The extracellular matrix (ECM) is best described as a dynamic three-dimensional mesh of various macromolecules. These include proteoglycans (e.g., perlecan andagrin), non-proteoglycan polysaccharides (e.g., hyaluronan), and fibrous proteins (e.g., collagen, elastin, fibronectin, and laminin). ECM proteins are involved in various biological functions and their functionality is largely governed by interaction with other ECM proteins as well as trans-membrane receptors including integrins, proteoglycans such assyndecan, other glycoproteins, and members of the immunoglobulin superfamily. In the present work, a machine learning approach is developed using sequence and evolutionary features for predicting ECM protein-receptor interactions. Two different feature vector representations, namely fusion of feature vectors and average of feature vectors are used within corporation of the best representation employing feature selection. The current results show that the feature vector representation is an important aspect of ECM protein interaction prediction, and that the average of feature vectors performed better than the fusion of feature vectors. The best prediction model with boosted random forest resulted in 72.6 % overall accuracy, 74.4 % sensitivity and 70.7 % specificity with the 200 best features obtained using the ReliefF feature selection algorithm. Further, a comparative analysis was performed for negative sample subset selection using three sampling methods, namely random sampling, k-Means sampling, and Uniform sampling. k-Means based representative sampling resulted in enhanced accuracy (75.5 % accuracy with 80.8 % sensitivity, 68.1 % specificity and 0.801 AUC) for the prediction of ECM protein-receptor interactions in comparison to the other sampling methods. On comparison with other three state of the art protein-protein interaction predictors, it is observed that the latter displayed low sensitivity but higher specificity. The current work presents the first machine learning based prediction model specifically developed for ECM protein-receptor interactions.


To address deficiencies in the process of fault diagnosis of belt conveyor, this study uses a BP neural network algorithm combined with fuzzy theory to provide an intelligent fault diagnosis method for belt conveyor and to establish a BP neural network fault diagnosis model with a predictive function. Matlab is used to simulate the fuzzy BP neural network fault diagnosis of the belt conveyor. Results show that the fuzzy neural network can filter out unnecessary information; save time and space; and improve the fault diagnosis recognition, classification, and fault location capabilities of belt conveyor. The proposed model has high practical value for engineering.


Extracellular matrix metalloproteases are secreted by the resident cells of the tissue in a proenzyme form, and their extracellular activity is regulated at the level of gene expression, proenzyme activation, and interaction with inhibitors. To understand the molecular mechanisms that control the activity of ECM metalloproteases and their effect on the cellular phenotype, we have established cell lines in which the transcription of the protease genes is repressed. We also have undertaken a detailed study of the pathway of extracellular activation of interstitial procollagenase. Stable transfection of three human tumor cell lines--H-ras-transformed bronchial epithelial cells TBE-1, fibrosarcoma cells HT1080, and melanoma cells A2058--with the adenovirus E1A gene dramatically repressed the expression of the secreted proteases, type IV and interstitial collagenases, and urokinase-type plasminogen activator. Concomitantly, E1A-expressing cells showed reduced metastatic activity in vivo and reduced ability to traverse a reconstituted basement membrane in vitro. Monospecific anti-type IV collagenase antibody inhibited the invasive activity of parental tumor cell lines in the in vitro system, suggesting a possible causal relationship between the effect of E1A on the expression of secreted proteases and the reduced metastatic potential of the E1A-expressing transformants. We have also studied the mechanism of regulation of metalloprotease activity at the level of extracellular activation by investigating the cascade of proteolytic events that results in the activation of interstitial procollagenase. Cocultivation of the major cellular components of skin, dermal fibroblasts, and epidermal keratinocytes induces activation of interstitial procollagenase and prostromelysin in the presence of plasminogen. This activation occurs through a uPA-plasmin-dependent pathway in which plasmin catalyzes the first step in activation of both collagenase and stromelysin by amino-terminal processing. Activated stromelysin can in turn convert plasmin-activated collagenase into a fully active enzyme by removal of approximately 15 amino acid residues from the carboxyl end of the enzyme. This second step of activation results in a 5-8-fold further increase in specific activity of collagenase. This cascade of proteolytic events may constitute a major physiologic pathway of collagenase activation.


Abstract. The automatic analysis of 3D point clouds has become a crucial task in photogrammetry, remote sensing and computer vision. Whereas modern range cameras simultaneously provide both range and intensity images with high frame rates, other devices can be used to obtain further information which could be quite valuable for tasks such as object detection or scene interpretation. In particular thermal information offers many advantages, since people can easily be detected as heat sources in typical indoor or outdoor environments and, furthermore, a variety of concealed objects such as heating pipes as well as structural properties such as defects in isolation may be observed. In this paper, we focus on thermal 3D mapping which allows to observe the evolution of a dynamic 3D scene over time. We present a fully automatic methodology consisting of four successive steps: (i) a radiometric correction, (ii) a geometric calibration, (iii) a robust approach for detecting reliable feature correspondences and (iv) a co-registration of 3D point cloud data and thermal information via a RANSAC-based EPnP scheme. For an indoor scene, we demonstrate that our methodology outperforms other recent approaches in terms of both accuracy and applicability. We additionally show that efficient straightforward techniques allow a categorization according to background, people, passive scene manipulation and active scene manipulation.


The availability of the human genome sequence and the recently completed draft sequences of two major mammalian model species, the mouse (Mus musculus) and the rat (Rattus norvegicus), allow researchers to apply novel approaches for gene identification and characterization, using methods of comparative and functional genomics. Recently, a new gene coding for apolipoprotein A-V was identified in the vicinity of APOA-I/C-III/A-IV cluster on human chromosome 11q23 by comparative sequencing method. In a relatively short time, compelling evidence accumulated for the substantial role of APOA-V in lipid metabolism. Studies in knock-out and transgenic mice revealed that its expression pattern correlates negatively with triglyceride levels. This observation was verified in human population studies in variety of ethnic and age groups. Several single nucleotide polymorphisms were described and particular SNP alleles and haplotypes in the APO A-V gene region were shown to be associated with dyslipidemia. The discovery and characterization of the APO A-V demonstrates current possibilities of the integrative approaches in biology, boosted by the available bioinformatic tools.


The aim of this article is to consider debates around the contested nature of concepts of wellbeing in health and social science research and practice, given that government policy discourse centres on the importance of wellbeing as a tool for making policy and evaluating outcomes. It draws attention to the work of McNaught (2011). He has developed a definitional framework of wellbeing, in which wellbeing is perceived to be a macro concept or area of study concerned with the objective and subjective assessment of wellbeing as a desirable human state. The framework broadens wellbeing to a range of different domains beyond individual subjectivity, which has been the traditional focus of concern, and extracts it from customary affiliations with health to incorporate the family, community and society as a whole. The framework reflects the conceptual complexity of 'wellbeing' and highlights its dependency upon a range of social, economic and environmental forces that provide the resources and the contexts for the generation and maintenance of wellbeing at all levels of society. The article argues that the framework provides a paradigm that facilitates further development and systemisation of research and knowledge in the field of wellbeing. Firstly, the framework has the capacity to bring some clarity, inclusiveness and holism to research and practice. Secondly, it is useful as a tool to enhance theoretical frameworks and to guide the design and development of both health and wellbeing interventions. Thirdly, it provides the philosophical underpinnings for wellbeing policy development.


We report two cases of pineal gland cysts, both in young girls, causing aqueductal stenosis and symptomatic hydrocephalus, which were diagnosed and treated by Talairach's stereotactic method. This procedure permitted aspiration of the cyst content, normalization of aqueductal stenosis, and a differential histological diagnosis. Postoperative computed tomographic scan examination showed a stable reduction of the cystic volume and a complete clearance of the hydrocephalus. At present, the two patients are clinically normal and are leading a productive life (follow-up, 42 and 40 mo). It is important that this kind of nonneoplastic lesion be identified, in order to avoid confusion with pineal tumors and possible inappropriate treatment. Pineal cysts rarely become symptomatic. Up to the present, only 27 symptomatic cases have been described in the literature. Of those, signs of intracystic bleeding were found in 17 of the 21 cases in which the cyst contents were known. Moreover, in our own two cases, numerous hemosiderin-laden macrophages were present in the cystic fluid. We think, therefore, that intracystic bleeding has been the determining factor for the occurrence of symptoms in most of these cases. The authors underline the advantages of this type of stereotactic management, which can provide both diagnosis and treatment and thus avoid the possible risks of surgical excision and/or of radiotherapy.


Treewidth is an important and well-known graph parameter that measures the complexity of a graph. The Kneser graph Kneser(n,k) is the graph with vertex set $\binom{[n]}{k}$, such that two vertices are adjacent if they are disjoint. We determine, for large values of n with respect to k, the exact treewidth of the Kneser graph. In the process of doing so, we also prove a strengthening of the Erd\H{o}s-Ko-Rado Theorem (for large n with respect to k) when a number of disjoint pairs of k-sets are allowed.


Objective : To highlight the presentations, characteristics, the difficulties in diagnosis, treatment and response to treatment types of facial neuralgias seen at Lagos University Teaching Hospital. Methods : Twelve patients with facial neuralgias diagnosed and treated in dental clinic of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital were studies. Using strict for diagnosis, patients were categorized into: trigeminal, glosspharyngeal and post herpetic neuralgias. Results : Eight patients had trigeminal neuralgia; three patients had post –herpetic neuralgia and one patient had glossopharyeal neuralgia. In six patients with Trigeminal neuralgia, mandibular branch was affected, while in the two patients maxillary branch was affected. Six patients with Trigeminal neuralgia responded to carbamazepine alone and 2 had additional drugs. The only patients with glossopharyngeal neuralgia responded to carbamazepine. One patient with post herpetic neuralgia tested positive for HIV. All the post herpetic neuralgia responded poorly to carbamezepine. Conclusion : Facial neuralgias are uncommon and usually present in the dental clinic. They can easily be misdiagnosed with resulting inappropriate. Correct diagnosis and treatment with carbamezepine is beneficial in majority of patients. Keywords : dental center, trigeminal neuralgia, glosspharyngeal neuragia, post-herpetic neuralgia Nigerian Journal of Clinical Practice Vol. 8(2) 2005: 114-117


There is a growing interest in broadening the measurement scope of innovation to consider "creative" activities, suggesting that the usual indicators of innovation satisfy neither scholars nor policy makers. Conceptually, there is little difference between innovative and creative activity. However, it is difficult to know to what extent the current measures that capture innovation are relevant for creativity. Can the new measures for creativity benefit from the experience accumulated through R&D and innovation? Our chapter provides insights and lessons learned from using measures of innovative activities for scholars who are interested in capturing creative activities. We underscore the difficulties faced when measuring innovation and draw some parallels between these difficulties and the efforts undertaken to measure creativity.


Institutional investors have traditionally viewed real estate as a risk–reducer, diversifying portfolios in line with the fiduciary responsibilities imposed by ERISA. This is not the only role that the asset class can fill. Real estate can obviously help make a portfolio market–neutral and more reflective of the overall investment universe. Can it also reduce the overall risk of a portfolio, provide high absolute returns, act as an inflation hedge, and offer strong cash flows? Recently, the equity market has faltered, and the specters of inflation and recession now haunt the collective psyche of the investor. Why real estate? Is the answer more compelling now than in the late 1990s? The author takes a detailed look.


The intention of this study was to develop an instrument of collection of data, that makes possible the nurses of the Pediatric Clinic of the Academic Hospital Lauro Wanderley, to collect necessary data in children between 0 and 5 years old, that provide the development more than the too phases of the nursing process. A methodological study was developed, based on the validation of content, which was executed in four phases: Phase 1 - (a) revision of literature on the basic human needs and its application to the children less than 5 years and instruments of data collection developed on the basis of the Horta Theory and directed to child, where it found 358 pointers of the necessities; b) construction of the research instrument, considering the pointers identified in literature, for the basic human needs evidences in the child between 0 to 5 years old, and in the searched instruments, being the instrument constructed with 241 pointers in a Likert type scale; Phase 2- a) the validation of content, for a group of 5 teaching nurses and 8 assistance of the area of Pediatric Nursing, of the degree of relevance of items so that the same ones were enclosed in the instrument of collection of data, being validated 135 pointers; b) construction of the first version of the instrument of collection of data, from the 135 items that they had reached relevance degree 0,80, which composes in the following parts: identification; reason of the internment; basic human needs/physical exam; and the nurses impressions;Phase 3 - a) the verification of the clinical operationalization of the instrument for the participant in children hospitalized in the Pediatric Clinic. In this phase, were delivered five units of the collect instrument for the nurses who had participated of the previous phase, being the same applied for 6 nurses; b) evaluation of the presentation form and each part of the instrument, this evaluation was developed by 5 nurses and 1 teaching nurse; c) synthesis of the evaluation of the nurses on the structure of the instrument in a focal group, was carried through only one session of focal group for discussion of all the instrument, of which had participated 5 nurses;Phase 4 - a) the correction and elaboration of the final version of the instrument of data collection for children with 0 - 5 years, which composes in identification, previous internments/main complaints, basic human needs/physical exam and the nurse impressions; b) construction of one guides instructional, which appraises and specifies all the data that must be collected. It's expected that the instrument constructed in this research makes possible the operationalization of the nursing assistance and contributes with the quality of the assistance given to these small beings.


Background: Evidence supports the effect of protein to increase diet induced thermogenesis and satiety; promoting effective weight loss in the management of obesity [1,2]. However, there is limited evidence to indicate the optimum protein source that will elicit maximum effects on diet induced thermogenesis and satiety. This study aims to investigate the effect of isocaloric meals containing varying protein sources on diet induced thermogenesis and satiety in healthy individuals.
Methods: The study applied a cross over design and recruited healthy individuals; both male and female via the University recruitment moderator email. Participants completed a screening questionnaire and those with food intolerances to the meals provided, claustrophobia or metabolic disturbances were excluded from the study. Participants attended two separate testing sessions and completed 24 hour diet histories pre and post testing sessions. Participants were required to fast and refrain from vigorous physical activity for 12-14 hours respectively prior to testing. On their initial visit; weight, height and BMI were recorded. Resting energy expenditure, using indirect calorimetry, and appetite parameters, using 10 mm visual analogue scales (VAS), were measured at each testing session. Participants were provided with a different meal at each session containing varying protein sources. Meal 1: Porridge and milk (Kcals 267, P 15.4g, CHO 31.5g, Fat 9.6g), Meal 2: Scrambled eggs (Kcals 266, P 16.6g, CHO 20g, Fat 13.9g). Post meal consumption energy expenditure was recorded until resting values were re-established. Diet induced thermogenesis (DIT) was calculated using an area under the curve (AUC) calculation and a paired two tailed t test was used in order to determine differences in appetite parameters as well as caloric intake and typical intake post meal consumption. A significance level of P ≤0.05 was applied. Ethical approval was granted from the Queen Margaret University Ethics Committee.
Results: 10 participants, male to female ratio of 1:9, aged 22-29 years and BMI range of 20-24Kg/M2 completed testing. Energy Expenditure (EE) was found to be significantly higher post consumption of Meal 1 (P= 0.001). From this, DIT was calculated. A greater DIT of 2691.5 AU was calculated for Meal 1, porridge and milk, in comparison to 796 AU for the scrambled egg, Meal 2.
Discussion: Meal 1 elicited significantly higher EE (P =0.001) and produced over 3 fold the levels of DIT to Meal 2. Meal 1 was significantly more satiating for 'How much could you eat' and 'Desire to eat'. Evidence supports higher protein diets result in increased levels of EE and satiety in comparison to isocaloric diets consisting of lower protein quantities or higher quantities of alternative macronutrients, however, limited research exists on individual protein sources [2]. Limitations include: small cohort and differences in macronutrient quantities of meals.
Conclusions: This study demonstrated that different protein sources elicit varying degrees of diet induced thermogenesis and satiety in a group of healthy individuals, however, further research is needed to ascertain the optimum protein source to produce the most significant effects on DIT and satiety.


Abstract–Flexible spatial models that allow transitions between tail dependence classes have recently appeared in the literature. However, inference for these models is computationally prohibitive, even in moderate dimensions, due to the necessity of repeatedly evaluating the multivariate Gaussian distribution function. In this work, we attempt to achieve truly high-dimensional inference for extremes of spatial processes, while retaining the desirable flexibility in the tail dependence structure, by modifying an established class of models based on scale mixtures Gaussian processes. We show that the desired extremal dependence properties from the original models are preserved under the modification, and demonstrate that the corresponding Bayesian hierarchical model does not involve the expensive computation of the multivariate Gaussian distribution function. We fit our model to exceedances of a high threshold, and perform coverage analyses and cross-model checks to validate its ability to capture different types of tail characteristics. We use a standard adaptive Metropolis algorithm for model fitting, and further accelerate the computation via parallelization and Rcpp. Lastly, we apply the model to a dataset of a fire threat index on the Great Plains region of the United States, which is vulnerable to massively destructive wildfires. We find that the joint tail of the fire threat index exhibits a decaying dependence structure that cannot be captured by limiting extreme value models. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.


DNA cross-linking reagents are frequently unusually cytotoxic, and many, including the nitrogen mustards, are potent chemotherapeutic agents, presumably because DNA cross-links effectively block DNA replication. Most of these reagents form both inter- and intrastrand DNA cross-links, but it is unknown which is more effective at blocking replication and why. To evaluate the role of interstrand cross-links, a human shuttle vector was constructed that contains a single, nitrogen mustard interstrand cross-link at a unique site. In previous work (J.O. Ojwang, D. A. Grueneberg, and E. L. Loechler, Cancer Res., 49: 6529-6537, 1989) a duplex oligonucleotide was synthesized that had an interstrand cross-link derived from a nitrogen mustard moiety bound at the N(7)- position of the guanines in the opposing strands of a 5'-GAC-3' 3'-CTG-5' sequence. Herein, a procedure is described to incorporate this oligonucleotide into an SV40-based human shuttle vector, which was designed for these experiments. The purified cross-linked vector was characterized and shown: (a) to have a chemical (i.e., a nitrogen mustard) modification at the anticipated genome location; (b) to have a modification that covalently joins the two duplex strands of the vector together; and (c) to contain a single interstrand cross-link per genome. The methodologies described to construct this vector are expected to be generally applicable and, thus, site-specific incorporation of an interstrand cross-link derived from any appropriate chemical should be possible. These procedures complement existing methodologies that permit the incorporation of monoadducts and intrastrand cross-links into vectors in a site-specific manner.


Memristor is a non-volatile new technology memory where the data stored as a resistance which the performance is influenced by the stateful logic design. Therefore, this study is an attempt to investigate the performance of the MAGIC NOR Gate stateful logic design using LTSPICE and targeted to 2 bits memory application. The objective is to investigate the performance of memristor based stateful logic logic design and schematics for memory application. Furthermore, the study been carried out by implementing the MAGIC NOR gate stateful logic schematic, then simulate the design in order to see the effects of performance including the electrical parameters compared to the others. Evidently, the improvement of MAGIC NOR gate contributes in reducing the number of NOR gate and CMOS count. Besides, the MAGIC NOR gates takes parallel inputs topology and eliminate the threshold voltage compared to IMPLY logic. Nevertheless, larger numbers of memristor required to stable the output consistency in MAGIC NOR gate schematic.


The propensity of the magnesium alloys AM30 and AZ91 to environmentally assisted cracking, and in particular to hydrogen embrittlement, was assessed in constant extension rate tensile tests on smooth and pre-cracked specimens which were subjected to monotonic loading in corrosive environment. The experimental findings can be rationalized by model approaches: A meso-scale fibre bundle model was employed to simulate the results obtained in tests on smooth AZ91 tensile specimens, assuming a combination of pitting and subsequent hydrogen embrittlement as the underlying failure mechanism. The experiment data as well as the model results revealed the effect of hydrogen embrittlement on crack growth resistance. The model calculations generated fracture surfaces which were in remarkable correspondence with those observed in the experiments, and stress-strain curves similar to the experimental ones, both reflecting the influence of the applied strain rate on hydrogen induced failure. The effect of hydrogen embrittlement on cracking in AM30 was assessed using a fracture mechanics based approach. A cohesive model which accounts for hydrogen enhanced crack extension and which earlier has been successfully applied to HE of steels is currently readjusted to EAC of magnesium.


P roblem statement. World economy suffers great annual losses due to corrosion deterioration of structures and vehicles. In some countries, losses from corrosion reach several percent of GDP. Development of new materials with increased corrosion resistance is highly relevant in the present time. Application of lacquer coatings do not provide adequate protection from corrosion in the event of abrasive contact of cargo with the protected material (freight wagons for the transport of bulk cargo). Purpose . Conduct the study of corrosion resistance of the new material developed for car building. Compare the results with the corrosion resistance of mass used in car building steel 09G2D. Conclusion  Comparative studies have shown that the corrosion resistance of the perspective steel type 20ATYU is 10% higher compared to steel 09G2D. It was shown prospects of introduction of new economical-alloy structural steel.


This paper introduces a new simulation-based inference procedure to model and sample from multi-dimensional probability distributions given access to i.i.d. samples, circumventing the usual approaches of explicitly modeling the density function or designing Markov chain Monte Carlo. Motivated by the seminal work on distance and isomorphism between metric measure spaces, we propose a new notion called the Reversible Gromov-Monge (RGM) distance and study how RGM can be used to design new transform samplers to perform simulation-based inference. Our RGM sampler can also estimate optimal alignments between two heterogeneous metric measure spaces ( X , µ, c X ) and ( Y , ν, c Y ) from empirical data sets, with estimated maps that approximately push forward one measure µ to the other ν , and vice versa. Analytic properties of the RGM distance are derived; statistical rate of convergence, representation, and optimization questions regarding the induced sampler are studied. Synthetic and real-world examples showcasing the effectiveness of the RGM sampler are also demonstrated.


Brain-computer interfaces are in the process of moving from the laboratory to the clinic. These devices act by reading neural activity and using it to directly control a device, such as a cursor on a computer screen. Over the past two decades, much attention has been devoted to the decoding problem: how should recorded neural activity be translated into movement of the device in order to achieve the most proficient control? This question is complicated by the fact that learning, especially the long-term skill learning that accompanies weeks of practice, can allow subjects to improve performance over time. Typical approaches to this problem attempt to maximize the biomimetic properties of the device, to limit the need for extensive training. However, it is unclear if this approach would ultimately be superior to performance that might be achieved with a non-biomimetic device, once the subject has engaged in extended practice and learned how to use it. In this thesis, I first recast the decoder design problem from a physical control system perspective, and investigate how various classes of decoders lead to different types of physical systems for the subject to control. This framework leads to new interpretations of why certain types of decoders have been shown to perform better than others. Based on this framework, I present a formal definition of the usability of a device under the assumption that the brain acts as an optimal controller. Using ideas from optimal control theory, it can be shown that the optimal, post-learning mapping can be written as the solution of a constrained optimization problem which maximizes this usability. I then derive the optimal mappings for particular cases common to most brain-computer interfaces. Results suggest that the common approach of creating biomimetic interfaces may not be optimal when learning is taken into account. More broadly, this method provides a blueprint for optimal device design in general control-theoretic contexts. Given the optimal, post-learning mapping, successful implementation of such brain-computer interface depends critically on the subject's ability to learn how to modulate the neurons controlling the device. However, the subject's learning process is probably the least understood aspect of the control loop. An effective training schedule should manipulate the difficulty of the task to provide enough information to guide improvement without overwhelming the subject. In this thesis, I introduce a Bayesian framework for modeling the closed-loop BCI learning process that treats the subject as a bandwidth-limited communication channel. I then develop an adaptive algorithm to find the optimal difficulty-schedule for performance improvement. Simulation results demonstrate that this algorithm yields faster learning rates than several other heuristic training schedules, and provides insight into the factors that might affect the learning process.


Background: Diabetes targets micro and macrovascular endothelium differently leading to vascular complications. Although there are extensive studies on retinal and coronary neovascularization, little is known about cerebral neovascularization. Growing evidence suggests that reactive oxygen and nitrogen species such as peroxynitrite can interact in growth factor signaling and mediate VEGF's angiogenic properties. This study tests the hypothesis that diabetes stimulates cerebral angiogenesis via activation of VEGF and matrix metalloproteases (MMP) in a peroxynitrite-dependent manner. Methods: Cerebral microvascular endothelial cells (CMEC) were isolated using immunomagnetic beads from control and diabetic Goto-Kakizaki (GK) rats. Cell proliferation, migration and tube formation assays were used as the indices of angiogenic potential. Protein expression and activity were determined using immunoblotting, slot blots and zymography techniques. Results: Angiogenic potential was pronounced in the diabetic group and significantly inhibited by peroxynitrite decomposition catalyst FeTPPS (2.5µM), MMP inhibitor minocycline (50µg/ml) and src kinase inhibitor PP2(1µM) compared to control. Diabetic endothelial conditioned media pronounced angiogenic potential in control CMEC while VEGF neutralizing antibody abrogated this response. Diabetes increased the expression of soluble VEGF A isoforms and activity of cognate receptors. Basal levels of phospho-c-src and peroxynitrite were also increased in the diabetic group. Secreted active MMP-2 and pro-MMP-2 was lower in diabetes while the cellular active MMP-2 and MT1-MMP was higher compared to control. VEGF (30ng/ML) stimulation activated its cognate receptor biophysically, dysregulated c-src activity and increased tyrosine nitration in diabetes. Peroxynitrite inhibition reduced VEGFR2, phosphor-c-src and MT1-MMP even in the presence of VEGF stimulation. Conclusion: Peroxynitrite interacts with VEGF signaling in diabetes and dysregulates c-src and MMPs. Understanding cerebral neovascularization mechanisms will not only open new paths towards developing therapeutic angiogenesis but also prevention of hemorrhagic complications of stroke. N=3-8 * p≤ 0.05, ** p≤ 0.005, *** p≤ 0.001.


Underground storage tank waste sludge from nuclear fuel processes is difficult to analyze because of the extreme heterogeneity, chemical reactivity, and radioactivity of the waste. Conventional methods of analysis typically require extensive sample handling procedures either to thin the sample or to separate components prior to analysis. These procedures are time consuming, require radiation containment cells, and increase the risk of radiation exposure to lab personnel as a result of the extensive handling. In this paper a method utilizing Fourier transform infrared photoacoustic spectroscopy to analyze hazardous underground storage tank waste with a minimal amount of sample and sample handling is discussed. The method was developed with the use of waste tank simulants that were obtained from the Westinghouse Hanford Company. Emphasis was placed on the determination of disodium nickel ferrocyanide, sodium nitrate, and sodium nitrite because of the concern for the potential of exothermic reactions occurring between oxidizers and ferrocyanide-containing compounds. This method also allows for the analysis of other ions of interest in waste processes such as sodium sulfate. A simple sample preparation method is also discussed which uses freeze drying to remove water from the simulants while maintaining a uniform sample for analysis.


The ever increasing complexity of networks dramatically increases the challenges faced by service providers to analyze network behavior and (re)provision resources to support multiple complex distributed applications. Accurate and scalable simulation tools are pivotal to this cause. The recently proposed hybrid systems model for data communication networks shows promise in achieving performance characteristics comparable to fluid models while retaining the accuracy of discrete models. Using the hybrid systems paradigm, this paper provides contributions to the modeling of TCP behavior and the analysis/simulation of data communication networks based on these models. An important distinguishing feature of our simulation framework is a faithful accounting of link propagation delays which has been ignored in previous work for the sake of simplicity. Other salient aspects of the work include a new finite state machine model for a drop-tail queue, a new model for fast recovery/fast retransmit mode, a revised sending rate model, and an embedded time-out mode transition mechanism all of which employ a time-stepped solution method to solve the hybrid system network models. Our simulation results are consistent with well-known packet based simulators such as ns-2, thus demonstrating the accuracy of our hybrid model. Our future efforts will be directed towards studying and improving the computational performance of hybrid model based simulations.


Due to increasing demand of fresh water; water resource management is undergoing a major paradigm shift because of limited resources of water. In 2015, water scarcity was mentioned as largest global risk by World Economic Forum. If water resources are not managed properly, about 30% to 40% of world population will be affected from shortage of water by 2020. In recent years certain cities/states of Spain, Australia, Israel, Cape town, even USA had faced scarcity of water. The same problem is expected to be faced by Pakistan by 2025. An Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) approach is required to resolves this serious issue. IWRM focuses on protection of available water resources and exploration & development of alternative water resources. This paper describes Reverse Osmosis of sea water as an alternative water resource. One of major issues in introducing Reverse osmosis plant in Pakistan is cost overruns. Financial analysis of power consumption for plant along with membrane construction and maintenance make its installation very difficult even impossible for developing countries like Pakistan. A method for installation of reverse osmosis plant by economizing power factor to reduce process cost has been developed. For this purpose, electricity is generated by introducing wind turbines and solar panels along the coastal belt of Pakistan. This reduced fresh water production cost to 0.069 rupees per gallon along with electricity supply to Karachi at a production cost of 0.28 rupees per watt (1 PKR=0.0081 USD).


Recent studies have underscored questions about the balance of risk and benefit of RBC transfusion. A better understanding of the nature and timing of molecular and functional changes in stored RBCs may provide strategies to improve the balance of benefit and risk of RBC transfusion. We analyzed changes occurring during RBC storage focusing on RBC deformability, RBC-dependent vasoregulatory function, and S-nitrosohemoglobin (SNO-Hb), through which hemoglobin (Hb) O2 desaturation is coupled to regional increases in blood flow in vivo (hypoxic vasodilation). Five hundred ml of blood from each of 15 healthy volunteers was processed into leukofiltered, additive solution 3-exposed RBCs and stored at 1–6°C according to AABB standards. Blood was subjected to 26 assays at 0, 3, 8, 24 and 96 h, and at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 weeks. RBC SNO-Hb decreased rapidly (1.2 × 10−4 at 3 h vs. 6.5 × 10−4 (fresh) mol S-nitrosothiol (SNO)/mol Hb tetramer (P = 0.032, mercuric-displaced photolysis-chemiluminescence assay), and remained low over the 42-day period. The decline was corroborated by using the carbon monoxide-saturated copper-cysteine assay [3.0 × 10−5 at 3 h vs. 9.0 × 10−5 (fresh) mol SNO/mol Hb]. In parallel, vasodilation by stored RBCs was significantly depressed. RBC deformability assayed at a physiological shear stress decreased gradually over the 42-day period (P < 0.001). Time courses vary for several storage-induced defects that might account for recent observations linking blood transfusion with adverse outcomes. Of clinical concern is that SNO levels, and their physiological correlate, RBC-dependent vasodilation, become depressed soon after collection, suggesting that even "fresh" blood may have developed adverse biological characteristics.


The gene networks that comprise the circadian clock modulate biological function across a range of scales, from gene expression to performance and adaptive behavior. In recent years, computational models of these networks based on differential equations have become useful tools for quantifying the complex regulatory relationships underlying the clock's oscillatory dynamics. However, optimizing the large parameter sets characteristic of these models places intense demands on both computational and experimental resources, limiting the scope of in silico studies. Here, we present an approach based on Boolean logic that dramatically reduces the parameterization, making the state and parameter spaces finite and tractable. Through the construction of Boolean models fitted to both synthetic and experimental time courses, we show that logic models can reproduce the complex responses to environmental inputs generated by more detailed differential equation formulations. In particular, our work demonstrates that logic models have sufficient predictive power to identify optimal regulatory structures from experimental data. We suggest that the capacity of logic models to provide a computationally efficient representation of system behavior could facilitate the reverse-engineering of large-scale biochemical networks, including circuits characterized by steady state dynamics.


Aims: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of intensive endurance training on 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase (OGG1) and 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) levels in liver and brain of rats.
Materials & Methods: 16 adult Wistar albino rats were randomly divided into sedentary control and endurance exercise training groups. Animals ran on treadmill for 6 weeks, 6 days a week, at at a speed of 10 m/min (85 percent of maximal oxygen consumption). The content of OGG1 and 8-OHdG were measured using sandwich ELISA assay. Data analyzed using Student's T-test at P≤0.05 level.
Findings: our results showed that intensive endurance training has no significant effect on 8-OHdG contents in liver (t14=1.09, p=0.29) and brain (t14=0.93, p=0.36) of rats. However, contents of OGG1 in liver (t14=5.84, p=0.001) and brain (t14=4.09, p=0.001) of rats significantly increases following intensive endurance training. Finally, there were no significantly differences between changes in contents of 8-OHdG (t14=0.44, p=0.66) and OGG1 (t14=1.72, p=0.10) in liver and brain of rats following endurance training.
Conclusion: intensive endurance training maintains 8-OHdG genomic damage in baseline level in liver and brain of rats by increasing contents of OGG1.


Previous reports have demonstrated that natural killer (NK) cells are capable of inhibiting the growth of Cryptococcus neoformans in vitro, and recent studies indicate that adoptively transferred NK cell-enriched spleen cell populations enhance clearance of cryptococci from the tissues of cyclophosphamide-pretreated recipients. The primary objective of these studies was to confirm that NK cells participate in early clearance of C. neoformans in vivo. Secondarily, the anti-cryptococcal activities of polymorphonuclear leukocytes and macrophages were examined. Seven-week-old C57BL/6 bg/+ mice, which have normal levels of NK cell activity, were compared with their bg/bg littermates, which have impaired NK cell function. One and 3 days after injecting both groups of mice i.v. with 2 X 10(4) cryptococci, we assessed the NK cell activities in spleens, lungs, and livers and clearance of the organism from corresponding tissues as determined by the mean log10 numbers of cryptococcal colony-forming units (CFU) per organ. Three days postinfection, the mean numbers of cryptococcal CFU in lungs and spleens of bg/+ mice were significantly lower than in the corresponding organs of bg/bg mice. NK cell activities in spleens and lungs of bg/+ mice were significantly higher than were the NK cell activities in similar cell populations from bg/bg mice. In contrast, the mean numbers of cryptococcal CFU in livers of the two groups of animals were nearly equivalent, a situation not unexpected, since liver NK cell activities were extremely low and similar in both groups of animals. Although these data indicated a correlation between early clearance of cryptococci from tissues and levels of NK cell activities in the corresponding tissues, it was also possible that differences in phagocytic cell function between the bg/+ and bg/bg animals could account for the observed differences in clearance of cryptococci from the tissues. Therefore, phagocytic cells from the two groups of animals were compared with respect to their abilities to phagocytize and inhibit the growth of cryptococci and to their abilities to respond to chemotactic stimuli in vivo. Peritoneal PMNL from bg/+ and bg/bg mice were similar in their abilities to phagocytize and inhibit the growth of cryptococci, as well as in their chemotactic responses to viable cryptococci or sodium caseinate. In addition, there were no differences in splenic macrophage functions between the two groups of mice.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


Steering movements of the abdomen and the terminal appendages, the uropods, of the rock lobster Jasus lalandii have been examined during slow postural responses and during tail-flips using a combination of movement and force measurements and by monitoring muscle activity. Gentle mechanical stimulation on one side of the animal elicits a postural steering response of the uropods. The activities of the individual uropod muscles that underlie these movements have been determined

Progressively intense mechanical stimuli initiate tail-flips, which may incorporate steering responses dependent upon the position of the stimulus. Symmetrical stimuli cause both uropods to open and close symmetrically and only a longitudinally directed force to be produced. However, stimuli delivered to only one side elicit asymmetrical movements of the uropods and rotation of the abdomen to the stimulated side during the preflexion phase of the tail-flip. The pattern of activity in the uropod muscles during this preflexion phase is the same as that in the postural steering response. During flexion itself, the uropods open to their full extent while the abdomen rotates further to the stimulated side. As a result of these movements, appropriate steering forces are produced to take the animal away from the point of stimulation. During re-extension, the uropods close and the abdomen re-extends

These results are discussed in terms of the relationship between postural reactions and the preflexion phase of the tail-flip, the relative contribution of the different abdominal motor systems to tail-flip steering and the occurrence of steering in different forms of the tail-flip


Plenty of studies on wear mechanism of diamond grains show that the specific failure form of single diamond grit has a close relationship with its load. Monolayer diamond grinding wheels and samples for shearing test are prepared by a high frequency induction brazing technique in this paper. The normal abrasion mechanism of diamond grains has been found through the comparison between the single grain tangential load during grinding and the shearing failure-load of the single grit of the test samples. The result shows that the dynamic strength of diamond grains is relative to the static strength after being brazed. Most of the grains are micro-broken during grinding, and only a few of them are pulled-out or broken-off.


The preferred method of communication amongst Deaf people is that of sign language. There are problems with the video quality when using the real-time video communication available on mobile phones. The alternative is to use text-based communication on mobile phones, however findings from other research studies show that Deaf people prefer using sign language to communicate with each other rather than text. This dissertation looks at implementing a gesture-based interface for an asynchronous video communication for Deaf people. The gesture interface was implemented on a store and forward video architecture since this preserves the video quality even when there is low bandwidth.

In this dissertation three gesture-based video communication prototypes were designed and implemented using a user centred design approach. These prototypes were implemented on both the computer and mobile devices. The first prototype was computer based and the evaluation of this prototype showed that the gesture based interface improved the usability of sign language video communication. The second prototype is set up on the mobile device and it was tested on several mobile devices but the device limitation made it impossible to support all the features needed in the video communication. The different problems experienced on the dissimilar devices made the task of implementing the prototypes on the mobile platform challenging. The prototype was revised several times before it was tested on a different mobile phone.

The final prototype used both the mobile phone and the computer. The computer served to simulate a mobile device with greater processing power. This approach simulated a more powerful future mobile device capable of running the gesture-based interface. The computer was used for video processing but to the user it was as if the whole system was running on the mobile phone. The evaluation process was conducted with ten Deaf users in order to determine the efficiency and usability of the prototype. The results showed that the majority of the users were satisfied with the quality of the video communication. The evaluation also revealed usability problems but the benefits of communicating in sign language outweighed the usability difficulties. Furthermore the users were more interested in the video communication on the mobile devices than on the computer as this was a much more familiar technology and offered the convenience of mobility.


This paper presents an improved adaptive-neighborhood-contrast-enhancement (ANCE) method for the improvement of medical image quality. The ANCE method consists of computing the local contrast around each pixel using a variable neighborhood whose size depends on the statistical properties around the given pixel. The obtained contrast image is then transformed into a new contrast image using a contrast enhancement function. Finally, a contrast-enhanced image is obtained by applying inverse contrast transform to the previous step. This technique provides the advantages of enhancing or preserving image contrast while suppressing noise. However, it does have a drawback. The performance of the ANCE method largely depends on how to determine the parameters used in the processing steps. The present study proposes a novel method for optimal and automatic determination of several parameters using entropy. To quantitatively compare the performance of the proposed method with that of the ANCE method, computer-simulated images are generated. The output-to-input SNR level and the mean squared error are used as comparison criteria. Results demonstrated the superiority of the proposed method. Moreover, we have applied our new algorithm to echocardiograms and mammograms. Our results showed that the proposed method has the potential to become useful for improving the image quality of medical images.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess differences in banking service quality (BSQ) perceptions across demographic subgroups of Islamic and conventional Jordanian banking consumers.

Design/methodology/approach

Data are collected using surveys. The survey contains items for three different measures of overall BSQ perceptions. The researchers mailed surveys to a random sample of 2,000 banking customers in Jordan. Responses to questionnaire items measuring respondents' BSQ perceptions were analysed using one-way analysis of variance with Tukey's honest significant difference post hoc tests to assess subgroup differences in six demographic variables: gender, age, occupation, income, education, and religion.

Findings

BSQ perceptions are significantly different in four of the six demographic variables. Age and education do not impact on BSQ perceptions.

Research limitations/implications

The findings indicate demographic effects on Jordanian banking consumers' perceived BSQ. Study limitations include demographic subgroup underrepresentation and survey structure. Future research should obtain a more representative sample for better generalisability.

Practical implications

The findings suggest that Jordanian banks should structure their services to best accommodate their customers' demographics. In addition, banks can use the findings to guide the development of demographic-driven marketing to target and attract customers efficiently.

Originality/value

This study is the first to investigate demographic differences in the perceived service quality of Jordan's Islamic and conventional banking customers. The findings can contribute to future research on BSQ, and guide Jordan's banking management towards more effective marketing and service provision.


This thesis presents a study of language learning strategy use in a working ESL listening curriculum that incorporates explicit strategy training. The main goal of this study was to investigate listening strategy use in a regular classroom setting as opposed to a controlled experiment. Thus, strategy training was not prescribed as a treatment for experimental purposes, but rather already existed as part of the normal classroom routine. Specifically, this study sought to answer: 1) whether students would use those strategies they learned about; 2) whether there would be a difference in frequency of strategy use between authentic texts and those created specifically for language instruction; 3) whether those who typically use strategies would perceive them to be easier than those who didn't; and 4) whether those who typically use strategies would perform better on listening comprehension exercises. Participants were those students who the host institution placed in two sections of its high-intermediate ESL listening course, and as such constituted a naturally occurring classroom group. Data on learning strategy use was elicited through written retrospective reports students wrote in six three-question surveys that accompanied classroom listening exercises. Key findings were that learners do not consistently report that they use those strategies for which they receive explicit training; learners do not report the use of social and affective strategies; students report significantly less strategy use on authentic exercises than they do on exercises from the course materials; those who typically use strategies found exercises to be easier, overall, than those who didn't typically use them; and that there was no reliable relationship between strategy use and performance on multiple choice comprehension questions. The study confirms Donato & McCormick's (1994) claim that instruction in "encapsulated" strategies will not necessarily lead to strategy use and concludes that literature on language learning strategies tends to neglect the external variables such as input complexity and social context that inherently exist in a natural classroom language learning setting.


Do injurers' insolvency and victims' reluctance to sue affect accident prevention in the same way? Are these circumstances less of a problem under the negligence rule than under strict liability? We argue, contrary to the literature, that the answer is, in most cases, negative and make three main points. First, the judgment proof problem and the disappearing defendant problem are shown to have different effects on injurers' behavior and hence yield dissimilar levels of social welfare. Second, when these two problems occur simultaneously they may have offsetting effects. Third, the negligence rule is superior to strict liability only under some conditions, which are not always satisfied when cause in fact is considered. In this case, we find that social welfare under negligence may actually be less than, the same as, or greater than under strict liability. Our model encompasses different precaution technologies as well as monetary vs. non-monetary precautions. DISAPPEARING DEFENDANTS V. JUDGMENT PROOF INJURERS: UPGRADING THE THEORY OF TORT LAW FAILURES Giuseppe DARI-MATTIACCI a, b* , Barbara M. MANGAN c a Universiteit van Amsterdam, ACLE, Roetersstraat 11, 1018WB Amsterdam, The Netherlands b George Mason University School of Law, 3301 Fairfax Drive, Arlington, Virginia 22201, USA c Utrecht School of Economics, Vredenburg 138, 3511 BG Utrecht, The Netherlands


Transmission congestion is one of the most challenging issues in operation of deregulated electricity markets of today. This study investigates into benefit of unified power flow controller (UPFC) as a viable solution to the problem of congestion management. A comprehensive load flow model for the UPFC is presented which has the capability to control active and reactive powers and voltage magnitude simultaneously. This study discusses about two different approaches for determination of suitable location of UPFC. One of them is sensitivity-based approach and the other is pricing-based method. Reduction in total system losses has been taken as objective in sensitivity-based approach. Furthermore, sensitivity of total system losses with respect to control parameters of UPFC have been evaluated using two different methods. A pricing-based approach which makes use of locational marginal price difference and congestion rent for determination of suitable location of UPFC. Minimisation of cost of rescheduling subjected to system operating constraints is the objective to be met for congestion management. Interior point method, a mathematical tool for non-linear optimisation, is used to obtain the solution of above-mentioned problem.


We performed spin-polarized scanning tunneling spectroscopy on biatomic-layer-high Co nanoislands grown on Cu(111) in magnetic fields oriented normal to the sample surface, with Fe-coated W tips. Increasing the temperature from 10 to 30 K, we observe a reduced slope of the differential conductance around zero field. A quantitative analysis of the field- and temperature-dependent differential conductance data in the framework of superparamagnetism as described by a Langevin function gives an excellent description of the experimental results. The analysis suggests that a Fe nano-apex at the W tip, which is composed of 220-300 Fe atoms, determines the magnetic response of the tip.


Diabetic retinopathy is an eye disease or condition that can cause vision and blindness in people who have diabetes. It also effects the blood vessels in the retina the sensitivities layer of tissue in the eyes. Diabetic patient needs to get eye check up at least once in year. At early stages diabetic retinopathy may not have any symptoms but finding it in the early stages can protect from the loss of vision. Diabetics ca n be controlled by staying physically active, eating healthy, taking medication regularly.


ABSTRACT Background Pregnant women frequently report inconsistent messages regarding alcohol consumption from their healthcare providers. Midwives play a major role in prenatal care. However, little research has examined alcohol-related information provided by midwives. Objective To examine alcohol-related messages disseminated to pregnant women by midwives. Methods In 2018, 61 certified professional midwives (CPMs) and certified nurse-midwives (CNMs) were recruited from professional organizations in a southwestern state. Midwives responded to an online cross-sectional survey containing the prompt: "A pregnant patient confides in you that she drinks alcohol. She then asks you to tell her a "safe" level of alcohol consumption that won't cause harm to her unborn fetus. How would you respond?" Open-ended responses were analyzed through content analysis and categorized using an inductive approach. Results Responses were grouped into five non-exclusive themes: "harmful effects and unknown safe limits" (77.0%); "abstaining is best" (50.8%); "light drinking is acceptable" (16.4%); "describe your drinking" (21.3%); "I will refer you" (16.4%). The most frequently shared messages were "safe levels of prenatal alcohol use are unknown" (68.9%) and "discontinue alcohol during pregnancy" (45.9%). However, some messages contradicted US dietary guidelines, including "a little bit of alcohol unlikely to cause harm" (11.5%); "cut-down if having more than 1–2 drinks per occasion" (4.9%); and "if you must drink, wine is best" (1.6%). CPMs were less likely to share abstinence messages (p = .003) and more likely to suggest referrals (p = .024), compared to CNMs. Conclusion Concerted efforts are needed to ensure information disseminated aligns with health guidelines and encourages abstinence during pregnancy.


Germany's 1990 reunification necessitated highway connections between an underdeveloped region and a western country. The 2009/2013 German Autobahn highway A38 completion/additions alleviated congestion, enhanced connectivity, and increased pollution/noise. Using German residential real estate price data spanning 2007-2017, we find shorter drive times to the A38 raised prices; and direct proximity lowered prices. Our results exceed connectivity estimates of a German local roads study and some Western European highway studies, due to A38 newly linking the east/west of Germany. Our highway estimates are in the mid-range of German transit studies, implying German transit may impact real estate prices more than highways.


Many governments across the world put into practice different policies of subsidies to achieve goals of economic progress in spite of economic theory's arguments, which claims that subsidies hamper the efficient allocation of resources. But if a government decides to implement such policy, what type of subsidy has a higher impact on the economic growth? This paper examines the issue constructing a system dynamics model in which the effects of two types of direct subsidies are analysed: production and research and development subsidies. The model is based on feedback processes, non-linear relationships and delays that explain the decisions taken by different economic agents in a generic economy regarding physical capital accumulation, technological development and size of an intermediate sector. Using a system dynamics simulation the conditions under what either the use of each subsidy separately or a certain combination between them have a higher impact on the development of the economy are characterized.


Mindfulness meditation has become increasing popular in the Western world the last few decades. Although the research in the area of mindfulness is just beginning, many studies report positive benefits to individuals who learn this type of meditation. This study compares the perceived stress levels of college students who report common characteristics of individuals who practice mindfulness meditation against college students who do not report those common characteristics of mindfulness. The student's level of mindfulness was measured using the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire while the Measurement of Stressful Life Events was used to determine the student's perceived stress levels to recent events. Results showed that mindfulness is inversely correlated with current stress levels for recent life events. In addition, meditation experience was also found to be inversely correlated with current stress levels for recent life events. Finally, the results indicated a gender difference with respect to mindfulness but not a gender difference with respect to stress. Specifically, males scored higher than females in mindfulness but males and females reported similar levels of stress. There is still much to learn about mindfulness and stress. This study serves as a small part of the many studies being conducted to better understand these variables and their relationship to one another.


The objective of this study was to elucidate anatomic and morphological features of the dental system in several ethnic groups comprising Dagestan population (Laks, Avars, Dargins) and the population of Armenia (Armenians) for the establishment of their ethno-racial identity. Clinical, morphometric, and X-ray studies were conducted; the data obtained were treated statistically. It was demonstrated that the ethnic and racial identity of the population groups of Dagestan and Armenia included in the study can be determined based on selected characteristics of their dentoalveolar system. Moreover, these characteristics may be of some use for personality identification.


The project assessed the tourism potential of inland pastoral properties recently acquired by the Department of Conservation and Land Management (now DEC, Department of Environment and Conservation) in the Murchison and Gascoyne regions of Western Australia. An inventory of natural and cultural tourism assets was compiled through desktop research and discussions with interest groups in the region. The report also includes perspectives on how the properties may afford a range of values both to DEC and the public good. The results of this project will help in the formulation of management approaches to tourism development on the DEC properties. The project will also facilitate development and strengthening of collaborative relationships between various tourism interest groups in the region.


ABSTRACT As most other EU countries, Hungary implemented severe lockdown measures during the pandemic, including the closure of the schools and childcare facilities. This meant that for several months a vastly increased volume of childcare had to be supplied by individual households without much institutional help. In the end of May 2020, we conducted a representative survey in Hungary to find out how the pandemic affected the gendered division of these childcare duties. We found that on average, in relative terms, men have increased their contributions at roughly the same rate (by 35 percent) as women. But given that women had been doing a lot more childcare work before the pandemic, in absolute terms, women's contributions grew significantly more than men's and the gap between men and women has increased in absolute work hour terms. This was particularly so among a specific group of women: middle class, highly educated city-dwellers. Our data suggest that in Hungary the pandemic increased gender inequality the most among the highest educated.


In recent years stable internal fixation of hand fractures has become more commonly used though the majority of fractures of the hand bones are still treated successfully by other orthopedic means. We feel that in selected fractures internal fixation achieves better results than conservative treatment. Operative methods with less traumatic skin incisions for the fixation of multiple metacarpal fractures are proposed. A retrograde screw fixation technique is presented which permitts application of compression in very small bone fragments, which risk to be crashed by standard screwing. Results of 60 internal fixations of carpometacarpal fractures of the first metacarpal are reported. Follow-up examination of 41 patients between 1-7 years following surgery, revealed posttraumatic arthritis only in 3 joints, although remaining small articular irregularities were frequently seen on X-ray. Secondary angulation occured in four cases in spite fixation. This was due to poor cortical fixation on the palmar side of the fracture, thus in such cases temporary plaster cast should entirely be applied.


We study transient drop deformation in dilute emulsions for large values of the capillary number Ca. We consider steady planar linear flows characterized by the dimensionless vorticity '. For drop-to-matrix viscosity ratios I < 1, we find that the drops are strongly elongated by the extensional component of the flow and widen along the vorticity direction because of the compressional component, thus assuming flat lamellar configurations and leading to remarkable interfacial area generation. We investigate the lamellar morphology using adaptive boundaryintegral simulations 1,2 and video microscopy. 3,4 We find agreement between the experiments and the simulations. The extent of drop widening and interfacial area generation is strongly reduced by a small but finite interfacial tension. Widening occurs only above a minimum capillary number, which increases with the viscosity ratio I and the vorticity '. The persistence of lamellar configurations is examined. As drops lengthen and flatten, local capillarity associated with high surface curvatures eventually becomes effective, and widening disappears. The development of a lamellar microstructure is thus a transitory phenomenon at finite capillary numbers: flattened drops evolve into slender cylindrical threads of fluid that finally break up.


Three tolerant (Guarani, Guapore e IAC 25) and three sensitive (CNA 5600, CNA 5615 e IAC 899) genotypes of rice (Oryza sativa L.) and their respective F1 crosses, obtained in a diallel cross system not accounting the reciprocal crosses, were evaluated to study the inheritance of toxicity aluminum (Al) tolerance. The Al concentration in nutritive solution was 20 mg/L. The results showed that the inheritance is oligogenic with the tolerance determined by the dominant alleles. The parents Guarani, Guapore and IAC 25 showed greater dominant allele concentration and CNA 5600, CNA 5615 and IAC 899 more recessive alleles.


Antenatal education classes are a popular source of learning and support related to labour, birth and early parenthood for pregnant women and their partners. Although in the UK National Health Service (NHS) classes are the most frequently attended, the National Childbirth Trust (NCT), a registered charity involved in political lobbying, teaching and support related to maternity issues, offers a widely available alternative. The involvement of male partners within NCT antenatal education has raised questions, addressed in this study, as to how the male pedagogic subject is produced, recognised and realised within the instructional practice of NCT teachers, and the purpose it serves.

Concepts drawn from Basil Bernstein's theory of the pedagogic device influenced an empirical investigation that involved observing participants at an NCT antenatal course, combined with interviewing three antenatal teachers and analysis of official texts. The analysis helped identify the distinctive voice of the NCT, which sits in opposition to the prevailing medical and technical childbirth discourse. Analysis of the interview and observation data revealed how teachers recontextualised this discourse, in line with their own views and affective influences, to produce individually unique pedagogies, which in turn were found to produce and regulate specific subject positions for men during childbirth and the early days of fatherhood. The men's recognition and realisation of subject positions was found to relate to the relationships and contexts produced by the pedagogy and their own affective coping strategies.

The study adds to existing understandings of the transition to fatherhood and the relationship between discourse, pedagogy and subjectivities, and it proposes emergent theory about potential affective influences during the recontextualisation of pedagogic discourse. The findings also contribute to the development and practice of antenatal education for men.


This guide is a one stop location for information related to the 2016 presidential election including how to register to vote, information on candidates, and more.


A critical aspect for pervasive computing is the possibility to discover and use process knowledge at run time depending on the specific context. This can be achieved by using an underlying service-based application and exploiting its features in terms of dynamic service discovery, selection, and composition. Pervasive process fragments represent a service-based tool that allows to model incomplete and contextual knowledge. We provide a solution to automatically compose such fragments into complete processes, according to a specific context and specific goals. We compute the solution by encoding process knowledge, domain knowledge and goals into an AI planning problem. We evaluate our approach on different scenarios stress testing the main characteristics of pervasive process fragments.


Aim of the study Explore the nature of fashion marketing and its role in creation of the store's atmosphere and effective product sales growth. In terms of the study in 2016 was carried out a survey of part-time students. 384 respondents were interviewed. Aim of the survey was to determine consumer preferences related to store atmosphere in Latvia. The responses are summarized in the following nine categories: comfort; the number of visitors and their nature; identified personnel; kind and friendly sellers; large trading hall; a positive presentation/design; sales equipment and stands; recommendations for the selection of products from the seller; minimalism. Given the fact that the social factor is decisive, service providers (sellers) must have deep knowledge of the implementation of existing products and be able to give each customer the appropriate consultation. Recognize the type of customer and successfully communicate. All this requires proper training.


INTRODUCTION
Abusive head trauma is a serious, often fatal condition; early identification is important to prevent repeat episodes and/or injuries to siblings. This case emphasizes the importance of a thorough workup in cases of suspected abusive head trauma.

CASE PRESENTATION
A 4-month-old infant was found to have a severe subdural hematoma requiring surgical evacuation. Initially, abusive head trauma was considered as a diagnosis. Testing revealed vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB) despite prophylactic vitamin K administration at birth. The infant eventually was diagnosed with progressive familial Iintrahepatic cholestasis type 2 (PFIC2).

DISCUSSION
Although VKDB is a known cause of infantile intracranial hemorrhage, PFIC has not been previously reported to cause severe VKDB resulting in an intracranial hemorrhage.

CONCLUSION
Our case illustrates the importance of a comprehensive systematic approach to investigate causes other than abusive head injury when intracranial bleeding is a significant finding.


This chapter seeks to examine shareholders' duties in case of State ownership and more specifically, in case of privatized companies, where the State remains a shareholder. State ownership in privatized companies raises several questions, but this chapter will examine whether States have any particular duties as shareholders. The focus of the contribution is on the EU dimension of the topic, and the chapter will discuss shareholders' duties in privatized companies at EU level, in the context of the golden shares' case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The main argument is that the State participating in the capital of a privatized company has a general duty to protect the public interest. This general duty to protect public interest will be scrutinized in the light of the golden shares' case law. Furthermore, the impact of other provisions of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU(TFEU) will be discussed.


The potential of the scarab seal is still neglected by many archaeologists. They are primarily considered for chronological purposes, and so their capacity as an historical document is under-rated, as is their value as an archaeological tool. Luckily, more recent studies are beginning to assess the archaeological and historical value of scarabs, and in particular design scarabs, revealing them as potential indicators of cultural interaction, and it is within this genre that the anra (identified always by a sequence of hieroglyphs which includes the letters n and r) scarab is considered in this extensive study. The aim of this work is to try and establish the status, function, meaning, and significance of the anra scarab, and possibly offer something new with regard to the nature of the relationships that existed between the countries of Africa and the Levant during the latter part of the Middle Bronze Age.


The HIV/AIDS Education Sector Policy in Kenya of the year 2006 advocates for effective teaching of HIV/AIDS issues in schools. Through the infusion of HIV/AIDS messages across the curriculum, it is expected that learners will acquire responsible sexual behaviour that will reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS. In the year 2007, Kangundo division had HIV/AIDS prevalence rate of 8.4%. HIV/AIDS education therefore can benefit school going adolescents in the division. This study investigated students' sexual behavior after the introduction of HIV/AIDS education in public secondary schools in Kangundo division. The research design used was ex post facto. The target population was 19 public secondary schools in the division. The researchers randomly selected 80 teachers and 160 students from 18 public secondary schools in the division to participate in the study. Questionnaires were used to collect data from the teachers and students. The findings of the study revealed that majority of the students were engaging in irresponsible sexual behaviour and drug abuse even after the introduction of the HIV/AIDS education in schools. This made students vulnerable to HIV/AIDS infection. Students were also possible active agents of HIV/AIDS transmission. The study recommended that HIV/AIDS education in schools should be improved and sustained. There is also need to make serious appeal to the students to change their sexual behaviour through the media, community based organizations, the church and the family unit. Stakeholders in the education sector should collaborate to deal with drug and substance abuse in schools. Key terms: HIV/AIDS, Students, Sexual behaviour, Drug and substance abuse


The Surgical Technology program at Lanier Technical College is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs.


Our goal was to establish electrophysiological features of critical illness polyneuropathy in children with infectious diseases. Materials and Methods: We evaluated peripheral nervous system involvement in 67 critically ill children, admitted in ICU with different types of infectious diseases (viral encephalitis, meningoencephalitis, meningitis, acute gastroenteritis). Age of the group varied from 4 months to 17 years. All patients underwent conduction studies and neurological investigation. Sensory and motor fibers of n. ulnaris et n. medianus, motor fibers of n. Tibialis and sensory fibers of n. Suralis were tested. Lowering of the amplitudes, conduction velocity slowing and asymmetry were accounted for the motor and sensory fibers. Results: In 47 cases (n=71) diagnosis of critical illness polyneuropathy (CIP) was established. Lesions mostly involved lower limbs nerves. According to our data, severe course of CIP was seen in 40% of all cases. Average time of CIP onset in children was 5-7 days from the beginning of mechanical ventilation. Conclusions: Critical illness polyneuropathy in children with infectious diseases is a severe condition which may lead to the disability of the patients. Average time of its onset is the 5-7 days from the beginning of the mechanical ventilation in 71% of the patients. More often sensory and motor fibers of lower limbs nerves are affected. Conduction studies is a valuable tool in diagnostic process in establishing the critical illness polyneuropathy in children with infectious diseases. Keywords: Critical illness, critical illness polyneuropathy, children, electromyography.


Objective To determine imaging features that may separate adamantinomatous and papillary variants of craniopharyngiomas given that tumors with adamantinomatous signature features are associated with higher recurrence rates, morbidity, and mortality. We specifically reviewed calcification on CT, T1 bright signal intensity, and cystic change on T2 weighted images for differentiating these two types. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the MRI and CT studies in 38 consecutive patients with pathologically proven craniopharyngiomas between January 2004 and February 2014 for the presence of calcification on CT scans, bright signal intensity on T1 weighted images, and cystic change on T2 weighted images. Results Of the 38 craniopharyngiomas, 30 were adamantinomatous type and 8 were papillary type. On CT scans, calcification was present in 25 of 38 tumors. All calcified tumors were adamantinomatous type. Twenty four of 38 tumors had bright signal intensity on T1 weighted images. Of these 24 tumors, 22 (91.7%) were adamantinomatous and 2 were papillary type. Cystic change on T2 weighted images was noted in 37 of 38 tumors; only 1 tumor with papillary type did not show cystic change. Conclusion T1 bright signal intensity and calcification on CT scans uniformly favor the adamantinomatous type over papillary type of craniopharyngioma in children. However, these findings are more variable in adults where calcification and T1 bright signal intensity occur in 70.6% and 58.8% respectively of adult adamantinomatous types of craniopharyngiomas.


Variation in the regenerative capacity of damaged skeletal muscle between different strains of mice has been well documented but no precise quantitative method has been established to measure directly the phenotypic influences on muscle regeneration. We have developed such a method which allows clear distinction between the regenerative responses in Quackenbush and BALB/c mice. To quantitate regeneration, crushed tibialis anterior muscles taken from Quackenbush, BALB/c and F2 offspring 10 d postinjury were analysed morphometrically by light microscopy. Myotubes in the intermediate crush zone of transverse muscle sections were abundant in Quackenbush but sparse in BALB/c mice. In F2 offspring, regeneration responses reflected those of the parental strains, with no intermediate phenotypes. Statistical analyses indicated a high level of precision and accuracy in the determination of significant differences between regeneration in the different strains and in the F2 offspring. The data presented indicate that this method of quantification of skeletal muscle regeneration may be used for studies on the assessment of the genetic basis for phenotypic variation.


We conduct a meta-analysis (MA) of around 100 studies valuing nature conservation in Asia and Oceania. Dividing our dataset into two levels of heterogeneity in terms of good characteristics (endangered species vs. nature conservation more generally) and valuation methods, we show that the degree of regularity and conformity with theory and empirical expectations is higher for the more homogenous dataset of contingent valuation of endangered species. For example, we find that willingness to pay (WTP) for preservation of mammals tends to be higher than other species and that WTP for species preservation increases with income. Increasing the degree of heterogeneity in the valuation data, however, preserves much of the regularity, and the explanatory power of some of our models is in the range of other MA studies of goods typically assumed to be more homogenous (such as water quality). Subjecting our best MA models to a simple test forecasting values for out-of-sample observations, shows median (mean) forecasting errors of 24 (46) percent for endangered species and 46 (89) percent for nature conservation more generally, approaching levels that may be acceptable in benefit transfer for policy use. We recommend that the most prudent MA practice is to control for heterogeneity in regressions and sensitivity analysis, rather than to limit datasets by non-transparent criteria to a level of heterogeneity deemed acceptable to the individual analyst. However, the trade-off will always be present and the issue of acceptable level of heterogeneity in MA is far from settled


Individuals with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome share many symptoms with those who have chronic fatigue syndrome; one of which is severe fatigue. Previous literature found that those with chronic fatigue syndrome experience many forms of fatigue. The goal of this study was to investigate whether individuals with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome also experience multidimensional fatigue and whether these individuals can be clustered into subgroups based on the types of fatigue they endorse. A convenience sample of 138 participants (aged 14–29) with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome completed questionnaires that assessed fatigue, brain fog symptom severity, activities that improve brain fog, and brain fog-related disability. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted on the Fatigue Types Questionnaire, and a three-factor solution was produced. Factor scores were then used to cluster the patients into groups using a TwoStep cluster analysis. This resulted in two clusters, a high severity group and a low severity group. The clusters were then compared on a number of items related to symptom expression. Individuals within the more severe cluster had significantly more brain fog at the beginning and end of the survey when compared to cluster two. Those in the more severe cluster also described more activity impairment as well as more frequent, more severe, and more debilitation from postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome and brain fog. The findings of the factor analysis suggest that patients with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome experience fatigue as a multidimensional construct and they also can be subgrouped based on symptom severity.


Induction of quiescent BALB/c 3T3 murine fibroblasts by platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) or fibroblast growth factor (FGFs) is accompanied by induction of c-myc gene expression. To study the role of c-myc in cell growth, we transfected BALB/c 3T3 cells with a plasmid construct containing a glucocorticoid-inducible c-myc gene. When these transfected cells were growth arrested in PDGF-FGF-freedefined medium, glucocorticoid treatment induced S-phase DNA synthesis. This induction of DNA synthesis was inefficient, and cell proliferation was not evident, suggesting that growth factors act through stimulation of c-myc expression together with other intracellular events.


Mechanical ventilation is an effective life-support technique widely deployed across a variety of clinical settings in the care of many millions of patients each year worldwide. However, it is not a panacea. A central issue is that artificial ventilation works by pushing air into the lungs via positive pressure, whereas physiologic respiration works by generating negative pressure to draw air into the lungs. Pushing air into the lungs is a challenge because not all lung areas distend and collapse at the same driving pressure. Thus, a positive pressure breath may overstretch one lung area while failing to open another one, compromising gas exchange and causing direct mechanical injury to the lung (so-called ventilator-induced lung injury). Both the volume and pressure settings on a ventilator have been implicated in ventilator-induced lung injury, with tidal volumes that are too large implicated in overdistension and positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) settings that are too low implicated in alveolar collapse. Thus, current guidelines endorse a low tidal volume and a high or at least avoidance of low PEEP level. But, these "one size fits all" recommendations may not be optimal for all patients.


Looking at the current status of hardness standards, we occasionally come across the view that it is sufficient that hardness measurements can be matched somewhat forcibly to the hardness values of standard blocks. However, if the direct accuracy of a hardness tester and indenter and loading conditions are well managed and appropriate testing procedures are taken, the measurement of hardness should naturally agree with the value indicated on a standard block, and "hardness" should be an industrial quantity obtained in that way. Therefore, we should recognize anew the original purpose of a hardness standard block as a standard tool, such as the daily inspection (indirect verification) of a tester and/or whether testing practices are under proper management, as well as to make a comparison between testers and/or between indenters. From this standpoint, we, in the capacity of a dedicated test-block manufacturer, discuss the principles of hardness test methods, the uniformity, durability and trends of hardness standard blocks, and future hardness standards relative to the ISO standards, based on our past results from testing and experiments with a number of standard blocks.


A learning classifier system is one of the methods for applying a genetic-based approach to machine learning applications. An enhanced version of the system that employs the Bucket-brigade algorithm to reward individuals in a chain of co-operating rules is implemented and assigned the task of learning rules for classifying simple objects. The task is to classify an object that has one or more of the following features: wing, 2-legs/wheels, 3-legs/wheels, 4-legs/wheels, big, flies into one of the following: bird, vehicle. the main goal is to exploit the ability of the algorithm to perform well in a noisy environment and its ability to make little or no assumption about its problem domain. Results are presented which show that the system was able to learn rules for the task using only a few training examples and starting with classifiers that were randomly generated. It is argued that a classifier based learning method requires little training examples and that by its use of genetic algorithms to search for new plausible rules, the method should be able to cope with changing conditions. Results show also The parallel implementation of the algorithm would speed up the training process.


Prior to the 2017 tax reform (TCJA), with a few exceptions, the United States only taxed the foreign income of its domestic corporations when profits were distributed to its U.S. shareholders as dividends. Through this policy, the United States supported its domestic corporations' active overseas business operations by allowing equal economic competition with foreign entities without the additional burden of paying the U.S. income tax. However, corporations were able to use this ability to electively defer U.S. tax on foreign income as a tax planning technique, which, in part, contributed to the accumulation of large amounts of untaxed "offshore" earnings by U.S. multinational corporations. The U.S. Congress essentially terminated deferral and this tax planning technique when it enacted the current tax on global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI) as part of the TCJA. But GILTI is a formulaic calculation that taxes income regardless of the taxpayer's intent, use of profits, or the income's potential for aggressive tax planning. Although GILTI protects against the use of aggressive tax planning techniques, it compromises the tax policy goal of allowing U.S. corporations to compete in foreign jurisdictions unhindered by the U.S. income tax. In lieu of GILTI and the section 245A deduction, this Article proposes a new Subpart F inclusion for excessive unrepatriated earnings based on the concept of distributable net income. This proposal would be superior to the current GILTI regime because it would allow multinational corporations to use deferral for the beneficial goal of supporting foreign active business operations, but would prevent the use of deferral for tax planning purposes.


eScholarship provides open access, scholarly publishing services to the University of California and delivers a dynamic research platform to scholars worldwide. Abstract: Social facilitation describes the effect on performance due to the mere presence of others. Here we study the effect of the mere presence of an audience on the behavior of people involved in a strategic interaction and on the performance of institutions. In our laboratory experiment, two active participants play the game and receive payoffs determined by their choices, while inactive participants receive a share of this outcome. In our 2x2 design, bystanders may or not be physically present during play, and active and inactive participants may or not be immediately informed of the outcome of the game just played. We find significant differences in behavior across treatments: When bystanders are present, players are more likely to choose the strategy favorable to the audience. Withholding immediate feedback about play weakens this effect substantially, but not completely. These results suggest that social facilitation extends to strategic environments. Abstract Social facilitation describes the effect on performance due to the mere presence of others. Here we study the effect of the mere presence of an audience on the behavior of people involved in a strategic interaction and on the performance of institutions. In our laboratory experiment, two active participants play the game and receive payoffs determined by their choices, while inactive participants receive a share of this outcome. In our 2x2 design, bystanders may or not be physically present during play, and active and inactive participants may or not be immediately informed of the outcome of the game just played. We find significant differences in behavior across treatments: When bystanders are present, players are more likely to choose the strategy favorable to the audience. Withholding immediate feedback about play weakens this effect substantially, but not completely. These results suggest that social facilitation extends to strategic environments.


—We studied a Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) population at a large wind energy generation facility near Palm Springs, California over six field seasons from 1997 to 2010. We compared growth and demographic parameters to populations living in less disturbed areas; as well as populations of the closely-related and newly-described G. morafkai elsewhere in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. We marked 69 individuals of all size classes and estimated a population size of 96 tortoises, or about 15.4/km. Growth rates for males were lower than reported elsewhere, although maximum body size was larger. The smallest female with shelled eggs was 221 mm and males mature at over 200 mm. Mean male size was greater than that of females. The adult sex ratio was not significantly different from unity. Size frequency histograms were similar over time and when compared to most, but not all, G. morafkai populations in the Sonoran Desert. For a cohort of adult females, we estimated mortality at 8.4% annually due, in part, to site operations. This value was low in comparison to many other populations during the same time period. Other than possible differences in growth rate of males and the high survivorship of females, there appear to be few differences between this population and those in more natural areas. The high productivity of food plants at the site and its limited public access may contribute to the overall stability of the population. However, the effects of utility-scale renewable energy development on tortoises in other, less productive, areas are unknown. Additional research (especially controlled and replicated before and after studies) is urgently needed to address this deficiency because of forecasted expansion of utility-scale renewable energy development in the future.


"Signal specificity is achieved through highly-regulated molecular recognition. Arrestins, a small family of multi-functional adaptor proteins, mediate surprisingly complex cellular signaling events. To elicit the appropriate cellular response, arrestins have to ensure correct components are linked together to prevent the formation of mismatched protein complexes. It is now clear that arrestins undergo significant conformational movements in many regulating processes; however, previous studies of arrestin conformational changes are almost completely focused on receptor-induced conformational changes, and little is known about binding-induced conformations that allow arrestins to accomplish their diverse signaling functions. We hypothesize that binding-induced conformational changes play decisive roles in regulating the recruitment of binding partners. 19F NMR has proven to be a powerful technique in the study of protein structure and dynamics because the 19F nucleus is easily incorporated into protein through specific labeling. The chemical shift of 19F is extremely sensitive to changes in the local microenvironment caused by the conformational movements of protein, making it possible to analyze minor movements within a protein molecule. 19F NMR is performed by incorporating a fluorine label into the protein structure Fluorine labeling can be accomplished in a variety of ways. Here, we developed a 19F NMR-based method to detect conformational movements of arrestins by employing a thiol-based method to incorporate 19F to specific arrestin residues. We have observed the release of the C-tail in arrestin-3 upon binding of inositol hexaphosphate (IP6). The methods developed here can be employed to detect the conformational changes of arrestin with many other binding partners."


AIMS--To determine whether the polymerase chain reaction with sequence specific primers (PCR-SSP) can assign HLA-DR type more accurately than serology in a routine hospital laboratory. METHODS--The 93 patients currently awaiting kidney transplants have been DR typed by serology over the past 14 years, 82% within the past five years. They have now been retyped using the PCR-SSP method described by Bein et al. Where the two results differed, PCR-SSP was repeated, once by the same method and once using the primer set of Olerup and Zetterquist. RESULTS--There were 13 (14%) discrepancies between the results. Of these, two were PCR-SSP failures, later overcome: three were failure to detect DRB1*0103 by serology; five assignment of other alleles by PCR-SSP to serological "blanks"; and three alleles were differently assigned by serology and PCR. The serological typing of the final patient when repeated for this study was at variance with the original findings (14 years ago), but in agreement with PCR. In the remaining patients, serology had not determined the split of 36 DR3 alleles (all DR17 by PCR-SSP) or 13 DR6 alleles (12 DR13 and one DR14 by PCR-SSP). One patient in each case had their antigen splits of DR2 and DR5 assigned by PCR-SSP (DR15 and DR11, respectively) but not by serology. CONCLUSIONS--PCR-SSP provides more reliable and detailed information on HLA-DR polymorphism than serology, and does so within a routine tissue typing laboratory.