Purpose: This study was aimed at evaluating the efficacy and safety of regional citrate anticoagulation (RCA) versus no-anticoagulation continuous venovenous hemofiltration (CVVH) in acute severe hypernatremia patients with increased bleeding risk. Materials and Methods: Acute severe hypernatremia patients with high bleeding risk who underwent CVVH in our center between January 2011 and October 2017 were considered as candidates. Patients who were <18 years old, with hypovolemic hypernatremia, and had systemic anticoagulation were excluded. The included patients were divided into RCA and no-anticoagulation groups according to their anticoagulation strategy during CVVH and matched by age, sequential organ failure assessment scores, and vasopressor dependency. Results: Of the 64 included patients, no-anticoagulation and RCA were employed for CVVH in 23 and 41 patients, respectively. The serum sodium reduction rate (RRSeNa) was not significantly different between the no-anticoagulation and RCA groups (p = 0.729). Compared to no-anticoagulation, RCA significantly prolonged the circuit survival time (15 h [4.1–23.9] vs. 51 h [21.3–80.7], p = 0.001). The incidence of filter failure was 65.2% (15/23) in the no-anticoagulation group and 2.4% (1/41) in the RCA group (p < 0.001), respectively. In the matched cohort, the RRSeNas were not different between the 2 groups (p = 0.569), and the filter lifespan was significantly longer in the RCA group as well (p < 0.001). Conclusion: RCA might be safe and effective for acute severe hypernatremia patients who underwent CVVH treatment. Further prospective, randomized, control trials are warranted to obtain robust evidences.


We report a thorough analysis of the intermittent flow of pedestrians through a narrow door. The observations include five different sets of evacuation drills with which we have investigated the effect of door size and competitiveness on the flow dynamics. Although the outcomes are in general compatible with the existence of the faster-is-slower effect, the temporal evolution of the instantaneous flow rate provides evidence of new features. These stress the crucial role of the number of people performing the tests, which has an influence on the obtained results. Once the transients at the beginning and end of the evacuation are removed, we have found that the time lapses between the passage of two consecutive pedestrians display heavy-tailed distributions in all the scenarios studied. Meanwhile, the distribution of burst sizes decays exponentially; this can be linked to a constant probability of finding a long-lasting clog during the evacuation process. Based on these results, a discussion is presented on the caution that should be exercised when measuring or describing the intermittent flow of pedestrians through narrow doors.


We propose in this letter a bio-inspired Quality of Service (QoS) routing algorithm that is based on the trial/error paradigm combined with a continuous adaptive function to optimize three QoS criteria: static cumulative cost path and dynamic end-to-end delay and residual bandwidth. Our proposed approach uses a model that combines a stochastic planned pre-navigation for the exploration phase and a deterministic approach for the backward phase. We adopt a unified framework of online learning to develop a cost function. We evaluated the performance of our QoS-routing algorithm and the simulation results demonstrate substantial performance improvements for networks with dynamically changing traffic.


Background: The aberrant regulation of growth and proliferation is a key feature of carcinoma cells. In order to use molecular strategies to correct these defects toward therapeutic purposes, it is important to characterize the entire spectrum of causative molecules. Materials and Methods: By using gene transfer technique, SKOV3 ovarian carcinoma cells were transduced with an expression construct of glutamate receptor 6 (glutamate ionotropic receptor kainate type subunit 2, GRIK2) in retroviral vector PQCXIP. The senescence of transduced cells was subsequently characterized. Results: Our results demonstrated that retroviral transduction occurs with high frequency and transduced cells continue to proliferate, albeit at a significantly reduced rate, up to 39 days. Some transduced colonies stopped proliferating after 12 days, and none of the clones proliferated beyond 37 days. The doubling time for these transduced cells increased progressively until they reached a complete cell-cycle arrest. The proliferating cells were distinguished by bromodeoxyuridine incorporation and 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazolyl-2)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. The growth and cell cycle arrest in transduced cells accompanied activation of senescence-associated β-galactosidase. Furthermore, we have demonstrated a decrease in the levels of active protein kinase B and increase in the abundance of inactive cyclin-dependent kinase 1. Conclusion: These results indicate involvement of GRIK2 in senescence and suggests GRIK2 as a potential target for therapeutic intervention of cancer cells.


We propose a new noise reduction algorithm for the denoising of hyperspectral images. The proposed algorithm, Genetic Kernel Tucker Decomposition (GKTD), exploits both the spectral and the spatial information in the images. With respect to a previous approach, we use the kernel trick to apply a Tucker decomposition on a higher dimensional feature space instead of the input space. A genetic algorithm is used to optimize for the lower rank Tucker tensor in the feature space. We evaluate the effect of the kernel algorithm with respect to non-kernel GTD, and also compare the results to those from principal component analysis bivarate wavelet shirinking on real images. Our results show a better performance of the proposed method.


Following an application from Specialised Nutrition Europe (formerly IDACE), submitted for authorisation of a health claim pursuant to Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 via the Competent Authority of France, the EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) was asked to deliver an opinion on the scientific substantiation of a health claim related to biotin and contribution to normal energy-yielding metabolism. The Panel considers that biotin, the food constituent that is the subject of the health claim, is sufficiently characterised. Contribution to normal energy-yielding metabolism is a beneficial physiological effect. The Panel has previously assessed a claim on biotin and contribution to normal energy-yielding metabolism with a favourable outcome. The target population was the general population. The Panel considers that the role of biotin in contributing to normal energy-yielding metabolism applies to all ages, including infants and young children (from birth to three years). The Panel concludes that a cause and effect relationship has been established between the dietary intake of biotin and contribution to normal energy-yielding metabolism. The following wording reflects the scientific evidence: 'Biotin contributes to normal energy-yielding metabolism.' The target population is infants and young children up to three years of age.


The optimal policy response to a low-probability extreme event is examined. A simple policy problem is solved for a sequence of different loss functions: quadratic, combined quadratic/absolute-deviation, absolute-deviation, combined quadratic/constant, and perfectionist. The Paper shows that, under some simplifying assumptions, each of these loss functions puts less weight on a low-probability extreme event than the previous one, down to the quadratic/constant and perfectionist loss functions, which completely ignores the low-probability extreme event. The case when the size of the extreme shock is endogenous and depends on the policy is also examined. This introduces an additional effect on the optimal policy except for the combined quadratic/constant and the perfectionist loss functions.


A new approach for enhanced electromagnetic interference shielding of metallic waveguide (WG) tubes coated with inhomogeneous lossy materials is proposed based on numerical simulation. Shielding enhancement is achieved by using stepped variations of complex permittivity and complex permeability coating materials along the WG transverse direction. Such variation in the coating layer provides multiple wave reflections below and above the WG cutoff frequency. The underlying principle is applied to a rectangular WG operating in the dominant TE10 mode. Simulation examples of rectangular WGs coated with uniform and stepped lossy materials are demonstrated. The proposed approach shows remarkably better performance when compared with WGs coated with uniform lossy materials.


An important question in today's research on marketing is in what way a company can influence how customers perceive their brand and in what way they can facilitate customer retention. The aim with this paper is to research the impact the corporate brand image has on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty within the travel industry to further the understanding of how branding activities influence customer preferences.By using a survey with an experimental design, where corporate brand image is manipulated through a PR-article, the results indicate that a company can influence the loyalty a customer feels toward their brand by trying to influence the corporate brand image. The results also support the idea that corporate brand image does have its own effect on customer loyalty and is not merely indirectly influencing it through customer satisfaction.Furthermore, these results are of interest to the travel industry since it indicates that PR campaigns can aid the travel agency in differentiating itself from its competitors. In an industry with intangible and homogeneous services and a highly competitive market differentiating the brand is likely to have a positive competitive effect.


One important focus of applied ecology is the assessment of environmental impacts and the recommendation of ways to avoid or minimize these impacts. Cumulative impacts result from the accumulation of many human activities whose impacts, although not individually measurable, together sum to significant adverse effects. Assessment of cumulative impacts requires a landscape approach and large-scale analysis. In our procedure for determining cumulative impacts in bottomland hardwood forests (BLHF), changes in landscape integrity over time were assessed using structural and functional ecosystem indices. In this article we present a historical analysis of water quality in the Tensas Basin, Louisiana, as part of the cumulative impacts analysis of this BLHF landscape. Historical records of suspended sediment, N, P, and turbidity from three streams in the Tensas Basin were analyzed. Significant positive relationships between water levels in these streams and concentrations of total P, total Kjeldahl N, total suspended sediment, and turbidity confirmed a loading phenomenon characteristic of watersheds in which much of the original forest cover has been cleared. Eighty-five percent of the original forest in the Tensas Basin has been converted to agricultural fields. Temporal trends in nutrient concentration show that water quality has been declining steadily since 1958 in one river, whereas in the other two the decline largely occurred before then. Nitrogen/phosphorus ratios in two of the three rivers (2.9:1 and 4.6:1 by weight, 6.4:1 and 10.2:1 by molar ratio) were lower than expected in P-limited freshwater systems, where N/P ratios are generally > 10 to 15 by molar ratio. Most of the excess in P is probably related to the geochemical adsorption of P to sediment particles and selective loading of P during erosive storm events. As a result, in much of the Tensas Basin the nutrient limiting aquatic primary productivity—and thus the most critical nutrient to control—may be N. Between 1978 and 1986, P levels exceeded 0.1 mg L⁻¹ 96% of the time (P concentrations > 0.1 mg L⁻¹ signal eutrophy in lotic systems). Total suspended sediment concentration patterns were erratic and in excess of 80 mg L⁻¹ over half the time in two of the three streams studied (1966–1986). A goal-oriented management plan for improved water quality in the Tensas Basin was devised based on this cumulative impact assessment. Improvement of the aquatic ecosystem can be achieved in a number of ways, including the reestablishment of natural hydrologic flow wherever possible, the use of agricultural practices that reduce runoff, the protection of existing forested corridors along streams, and the mitigative creation of new buffering zones. In this conservation plan, site-by-site permitting occurs within the context of a comprehensive plan for managing the renewable resources of the entire Tensas Basin landscape; a plan based on the intensity of past cumulative impacts to the ecosystem.


A Cookbook full of practical and applicable recipes that will enable you to use the full capabilities of OpenStack like never before. This book is aimed at system administrators and technical architects moving from a virtualized environment to cloud environments with familiarity of cloud computing platforms. Knowledge of virtualization and managing linux environments is expected.


Most systems that support visual interaction with 3D models use shape representations based on triangle meshes. The size of these representations imposes limits on applications for which complex 3D models must be accessed remotely. Techniques for simplifying and compressing 3D models reduce the transmission time. Multiresolution formats provide quick access to a crude model and then refine it progressively. Unfortunately, compared to the best nonprogressive compression methods, previously proposed progressive refinement techniques impose a significant overhead when the full resolution model must be downloaded. The CPM (compressed progressive meshes) approach proposed here eliminates this overhead. It uses a new technique, which refines the topology of the mesh in batches, which each increase the number of vertices by up to 50 percent. Less than an amortized total of 4 bits per triangle encode where and how the topological refinements should be applied. We estimate the position of new vertices from the positions of their topological neighbors in the less refined mesh using a new estimator that leads to representations of vertex coordinates that are 50 percent more compact than previously reported progressive geometry compression techniques.


Despite its importance, the structure and dynamics of liquid water are still poorly understood in many apsects. Here, we report on the observation of optical fluorescence upon soft X-ray irradiation of liquid water. Detection of spectrally resolved fluorescence was achieved by a combination of the liquid microjet technique and fluorescence spectroscopy. We observe a genuine liquid-phase fluorescence manifested by a broad emission band in the 170-340 nm (4-7 eV) photon wavelength range. In addition, another narrower emission near 300 nm can be assigned to the fluorescence of OH (A state) in the gas phase, the emitting species being formed by Auger electrons escaping from liquid water. We argue that the newly observed broad-band emission of liquid water is relevant in search of extraterrestrial life, and we also envision the observed electron-ejection mechanism to find application for exploring solutes at liquid-vapor interfaces.


AbstractA new p56idk tyrosine kinase inhibitor WIN 61651 [1,4-dihydro-7-(4-methyl-1-piperizinyl)-1-(4-(4-methyl-1-piperizinyl))phenyl-4-oxo-3-quinolinecarboxamide) is described. WIN 61651, which is competitive with AP, demonstrates selectivity for the lymphoid restricted tyrosine kinase p56lck over serine/threonine kinases, such as protein kinase C and protein kinase A, and over some other tyrosine kinases, including erbB2, epidermal growth factor receptor, and insulin receptor; however, it is equipotent for inhibition of p56lck and the platelet derived growth factor receptor tyrosine kinases. WIN 61651 inhibits p56lck activity in cell-free assays, tyrosine kinase activity in a T lymphocytic cell line, and T cell activation, as measured by IL-2 production by purified CD4 positive peripheral blood T lymphocytes and the mixed lymphocyte reaction. WIN 61651 constitutes a new tool for studies on the role for tyrosine kinases in lymphocyte function.


High-purity plates of Cu and Sn were diffusion bonded to clarify the early stage of the solid state interfacial reaction between Cu and Sn, focusing on the incubation time for the formation of intermetallic compounds. A clear incubation time for the formation of intermetallic compounds is observed at every temperature between 423 and 493 K. The incubation time changes depending on the annealing temperature. The interface annealed at 423 K for 3.60 ks maintains the direct interconnection between Cu and Sn being free of intermetallic compounds. The exposure of Cu surface to air affects the interfacial reaction. Annealing of the Cu/Sn interface at 493 K for 3600 s starts to form voids by using the Cu plates exposed for 8.64×104 s or longer to air. Furthermore, the reaction product layer formed by the same annealing condition becomes thinner when the Cu plates exposed for 8.64×105 s or longer to air are used.


Abstract Learning Chinese characters could be challenging for many CSL learners due to the distinction in orthographic features between the Chinese written system and their first languages. While acquisition of orthographic knowledge could be important for learning Chinese characters, how they can gain knowledge about different aspects of Chinese orthography (i.e. component, structure and position regularity) remains less studied. The component is a basic perceptual constituent of Chinese characters, the character structure is the configuration layout formed by relative positions of components. Many components are supposed to follow the implicit position regularity rule when they are integrated to form characters. In this study, a total of 213 CSL students in Hong Kong were invited to complete three tasks measuring students' component knowledge, structural knowledge, and position regularity knowledge. It has been found that overall CSL students' performance in these tasks seemed to be affected by character structures. Furthermore, we found that component knowledge had an indirect effect on position regularity knowledge via the mediation of structural knowledge, which showed a possible link about how learners gradually understand complex orthographic rules based on the perceptual observation. Implications for the teaching and learning of the Chinese language were also discussed.


This paper presents the performance investigation of a cogeneration plant equipped with an efficient waste heat recovery system. The proposed cogeneration system produces four types of useful energy namely: (i) electricity, (ii) steam, (iii) cooling and (iv) dehumidification. The proposed plant comprises a Capstone C30 micro-turbine which generates 24 kW of electricity, a compact and efficient waste heat recovery system and a host of waste heat activated devices namely (i) a steam generator, (ii) an absorption chiller, (iii) an adsorption chiller and (iv) a multi-bed desiccant dehumidifier. The numerical analysis for the host of waste heat recovery system and thermally activated devices using FORTRAN power station linked to powerful IMSL library is performed to investigate the performance of the overall system. A set of experiments, both part load and full load, of micro-turbine is conducted to examine the electricity generation and the exhaust gas temperature. It is observed that energy utilization factor (EUF) could achieve as high as 70% while Fuel Energy Saving Ratio (FESR) is found to be 28%.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the prevalence of psychiatric disorders and symptoms in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism.

METHOD
Ninety-four outpatients with at least two elevated serum thyrotrophin levels (> 4 microU/ml) and normal FT4, and 43 euthyroid outpatients, both groups from HUCFF-UFRJ, were evaluated. Psychiatric diagnosis was based on the Structured Clinical Interview Diagnostic for the DSM-IV axis I (SCID-I/DSM-IV), the psychopathological symptoms on Hamilton anxiety and depression scales, and the Beck Inventory.

RESULTS
Our data showed an increased prevalence of psychiatric disorders in the subclinical hypothyroidism patients when compared to the euthyroid group (45.7% vs 25.6%; p = 0.025), mood disorders being the most frequent. The prevalence of depressive symptoms based on Beck's Scale among subclinical hypothyroidism patients was about 2.3 times higher than among euthyroid ones (45.6% vs 20.9%, p = 0.006). Anxiety symptoms were also more frequent among subclinical hypothyroidism patients (87.0% vs 60.5%, p < 0.001), mainly clinical anxiety (44.6% vs 23.3%; p = 0.001).

CONCLUSION
Our results showed a significant association of subclinical hypothyroidism with psychiatric disorders and an increased frequency of subsyndromic depression and anxiety symptoms in subclinical hypothyroidism in relation to the euthyroid group.


The bioinformatics problem being addressed in this paper is to predict whether or not a protein has post-synaptic activity. This problem is of great intrinsic interest because proteins with post-synaptic activities are connected with functioning of the nervous system. Indeed, many proteins having post-synaptic activity have been functionally characterized by biochemical, immunological and proteomic exercises. They represent a wide variety of proteins with functions in extracellular signal reception and propagation through intracellular apparatuses, cell adhesion molecules and scaffolding proteins that link them in a web. The challenge is to automatically discover features of the primary sequences of proteins that typically occur in proteins with post-synaptic activity but rarely (or never) occur in proteins without post-synaptic activity, and vice-versa. In this context, we used data mining to automatically discover classification rules that predict whether or not a protein has post-synaptic activity. The discovered rules were analysed with respect to their predictive accuracy (generalization ability) and with respect to their interestingness to biologists (in the sense of representing novel, unexpected knowledge).


A male with a ring 13 chromosome [r(13)(p11q34)], mild mental retardation, short stature, oligoasthenospermia, and few dysmorphisms is reported. His mother who had a poor reproductive history is carrier of a t(13q13q), featuring a dicentric NOR-negative element. The clinical significance of the r(13) and the mother's unusual karyotype are discussed.


One of the key research challenges that we will face in developing the Wisdom Web is to make it capable of seamlessly offering solutions to users in dealing with their real-world problems. In order to make this possible, individual contents or services should be developed and written following the syntax and semantics of a pre-defined method for distributed problem solving on the Web. In this paper, we propose a new method for solving problems in a large-scale distributed Web environment. We will also give an illustrative example in this paper to show the service process of the new method.


Phenolic compounds, which are known to regulate root formation, are found abundantly in difficult-toroot Protea cynaroides stem cuttings. In this study, analysis of total phenol content was carried out on blanched and unblanched cuttings to observe its fluctuation throughout the entire rooting period (120 days) and establish its relationship with root formation. Results showed that blanching significantly increased the total phenol content in the basal ends of the cuttings. The high total phenol content was associated with significantly higher rooting percentage and increased the number of roots formed. Blanching reduced the time needed for the cuttings to root sufficiently to be transplanted to the field by 30 days. Analyses of different parts of cuttings throughout the entire rooting period showed continuous increase in total phenols at the basal end, while decrease in total phenols was observed in the leaves.


The bovine high density SNPs genotyping array has a wide range of applications including detection of selection signatures, identification of copy number variants (CNVs), genome wide association studies, and dendrogram relationships. This array can also be used to improve the accuracy of genomic predictions for low heritable traits viz. reproductive traits. The effectiveness of this array for genomic selection mainly depends on polymorphism level. In this study, we used 136 individuals from ten different Pakistani cattle breeds, include Achi (18), Bhagnari (14), Cholistani (13), Dajal (10), Dhanni (10), Kankraj (12), Lohani (19), Red Sindhi (13), Sahiwal (14), and Tharparkar (13) using high density SNPs genotyping and this array contained approximately 777, 962 SNPs. The results of this study revealed that approximately 500, 939 SNPs were found polymorphic in these breeds. The results indicate that high density SNPs bead chip would offer an informative genotyping platform for quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping in indigenous Pakistani cattle breeds.


In this work we derive a variant of the classic Glivenko-Cantelli Theorem, which asserts uniform convergence of the empirical Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) to the CDF of the underlying distribution. Our variant allows for tighter convergence bounds for extreme values of the CDF.
We apply our bound in the context of revenue learning, which is a well-studied problem in economics and algorithmic game theory. We derive sample-complexity bounds on the uniform convergence rate of the empirical revenues to the true revenues, assuming a bound on the $k$th moment of the valuations, for any (possibly fractional) $k>1$.
For uniform convergence in the limit, we give a complete characterization and a zero-one law: if the first moment of the valuations is finite, then uniform convergence almost surely occurs; conversely, if the first moment is infinite, then uniform convergence almost never occurs.


Batzellasides A-C are C-alkylated piperidine iminosugars isolated from a sponge Batzella sp. The first total synthesis of (+)-batzellaside B was achieved by employing a chiral pool approach starting from L-arabinose for the construction of a piperidine ring system. Subsequently a practical second-generation synthesis was developed by utilizing a Sharpless asymmetric dihydroxylation for the preparation of the common piperidine intermediate elaborated in the first-generation synthesis. The overall yield of batzellaside B was improved to 3.3% by introducing the exocyclic C8 stereocenter via facial selective hydride addition to a linear ketone. These syntheses allowed for the determination of the absolute stereochemistry of this natural product as well as for providing precious samples which would pave the way for further biological studies.


This paper explores how men who perform intimate labour negotiate perceptions of themselves and their work through complex intersections of masculinity, proximity and propriety. Its focus is on the ways in which embodied organizational negotiations are shaped by gendered perceptions of bodily propriety in three examples of physically, sexually and/or emotionally intimate forms of labour: male massage therapists; men who work in sex shops; and men working as Santa Claus performers. While ostensibly quite different forms of work, each is shaped by the expectation that a 'quality' interaction with customers or clients will be based upon the nurturance of a close physical, sexual and/or emotional bond between the service provider and recipient, at the same time as maintaining appropriate bodily boundaries and professional distance. Mediating both imperatives requires a careful negotiation of being appropriately close while at the same time understanding that social perceptions of their work, themselves as workers, and their interactions with customers and clients mean that they are frequently under heightened scrutiny, requiring constant vigilance on their part. Drawing on insights from phenomenological writing on embodiment, specifically Merleau-Ponty's (2002 [1945]) Phenomenology of Perception, the analysis considers the ways in which intersections between masculinity, propriety and proximity are perceived and negotiated in intimate forms of labour, reflecting on instances when a touch becomes 'too much'. It considers what these instances reveal to us about gendered experiences of embodiment within organizations and the importance of perception in understanding embodied negotiations of workplace intimacy.


We model underpricing as being endogenous to the wealth loss minimization problem encountered in a stock market flotation. The benefits of reducing underpricing depend on the entrepreneur's participation in the offering, via the secondary shares he sells, as well as the magnitude of the dilution he suffers on his retained shares, which increases in the number of newly issued shares. However, reducing underpricing is costly. Therefore, it is not surprising that there is positive underpricing in equilibrium, as entrepreneurs trade off the costs and benefits of lower underpricing. Using two large data sets of US IPOs, we find support for the comparative statics predictions of our model, in particular those which distinguish our model from existing work. We also find support for the prediction that equilibrium wealth losses are unrelated to the level of underpricing-reduction costs and the quality of underwriter, which indicates that entrepreneurs choose such variables optimally. Non-monetary considerations such as private benefits of control appear not to be taken into account by the entrepreneur. Our empirical results are robust to a number of economic and econometric considerations.


We present a method for computing the stress intensity factors in bimaterials based on the goal oriented finite element error estimate. The goal oriented analysis focuses on computing the bounds on the local quantities of interest, e.g. local stresses, local displacements, stress intensity factors etc, of a structure, and with the bounds obtained on the coarse finite element mesh we can obtain the quantities of interest with nearly the same accuracy as that obtained on the fine finite element mesh. In this paper the stress intensity factors in bimaterials are first formulated as explicit computable linear function of the displacements by means of the two-points extrapolation method. Then the goal oriented finite element method is used to compute the lower and upper bounds on the stress intensity factors, and the average of the bounds is considered as a prediction of the stress intensity factor. At last, the stress intensity factors, 0 K and r K , in bimaterials are computed with the proposed method to show its efficiency.


SUMMARY This paper describes a new approach for estimating the vehicle motion trajectory in complex urban environments by means of visual odometry. A new strategy for robust feature extraction and data post-processing is developed and tested on-road. Images from scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) features are used in order to cope with the complexity of urban environments. The obtained results are discussed and compared to previous works. In the prototype system, the ego-motion of the vehicle is computed using a stereo-vision system mounted next to the rear view mirror of the car. Feature points are matched between pairs of frames and linked into 3D trajectories. The distance between estimations is dynamically adapted based on re-projection and estimation errors. Vehicle motion is estimated using the non-linear, photogrametric approach based on RAndom SAmple Consensus (RANSAC). The final goal is to provide on-board driver assistance in navigation tasks, or to provide a means of autonomously navigating a vehicle. The method has been tested in real traffic conditions without using prior knowledge about the scene or the vehicle motion. An example of how to estimate a vehicle's trajectory is provided along with suggestions for possible further improvement of the proposed odometry algorithm.


One of the best options for African countries to meet rural energy needs is to grow care-free crassulacean acid metabolism plants on a massive scale in waste lands. This can enable bioenergy production without disrupting food supplies and hence sustainable energy supply for the future. Opuntia ficus indica is an ideal plant for arid regimes but has barely been studied as a potential bioenergy source. This study investigated the effect of aerobic pretreatment on methane yield of O. ficus indica biomass. This effect was investigated in batch bioreactors which were exposed to aerobic conditions by varying time from 3 to 72 h before the start of anaerobic digestion. Reducing sugar content and dissolved oxygen levels after pretreatment period was analyzed. Reducing sugar content in bioreactors increased with increase in pretreatment time from 12.22 ±0.69 to 59.08 ± 5.35 g/L in the untreated and 72 h pretreated batches, respectively. Methane yields after pretreatment were observed to range from 0.286 to 0.702 L/kg volatile solids at 9 and 72 h of pre-treatment, respectively. A 9 h pre-treatment of feedstock prior to anaerobic digestion yielded 123% higher methane yield when compared to that without pre-treatment. The findings that there was an  increase in reducing sugar production and methane yield at 9 h of aerobic pre-treatment suggests that there was increased hydrolysis with pretreatment. Hence, short pre-treatment period could be an option to increasing solubilization of cladodes and promoting methane productivity. Therefore, pre-aeration of O. ficus indica, was shown to be an effective method for enhancing both its digestibility and improved methane yield during anaerobic digestion.

 Key words: Anaerobic digestion, biogas, methane, Opuntia, pretreatment, spineless cacti.


Resilience, the ability to function under adversity, is important in most aspects of life, but especially so in organizations (Britt et al., 2016; Caza and Milton, 2012). Workers face mounting stress from chronic issues such as employment uncertainty, growing work demands, 24/7 connectivity, and blurring work boundaries (Ashford et al., 2018; Kolb et al., 2012; Kossek and Perrigino, 2016). Moreover, acute workplace crises may be increasing in severity and frequency (Williams et al., 2017). As a result, it seems hard to overstate the importance of being able to recover from challenges at work. Indeed, resilient individuals have been found to enjoy many positive outcomes, including greater wellbeing, better mental health, higher life satisfaction, and more self-efficacy (Lee et al., 2013; Liu et al., 2017; Mayordomo et al., 2016). Resilience is also positively associated with important attitudes and behaviors such as job satisfaction, engagement, organizational commitment, and job performance (Elitharp, 2005; Kossek and Perrigino, 2016; Cooke et al., 2016; Wang et al., 2017).


Hepatocellular carcinoma has a tendency to invade vascular structures. However, extension into the hepatic veins or heart is uncommon. We describe the case of a 68 years old man with chronic viral hepatitis type C, consulting about edema and pain in his left leg. Doppler scan showed deep venous thrombosis in that level and computed tomography of thorax and abdomen showed complete thrombosis of the inferior cava vein, thrombosis of the left suprahepatic vein, a voluminous thrombus in the right atrium and an irregular mass in the liver. Alpha-fetoprotein was 77,046 ng/ml The biopsy of the rigth atrium thrombus demonstrated diseminated hepatocellular carcinoma. We comment the patient progress after surgery, the incidence, clinical symptoms, and therapy options for these patients.


The theory and practice of leadership is one of business' most exhaustively examined and written about subjects. Given the range and breadth of material on the subject, John van Maurik's book will come as a welcome introduction for both business people and students. In this clear and concise overview, van Maurik examines the main stages of development in leadership this century and analyses the contribution made by the key writers, academics and practitioners. This book will provide an invaluable compendium for all those who wish to study leadership, and those who wish to put the theory into practice.


A simple passive technique of vibration isolation for flexible structures by nonlinear boundaries is investigated, which to our best knowledge is the first study of its kind reported in the literature. The equations of the structure are derived with Hamilton's principle. An iterative analytic method is investigated to improve the accuracy of the response prediction. The effect of nonlinear boundaries of the structure is studied compared with the linear structure. It is found that stronger nonlinearities in the boundary make the system more stable. Analytical and simulation results show that nonlinear boundaries can significantly reduce the vibration and stress of flexible structures. It is important to point out that with the help of nonlinear boundaries, structural vibration and stress control can be achieved without altering the original structure.


Objective: The study aims to investigate the prognostic value of the lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR) in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) undergoing curative resection and to compare it to established biomarkers including the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), modified Glasgow prognostic score (mGPS), and combined BRAF-mismatch repair (MMR) status. Background: The prognostic significance of systemic inflammatory markers in CRC such as the NLR, PLR, and mGPS has been well defined. Commonly used genetic markers such as combined BRAF-MMR status have also been found to be prognostic. Recent evidence, although limited, suggests that the preoperative LMR may be prognostic in CRC. Methods: Data from the Northern Sydney Local Health District from January 1998 to December 2012 were retrospectively collected. Of 3281 consecutive patients identified, 1623 patients who underwent curative resection were deemed eligible for inclusion. The relation between the LMR, clinicopathologic variables, and other biomarkers were analyzed in Kaplan-Meier log-rank survival analysis and then multivariate Cox regression models looking for association with overall survival (OS). Results: In multivariate analysis of all patients, elevated LMR was associated with better OS (hazard ratio 0.569, 95% confidence interval: 0.478–0.677, P < 0.001) independent of age (P < 0.001), T stage (P < 0.001), N stage (P < 0.001), and grade (P = 0.049). The NLR, PLR, and combined BRAF-MMR status were not independently significant. In multivariate subgroup analysis of 389 patients with mGPS, LMR remained the only independently significant biomarker (hazard ratio 0.620, 95% confidence interval: 0.437–0.880, P = 0.007). Conclusions: The LMR is an independent predictor of OS in patients with CRC undergoing curative resection and appears to be superior to pre-existing biomarkers.


STUDY QUESTION
What is the influence of dietary interventions, namely the low fermentable oligo-, di-, mono-saccharides, and polyols (Low FODMAP) diet and endometriosis diet, on endometriosis-related pain and quality of life (QoL) compared to a control group?

SUMMARY ANSWER
After adhering to a dietary intervention for 6 months, women with endometriosis reported less pain and an improved QoL compared to baseline whereas, compared to the control group, they reported less bloating and a better QoL in 3 of 11 domains.

WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY
Standard endometriosis treatment can be insufficient or may be accompanied by unacceptable side effects. This has resulted in an increasing interest in self-management strategies, including the appliance of the Low FODMAP diet and the endometriosis diet (an experience-based avoidance diet, developed by women with endometriosis). The Low FODMAP diet has previously been found effective in reducing endometriosis-related pain symptoms, whereas only limited studies are available on the efficacy of the endometriosis diet. A survey study recently found the endometriosis diet effective in improving QoL but currently no guidelines on use of the diet exist.

STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION
A prospective one-center pilot study was performed between April 2021 and December 2022. Participants could choose between adherence to a diet-the Low FODMAP diet or endometriosis diet-or no diet (control group). Women adhering to a diet received extensive guidance from a dietician in training. The follow-up period was 6 months for all three groups. For all outcomes, women adhering to the diets were compared to their baseline situation and to the control group.

PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS
We included women diagnosed with endometriosis (surgically and/or by radiologic imaging) who reported pain scores ≥3 cm on the visual analogue score (0-10 cm) for dysmenorrhea, deep dyspareunia, and/or chronic pelvic pain. The primary endpoint focused on pain reduction for all pain symptoms, including dysuria, bloating, and tiredness. Secondary endpoints, assessed via questionnaires, focused on QoL, gastro-intestinal health, and diet adherence.

MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE
A total of 62 participants were included in the low FODMAP diet (n = 22), endometriosis diet (n = 21), and control group (n = 19). Compared to their baseline pain scores, participants adhering to a diet reported less pain in four of six symptoms (range P < 0.001 to P = 0.012) and better scores in 6 of 11 QoL domains (range P < 0.001 to P = 0.023) after 6 months. Compared to the control group, analyzed longitudinally over the 6-month follow-up period, participants applying a diet reported significant less bloating (P = 0.049), and better scores in 3 of 11 QoL domains (range P = 0.002 to P = 0.035).

LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION
No sample size was calculated since efficacy data were lacking in the literature. In order to optimize dietary adherence, randomization was not applied, possibly resulting in selection bias.

WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS
Our study suggests that women could benefit from adherence to a dietary intervention, since we found lower pain scores and better QoL after 6 months. However, caution is implied since this is a pilot study, no sample size was calculated, and data on long-term effects (>6 months) are lacking. The results of this pilot study underline the importance of further research and the drawing up of guidelines.

STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S)
A.v.H. reports receiving a travel grant from Merck outside the scope of this study. J.W., S.V., J.T., and B.D.B. have no conflicts of interest to report. A.d.V. reports having received KP-register points for internship guidance of J.W., performing paid consultations with endometriosis patients outside the study and receiving reimbursements for educational lectures at the local hospital (Albert Schweitzer Ziekenhuis, Dordrecht, the Netherlands). A.S. reports having received expenses for travel and hotel costs as an invited speaker from ESHRE. This was outside the scope of this study. M.v.W. reports that she is a Co-Ed of Cochrane Gynecology and Fertility. V.M. reports receiving travel and speaker's fees from Guerbet and research grants from Guerbet, Merck and Ferring. The department of reproductive medicine (V.M.) of the Amsterdam UMC, location VUmc, has received several research and educational grants from Guerbet, Merck and Ferring not related to the submitted work.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER
N/A.


OBJECTIVE
We assessed mobility device skills in a lived-in environment on a community mobility skills course (CMSC) and related those skills to previously demonstrated skills in a controlled environment on an inside mobility skills course (IMSC).

METHOD
Six mobility device users were selected from 91 adults who had previously completed the IMSC. Each of the following device groups was represented: power wheelchair, manual wheelchair, scooter, cane, crutch, and walker. CMSC tasks were modified from IMSC tasks and designed using materials in the community.

RESULTS
All participants completed at least half of the CMSC tasks faster than they completed the corresponding IMSC tasks. The number of tasks on which participants improved and the amount of improvement varied by difficulty of task and mobility device used.

CONCLUSION
Some mobility device skills used in controlled environments appear to transfer to community settings; others do not. Skills required for community participation may partially depend on mobility device used.


Abstract We investigated some of the factors influencing exotic invasion of native sub-alpine plant communities at a site in southeast Australia. Structure, floristic composition and invasibility of the plant communities and attributes of the invasive species were studied. To determine the plant characteristics correlated with invasiveness, we distinguished between roadside invaders, native community invaders and non-invasive exotic species, and compared these groups across a range of traits including functional group, taxonomic affinity, life history, mating system and morphology. Poa grasslands and Eucalyptus-Poa woodlands contained the largest number of exotic species, although all communities studied appeared resilient to invasion by most species. Most community invaders were broad-leaved herbs while roadside invaders contained both herbs and a range of grass species. Over the entire study area the richness and cover of native and exotic herbaceous species were positively related, but exotic herbs were more negatively related to cover of specific functional groups (e.g. trees) than native herbs. Compared with the overall pool of exotic species, those capable of invading native plant communities were disproportionately polycarpic, Asteracean and cross-pollinating. Our data support the hypothesis that strong ecological filtering of exotic species generates an exotic assemblage containing few dominant species and which functionally converges on the native assemblage. These findings contrast with those observed in the majority of invaded natural systems. We conclude that the invasion of closed sub-alpine communities must be viewed in terms of the unique attributes of the invading species, the structure and composition of the invaded communities and the strong extrinsic physical and climatic factors typical of the sub-alpine environment. Nomenclature: Australian Plant Name Index (APNI); http://www.anbg.gov.au/cgi-bin/apni Abbreviations: KNP = Kosciuszko National Park; MRPP = Multi response permutation procedure; VE = Variance explained.


Pterosaurs, the flying reptiles of the Mesozoic, often play second fiddle in popularity to their contemporaries, the dinosaurs. Such treatment conceals the remarkable diversity and biology of this group: not only were pterosaurs the first vertebrates to achieve powered flight, but they also existed for 160 million years—longer than any other flying vertebrates. Named after the Uzbek mythical dragon 'azhdarkho', the Azhdarchidae are among the most enigmatic of all pterosaurs. As with most pterosaurs, azhdarchid remains are rare, and their fossil record is largely represented by isolated bones or incomplete skeletons. Despite the collection of azhdarchid fossils over the last 100 years, recognition of these pterosaurs as a distinct group was not achieved until relatively recently. It is now clear that the azhdarchids were a highly successful group that probably first appeared in the Early Cretaceous, gradually spreading across the globe until the latest Cretaceous when they, as one of the last remaining groups of pterosaurs, became extinct. Although most notable for achieving wingspans comparable with light aircraft, other aspects of azhdarchid morphology and ecology make them not just aberrant animals but also unusual pterosaurs.


Purpose : According to many researchers, rehabilitation is being prevented from developing as a distinct profession due to two major problems. First, it has been claimed that rehabilitation is in need of a professional identity and a sense of cohesion if it is to emerge as a discipline. Second, it has been recognized that there is a need for a rehabilitation framework to challenge the restorative approach that continues to dominate rehabilitation, linking it back to the medical model from which it has attempted to escape. The model of community-based rehabilitation (CBR) is offered as a model that can provide the impetus for an additional shift from the restorative tradition and unite rehabilitation workers through a cohesive framework. Method : Unfortunately, the implementation of communitybased rehabilitation in urban societies has been disappointing. The current paper is a conceptual discussion of communitybased rehabilitation that explores some potential causes of this poor implementation. Results : To some extent, the implementation failure of community-based rehabilitation can be attributed to the paradoxes that are inherent in its fundamental constructsempowerment and community inclusion. These paradoxes occur at a conceptual level, a practical level and a contextual level. Conclusions : Some solutions are offered to enable the paradigm to be implemented more fully. In particular, it is suggested that there is a need to develop useful working definitions of these constructs, favourable attitudes among rehabilitation workers and a focus on community development.


In this study, the dynamic analysis of a free beam subjected to transverse forces and moments on an elastic soil are investigated. The foundation model is based on the Winkler hypothesis. Using Dirac distribution theory, concentrated disturbances on beams are transformed to distributed loads in order to be able to use the governing differential equation established for distributed loads. An illustrative example is presented in order to demonstrate the use of the study and some of the obtained results are given in tables and figures.


Objective: The trial aimed to study the effectiveness of multipurpose health-worker-led exercise therapy on women patients of 30–50 years of age with chronic nonspecific low backache (LBA) in a primary health center. Materials and Methods: The multipurpose health worker had undergone 2 days training for exercises to relief chronic nonspecific LBA in the Department of Orthopaedic, Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, Puducherry. Patients were allocated to either intervention arm (who received exercise therapy) or control arm (who received pharmacological therapy of analgesics). Patients with less than 3 months of pain, acute onset of pain, localized pain, or straight leg raising test positive were excluded. The pain score on three different positions (motion, sitting, and standing) was assessed on visual analogue scale before starting the exercise therapy or the pharmacological therapy and after 1 month of the exercise therapy or pharmacological therapy. Statistical Analysis: Data were analyzed using SPSS Software. Wilcoxon sign-rank test is used to compare the scores before and after intervention depending upon normality of distribution. Difference in difference analysis is used to compare the scores between the two groups. Results: Multipurpose health-worker-led exercise therapy is found to be equally effective as compared to pharmacological therapy. Significant difference in reduction of pain score was not obtained between control and intervention arm (P value: 0.343, 0.819, and 0.335 in motion, standing, and sitting position). However, significant reduction in pain score in all the three positions was obtained in intervention (P value < 0.001, <0.001, <0.001 in motion, standing, and sitting, respectively). Therefore, it can be suggested that multipurpose health-worker-led exercise therapy may be implemented in a primary health-care setting which will help to reduce the analgesics load on the health center and prevent the adverse effect profile of the drugs on patients.


Human beings are social beings who thrive from the sense of belonging and togetherness. This innate need results to herding, an attempt by people to blend in by mimicking actions of others. Herding in capital markets is in general exhibited by propensity of an investor to mimic the actions of large group of investors, those regarded as better informed and at the same time neglecting personal information and expectations. The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of herding on returns of stocks traded at the Nairobi Securities exchange; the research design adopted for the study was descriptive research design. Secondary daily price data was obtained from the Nairobi Securities Exchange historical database. Using daily price data, descriptive and regression analysis of returns were computed to test for the presence of herding as suggested by Chang, Cheng, and Khorana (2000). In the presence of herding the γ2 coefficient was expected to be significantly negative. The regression coefficient γ2 was found to be positive for the sub periods: 2001 to 2007, 2008 to 2010, 2011to 2014 and the market as a whole these results indicate there is no evidence of herding and its effects on stock returns at the in the Nairobi Securities Exchange


Background :- adherence to therapy is defined as the extent to which a person's behavior in taking medication, following a diet, and/or executing lifestyle changes, corresponds with agreed recommendations from a healthcare provider. Patients presenting with type 2 diabetes mellitus are initially encouraged to maintain a healthy diet and exercise regimen, followed by early medication that generally includes one or more oral hypoglycemic agents and later may include an injectable treatment. To prevent the complications associated with type 2 diabetes, therapy frequently also includes medications for control of blood pressure, dyslipidemia and other disorders, since patients often have more than three or four chronic conditions. Aim :- Despite the benefits of therapy, studies have indicated that recommended glycemic goals are achieved by less than 50% of patients, which may be associated with decreased adherence to therapies. Measure the adherence to therapy among Iraqi patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Materials and amethods:- Various measures to increase patient satisfaction and increase adherence in type 2 diabetes have been investigated. These include reducing the complexity of therapy by fixed-dose combination pills and less frequent dosing regimens, using medications that are associated with fewer adverse events (hypoglycemia or weight gain), educational initiatives with improved patient–healthcare provider communication, reminder systems and social support to help reduce costs. Results :- As a result, hyperglycemia and long term complications increase morbidity and premature mortality, and lead to increased costs to health services. Reasons for no adherence are multifactorial and difficult to identify. They include age, information, perception and duration of disease, complexity of dosing regimen, poly therapy, psychological factors, safety, tolerability and cost. Conclusions:- It is evident from many studies that type 2 diabetes is a progressive disease pharmacologic treatment is essential to maintain glycemic control and reduce adverse cardiovascular outcomes. Even though adherence to medications leads to beneficial outcomes, it was found to be suboptimal. High cost of medications was significantly associated with poor antidiabetic drug adherence, other reasons for poor adherence including age, social and psychological factors, education and a lack of understanding of the long-term benefits of treatment, the complexity of the medication regimen, cost of medication and negative treatment perceptions. Poor communication between doctor and patient, adverse outcomes such as weight gain and hypoglycemia, and failure of clinicians to modify medications appropriately can also affect adherence. Keywords:- diabetic , adherence , medications , adverse effect , cost


This article examines recent claims that conceptual art was the first truly global art form, by analysing its material circuits of production, exhibition and distribution. Undertaking a close analysis of artistic developments in various regions of the world in the postwar era, it seeks to show that existing narratives—either that conceptual art was specific to US and Europe, or that it was a 'spontaneously global' phenomenon—are both reductive. Instead, conceptual art is redefined as the crystallisation and institutionalisation of an already relatively generalised Modernism, yet one whose material conditions must be contextualised within the economic and socio-political 'internationalism' of the end of the post-war era. Despite this, the 'global imaginary' of conceptualism can obscure these material specificities.


Preharvest desiccants are needed to reduce moisture content of grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] for earlier harvest to preserve seed quality and quantity. Objectives of this study were (i) to examine the desiccant activity of glufosinate [2-amino-4-(hydroxy-methylphosphinyl)butanoic acid] applied at several rates to grain sorghum at different seed moisture levels in contrasting environments and (ii) to determine the effect of glufosinate on germination and seedling growth of the treated crop. The soil at College Station (east-central Texas), was a Ships clay (very-fine, mixed, active, thermic, Chromic Hapludert); at Mayaguez, PR, a Coto clay (very-fine, kaolinitic, isohyperthermic Typic Hapludox). Glufosinate was evaluated because of its contact herbicidal properties and limited systemic activity. In both Texas and Puerto Rico, glufosinate was applied at 0, 0.56, 1.1, or 2.2 kg ha -1 to grain sorghum. Leaves and seed were sampled at 0, 1, 2, and 3 wk after treatment (WAT) for grain and leaf moisture. Seed was collected at 2 and 3 WAT for germination and growth studies. Glufosinate at all three treatment rates dried seed of the grain sorghum hybrid ATx638/Tx2783 in Texas from >350 g kg -1 grain moisture at application to a storable moisture of <120 g kg -1 at 2 WAT, at which time untreated grain moisture was 150 g kg -1 . Glufosinate rate did not affect grain moisture except at the high glufosinate rate at 1 WAT. Leaf moisture reduction was glufosinate rate-dependent, but all treatments significantly reduced leaf moisture content at 1 WAT. Germination and seedling growth were not affected by glufosinate treatment. Grain desiccation rate under a tropical environment (Puerto Rico) was slightly slower than in Texas, but leaf moisture reduction was rapid and reached <300 g kg -1 by I WAT from initial leaf moisture contents of 500 or 770 g kg 1 . Germination was not adversely affected by glufosinate.


The progression of the setting reaction of a tetracalcium phosphate (TTCP) –dicalcium phosphate dihydrate (DCPD) rapid setting cement was investigated as a function of time. Compressive strength and extent of conversion to hydroxyapatite (HA) were obtained at different incubation times. The results indicated a rapid development of both strength and HA conversion in the early stages of the reaction, which slowed down after 4 h, presumably as a result of HA formation on the surface of the reactants. This hypothesis was supported by scanning electron microscopy examination of cement fracture surfaces.


The progression of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) G2 cells into mitosis and their survival was measured after X-ray doses up to 4.0 Gy. S-phase cells were prevented from reaching mitosis by labeling with 125IUdR for 10 min prior to irradiation of the exponentially growing monolayer of cells. Mitotic cells, located past the radiation-induced division delay transition point, did not suffer a delay and were selected separately prior to the recovery of the G2 cells. The results show that (1) up to 400 min after radiation only 55% of the G2 cells recovered after about 2.5 Gy; (2) the progression delay of the G2 cells that recovered was 52.5 min/Gy; and (3) the survival curve D0 for these cells, 2.45 Gy, indicated a radioresistant population.


Background A standardised electronic paediatric drug database was needed in order to aid paediatric drug dose selection within both prescribing and clinical pharmacist screening. Purpose To determine a system of information inputs and checks to support the development of an electronic paediatric drug database (DD). The DD is designed as a clinical support tool to aid paediatric drug dose selection within both prescribing and clinical pharmacist screening. Material and methods A multi-disciplinary team was appointed that included senior and junior medical staff, senior and junior pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, data analyst/database engineer, nursing staff and project manager. The DD was built in MS Access 2007. Information arbitration is provided by a senior oversight team consisting of the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Chair of Drugs and Therapeutics Committee and Director of the Academic Practice Unit (a clinical pharmacist). Results Common data sources used in clinical practice were identified as suitable for information harvesting. The DD system is based on 5 core data fields: Drug, Indication, Route, Age, and Dose; known as DIRAD. Each DIRAD is unique with processes in place to ensure they are not duplicated. Input of a draft DIRAD occurs at level 1 (L1), which is the lowest level in the 5 level process. Passage through the system to final approval at L5 requires acceptance of the DIRAD at each and every level in the process. To date (July 2014) over 3,000 DIRADs have been entered into the system representing 765 drug entities. Reference to relevant dm + d codes is allowed within the DD structure. Migration of the system to a Sequel Server (SQL) platform is planned. Conclusion The developed 5 stage process has been successfully used to capture and validate clinical information suitable to support electronic prescribing of medicines for paediatrics. References and/or Acknowledgements No conflict of interest.


The purpose of this work is to highlight the ability of a pre-biotic system of activation/polymerization/depolymerization ( APD) of amino acids to have non-racemic fixed points, similarly to Frank's model, and thus to evolve spontaneously toward homochirality. Chemical kinetic simulations of reaction sets, from simple isolated polymerization systems to complete APD systems in presence of inversion reactions, are developed in order to understand the mechanisms of amplification of asymmetry. The results emphasize the emergence of autocatalysis thanks to the synergetic action between epimer-ization and APD reactions, allowing spontaneous symmetry breaking from racemic state. The APD system appears to be an original nonequilibrium chemical system model, as an extension of the Frank's model based on prebiotically relevant chemical reactions.


Abstract Not Available – First paragraph follows:
THE PEAR RUST MITE, Epitrimerus pyri Nalepa, has been a persistent but sporadic pest of pears in California. When present in the orchard, it is of major concern to growers because the russeting type of feeding damage can affect the market value of the fruit. Russeting can be caused by a relatively small number of mites beginning early in the season, while very high mite populations can cause defoliation. It is therefore sometimes necessary to use chemical controls against this mite, particularly when chemical controls for other pests destroy the mite's predators.


TRUEBLOOD, CLARA ENGLERT. An Invasive Species Assessment System for the North Carolina Horticultural Industry. (Under the direction Dr. Joseph C. Neal and Dr. Thomas G. Ranney). While a small proportion of nonindigenous species successfully naturalize and even fewer become invasive, those that do may alter ecosystem processes and negatively impact native community composition. Many potentially invasive species were introduced and sold for horticultural purposes. The North Carolina Nursery and Landscape Association (NCNLA) has supported the development of an invasive assessment protocol designed to systematically assess the potential invasiveness of ornamental plants suspected to affect natural areas in the state. The North Carolina protocol incorporates and builds upon elements of existing assessment models to evaluate the potential invasiveness of plant species in accordance with regional environmental conditions. The ranking and scoring systems and qualitative and quantitative measurements of existing regional and national assessment models were compared to develop the framework for an assessment tool unique to North Carolina. The North Carolina assessment criteria are based on a framework of weighted sets of indices that evaluate and rate ecological impacts, potential for expanded distribution, management difficulty, and the economic value and benefits of non-native ornamental species. According to the combined weighted results, the model generates a recommendation for evaluated species ranging from 'unlikely to be invasive' to 'invasive and not recommended for use.' The North Carolina invasive protocol is non-predictive and intended for species that are available in the horticultural trade. The assessment model incorporates a unique cost/benefit analysis and weighs economic benefits against the ecological risk of selling potentially invasive ornamental plants. An online survey of NCNLA members was designed to assess the market value of potentially invasive plant species produced in the North Carolina nursery industry. We found that potentially invasive ornamental plant species have substantial value to the nursery industry in North Carolina. Total statewide wholesale value attributed to the 18 potentially invasive surveyed plants was estimated at roughly $206 million, or approximately 23.1% of state-wide industry sales. The assessment protocol was used to evaluate the invasiveness of 25 nonnative taxa. Three species, Celastrus orbiculatus (Oriental bittersweet), Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle), and Vitex rotundifolia (Beach Vitex) were categorized as highly invasive with severe environmental impacts, great potential for natural dispersion, and high management difficulty. Nine species were categorized as Moderately Weedy. All of the Moderately Weedy species are sold in the North Carolina nursery industry and either identified by land managers in North Carolina as potentially invasive plants or categorized as invasive species in other state assessments. Thirteen species were classified as Noninvasive with limited ecological impact, distribution and invasive potential, and management difficulty. The majority of the Noninvasive species are nonnative plants with very high economic value in the North Carolina nursery industry that have not been shown to invade natural areas. By modifying the criteria utilized in existing assessments and tailoring the model for the North Carolina horticultural trade, we have created an assessment system unique to the nursery industry that may be completed using resources available in North Carolina. The assessment results are intended to allow the NCNLA to advise their members regarding plants that are purported to be invasive. An Invasive Species Assessment System for the North Carolina Horticultural Industry by Clara Englert Trueblood A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Horticultural Science Raleigh, North Carolina


Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) experienced by children can have a large impact on the wider family. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE, 2018) recommend that parents are involved in their child's PTSD treatment. Studies have found that parents themselves also report high levels of PTSD and other mental health symptoms but few have explored whether these symptoms reduce following their child receiving trauma-focused CBT. In this study, parents (N=29) whose children (ages 8-17 years) were randomly assigned to either 10 sessions of Cognitive Therapy for PTSD (CT-PTSD) or a wait-list control condition (WL) completed the Post Traumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale (PDS), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9; to measure depression), the Generalised Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire (GAD-7), and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28; to measure general mental health) for pre-post comparison. Parents whose children were allocated to CT-PTSD reported greater improvements on self-report PTSD, depression, anxiety and general mental health, relative to the WL condition. This trial provides preliminary support for the efficacy of CT-PTSD delivered to children for reducing parent PTSD, depression, anxiety and general mental health symptoms. Replication is needed as well as further exploration of parent factors and frequency of parental involvement required to predict improvements.


The magnitude of chronic renal disease is enormous, as the prevalence of kidney failure is rising. Anaemia is a common complication of chronic kidney disease (CKD) that develops early in its course and becomes increasingly severe as the disease progresses. The aim is to evaluate the serum level of iron, Total Iron Binding Capacity (TIBC), transferrin saturation and ferritin in chronic kidney disease population in Zaria and control subjects. This study was conducted at ABUTH Zaria were 125 patients in various stages of CKD who presented at the nephrology clinic and equal number of apparently healthy age and sex matched controls were recruited. The mean (SD) age of patient and controls were 48 (14) years. These were made up of 53.6% males, and 46.4% females. Mean values of serum creatinine significantly higher in the patients (<0.0001). There was no significant difference in the mean values of iron (p=0.32) and TIBC (p=1.29) in both study groups. The patients had a significantly (p˂0.0001) higher mean value for ferritin and TSAT than the control group. There were higher serum creatinine and ferritin values in males than in females while higher serum TIBC, estimated creatinine clearance and iron were observed in females than males. Serum creatinine, ferritin and estimated creatinine clearance of male patients were found to be significantly higher with p-value of 0.002, 0.000 and 0.028 respectively than that of female patients. No significant differences were noted in serum levels of iron, TIBC and TSAT. Serum creatinine, ferritin and TSAT were found to be significantly elevated in CKD patients while serum Iron and TIBC were not.


Lipid biomarkers are widely used to study the earliest life on Earth and have been invoked as potential astrobiological markers, but few studies have assessed their survival and persistence in geothermal settings. Here, we investigate lipid preservation in active and inactive geothermal silica sinters, with ages of up to 900 years, from Champagne Pool, Waiotapu, New Zealand. Analyses revealed a wide range of bacterial biomarkers, including free and bound fatty acids, 1,2-di-O-alkylglycerols (diethers), and various hopanoids. Dominant archaeal lipids include archaeol and glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs). The predominance of generally similar biomarker groups in all sinters suggests a stable microbial community throughout Champagne Pool's history and indicates that incorporated lipids can be well preserved. Moreover, subtle differences in lipid distributions suggest that past changes in environmental conditions can be elucidated. In this case, higher archaeol abundances relative to the bacterial diethers, a greater proportion of cyclic GDGTs, the high average chain length of the bacterial diethers, and greater concentrations of hopanoic acids in the older sinters all suggest hotter conditions at Champagne Pool in the past.


A cross-sectional survey was undertaken on 240 dairy cattle farms in Nyandarua District in central Kenya to determine farm characteristics, farmer's perception of production constraints and diseases and the prevalence and control practices for ticks and helminths. Farmers were interviewed using questionnaires and 708 cattle examined. The mean farm size was 3.2 hectares and average number of cattle per farm 20, with 66% of the farms having 3-16 animals. This indicated that dairy-cattle farming is a smallholder concern in the district. The cattle were crossbreeds mainly of Hostein-Friesian and Ayrshire kept as a source of milk for domestic consumption and sale. High proportions of the farmers considered diseases (75%), high cost of drugs (70%), high cost of supplementary feeds (70%) and inadequate pastures (60%) as the main production constraints. East Coast Fever (ECF) was ranked as the most important disease. The majority (62%) of farmers used acaricides, which were applied at intervals of 2 to 4 weeks on 75% of the farms mostly through hand spraying. Forty percent of cattle were infested with ticks, indicating that tick borne diseases (TBDs) are a risk to cattle production. Rhipicephalus appendiculatus was the most abundant (81%) followed by Boophilus decoloratus (15%) and Amblyomma variagatum (4%). Gastrointestinal tract (GIT) nematodes infections were sub-clinical but common, with Haemonchus being the predominant parasite, and a number of cattle were shedding Fasciola eggs. These data indicate that GIT nematodes and liver flukes infections are a risk to cattle production in the district. A large proportion (75%) of the farmers dewormed their cattle, but 60% used the same type of drug for more than three years and the dosage was estimated using eye measure on all the farms. These practices are considered as risk factors for the development of anthelmintic resistance. There is a need to improve access to quality extension and veterinary services and seek solutions to constraints facing the farmers in the district in order to improve dairy cattle productivity.


In this paper we compared the vessels and the surrounding cells in the growing (cattle fetus 520 mm SSL) and metamorphosing cartilage of rats. In the growing cartilage the vessels and sinusoid capillares are accompanied by some morphologic uncharacteristical perivasculare cells which may swell oedematatically. Chondorolytic symptoms appear sporadically but not multinucleated chondroclasts are found. In the metamorphosing cartilage the perivasculare cells grow up to large cells exhibiting an extensive granular reticulum. Firstly the intercellularsubstance seems to be destructed, later on degenerate, they pine away, the chondrocytes as well as the chondrocytes with cyst-like cisternae as such with lacunar cisternae. Also a disintegration of cells occurs. The foci of mineralisation in the neighborhood of the vessels consist of needle-shaped cristals in chains arranged along the fibrils.


Report completed by students enrolled in SW 8551: Advanced Community Practice: Assessment, Organizing, and Advocacy, taught by Liz Lightfoot in spring 2015.


Offline processing has been shown to strengthen memory traces and enhance learning in the absence of conscious rehearsal or awareness. Here we evaluate whether a brief, two-minute offline processing period can boost associative learning and test a memory reactivation account for these offline processing effects. After encoding paired associates, subjects either completed a distractor task for two minutes or were immediately tested for memory of the pairs in a counterbalanced, within-subjects functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Results showed that brief, awake, offline processing improves memory for associate pairs. Moreover, multi-voxel pattern analysis of the neuroimaging data suggested reactivation of encoded memory representations in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during offline processing. These results signify the first demonstration of awake, active, offline enhancement of associative memory and suggest that such enhancement is accompanied by the offline reactivation of encoded memory representations.


In non-photorealistic rendering sketchiness is essential to communicate visual ideas and can be used to illustrate drafts and concepts in, for instance, architecture and product design.
 In this paper, we present a hardware-accelerated real-time rendering algorithm for drawings that sketches visually important edges as well as inner color patches of arbitrary 3D objects even beyond the geometrical boundary. The algorithm preserves edges and color patches as intermediate rendering results using textures. To achieve sketchiness it applies uncertainty values in image-space to perturb texture coordinates when accessing intermediate rendering results. The algorithm adjusts depth information derived from 3D objects to ensure visibility when composing sketchy drawings with arbitrary 3D scene contents. Rendering correct depth values while sketching edges and colors beyond the boundary of 3D objects is achieved by depth sprite rendering. Moreover, we maintain frame-to-frame coherence because consecutive uncertainty values have been determined by a Perlin noise function, so that they are correlated in image-space.
 Finally, we introduce a solution to control and predetermine sketchiness by preserving geometrical properties of 3D objects in order to calculate associated uncertainty values. This method significantly reduces the inherent shower-door effect.


Abstract Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methods collect real-time data in real-world environments, which allow physical medicine and rehabilitation researchers to examine objective outcome data and reduces bias from retrospective recall. The statistical analysis of EMA data is directly related to the research question and the temporal design of the study. Hierarchical linear modeling, which accounts for multiple observations from the same participant, is a particularly useful approach to analyzing EMA data. The objective of this paper was to introduce the process of conducting hierarchical linear modeling analyses with EMA data. This is accomplished using exemplars from recent physical medicine and rehabilitation literature.


IntroductionBreastfeeding during the first two years of life supports optimal maternal and child health. Few linkable databases capture infant feeding data beyond hospital discharge. The Manitoba Infant Feeding Database (MIFD), a novel initiative started in 2015, records infant feeding practices at vaccination visits and is linkable with administrative data.
Objectives and ApproachOur objective was to evaluate the data quality and staff experiences with implementing the MIFD. The MIFD records whether the infant was exclusively or partially breastfeeding at each visit; it also records the infant's age when (a) something other than human milk was first introduced and (b) the infant stopped breastfeeding entirely. Personal Health Identification Numbers (PHINs), birthdate, and postal code are used to link infant feeding information with administrative health records. Two authors independently reviewed the proportion of complete data fields and data fields with potential transcription errors. A survey was developed to assess experiences with implementing the MIFD.
ResultsA total of 950 (out of 2500) records were randomly selected and reviewed, equating to 13,258 data fields. Data were 98.5% complete (n=13,064/13,258). Baby's PHIN, mother's PHIN, and relationship to the baby had 95.4%, 96.0%, and 97.6% complete data, respectively. Almost all records (95.5\%) had complete data for personal identifiers. Transcription had to be verified in 13.5% of MIFD data fields. The survey response rate was 78.4%. Nearly all felt that the MIFD data collection tool was easy to use (96.6\%). 65\% felt faxing the data to a central office was convenient. Most (93.1%) of respondents were happy to continue with the MIFD system. A 0.7 FTE is required to verify feeding data from all births in the province (N=15,000).
Conclusion/ImplicationsThe MIFD is a sustainable and viable system for collecting and storing infant feeding information which can be linked with administrative health and social data. Having breastfeeding information after hospital discharge which can be linked with administrative data will facilitate the evaluation of programs aimed at supporting breastfeeding.


Real-time edge-enhanced image correlation using the incoherent readout of a dynamic hologram recorded in BSO crystal is reported for the first time. A system is described which records the Fresnel transform of the input signal in a BSO crystal; such a system exhibits good object discrimination in addition to the usual features of an incoherent correlator. Several experimental results are presented, and these are compared with computer simulations


OBJECTIVE
To seek a exact method of estimating Postmortem interval (PMI).

METHODS
This study was preformed to investigate the relationship between postmortem interval and absorbance in vitreous humor of rabbit after death. The absorbance in vitreous humor of 48 rabbits after death were investigated with Model 754 spectrophotometer in apt wavelength (420 nm).

RESULTS
There exists positive linear regression association between postmortem interval (Y) and absorbance in vitreous humor (X) (r = 0.98327, P < 0.05), during rabbits after death 0 to 72 hours. The formula of linear regression is Y = 453.30 X + 0.75 (Y = postmortem interval = PMI, X = absorbance in vitreous humor).

CONCLUSION
The absorbance in vitreous humor can be as reference indicator to estimate PMI within hour 72.


The upcoming generation of socio-technical computing systems, such as intelligent traffic management and networked smart homes, are inherently decentralized systems that have to operate under various uncertainties, e.g., changing user needs, parts that attach and detach at will, and unpredictable availability of resources. From a technical viewpoint these systems should be able to adapt themselves dynamically to changes in a decentralized manner, while assuring service provision. From a methodological viewpoint, engineering these systems requires co-design across the technology stack (from business processes, to architecture and programming, down to hardware) and co-design across disciplines (incl. expertise in technology, sociology, economics, etc.). Providing sustainable solutions in face of uncertainty calls for agility@runtime, where system evolution becomes an interactive runtime process between adaptive computing systems and stakeholders.


Children with atypical development and with verbal behavior deficits, specifically children with autism, can benefit from a systematic teaching of verbal operants and programs that promote its generalization. Verbal behavior is an operant behavior maintained by consequences mediated by a listener that was previously trained by the verbal community to respond to such verbal stimuli. Among the verbal operants, three were of particular interest to this research: echoic, tact and mand. The aim of this research was to examine the effects of tact training for high and low preferred leisure items in the emergence of mand for these same items. Five students with autism (aged from 5 to 14 years old) attending a special education school participated in this research. Participants were exposed one at a time to the experimental conditions and the behavior was observed in the test condition of mand, teaching tact and, then, the effects of the tact teaching was observed in the emergence of mand. The experimental stimuli (leisure items and edibles) were selected from the indication of the parents and teacher, followed by a Forced Choice preference assessment. At the end of the teaching procedure, participants presented tact for high (AP) and low preferred (BP) items. In the mand post-test, participants demonstrated the emergence of this operant with a higher frequency of responses for AP items. The results suggest that the emergence of mands with a higher frequency of responses for AP items may be related to the motivating operation, since the AP items could exert a more reinforcing function than the BP items, which has practical implications for the teaching of verbal behavior. Key-Words: functional independence, mand, tact, motivating operation, autism.


This digital image was taken by Amy Schulz, class of 2019, a Memphis Center Fellow in the Arts. This image was edited and uploaded to DLynx during spring 2017 in the Visual Resources Center.


In this letter, a method to optimally determine the kernel bandwidth of the Gaussian radial basis function (RBF) kernel for support vector (SV)-based hyperspectral anomaly detection is presented. In this method, the support of a local background distribution is first nonparametrically learned by a technique called SV data description (SVDD). The SVDD optimally models an enclosing hypersphere around the local background data in a high-dimensional feature space associated with the Gaussian RBF kernel. Any test pixel that lies outside this hypersphere surrounding the local background is considered an anomaly and, hence, a possible target pixel. Considerable improvement in detection performance due to kernel parameter optimization can be seen in the simulation results when the algorithm is applied to hyperspectral images.


South Africa hosts Africa's most advanced form of the new Blue Economy, named 'Operation Phakisa: Oceans.' In 2014, the McKinsey-designed project was formally launched by now-disgraced President Jacob Zuma with vibrant state and corporate fanfare. Financially, its most important elements were anticipated to come from corporations promoting shipping investments and port infrastructure, a new generation of offshore oil and gas extraction projects and seabed mining. However, these already conflict with underlying capitalist crisis tendencies associated with overaccumulation (overcapacity), globalization and financialization, as they played out through uneven development, commodity price volatility and excessive extraction of resources. Together this metabolic intensification of capital-nature relations can be witnessed when South Africa recently faced the Blue Economy's ecological contradictions: celebrating a massive offshore gas discovery at the same time as awareness rises about extreme coastal weather events, ocean warming and acidification (with profound threats to fast-bleaching coral reefs), sea-level rise, debilitating drought in Africa's main seaside tourist city (Cape Town), and plastic infestation of water bodies, the shoreline and vulnerable marine life. Critics of the capitalist ocean have demanded a greater state commitment to Marine Protected Areas, support for sustainable subsistence fishing and eco-tourism. But they are losing, and so more powerful resistance is needed, focusing on shifting towards post-fossil energy and transport infrastructure, agriculture and spatial planning. Given how climate change has become devastating to vulnerable coastlines – such as central Mozambique's, victim of two of the Southern Hemisphere's most intense cyclones in March-April 2019 – it is essential to better link ocean defence mechanisms to climate activism: global youth Climate Strikes and the direct action approach adopted by the likes of Dakota Access Pipe Line resistance in the US, Extinction Rebellion in Britain, and Ende Gelande in Germany. Today, as the limits to capital's crisis-displacement tactics are becoming more evident, it is the interplay of these top-down and bottom-up processes that will shape the future Blue Economy narrative, giving it either renewed legitimacy, or the kind of illegitimacy already experienced in so much South African resource-centric capitalism. Keywords: Blue Economy, capitalist crisis, Oceans Phakisa, resistance, South Africa


The interaction between changing society and developments in information technologies has created a connected lifestyle. This connected lifestyle has become a part of daily life and changed the expectations of society such as by increasing the expectations regarding health and related services. In this study, it is aimed to visualize the evolution of the concept of connected health to investigate the ever-tightening relationships between health and information systems. Queries were made in the Web of Science database by using selected keywords related to health and information systems. In order to understand the evolutionary relationships between the concepts, analyses were conducted within five-year intervals with the VantagePoint software. First, conceptual networks were created by using co-occurrence data. Then, network structures were visualized and interpreted by using UCINET and VOSViewer. Finally, it was demonstrated that the main stream of publications are related to electronic health records in concept of connected health. All other technological developments and health related issues were connected to this main stream in years with different characteristics. At present, there are diseases, care services, privacy, infrastructure and mobile dimensions for today's network. This input gives insight about the future of connected health concept as the importance of privacy, personalized care with mobile networks and infrastructure.


Learning resources have been created to represent digital units of exchangeable materials that teachers and learners can pull from in order to support the learning processes. They resource themselves. Leveraging the web, one can often find these resources. But what characteristics do they need in order to be easily exchangeable? Although several investigations have explored the ways in which resources are transforming the practice and ways to publish, few have considered realistic use cases, where the technical competency of the teacher is accounted for. Based on a concrete context-crossing exchange, this paper highlights facets of learning resources that enable an exchange of learning resources and, thus, the exchange of practices. Doing this allows us to highlight important facets that learning resources should show in order for them to be found, to be adopted, and to be adapted.


The acceptability of new product is decided by its performance, level of improvement in quality and economy of production. In the present study attempt has been made to create pores in twill woven fabric made from shoddy/wool/PVA blended yarn. The modified yarn was produced by removing a component viz; PVA, by treatment with hot water from blended yarn. A comparative assessment for different properties like bending behavior, air permeability, crease recovery, extensibility, strength and porosity for fabrics made from parent and treated yarn was done. The fabric from treated yarn was found to show significant improvement in bending rigidity, crease recovery, air permeability and extensibility while strength decline marginally.


Importance Uncorrected refractive errors are the most common cause of visual impairment in children despite correction being highly cost-effective. Objective To determine whether less expensive ready-made spectacles produce rates of spectacle wear at 3 to 4 months comparable to those of more expensive custom-made spectacles among eligible school-aged children. Design, Setting, and Participants This noninferiority, double-masked, randomized clinical trial recruited children aged 11 to 15 years from January 12 through July 31, 2015, from government schools in urban and periurban areas surrounding Bangalore, India. Follow-up occurred from August 1 through September 31, 2015. Participants met the following eligibility criteria for ready-made spectacles: failed vision screening at the 6/9 level in each eye; refraction was indicated; acuity improved with correction by 2 or more lines in the better-seeing eye; the corrected acuity with the spherical equivalent was not more than 1 line less than with full correction; anisometropia measured less than 1.0 diopter; and an appropriate frame was available. Interventions Eligible children were randomized to ready-made or custom-made spectacles. Main Outcomes and Measures Proportion of children wearing their spectacles at unannounced visits 3 to 4 months after the intervention. Results Of 23 345 children aged 11 to 15 years who underwent screening, 694 had visual acuity of less than 6/9 in both eyes, and 535 underwent assessment for eligibility. A total of 460 children (227 female [49.3%] and 233 male [50.7%]; mean [SD] age, 13.4 [1.3] years) were eligible for ready-made spectacles (2.0% undergoing screening and 86.0% undergoing assessment) and were randomized to ready-made (n = 232) or custom-made (n = 228) spectacles. Follow-up rates at 3 to 4 months were similar (184 [79.3%] in the ready-made group and 178 [78.1%] in the custom-made group). Rates of spectacle wear in the 2 arms were similar among 139 of 184 children (75.5%) in the ready-made arm and 131 of 178 children (73.6%) in the custom-made arm (risk difference, 1.8%; 95% CI, −7.1% to 10.8%). Conclusions and Relevance Most children were eligible for ready-made spectacles, and the proportion wearing ready-made spectacles was not inferior to the proportion wearing custom-made spectacles at 3 to 4 months. These findings suggest that ready-made spectacles could substantially reduce costs for school-based eye health programs in India without compromising spectacle wear, at least in the short term. Trial Registration isrctn.com Identifier: ISRCTN14715120


Background The 11+ program prevents anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in athletes through unknown mechanisms. Purpose The aim of the current study was to evaluate the effects of The 11+ intervention program, performed by female soccer players during a single season, on the frequency of Early Peaks during athletic tasks. Methods Three teams (69 players) of collegiate female soccer athletes (Divisions I and II) were recruited. Two teams (49 players) volunteered to perform The 11+ three times per week for one season (~22 weeks plus three weeks pre-season), and one team (20 players) served as controls. The athletes performed three repetitions of a cutting maneuver, side shuffle direction change, and forwards to backwards running direction change before and after the competitive season and were recorded using marker-based 3D motion capture. Knee valgus moment time series were calculated for each repetition with inverse kinematics and classified as either "Very Early Peak", "Early Peak" or "other" using cluster analysis. The classification was based timing of the peak relative to the timing of ACL injuries. The effect of the intervention on the frequency of Very Early Peaks and Early Peaks was evaluated with a mixed Poisson regression controlling for the movement task and pre-season frequency. Results The 11+ intervention reduced the frequency of Early Peak knee valgus moment in one intervention team (coefficient = -1.16, p = 0.004), but not the other (coefficient = -0.01, p = 0.977). No effect was observed on the frequency of Very Early Peak knee valgus moment. Conclusions Reduced frequency of knee valgus moment Early Peak during athletic tasks may explain the mechanism by which The 11+ program decreases risk of ACL injury. Prospective studies with a much larger sample size are required to establish a link between Early Peak knee valgus moments and risk of ACL injury. Level of evidence 2b


The following article will describe and reflect on a research study that was published in Counselling Psychology Quarterly in 2011, entitled 'Personal Therapy as a Mandatory Requirement for Counselling Psychologists in Training: A Qualitative Study of the Impact of Therapy on Trainees' Personal and Professional Development.' The aim of the study was to explore trainee counselling psychologists' experiences of mandatory personal therapy, and the impact it had on their personal and professional development. This article is written from an autoethnographic perspective. Autoethnography is a research method which allows authors to define, explain and methodically evaluate their personal experiences of being part of a particular culture, over a prolonged period of time. The use of the dialogue approach has allowed the study to be presented as an interview or a conversation that has taken place between two people. The article concentrates on three areas of autoethnography: firstly, sincerity which is interested in the author's objectives and the ways in which a study is designed, carried out, and presented. Secondly, contribution is about the significance of participants' stories and the ways in which they are interpreted. The standard of any research study is judged on the extent to which the work has furthered knowledge and understanding of a particular subject area. Thirdly, rich insight, involves an idiosyncratic process of self-reflection for the researcher to gain insight into their area of interest.


GPs in England should be able to refer patients with mental health problems who are out of work to special coordinators in job centres in a bid to help their recovery, a cross government mental health strategy is recommending.

Under proposals set out by the Department of Health and Department for Work and Pensions, the government intends to set up a network of mental health coordinators in Jobcentre Plus districts. Doctors will be able to refer patients who have had mental health problems to the coordinators to find appropriate jobs.

Jonathan Shaw, minister for disabled people, said, "The first thing someone says to their doctor [after they have been ill] is, 'When can I go back to work?'" Getting back to work can help hasten a person's recovery after an episode of mental illness, he said.

GPs should see a return to work as a …


That unmarried individuals die at a faster rate than married individuals at all ages is well documented. Unmarried women in developing countries face particularly severe vulnerabilities, so that excess mortality faced by the unmarried is more extreme for women in these regions compared to developed countries. We provide systematic estimates of the excess female mortality faced by older unmarried women in developing regions. We place these estimates in the context of the missing women phenomenon. There are approximately 1.5 million missing women between the ages of 30 and 60 years old each year. We find that 35% of these missing women of adult age can be attributed to not being married. These estimates vary by region. India has the largest proportion of missing adult women who are without a husband, followed by the countries in East Africa. By contrast, China has almost no missing unmarried women. We show that 70% of missing unmarried women are of reproductive age and that it is the relatively high mortality rates of these young unmarried women (compared to their married counterparts) that drive this phenomenon.