To evaluate a potential relationship between BRAF V600E mutation and PD-L1 expression, we examined the expression of PD-L1 in pediatric high- and low-grade glioma cell lines as well as a cohort of pediatric low-grade glioma patient samples. Half of the tumors in our patient cohort were V600-wildtype and half were V600E mutant. All tumors expressed PD-L1. In most tumors, PD-L1 expression was low (<5%), but in some cases over 50% of cells were positive. Extent of PD-L1 expression and immune cell infiltration was independent of BRAF V600E mutational status. All cell lines evaluated, including a BRAF V600E mutant xenograft, expressed PD-L1. Transient transfection of cell lines with a plasmid expressing mutant BRAF V600E had minimal effect on PD-L1 expression. These findings suggest that the PD-1 pathway is active in subsets of pediatric low-grade glioma as a mechanism of immune evasion independent of BRAF V600E mutational status. Low-grade gliomas that are unresectable and refractory to traditional therapy are associated with significant morbidity and continue to pose a treatment challenge. PD-1 pathway inhibitors may offer an alternative treatment approach. Clinical trials will be critical in determining whether PD-L1 expression indicates likely therapeutic benefit with immune checkpoint inhibitors.


During one year, 104 term products were in fetal presentation. Cesarean was done in 75%, and most frequent indications were, deflexionated head (24.2%); previous section 24.2%; head hyperextension 12.8%. Section was done only in 14.4% of product with the requisites for vaginal delivery. There were two neonate al deaths among the ones by vaginal via; one due to major congenital malformations. Corrected neonatal mortality was 34.4 for 1000 alive products. Severe perinatal asphyxia was in 0.76% in vaginal birth and in 0.38% of cesarean products; and difference was not statistically significant. Maternal morbidity was 20.3% in cesarean and 0% for vaginal delivery. In the cases with pelvic presentation, well selected for vaginal delivery, fetal morbidity was not significantly increased, and maternal morbidity decreases importantly. In selected patients and with well trained physicians for this purpose, vaginal delivery is a good option.


A space truss is in an unstable configuration if it can displace incrementally without an incremental change in its loading and its supports. The load path which follows after an unstable configuration can be unique (snap-through), or there can be several possible load paths (bifurcation). This paper presents a method to detect nearly unstable configurations of a truss, a method to determine the loading, displacements and reactions of the unstable configuration and a method to traverse the load path which follows after the unstable configuration. The detection of structural configurations with singular tangent stiffness matrix is essential because they can be unstable. The secondary paths, especially in unstable buckling, can play the most important role in the loss of stability and collapse of the structure. A new method for reliable detection and accurate computation of singular points on load paths is presented and applied to a space truss subjected to symmetric and asymmetric snow loads. Keywords : space structure, stability, snap-through, bifurcation, nonlinear behaviour


The present paper reports the photoluminescence (PL) and thermoluminescence (TL) studies of natural Bhutanese stone (Biotite) collected from Bhutan. The sample was Bhutanese stone irradiated with Co gamma source giving a dose from 0.5 kGy to 2 kGy. The heating rate used for TL measurements was 6.7 oC/s. The heating rate used for TL measurements was 6.7 oC/s. The samples shows good TL peaks, the corresponding activation energy (E) values are calculated. Structural characteristics were showed by XRD spectrum of the sample. The value of trap depth of Bhutanese stone was evaluated by different methods. Also the annealing quenching effect was studied for gamma exposure of the sample.


Initial observations regarding the use of music therapy at one hospital in the palliative care of patients with advanced malignant disease are presented. In the hands of a trained music therapist, music has proven to be a potent tool for improving the quality of life. The diversity of its potential is particularly suited to the deversity of the challenges - physical, psychosocial and spiritual - that these patients present.


Introduction Mimicking physiological conditions for hypoxic in vitro studies requires special consideration regarding the preconditioning of culture media with respect to dissolved oxygen level (DO). The proliferation and phenotype of highly differentiated cells from tissues such as tendons, ligaments and bone marrow, can alter when exposed to different oxygen levels than in their normal niche.1 Establishment of hypoxic culture conditions within media requires specific time frames depending on final level of hypoxia desired.2 In this study the equilibration time required for DO level reaching the set point was investigated. We show that DO equilibrium is not attained for several hours and may have implications on readouts in early sampling of experimental tissues such as ex vivo tendon explants. Methods Four liquid media were tested: distilled de-ionised water; Dulbecco's phosphate buffer saline; Dulbecco's modified eagle medium containing 10% foetal bovine serum (FBS) (D10) and DMEM containing 15% FBS (D15) (all initially equilibrated at ambient atmospheric gas composition) were exposed to 8% O2 (balance 5% CO2, 87% N2) in a humidified incubator at 37 oC and DO level measured up to 8 h with a Jenway 970 portable DO2metre (Jenway, UK). Media was also stirred (S) using a magnetic bar to study the effect of mixing on oxygen dissolving rate. Real-time monitoring of the temperature was measured. Results There was a gradual reduction of DO toward the set point (8%) although the set point was not reached until 8 h in all media (Figure 1). There was no significant different between the media in the rate of DO reduction. Stirring facilitated faster oxygen removal in the first 2 h period however this initial advantage was not observed at later time points. The presence of cells cultured in D10 did not influence the DO reduction pattern compared to S and non-stirring (NS) conditions. Discussion In both S and NS group a minimum of 8 h pre-conditioning was required to reach the designated oxygen set point. These results show that preconditioning of culture media in hypoxic experiments and optimisation of this period is essential. This pre-conditioning period is critical as the gradual decrease of DO towards the set point can constantly alter the cellular and molecular profile of the experiment and may impact early sampling. Abstract 96 Figure 1 DO level in D10 media in non-stirring (NS) and stirring (S) conditions. Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) cultured in D10 were assayed in NS conditions only. The horizontal line denotes the 8% oxygen set point. Data is shown as mean ± SEM. *Significance levels were set at p ≤ 0.05 References Chung DJ, et al. Res Vet Sci. 2012;92(1):66–75 Newby D. et al. Placenta. 2005;26(4):353–357


Authors' contribution: DGC: study conception, initial drafting of the manuscript, and review of the literature. LAQC: data acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data, and critical revision of the manuscript for intellectual content. LCHCJ: data acquisition and critical revision of the manuscript for intellectual content. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.


Using satellite radar interferometry observations of Greenland, we detected widespread glacier acceleration below 66° north between 1996 and 2000, which rapidly expanded to 70° north in 2005. Accelerated ice discharge in the west and particularly in the east doubled the ice sheet mass deficit in the last decade from 90 to 220 cubic kilometers per year. As more glaciers accelerate farther north, the contribution of Greenland to sea-level rise will continue to increase.


In 2009 Tallafha, A. and Khalil, R. defined a new type of uniform space namely, semi-linear uniform space [8]. Later Tallafha, A. in [9], [10] and [11], Alhihi, S. in [1] and Tallafha, A. and Alhihi, S. in [12], gave more properties of semi-linear uniform spaces. Also Lipschitz condition and contraction mapping on semi-linear uniform spaces are defined, which enables one to study fixed point for such functions. In this article we shall define a modified semi-linear uniform space and a new type of contractions on semilinear uniform spaces, finally we ask the following natural question. If f is a contraction from a complete modified semi-linear uniform space (X,Γ) to itself, is f has a unique fixed point.


It is shown that three related antibiotics, distamycin A, propyl-distamycin and netropsin, can protect certain endo R.Hind III cleavage sites from attack by endonuclease, giving rise, after endo R.Hind III digestion, to larger DNA fragments. Bacteriophage lambda DNA has six recognition sites for Hind III enzyme. Three of these sites: shind III 2, 3 and 6 can be protected from nuclease action by all the antibiotics used. Propyl-distamycin protects partly shind III 5, too. Netropsin protects partly sites shind III 5 and 4, while distamycin A protects all the sites but shind III 1 so the Hind III digestion produces only two large fragments of lambda DNA.


The main objective of the research was to assess the performance of agricultural cooperative from the members' perspective, using the tool model that will assist my research with the cooperative internal and external factors affecting the performance of the smallholder agricultural cooperative. The state and other stakeholders considered cooperative as the strategy that will stimulate economic development and reduce poverty, which was supported also by other policy documents like (NDP) National Development Commission and (CRDP) Comprehensive Rural Development Programme. Internationally evidence shows that cooperative are among institutions that can help farmers to address numerous challenges that include economies of scale and market participation. Nationally, some studies were done by other researchers on cooperative performance and the results indicate that accountability and lack of transparency (poor governance) were the cause of poor performance of the smallholder agricultural cooperatives. Other researchers have discovered that stringent marketing requirements and limited provision of inputs are the cause of smallholder cooperative poor performance. Various approaches were done to address the challenges which include the performance of agricultural cooperative and the approach to analyse the member's satisfaction in smallholder agricultural cooperatives. Smallholder cooperatives reputation is not convincing or with poor return on investment especially in South Africa, which necessitate studies to explore the level of member's satisfaction of the smallholder agricultural cooperative as expected from the board of directors. The questionnaire was developed to assist in the research and a sample of eight collective actions in Mogalakwena Municipality (Limpopo Province) involved in small livestock; vegetable production; grain crops and mixed farming were interviewed. Questionnaire had ratings from 1 to 5. The questions were translated to farmer's home language and given an opportunity to respond on questionnaire by crossing the relevant score. The questionnaire used was based on the FORCE (Farmer Organisation Reviewing Capacity and Entrepreneur) tool model and the areas of study include: the membership base; governance and internal democracy; management of human and financial resources; collaboration and alliance; service provision to members; production and production risk, and the relationship between farmers and buyers and default with supporting statements per area of study or performance area. The results on members' perception of the Mapela smallholder agricultural cooperative were analysed from the cooperative members and the board of directors/management. The results of the eight performance areas indicate that governance, collaboration and alliance, Production and production risk, relationship among farmers and buyers and default scored above the average and membership, management of human and financial resources and service provision to members scored below the average. Despite that government have spent resources to develop cooperatives and there was no research conducted before in Mogalakwena that focus internal factors affecting the performance of the cooperative. The performances of the cooperative in all the assessed areas have scored below 50%, which means unhealthy business feedback for cooperative members and members of the cooperative not enjoying the benefits smallholder collective actions. vii. CHAPTER


In this work, segregation data for seven commercial products at a dry mineral-based construction materials plant have been analyzed. The segregation manifests itself as an increase of the fines content to unacceptable levels at the end of complete emptying from a surge silo situated upstream of packing. Results for preliminary tests for sifting segregation and fluidization show the difficulty in estimating a priori the segregation patterns observed in practice. Knowledge of the segregation mechanisms occurring with similar materials at silo filling and the discharge flow pattern is utilized to explain the segregation at silo emptying: Accumulation of fine particles at the silo walls during filling and discharge in expanded flow cause fines-rich regions from the vicinity of walls in the lower parts of the silo to be withdrawn last. Large variations in the magnitude of segregation for each product cannot be explained for example by production run size, but are caused by size variations in the silo input, uneven distribution of fines over the heap surface during filling, unpredictable stagnant zones during discharge, and sampling procedure. Segregation at discharge mainly increases with increasing particle size distribution, but the product with the widest size distribution does not segregate the most. The width of the particle size distribution for the products correlates with the mass fraction of fine particles, and inclusion of a special additive (synthetic fibers) in very small proportions is also seen to affect segregation. Therefore, a regression model based on the mass fraction of fines and fibers was employed to organize the products according to the magnitude of segregation. Results for the model show that segregation does not always increase with an increase in the width of the particle size distribution and is negatively affected by inclusion of light and elongated particles (fibers).


The subject of this thesis is student/teacher interaction in the one-to-one piano lesson. As well as analysing lesson interaction itself, this research also considers the influences and effects of this behaviour. Two longitudinal studies monitored pupil/teacher dyads over a two-year period, and found that interaction changes very little over time beyond a small increase in relaxation which was more evident through participant report than observation. Five short study dyads, involving five undergraduate students an d three teachers were each recorded over a series of piano lessons. Using multiple sources of evidence, three perspectives were explored, that of the observer, the teacher and the student. Analysis focussed on five specific topics; student learning, student communication, influences on teaching, teachers' use of gesture and movement, and how teachers respond to the needs of their students. The primary conclusion drawn from these studies is that the student/teacher relationship and lesson behaviour is asymmetrical, teacher-dominated and formulaic. This style is teacher promoted, student supported and influenced by previous experiences. Lesson routine is based on improving performance skills through the study of individual pieces and involves three steps - student performance, teacher assessment and advice. Student performance is the primary medium by which they communicate their ideas and progress, and from which teachers identify the students' needs. Strengths (teaching content and imaginative methods of delivery) and weaknesses (students' passivity, frustration and teachers' lack of understanding) were evident in the lessons at the tertiary level and the teacher-dominated approach is seen as inappropriate for students at this level. It is suggested that a more student-directed lesson style would improve learning and lesson interaction, and prepare students better for a future of independent music making.


This study was design to evaluate the anti-candidal activity of Astragalus verus Olivier, Fabaceae (Av). The GC/MS analysis of essential oils of Av showed that aqueous extract contains thymol while hexadecanoic acid, 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid, diisooctyl ester and phytol were found as major components of methanol and acetone extracts. The aqueous extract showed anti-candidal activity in the concentration 320 mg/mL using disc diffusion method and its minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was 160 mg/mL. To induce cutaneous candidiasis, the dorsum of immunocompromised guinea pigs was infected with Candida albicans and animals were divided into five groups (n=5 for each): NC, received a vehicle; PC, received topical ketoconazole 2% and three other groups which received topical 10, 20 and 40% aqueous extract of Av. On ninth day postinfection, skins were cultured and colony forming unite per gram (CFU/g) skin was recorded. Systemic candidiasis was obtained by intravenous inoculation of C. albicans, 4000 CFU/g body weight. Here, animals have been divided into five groups like cutaneous candidiasis but their medications have been delivered in drinking water for ten days before induction of infection. On second day postinfection, all internal tissues were taken for determining CFU/g tissue. The aqueous extract (40%) prevented heavy burden of C. albicans in tissues and skin in oral and topical application, respectively. The results indicate that Av represents a potential source of anti-candidal drug.


A deficit in early clearance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) is crucial in nosocomial pneumonia and in chronic lung infections. Few studies have addressed the role of Toll-like receptors (TLRs), which are early pathogen associated molecular pattern receptors, in pathogen uptake and clearance by alveolar macrophages (AMs). Here, we report that TLR5 engagement is crucial for bacterial clearance by AMs in vitro and in vivo because unflagellated P. aeruginosa or different mutants defective in TLR5 activation were resistant to AM phagocytosis and killing. In addition, the clearance of PAK (a wild-type P. aeruginosa strain) by primary AMs was causally associated with increased IL-1β release, which was dramatically reduced with PAK mutants or in WT PAK-infected primary TLR5−/− AMs, demonstrating the dependence of IL-1β production on TLR5. We showed that this IL-1β production was important in endosomal pH acidification and in inducing the killing of bacteria by AMs through asparagine endopeptidase (AEP), a key endosomal cysteine protease. In agreement, AMs from IL-1R1−/− and AEP−/− mice were unable to kill P. aeruginosa. Altogether, these findings demonstrate that TLR5 engagement plays a major role in P. aeruginosa internalization and in triggering IL-1β formation.


BACKGROUND
In most cases of giant cell arteritis (GCA) the diagnosis is confirmed by temporal artery biopsy. Aside from the diagnostic purpose, histological parameters may serve as prognostic markers.

OBJECTIVES
To review positive temporal artery biopsies ofGCA in an attempt to correlate various histological parameters with clinical features, disease complications and outcome.

METHODS
Positive biopsies from 65 GCA patients were randomly selected for review by a single pathologist. In each biopsy the following parameters were scored: intensity and location of the inflammatory infiltrate, presence of giant cells and other cell types, fragmentation and calcification of the internal elastic lamina, intimal thickening, and presence of luminal thrombus. Clinical data were obtained from the patients' charts. Intensity of the initial systemic inflammatory reaction (ISIR) at the time of diagnosis was scored by the presence of five parameters: fever, anemia, thrombocytosis, leukocytosis, and sedimentation rate >100 mm/hr.

RESULTS
In cases with bilateral positive biopsy (n=27), there was good correlation between the two sides regarding intensity of inflammation (r= 0.65, P< 0.001), location of the infiltrate (r= 0.7, P< 0.001), degree of intimal thickening (r= 0.54, P 0.001), and presence of giant cells (r= 0.83, P< 0.001). The rate of corticosteroid discontinuation tended to be quicker in patients with inflammatory infiltrates confined mainly to the adventitia, but other histological parameters did not affect this rate.

CONCLUSIONS
Inflammatory infiltrates confined to the adventitia were associated with more neuro-ophthalmic ischemic manifestations, weak/moderate ISIR at the time of diagnosis, and faster rate of corticosteroid discontinuation. No association was found between other temporal artery biopsy histological parameters and clinical features of GCA patients.


: In 8 cases of rhinitis and asthma, the Trichophytons - of which the patient is often unaware as a cutaneous affection - were found to be responsible for the attacks by converging positive cutaneous tests, positive respiratory provocation tests and persevering dermatologic treatment. This infection is on the increase, due to faulty hygiene and use of mass swimming facilities.


Accessory gland proteins are a major component of Drosophila seminal fluid. These proteins have a variety of functions and may be subject to sexual selection and/or antagonistic evolution between the sexes. Most population genetic data from these proteins are from D. melanogaster and D. simulans. Here, we extend the population genetic analysis of Acp genes to the other simulans complex species, D. mauritiana and D. sechellia. We sequenced population samples of seven Acp's from D. mauritiana, D. sechellia, and D. simulans. We investigated the population genetics of these genes on individual simulans complex lineages and compared Acp polymorphism and divergence to polymorphism and divergence from a set of non-Acp loci in the same species. Polymorphism and divergence data from the simulans complex revealed little evidence for adaptive protein evolution at individual loci. However, we observed a dramatically inflated index of dispersion for amino acid substitutions in the simulans complex at Acp genes, but not at non-Acp genes. This pattern of episodic bursts of protein evolution in Acp's provides the strongest evidence to date that the population genetic mechanisms driving Acp divergence are different from the mechanisms driving evolution at most Drosophila genes.


Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a mycotoxin produced by species of the genus Aspergillus and penicillium. Human exposure has been demonstrated worldwide and its origin seems to be the intake of contaminated foods. Immunotoxic and genotoxic effects of OTA were investigated in mature male albino rats, when treated with garage in a close of 150, 300 and 450 OTA μg/kg B.wt. for 90 days. In the context several immune function assays were performed and bone marrow smears were obtained and stained in order to analyse micronuclei in polychromatic erythrocytes. The response of splenocytes to sheep red blood cells was decreased in a dose – dependent manner. However, slightly statistically significant differences were obtained. Cytotoxic T lymphocytes activity was lower in the animals exposed to 150 OTA μg/kg B.wt. but was not modified in the groups exposed to 300 & 450 μg/kg B.wt.. The number of micronuclei in bone marrow polychromatic erythrocytes was slightly increased with respect to the control at any dose.


A new micro EDM method is described. First, the basic principles of micro EDD are analyzed and realized conditions are predicted. Then with an ordinary EDM shaping machine and electrode brass, steel and tungsten, a large number of experiments are carried out in air to obtain the effects of different processing parameters on micro EDD. A micro cylinder with 0.19mm in diameter and 7.35mm in height is formed on high-speed steel surface. By exchanging the polarities of electrode and workpiece the deposited material can be removed selectively, thus the reversible machining is realized. In the end, measurements show that the deposited material is compact and hardened, whose components depend on the tool electrode material although Zn in brass electrode is oxidized to ZnO.


Background: Few health-related questionnaires have been translated into American Sign Language (ASL), precluding Deaf adults from full participation in health-related research. Objectives: To translate self-report measures (written English) into sign language and to evaluate the equivalence of the ASL versions to the original English versions of the measures. Methods: A descriptive-comparative design with a derived etic (outsider) perspective was used to evaluate equivalency between the English version of the Self-Rated Abilities for Health Practices (SRAHP) and an ASL version. Both versions were administered to 24 bilingual (English and ASL) adults. Analysis included correlation between total scores and comparison of internal consistency of both versions; psychometric properties of the signed SRAHP were computed for 105 Deaf adults who participated in a study of the Deaf Heart Health Intervention (DHHI). Results: The correlation between total scores on ASL and English versions was .92, item-to-total correlations ranged from .08 to .80 on the English version and from .33 to .80 on the ASL version. Cronbach's alpha was .91 for the English version and .90 for the ASL version. Mean scores on the ASL version were significantly lower for the all-Deaf DHHI sample (n = 105) than for the bilingual subjects (n = 24) although internal consistency remained high (Cronbach's alpha of .93 and item-to-total correlation of .38-.74) for the new ASL version. Discussion: The use of an adapted translation model resulted in a sound ASL version of a health-related measure. Results support use of the derived etic strategy for translating measures from their original language into new languages. The approach is also appropriate for changing modalities from written form to other modalities, such as the visual-manual modality of ASL.


The objective of this research is to investigate multitemporal spaceborne SAR data for urbanization monitoring in China. A generalized version of Kittler- Illingworth minimum-error thresholding algorithm, that takes into account the non-Gaussian distribution of SAR images, was tested to automatically classify the change variable derived from SAR multitemporal images into two classes, change and no change. A modified ratio operator was examined for identifying both positive and negative changes by comparing the multitemporal SAR images on a pixel-by-pixel basis. Various probability density functions such as Log normal, Generalized Gaussian, Nakagami ratio, and Weibull ratio models were tested to model the distribution of the change and no change classes. The preliminary results showed that this unsupervised change detection algorithm is very effective in detecting temporal changes in urban areas using multitemporal SAR images. The initial findings indicated that change detection accuracy varies depending on how the assumed conditional class density function fits the histograms of change and no change classes.


For so many times, Far East Asian liquid natural gas (LNG) buyers have been using price linked to crude oil-indexed, now they need to find another alternative pricing formula for their crucial energy supply as a better price structure that could reflect the market is needed. LNG spot price is expected to be the pillar for the future LNG trading, especially for Far East Asia Market. As less and less long-term contracts are signed in the Far East Asia Market, this creates an additional demand for the LNG in the spot market, while it raises some issues about the presence of different LNG pricing mechanisms. Most of the LNG spot prices in Asia are indexed to the relatively low natural gas prices in Atlantic Basin. Furthermore, the advancement of drilling technology in the US drives down its natural gas prices, resulting in price discrepancies between Asian LNG spot and East Asian LNG prices. This study investigates whether there is a price linkage between Asian LNG spot and East Asian LNG prices. This study comprehends 91 observations collected from January 2010 to July 2017. Johansen co-integration tests were carried out to examine the existence of long-run relationship on the spot, Japanese and South Korean LNG prices. The Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF), Phillip-Perron (PP), and Kwiatkowski-Phillips-Schmidt-Shin (KPSS) unit root tests were conducted first before proceeding to the cointegration tests. The results showed that Asian LNG spot prices did not have price linkage for monthly averages of Japanese and South Korean LNG prices. The analyses also indicated that Taiwan LNG markets move together with Asian LNG spot markets. As a conclusion, the results inferred that supply dependency on LNG spot cargoes governed the price linkage among these Asian LNG markets. The use of gas indexed LNG price mechanism did not reflect the economic fundamentals in Asia-Pacific Basin. JEL Classification: Q41


The acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) inhibitory activities of a series of pyrano[2,3-b]quinolines (2, 3), [1,8]naphthyridines (5, 6), 4-amino-2,3-diaryl-5,6,7,8-tetrahydrofuro[2,3-b]quinolines (11-13)/ 4-amino-6,7,8,9-tetrahydro-2,3-diphenyl-5H-cyclohepta[e]furo[2,3-b]pyridine (14), 4-amino-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-2,3-diphenylthieno[2,3-b]quinoline (15)/ 4-amino-6,7,8,9-tetrahydro-2,3-diphenyl-5H-cyclohepta[e]thieno[2,3-b]pyridine (16) are described. These compounds are tacrine analogues that have been prepared from readily available polyfunctionalized ethyl [6-amino-5-cyano-4H-pyran]-3-carboxylates (9, 10), ethyl [6-amino-5-cyanopyridine]-3-carboxylates (7, 8), 2-amino-3-cyano-4,5-diarylfurans (17-19) and 2-amino-3-cyano-4,5-diphenylthiophene (20) via Friedlander condensation with selected ketones. These compounds are competitive and, in a few cases, non-competitive inhibitors for AChE, the most potent being compound (14), though three-fold less active than tacrine. The BuChE inhibitory activity is only significant in compounds 11 and 14, ten-fold less active than tacrine. Furthermore, the products 12 and 13 are selective and moderate AChE inhibitors.


The electrostatic potential resulting from a metallic probe tip near a semiconductor is examined. A solution is formulated assuming circular symmetry and using prolate spheroidal coordinates in the vacuum and Cartesian coordinates in the semiconductor. The result is most directly applied to the case of a hyperbolic probe tip, but other shapes (for example, a small hemispherical protrusion on the tip apex) can also be handled. Numerical results are given for representative cases that might be encountered in scanning probe microscopy.


Purpose

Growing up in the technology era and heavily invested in longer full-time education, the millennial workforce holds unique characteristics that may influence important job outcomes. Building on the recent research on workforce generations, this paper aims to investigate not only the overall effect of the millennial generation on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) but also the nuanced effect of how workforce generations may interact with two factors in career development (i.e. job crafting and career anchor) in predicting OCB.

Design/methodology/approach

An online survey was conducted among full-time workers in the USA, 321 (64 per cent) of whom were millennials. Hierarchical regression was used to test the hypotheses.

Findings

Results indicated that millennials appeared to be less interested in OCB compared to earlier generations in the workforce. Nevertheless, some dimensions of OCB increased when millennials conducted resource-related job crafting or when they held a career anchor on service. In addition, both of these career development factors were positively correlated with OCB.

Research limitations/implications

This study offers important implications to researchers as well as practitioners and highlights the significance of career development factors in motivating millennials toward desired job outcomes.

Originality/value

This research is among the initial attempts to assess the impact of job design and career factors on OCB among millennial workers. The findings highlight millennials' unique perspectives toward OCB and how job crafting and career anchor may play influencing roles on OCB. With millennials becoming the largest generation in the workforce, such knowledge is critical.


The aging population, the complexity and irreversibility of certain conditions lead to the deaths of 20 % of patients admitted to intensive care units (ICU). However, in Quebec, as elsewhere in America, few of them currently receive palliative care. Method: inspired by a conceptual model considering nursing as a moral practice, this phenomenological study was conducted in four phases: focus groups (n=6) observation sessions (n=6) followed by individual interviews and group validation activities (n=5). In its first part, this study shows that through several caring behaviours, "good palliative care" in the ICU is manifested by the consideration of six dimensions of the person, physical, relational, psychological, moral, social and spiritual. This article presents the second part of this study and reveals three main themes summarizing the conditions facilitating "good the palliative care" according to ICU nurses: Sharing a common vision enhanced by a collective and specific palliative care knowledge, an informed and concerted decisionmaking process in a favourable organisational and physical environment.


1055, C55, C55E, and C55R are wrought medium-carbon (carbon = 0.50–0.60%) non-alloy steels that are used in the normalized, cold worked, quenched and tempered, or austempered condition. 1055, C55E, and C55R may also be flame or induction hardened, nitrided, or nitrocarburized. These steels are widely used for moderately and highly stressed parts that require higher strength levels than can be achieved by the lower carbon grades, and where the expense of an alloy steel is not justified. They are also used for applications where the higher carbon is needed to improve wear characteristics. This datasheet provides information on composition, physical properties, hardness, and tensile properties. It also includes information on forming and heat treating. Filing Code: CS-258. Producer or source: Heat Treater's Guide.


This study examines GAAP effective tax rate (ETR) visibility as a distinct disclosure choice in firms' financial statements. By applying a game-theory disclosure model for the voluntary disclosure strategies of firms, in a tax setting, we argue that firms face a trade-off in their ETR disclosure decisions. On the one hand, firms have an incentive to enhance their ETR disclosure when the ratio offers shareholders 'favourable conditions', for example, higher expected after-tax cash flows. On the other hand, the disclosure of a favourable low ETR could attract the attention of tax auditors and the public and ultimately result in disclosure costs. We empirically test disclosure behaviour by examining the relation between disclosure visibility and different ETR conditions that reflect different stakeholder-specific costs and benefits. While we find that unfavourable ETR conditions are not highlighted, we observe higher disclosure visibility for favourable ETRs (smooth, close to the industry average, and decreasing ETRs). Additional analyses reveal that this high visibility is characteristic of firm years with only moderately decreasing ETRs at usual ETR levels, while extreme ETRs are not highlighted. Interestingly and in contrast to our main results, a subsample of family firms does not seem to highlight favourable ETRs.


Admission of a new born to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is a stressful and unexpected event to most parents. This quantitative study aimed at identifying factors that contribute to stress in mothers nursing babies in the NICU at the Women and New Born Hospital in Zambia. A cross sectional study was conducted among 280 mothers who were randomly selected over a three-month period. Stress levels were assessed using Parental Stressor Scale: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (PSS: NICU) questionnaire. Informed consent was obtained from the mothers for the study. Inclusion criteria for the study were mothers of admitted neonates and their neonates who had to remain in the NICU for at least 24 h. Stata software version 13 was used to analyse data Chi square test to determine association between stress and maternal and infant characteristics. Kruskal wallis test was used to determine association between subscales of the PSS: NICU tool and interquartile and median were calculated since the data was not normally distributed. Results revealed that participants were more stressed by alteration of the parental role and the appearance and behaviour of their neonate. All participants rated admission of the neonate as being stressful. Maternal characteristics that were associated with stress included education level and duration of stay in Kruskal-Wallis test showed a statistical difference between the stress subscales with alteration of parental role being the most stressful subscale. Mothers have different stress levels with most of them experiencing moderate and extreme stress; appropriate counselling targeted towards specific stressors identified is required. The limitation of this study is that it did not monitor levels of stress at different times of admission Future research should monitor how maternal stress changes throughout the neonate's NICU stay. This information can be used to design effective support programme to help mothers adopt coping strategies during their infant's hospitalization.

 Key words: Maternal stressors, neonatal intensive care, Stressor Parental Stressor Scale: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (PSS: NICU).


Abstract Frequent freezing injury greatly influences winter wheat production; thus, effective prevention and a command of agricultural production are vital. The freezing injury monitoring method integrated with '3S' (geographic information systems (GIS), global positioning system (GPS) and remote sensing (RS)) technology has an unparalleled advantage. Using HuanJing (HJ)-1A/1B satellite images of a winter wheat field in Shanxi Province, China plus a field survey, crop types and winter wheat planting area were identified through repeated visual interpretations of image information and spatial analyses conducted in GIS. Six vegetation indices were extracted from processed HJ-1A/1B satellite images to determine whether the winter wheat suffered from freezing injury and its degree of severity and recovery, using change vector analysis (CVA), the freeze injury representative vegetation index and the combination of the two methods, respectively. Accuracy of the freezing damage classification results was verified by determining the impact of freezing damage on yield and quantitative analysis. The CVA and the change of normalized difference vegetation index (ΔNDVI) monitoring results were different so a comprehensive analysis of the combination of CVA and ΔNDVI was performed. The area with serious freezing injury covered 0.9% of the total study area, followed by the area of no freezing injury (3.5%), moderate freezing injury (10.2%) and light freezing injury (85.4%). Of the moderate and serious freezing injury areas, 0.2% did not recover; 1.2% of the no freezing injury and light freezing injury areas showed optimal recovery, 15.6% of the light freezing injury and moderate freezing injury areas showed poor recovery, and the remaining areas exhibited general recovery.


With its strong economic, technological and innovative potential, Asia-Pacific has the potential to drive the global economy. The "engine" of this drive is the system of supply-value chains within the vertically-organized Asia-Pacific conglomerates specializing in producing value-added intermediate goods and services. In the academic literature, this phenomenon is conceptualized as "Factory Asia". To unlock Asia-Pacific's true potential, the implementation of measures embracing regional infrastructural, institutional and people-to-people connectivity becomes the key prerequisite for success. The initiatives of Asia-Pacific economic regionalism covering the trans-Pacific and the East Asian/South Asian geographical domain—the Free Trade Area of Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)—have different possibilities to develop the connectivity agenda. While FTAAP and potentially RCEP can stimulate these processes, for TPP it is highly problematic. This broadens the possibilities for Russia to get more involved in Asia-Pacific economic cooperation with an emphasis upon technologically-advanced exchanges within Factory Asia. Strengthening regional connectivity is the key component in Russia's agenda in multilateral cooperation with Asia-Pacific countries, which was exemplified by Russia's APEC agenda. While at present the resource-intensive production in Russia's Far East is prioritized, the multiplier effect produced by the Territories of Advanced Development on the industrial and innovative sectors of Russian economy can help Russia to enter Factory Asia.


Institutional and Macroeconomic Environment of Corporations With respect to the occurrence of economic crises it may be observed that economic performance of countries is determined by the quality of its institutions. It is the corporate governance failure that is said, in line with the new institutional economic theory, to be among reasons for the recent international fi nancial and economic crisis. This study has the goal of confi rming, by empirical analysis, the existence of correlation between, on one hand, the quality of the institutional environment expressed by index of economic freedom and by its selected subindexes, and, on the other hand, the macroeconomic environment for corporates – as characterised by selected macroeconomic indicators. In result, countries with higher foreign direct investments infl ux and higher per capita GDP show higher levels of index of economic freedom. Countries with higher level of property rights protection and lower corruption level achieve higher GDP per capita. Countries with higher ratio of government expenditure on GDP reach lower levels of index of economic freedom, this being interpreted as a  substitution of private business entities and entrepreneurial initiative by a government.


EDWARD A. MAZIARZ. The philosophy of mathematics. Philosophical Library, New York 1950, viii + 286 pp . This is a careful and well-documented a t tempt to give a neo-scholast-ic account of the relations among metaphysics, mathematics, and logic. The fundamental standpoint is tha t of Thomas Aquinas and ult imately Aristotle, as is seen in the continual references to " fo rm" and " m a t t e r " and to the "abs t rac t ive" operations of the mind. The writer tries to show tha t theories of mathematics and logic which conflict with the scholastic tradition are deficient or erroneous in various respects. The book reflects the growing willingness among neo-scholastic thinkers to admit a greater importance to symbolic logic than heretofore, though apparently still wishing to keep this new instrument somewhat circumscribed in its applications to philosophy. The reviewer feels t ha t there is a failure on the par t of Maziarz to appreciate the potential value of symbolic logic for adding clarification to such hazy (but important) concepts as the Aristotelian form-matter dichotomy and the Aristotelian notion of substance, and even such concepts as xoOs and rtXos. Maziarz perhaps would rega/d any such use of symbolic logic as a mistaken a t t empt to identify symbolic logic with philosophy. The point is, however, t ha t symbolic logic can be applied in metaphysics and epistemology without making any such identification, and where problems are the most difficult the sharpest tools are needed. FREDERIC B. F ITCH


This study looks at car data markets from an economic perspective. We start from several options for the technical characteristics of data access points that have been discussed among stakeholders in the automotive industry. We examine the structure of data markets that are likely to emerge from these characteristics and the implications for the welfare of manufacturers, aftermarket service providers and drivers. Car manufacturers face competition in car markets and aftersales services. However, they can design the car data architecture to ensure their exclusive access to the data. That would give them a monopoly in the market for car data from their brand. They can use this to increase their leverage on aftersales services markets. Our baseline scenario is the Extended Vehicle proposal that manufacturers prefer. This ensures their data access monopoly and enables them to maximizes revenue from data and data-driven aftersales services. It reduces welfare for drivers and aftersales service providers. Two technical variations on the baseline scenario reduce manufacturers' leverage over data server governance and their monopolistic power. That could reduce social welfare losses and transfer more surplus to drivers and service providers, compared to the baseline scenario. Other scenarios examine alternative data access gateways, for instance by keeping the OBD plug open and by applying real time data portability under the GDPR. These scenarios may offer some scope for regulators if they wish to keep alternative data access channels open in order to stimulate competition in aftersales services markets. However, they entail additional hardware and switching costs for consumers, compared to the baseline and are therefore partial and imperfect substitutes. In two final scenarios we examine the market position of B2B data marketplaces and consumer media services platforms. The potential for data aggregation across car brands and other sources creates some possibilities for these platforms to provide a counterweight to monopolistic behaviour by the manufacturers. However, manufacturers' control over the data supply and access to the in-car human interface ensures that they retain substantial leverage over these platforms. Regulators may consider creating the conditions for a more level playing field between OEM services and third-party aftersales service providers. As a next step in this research, the general scenario-based observations in this study would have to be complemented with empirical evidence on the data market power of car manufacturers.


SARS-CoV-2 is spreading worldwide with continuously evolving variants, some of which occur in the Spike protein and appear to increase the viral transmissibility. However, variants that cause severe COVID-19 or lead to other breakthroughs have not been well characterized. To discover such viral variants, we assembled a cohort of 683 COVID-19 patients; 388 inpatients ("cases") and 295 outpatients ("controls") from April to August 2020 using electronically captured COVID test request forms and sequenced their viral genomes. To improve the analytic power, we accessed 7,137 viral sequences in Washington State to filter out viral single nucleotide variants (SNVs) that did not have significant expansions over the collection period. Applying this filter led to the identification of 53 SNVs that were statistically significant, of which 13 SNVs each had 3 or more variant copies in the discovery cohort. Correlating these selected SNVs with case/control status, eight SNVs were found to significantly associate with inpatient status (q-values<0.01). Using temporal synchrony, we identified a four SNV-haplotype (t19839-g28881-g28882-g28883) which was significantly associated with case/control status (Fisher's exact p=2.84*10-11) that appeared in April 2020, peaked in June, and persisted into January 2021. This association was replicated (OR=5.46, p-value=4.71*10-12) in an independent cohort of 964 COVID-19 patients (June 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021). The haplotype included a synonymous change N73N in endoRNase, and three non-synonymous changes coding residues R203K, R203S and G204R in the nucleocapsid protein. This discovery points to the potential functional role of the nucleocapsid protein in triggering "cytokine storms" and severe COVID-19 that led to hospitalization. The study further emphasizes a need for tracking and analyzing viral sequences in correlations with clinical status.


The water Cerenkov tanks of the Pierre Auger Observatory can detect particles at all zenith angles and are therefore well suited for the study of inclined and horizontal air showers (60° > θ < 90°). Such showers are characterized by a dominance of the muonic component at ground, and by a very elongated and asymmetrical footprint which can even exhibit a lobular structure due to the bending action of the geomagnetic field. Dedicated algorithms for the selection and reconstruction of such events, as well as the corresponding acceptance calculation, have been set up on basis of muon maps obtained from shower simulations.


ABSTRACT Using iconic images created by students in Belfast and Sarajevo of their respective cities, this paper will explore how emerging ideas in the field of cognitive science (e.g. Gallagher, S. 2005. How the Body Shapes the Mind. Oxford: Clarendon Press) can help explain the making and understanding of Augusto Boal's 'Image Theatre'. There has been growing interest in the intersection between performance and cognitive science (McConachie, B., and H. E. Hart, eds. 2006. Performance and Cognition: Theatre Studies after the Cognitive Turn. Routledge), particularly in terms of kinaesthetic empathy (Reynolds, D., and M. Reason, eds. 2012. Kinaesthetic Empathy in Creative and Cultural Practices. Intellect), which can enhance our understanding of the embodied practices associated with Augusto Boal's Image Theatre. This paper will analyse the ambiguities inherent in stage images of contested cities to explore how these may reveal unconscious insights into the image-makers' perception of their home environments. An image of Sarajevo, for instance, ostensibly about the Winter Olympics, prompts consideration of the city's internal divisions. An image of Belfast, ostensibly about the Titanic, suggests the limitations of the city's Peace Process. Taking Boal's idea that stage images should be felt rather than read, this article explores the fine line between feeling and meaning in the understanding of Image Theatre and suggests that alongside literacy and orality we now also need to include 'imageracy', the ability to interpret and understand images, as a key competency for the modern world.


PurposeTo determine the within-trial and between-trial repeatability of pattern electroretinogram (PERG) measurements in healthy and patient eyes, using a new clinical instrument, the PERGLA. Study DesignIn all, 70 eyes of 35 healthy individuals (intraocular pressure <22 mm Hg, healthy optic disc by stereophotograph assessment, standard visual fields within normal limits) and 90 eyes of 45 clinic patients (ocular hypertensive, glaucomatous optic neuropathy by stereophotograph assessment and/or repeatable abnormal visual fields) enrolled in the University of California, San Diego Diagnostic Innovations in Glaucoma Study (DIGS) were evaluated. Average mean deviation of patient eyes on standard automated perimetry was −1.81 dB (SD=2.61). MethodsThe PERG was recorded using the PERGLA paradigm from both eyes simultaneously twice (ie, 2 trials) by a single operator with electrodes being removed and reattached between recordings. Repeatability of PERG amplitude (μV) and phase (π rad) between 2 runs within a single trial (within-trial condition) was compared with repeatability between 2 trials (ie, after electrode replacement, between-trial condition) by calculating the coefficients of variability (CVs) and the intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and displaying Bland-Altman plots. ResultsFor healthy eyes, amplitude CVs (SD) were 11.5% (11.5) and 9.9% (0.79) for within-trial and between-trial conditions, respectively. ICCs were 0.91 and 0.85. Phase CVs were 1.3% (1.5) (within-trials) and 1.5% (1.4) (between-trials) and ICCs were 0.85 and 0.88. For patient eyes, amplitude CVs (SD) were 12.2% (10.1) and 11.2% (7.5) for within-trial and between-trial conditions, respectively. ICCs were 0.92 and 0.89. Phase CVs were 2.2% (2.2) (within-trials) and 2.4% (2.2) (between-trials) and ICCs were 0.82 and 0.83. Bland-Altman plots indicated good agreement between the repeated recordings and were similar within-trials and between-trials for healthy and patient eyes. ConclusionsRepeatability of PERGLA recordings is good and is similar within-trials and between-trials for both healthy and patient eyes suggesting this technique is promising for monitoring change over time.


Objective: To assess the relationship between Alzheimer disease (AD)–related pathologic changes in frontal cortical brain biopsy and AD biomarkers in ventricular vs lumbar CSF, and to evaluate the relationships of AD biomarkers in CSF and cortical biopsy with the final clinical diagnosis of AD. Methods: In 182 patients with presumed normal pressure hydrocephalus (152 with known APOE carrier status), Aβ plaques and tau in the cortical brain biopsies were correlated with the ventricular and lumbar CSF Aβ42, total tau, and p-tau levels measured by ELISA. In a median follow-up of 2.0 years, 51 patients developed AD dementia. Results: The patients with Aβ plaques in the cortical biopsy had lower (p = 0.009) CSF Aβ42 levels than those with no Aβ plaques. The patients with tau in the cortical biopsy had lower (p = 0.014) Aβ42 but higher (p = 0.015) p-tau 181 in CSF as compared to those with no tau in the cortical biopsy. The patients with amyloid + tau + biopsies had the lowest Aβ42 and highest tau and p-tau 181 levels in CSF. The Aβ42 levels were lower and the tau and p-tau 181 higher in the ventricular vs corresponding lumbar CSF samples. In multivariate analysis, the presence of cortical Aβ was independently predicted by the APOE ϵ4 carrier status and age but not by CSF Aβ42 or tau levels. Conclusions: Amyloid plaques and hyperphosphorylated tau in cortical brain biopsies are reflected by low CSF Aβ42 and high CSF tau and p-tau levels, respectively.


Background and Objective: Chronic Kidney disease (CKD) is one of the main National health problems in Thailand and one of the causes is nephrolithiasis. The stone size less than 5 mm. is hardly detected by ultrasonography, therefore it could be identified it as "Hyperechoic foci (HPF)". This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of HPF in CKD patients for a better health care prevention. This study aimed to  1. examine the prevalence of HPF in stage-3-and-4 CKD patients 2. identify the associated factors; positive Modified Fist Test (MFT), purine-rich food, and I-san Syndrome (ISS), with HPF. Method : Descriptive study with subgroup analysis. Location: Ubolratana and Namphong hospitals, KhonKaen province Population and samples: Purposive sampling was performed to recruit 292 registered patients with CKD stage 3 and 4, aged 18 years and above. Tools: An interview form, medical records, ultrasound records and machine. Statistical analysis: SPSS v.17 and Epi Info v. 3.5.4 were used to analyze central tendency and dispersion, proportions, 95% confidential intervals, Chi-square tests, Odds ratio, and T-test. Results : A total of 136 subjects were included in the study. The mean age was 69.5 ± 9.0 years. In all, 1.7% had a history of kidney stone. The overall HPF prevalence was 77.2% (95% CI 69.07, 83.77). The participants with HPF had positive MFT, purine-rich food and ISS (23.5%, 41.9% and 34.6%, respectively).  There were no statistical significance in correlations between the factors mentioned above and HPF. Conclusion s: Prevalence of HPF in stage-3-and-4 CKD patients was 77.2%. There were no statistical significance in correlations between the factors mentioned above and HPF.


Previous studies of the distribution and activity of male harbour seals, Phoca vitulina, based on telemetric techniques have shown that males restrict their range at the onset of the mating season and perform vocal and dive dis- plays. While these data illustrated broad changes in male behaviour and distribution, they were not precise enough to reveal the extent to which individual males repeatedly return to the same locations to display. In this study we used an acoustic array to localise male vocalisations. This technique provided small-scale information on male behaviour over 3 consecutive years. This study provides the first details concerning display-area size in an aquatically mating phocid. Male vocalisations were located in two discrete areas each covering between 40 and 135 m 2 . Vocalisations were repeat- edly located in these two areas over the 3-year period. Comparisons of four vocal parameters suggested that only one individual occupied each area throughout a mating season. Furthermore, comparative analysis suggested that males might return to the same two display areas in successive years. Although the number of males using the site was small, this study showed that acoustic localisation can be a valuable tool for detailed study of the underwater behaviour of aquatically mating pinnipeds.


Because of drawbacks in both tissue culture and para-nitroblue tetrazolium (PNBT) staining as methods for determining endothelial viability, a supravital stain (trypan blue) was evaluated as a possible means of accomplishing this. Rabbit and human corneas, fresh or stored, were bisected and stained with PNBT and trypan blue, and the viability estimated. In general, the two stains showed a good correlation, but the estimates from two different observers were of interest. Observer A found a 30% average difference between the PNBT and the trypan blue estimates; observer B found only a 10% average difference. This was probably due to the wide range of stain intensity with the PNBT method; all stained cells were called viable by observer A, while only those deeply stained were called viable by observer B. Trypan blue staining appears to give equal or better accuracy in evaluating endothelial viability, as well as being a simpler and quicker method.


We propose a new generalized thresholding algorithm useful for inverse problems with sparsity constraints. The algorithm uses a thresholding function with a parameter p, first mentioned in [1]. When p = 1, the thresholding function is equivalent to classical soft thresholding. For values of p below 1, the thresholding penalizes small coefficients over a wider range and applies less bias to the larger coefficients, much like hard thresholding but without discontinuities. The functional that the new thresholding minimizes is non-convex for p <; 1. We state an algorithm similar to the Iterative Soft Thresholding Algorithm (ISTA) [2].We show that the new thresholding performs better in numerical examples than soft thresholding.


The need to address the tremendous technological and investment risks intrinsic to the stages of business structuring and drawing up a business model means that an optimal tool to support innovative start-ups is sought. Continuity of the innovation process depends on the efficiency of individual instruments of implementing innovation and indeed on the entire infrastructure. Foreign experiences have shown that an acceleration mechanism to support innovative projects with the appropriate involvement of all stakeholders can be effective. This approach is embodied in regional business catalysts, combining organizational, managerial, research and production, and technological competences of the various actors of the innovation process, thus reducing the 'seedbed' costs and improving the quality of projects at the riskiest stages of the innovation process. The article reveals the importance and place of regional business catalysts in the innovation infrastructure toolbox, in particular the role they play in helping newcomers overcome the so-called 'valley of death' and in aiding innovative companies find investment. Regional business catalysts do this by synchronizing and coordinating competences of regional participants of the innovation process on the basis of common standards and a transparent selection procedure. Business catalysts can also contribute to an overall revitalization of innovative activity in regions. Examples of regional business catalysts introduced in Russia suggest that the region's high scientific and educational potential, the development of innovation infrastructure, and support of the authorities are key to catalysts' effectiveness. A performance assessment of the first national business catalyst, launched in the region of Rostov in 2012, confirms the effectiveness of catalysts in establishing horizontal linkages between the regional business community and institutions supporting innovation at the local and federal level. The authors describe the objective difficulties faced by regional business catalysts that are driven by the specificities of the engineering and manufacturing expertise for some projects and the complexity in establishing cooperation with key institutions of regional innovation infrastructure. Future developments are suggested to consolidate business catalysts' sectoral affiliation, to develop the networking aspects, ensure transparency of this mechanism, as well as expand partnerships between regional industry, academia, and government institutions to support innovative entrepreneurship.


Optical pulling is an attractive concept due to the counterintuitive feature, the profound mechanism underneath and promising applications. In recent ten years, optical pulling of micro-nano objects have been fully demonstrated. However, optical pulling of a macroscopic object is challenging. Herein, laser pulling of a macroscopic object is presented in rarefied gas. The pulling force is originated from the Kundsen force when a gauss laser beam irradiates a macroscopic structure composed of the absorptive bulk cross-linked graphene material and a SiO2 layer. A torsional pendulum device qualitatively presents the laser pulling phenomenon. A gravity pendulum device was used to further measure the pulling force that is more than three orders of magnitudes larger than the radiation pressure. This work expands the scope of optical pulling from microscale to macroscale and provides an effective technique approach for macroscopic optical manipulations.


Genebanks play an essential role in a world where a substantial part of agricultural biodiversity has been lost from farming habitats, malnutrition persists as the global population continues to rise, and farm productivity is vulnerable to climate change. We demonstrate the importance of the genebank of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in the development of seven iron-biofortified climbing bean varieties (CAB2, RWV3316, RWV3317, RWV3006, RWV2887, MAC44, MAC42) and the impact of their adoption on farm households in Rwanda. First, we link iron-biofortified climbing varieties directly to the genebank through pedigree analysis and key informant interviews with the breeders who developed them. Second, we apply an econometric model to test the impact of their adoption on the yield, consumption and purchase of beans by farming households in Rwanda. Analysis is based on a dataset collected from nearly 1400 households in 2015 by Harvest Plus. We find that the scope of the genetic diversity housed in the bean collection at CIAT was fundamental to developing successful iron-biofortified beans. In contrast to the findings of Vaiknoras (2019), which focused on a most extensively adopted variety of bush bean, we found no statistically significant effects. There could be various explanation for these results, such as the comparatively lower rate of adoption of climbing beans or their different characteristics and the difference in the way they are harvested. Our results suggest that it is possible to track the journey of an accession from its introduction in the genebank to its final use by farmers. Further research is needed to understand why these climbing varieties had less impact than the bush variety previously studied.


BACKGROUND
Tracheostomy formation is one of the most commonly performed surgical procedures in critically ill intensive care participants requiring long-term mechanical ventilation. Both surgical tracheostomies (STs) and percutaneous tracheostomies (PTs) are used in current surgical practice; but until now, the optimal method of performing tracheostomies in critically ill participants remains unclear.

OBJECTIVES
We evaluated the effectiveness and safety of percutaneous techniques compared to surgical techniques commonly used for elective tracheostomy in critically ill participants (adults and children) to assess whether there was a difference in complication rates between the procedures. We also assessed whether the effect varied between different groups of participants or settings (intensive care unit (ICU), operating room), different levels of operator experience, different percutaneous techniques, or whether the percutaneous techniques were carried out with or without bronchoscopic guidance.

SEARCH METHODS
We searched the following electronic databases: CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL to 28 May 2015. We also searched reference lists of articles, 'grey literature', and dissertations. We handsearched intensive care and anaesthesia journals, abstracts, and proceedings of scientific meetings. We attempted to identify unpublished or ongoing studies by contacting manufacturers and experts in the field, and searching in trial registers.

SELECTION CRITERIA
We included randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials (quasi-RCTs) comparing percutaneous techniques (experimental intervention) with surgical techniques (control intervention) used for elective tracheostomy in critically ill participants (adults and children).

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Three authors independently checked eligibility and extracted data on methodological quality, participant characteristics, intervention details, settings, and outcomes of interest using a standardized form. We then entered data into Review Manager 5, with a double-entry procedure.

MAIN RESULTS
Of 785 identified citations, 20 trials from 1990 to 2011 enrolling 1652 participants fulfilled the inclusion criteria. We judged most of the trials to be at low or unclear risk of bias across the six domains, and we judged four studies to have elements of high risk of bias; we did not classify any studies at overall low risk of bias. The quality of evidence was low for five of the seven outcomes (very low N = 1, moderate N = 1) and there was heterogeneity among the studies. There was a variety of adult participants and the procedures were performed by a wide range of differently experienced operators in different situations.There was no evidence of a difference in the rate of the primary outcomes: mortality directly related to the procedure (Peto odds ratio (POR) 0.52, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.10 to 2.60, I² = 44%, P = 0.42, 4 studies, 257 participants, low quality evidence); and serious, life-threatening adverse events - intraoperatively: risk ratio (RR) 0.93, 95% CI 0.57 to 1.53, I² = 27%, P = 0.78, 12 studies, 1211 participants, low quality evidence,and direct postoperatively: RR 0.72, 95% CI 0.41 to 1.25, I² = 24%, P = 0.24, 10 studies, 984 participants, low quality evidence.PTs significantly reduce the rate of the secondary outcome, wound infection/stomatitis by 76% (RR 0.24, 95% CI 0.15 to 0.37, I² = 0%, P < 0.00001, 12 studies, 936 participants, moderate quality evidence) and the rate of unfavourable scarring by 75% (RR 0.25, 95% CI 0.07 to 0.91, I² = 86%, P = 0.04, 6 studies, 789 participants, low quality evidence). There was no evidence of a difference in the rate of the secondary outcomes, major bleeding (RR 0.70, 95% CI 0.45 to 1.09, I² = 47%, P = 0.12, 10 studies, 984 participants, very low quality evidence) and tracheostomy tube occlusion/obstruction, accidental decannulation, difficult tube change (RR 1.36, 95% CI 0.65 to 2.82, I² = 22%, P = 0.42, 6 studies, 538 participants, low quality evidence).

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
When compared to STs, PTs significantly reduce the rate of wound infection/stomatitis (moderate quality evidence) and the rate of unfavourable scarring (low quality evidence due to imprecision and heterogeneity). In terms of mortality and the rate of serious adverse events, there was low quality evidence that non-significant positive effects exist for PTs. In terms of the rate of major bleeding, there was very low quality evidence that non-significant positive effects exist for PTs.However, because several groups of participants were excluded from the included studies, the number of participants in the included studies was limited, long-term outcomes were not evaluated, and data on participant-relevant outcomes were either sparse or not available for each study, the results of this meta-analysis are limited and cannot be applied to all critically ill adults.


Conventional tillage (CT) continues to be used on the vast majority of land seeded to monoculture winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in the Southern Plains of the United States. In the region, wheat can be grown for either grain-only, forage-only, or for both fall-winter forage + grain (dual-purpose). This study was conducted to determine the net returns of five alternative wheat production systems, for both CT and no-till (NT). The five production systems included one for forage-only, two for dual-purpose (fall-winter grazing + grain) with different planting dates, one grain-only, and one forage-only double cropped with foxtail millet [Setaria italica (L.) Beauv.]. The field research was conducted on three farm fields for 3 yr. Average wheat grain yields were greater with CT, whereas average fall wheat forage yields were significantly greater on the NT plots. Wheat hay and millet hay yields were not significantly different across tillage systems. Economic analysis was conducted for both a machinery complement sized for a 260-ha farm and a machinery complement sized for a 1036-ha farm. For both farm sizes and both tillage systems, the early-September-planted dual-purpose system (ESD) produced the greatest net returns. For the 260-ha farm, CT produced greater net returns than NT for each of the five production systems. Conventional tillage also produced greater economic returns for the three systems that included grain harvest for the 1036-ha farm. However, for the larger farm size, NT generated greater net returns for both total forage systems.


There is an increasing number of applications in high-precision motion control systems in manufacturing, i.e., ultra-precision machining, assembly of small components and micro devices. It is very difficult to assure such accuracy due to many factors affecting the precision of motion, such as frictions and disturbances in the drive system. The standard proportional-integral-derivative (PID) type servo control algorithms are not capable of delivering the desired precision under the influence of frictions and disturbances. In this paper, the frictions are identified by a neural net, which has a critic element to measure the system performance. Then, the weight adaptation rule, defined as reinforcement adaptive learning, is derived from the Lyapunov stability theory. Therefore the proposed scheme can be applicable to a wide class of mechanical systems. The simulation results on a 1-degree-of-freedom mechanical system verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.


Functions in finite dimensional spaces are, in general, not smooth enough to be differentiable in the classical sense and "recovered" versions of their first and second derivatives must be sought for certain applications. In this work we make use of recovered derivatives for applications in finite element schemes for two different purposes. We thus split this Thesis into two distinct parts.

In the first part we derive energy-norm aposteriori error bounds, using gradient recovery (ZZ) estimators to control the spatial error for fully discrete schemes of the linear heat equation. To our knowledge this is the first completely rigorous derivation of ZZ estimators for fully discrete schemes for evolution problems, without any restrictive assumption on the timestep size. An essential tool for the analysis is the elliptic reconstruction technique introduced as an aposteriori analog to the elliptic (Ritz) projection.

Our theoretical results are backed up with extensive numerical experimentation aimed at (1) testing the practical sharpness and asymptotic behaviour of the error estimator against the error, and (2) deriving an adaptive method based on our estimators.

An extra novelty is an implementation of a coarsening error "preindicator", with a complete implementation guide in ALBERTA (versions 1.0–2.0).

In the second part of this Thesis we propose a numerical method to approximate the solution of second order elliptic problems in nonvariational form. The method is of Galerkin type using conforming finite elements and applied directly to the nonvariational(or nondivergence) form of a second order linear elliptic problem. The key tools are an
appropriate concept of the "finite element Hessian" based on a Hessian recovery and a Schur complement approach to solving the resulting linear algebra problem. The method
is illustrated with computational experiments on linear PDEs in nonvariational form.

We then use the nonvariational finite element method to build a numerical method for fully nonlinear elliptic equations. We linearise the problem via Newton's method resulting in a sequence of nonvariational elliptic problems which are then approximated with the nonvariational finite element method. This method is applicable to general fully nonlinear PDEs who admit a unique solution without constraint.

We also study fully nonlinear PDEs when they are only uniformly elliptic on a certain class of functions. We construct a numerical method for the Monge–Ampere equation
based on using "finite element convexity" as a constraint for the aforementioned nonvariational finite element method. This method is backed up with numerical experimentation.


The notion of value has been thoroughly investigated in philosophy, economics, sociology and other social sciences. However, the notion of value remains highly ill-defined and elusive, as it is subjective as well as context dependent. This paper proposes an ontology for conceptualizing the notion of value ascription that is founded on an analysis of context notions, showing how value of objects can be explained in terms of value of states of affairs.


ABSTRACT Introduction: A gluten free diet (GFD) is the only available treatment for celiac disease (CD). However many patients fail to respond fully clinically or histologically. Several surveys highlight the psychosocial implications of adherence to a GFD. Hence, efforts are ongoing to develop therapeutic strategies beyond a GFD. Areas covered: We conducted a search of PubMed and clinicaltrials.gov to extract articles on CD using keywords including 'celiac disease' and 'refractory celiac disease' (RCD) and focused on articles conducting pathophysiologic and therapeutic research in/ex-vivo models and human trials. We highlight novel therapeutics that manipulate these mechanisms including tight junction regulators, glutenases, gluten sequestrants and immunotherapy using vaccines, nanoparticles that may serve as adjuncts to a GFD or more ambitiously to allow for gluten consumption. We also highlight the role of anti-inflammatories, immunosuppressants and monoclonal antibodies in RCD. Expert commentary: Therapeutics including tight junction regulators, glutenases have the potential to be approved for non-responsive CD or as gluten adjuncts. We expect results of various phase 1/2 trials using AMG 714, BL 7010, IgY antibodies to be published. In the interim, off-label use of 5 amino-salicylates, budesonide, nucleoside analogues and newer biologics developed for other inflammatory diseases will be used in RCD.


We report the case of a male newborn infant with a pedunculated dermic tumor, located in the right malar region; who underwent a complete surgical resection of the tumor and had a satisfactory postoperative evolution. The histopathologic findings disclosed a subcutaneous tumor with a nodular aspect and a subendothelial intravascular growth, constituted by a dual population of small cells and spindle-shaped cells, distributed in a biphasic pattern. All tumor cells showed a strong pericellular reaction for PAS. The immunohistochemical studies revealed: diffuse cytoplasmic positivity for CD34 and Vimentin in all tumor cells, and only spindle-shaped tumor cells and less differentiated isolated neoplastic cells, presented cytoplasmic positivity for the smooth muscle alpha-actin. The electronic microscopy demonstrated a layer of basal membrane and in the citoplasm, numerous intermediate filaments with focal condensations. Based on all these findings, we conclude that this is a myofibroma, a "true hemangiopericytoma" with myofibroblastic differentiation. For this reason, we propose the term myofibropericytoma, in order to highlight its pericytic origin and its myofibroblastic differentiation. We emphasize the need to recognize this entity, in view of its low frequency and the possibility of a diagnostic mistake with other soft tissues tumors that display haemangiopericytoma-like features.


This paper discusses the use of absolutely one-homogeneous regularization functionals in a variational, scale space, and inverse scale space setting to define a nonlinear spectral decomposition of input data. We present several theoretical results that explain the relation between the different definitions. Additionally, results on the orthogonality of the decomposition, a Parseval-type identity and the notion of generalized (nonlinear) eigenvectors closely link our nonlinear multiscale decompositions to the well-known linear filtering theory. Numerical results are used to illustrate our findings.


BACKGROUND Trauma patients are at increased risk for venous thromboembolism (VTE). One in four trauma readmissions occur at a different hospital. There are no national studies measuring readmissions to different hospitals with VTE after trauma. Thus, the true national burden in trauma patients readmitted with VTE is unknown and can provide a benchmark to improve quality of care. METHODS The Nationwide Readmission Database (2010–2014) was queried for patients ≥18 years non-electively admitted for trauma. Patients with VTE or inferior vena cava filter placement on index admission were excluded. Outcomes included 30-day and 1-year readmission to both index and different hospitals with a new diagnosis of VTE. Multivariable logistic regression identified risk factors. Results were weighted for national estimates. RESULTS Of the 5,151,617 patients admitted for trauma, 1.2% (n = 61,800) were readmitted within 1 year with VTE. Of those, 29.6% (n = 18,296) were readmitted to a different hospital. Risk factors for readmission to a different hospital included index admission to a for-profit hospital (OR 1.33 [1.27–1.40], p < 0.001), skull fracture (OR 1.20 [1.08–1.35], p < 0.001), Medicaid (OR 1.16 [1.06–1.26], p < 0.001), hospitalization >7 days (OR 1.12 [1.07–1.18], p < 0.001), and the lowest quartile of median household income for patient ZIP code (OR 1.13 [1.07–1.19], p < 0.01). The yearly cost of 1-year readmission for VTE was $256.9 million, with $90.4 million (35.2%) as a result of different hospital readmission. CONCLUSIONS Previously unreported, over one in three patients readmitted with VTE a year after hospitalization for trauma, accounting for over a third of the cost, present to another hospital and are not captured by current metrics. Risk factors are unique. This has significant implications for benchmarking, outcomes, prevention, and policy. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Epidemiological study, level II.


Farmers' existing rice production practices provide key indications of interventions for improving yield in their environments. This study aimed to explore those indications in the Fallow - T. Aman rice - Fallow cropping pattern (CP) under rainfed farming practiced by the farmers in Kapasia, Gazipur. Research method employed one-to-one and face-to face interview of 154 farmers practicing the CP. The average yield of T. Aman was estimated as 3.23 t ha-1, slightly below the national average yield of 3.93 t ha-1, in the range of 1.18 to 5.65 t ha-1. Variety was one of the two broad factors that determined the yield variation. The high yeld potential (HYP) category absolutely preferred the production aim, where Swarna-Ranjit (31.2% by farmer) and BRRI dhan49 (24.7% by farmer) were the dominated varieties where average yields were very close (3.51 and 3.36 t ha-1) for Swarna-Ranjit and BRRI dhan49, respectively). Management was the second factor determining the yield variation within varieties. While both the varieties received similar maximum yield (5.65 t ha-1), Swarna-Ranjit produced the minimum yield of 1.40 t ha-1 and BRRI dhan49 of 1.98 t ha-1. This study did not find a consistent pattern of response of the three measured management components - transplanting time, seedling age and seedling density to yield in either variety. The yield variance of BRRI dhan49 under three management components was higher compared to Swarna-Ranjit. Farmers practiced relatively a wide range of three management combinations to achieve high yield in Swarna-Ranjit, but a narrow range of the three management combinations for BRRI dhan49 to achieve the same level of yield. It is concluded that the variety-specific agronomic management to be the avenue for yield improvements in farmers' fields.
Bangladesh Agron. J. 2022, 25(1): 23-36


Myasthenia gravis is characterized by variable ocular and skeletal muscle weakness. Peak incidence is in young women and older men. Thymomas are present in 30 percent of myasthenic patients over age 40. Binding of acetylcholine receptors by IgG antibodies may be the mechanism of the neuromuscular disorder. Repetitive nerve stimulation (Jolly test), provocative tests with quinine or curare and the edrophonium test (cholinesterase inhibition) are the diagnostic maneuvers employed.


Purpose: Research on female expatriates has been substantially growing over the last decades and particularly in more recent years. Complementing previous thematic analyses of the literature, this paper applies textual statistics and correspondence analysis to reveal the existing semantic structure of the field of research on female expatriates. Design/methodology/approach: Using correspondence analysis, we explore textual data from the abstracts of 151 identified journal articles published in English since 1975. We obtain a graphical representation showing the various developmental stages of research on female expatriates. Findings: We find that research follows a home-host country orientation and advances from an organizational focus toward individual-level studies. We identify various directions for future research and especially a strong need for more multilevel approaches to study men's and women's expatriate experiences and trajectories in various contexts. Research limitations/implications: Only articles with abstracts entered our analysis, which in turn was dependent on the content and quality of these abstracts. This limitation has been addressed by thoroughly reading each article considered. Originality/value: This review adopts an original method in research on (female) expatriates and more broadly management research. It enabled us to map out the development of key research themes over time. Based on this analysis, gaps in current research could be identified and clear directions for future research were formulated.


The study scrutinizes the groundwater evolution and its relation in the Kerian irrigation scheme of Perak region using isotope and hydrochemical analyses. Nine representative groundwater samples were collected from nine different wells that cover the Kerian area. The samples are analyzed on geochemical characteristics, ionic composition and hydrofacies. Resistivity image profiling (RIP) surveys were carried out in tracing the existing of aquifer layer. The major ionic compositions show a wide variation in the hydrochemical properties of groundwater of the area. The degree correspondences among cations and anions have been estimated in order to evaluate their mutual relationship. The important hydrogeophysical parameters have been estimated for reasonable assessment of groundwater quality for irrigation purposes. Piper Diagrams have been plotted to classify the hydrofacies and Wilcox plot as well to quickly determine the viability of water for irrigation used. Interpretations of environmental isotope (18O and 2H) are applied to groundwater studies in the study area. The isotopic composition of 18O and 2H of groundwater and surface water have small variations and plot close to the global meteoric water line as well as local meteoric water line.


Sacubitril/valsartan has recently been approved for the treatment of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. Given its recent introduction in the armamentarium for the treatment of heart failure (HF), "field-practice" evidence is required to deepen the clinical management of sacubitril/valsartan therapy. We report a relevant case of an elderly patient who achieved major clinical benefits after only 3 months of sacubitril/valsartan therapy. Importantly, in our assessment, we employed speckle tracking echocardiography (STE), a recent echocardiography technique that is non-Doppler and not angle dependent, which analyzes deformations of heart chambers from standard images and allows a fast, reliable, and reproducible assessment of heart function. After 3 months of therapy, NHYA class decreased from III to I-II and hypertension was controlled. Echocardiography examination also showed a marked improvement, with a reduction of left ventricular diameter, improved diastolic function (E = 0.39 m/s; A 0.69 m/s; E/A 0.55), normalized diastolic function index (E/E' TDI = 6.93), normalized atrial volume (63 mL), and improved atrial strain (15.44%). This case report documents the fast clinical and symptom improvement with sacubitril/valsartan in an elderly patient with HF; comprehensive echocardiographic assessment, including STE, also revealed a marked functional improvement with this compound.


To the Editor. —Five years ago we published in JAMA 1 the results of a study examining cigarette advertisement logo recognition by young children. This study showed that children as young as 3 years recognized the cartoon character Joe Camel and could match him with a picture of a cigarette. This study was widely cited in the press and, we believe, has contributed to a better understanding of the role that cigarette advertising plays in our society. After publication, the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR) subpoenaed and obtained our research records, correspondence, and data using the Georgia Open Records Act. In an extensive reanalysis of our original data, RJR did identify 1 methodological problem. We specified 5 randomization orders for presenting the product logos to the children. However, in 1 of the 6 schools we studied, this rotational scheme inadvertently was not used, and instead all of the subjects were


This paper presents a field-test verified method for continuous tracking of voltage-dependent load model parameters. The basic idea is to use the natural or automatic movement of the under load tap changer (ULTC) as the source of voltage disturbance. Load parameters are estimated from each taping activity. While the idea of using manual ULTC tapping disturbances for load parameter estimation is not new, this paper has demonstrated, through laboratory tests and field measurements, that load parameters can be estimated from the automatic ULTC movements. Since a ULTC often has many movements in any given day, the load parameters can be collected in a consistent, frequent, and predictable manner and, consequently, online estimation and tracking of load parameters becomes feasible. The paper presents the implementation of the proposed method and its field measurement experiences, especially the characteristics of tap movements and the associated load responses. Experiments and a large number of field measurements presented in this paper have shown that the proposed method is a practical and effective method for determining load parameters online.


Stroke patients with carotid disease have a high risk of recurrence of disease. By measuring cerebral blood flow volume (BFV) using extracranial duplex technique for clinical estimation of intracranial collaterals, we aimed to investigate the relationship between the presence of intracranial collaterals and stroke recurrence in stroke patients with carotid disease. Consecutive stroke patients indicated for carotid duplex ultrasound investigations in our hospital were recruited during three years' period. Carotid stenosis was diagnosed as ≥50% stenosis and extracranial arterial BFV was measured by using color velocity imaging quantification ultrasound (CVIQ) software. Presence of intracranial collateral flow was defined as a blood flow volume of either ≥370 mL/min in common carotid artery or ≥120 mL/min in vertebral artery. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to determine the independent predictors of recurrent stroke. One hundred and twelve stroke patients (19.1%) with ≤50% carotid stenosis were recruited from consecutive ischemic stroke patients. During a mean follow-up of 28.6±13.1 months, recurrent stroke was recorded in 32 (28.6%) out of the total recruited patients. Estimated by blood flow volume measured by CVIQ, the patients with intracranial collateral flow had a lower rate of recurrent stroke than those without (9.5% vs. 33%, P=0.032). After adjusting for potential confounders, the presence of CVIQ-estimated intracranial collateral flow was an independent protector of recurrent stroke (OR, 0.169; 95% CI, 0.034- 0.842; P=0.03). It could be concluded that blood supply through intracranial collateral flow estimated by CVIQ technique may protect stroke patients with carotid stenosis from suffering recurrent stroke.


Interactions between immune cells and tumor cells play an important role in tumor progression. We evaluated patterns of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and programmed death-1 (PD-1) expression in acral and nonacral cutaneous melanoma, and determined their effects on clinicopathological characteristics and biologic responses. We identified 122 cases of cutaneous melanoma, of which 39 were cases of non-nail unit acral melanoma (NNUAM), 35 were cases of nail unit melanoma (NUM), and 48 were cases of nonacral melanoma. Clinicopathological features and survival outcomes were analyzed according to the scores for TILs and PD-1 expression in intratumoral and peritumoral compartments. The effects of the presence of TILs and PD-1 expression on various clinicopathological factors differed according to the clinical subtypes of cutaneous melanoma. The frequency of intratumoral TILs and PD-1 expression were lower in NUM than in the other two subtypes. The density of peritumoral PD-1 was significantly higher in NNUAM. In NUM and nonacral melanoma, a low density of intratumoral TILs and PD-1 was associated with a deeper Breslow thickness and the presence of a vertical growth phase. In NNUAM, a high density of peritumoral TILs and PD-1 was associated with a shallower Breslow thickness and less frequent extracutaneous dissemination. In NNUAM, a high density of peritumoral PD-1 was associated with a better prognosis. This study suggests that the effects of PD-1+ TILs on biological activity differ according to the clinical subtypes of cutaneous melanoma.


Household food insecurity is increasingly being recognised as a serious public
health concern in Malaysia. While starvation seldom occurs in this country, children and
adultsdo go hungry andchronic mildundernutrition occurs when financialresources are
low. The problem of food insecurity can be broadly defined as limited, inadequate or
insecure access by individuals and households to sufficient, safe, nutritious and personally acceptable foods to meet their dietary requirements for a healthy life. The aim of this
study was to investigate the relationship between food insecurity and nutritional
outcome among preschool children in a rural district and examine how low-income
families meet their food and nutrition needs. In this cross-sectional study, weight and
height / length were measured in a sample of mothers and children from 296 selected
households. Questionnaires were used to collect socio-economic and other related information. The validated Radimer / Cornell Food Insecurity instrument was utilised to
assess food security. Hunger and food insecurity was reported by 54% (n=159) of the
mothers surveyed, which include 21% (n=62) individual (mother) food insecure and 21%
(n=62) child hunger. Among food insecure households with children; 70.4% reported that
at times they could not afford to feed their children with balanced meals, 35.2% of the
children were not eating enough and 34.6% of the children reported ever getting hungry
as the family could not afford to provide enough food. This study also revealed that the
mothersplayprime roles in ensuring foodsecurity andnutrition status oftheir household
members by practising some coping strategies. Although foods were spared for the
children, the quality of the food is insufficient to meet the recommended needs. This
study suggests that food insecurity is one possible reason that may contribute to poor
growth and development of young children in the study area.


This study examined the prey abundance at nesting sites of five different Acrocephalus warbler species. Intraspecific variations in prey density were analysed to determine the relative significance of this ecological factor for different mating systems and components of male parental behaviour. The Great Reed Warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus, a facultatively polygynous species, nested in areas with the highest insect abundance. Its intraspecific variation in prey density (between different territories) was the highest while the male: female offspring feeding ratio was the lowest. At the other extreme, the monogamous Moustached Warbler Acrocephalus melanopogon and Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus nested in areas with the lowest prey abundance and lowest intraspecific variation. Males of these species had the highest involvement in feeding young. In the Moustached Warbler and Marsh Warbler Acrocephalus palustris, an intraspecific comparison revealed a negative correlation between insect abundance and the male feeding component; a tendency in this direction was found for the Reed Warbler, while no correlation was evident in the polygynous Great Reed Warbler. These data demonstrate a general pattern relating prey abundance, mating systems and male parental investment on an interspecific level. However, intraspecific correlations revealed a net of complex interdependence. One of the factors which may be important is resource predictability. We found a significant correlation between certain vegetation types and insect abundance. The vegetation composition of territories is further influenced by interspecific dominance relationships whereby the dominant Great Reed Warbler occupies territories with the vegetation type which correlates with high prey abundance while the overlapping Moustached Warbler and Reed Warbler are restricted to areas with lower insect density.