their own stories, following previous studies using extended narratives that leave the stage to the narrator.

Findings

Findings based on the stories of the eight interviewees (voice) suggest that the FB identity was initiated by the founder's way to grow the business (fictionality). In turn the family shaped the identity of the FB, being reshaped by the stories arising from next generations' entry into the business (reflexivity). While the FB identity reflects that of the owners, this identity is enduring but dynamic (temporality), not only shaped by the business family behind, but also conditioned by the environment.

Originality/value

The authors contribute to the growing literature adopting a narrative method to study phenomena in FBs. Thanks to the richness of the empirical material, a narrative method is particularly suited – and novel – for understanding collective identity, a crucial organizational resource that is closely linked to leadership in the FB.


Purpose: The objective of the study was to evaluate the important role played by androgen and insulin in the development of endometrial carcinoma (EC), and their combined effect on EC risk. Methods: We enrolled 510 type I EC patients and 510 age-, time-, and nationality-matched subjects into this study. Metabolic and hormonal parameters of enrolled subjects were examined. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses for EC and control subjects were performed. Type I EC risk was evaluated with respect to testosterone, androstenedione, and insulin levels based on odds ratios (ORs) using stratified data. Results: EC risk was positively associated with C-peptide, estrone, androgen (including testosterone and androstenedione) and insulin levels, BMI, WHR, family history of cancer, nulliparity, irregular menstruation, diabetes, and hypertension. In multivariate logistic regression models, high C-peptide and testosterone levels, diabetes, and hypertension were independent risk factors after adjustment for BMI, WHR, family history of cancer, high serum insulin, and estrone levels. Increased serum total testosterone and insulin levels were positively correlated with EC risk in total, premenopausal, and postmenopausal women. Androstenedione was correlated with EC in total and postmenopausal, but not in premenopausal subjects. Compared with higher testosterone and insulin, odds ratios (ORs) for higher testosterone with lower insulin and lower testosterone with higher insulin were decreased in total, premenopausal, and postmenopausal women. Similarly, compared to both higher FAI and insulin, ORs for higher FAI with lower insulin and lower FAI with higher insulin were decreased in all three groups. Coordinately, ORs for higher androstenedione with lower insulin and lower androstenedione with higher insulin were decreased in total and postmenopausal, but not premenopausal subjects. Conclusions: These findings suggested that androgen and insulin were risk factors of type I EC, and relatively high levels of both testosterone and insulin synergistically affected EC risk.


Type IV secretion systems are increasingly recognized as important virulence determinants of Gram‐negative bacterial pathogens. While the examination of several type IV‐secreted proteins suggested that their secretion depends on C‐terminal signals, the nature of these signals and their conservation among different systems remain unclear. Here, we have characterized the secretion signal of the Helicobacter pylori CagA protein, which is translocated by the Cag type IV secretion apparatus into eucaryotic cells. The production of fusion proteins of CagA and green fluorescent protein (GFP) did not result in translocation of GFP to epithelial cells, but a fusion of GFP with the CagA C‐terminus exerted a dominant‐negative effect upon wild‐type CagA translocation. We show that CagA translocation depends on the presence of its 20 C‐terminal amino acids, containing an array of positively charged residues. Interestingly, these positive charges are neither necessary nor sufficient for CagA translocation, but replacing the C‐terminal region of CagA with that of other type IV‐secreted proteins reconstitutes CagA translocation competence. Using a novel type IV translocation assay with a phosphorylatable peptide tag, we show that removal of the N‐terminal part of the CagA protein renders the protein translocation‐incompetent as well. Thus, the Cag type IV secretion system seems to diverge from other systems not only with respect to its composition and architecture, but also in terms of substrate recognition and transport.


Especially in last two decades, most of the developed and developing countries around the world have been supporting the researches that investigate more clean and sustainable energy sources. Renewable energy sources play more important role in today's increasingly globalized energy market because of the environmental issues and the sources of fossil fuel are becoming scarce. According to that, as a virtue of the rapidly increase in energy demand, the supply of renewable energy sources are increasingly continue around the world. As a matter of fact, when it is compared to the 2011 rates, the consumption rate of hydro-electricity and other renewable energy sources has increased to 4.3% and % 15.2 respectively in 2012 in the world, is verifying that view. The aim of this study is to investigate the present potential and sufficiency of the main sources of renewable energy such as solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal and biomass at Turkey. In this regard, even Turkey has a remarkable potential especially in hydro, wind, solar and geothermal energies among Europe, renewable energy sources ratio in Turkey's total energy consumption is not rising at desired level. Furthermore because Turkey hasn't got a rich fossil fuel reserves, it needs to import fossil energy sources to meet its rapidly growing energy needs. In related to this, Turkey's current deficit has been growing due to the increase in fossil fuel sources prices at international energy markets. On the other side Turkey's Green House Gases (GHGs) emission has grown more than two times as a result of its rapidly using of fossil fuel sources due to its growing economy, industrialization and urbanization process since 1990. Within this context, as a foreign dependent country on fossil fuel energy sources (especially on crude oil and natural gas), Turkey should rapidly change its energy policy from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources which are domestic, clean and much more cheaper. Keywords: Renewable Energy Potential; Turkey; Wind; Solar; Geothermal; Biomass; Hydropower.


This systematic review and meta-analysis was designed to estimate the safety and effectiveness of ustekinumab in the treatment for Crohn's disease (CD) in clinical trials and observational studies.

 We retrieved all the related publications from PubMed, Cochrane, EBSCO, Google Scholar and EMBASE using a systematic search strategy. We only included the clinical trials and observational studies that were published in English.

 Only 31 studies that met the eligibility criteria out of the 733 identified studies were included. Twenty-one studies reported the clinical response rate; three of these were clinical trials, and the other 18 were cohort studies. The overall clinical response rate in the cohort studies was 0.539, 95% CI (0.419–0.659) with significant heterogeneity (I2 = 96.22%, P < 0.001) and that in the clinical trials was 0.428, 95% CI (0.356–0.501). The pooled clinical remission rate was 0.399, 95% CI (0.295–0.503) in randomised control trials (RCTs) and 0.440, 95% CI (0.339–0.542) in cohort studies. Twenty-one studies reported the incidence of adverse effects. The rate of adverse effects was 0.158, 95% CI (0.109–0.207) in cohort studies and 0.690, 95% CI (0.633–0.748) in RCTs. Three RCTs had an infection rate of 0.275, 95% CI (0.245–0.295), while the 18 cohort studies had a rate of 0.076, 95% CI (0.047–0.105). Only ten studies reported the incidence of injection or infusion reaction; it was 0.035, 95% CI (0.027–0.043) for RCTs and 0.012, 95% CI (0.002–0.022) for cohort studies.

 Ustekinumab is effective in the treatment of CD. However, more research is required on the safety profiles because there was considerable variation among the included studies.


Evidently, the results of a face recognition system can be influenced by image illumination conditions. Regarding this, the authors proposed a system using wavelet-based contourlet transform normalization as an efficient method to enhance the lighting conditions of a face image. Particularly, this method can sharpen a face image and enhance its contrast simultaneously in the frequency domain to facilitate the recognition. The achieved results in face recognition tasks experimentally performed on Yale Face Database B have demonstrated that face recognition system with wavelet-based contourlet transform can perform better than any other systems using histogram equalization for its efficiency under varying illumination conditions.


The most commonly used measurements for evaluating the accuracy of diagnostic tests in binary data are sensitivity and specificity. Sensitivity refers to the ability of a test to detect patients with some specific disease. Specificity describes how well test abnormality is restricted to those persons who have the disease in question. The variance estimators of these measurements are usually obtained using a binomial estimator, although there are several other methods. However, under certain conditions more than one observation can be taken from a subject and analyses are performed on these observations. This type of data structure is called "clustered data". For calculating sensitivity, specificity and related variances in clustered data, conventional statistical methods with the assumption that all observations are independent will not be valid. The most commonly used methods for clustered data are "ratio estimator", "within-cluster correlation estimator" and "weighted estimator". In this paper, for calculating diagnostic measurements and their variances, the above-mentioned methods are described. In the example of magnetic resonance angiography, which is used for the diagnosis of renal artery stenosis, the results of a binomial estimator are compared with those of the other 3 methods. Although there were no significant differences between sensitivity estimates, variance estimates obtained from the binomial estimator were higher than the other estimates.


This paper demonstrates how to use Simkit to create discrete event simulation models using a component framework. The component framework is based on a listener design pattern especially useful for simulation models. The objects created are called Listener Event Graph Objects, so the component framework is called LEGO. Simkit is an open source package written in Java.


We consider the problem of extracting a low-dimensional, linear latent variable structure from high-dimensional random variables. Specifically, we show that under mild conditions and when this structure manifests itself as a linear space that spans the conditional means, it is possible to consistently recover the structure using only information up to the second moments of these random variables. This finding, specialized to one-parameter exponential families whose variance function is quadratic in their means, allows for the derivation of an explicit estimator of such latent structure. This approach serves as a latent variable model estimator and as a tool for dimension reduction for a high-dimensional matrix of data composed of many related variables. Our theoretical results are verified by simulation studies and an application to genomic data.


Recent advances in technology and the consequent decline in manufacturing costs are making energy storage systems a central element of energy and climate change policy debates across the nation. Energy storage systems have the potential to provide many benefits such as lower electricity prices at peak demand times, deferred or avoided new capacity investments, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Indeed, both federal and state policymakers are enthusiastically encouraging more energy storage deployment with the belief that energy storage systems will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector by making intermittent and variable renewable energy resources such as solar and wind more attractive.

This Article challenges this common assumption that increased energy storage will necessarily reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We first explore the conditions under which energy storage systems can cause an increase in greenhouse gas emissions contrary to the intent of the policymakers. As policymakers start to rely more heavily on energy storage systems to achieve clean energy goals, this insight is crucial to inform the stakeholders in the energy and climate policy debates. Furthermore, we show that the current regulatory and policy landscape falls short of providing sufficient incentives for a desirable level of deployment of energy storage or sufficient safeguards to ensure that more energy storage deployment is indeed beneficial. We suggest policy reforms that can correct these inefficiencies and discuss the jurisdictional roles between state and federal regulators in implementing these reforms.


Behavior management strategies are extremely influential in a successful classroom setting. Curriculum is obviously a major concern of education reform, but can students really learn the curriculum in a classroom that is not well managed? Having a classroom that is well managed allows for students to take the risks they need to in order to access new knowledge and grow as citizens of our communities. Carefully designed survey questions were distributed to multiple educators in a school of poverty to gauge the feelings of those working in the classroom on the successes and hardships of behavior management programs. Data collection occurred anonymously. Completed surveys were then analyzed for common themes of successful strategies found among educators of students living in poverty.


Time is undoubtedly an important factor in second language learning, not only in terms of the total amount of hours allotted for a particular program, but also in relation to how such hours are distributed. Research in Canada has shown that when primary school students receive concentrated second language (L2) instruction they reach higher levels of competence than through regular lessons. The purpose of this study is to shed some light on the effect of time distribution on instructed L2 learning by examining the development of oral production skills (in terms of oral fluency, complexity, and accuracy) in regular vs. intensive programs for adult EFL learners registered in intermediate and advanced EFL courses. The results of the analyses suggest that, although there are no statistically significant differences in oral gains between program types, there is a slight tendency for greater gains in the case of learners receiving intensive instruction.


Background: Myelomeningocele is one of the common congenital malformation in childhood that has association with many disorders. in addition to routine management of associated disorders surgical repair of myelomeningocele has been considered in many cases . The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of myelomeningocele surgical repair in prognosis of children with myelomeningocele Materials and Methods: This is a case-control study from 2001 to 2013 in 60 infants with myelomeningocele in two department of neurosurgery in Arak and Ilam cities (Vali Asr and Imam Khomeni hospitals, respectively). Infants were divided into two groups according to operable and inoperable cases (each group includes 30 cases). The prognosis of two groups was investigated with respect to mortality, and Stark and Drummond disability rating scale. Data were analyzed with SPSS 18 software. Results: Case group had better prognoses compared to control with respect to handicap (p=0.003), urinary tract disorders (p=0.006), IQ (p=0.001), global disability(p=0.006) and mortality rate, but there was no difference between two groups with respect to hydrocephalus(p=0.3). Conclusion: According to the results, mortality, disability and prognosis of infants with myelomeningocele that underwent operation were better. In conclusion, early myelomeningocele repair is advised for infants, because it affects the improvement of prognosis and the quality of patients' life.


Objective To analyze the epidemic characteristics and risk factors of HIV/AIDS in Guangdong province and to search for measure of control. Methods Data from routine, sentinel, behavior and laboratory surveillance programs were collected and evaluated. Results Since the first HIV case in IDUs was found by the end of 1996, the number of HIV/AIDS has increased by 86.2 % yearly and the proportion of cases infected through IDU increased rapidly from 1.4 % before 1996 to 91.0 % in 1999. HIV 1 C subtype in IDUs accounted for 61.3 %. Conclusions Number of HIV/AIDS cases has increased rapidly in recent years in Guangdong. The major transmission route was through IDU. It was important to prevent HIV/AIDS spreading from IDUs to sex workers then to the general population through behavioral surveillance and intervention.


Present-day debate worldwide, including certain nationwide approacges lead towards highly-diversified trends for the implementing of agriculture systems that involve to a higher or lesser extent the employment of feritilizers for their success. At the same time, however, they are called to provide food amounts that are both quantitative and qualitative appropriate, while increasing soil fertility and providing environmental protection. Bearing in mind the scientific basis, as well as the complex food chain effect, all agriculture systems cand be improved and cannot ultimately achieve all objectives set by human society, consumers and soil fertility requirements.In this context, the present paper aims at promoting organic fertilizing resources (stable and poultry manure) and reducing mineral fertilizers, on the grounds of the fact that organic feritlizers are easier to obtain, at lower costs, while soil fertility is manintained on a sustainable and ecologic term, compared to mineral fertilizing resources. In order to attain the previously-set objectives, field experiements were conducted at SDE Cojocna of the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, in 2011. They were set on a cambic chernozem, for maize crop, involving different fertilizing resources, mineral-from NP complex fertilizers, organicfrom semifermented stable and poultry manure. The present paper reveals certain experimental results obtained through the application of differentiated mineral fertilizers (from complex NP fertilizers), organo-mineral ones (semifermented stable and poultry manure and complez NP fertilizers) and organic ones from semifermented stable manure (20t/ha) and poultry manure (12t/ha). The differentiated application of fertilizers highlights the importance of such combinations as the organo-mineral ones with stable manure, as well as poultry manure, where the grain production increases significantly compared to the (unfertilized) control. With regard to exclusively mineral fertilizing variants, production increases for increased NP doses are insignificant compared to the organo-mineral variant with a minimum NP dosis (N50P50), in the case of stable manure, as well as poultry manure. The experience of European countries and Romania alike, at least during the last 50 years, including intensive conventional agricultural practices or one-sided technological activities, have led to the spread of disturbing processes and phenomena for the environment towards de degradation of the soil's paramount qualityits fertility. The factors of physical, chemical, biologic and technologic degradation of soils have extended and increased, while areas subjected to erosion and compacon have expanded, as well as areas degraded by polluation and the destruction of fertility. The nutrient cycle is thus blocked, while more areas show the potential of desertification. The impact of these modifications is increasingly higher in the past period due to global climate change, as in such conditions, the factors involved in the degradation of fertility become more active and more unpredictable. As such, long-term and sustainable fertility of soils has become paramount in supporting ecological balance amd incresing the safety of plant and animal production. Therefore, such research as the hereby one are beneficial for agricultural practice to increase the quality and quantity of production and provide food safety and security. The paper was supported by the project – POST-DOCTORAL SCHOOL IN THE FIELD OF AGRICULTURE AND VETERINARY MEDICINE Contract n.: POSDRU/89/1.5/S/62371


Currently, there are no effective treatments for novel corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this study, we report the preliminary results on the efficacy and safety of convalescent plasma (CP) infusion, as monotherapy in 9 patients with severe COVID-19 disease. The median time from symptom onset to CP transfusion was 6 days. All symptoms improved significantly after a median of 8 days. In 6/9 patients, symptomatic improvement was observed already after the 1st dose of CP transfusion. Laboratory parameters associated with disease severity tended to significantly decrease over time and lymphocyte counts significantly increased on day 14. All patients exhibited significant increases in SARS-CoV-2 IgA and IgG antibodies starting on day 7 through day 21 after CP infusion with concurrent reduction of SARS-CoV-2 RNA on days 7 and 14 with 44.4% % of the patients having undetectable SARS-CoV-2 RNA on day 14. After a median follow-up of 66 days, all patients remain alive. Eight patients recovered completely and were discharged from hospital after a median duration of hospitalization of 21 days. No severe adverse events were observed. In conclusion, this preliminary report suggests that CP infusion monotherapy administered early in the disease course may be a safe and effective strategy for patients with severe COVID-19 disease. Trial registration: NCT04408209. Registered 05 May 2020- Retrospectively registered, (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04408209?term=NCT04408209&draw=2&rank=1).


PURPOSE
Thrombospondin-1 (THBS1) has been suggested as a corneal wound-healing modulator. Therefore, we compromised the integrity of the cornea to elucidate the role of THBS1.

METHODS
Full-thickness penetrating corneal incisions (1.5 mm) were created in wild type (WT, 129S2/SvPas) and THBS1-deficient mice (Thbs1⁻/⁻), 129S2/SvPas-Thbs1(tm1Hyn)/Thbs1(tm1Hyn)), and allowed to heal up to 1 month, while being monitored by slit-lamp and intravital corneal examinations. Corneas also were examined by transmission electron microscopy and indirect immunofluorescence. To determine how THBS1 was involved in the healing process, we examined THBS1 and α-smooth muscle actin (SMA), a marker of myofibroblasts and myoepithelial cells.

RESULTS
In WT mice by 1 month, corneas appeared transparent with a thin scar, and endothelium and Descemet's membrane (DM) were restored. In contrast, Thbs1⁻/⁻ corneas exhibited chronic edema and persistent opacity after wounding. The DM and endothelium were not restored, and wound contraction was impaired. The THBS1 was localized in epithelial cells at early stages of the healing process, and in the stroma and endothelial cells during later stages. The SMA-positive epithelial cells and myofibroblasts were observed within the healing area at day 4, peaked at day 14, and disappeared at day 30. The SMA-positive cells were reduced greatly in Thbs1⁻/⁻ mice.

CONCLUSIONS
In the current study, we demonstrated that corneal restoration is strikingly compromised by a penetrating incision in Thbs1⁻/⁻ mice. The wound results in persistent edema and wound gaping. This appears to be the result of the lack of endothelial migration and DM restoration. In addition, myofibroblast formation is compromised, resulting in the lack of wound contraction.


In recent years, the wide concerns about global warming and harmful emissions from carbon fuels have resulted in an emerging interest in the development of renewable energy applications. Solar energy, with a reputation for being inexhaustible and environmentally benign, is one of the most important parts of renewable energies and has been widely used in residential, industrial, remote, and transportation areas. Generally solar energy can be used in two ways: electricity and heat. Solar thermal technology uses the solar heat energy to heat water or air for applications such as space heating, water heating, and cooling for homes and businesses. Solar thermal energy can also be harvested for power generation such as concentrating solar power plant. Solar photovoltaic technology converts solar energy into electricity using semiconducting material solar cell. International Conference on Energy Engineering and Environmental Engineering (ICEEEE) is an annual event for renewable energy specialists to provide the opportunities for policy, technology, education, research, marketing, and business on renewable energy and exchange their idea, to present their work, to establish network, and to develop a new vision for the cooperative future of the energy. ICEEEE consists of Plenary, Keynotes, Workshops, Industrial sessions to introduce the research and development accomplished in their companies, Academic sessions and Posters. It is widely believed that the renewable energy is one of the important and fast-growing industries intended to ensure the renewable energy needs with maximum efficiency and minimal damage to the environment. By using renewable energy sources like wind turbines, the dependence on fossil fuel gas and oil reserves can also be decreased. With all these various benefits, there are still numerous challenges that should be improved and solved. In this regard, ICEEEE, which was held in Xiamen, China from April 15th to 17th 2017, provided a convenient platform for the discussion of renewable energy problems for finding new ways to solve them, ICEEEE gave the opportunity for all participants to present their developments and their opinion in such areas such as the wind energy, solar energy, hydrogen, fuel cell, and other renewable energy areas. The effectiveness of this conference has been shown by the huge amount of the interesting presentations with the fruitful discussions. We have had many submissions of outstanding and qualified research articles from ICEEEE 2017 to be published in the International Energy Journal. However, only 12 articles by a strict reviewing process are accepted for publication. The accepted papers are in the field of renewable energy policy, tidal energy, heat recovery, wind energy, geothermal energy, solar energy), energy storage systems, smart grid, and bioenergy. To be exact, these accepted papers cover the topics in energy portfolio energy conservation, energy efficiency, biomass and bioenergy, renewable energy, electricity supply and demand, energy storage, energy in buildings, and on economic and policy issues, provided such topics are within the context of the broader multi-disciplinary scope of International Energy Journal. We hope that this special issue will be of great help for many researchers and practitioners. We also would like to thank Prof. S. Kumar (Editor, International Energy Journal) for his great support and effort throughout the whole publication process. We are also grateful to the referees for their professional and timely reviews.


ABSTRACT A fundamental feature of circadian clocks is temperature compensation of period. The free-running period of ritsu(timrit ) (a novel allele oftimeless [tim]) mutants is drastically lengthened in a temperature-dependent manner. PER and TIM protein levels become lower in timrit mutants as temperature becomes higher. This mutation reduces per mRNA but not tim mRNA abundance. PER constitutively driven by the rhodopsin1 promoter is lowered in ritmutants, indicating that timrit mainly affects the per feedback loop at a posttranscriptional level. An excess of per + gene dosage can ameliorate allrit phenotypes, including the weak nuclear localization of PER, suggesting that timrit affects circadian rhythms by reducing PER abundance and its subsequent transportation into nuclei as temperature increases.


Objective of the present work is to model EDM process using ANSYS software, and to investigate the effects of most significant machining parameters (pulse current and pulse duration) on the residual stresses developed in the beneath the spark produced by a single spark. The workpiece material is AISI D2 tool steel. The FEA model is then used to study the relation between these parameters and maximum temperature attended at the end of heating cycle along with residual stress produced at the end of cooling cycle. To establish the residual stresses in the work piece during EDM, the temperature distribution at the end of pulse duration in the work piece has to be estimated first, latter on after cooling the residual stress is determined. In addition, residual stress which is the main aspect responsible for component failure, and the location of tensile peak stress, at the end of cooling cycle are investigated.


Summary form only given. Optical lattices are a key system in the fields where an accurate control of atoms is necessary, as in quantum computing, atomic Mott transition or quantum chaos. However, one of the main limitations of optical lattices is their poor filling rate, smaller than unity, reducing drastically the effective number of interactions between atoms in a same site or in neighboring sites. One of the reasons of this small filling rate is the relative weak atomic density of the magneto-optical trap used to cool initially the atoms, as compared to the relative high density of sites in the lattice. A possibility is to limit the number of sites by using e.g. a 1D lattice, but this solution requires the use of a bright lattice, increasing the decoherence of atoms, another limitation in these studies dealing with the quantum transport of atoms. Until today, the only lattices able to confine atoms with fluorescence rate of the order of 1 s, were the 3D dark lattices. Therefore, a solution for a high filling rate is to increase the density of the atoms dropped in a 3D dark lattice, using e.g. a Bose-Einstein condensate. We propose here an alternative, technically simpler, consisting in using a dark lattice with a small density of 3D traps. Each individual trap is a 3D dark ring, and the lattice is a 1D stack of such rings. Thus, the global shape of the potential is a bright full cylinder with a pile of ring wells inside. We show here how to make such a lattice by making the interference between a hollow beam and a Gaussian beam. We discuss about the possible applications, and in particular about the realization of a quantum gate with the ring lattice. Finally, we present the experimental realization of the lattice and the first experimental results obtained with it.


Kinlaw, Kritzman, and Turkington introduce a methodology for measuring systemic importance. Investors care about systemic importance because this knowledge may enable them to assess their portfolio's vulnerability to particular events and, if warranted, to pursue defensive strategies. Policymakers also need this information to ensure that policies and regulations target the appropriate entities and to more effectively engage in preventive or corrective measures when circumstances warrant intervention. The absorption ratio, introduced by Kritzman, Li, Page, and Rigobon in 2011, provides an implied measure of systemic risk based on principal component analysis. The authors extend this methodology to determine an entity's centrality. Their centrality measure captures an entity's vulnerability to failure, its connectivity to other entities, and the risk of the entities to which it is connected. They convert this measure of centrality into a measure of systemic importance by conditioning it on periods of high systemic risk.


While civic engagement provides a rich rationale for intervention, the array of discourses urging a focus on youth engagement or action means that the concept can be confusing, cluttered, and lacking consistent operationalization. From the perspective of policy-makers and program managers, it can be challenging to disentangle the competing messages and assumptions about young people that underpin the rhetoric in relation to youth engagement. Using a wide range of international research, the purpose of this paper is to provide clarity regarding the key multiple concepts and issues pertinent to the concept of youth civic engagement. In particular, the paper answers the following questions: what are the definitions, typologies, and discourses in which the concept of youth civic engagement operates, and what are the putative beneficial outcomes of youth engagement identified? We also discuss some of the broader considerations on the positioning of young people in society, which impact the trajectory of civic engagement efforts. As a means for reflecting on their own practices, programs, and approaches, our intent is to provide those involved in both the application and research of youth engagement with a more coherent roadmap of the diversity residing in this field.


Protrusio acetabuli prosthetica is a form of hip replacement failure in which intrapelvic component migration occurs. Three degrees of the entity are defined as determined by (1) prosthetic migration medial to the ilioischial line and (2) integrity of the medial acetabular wall. Entities predisposing to protrusio acetabuli prosthetica include overreaming, multiple pelvic perforations, osteopenic bone states, infection, trauma, heredity or acquired bone deficiency states, overactivity, and hypertrophic membrane formation. Treatment of the condition is contingent upon (1) reestablishment of the radiographically determined anatomic position of the acetabulum and (2) construction of a medial prosthetic or biologic buttress. Recent techniques of biologic medial-wall formation utilize either allograft or autograft bone in one of three configurations--bulk, chipped or pulverized. In cases of severe intrapelvic hip protrusion, resection arthroplasty may be the only alternative.


Negation and uncertainty modeling are long-standing tasks in natural language processing. Linguistic theory postulates that expressions of negation and uncertainty are semantically independent from each other and the content they modify. However, previous works on representation learning do not explicitly model this independence. We therefore attempt to disentangle the representations of negation, uncertainty, and content using a Variational Autoencoder. We find that simply supervising the latent representations results in good disentanglement, but auxiliary objectives based on adversarial learning and mutual information minimization can provide additional disentanglement gains.


Tte is a frequent marker in Japanese conversation exhibiting multiple discourse functions: as a quotative, topic-marker, utterance-final pragmatic particle, and utterance-initial repair marker. We focus on the relationship between the original quotative function and the topic-marking function found in conversational portions of novels spanning 200 years. Three patterns are suggested: tte (1) forms a link between itself and part of the previous speaker's utterance through immediate repetition, (2) relates itself with an entity present in the current context, or (3) introduces the name of an entity not present in the current context (keeping track of it). It is possible that the more concrete, relational aspect of tte , connecting utterances/objects, is weakened and the referential aspect, introducing referents, develops over time.


Fractions from rat thymuses were isolated by sucrose density-gradient centrifugation, before and after 1000 r whole-body x-irradiation, and examined by electron microscopy. Cytochrome oxidase and acid phosphatase activities of these fractions were tested as well. Electron-opaque bodies with diameters ranging from 0.10 to 0.35 µ, with a mean of 0.25 µ, were found in fractions having high acid phosphatase activity, while the fractions rich in cytochrome oxidase consisted mostly of mitochondria. After irradiation, there was an increased ratio of dense bodies to mitochondria. These particles are considered to be lysosomes similar to those identified in other rat tissues. Their relationship to the mitochondria is discussed.


Highway and pavement design plays an important role in the DPR projects. The satisfactory performance of the pavement will result in higher savings in terms of vehicle operating costs and travel time, which has a bearing on the overall economic feasibility of the project. This paper discusses about the design methods that are traditionally being followed and examines the "Design of rigid and flexible pavements by various methods & their cost analysis by each method". Flexible pavement are preferred over cement concrete roads as they have a great advantage that these can be strengthened and improved in stages with the growth of traffic and also their surfaces can be milled and recycled for rehabilitation. The flexible pavements are less expensive also with regard to initial investment and maintenance. Although Rigid pavement is expensive but have less maintenance and having good design period. The economic part are carried out for the design pavement of a section by using the result obtain by design method and their corresponding component layer thickness. It can be done by drawing comparisons with the standard way and practical way. This total work includes collection of data analysis various flexible and rigid pavement designs and their estimation procedure are very much useful to engineer who deals with highways.


Head and neck reconstructive surgery involving tissue flaps is often complex requiring the development of an individualized anesthetic plan. The following case report describes the anesthetic management of an 87-year-old man considered at high risk for postoperative delirium due to advanced age and blindness undergoing general anesthesia for resection of squamous cell carcinoma of the right side of the nose and reconstructive surgery with a scalping forehead flap. Ultrasound-guided local anesthetic maxillary and supraorbital nerve blocks were successfully used perioperatively to reduce the need for alternative analgesics associated with higher risks of complications such as postoperative nausea, vomiting, and delirium.


Vaccines are widely hailed as vital, safe, and cost-effective public health interventions that save lives and protect health. However, from the development of the first smallpox vaccine at the end of the eighteenth century until the present day, the legitimacy and safety of vaccination has frequently been challenged. Individuals making choices about vaccination have to evaluate reports, often contradictory, about risk. The ways that parents evaluate these reports and make decisions are crucially informed by trust. This paper examines and compares public evaluations of risk and the role of trust in three historic vaccine controversies: the implementation of the global smallpox eradication campaign, the debate over the whooping cough vaccine in the 1970s and 1980s in Great Britain, and the current debate over the MMR vaccine in Britain. The discussion of the MMR controversy will draw upon my recent fieldwork interviewing parents about the vaccination decisions they have made for their children. Parents balance a number of potential risks against one another and choose which risks they are most concerned about. In addition, the importance of herd immunity to successful immunisation programmes allows for an investigation of how individual and collective risks and benefits relate to one another. These issues are only recently beginning to be incorporated into the literature on risk, trust and sociocultural theory.


Abstract Rapid growth in population, industry, urbanization and intensive agriculture have led to soil and water pollution by various contaminants. Nanoremediation has become one of the most successful emerging technologies for cleaning up soil and water contaminants due to the high reactivity of nanomaterials (NMs). Numerous publications are available on the use of NMs for removing contaminants, and the efficiencies are often improved by modifications of NMs with polymers, clay minerals, zeolites, activated carbon, and biochar. This paper critically reviews the current state-of-the-art NMs used for sustainable soil and water remediation, focusing on their applications in novel remedial approaches, such as adsorption/filtration, catalysis, photodegradation, electro-nanoremediation, and nano-bioremediation. Insights into process performances, modes of deployment, potential environmental risks and their management, and the consequent societal and economic implications of using NMs for soil and water remediation indicate that widespread acceptance of nanoremediation technologies requires not only a substantial advancement of the underpinning science and engineering aspects themselves, but also practical demonstrations of the effectiveness of already recognized approaches at real world in-situ conditions. New research involving green nanotechnology, nano-bioremediation, electro-nanoremediation, risk assessment of NMs, and outreach activities are needed to achieve successful applications of nanoremediation at regional and global scales. Graphical abstract


The properties and microstructures after different annealing processes of an as-extruded ME magnesium alloy were investigated. The results showed the better properties with the tensile strength of 205 MPa and the elongation of 19.8%, respectively, could be obtained after annealing at 623 K for 4h and air-cooled, meaning that elongation value increased 40% than that of as-extruded sheets while the strength remained almost same. The annealing hold time corresponding with the higher elongation would shorten with the increase of annealing temperature. There is legible necking on broken tensile specimen. The behavior of fracture showed obvious characteristic of ductile rupture, with many tearing edges and cavities.


Summary Aim: Add-on therapy with omalizumab, an anti-immunoglobulin E antibody, is effective in improving disease control in patients with allergic asthma of varying severity. The aim of the present study was to determine the efficacy of omalizumab in a subgroup of patients at high risk of serious asthma-related morbidity and mortality. Methods: A meta-analysis was performed of three randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies (studies 1, 2 and 3) that enrolled 1412 patients with moderate or severe allergic asthma, all requiring daily treatment with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS). Omalizumab was administered subcutaneously every 2 or 4 weeks at a total 4-weekly dose of at least 0.016mg/kg/IgE [IU/ml]. Each study consisted of a 16-week steroid-stable phase and a 12-16-week steroid-reduction phase, followed by a 24-week extension phase (studies 1 and 2 only). The primary outcome measure was the annualised rate of significant asthma exacerbation episodes (sAEEs) during the steroid-stable phase for the pooled subgroup of 254 high-risk patients (omalizumab, n = 135; placebo, n = 119). sAEEs were those requiring a doubling of baseline ICS dose (studies 1 and 2 only) or use of systemic steroids (all three studies). Results: Overall, the number of patients with at least one sAEE during the steroid-stable phase was reduced from 35% (42/119) with placebo to 18% (24/135) with omalizumab. Mean sAEE rates were 1.56 and 0.69 per patient-year, respectively, a reduction of 56% with omalizumab (p = 0.007). Similar reductions in exacerbations in favour of omalizumab were observed for the whole study period and for all AEEs. In those with a history of hospitalisation in the last year, 6/49 (12%) on placebo vs. 2/44 (4.5%) on omalizumab were re-hospitalised during the study period. Patients treated with omalizumab also showed significantly greater improvements from baseline in PEFR (p = 0.026), overall AQoL (p = 0.042) and mean nocturnal (p = 0.007) and mean total (p = 0.011) asthma symptom scores compared with placebo. Conclusions: In patients at high risk of serious asthma-related morbidity and mortality, treatment with omalizumab offers the potential to halve the rate of asthma exacerbations and improve disease control.


The in-process sharpening mechanism of the grinder during the grinding process of a CVD diamond film surface is investigated using the composite electro-plating in-process sharpening (CEPIS) technique. The bath concentration is employed to investigate the variation of coating structure deposited on the grinder. Results show that the land area ratio increases with increasing nickel chloride concentrations (NiCl2.6H2O) of the plating bath from 10 to 30 g/L, and the coating structure becomes very smooth without porous area at the nickel chloride concentration of 75 g/L. Therefore the coating structure becomes compact to hold the diamond particles rigidly. Consequently, the grinding ability of the grinder can be significantly improved, where the mirror-like surface of the CVD diamond film can be achieved.


Aureliano Fernandez-Guerra is known especially among Quevedo's scholars because he published the first complete edition of Quevedo's works. Few people know his plays and, for this reason, they have never been studied. These plays were written during his youth, when Fernandez-Guerra hadn't decided anything about his career yet. Therefore, these plays were always very important for him and, for this reason, he continued to correct and to revise them. Among them, the unpublished drama La hija de Cervantes (1840) was considered the most important play.
In this doctoral thesis I have tried to describe this Spanish author, especially focusing on theatre. In the first part I wrote about the life and the literary works, giving particularly importance to his plays that are La pena de los enamorados (1939), La hija de Cervantes (1840), Alonso Cano (1842) and La Ricahembra (1845), this last one written in collaboration with Manuel Tamayo y Baus, another important and famous playwright.
In the second part I deepened the study of La hija de Cervantes because it is a particular interesting drama: Aureliano Fernandez-Guerra chose to represent the author of the Quixote as a character of his drama, especially dramatizing the most mysterious moments of his life, such as the Gaspar de Ezpeleta's murder, his relationship with his daughter Isabel de Saavedra and his supposed love for a woman, whose existence his unknown. Besides, this drama is interesting because it is partially autobiographic: I found several letters and articles where it is emphasized the similarities between Cervantes' and Aureliano's life: both feel misunderstood and not appreciated by other people and both had to renounce a big love.
In the final part I presented the critical edition of La hija de Cervantes based on the last three manuscripts that are today at the Institut de Teatre in Barcelona. A wide philological note shows the transcription criterions.


With improved implants and younger patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty (THA) and hip resurfacing arthroplasty (HRA), there are increased expectations to return to high-impact activities. Recommendations regarding return to running following hip arthroplasty remain unclear. A search of the PubMed database was conducted, and all publications referencing running following THA or HRA published between January 1, 2000, and September 1, 2020, were included in the systematic review. Patient demographics, surgical variables, activity measures, and revision rates were recorded for each study. A total of 225 unique citations were identified, of which four manuscripts met the eligibility criteria. Eighty-nine of 121 (73.6%) preoperative runners returned to running postoperatively. All four studies reported mean postoperative UCLA activity scores of at least nine. More patients returned to running following HRA than THA with lower rates of revision. Further research with longer postoperative follow-up is necessary to provide definitive recommendations for running following arthroplasty procedures. (Journal of Surgical Orthopaedic Advances 32(1):001-004, 2023).


BACKGROUND
The incidence of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is increasing, and the prognosis of ruptured AAA remains dismal. Early diagnosis and intervention are crucial. We designed this study to determine whether selected population screening with a brief "quick-screen" ultrasound could be cost-effective.

METHODS
A series of 25 patients with risk factors for AAA were evaluated in a blinded fashion by a quick-screen ultrasound and a full conventional study. Times and accuracy for the 2 approaches were compared. An analysis of the cost-effectiveness of screening for AAA was then performed using a Markov model. We determined the long-term survival in quality-adjusted life years and lifetime costs for a hypothetical cohort of 70-year-old males undergoing either AAA screening or not. Our measure of outcome was the cost-effectiveness ratio (CER).

RESULTS
The average time for a quick screen was one-sixth that of a conventional study (4 vs 24 minutes). The accuracy of the quick screen was 100%. In our base-case analysis, screening for AAA was cost-effective with a CER of $11,215. Society usually is willing to pay for interventions with CER of less than $60,000 (eg, CER for coronary artery bypass grafting, $9500; breast cancer screening, $16,000). In sensitivity analysis, reducing the cost of screening from $259 (approximate Medicare reimbursement) to $40 (the quick screen) improved the CER to $6850. Moreover, screening populations with increased prevalence of AAA (eg, male with family history [18%]) further improved the CER.

CONCLUSIONS
Our analysis demonstrates that ultrasound screening for AAA should be offered to all males above the age of 60. Widespread screening for AAA should be adopted and reimbursed by Medicare and other insurers.