After decades of being seen as "farm wives," an increasing number of women in American agriculture are actively farming and claiming the "farmer" identity. Previous research has demonstrated that women farmers face unique challenges and that women in the alternative agriculture movement value different elements of agricultural work than their male counterparts. This ethnographic study of 11 women farmers in Iowa's alternative agriculture movement seeks to address how these women understand the relationship between their gender and their work. The majority of the women interviewed feel that their gender influences their general farming perspective, but significantly fewer believe their gender affects their approach to farm sustainability. Interviewees pointed to women's problem-solving skills, concerns with health and family, and intuitive relationships to the earth as ways in which their gender impacts their general farming perspective. Interviewees were more likely to indicate their education, coworkers, or participation in farm organizations as influential in shaping their farm's sustainability. In distinguishing between these two areas, women farmers selectively engage and reproduce culturally gendered traits when positioning themselves within alternative agriculture.


The two-volume set LNCS 6755 and LNCS 6756 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 38th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages and Programming, ICALP 2011, held in Zurich, Switzerland, in July 2011. The 114 revised full papers (68 papers for track A, 29 for track B, and 17 for track C) presented together with 4 invited talks, 3 best student papers, and 3 best papers were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 398 submissions. The papers are grouped in three major tracks on algorithms, complexity and games; on logic, semantics, automata, and theory of programming; as well as on foundations of networked computation: models, algorithms and information management


Objective: Whether all antihypertensive drugs are equally effective in patients with metabolic syndrome is still unclear. The goal of the Zofenopril in Advanced MEtabolic Syndrome (ZAMES) study was to investigate whether treatment with the fixed-dose combination of sulphydril-containing angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor zofenopril plus hydrochlorothiazide is at least as effective as that with the angiotensin receptor blocker irbesartan plus hydrochlorothiazide in patients with metabolic syndrome and essential hypertension, uncontrolled by a previous monotherapy. Methods: We enrolled 721 patients in a multicenter, international (Italy and Romania), randomized, double-blind, parallel group, phase III study. Following a 1-week screening withdrawal period, 482 patients (mean age 59 ± 10 years, 53% men) bearing a SBP at least 140 mmHg and/or DBP at least 90 mmHg plus metabolic syndrome (ATP-III criteria) were randomly allocated to a fixed-dose combination of zofenopril 30 mg plus hydrochlorothiazide 12.5 mg or irbesartan 150 mg plus hydrochlorothiazide 12.5 mg once daily for a cumulative period of 24 weeks. After 8 and 16 weeks, zofenopril and irbesartan doses were doubled in nonnormalized study participants. The study endpoint was the office DBP reduction at study end. In 20% of patients, an ambulatory blood pressure monitoring was performed. Results: The prevalence of diabetes at baseline was significantly (P < 0.05) greater in the zofenopril plus hydrochlorothiazide group (82%) than in the irbesartan plus hydrochlorothiazide (73%) group. Baseline-adjusted DBP reductions were superimposable (P = 0.370) with zofenopril plus hydrochlorothiazide [n = 231; 9.8 (95% confidence interval: 11.1, 8.4) mmHg] and irbesartan plus hydrochlorothiazide [n = 235; 10.4 (11.8, 9.0) mmHg]. The same was for SBP [17.0 (19.2, 14.8) mmHg zofenopril plus hydrochlorothiazide vs. 18.8 (21.0, 16.6) mmHg irbesartan plus hydrochlorothiazide, P = 0.113]. Rate of normalized and responder patients (SBP/DBP < 140/90 mmHg or SBP reduction more than 20 mmHg or DBP reduction more than 10 mmHg) did not differ at study end (65.8% and 77.5% zofenopril plus hydrochlorothiazide vs. 67.7% and 81.5% irbesartan plus hydrochlorothiazide; P = 0.695, P = 0.301). These results were confirmed in the 69 study participants undergoing ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (35 zofenopril plus hydrochlorothiazide; 34 irbesartan plus hydrochlorothiazide), with a comparable 24-h average BP reduction [BP difference between-treatment: SBP: 0.1 (−5.7, 5.9) mmHg, P = 0.975; DBP: −0.9 (−3.8, 2.0) mmHg, P = 0.541]. Both drugs attained similar BP reductions also in the last 6 h of the dosing interval [between-treatment difference SBP: 0.1 (−7.4, 7.5) mmHg P = 0.990; DBP: −0.9 (−4.4, 2.6) mmHg, P = 0.602]. Metabolic and renal indexes were not altered. Few patients were withdrawn for moderate adverse events (5% zofenopril plus hydrochlorothiazide; 5% irbesartan plus hydrochlorothiazide). Conclusion: This is the first study supporting the comparable antihypertensive and metabolic response to fixed-dose combinations of sulphydril-containing angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (zofenopril) or angiotensin receptor blockers (Irbesartan) with a diuretic in patients with advanced metabolic syndrome and nonresponders to monotherapy. The results of this study can further improve the clinical management of high cardiovascular risk patients with hypertension and metabolic syndrome, because these two drug combinations increase the number of available combinations, which may significantly improve patients' adherence in this special clinical condition that is frequently found in everyday practice.


Smaller, lighter All-dielectric Self-supporting (ADSS) cables are enabled by reduced diameter optical fiber to allow faster FTTx installation. Conventional ADSS optical fiber cables incorporate fairly large buffer tubes and make use of standard ITU-T G.652.D fibers of 245μm diameter. The maximum fiber count of conventional ADSS cables in South Africa is 144 fibers and such cables are substantial in diameter and weight. Smaller, lighter cables can be achieved through the use of ITU-T G.657.A1 and G.652.D compliant, bend-tolerant fiber featuring a reduced fiber diameter of 200μm. The operational advantages of the smaller, lighter cables include faster deployment with significantly fewer returns due to failures caused by inappropriate storage of slack lengths of buffer tubes in tight bends within closures. In addition, 200μm fiber enables the generation of an ADSS cable with total fiber count increased from 144 to 288, enabling much more network capacity. This paper will focus on ADSS cables incorporating up to 288 fibers having a span capability of approximately 60 m for deployment in FTTx networks.


Inhibition of Wee1 is emerging as a novel therapeutic strategy for cancer, and some data suggest that cells with dysfunctional p53 are more sensitive to Wee1 inhibition combined with conventional chemotherapy than those with functional p53. We and others found that Wee1 inhibition sensitizes leukemia cells to cytarabine. Thus, we sought to determine whether chemosensitization by Wee1 inhibition is dependent on p53 dysfunction and whether combining Wee1 inhibition is tolerable and effective in vivo. Synergistic inhibition of proliferation with a Wee1 inhibitor in clinical development, MK1775, and cytarabine was observed in all acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) cell lines tested, regardless of p53 functionality. Mechanistic studies indicate that inhibition of Wee1 abrogates the S-phase checkpoint and augments apoptosis induced by cytarabine. In AML and lung cancer cell lines, genetic disruption of p53 did not alter the cells' enhanced sensitivity to antimetabolites with Wee1 inhibition. Finally, mice with AML were treated with cytarabine and/or MK1775. The combination of MK1775 and cytarabine was well tolerated in mice and enhanced the antileukemia effects of cytarabine, including survival. Thus, inhibition of Wee1 sensitizes hematologic and solid tumor cell lines to antimetabolite chemotherapeutics, whether p53 is functional or not, suggesting that the use of p53 mutation as a predictive biomarker for response to Wee1 inhibition may be restricted to certain cancers and/or chemotherapeutics. These data provide preclinical justification for testing MK1775 and cytarabine in patients with leukemia. Mol Cancer Ther; 12(12); 2675–84. ©2013 AACR.


Pre-trained language models (PLMs) have gained increasing popularity due to their compelling prediction performance in diverse natural language processing (NLP) tasks. When formulating a PLM-based prediction pipeline for NLP tasks, it is also crucial for the pipeline to minimize the calibration error, especially in safety-critical applications. That is, the pipeline should reliably indicate when we can trust its predictions. In particular, there are various considerations behind the pipeline: (1) the choice and (2) the size of PLM, (3) the choice of uncertainty quantifier, (4) the choice of fine-tuning loss, and many more. Although prior work has looked into some of these considerations, they usually draw conclusions based on a limited scope of empirical studies. There still lacks a holistic analysis on how to compose a well-calibrated PLM-based prediction pipeline. To fill this void, we compare a wide range of popular options for each consideration based on three prevalent NLP classification tasks and the setting of domain shift. In response, we recommend the following: (1) use ELECTRA for PLM encoding, (2) use larger PLMs if possible, (3) use Temp Scaling as the uncertainty quantifier, and (4) use Focal Loss for fine-tuning.


Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic, progressive, and usually lethal fibrotic lung disease with as yet unknown etiology and treatment. IPF lungs have a definitive gene expression signature, but the role of microRNAs in IPF has not been studied. MicroRNA genes are short, non-coding RNAs that function as post-transcriptional gene regulators. We hypothesized that microRNAs are differentially expressed in IPF and play a role in the pathogenesis of the disease. The microRNA expression profile of IPF lungs was characterized using microRNA microarrays. We identified 18 significantly decreased and 28 significantly increased microRNAs in samples obtained from patients with IPF compared to controls. Promoter analysis of the decreased microRNAs recognized a SMAD3 binding site in the promoter of let-7d. SMAD3 binding and responsiveness to TGF-β of the let-7d promoter were confirmed by SMAD3 ChIP, EMSA, luciferase assays and reduced expression of let-7d in response to TGF-β. In situ hybridization confirmed a significant reduction in let-7d expression in IPF lungs and localized it to alveolar epithelial cells in the control lungs. To study the role of let-7d, we determined the consequences of loss of function of let-7d by inhibiting its expression in lung epithelial cells. In-vitro inhibition of let-7d caused increases in epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers N-cadherin (CDH2), vimentin (VIM), alpha-smooth muscle actin (ACTA2) and high mobility group AT-hook 2 (HMGA2). HMGA2 is a proven let-7d target that was increased in IPF lungs and localized to alveolar epithelial cells. We reproduced our in vitro results in vivo. In mice, intratracheal administration of a let-7d inhibitor caused alveolar septal thickening, increases in collagen, ACTA2 and CDH2 and decreases in the epithelial markers, CDH1 and ZO1. We colocalized the mesenchymal markers FSP1 and ACTA2 with the epithelial marker SPC, indicative of EMT.Our results indicate a definitive role for microRNAs in IPF. The downregulation of let-7d in IPF and the pro-fibrotic effects of this downregulation in vitro and in vivo suggest a key regulatory role for this microRNA in preventing lung fibrosis. Deciphering their mechanism of action of microRNAs has great public health significance. It would add new insight into the pathophysiology of the disease and aid in reducing the mortality by development of therapeutic interventions.


Objective. To determine outcomes, in terms of perinatal and early death, need for treatment, and morbidity at the time of discharge home, among extremely preterm infants. Design. A prospective observational study of all infants with a gestational age (GA) of 22 to 27 completed weeks or a birth weight of 500 to 999 g who were born in Norway in 1999 and 2000. Results. Of 636 births, 174 infants (27%) were stillborn or died in the delivery room, 86 (14%) died in the NICU, and 376 (59%) were discharged from the hospital. The risk of being registered as stillborn or not being resuscitated increased with decreasing GA below 25 weeks. The survival rates for all births and for infants admitted to a NICU were, respectively, 0% for <23 weeks, 16% and 39% for 23 weeks, 44% and 60% for 24 weeks, 66% and 80% for 25 weeks, 72% and 84% for 26 weeks, 82% and 93% for 27 weeks, and 69% and 90% for >27 weeks. For the survivors, days of mechanical ventilation decreased from a median of 37 days to 3 days and the proportion in need of oxygen at 36 weeks' postconceptional age decreased from 67% to 26% at 23 and 27 weeks' GA, respectively. At 40 weeks' postconceptional age, the respective figures were 11% and 6%. The proportion with retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) requiring treatment decreased from 33% for GA of 23 weeks to 0% for >25 weeks. Periventricular hemorrhage of more than grade 2 occurred for 6% of the survivors and significant periventricular leukomalacia occurred for 5%, with no significant association with GA. The proportion of survivors without severe neurosensory or pulmonary morbidity increased from 44% for 23 weeks' to 86% for 27 weeks' GA. Apart from ROP, the morbidity rate was not associated with GA. Conclusions. The survival rate was high and the morbidity rate at discharge home was low in the present study, compared with previous population-based studies. With the exception of ROP, the morbidity rates among the survivors were not higher at the lowest GAs, possibly because withholding treatment was considered more acceptable for the most immature infants. The need for intensive care increased markedly for survivors with the lowest GAs.


The programmes for the elimination of bancroftian filariasis that have been implemented in the Nile delta of Egypt are expected to lead to substantial reductions in filarial loads in the treated populations. Better methods than those currently available are needed for monitoring the efficacy of these and similar efforts at intervention. A PCR-ELISA was therefore evaluated as an epidemiological tool for the detection of the Wuchereria-bancrofti-specific SspI repeat in pools of Culex pipiens collected in a village with a low prevalence of filarial infection in its human residents (2.1%). Indoor-resting mosquitoes were collected by aspiration from 114 randomly selected houses (during one to nine visits/house) and separated into 673 pools, each of which held the mosquitoes collected during one night from one house. Although 18 (2.7%) of the pools showed PCR inhibition and had to be excluded, filarial DNA was detected, using the PCR-ELISA, in 91 (13.9%) of the 655 remaining mosquito pools. The minimum prevalence of W. bancrofti infection in the mosquitoes caught (assuming one infected mosquito/positive pool) was 2.8%. The mean (s.d.) number of mosquitoes/pool did not vary significantly between positive [5.5 (3.4)] and negative [4.9 (3.5)] pools. The assay detected parasite DNA in mosquitoes from 19.3% of 114 houses when only the first visit was considered and from 73.9% of the 88 houses visited more than once. The PCR-ELISA yielded results comparable with those of the regular PCR-SspI assay. The latter assay is recommended for the routine examination, in laboratories in endemic areas, of mosquito pools from randomly selected houses, as the ELISA component of the PCR-ELISA is exceedingly time-consuming, expensive and requires special equipment.


High-energy density lithium ion batteries (LIBs) rely heavily on innovations of electrode materials. Herein, the porous TiNb2O7/carbon nanofibers (TNO/CNFs) have been prepared through the hydrothermal method and electrostatic spinning method as the anode for the Li-ion battery. The structure of porous TNO/CNFs after annealing at 700 °C for 2 h is intact, and lots of holes are found on that surface of nanofibers. Porous TNO/CNFs as the anode show better electrochemical performance than TNO/CNFs, the capacity retention of porous TNO/CNFs is 81.6% (147 mA h/g) with an exceptionally high rate (at 20 C rate). And the capacity retention of porous TNO/CNFs is higher than ≈77% that of TNO/CNFs (112 mA h/g). The superior electrochemical performance of these porous TNO/CNFs can be attributed to the unique porous carbon nanofiber structure: this structure of porous nanofibers not only provides a larger effective area for contact with the electrolyte but also reduces the rate-limiting Li diffusion path, leading to faster charge transfer.


We propose a model for heterogeneous cellular networks assuming a space-time Poisson process of call arrivals, independently marked by data volumes, and served by different types of base stations (having different transmission powers) represented by the superposition of independent Poisson processes on the plane. Each station applies a processor sharing policy to serve users arriving in its vicinity, modeled by the Voronoi cell perturbed by some random signal propagation effects (shadowing). Users' peak service rates depend on their signal-to-interference-and-noise ratios (SINR) with respect to the serving station. The mutual-dependence of the cells (due to the extra-cell interference) is captured via some system of cell-load equations impacting the spatial distribution of the SINR. We use this model to study in a semi-analytic way (involving only static simulations, with the temporal evolution handled by the queuing theoretic results) network performance metrics (cell loads, mean number of users) and the quality of service perceived by the users (mean throughput) served by different types of base stations. Our goal is to identify macroscopic laws regarding these performance metrics, involving averaging both over time and the network geometry. The reveled laws are validated against real field measurement in an operational network.


This article proposes a Web 2.0 classification scheme developed from a study of tourism websites that have adopted Web 2.0 features. The article goes on to outline various website analysis techniques noted and reported in the literature. Moreover, the authors contend that these previously documented approaches are inadequate when used to analysis commonly encountered features associated with typical Web 2.0 website – many sites containing a combination of weblogs (blogs), videos, rating systems, images or other forms of user-generated content. The article continues with an example of how the authors developed their own approach to the analysis of Web 2.0 websites for a research study conducted on Web 2.0 tourism websites. A "snapshot" of comments from the blogs on each Web 2.0 website was classified according to a blog classification scheme proposed by Nardi, Sherman and Mansfield [2004]. The usefulness of the classification is highlighted as it provides a new perspective on the analysis of blog comments.


Background: Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common metabolic disorders with a rising prevalence. It cuts across all ages and socioeconomic status. Various skin lesions are frequently observed in diabetic patients. Aims: This study was carried out to determine the prevalence, pattern, and determinants of skin diseases in diabetic patients at the Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital, Kaduna, North West Nigeria. Materials and Methods: One hundred consecutive diabetic patients attending the clinic were included in the study. Results: Many of the patients had more than one skin condition at a time. The most prevalent skin diseases were idiopathic guttate hypomelanosis which was seen in 61% of patients, infections from fungal, bacterial, and viral causes occurred in 30% of patients, other skin disorders were diabetic dermopathy seen in 17% of patients, palmoplantar hyperpigmentation was seen in 13% of patients, while pruritus occurred in 12% of patients and xerosis was seen in 10% of patients. Conclusion: Skin disorders are common among diabetic patients at Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital, Kaduna, North West Nigeria.


This paper reviews some of the applications that use the vast swathes of information provided by Internet user searches for economic analysis and forecasting. This enormous volume of information, available in real time, can be handled by analysts thanks to statistical tools such as "Google Insights for Search", which allow trends in different areas of interest to be classified and evaluated. Previous work focused predominantly on the labour market, on the housing market, on retail sales and on consumer confidence. This paper presents a very specific application for the Spanish economy: British tourist inflows to Spain (the Spanish tourist industry's main customers). The improvement in the forecasting provided by the short-term models that include the G-indicator depends on the benchmark model. This does, however, allow an adjusted indicator of the inflow of British tourists to be obtained with a lead of almost one month. This is but an initial step in the use of on-line searches for constructing leading indicators of economic activity. Other applications to be explored are car sales, consumer confidence and house purchases. The chief characteristic of these procedures is that, with time and the continuous growth of Internet use, results can only improve in the future. It should nonetheless be recalled that the construction of these G-indicators requires caution so as to avoid mistakes arising, inter alia, from the different use of language in different countries. Not taking due caution and blindly confiding in these indicators may lead to erroneous results being obtained.


Heracleum candicans belongs to the family Apiaceae, and is categorized as a vulnerable Himalayan medicinal herb. Due to its diverse chemical constituents it is having an increased demand in pharmaceutical industries, especially in international market. This herb is commercially useful as a major source of Xanthotoxin which is widely used to treat leucoderma and to prepare suntan lotions. During the present study direct shoot regeneration has been achieved from hypocotyl explants on MS (Murashige and Skoog, 1962) medium fortified with different plant growth hormones. Shoot bud regeneration was achieved on media augmented with auxins like Indoleacetic acid (IAA), 2,4 -dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and cytokinins like Kinetin (KN) and Benzyladenine (BA). Due to the presence of 2,4-D in the medium friable callus development has been reported in some cultures. Regenerated shoots were transferred to MS basal medium for root induction and later on successfully acclimatized in vermiculite under controlled conditions. This is the first report on plant regeneration from hypocotyl explants of H. candicans and could be used as an alternative for large scale propagation and conservation of this vulnerable plant species.

 Key words:  Apiaceae, explants, callus, auxins, cytokinins, MS medium.


The identification of subnetworks of interest - or active modules - by integrating biological networks with molecular profiles is a key resource to inform on the processes perturbed in different cellular conditions. We here propose MOGAMUN, a Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm to identify active modules in multiplex biological networks. MOGAMUN optimizes both the density of interactions and the scores of the nodes (e.g., their differential expression). We compare MOGAMUN with state-of-the-art methods, representative of different algorithms dedicated to the identification of active modules in single networks. MOGAMUN identifies dense and high-scoring modules that are also easier to interpret. In addition, to our knowledge, MOGAMUN is the first method able to use multiplex networks. Multiplex networks are composed of different layers of physical and functional relationships between genes and proteins. Each layer is associated to its own meaning, topology, and biases; the multiplex framework allows exploiting this diversity of biological networks. We applied MOGAMUN to identify cellular processes perturbed in Facio-Scapulo-Humeral muscular Dystrophy, by integrating RNA-seq expression data with a multiplex biological network. We identified different active modules of interest, thereby providing new angles for investigating the pathomechanisms of this disease. Availability MOGAMUN is available at https://github.com/elvanov/MOGAMUN. Contact email@example.com, email@example.com


Directional ocean wave spectra derived from Shuttle Imaging Radar-B (SIR-B) L-band imagery collected off the coast of southern Chile on 11 and 12 October 1984 were compared with independent spectral estimates from two airborne scanning radars. In sea states with significant wave heights ranging from 3 to 5 meters, the SIR-B-derived spectra at 18� and 25� off nadir yielded reasonable estimates of wavelengths, directions, and spectral shapes for all wave systems encountered, including a purely azimuth-traveling system. A SIR-B image intensity variance spectrum containing predominantly range-traveling waves closely resembles an independent aircraft estimate of the slope variance spectrum. The prediction of a U.S. Navy global spectral ocean wave model on 11 October 1984 exhibited no significant bias in dominant wave number but contained a directional bias of about 30�espect to the mean of the aircraft and spacecraft estimates.


IntroductionMonitoring risk-adjusted trends of neonatal bloodstream infection (BSI) is vital and linkage of neonatal electronic health records to national infection surveillance enables this. We demonstrate why changes in data quality and collection methods over time must be accounted for to minimise spurious findings.
Objectives and ApproachFirst, we determined the effect of a system change in 2014 (changed from only clinically relevant BSI to automated reporting of all BSI), by investigating changes in number of all BSI and BSI excluding the contaminants coagulase-negative staphylococci for infants aged <1 year reported to infection surveillance, using interrupted-time-series Poisson regression. Second, we evaluated the impact of changes in identifier completeness over time in each database, and determined variation in infection rates according to linkage method (deterministic linkage on NHS number or probabilistic linkage). Third, we will use multiple imputation when link status cannot be determined due to missing identifiers.
ResultsThe number of BSI reported to infection surveillance system following the change in data collection increased by 34% (incidence rate ratio (IRR) of 1.34, 95% confidence interval 1.28-1.40) for all BSI compared to 19% (IRR 1.19, 1.12-1.27) excluding coagulase-negative staphylococci. Completeness of NHS number in infection surveillance increased from 69% (3,296/4,792) in 2010 to 92% (3,037/3,307) in 2017. We linked 12,003 neonatal admissions to 15,571 BSI episodes (2% of 497,936 admissions and 41% of 37,660 BSI). The proportion of links that were deterministic changed from 83% (1,089/1,307) in 2010 to 96% (968/1,008) in 2017. There were 12,094 BSI for which the link status could not be determined due to missing identifiers; multiple imputation will be used to determine if any are links.
Conclusion/ImplicationsSpurious trends in infection incidence can arise from changes in data collection and quality, impacting the quality of linkage to clinical data. Data quality and system changes must be explored in each source dataset before analysis. Probabilistic linkage and imputation of missing data minimises spurious findings due to data quality.


RNA interference provides a potent and specific method for controlling gene expression in human cells. To translate this potential into a broad new family of therapeutics, it is necessary to optimize the efficacy of the RNA-based drugs. As discussed in this Review, it might be possible to achieve this optimization using chemical modifications that improve their in vivo stability, cellular delivery, biodistribution, pharmacokinetics, potency, and specificity.


A time-domain numerical modeling of brass instruments is proposed. On one hand, outgoing and incoming waves in the resonator are described by the Menguy-Gilbert model, which incorporates three key issues: nonlinear wave propagation, viscothermal losses, and a variable section. The non-linear propagation is simulated by a TVD scheme well-suited to non-smooth waves. The fractional derivatives induced by the viscothermal losses are replaced by a set of local-in-time memory variables. A splitting strategy is followed to couple optimally these dedicated methods. On the other hand, the exciter is described by a one-mass model for the lips. The Newmark method is used to integrate the nonlinear ordinary differential equation so-obtained. At each time step, a coupling is performed between the pressure in the tube and the displacement of the lips. Finally, an extensive set of validation tests is successfully completed. In particular, self-sustained oscillations of the lips are simulated by taking into account the nonlinear wave propagation in the tube. Simulations clearly indicate that the nonlinear wave propagation has a major influence on the timbre of the sound, as expected. Moreover, simulations also highlight an influence on playing frequencies, time envelopes and on the playability of the low frequencies in the case of a variable lips tension.


INTRODUCTION
Great effort has been invested in improving the educational aspect of the Danish five-year national surgical residency programme. Among other initiatives, an updated logbook containing specific objectives was implemented in 2015. The effect of current and prior educational efforts has not previously been studied. In the present study, we aim to investigate the role of supervision in the national surgical residency programme and the self-perceived readiness to undertake the role of a specialist doctor in gastrointestinal surgery in a cohort of gastrointestinal surgeons graduating in 2012 and 2013.

METHODS
A retrospective study was conducted, and questionnaires matching the categories from the American Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education were distributed to all Danish surgical residents graduating from the national surgery residency programme in 2012 or 2013.

RESULTS
A total of 30 graduated residents (55%) responded to the Danish survey. Among those, 14 (47%) felt ready to be a specialist in surgery. A total of 25 (83%) answered that increased supervision would have increased their selfperceived competencies to serve as a surgical specialist. Self -perceived readiness was significantly associated with level of supervision during surgical training (p = 0.02), whereas no association with operative volume could be established.

CONCLUSIONS
A worryingly high number of graduates did not feel ready to undertake their role as a gastrointestinal surgical specialist. Adequate supervision seems to play a crucial role in education.

FUNDING
none.

TRIAL REGISTRATION
not relevant.


Background The correlates of protection against SARS-CoV-2 and their longevity remain unclear. Studies in severely ill individuals have identified robust cellular and humoral immune responses against the virus. Asymptomatic infection with SARS-CoV-2 has also been described, but it is unknown whether this is sufficient to produce antibody responses. Methods We performed a cross-sectional study recruiting 554 health care workers from University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust who were at work and asymptomatic. Participants were tested for current infection with SARS-CoV-2 by nasopharyngeal swab for real-time polymerase chain reaction and for seroconversion by the measurement of anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein antibodies by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Results were interpreted in the context of previous, self-reported symptoms of illness consistent with COVID-19. Results The point prevalence of infection with SARS-CoV-2, determined by the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA on nasopharnygeal swab was 2.39% (n=13/544). Serum was available on 516 participants. The overall rate of seroconversion in the cohort was 24.4% (n=126/516). Individuals who had previously experienced a symptomatic illness consistent with COVID-19 had significantly greater seroconversion rates than those who had remained asymptomatic (37.5% vs 17.1%, {chi}2 =21.1034, p<0.0001). In the week preceding peak COVID-19-related mortality at UHBFT, seroconversion rates amongst those who were suffering from symptomatic illnesses peaked at 77.8%. Prior symptomatic illness generated quantitatively higher antibody responses than asymptomatic seroconversion. Seroconversion rates were highest amongst those working in housekeeping (34.5%), acute medicine (33.3%) and general internal medicine (30.3%) with lower rates observed in participants working in intensive care (14.8%) and emergency medicine (13.3%). Conclusions In a large cross-sectional seroprevalence study of health-care workers, we demonstrate that asymptomatic seroconversion occurs, however prior symptomatic illness is associated with quantitatively higher antibody responses. The identification that the potential for seroconversion in health-care workers can associate differentially with certain hospital departments may inform future infection control and occupational health practices.


A major assumption of the biometric analysis of infant mortality as developed by Bourgeois-Pichat is that the age structure of infant deaths after the first month of life is virtually constant across time and cultures. Reanalysis of results from studies which compare the mortality of infants according to the type of feeding indicated that the relationship between mortality and age within the first year of life followed different patterns for breast fed and artificially fed infants. Historical data for populations with different breast feeding customs reveal similar differences in the age pattern of infant mortality. In populations where breast feeding was uncommon or of very short duration, infant mortality rises particularly steeply during the early months of the first year of life. The age structure of infant mortality in less developed countries where breast feeding is decreasing rapidly may be similarly affected. When substantial deviations from the linear relationship are evident, particular caution is required in applying the biometric technique, since in such situations the estimated endogenous mortality is very much affected by the particular set of data points within the first year of life which are chosen for the basis of the estimates.


Purpose - The objective of this paper is to uncover the underlying dimensions of, and examine the similarities and differences in, personal uses of advertising, perceived socio-economic effects of advertising, and consumer beliefs and attitudes toward advertising in Bulgaria and Romania. Moreover, it aims to identify the relative importance of the predictors of attitudes toward advertising in the two countries. Design/methodology/approach - The paper draws upon findings of previous research and theoretical developments by Bauer and Greyser, Sandage and Leckenby, and Pollay and Mittal. The study uses a stratified random sample of 947 face-to-face interviews with adult respondents from major urban areas in Bulgaria (507) and Romania (440). Variables are measured on multi-item scales as a typical application of the reflective indicator model. Findings - Results show that there are significant differences between Romanian and Bulgarian respondents in terms of their attitudes toward advertising. Romanians are more positive about advertising as an institution than the instruments of advertising. Romanians seem to accept the role of advertising in a free market economy, but have less confidence in advertising claims and techniques. Bulgarian respondents seem more sceptical toward advertising in general and are less enthusiastic about embracing the role of advertising as an institution. Moreover, Bulgarians are highly negative towards the instruments advertising uses to convey its messages to consumers. Research limitations/implications - The research findings reflect the views of urban dwellers and may not be generalisable to the wider population of the two countries. Interviewer bias was reduced by eliminating verbal or non-verbal cues to the respondents, and by the use of stratified random sampling. Practical implications - The paper suggests that the regulatory role of codes of advertising practice and industry regulating bodies should be enhanced, and their ability to protect consumers enforced. Marketing campaigns should be more inclusive to involve diverse social groups and reflect generally-accepted social norms. Originality/value - This study reveals that, while general attitudes toward advertising may be similar, attitudes toward the institution and instruments of advertising may differ even in countries with geographic proximity and low cultural distance. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.


A total laryngectomy changes the anatomy and physiology of the vocal tract, with a most noticeable effect on speech. By applying a voice prosthesis, enabling the patient to use tracheoesophageal (TE) speech, speech is of better quality than with esophageal or electrolarynx speech, but still very deviant from laryngeal speech. Most studies on TE speech have focused on voice quality. For the understanding of the physiology of the neoglottis and for improving the results of rehabilitation, it is important to study intelligibility as well. This paper will discuss the first results of a study on TE speech intelligibility.


PURPOSE: To evaluate the in-hospital (IH) outcome and the short-term follow-up of predominantly elderly patients presenting to an emergency room (ER) with congestive heart failure (CHF). METHODS: In an 11 month period, 57 patients presenting to the ER with CHF were included. Mean age was 69+15 years (27 to 94) and 39 (68,4%) were male. CHF diagnosis was based on the Boston criteria. We evaluated IH outcome and prognosis in a mean follow-up of 5,7+2,7 months (1 to 12). In addition, some mortality predictors and mechanisms of death according on the ACME system were identified. RESULTS: Eight patients (14%) died in the IH period. Modes of death were circulatory failure (CF) in 7, and peri-operative (PO) in one (aortic valve replacement). During follow-up 9 deaths ocurred. Five were due to CF, 2 were sudden and 2 were PO (mitral valve replacement and ventriculectomy). Six-months and 1-year survival rates of the patients who were discharged were 82% and 66%, respectively. Sodium lower than 135mEq/l (p= 0.004) and female gender (p= 0.038) were independent predictors of mortality. CONCLUSION: Elderly patients with CHF admitted to the ER have high in-hospital and short-term follow up mortalities. The majority die from CF due to worsening heart failure.


1.1. Objectiveː Many non-contact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in female basketball athletes occur during the deceleration phase of sidestep cutting maneuvers. However, few studies have attempted to quantify the kinetic and kinematical parameters related to landing technique during sidestep cutting maneuvers by basketball players. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of forefoot and rearfoot landing techniques on trunk and lower extremity kinetic and kinematic parameters during sidestep cutting maneuvers in this population. 1.2. Methodsː Fourteen healthy female collegiate basketball athletes performed forefoot or rearfoot landing technique randomly during sidestep cutting maneuvers. The trunk and lower extremity kinetic and kinematic variables of the non-dominant leg were analyzed during landing. The variables between forefoot and rearfoot landings during these maneuvers were compared. 1.3. Resultsː Rearfoot landings showed increased peak knee flexion angle and extension moment during the deceleration phase of sidestep cutting maneuvers, as compared to forefoot landing (p<0.05), whereas forefoot landing showed increased peak hip flexion angle (p<0.05). 1.4. Conclusionː The rearfoot landing technique increases knee extension moment, which may potentially place increased strain on the ACL. Therefore, forefoot landing techniques should be adopted during the train and completion of basketball for ACL injury prevention.


The study of the feeding mechanisms in vertebrates requires an integrative approach since the feeding event consists of a chain of behaviors. In the present study we investigated the food uptake behavior in different ontogenetic stages in the Danube crested newt (Triturus dobrogicus). We focused on the coordination in the kinematics of the elements of the locomotor and the feeding systems at the transition between the approach of the newt to the prey and the food uptake start. In the feeding strategy of the larvae of T. dobrogicus, the phase of food search is replaced by an initial "food detection phase." In both larvae and adult specimens, the animals approached the food to a close distance by a precise positioning of the snout besides the food item. The larvae were able to reach food items offered at over 80° relative to the longitudinal midline of the head. When the food was offered at a large distance or laterally, the food uptake was either not successful or the coordination chain at the transition between food approach and food uptake was interrupted. In young larvae we detected an abrupt change in the activity of the locomotor system and the feeding system. The larvae approached the food by tail undulation and after reaching the final position of attack, no further activity of the locomotor apparatus was detectable. The larvae used a pure form of inertial suction to ingest food. In pre-metamorphic larvae and adults we registered an integrated activation of the locomotor apparatus (both limbs and tail) and the feeding apparatus during prey capture in the form of compensatory suction. The drastic change in the feeding mode of the pre-metamorphotic larvae and the adults compared to the younger larvae in T. dobrogicus may indicate the evolutionary development of a defined relation in the activity of the locomotor system and the control of the feeding apparatus. We propose that in newts, the interaction between the control execution in both systems switched from successive (body movement – feeding) into integrated (body movement – body movement and feeding) during the ontogeny. The main trigger for such a switch (at least in T. dobrogicus) is the formation of functional limbs during the late larval development.


This paper develops a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model for analyzing the impact of various capital income tax policies in a small open economy that is populated by households possessing endogenous time preferences. We contribute to the literature by studying the impacts of: i) anticipated tax shocks under stochastically growing output, ii) stochastic tax shocks under deterministic output, on our dynamic general equilibrium framework. With our model's specifications, this is the first attempt to integrate uncertainty in the study of taxation and welfare. Our results suggest that only under certain conditions welfare paradoxes may exist, in the sense that increases in tax instruments may improve welfare.


Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can be metallic or semiconductors depending simply on geometric characteristics. This peculiar electronic behavior, combined with high mechanical strength, make them potential building blocks of a new nano-electronic technology. High resolution images of CNTs often disclose structural deformations such as bent, twisted, or collapsed tubes. These deformations break the tube symmetry, and a change in their electronic properties should result. A computationally effective mixed finite element-tight-binding approach able to simulate the electromechanical behavior of single and multiwall nanotubes used in nano-electronic devices is presented. The finite element (FE) computes the evolution of atomic coordinates with deformation and provides these coordinates to a tight-binding (TB) code, enabling computation and updating of the electrical conductivity. The TB code is engineered to realize dramatic computational savings in calculating deformation-induced changes in electrical transport properties of the nanotubes.


In order to find the relationship between tensile sample laminations and inner quality of Q345 slabs, casting trials in conditions of with and without EMS and different superheating have been carried out. It is found that slab inner quality can be improved a lot with EMS, center equiaxial grain ratio increases greatly. Lowering superheating leads to downgrading of center deviation, however, center equiaxial grain ratio increases not too much compared with EMS. Tensile samples produced by above-mentioned measures do not break in the center area.


Preterm delivery with its short-term and long-term sequealae constitutes a serious problem in terms of morbidity, disability and mortality of the newborn and cost to the society. The incidence of premature deliveries persists and according to the latest national and international reports a tendency for an increase has been observed. Therefore, besides screening programmes for the detection of vaginal infections one has to look for additional therapeutic concepts. According to previous data and recent publications, progesterone vaginally and 17alpha-hydroxyprogesterone caproate intramuscularely should be considered as possible treatment options for the prevention of preterm delivery in high-risk women, with therapy starting in the second trimester.


INTRODUCTION Social networking presents new challenges for college athletic programs as college athletes can more easily divulge information about their personal lives and opinions, information that can cause distractions to the team and can lead to National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) violations and mass suspensions.1 This Note examines the extent to which college athletes have First Amendment rights,2 and discusses what avenues are appropriate for colleges and universities to curb the distractions and suspensions caused by social networking. Underlying this entire discussion is the private-public dichotomy of college sports. Private organizations are not subject to the First Amendment because they are not governmental entities.3 On the other hand, state universities are government actors and so are subject to the First Amendment.4 This dichotomy presents achallenge for college athletics. State colleges are subject to the First Amendment,5 but the governing body for major college athletics, the NCAA, is not a government actor,6 and therefore is not subject to the First Amendment.7 A corollary to this dichotomy is that the NCAA can have a requirement, such as drug testing or restrictions on speech, that its members may not be allowed to enforce.8 College athletic programs are in a difficult position. If a college does not regulate Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites, and a player commits an NCAA violation using one of those mediums, the NCAA can suspend the player or declare the player ineligible.9 But if the college chooses an unconstitutional method to regulate that speech, it can be subjected to lawsuits and constitutional challenges.10 The goal of this Note is to discuss the different techniques colleges and universities use to regulate social networking and argue that constitutional methods exist. In particular, this Note compares the First Amendment implications of a "monitoring" policy,11 like one implemented by the University of North Carolina (UNC),12 with the implications of a season-long ban on certain types of social networking, similar to the ban implemented by Boise State University's (Boise State) Football Coach, Chris Petersen.13 Before discussing these particular policies, Part I of this Note describes the background from which this issue arose, specifically the "tweeting" of UNC football player Marvin Austin.14 As part of this background, this Note discusses how social networking increases the First Amendment complications for public schools and college athletes. In Part II, this Note discusses whether the type of speech - Internet speech - or the speaker - a college athlete - is protected by the First Amendment. Part II also describes the author's broad view of the First Amendment and how such a view supports protecting social networking. Part III defines the constitutional rights of the college athlete. It starts with the broad issue of what types of speech colleges and universities can restrict with regard to all students, and then looks specifically at the substantive constitutional rights of college athletes. Part III concludes by arguing that student athletes hold substantive constitutional rights that are protected by the First Amendment. Additionally, Part ?? examines whether the unconstitutional conditions doctrine15 applies in this case, and finds that it does apply. The result of applying the doctrine is that strict scrutiny attaches when the government implements an unconstitutional condition.16 After examining the major background issues, this Note compares and contrasts the policies of UNC and Boise State. Part IV looks at each policy to see whether the policies are susceptible to strict scrutiny requirements.17 If they are tested against that level of scrutiny, they will likely fail constitutional muster.18 To decide whether strict scrutiny applies, this Note examines whether each restriction is content-neutral19 or content-based. …


The structure of flavocytochrome b2 from baker's yeast was solved at 3.0-A resolution by the multiple isomorphous replacement method combined with solvent leveling procedures, using data collected from an area detector. The tetramer of Mr 230,000 has 4-fold symmetry. Each subunit contains a cytochrome domain consisting of the first 100 residues, a flavin-binding domain containing the next 386 residues, and an extended C-terminal tail of 25 residues. The cytochrome domain closely resembles microsomal cytochrome b5, whereas the flavin-binding domain contains a parallel beta 8/alpha 8 barrel motif similar to glycolate oxidase and trimethylamine dehydrogenase. Two of the four cytochrome domains are disordered in the crystals. The flavin ring and heme group are separated by about 16 A between their centers, and their planes are inclined by about 17 degrees to each other.


The aim of this study was to investigate coronary vascular responses, particularly NO-dependent, in the non-ischemic miocardium during local acute myocardial ischemia/reperfusion. The experiments were performed on the dogs with closed chest. Occlusion of a branch of the coronary artery resulted in a dilatation of the coronary vessels within the intact part of the myocardium. Neither inhibition of prostanoid production and KATP-channels, nor administration of atropine sulfate and dissection of the vagus nerve altered coronary dilatation within the non-ischemic myocardium. Whereas inhibition of NOS by L-NNA (50 mg/kg) completely changed it after coronary occlusion, furthermore coronary resistance temporally increased. Thus, the most reliable mechanism of that response was NO-dependent.


Undernutrition, resulting in restricted growth, and quantified here using height-for-age z-scores, is an important contributor to childhood morbidity and mortality. Since all levels of mild, moderate, and severe undernutrition are of clinical and public health importance, it is of interest to estimate the shape of the z-scores' distributions. We present a finite normal mixture model that uses data on 4.3 million children to make annual country-specific estimates of these distributions for under-5-year-old children in the world's 141 low- and middle-income countries between 1985 and 2011. We incorporate both individual-level data when available, as well as aggregated summary statistics from studies whose individual-level data could not be obtained. We place a hierarchical Bayesian probit stick-breaking model on the mixture weights. The model allows for nonlinear changes in time, and it borrows strength in time, in covariates, and within and across regional country clusters to make estimates where data are uncertain, sparse, or missing. This work addresses three important problems that often arise in the fields of public health surveillance and global health monitoring. First, data are always incomplete. Second, different data sources commonly use different reporting metrics. Last, distributions, and especially their tails, are often of substantive interest.


The heavy reliance of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) has caused rising concerns on the sustainability of lithium and transition metal and the ethic issue around mining practice. Developing alternative energy storage technologies beyond lithium has become a prominent slice of global energy research portfolio. The alternative technologies play a vital role in shaping the future landscape of energy storage, from electrified mobility to the efficient utilization of renewable energies and further to large-scale stationary energy storage. Potassium-ion batteries (PIBs) are a promising alternative given its chemical and economic benefits, making a strong competitor to LIBs and sodium-ion batteries for different applications. However, many are unknown regarding potassium storage processes in materials and how it differs from lithium and sodium and understanding of solid–liquid interfacial chemistry is massively insufficient in PIBs. Therefore, there remain outstanding issues to advance the commercial prospects of the PIB technology. This Roadmap highlights the up-to-date scientific and technological advances and the insights into solving challenging issues to accelerate the development of PIBs. We hope this Roadmap aids the wider PIB research community and provides a cross-referencing to other beyond lithium energy storage technologies in the fast-pacing research landscape.


The Summer Foundation and Monash University conducted interviews with 68 people with disabilities and families who received services through the five-year Victorian Younger People in Residential Aged Care (YPIRAC) initiative. "This study shows that moving out of nursing homes enriches the lives of young people with disability. They go outside more often, have more opportunities to make everyday choices, have greater social interaction and spend fewer hours in bed," Summer Foundation CEO Dr Di Winkler said. "When I was told I had the opportunity to move out of a nursing home I couldn't wait… It was great to get out," said 33 year-old Nicole. "Now I am in my new home with other young people. I can talk. I can go to bed when I want. I can eat when I want to. I have got my own space… If I want to go outside I can go out now. It's so different here to the nursing home – I wanted to get out. I couldn't, I was locked in… The doors were locked." In 2006 the federal, state and territory governments funded a $244 million National YPIRAC program that ended in June 2011. In 2006 there were 1014 people aged under 50 in nursing homes. By May 2011, 621 young people remained in nursing homes. "Whilst this program has made a tremendous difference to the lives of people who received funding to either stop them going into a nursing home or moved them out, there are no new packages available to prevent new admissions of young people to nursing homes," said Dr Winkler. "Although it is expected the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) will provide the funding for the support this target group needs to be able to live in the community, it will not address the chronic shortage of housing options for young people in nursing homes."


Listeria monocytogenes is a food-borne pathogen able to adapt and survive in a wide range of
habitats in addition to being able to overcome host defences. The need to prevent L.
monocytogenes entering the food chain and the role that stress plays during the course of an
infection, means that the starvation-survival and stress resistance mechanism of this organism
are thus of significant interest. The starvation-survival response of L. monocytogenes EGD in
a chemically defined medium was induced under glucose- or multiple nutrient-, but not
amino acid-limitation. This resulted in 90 to 99.9% loss of viability within 2 days, with
viability maintained during prolonged starvation. Surviving cells were reduced in size and
developed increased general stress resistance. L. monocytogenes EGD demonstrated densitydependent
starvation-survival under multiple nutrient- but not under glucose-limitation.
Protein synthesis was required for long-term survival only for the first 8 hours of starvation
and survival became independent of cell wall biosynthesis during long-term starvation.
Strains bearing mutations in the gene regulators sigB (DESOII) or prfA (DES012) showed a
to-fold reduction in starvation-survival compared to EGD after 20 days of glucose limitation.
DESOl1 had reduced exponential phase acid stress resistance, but increased H202 resistance.
Resistance to H20 2 in exponential phase and long-term starved DES012 cells was over 290-
fold and 380-fold greater than in EGD (after 20 minutes and 50 minutes exposure
respectively), whilst exponential- and post-exponential-phase acid resistance in the DESOl2
was at least 10-fold greater than in EGD. Both DESOII and DESOl2 also exhibited altered
catalase expression. Four transposon insertion mutants (two pairs of siblings) defective in
starvation-survival were isolated from a glucose-limitation screen. Both sets of mutations
resulted in decreased starvation-survival and altered stress resistance properties.
Characterisation of the transposon insertion sites in DES028 and DES029 revealed disruption
of a putative ORF encoding for a homologue of YuIB, a DeoR-family transcriptional
regulator from Bacillus subtilis. In the isolates DES035 and DES045, the transposon insertion
was found to disrupt a putative ORF encoding for a homologue of PhaQ, a protein associated
with inclusion bodies of the storage polymer polyhydroxyalkanoic acid in Bacillus
megaterium. The roles of these two loci in the starvation-survival response and in stress
resistance are discussed.


The waters of the Weddell-Scotia Confluence (WSC) lie above the rugged topography of the South Scotia Ridge in the Southern Ocean. Meridional exchanges across the WSC transfer water and tracers between the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) to the north and the subpolar Weddell Gyre to the south. Here, we examine the role of topographic interactions in mediating these exchanges, and in modifying the waters transferred. A case study is presented using data from a free-drifting, intermediate-depth float, which circulated anticyclonically over Discovery Bank on the South Scotia Ridge for close to 4 years. Dimensional analysis indicates that the local conditions are conducive to the formation of Taylor columns. Contemporaneous ship-derived transient tracer data enable estimation of the rate of isopycnal mixing associated with this column, with values of O(1000 m2/s) obtained. Although necessarily coarse, this is of the same order as the rate of isopycnal mixing induced by transient mesoscale eddies within the ACC. A picture emerges of the Taylor column acting as a slow, steady blender, retaining the waters in the vicinity of the WSC for lengthy periods during which they can be subject to significant modification. A full regional float data set, bathymetric data, and a Southern Ocean state estimate are used to identify other potential sites for Taylor column formation. We find that they are likely to be sufficiently widespread to exert a significant influence on water mass modification and meridional fluxes across the southern edge of the ACC in this sector of the Southern Ocean.


Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. In this respect, a reciprocal effect of recombinant protein production on amino acid biosynthesis as well as the impact of the availability of free amino acids on protein production can be anticipated. In this study, the impact of engineering the amino acid metabolism on the production of recombinant proteins was investigated in the yeast Pichia pastoris (syn Komagataella phaffii). Based on comprehensive systems-level analyses of the metabolomes and transcriptomes of different P. pastoris strains secreting antibody fragments, cell engineering targets were selected. Our working hypothesis that increasing intracellular amino acid levels could help unburden cellular metabolism and improve recombinant protein production was examined by constitutive overexpression of genes related to amino acid metabolism. In addition to twelve genes involved in specific amino acid biosynthetic pathways, the transcription factor GCN4 responsible for regulation of amino acid biosynthetic genes was overexpressed. The production of the used model protein, a secreted carboxylesterase (CES) from Sphingopyxis macrogoltabida, was increased by overexpression of pathway genes for alanine and for aromatic amino acids, and most pronounced, when overexpressing the regulator GCN4. The analysis of intracellular amino acid levels of selected clones indicated a direct linkage of improved recombinant protein production to the increased availability of intracellular amino acids. Finally, fed batch cultures showed that overexpression of GCN4 increased CES titers 2.6-fold, while the positive effect of other amino acid synthesis genes could not be transferred from screening to bioreactor cultures. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


Traditionally, firefighters used to use lifelines (example, ropes) when moving through places on fire under impaired visibility. However, these lifelines have their inherent drawbacks like they sometimes get stuck and limit the operational range. A recent research proposed that firefighters automatically deploy sensor nodes along their paths to establish an ad hoc network that promotes the required level of navigation and communication between firefighters who interact to the system using wearable computing devices. An alternative way to implement such system, is to deploy sensors during building construction or later to build a mission critical network that can be used for emergency purposes. Durability with respect to energy available is one of the primary challenges to the success of such networks. Workforce selection strategies which unevenly consume sensor energy can reduce the lifetime of the network significantly. This work proposes and evaluates a new class of strategies that provides an energy efficient workforce management for mission-critical WSNs (e.g. on-site indoor-navigation support system for slow moving firefighters under impaired visibility). Analytical and simulation results demonstrate that the proposed approach significantly increases network lifetime by evenly consuming sensors energy.


Kidney bean purple acid phosphatase (KBPAP) is an Fe(III)-Zn(II) metalloenzyme resembling the mammalian Fe(III)-Fe(II) purple acid phosphatases. The structure of the homodimeric 111-kilodalton KBPAP was determined at a resolution of 2.9 angstroms. The enzyme contains two domains in each subunit. The active site is located in the carboxyl-terminal domain at the carboxy end of two sandwiched beta alpha beta alpha beta motifs. The two metal ions are 3.1 angstroms apart and bridged monodentately by Asp164. The iron is further coordinated by Tyr167, His325, and Asp135, and the zinc by His286, His323, and Asn201. The active-site structure is consistent with previous proposals regarding the mechanism of phosphate ester hydrolysis involving nucleophilic attack on the phosphate group by an Fe(III)-coordinated hydroxide ion.


Systematic full-scale but small avalanche experiments have been started since 2016 in Niseko, a ski resort in Hokkaido, Japan. Although the vertical drop in the test sites are 100 to 200 m, they have advantages that we are able to access relatively easy and can expect both dry avalanches in February and wet ones in March. On top of that, it has a potential that we can look at the phenomena closer and investigate the detailed structures and mechanism of avalanches. Although the artificial releases and measurements were not always successful so far, data for three wet snow avalanches were obtained and they revealed that the combination of different data is effective measures to characterize their structures.


This paper presents some practical recommendations for designing grounding systems as part of an integral protection system against lightning strikes. These recommendations are made taking into account the results of academic software whose development was based on hybrid electromagnetic method and the method of moments. This paper presents the results of impedance and transient voltage for triangle, wye, counterpoises and mesh configurations. Some recommendation are made concerning the use and characteristics of earth electrodes, for example effective counterpoise length, where to locate grounding rods, where to connect down conductors in a mesh and the potential difference between points on the same grounding electrodes. These recommendations guide a systems' designer to ensure greater benefit from grounding setups without wasting money.


This paper investigates supply chain coordination by adapting revenue sharing, where two upstream suppliers sell their substitutable products through a common retailer, who faces a stochastic price dependent demand. Each supplier could offer either a revenue sharing contract or a conventional wholesale price contract. We analyze the impact of retailer's share of channel cost and the substitution factor variability on decisions about optimal retail price and profit sharing of supply chain actors. Furthermore, to study the asymmetric power effect on channel performance, pricing games are modeled as two-stage and three-stage Bertrand Stackelberg games. It is observed that under both structures, when the manufacturers offer revenue sharing and the products are less substitutable, the supply chain performance improves significantly. Also, under any given substitution degree, sharing the total channel cost and consequently the risk among the firms leads to higher level of channel efficiency.


South Asia consisting of Bangladesh India Nepal Pakistan and Sri Lanka claims 1/5 to total world population with expected population growth of at least 200 million by the year 2000. Taking issue with assumptions behind World Bank (WB) and United Nations (UN) population projections for the region the authors make less optimistic assumptions of country fertility and mortality trends when running population projections for the region. Following discussion of methodological issues for and analysis of population projections the papers alternate assumptions and projection results are presented and discussed. Projections were made for each country of the region over the period 1985-2010 based on assumptions that only very modest fertility declines and improvements in life expectancy would develop over most of the 1990s. South Asian population would therefore grow from over 1 billion in 1985 to 1.4 billion by 2000 and almost 1.8 billion by 2010. Overall slower fertility decline than assumed for the UN and WB projections point to larger population growth with momentum for continued larger growth through the 21st century. Rapid substantial population growth as envisioned by these projections will impede movement toward an urban-industrial economy with a burgeoning labor force exceeding the absorptive capacity of the modern sector. Job seekers will pile up in agriculture and the informal sector. Demands upon the government to deliver education and health services will also be extraordinarily high. High-tech niches will however continue expanding in India and Pakistan with overall negative social effects. Their low demand for labor will exacerbate income disparities fuel interpersonal interclass and interregional tensions and only contribute to eventual ethnic communal and political conflict. Immediate coordinated policy is urged to achieve balanced low mortality and low fertility over the next few decades.


Context. One of the greatest uncertainties in modelling the mass-exchange phases during the evolution of a binary system is the quantity of mass and angular momentum that has been lost from the system. To constrain this problem, a favourable, evolved, and detached real binary system is valuable as an example of the end result of this process.
Aims. We study the 52-day post-mass-exchange eclipsing binary V643 Ori from complete uvby light curves and high-resolution spectra. V643 Ori is double-lined and shows total primary eclipses. The orbit is accurately circular and the rotation of the two stars is synchronised with the orbit, but the photometry from a single year (1993) shows signs of weak spot activity (0.02 mag) around the primary eclipse.
Results. We determined accurate masses of 3.3 and 1.9 M⊙ from the spectroscopic orbit and solved the four light curves to determine radii of 16 and 21 R⊙, using the Wilson-Devinney photometric code. The rotational velocities from the cross-correlation profiles agree well with those computed from the known radii and orbital parameters. All observable parameters are thus very precisely determined, but the masses and radii of V643 Ori are incompatible with undisturbed post-main-sequence evolution.
Conclusions. We have attempted to simulate the past evolutionary history of V643 Ori under both conservative and non-conservative Case B mass transfer scenarios. In the non-conservative case we varied the amounts of mass and angular momentum loss needed to arrive at the present masses in a circular 52-day orbit, keeping the two stars detached and synchronised as now observed, but without following the evolution of other stellar properties in any detail. Multiple possible solutions were found. Further attempts were made using both the BSE formalism and the binary MESA code in order to track stellar evolution more closely, and make use of the measured radii and temperatures as important additional constraints. Those efforts yielded no satisfactory solutions, possibly due to limitations in handling mass transfer in evolved stars such as these. We remain hopeful that future theoreticians can more fully model the system under realistic conditions.


Background An estimated one third of asthma patients are misdiagnosed. Evaluating the difference in healthcare resource use and costs between misdiagnosed and confirmed cases of asthma can inform assessments of the burden of asthma overdiagnosis. Methods Participants with a self-reported physician diagnosis of asthma were recruited through random-digit dialing and followed for 1-year. The diagnosis of asthma was reassessed using bronchodilator reversibility and methacholine challenge tests. We assessed self-reported asthma-related direct healthcare costs (2017 Canadian dollars), outpatient physician visits, and medication use. We used separate regression models to measure the association between each outcome and verified asthma status, adjusting for potential confounders. Results The final sample included 345 individuals (61.4% female, mean age 48.9). Asthma was ruled out in 86 (24.9%) participants. Average annual direct healthcare costs for participants with confirmed asthma were $497.9 (SD $677.9), and $307.7 (SD $424.1) for participants who had asthma ruled out. In the adjusted analyses, a confirmed diagnosis was associated with higher direct healthcare costs (Relative Ratio [RR]=1.60, 95%CI 1.14-2.22), rate of specialist visits (RR=2.42, 95%CI 1.06-5.42), and reliever medication use (RR=1.62, 95%CI 1.09-2.34), but not with primary care physician visits (p=0.08), and controller medication use (p=0.12). Conclusions A quarter of individuals did not have asthma after objective re-evaluation. Although direct costs were higher in participants with a confirmed diagnosis of asthma, the costs of misdiagnosed asthma remained substantial. Given the high prevalence of asthma and high rate of overdiagnosis, the economic burden of overdiagnosed asthma at the population level is substantial.


Ice and snow on pavement surfaces cost the U.S. national economy in snow removal, damaged pavement and lost man-hours due to travel delay. Common practices for removing ice and snow from pavement surfaces include spraying anti-ice chemicals on the ground and deploying snowplowing vehicles. These methods are labor-intensive, occasionally ineffective at extremely low temperatures and have associated environmental concerns with possible contamination of nearby water bodies. Heated pavement systems (i.e., the concept of supplying heat to the pavement through an external or internal source) melt snow and ice without the need for anti-ice chemicals and snowplowing vehicles. A vast majority of the existing heated pavement systems utilize electrical or geothermal (hydronic) heating technologies. The use of antiicing coatings and mix designs to deter ice formation is a closely related, but distinct concept. The objective of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the current state of practice and research of existing heated transportation infrastructure systems (highway pavement, bridges and airport pavement) as well as provide an overview of the emerging technologies.


Influenza viruses have caused disease outbreaks in human societies for a long time. Influenza often has rapid onset and relatively short duration, both in the individual and in the population. The case fatality rate varies for different strains of the virus, as do the effects on total mortality. Outbreaks related to coronavirus infections have recently become a global concern but much less is known about the dynamics of these outbreaks and their effects on mortality. In this work, disease outbreaks in Sweden, in the time period of 1860–2020, are characterized and compared to the currently ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. The focus is on outbreaks with a sharp increase in all-cause mortality. Outbreak onset is defined as the time point when death counts start to increase consistently for a period of at least 10 days. The duration of the outbreak is defined as the time period in which mortality rates are elevated. Excess mortality is estimated by standard methods. In total there were 15 outbreaks detected in the time period, the first 14 were likely caused by influenza virus infections, the last by SARS-CoV-2. The mortality dynamics of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak is shown to be similar to outbreaks due to influenza virus, and in terms of the number of excess deaths, it is the worst outbreak in Sweden since the "Spanish flu" of 1918–1919.


Objectives: This study aims to investigate causes of malpractice claims in head and neck practices in order to create more awareness and to prevent future claims. Patients and Methods: The database of the National Institute of Forensic Medicine (NIFM) was retrospectively reviewed between March 2005 and August 2017 and 219 malpractice cases related to the head and neck practices were found. Results: Of the 219 cases 122 (55.7%) were female and 97 (44.3%) were male. Of these cases, 194 were related to surgical procedures and 25 were related to non-surgical procedures. The most procedures included thyroidectomy, followed by tonsillectomy and open neck biopsy. The most frequent causes of claims were dyspnea (n=53) and dysphonia (n=49) after thyroidectomy. Of the 219 cases, 57 (26%) received a unanimous verdict of 'malpractice' (deciding in favor of plaintiffs) by the NIFM grand jury. No delinquency was found in the other 162 cases (74%). Conclusion: Physicians should be educated in the medicolegal aspects of malpractice and awareness should be raised accordingly. Despite the increasing number of studies, further research, collaboration with jurists and a universal language are required.


This article examines the gendered consequences of linking family support to state pronatalist goals in contemporary Russia. By analyzing the policies, proposals, and critiques circulating on the maternity capital program, Michele Rivkin-Fish demonstrates how state power and citizenship are being constructed through struggles over the meanings of gender and family. She further argues that studies of Russian demographic politics must bring attention to both institutional transformations and the symbolic levels of discourse. This holistic approach, rooted in feminist anthropology, illuminates the particular, cultural logics informing demographic debates as well as the apparent contradictions between ideologies, policies, and practices. Pronatalist discourses engage Russian politicians, experts, and laypersons in efforts to undo the troubling legacy of Soviet gender relations and the 1990s fertility crisis; in the process, these policies define and deploy state power in ways that sustain and normalize gender inequalities.


The contemporary era is marked as the era of consumers. No country can knowingly or unknowingly disregard the interest of the consumers. This can be argued on the basis of fast enactment of consumer protection laws in almost all part of the world. Apart from the consumer protection laws in developed world, we could find the accelerated rate of lawmaking for consumers in developing countries like Thailand, Sri Lanka, Korea, Mongolia, Philippines, Mauritius, China, Taiwan, Nepal, Indonesia, Malaysia and other countries. India is not an exception to this rule. The Consumer Protection Act, 1986, is one of the examples that is to be treated as a milestone in the history of socio-economic legislation to protect the interests of the consumers in India. The main objective of the Consumer Protection Act is to ensure the better protection of consumers. Unlike existing laws which are punitive or preventive in nature, the provisions of this Act are compensatory in nature. The Act is also intended to provide simple, speedy and inexpensive redressal to the consumers' grievances, and relief of a specific nature and award of compensation wherever appropriate to the consumer. The act has been amended in 1993 both to extend its coverage and scope and to enhance the powers of the redressal machinery.THE CONSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVE:The Constitution of India in Articles 38, 39, 42, 43, 46 and 47 provides that the state shall strive to secure a social order for the promotion of welfare of the people; it shall direct its policies in such a way that operation of economic system does not result in the concentration of wealth and means of production to the common detriment, it shall make provision for securing just and humane conditions of work and for maternity relief; it should endeavor to build an economic organization or to make suitable legislation to ensure a decent standard of life to all the workers who constitute the bulk of the consumers; it should promote educational and economic interests of schedule castes, scheduled tribes and other weaker sections and it shall also raise the level of nutrition and standard of living and to improve public health.Article 46 of the Indian constitution provides that state shall endeavor to protect the economic interest of the weaker section of its population and also protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation which means all kinds of harassments and frauds in the market place. This also includes people should be entitled to unadulterated stuff injurious to public health and safety.This principle amply reflects the inclusion of the philosophy of the concept of consumerism in article 47 of the Indian Constitution:THE INDIAN PENAL CODE, 1860THE DANGEROUS DRUGS ACT, 1930 THE SALE OF GOODS ACT, 1930THE DRUGS (CONTROL) ACT, 1950 THE INDUSTRIES (DEVELOPMENT AND REGULATION) ACT, 1951 THE INDIAN STANDARDS INSTITUTIONS (CERTIFICATION MARKS) ACT, 1952 THE PREVENTION OF FOOD ADULTERATION ACT, 1954 THE MONOPOLIES AND RESTRICTIVE TRADE PRACTICES ACT, 1969 THE CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE, 1973PRESENT SITUATION:We all are consumers in one form or another. But in the present socio economic scenario we find that the consumer is a victim of many unfair and unethical tactics adopted in the market place. The untrained consumer is no match for the businessman marketing goods and services on an organized basis and by trained professionals. He is very often cheated in the quality, quantity and price of the goods or services. The consumer who was once the 'king of the market' has become the victim of it. The modern economic industrial and social developments have made the notion of 'freedom of contract' largely a matter of fiction and an empty slogan so far as many consumers are concerned. With globalization and development in the International Trade and Commerce there has been substantial increase of business and trade, which resulted in a variety of consumer goods and services to cater to the needs of the consumers. In recent years, there has been a greater public concern over the consumer protection issues all over the world.In the early law, the doctrine of caveat emptor (let the buyer beware) was the philosophy of the law of sales. Today it has been replaced by "let the seller beware". As a result of this change of legal philosophy, business is heavily regulated on behalf of the consuming public. Many corporations today have a department of consumer affairs. Product liability suits are already a part of tort law.FUTURE PROSPECTS: The Consumer Protection Act has aroused enormous expectation amongst the masses for redressal of their grievances. These expectations can be realised only when the redressal machinery laid down in the Act is made functional. However, the place of establishment of redressal machinery under the Act has been slow. The State Governments did not evince sufficient interest in establishing District Forums and the State Commissions. In fact, the District Forum is the fulcrum of the entire Consumer Disputes Redressal Machinery because a large number of cases are to be covered within the jurisdiction for the District forum. The appeals against the orders of the District Forum are to go to the State Commission and against the orders of the State Commission to the National Commission. The working of the State Commissions and the National Commission will remain diluted unless the District Forums are set up in all the Districts as envisaged in the Act. These delays and defaults on the part of the State Government brought to the attention of the Supreme Court in a Common Cause v. Union of India, where the Court issued directions that all States and Union Territories to constitute all the District Forums and the State Commissions within six weeks. It appears that the State Government has paid scant regard to this statutory obligation. This is the most unfortunate state of affairs, for they betrayed total lack of concern for the constitution and functioning of the District Forums and State Commissions. RECOMMENDATIONS:This paper attempts to explore and identify consumer awareness regarding consumer, responsibilities and Consumer Protection Act, 1986. It is patently obvious that consumers are not only the largest economic group but also the pivots of all the economic activities. It is also true that the very consumers are the most unaware or voiceless group in most of the countries of the world. There are plethoras of laws and other mechanism to ensure the welfare of consumers, yet they have no power to order where he can make his purchase at will. Suggestion:1.Educate consumers to develop an understanding about their responsibilities as consumers.2.Consumer should organize together to develop the strength and influence to promote and protect their own interest.3.Government should make and implement rules of punishment more harsh so that manufacturer and shopkeeper think twice before adopting fraudulent practices.4.A campaign should be set in motion to involve each and every consumer for making them more conscious and aware of their right and responsibilities.5.Government and other consumer agencies should make efforts in the direction of propaganda and publicity of district forum, state and national judiciary established for consumer protection so as to make more and more consumer aware about machinery for their greater involvement and to seek justice in case of grievances .6.Redress procedure should be made more logical, easy enough to be understood by a large number of consumers. Further procedures shall so designed as to have easy handling and quick disposal of cases.


We calculate the temperature dependence of the infrared frequencies of the TO and LO modes with the symmetries of A1, B1 and B2 mainly in the ferroelectric phase of NaNO2. This calculation is carried out using the volume dependence of the infrared frequencies through the mode Grüneisen parameter in this crystal. The volume dependences of the infrared frequencies are fitted to the observed frequencies by using constant mode Grüneisen parameter in the ferroelectric phase of NaNO2. Our results show that this method of calculating the infrared frequencies describes the observed behaviour of NaNO2 adequately.


Dragonfly topologies are one of the most promising interconnect designs for enabling large, potentially exascale compute systems, particularly those envisioned to accommodate workloads that are sensitive to system diameter and end-to-end latency. They are cost-effective designs with a very low diameter and close to optimal performance for workloads which induce a balanced load across the network. However, these benefits are balanced by a reduced path diversity, which leaves Dragonflies vulnerable to certain adversarial traffic patterns. The performance of such workloads can be significantly improved using indirect routing approaches. However, the indirect routing approach that is most commonly used today exhibits in turn significant vulnerability to a subset of these traffic patterns for reasons that have not been, up to now entirely, understood. In exploring this vulnerability, we manage to provide a theoretical justification, based on inherent properties of the Dragonfly topology, of why performance degrades. Furthermore, we manage to isolate what specifically in the structure of a traffic pattern makes it a worst case in this context, and thus we are able to characterize the precise workload subset that will experience poor performance. By building upon the understanding of the interaction that causes sub-optimal behavior, we then show how simple changes to either the routing strategy or the process to node assignment can bring performance back close to ideal levels. Finally, we not only provide a theoretical justification for our performance models, but also validate them via comprehensive simulation-based studies of systems with up to 16,512 nodes.


"(a) An application for a certificate of appropriateness authorizing the relocation, demolition or destruction of a designated landmark or a building, structure or site within the district may not be denied except as provided in subsection (c). However, the effective date of such a certificate may be delayed for a period of up to 180 365 days from the date of approval. The maximum period of delay authorized by this section shall be reduced by the commission where it finds that the owner would suffer extreme hardship or be permanently deprived of all beneficial use of or return from such property by virtue of the delay. During such period the preservation commission shall negotiate with the owner and with any other parties in an effort to find a means of preserving the building or site. If the preservation commission finds that a building or site within a district has no special significance or value toward maintaining the character of the district, it shall waive all or part of such period and authorize earlier demolition, or removal. If the commission or planning agency has voted to recommend designation of a property as a landmark or designation of an area as a district, and final designation has not been made by the local governing board, the demolition or destruction of any building, site, or structure located on the property of the proposed landmark or in the proposed district may be delayed by the commission or planning agency for a period of up to 180 days or until the local governing board takes final action on the designation, whichever occurs first." Sec. 2. This act becomes effective upon ratification. In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 2nd day of July, 1991.


In 3 female patients, aged 65, 83 and 76 years, with severe renal failure, light chain multiple myeloma was diagnosed, following a substantial delay on the part of the doctors concerned. Either the diagnosis had not suspected or the serum proteins had been misinterpreted. After a while, the first two patients declined further treatment with chemotherapy and haemodialysis, and subsequently died. The third patient attained a creatinine clearance of 20 ml/min and was subsequently treated for the multiple myeloma in the outpatients department. The absence of a paraprotein peak in the serum does not exclude the possibility of a multiple myeloma. In the case of light chain disease, the gammaglobulin region is, in fact, often empty. Treatment of multiple myeloma consists of a rapid rehydration and forced diuresis; the usefulness of plasmapheresis has not been demonstrated.


The article deals with analysis of morphologic characteristics of microscopic fungi of genus of Coccididoides spp. under cultivation on culture of mouse splenocytes culture. During two days, the strains of C. imitis and C. posadasii converse from filamentous to spherulic form. This process makes it possible to apply this test to identify agents of coccidioidomycosis.


Along with the progress of the information society, we are relying more and more on digital information processing with security. Cryptography plays an important role in a situation where unwanted eavesdropping or falsification has to be avoided. Public key encryptions including RSA require a huge number of arithmetic operations. Major part of its operation is modular multiplication with very large bit-width. This operation takes long time, and there is an advantage in hardware implementation of it. We propose the hardware implementation of N-bit-wise multiplier. It allows the operation performed at the speed 2 times the original performance for the same circuit size, or the circuit size reduced to approximately 60% for the same processing time. Employing the architecture proposed in this paper contributes to the performance improvement of encryption system and the reduction of chip size of encryption system.


Metal-organic frameworks are porous materials resulting from the coordination of a metal ion (the Lewis acid) and organic polydentated ligands. In the case of the MOFs, the SBU (Secondary Building Unit) is defined by taking the active groups of the ligands involved in coordination and the metal ion as a block. The remaining part of the organic ligand is therefore called simply a linker, so that MOFs can also be defined, in a supra-molecular view, as a material composed of SBUs and linkers combined together to form regular, periodic and porous structures. The possible textures and the possible combinations are virtually infinite, depending especially on the properties ofthe linkers, much more than of the metal ions involved, in order to design the pore size, the pore dimensionality and the catalytic properties. It gives this class of nano-materials a very interesting perspective in the most various applications, by allowing to "tune" each relevant chemical or physical parameter concerning porous materials and their applications in nanotechnology.


BACKGROUND
Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive disease characterized by early and relentless tumor spread, thus leading healthcare providers to consider it a "distant disease." However, local pancreatic tumor progression can lead to substantial morbidity. This study defines the long-term morbidity from local and nonlocal disease progression in a large population-based cohort.

METHODS
A total of 21,500 Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2000 through 2011 were identified. Hospitalizations were attributed to complications of either local disease (eg, biliary disorder, upper gastrointestinal ulcer/bleed, pain, pancreas-related, radiation toxicity) or nonlocal/distant disease (eg, thromboembolic events, cytopenia, dehydration, nausea/vomiting/motility problem, malnutrition and cachexia, ascites, pathologic fracture, and chemotherapy-related toxicity). Competing risk analyses were used to identify predictors of hospitalization.

RESULTS
Of the total cohort, 9,347 patients (43.5%) were hospitalized for a local complication and 13,101 patients (60.9%) for a nonlocal complication. After adjusting for the competing risk of death, the 12-month cumulative incidence of hospitalization from local complications was highest in patients with unresectable disease (53.1%), followed by resectable (39.5%) and metastatic disease (33.7%) at diagnosis. For nonlocal complications, the 12-month cumulative incidence was highest in patients with metastatic disease (57.0%), followed by unresectable (56.8%) and resectable disease (42.8%) at diagnosis. Multivariable analysis demonstrated several predictors of hospitalization for local and nonlocal complications, including age, race/ethnicity, location of residence, disease stage, tumor size, and diagnosis year. Radiation and chemotherapy had minimal impact on the risk of hospitalization.

CONCLUSIONS
Despite the widely known predilection of nonlocal/distant disease spread in pancreatic cancer, local tumor progression also leads to substantial morbidity and frequent hospitalization.


New optical and radio observations of the gravitational lens system 2016 + 112 are presented. Deep optical images reveal the presence of an extremely red galaxy located in the midst of the three radio positions. There is no evidence for a cluster of galaxies in the region; the lensing appears to be dominated by the new galaxy and the galaxy associated with the third radio source. The A image has remained constant in brightness since its discovery nearly a year ago, but B has faded by about 0.3 mag. A new spectrum of B shows that the equivalent widths of its emission lines have increased by roughly a factor of 2. A wide-field radio map shows that the postulated third image must either be more than 100 times fainter than A and B, or else lie close to one of the detected radio sources. The discovery of the new lensing mass makes the geometry of this lens system somewhat easier to understand, but no model based only on idealized mass distributions at the locations of the two known galaxies can explain all the observed properties. 18 references.


Genes differentially expressed between tetrasporophytes and female gametophytes of Gracilaria/Gracilariopsis lemaneiformis were isolated by suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) and screened by dot-blot macro-arrays. Different expression profiles of selected clones based on the results of dot-blot macro-arrays were verified using virtual Northern blots. Totally, 14 phase relative cDNAs had been isolated and sequence identified. Among them, seven cDNAs were respectively homologous to crucial metabolic enzymes, Rab GTPase, RP42 homolog, and two hypothetical proteins, while the rest did not have significant hits in the databases examined. The results of virtual Northern blots revealed that 11 cDNAs were differentially expressed between the two samples, including 7 genes up-regulated in tetrasporophytes, 1 expressed exclusively in tetrasporophytes and 3 up-regulated in female gametophytes. By densitometric analysis relative to GAPDH, 8 cDNAs increased 1.3-4.2 fold and 3 decreased about 0.4-0.7 fold in tetrasporophytes compared to female gametophytes. The present study provides the first insight into genes that may involve in phase differentiation in G. lemaneiformis .


Gray whales Eschrichtius robustus forage in parts of Clayoquot Sound on several prey species in different habitats. Between June and September in 1996 and 1997 we carried out analyses of the density, biomass, and other measures of their primary prey species, and of whales' movement patterns in response to prey characteristics. The prey base consists of hyper-benthic mysids (family Mysidae), pelagic porcelain crab larvae (4 spp. of family Porcellanidae), benthic amphipods (family Ampeliscidae) and benthic ghost shrimp Callianassa californiensis. Whales foraged primarily for mysids, switching to porcelain crab larvae in August, and then to amphipods even later in the season when these organisms increased in body size. In 1997, whales rapidly switched from feeding on planktonic to benthic prey during mid-August. Sampling indicated low numbers of mysids and crab larvae at that time. Selection of amphipod prey was based on high biomass and a high proportion of individuals ≥ 6 mm in length. In parts of the study area gray whales did not return to forage on ben- thic amphipods when this size criteria was not met. A single whale departed from a ghost shrimp feeding ground because its search time for food was long, it achieved only a low biomass removal rate, and it was not able to find sufficient food each day. We show that gray whales are dynamic and selective foragers that switch prey and foraging tactics rapidly to take advantage of short-term avail- ability of energy.