The EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) is involved in the oncogenesis of many tumors. In addition to the full-length EGFR (isoform a), normal and tumor cells produce soluble EGFR isoforms (sEGFR) that lack the intracellular domain. sEGFR isoforms b, c and d are encoded by EGFR variants 2 (v2), 3 (v3) and 4 (v4) mRNA resulting from gene alternative splicing. Accordingly, the results of EGFR protein expression analysis depend on the domain targeted by the antibodies. In meningiomas, EGFR expression investigations mainly focused on EGFR isoform a. sEGFR and EGFRvIII mutant, that encodes a constitutively active truncated receptor, have not been studied. In a 69 meningiomas series, protein expression was analyzed by immunohistochemistry using extracellular domain targeted antibody (ECD-Ab) and intracellular domain targeted antibody (ICD-Ab). EGFRv1 to v4 and EGFRvIII mRNAs were quantified by RT-PCR and EGFR amplification revealed by MLPA. Results were analyzed with respect to clinical data, tumor resection (Simpson grade), histological type, tumor grade, and patient outcome.Immunochemical staining was stronger with ECD-Ab than with ICD-Ab. Meningiomas expressed EGFRv1 to -v4 mRNAs but not EGFRvIII mutant. Intermediate or high ECD-Ab staining and high EGFRv1 to v4 mRNA levels were associated to a better progression free survival (PFS). PFS was also improved in women, when tumor resection was evaluated as Simpson 1 or 2, in grade I vs. grade II and III meningiomas and when Ki67 labeling index was lower than 10%.Our results suggest that, EGFR protein isoforms without ICD and their corresponding mRNA variants are expressed in meningiomas in addition to the whole isoform a. EGFRvIII was not expressed. High expression levels seem to be related to a better prognosis. These results indicate that the oncogenetic mechanisms involving the EGFR pathway in meningiomas could be different from other tumor types.


Emerging evidence indicates that short (~22 nucleotides) non-coding RNA molecules called microRNAs (miRNAs) play a key role in the regulation of post-ischaemic angiogenesis. miRNAs control gene expression by binding to complementary sequences of specific mRNA transcripts, leading to degradation or translational repression of the targeted mRNA. miR-133a is highly expressed and plays a crucial role in skeletal and cardiac muscle biology. The expression level of miR-133a in vascular endothelial cells is very low under physiological conditions. However, multiple cardiovascular risk factors including oxidized-LDL, pro-inflammatory cytokines, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, and hyperhomocysteinemia induce aberrant miR-133a expression in endothelial cells leading to endothelial dysfunction. Endothelial dysfunction in cardiovascular ischaemic disease is often accompanied by impairment of reparative angiogenic processes. Here, we have evaluated the role of aberrant miR133a expression in VEGF-mediated angiogenesis. We show that exogenous expression of miR-133a in Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVEC) significantly reduces VEGF-induced endothelial cell proliferation. Moreover, adenoviral-mediated delivery of cardiac miR133a into endothelial cells inhibits HUVEC cell motility and tubular morphogenesis. Interestingly, downregulation of phosphorylation (activation) of the signalling protein Erk1/2 by miR-133a was detected in VEGF stimulated HUVEC cells. Our results demonstrate that aberrant expression of miR133a has an anti-angiogenic effect in endothelial cells, and strongly suggest that targeted strategies to suppress ectopic expression of miR-133a in the dysfunctional endothelium might have important therapeutic applications to improve reparative angiogenic process in patients suffering from ischaemic cardiovascular disease. Acknowledgement This work was supported by the Rotha Abraham Bequest Charity


The constitution and ring size of peptide-derived macrocycles directly influence target binding affinity and physicochemical properties. Here, we describe means to recapitulate key features of peptide-protein interaction linear motifs (LM) in diverse, macrocyclic small molecules. Large ring-forming reactions of exceptional substrate scope are achieved using latently reactive templates that engage peptide side chain functional groups. The template is activated to transiently generate either a cinnamyl carbocation or a palladium(π-cinnamyl) complex, which rapidly form carbon-carbon or carbon-heteroatom bonds. Cyclizations occur at room temperature and are typically insensitive to peptide composition or ring size. Multiply reactive templates couple macrocyclization with additional annulation reactions to further restrict conformation, to mask polar groups, and to access complex polycyclic structures of reduced peptidic character in two or three synthetic steps. Divergent Friedel-Crafts macrocyclization reactions are of special utility for exploring multiple ring connectivities within a given peptide sequence. This method has been coupled to standard solid-phase peptide synthesis to prepare a pilot library of 1000-1700 template-bridged macrocycles, which derive from 384 sequences that mimic the aryl-rich consensus substrate LM of the mitotic regulator Pin1. A new fluorescence polarization assay has been developed to support mixture-based screening of this library in 96-well format. Hit validation, mixture deconvolution, and structure elucidation has led to the identification of two series of non-phosphorylated, macrocyclic ligands which bind the Pin1 prolyl isomerase domain (Kd = 24 or 35 nM) with similar avidity to existing phosphorylated inhibitors. We show that binding affinity is directly influenced by core ring size and connectivity, in one example leading to a greater than seven-fold difference in affinity between isomeric macrocycles of identical ring size. These findings suggest that template-based methods should be useful for surveying the pharmacological properties of composite peptide macrocycles and for identifying new bioactive chemotypes by targeting protein surfaces via cognate consensus binding motifs.


Flash lamp annealing (FLA) of micrometre-order thick amorphous silicon (a-Si) films can induce explosive crystallization (EC), high-speed lateral crystallization driven by the release of latent heat. We develop multipulse FLA system, which emits a quasi-millisecond pulse consisting of a number of subpulses. The emission frequency of the subpulses can be systematically controlled, and the emission of subpulses leads to the periodic modulation of the temperature of a Si film and the resulting formation of macroscopic stripe patterns. The relationship between a subpulse emission frequency and the width of the macroscopic stripe patterns yields EC velocity. Two kinds of EC modes can be observed, depending on the methods of precursor a-Si deposition and (or) a-Si film thickness.


The Romanian society has crossed over the last 22 years a devious course characterized by dynamism and permanent experimenting. The pre-university education system has adapted "ad hoc" to the variations of the outer environment without the design of a medium and long term strategy. This fact was due to the shortcomings of the education before 1989 and the frequent changes of the education policy. Nowadays, there is a very bureaucratic pre-university education, relatively inefficient, in a continuous change of regulation.Having as the general target The identification of the perception of the stakeholders of the education process regarding the need for change, the mechanisms of implementation and the pattern of the change to be efficient for the pre-university education system, this research took place during the period of September-December 2012, on a population of 354 respondents, teaching staff and students of the pre-university education system, representatives of parents and local community, as well as businessmen, members of the schools administrative councils. The big quantity of information we obtained allowed the possibility to achieve a connected analysis of the collected data. This consisted in the interpreting the standard averages and deviations for all selected items according to the socio-demographic variables. According to the proposed objectives, the research has brought about a rich set of conclusions which point out: the stringent need for stability; the implementation of an efficient pattern for the change, where the consolidation of the change has to be followed by the valuation of the effect; the reduction of the red-tape; the involvement of all stakeholders in the change process. The attained conclusions have confirmed the seven hypotheses used by this initial approach and, on the other hand, have created a working platform for the engendering of a pattern of change suitable for education. The level that will be accepted by the stakeholders will represent the theme of a new research.


Complexity and indeterminacy are to varying degree prominent characteristics of scholarly areas, their concepts and terminology. The article addresses the challenge of how to delineate a scholarly area and how to deal with this vagueness when trying to delineate the area.

The scope of LSP has developed greatly since the beginning of the 20th century, from mainly focusing on the terminology of natural science and technology, to also including analyses of scholarly areas belonging to for instance the social sciences, not only with focus on their terminology, but also on textual qualities and discourse features of a given scholary area.

The article discusses the fact that social sciences have a higher degree of complexity and indeterminacy than the natural sciences, which is one obvious reason for the increase in LSP contributions in recent years which call for theoretical and methodological adaptations in both LSP research and teaching. The article presents a survey of several such theoretical contributions and also some recent case studies which may offer possible solutions to this methodological challenge.

The article is based on a trial lecture presented as part of the public defence for the doctoral degree (Dr.art) on 14 April 2005 at the University of Bergen.


Aims: Studies indicate ongoing gender-based differences in the prevention, detection and management of cardiovascular disease. The aims of this study were to determine whether there are differences in general practitioners' (GPs') perceptions of a patient's cardiovascular risk compared with the patient's estimated risk and in the patient's subsequent medical management according to patient sex. Methods: The Australian Hypertension and Absolute Risk Study (AusHEART) was a nationally representative, cluster-stratified, cross-sectional survey among 322 GPs. Each GP was asked to collect data on cardiovascular disease risk factors and their management in 15–20 consecutive patients (age ≥55 years) who presented between April and June, 2008. They were also asked to estimate each patient's absolute risk of a cardiovascular event in the next five years. The main outcomes were the Adjusted Framingham risk, GP estimated risk and proportion of patients receiving blood pressure-lowering, statin and antiplatelet therapy. Results: A total of 5293 patients were recruited to the study, of whom 2968 (56%) were women. Among patients without established cardiovascular disease, the level of agreement between the GP estimated risk and the Adjusted Framingham risk was poor (<50%) and was similarly so for men (kappa coefficient 0.18; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.14–0.21) and women (0.19; 95% CI 0.16–0.22; P homogeneity = 0.57). For patients with established cardiovascular disease, however, women were more likely to be assigned by the GP to a lower risk category (66% vs. 54%, P < 0.001) and less likely to be prescribed combination (blood pressure-lowering, statin and antiplatelet) (44% vs. 56%, P < 0.001) therapy compared with men, even after adjusting for patient age. Conclusions: Cardiovascular risk is underrecognized and undertreated in Australian primary care patients, with women apparently disproportionately affected. These findings underscore the importance of initiatives to raise awareness of cardiovascular disease in women.


Objective
Disparities in fruit and vegetable consumption have been observed across income and race-ethnicity and shown to be associated with both access to fresh food venues and price. This study assesses the feasibility of increasing produce consumption by incentivizing fruit and vegetable purchases at local markets.

Design
We conducted analyses of a cross-sectional survey of program participants and point-of-sale reports on fruit and vegetable purchases at the fresh food markets.

Setting
Five fresh food markets in the Lower Ninth Ward (LNW) of New Orleans, Louisiana.

Participants
A total of 176 participants were enrolled in the "Veggie Dollars" program (VDP).

Intervention
From January to July 2016, Sankofa, our community partner, recruited patrons at its markets into the VDP, a fresh food incentive program. Participants received coupons worth $4 per week for fruit and vegetables over a six-week period.

Main Outcome Measures
Total monthly gross, VDP, and SNAP benefit sales at the markets measured program participation. A survey (N=96) assessed the demographics and fruit and vegetable purchasing practices of participants.

Results
Participants were predominantly women (81%), African American (94%) and raising children at home (53%). Point-of-sales data indicated that VDP sales nearly doubled over the intervention period. Total market sales and SNAP benefit purchases also increased. The majority (63%) of VDP participants reported their produce purchases increased and 89% reported increasing their consumption of fruit and vegetables since entering the program.

Conclusions
Monetary incentives were associated with increased fruit and vegetable purchases at local fresh food markets in a low-income minority community.


Further restrictions on the use of compression-ignition engines in transportation are prompting the search for adaptations to run on other fuels. One of the most popular alternative fuels is Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), which due to its low carbon content can be competitive with classical fuels. This paper presents the results of testing a Cummins 6BT compression ignition engine that has undergone numerous modifications to convert to CNG power. The sequential gas injection system and the ignition system were installed in this engine. The compression ratio was also lowered from 16.5 to 11.5 by replacing the pistons. Tests conducted on an engine dynamometer were to show the differences in emission and conversion in the catalyst of hydrocarbons contained in the exhaust gases. Two structurally different catalysts operating at different exhaust temperatures (400 and 500)±2.5°C were used. The catalyst operating at 500±2.5°C showed a 23.5% higher conversion rate than the catalyst operating at a lower temperature in the range of the speed range tested. Also the external indicators, such as power and torque for the case of higher operating temperature took values over 70% higher. The research is one of the stages of a comprehensive assessment of the possibility of adaptation of compression ignition engines to CNG-only fueling.


This paper marks Social Security's open group liability to market taking into account the riskiness of its aggregate benefit payments and tax receipts. The open group liability references the present value of the system's net cash flow from now through the indefinite future. We treat the growth rates of the system's aggregate benefits and taxes as implicit securities that are spanned by the returns on marketed securities. Our pricing of Social Security's infinite horizon net liability builds on prior independent work by Blocker, Kotlikoff, and Ross (2009) and Geanakoplos and Zeldes (2009). Our results, which we view as preliminary, suggest that the market value of Social Security's open group liability may be many times larger than the $15.1 trillion stated in the Trustees' Report. Unlike Blocker, Kotlikoff, and Ross (2009), this discrepancy between our financial valuation and Social Security's does not reflect differences in the value assumed for the safe rate of return. To control for this factor, we simply follow Social Security (and Geanakoplos, et. al., 2009) in assuming a 2.9 percent safe real rate of discount. We also find that the precise marketed assets used to price future Social Security benefits and taxes can significantly alter the estimate of the open group liability.


The natural conditions of researched area are generally favorable for agro-alimentary sector development, under all the aspects, being an old tradition for cereal cultivation and valorization, especially by animal breedind. However, that area is situated in subsidiary, divagation and accumulation of Aranca`s, and Galaţca`s plain and his geomorfological evolution is correlated by the evolution, in time, of marine domain (Thetys) or lakes domain (Panonic), thing that have generate several types of soils. These types of soils present two situations: excess of humidity in cold season and deficit of humidity in warm season of the year, the both situation generate multiple form of stress, with negative effects on agro-ecosystems productivity and quality. Having in view all this aspects concerning at risk existence, owing sundries manifestation of natural factors or antropical irational interventions, the authors of this project try to transfer the teoretical describetively activitys to analitical activitys, who offers practical solutions for durable management of soils resources, for climatic extreme events prevention and reduction of crop waste trough intoducing of conservation tillages of soil accommodated at new climatic and soils conditions. The research of eco-pedological conditions, ordering and processingof dates was done in accordance with Development Methodology of Soil Studies (Vol I, II, III), developed by ICPA Bucharest in 1987 and the Romanian System of Soil Taxonomy (SRTS-2003). Some dates from this paper were extracted from research themes who have regarded the economical and social development in border area betwen Romania, Serbia and Hungary, trough transfrontier cooperation for protection and conservation of natural resources (wather, soil, etc) and antropical (tehnologies, cultivars), who lead to an improuvement of life standard in this region.


Glazed tiles were used by the Lodhis and Mughals to embellish their buildings in
northern India from the late fifteenth to seventeenth century. Tile-work from this
region and period is understudied, particularly on matters related to its origin and
technology.
This thesis presents findings of a research undertaken on a series of tiled buildings
located at Delhi, Agra, and Punjab in northern India, from the period of Lodhi and
Mughal rule. Tile samples from the buildings have been scientifically analysed -
mainly using scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectrometry, and
electron microprobe microanalysis with wavelength dispersive spectrometry - for
their characterisation. Ethno-archaeological studies on related traditional craft
industries have been used to build a more accurate rendition of the technologies
employed in their manufacture. A field survey of in situ tile-work has been used to
correlate stylistic and physical attributes with data determined through analyses.
Results from the study show that different methods were utilized for the production
of tiles at Delhi/Agra and Punjab. Those of the Delhi type have indigenous features
in their technology, while the Punjab specimens are shown to be technologically
closer to those from the core Islamic lands. The industry at Delhi is further shown to
have evolved locally, developing gradually from the Lodhi to Mughal period, while
the Punjab tile industry at the time of the Mughals is demonstrated to be an import,
its establishment clearly influenced externally, with the sudden appearance of a new
technological style. The tile-work at both places is however determined to be of the
same basic character as Islamic tile-work of the stonepaste variety.
This study, besides presenting a comprehensive picture on Lodhi and Mughal tiling
traditions, provides important new information in the discipline of Islamic ceramic
studies, particularly on the development of stonepaste technology and its transfer.


Background Separating chronic ankle instability (CAI) into subgroups based on the major clinical symptoms of CAI, including perceived ankle instability (PI), repeated episodes of "giving-way", and recurrent ankle sprains (RAS), may create more homogenous subgroups of participants with CAI and could help to identify mechanical, neuromuscular, and psychological characteristics in individuals with CAI. Objective To determine if selected sensorimotor, mechanical, and self-reported measures are different among PAI subgroups healthy control participants, and PAI-copers. Design Single-blinded, case-control. Setting Research laboratory. Participants Ninety-three participants (40M, 53F; age = 21.81 ± 3.63 years; BMI = 24.94 ± 4.26 kg/m2) volunteered and were categorised into PI in combination with RAS (PI-RAS; n = 25), PI alone (n = 13), RAS alone (n = 12), PAI-copers (n = 18), and controls (n = 25). Interventions Participants completed self-assessed global, regional, and psychological health-related questionnaires and assessments of neuromuscular and mechanical joint stability. Main outcome measurements Neuromuscular outcomes included spinal reflex excitability of the soleus muscle (Hmax:Mmax ratio) and static postural control assessed with the mean of time-to-boundary minima in the anterior-posterior (TTB-AP) and medial-lateral directions (TTB-ML). For mechanical outcome measures, ankle joint laxity was measured using an ankle arthrometer. Self-reported outcomes included the Foot and Ankle Ability Measure Activities of Daily Living (FAAM-ADL), the FAAM-Sports, the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia-17, and Physical and Mental Summary Components of the Short-Form 36. A backward, stepwise, multinomial logistic regression was used to determine the most influential factors to classify group membership. Cohen's d effect sizes were calculated to determine the magnitude of difference in the most influential factors between groups. Results Five outcome measures (Hmax:Mmax ratio, TTB-AP, TTB-ML, FAAM-ADL, FAAM-Sports) were the best set of indicators of group membership (χ2 (20) = 128.67, p < 0.001). Participants with PI-RAS demonstrated the greatest neuromuscular and perceived dysfunction. Conclusions The combination of PI and RAS appears to lead to greater degree of neuromuscular and perceived dysfunction compared to CAI-copers and healthy controls.


The spontaneous magnetization is of fundamental importance in the theory of ferromagnetism but only meagre experimental data are at present available. The paper describes the initial stage of a project to determine the temperature variation of spontaneous magnetization for a number of ferromagnetics. It is impossible to deduce the spontaneous magnetization unequivocally over the complete temperature range from purely magnetic measurements so that a determination of the magnetocaloric effect must also be made. An alloy from the system copper-nickel (23.9 atomic % copper, rest nickel) was chosen for the first investigation because the system occupies an important position in the electron theory of ferromagnetism, whilst it also has the additional advantage of freedom from metallurgical complications. The experimental work is in two parts. An apparatus was constructed which enables the temperature rise in the magnetocaloric effect (ΔT) to be measured accurately over a wider temperature range than hitherto. This incorporates a galvanometer amplifier and the overall sensitivity is 1000 mm/°C. The specific intensity of magnetization (σ) was obtained by using the balance devised by Sucksmith (1939). Both the sets of measurements were made at closely spaced intervals up to the Curie point and, in the case of the magnetocaloric effect, considerably above this. In addition, the susceptibility above the Curie point was measured from 170 to 775° C and was found to obey the Curie-Weiss law x = C/(T — θ) over most of this range with C = 3.90 x 10-3 and θ = 111° C. The three methods of deducing the spontaneous magnetization from observations are critically discussed in general, and then in relation to the particular results obtained, which are similar to those obtained for other materials except that the dependence of the temperature rise on σ2 above the Curie point is not linear. This is a new feature which it is considered may have important theoretical consequences. The values of the spontaneous magnetization deduced from purely magnetic measurements are in agreement, but these differ from the values obtained by using the magnetocaloric effect. The spontaneous magnetization-temperature curve deduced from the magnetocaloric effect lies below that obtained from magnetic measurements in the immediate neighbourhood of the Curie point, and is notable for the absence of any ' tail '. The departure of the reduced σ against T curve from the law of corresponding states is firmly established by the present work in which the purely magnetic measurements are in fair agreement with earlier investigations.


Intensive nutrient removal from wastewater in anaerobic-aerobic systems using granular sludge should rely on optimal balances at biofilm and microbial ecology levels. This study targets the impacts of reactor characteristics and fluctuations in operation conditions on nutrient removal and bacterial community structures by means of microbial and numerical ecology methods. The dynamics of both predominant and accompanying populations were investigated with high resolution on temporal and phylogenetic scales in two reactors operated during 5 months with synthetic wastewater. Multivariate analyses highlighted significant correlations from process to microbial scales in the first reactor, whereas nitrification and phosphorus removal might have been affected by oxygen mass transfer limitations with no impact at population level in the second system. The bacterial community continuum of the first reactor was composed of two major antagonistic Accumulibacter-Nitrosomonas-Nitrospira and Competibacter-Cytophaga-Intrasporangiaceae clusters that prevailed under conditions leading to efficient P- (> 95%) and N-removal (> 65%) and altered P- (< 90%) and N-removal (< 60%), respectively. A third cluster independent of performances was dominated by Xanthomonadaceae affiliates that were on average more abundant at 25 °C (31 ± 5%) than at 20 °C (22 ± 4%). Starting from the physiological traits of the numerous phylotypes identified, a conceptual model is proposed as a base for functional analysis in the granular sludge microbiome and for future investigations with complex real wastewater.


Summary It is widely accepted that depression increases the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in healthy people while, in individuals with an existing heart disease, depression is a predictor of recurrent cardiac events and death. It seems that new-onset depression after an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and not recurrent depression may worsen the cardiovascular outcome, and it has been suggested, although not conclusively proved, that depressive somatic symptoms, could be more cardiotoxic than depressive cognitive symptoms. Both psychosocial (low social support, less adherence to treatment recommendations, physical inactivity) and biological mechanisms (autonomic nervous system dysregulation, platelet and endothelial dysfunctions, inflammation, and neuroendocrine abnormalities) have been hypothesized to explain the link between depression and the increased risk of CHD or adverse cardiovascular prognosis. Randomized controlled clinical trials seem to suggest that depression in CHD patients is poor responsive to both pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatments. Nevertheless, these trials provide also a robust evidence that CHD depressed patients non responder to antidepressant treatments are at greater risk of adverse cardiac event than patients with successfully treated depression. Therefore, it is advisable that psychiatrists, cardiologists and general practitioners coordinate their efforts in managing depression in CHD patients.


A first-generation of feminist scholarship on international relations challenged the implicitly gendered foundations of mainstream IR, including its masculine conceptual bias and state-centricity and the reliance on positivist ways of knowing. These feminist theoretical challenges cleared the path for new thinking and for the development of distinctly gendered approaches to international relations. A secondgeneration of feminist IR scholarship is now emerging, in which empirical research is strengthening and expanding on those earlier theoretical advances. Here, I explore these second-generation efforts to combine gendered theory with close empirical study of global/local processes. These efforts offer a number of lessons for how we might conduct our future scholarship. By showing—not telling—how gender is relevant to global politics, the insights from these studies can build upon one another in impressive ways. As such, they promise to speak to major concerns of feminist and 'mainstream' IR scholars alike.


The results of the experimental research of thermal, mass exchange and dynamical characteristics of processes inside the low temperature metal hydride (MH) thermal energy storage system are presented. Single stage pressure driven MH heat storage system of closed cycle concept was studied and tested. Intermetallic compound (IMC) LaFe0.1Mn0.3Ni4.8 in the quantity of 5 kg was used as main hydrogen storage/heat emitter element in the reactor. Nominal maximum hydrogen capacity of the reactor is 850 st.l. with though resulting effective volume of cycled hydrogen ended up to be around 240-250 st.l. The reactor type and intermetallic alloy, which were used in the series of experiments, proved to be somewhat suitable for the task, but more advanced heat exchange design along with selection of different type of IMC promise to increase the cycled effective volume along with the system dynamics, resulting in greater thermal energy power output.


We report radiocarbon ages on cellulose isolated from the gut contents of a Diprotodon found at Lake Callabonna, South Australia. The maximum age obtained corresponds to a minimum age of >53,400 BP for this extinct giant marsupial. This is older than, and hence consistent with, the generally accepted Australian megafauna extinction window. We argue that dichromate and other strong oxidants are less selective than chlorite for lignin destruction in wood, and our results suggest that ages approaching laboratory background can be obtained using a repeated pretreatment sequence of chlorite-alkali-acid and measurement of the sometimes discarded 330°C combustion fraction.


Results The lysophosphatidic acid receptors LPA1, LPA2, and LPA3 were individually expressed in C9 cells and their signaling and regulation were studied. Agonist-activation increases intracellular calcium concentration in a concentration-dependent fashion. Phorbol myristate acetate markedly inhibited LPA1- and LPA3-mediated effect, whereas that mediated by LPA2 was only partially diminished; the actions of the phorbol ester were inhibited by bisindolylmaleimide I and by overnight incubation with the protein kinase C activator, which leads to down regulation of this protein kinase. Homologous desensitization was also observed for the three LPA receptors studied, with that of LPA2 receptors being consistently of lesser magnitude; neither inhibition nor down-regulation of protein kinase C exerted any effect on homologous desensitization. Activation of LPA1–3 receptors induced ERK 1/2 phosphorylation; this effect was markedly attenuated by inhibition of epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase activity, suggesting growth factor receptor transactivation in this effect. Lysophosphatidic acid and phorbol myristate acetate were able to induce LPA1–3 phosphorylation, in time- and concentration-dependent fashions. It was also clearly observed that agonists and protein kinase C activation induced internalization of these receptors. Phosphorylation of the LPA2 subtype required larger concentrations of these agents and its internalization was less intense than that of the other subtypes. Conclusion Our data show that these three LPA receptors are phosphoproteins whose phosphorylation state is modulated by agonist-stimulation and protein kinase C-activation and that differences in regulation and cellular localization exist, among the subtypes.


We describe and evaluate a Training of Trainers seminar organized by the International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC) in Washington, D.C., that pioneered a hybrid mode of delivery. In one of two back-to-back events, each lasting 1-and-a-half days and including some 10 participants, videocon¬ferencing was used to allow online participation by seven interpreter educators together with a diverse group of on-site participants, including three signed language interpreters. After presenting the background and content of the course, we introduce the physical and technical setup and discuss the various challenges in ensuring communicative interaction among all participants. Drawing on a video recording of the sessions and a feedback survey administered online immediately after the event, we examine the hybrid-mode seminar for perceptual conditions, communicative presence, group interaction, and personal learning outcomes for on-site as well as remote participants. Our findings show that hybrid-mode delivery of this type of seminar is challenging but viable and offers new opportunities for Training of Trainers courses, particularly in times of restricted contacts and travel.


Research into the plant hormone auxin has always been tightly linked with the use of small molecules. In fact, most of the known players in auxin signaling and transport in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana were identified by screening for resistance to auxin analogues. The use of high-throughput screening technologies has since yielded many novel molecules, opening the way for the identification of new target proteins to further elucidate known pathways. Here, we give an overview of well-established and novel molecules used in auxin research and highlight the current status and future perspectives of chemical biology approaches to auxin biology.


The geochemistry of the metavolcanic rocks from the Granjeno Schist in northeastern Mexico indicates an origin in different tectonic environments: mid‐ocean ridge and ocean island. High ratios of Hf/Th and Th/Nb (4.4–14 and 0.08–0.15), low ratios of LaN/YbN and LaN/SmN (0.74–1.7 and 0.60–1.4) and depleted LREE patterns in metabasalt display mid‐ocean ridge characteristics. In contrast, the pattern of trace‐element ratios and REEs in metabasalt and metapillow lava 60 km to the west indicates a magma source with ocean‐island basalt characteristics. Both areas were metamorphosed during the Late Carboniferous (300 ± 4 Ma). Estimated metamorphic conditions deduced from white mica and chlorite compositions, distinguish greenschist facies (350 °C and 4 kbar) for the mid‐ocean ridge basalt, and prehnite–pumpellyite facies (250 °C and 2.5 kbar) for the ocean‐island‐type basalt. This metamorphism took place at an active continental margin during Pennsylvanian time. Our new tectonic model, which differs from earlier models, suggests that the origin of the Granjeno Schist is related to a subduction zone located at the western margin of Pangaea, active after Laurentia–Gondwana collision. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This study compares the neurobehavioral status of 118 low‐birthweight infants tested at 40 weeks conceptional age with that of 76 normal fullterm infants. A neonatal neurobehavioral examination comprising 21 test and four summary items was used. The most striking differences between the groups were found in visual and auditory orienting, with approximately two‐thirds of the low‐birthweight infants falling below the range of performance of the fullterm group. Items testing motor performance showed a lower incidence of deviant performance among the low‐birthweight infants. Of the 21 test items, 19 could be assigned cut‐off scores, below which infants can be considered deviant on the specific items.


The United States has thousands of invasive species, representing a sizable, but unknown burden to the national economy. Given the potential economic repercussions of invasive species, quantifying these costs is of paramount importance both for national economies and invasion management. Here, we used a novel global database of invasion costs (InvaCost) to quantify the overall costs of invasive species in the United States across spatiotemporal, taxonomic, and socioeconomic scales. From 1960 to 2020, reported invasion costs totaled $4.52 trillion (USD 2017). Considering only observed, highly reliable costs, this total cost reached $1.22 trillion with an average annual cost of $19.94 billion/year. These costs increased from $2.00 billion annually between 1960-1969 to $21.08 billion annually between 2010-2020. Most costs (73%) were related to resource damages and losses ($896.22 billion), as opposed to management expenditures ($46.54 billion). Moreover, the majority of costs were reported from invaders from terrestrial habitats ($643.51 billion, 53%) and agriculture was the most impacted sector ($509.55 billion). From a taxonomic perspective, mammals ($234.71 billion) and insects ($126.42 billion) were the taxonomic groups responsible for the greatest costs. Considering the apparent rising costs of invasions, coupled with increasing numbers of invasive species and the current lack of cost information for most known invaders, our findings provide critical information for policymakers and managers.


Abstract Extinction is a profound biological event, yet despite its finality it can be difficult to verify and many frameworks have been proposed to define formally that extinction has occurred. For most taxonomic groups and regions there is no reliable list of species considered to be probably or possibly extinct. The record of plant extinctions in Australia is no exception, characterized by high turn-over within lists, low transparency of attribution and lack of consistency between jurisdictions. This makes it impossible to evaluate how many plant taxa have become extinct in Australia. We present an ecological framework for assessing the likelihood of plant extinctions, based on taxonomic soundness, degree of habitat modification, detectability and search effort, underpinned by the best available expert knowledge. We show that, in sharp contrast to both the fate of the Australian fauna and prevailing assumptions, only 12 of 71 plant taxa currently listed as or assumed to be extinct are considered probably extinct, and a further 21 possibly extinct. Twenty taxa listed as or assumed to be extinct have dubious taxonomy or occurrence in Australia, and the remaining 18 taxa are considered possibly extant and further surveys are required to ascertain their status. The list of probably and possibly extinct plants is dwarfed by the number thought extinct but rediscovered since 1980. Our method can be used for vascular floras in other regions characterized by well-documented and curated floras and high levels of expert knowledge, and provides a transparent platform for assessing changes in the status of biodiversity.


The paper deals with a new method which can be used in initial design of the bridge constructions, when the fundamental decisions related to the type of the bridge must be considered. Sensitivity based topology optimization is the modern, interdisciplinary design tool, which is used in many practical problems. The numerical topology optimization algorithm consists of two basic steps at each iteration: the first, the analysis of the system is performed and the second, the design variables are updated. In the problem of topology optimization the optimal redistribution of the artificial, non-real material should be determined in design domain in order to minimize the-mean compliance of the structure. This material is called Simple Isotropic Material with Penalization [1]. In optimization process the artificial material with intermediate non real density  is redistributed. It is concentrated in stiffened zones  = o. The result of the optimization is the optimal global shape of the construction. The presented examples demonstrate how quickly and easily one can obtain the optimal global shape of the bridge construction using numerical topology optimization procedure.


Central nervous, neuromuscular, cardiovascular systems and high psychic functions: thinking, attention and memory in assemblers of electric equipment have been studied in complex. These studies have revealed that high labour productivity is achieved due to the high functional stress of physiological systems of the organism. In this case functions both specific and nonspecific for the local physical work are activated. High-efficient activity is followed by mobilization of the psychophysiological functions, interfunctional relations being intensified.


Nowadays, the wine consumption has gone down, and this is probably due to fact that people are worried about alcoholic ingestion and other reasons, as the approval of the Spanish driving licence with points. Therefore, wineries have seen like their sales are decreasing in a 4% ratio. Because of this and other reasons new products, like free or low alcohol wines, without or reduced alcohol content, are being developed. In addition, there are some consumers loving wine because of its healthy properties but they don't take it due to several reasons (legal, health, religious, etc.) related with their opposition to alcoholic consumption.
 Anyway, market doesn't offer free or low alcohol wines with acceptable sensorial quality mainly due to the fact that the adequate technology is not available, to carry out the production at industrial scale. This is the reason why actually there are several research projects looking for a technology allowing obtain de-alcoholized wines with higher and acceptable quality. In this way, the research project entitled: Obtaining of wine derivates by means of new technologies, was raised in order to produce de-alcoholized wines with good sensorial quality using vacuum distillation in Spinning Cone Column (SCC). This project has been financed by CDTI (ref IDI-20070330), and the companies Bodegas y Vinedos de Murcia, S.L., and Bodegas y Vinedos Casa de la Ermita, S.L. (from Region of Murcia), and has been Directed by the Technical University of Cartagena and University of Murcia.
In this thesis, which is included within aforementioned research project, thirty seven different wines from seventeen grape varieties have been studying. Thirteen of them are from DO Jumilla (Tintorera, Petit Verdot, Garnacha, Syrah, Monastrell, Monastrell condomina, Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Caracol serrano, Chardonnay, Macabeo, Airen), two of them are from DO Madrid (Malvar and Garnacha), one from DO Malaga (Moscatel romano), three of them from DO La Mancha (Chardonnay, Macabeo and Airen), one of them from DO La Mancha (Chardonnay, Macabeo and Airen), one of them from DO Alicante (Bobal) and the last one from DO Montilla-Moriles (Pedro Ximenez).
All of wines have been submitted to de-alcoholization process using vacuum distillation in Spinning Cone Column. The influence of this process in wine quality has been evaluated. It has been determined: (i) physicochemical parameters (volatile acidity, total acidity, colour, sugars content, organic acids, and iron content); (ii) phenolic compounds content; (iii) soluble fibre; (iv) antioxidant activity; and (v) aromatic profile in the raw wine and the de-alcoholised wines. As well, the possibilities of sensory optimization of low-alcohol wine have been analyzed by means of trained and not trained taste panel. In addition, the microbial stabilization of the low alcohol wine has been studied.

By other hand, the quality of de-alcoholised wines made with distillation in SCC has been compared to commercial de-alcoholised wines produced by other technologies (other distillation techniques and reverse osmosis). The physicochemical parameters (volatile acidity, total acidity, colour, sugars content, organic acids, iron content), nutraceutic substances (phenolic compounds and soluble fibre), antioxidant activity and aromatic profile were determined.
Commercial de-alcoholised wines from different world zones were chosen: France (Rouge 0.2%, Rose 0.2%, Blanch 0.2%, Sensuelle, Irresistible Chardonnay, Tendre, from Bonne Nouvelle mark; white, rose and red wine, from Pol Vignan mark; white and red wine and sparkling wine from La Cote de Vincent winery), Switzerland (Tendance, rose and white wine), Germany (Zero, white and red wine), USA (Ariel, white and red wine, Fre, white and red wine and red Carl Jung wine), and finally, from Spain (Vega Verde, white and rose wine).
The following results were obtained: Distillation process in Spinning Cone Column produces a concentration effect in the phenolic compounds content of wine, in gallic acid, (-)-epicatechins, (+)-catechins, caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, rutin, myricetin and malvidin-3-glucoside.
 Spanish wines de-alcoholised by SCC present higher resveratrol content and less % of DPPH?remaining than commercial de-alcoholised wines from other origin and produced by other de-alcoholisation technologies.
 It is shown that commercial de-alcoholised wines by reverse osmosis have less soluble fibre than de-alcoholised wines by SCC (commercials and Spanish), in all cases and for the same grape variety.
 Resveratrol content seems to be negatively affected in de-alcoholised wines by reverse osmosis.
 It is observed, in de-alcoholised red wines, that the overall aromatic intensity decreases if aromatic extraction ratio increases. The higher the ratio of aromatic extraction, the lower the aromatic intensity.
 The best conditions for the aromas extraction in red wine are 0,6 % of aromatic extraction ratio, and SCC raw wine flow of 900 L/h (in aromatic separation phase), producing an aromatic stream with 67,8 % (v/v) of ethanol, aromatic intensity of 204,39 and 83,64 % of recovered aromatic peaks; and 1,5% of aromatic extraction ratio, raw wine flow of 700 L/h, producing an aromatic fraction with 47,4 % of ethanol, and an aromatic intensity of 66,18, which implies 97,27 % of recovered aromatic peaks.
 Yeast isolated from wine had some resistance to preservatives like potassium sorbate or sodium meta-bisulphite, obtaining a CMB greater than the legally allowable concentrations for these preservatives.
 A mixture of 200 ppm of potassium sorbate, 40 ppm of free sulphur dioxide and 200 ppm of DMDC (Velcorin) keep the microbial stability of low alcohol wine without organoleptic changes (taste and flavor).
 Sensorial analysis, evaluated by means no professional tasters, showed that 41,94% of them preferred wine of low alcoholic content comparing to traditional wine.


Growing complexity of conventional power grids and their management, increasing power demand and energy quality expectations considering grid reliability, and efficiency and security concerns have triggered the evolution of smart grids. This is an expected result of implementing new technologies in existing grids, including renewable sources such as wind turbines and photovoltaic modules. With implementation of such new elements to the system, the protection concept should be considered by system regulators. In order to analyze protection problems, simulation-based analysis should be carried out before high-cost experimental studies. In this study, a simulation-based evaluation for a smart grid-based distribution system is performed. System simulations are realized considering different fault cases and optimum operating conditions are obtained. A ring grid is designed including a generator and a wind turbine as sources and variable loads as consumers. Several points in the grid are selected as fault locations, and the condition of connecting distributed generation plants to the grid is evaluated in the MATLAB/Simulink environment. This study presents an analysis about the possibility of forming a grid with high reliability and efficiency under fault conditions.


Manipulations are a significant subset of human gestures that are distinguished by the fact that their logic and meaning are particularly clear, being heavily constrained by physical causality. We present techniques and causal semantics for interpreting video of manipulation tasks such as disassembly. Psychologically-based causal constraints are used to detect meaningful changes in the integrity and motions of foreground segmented blobs; a small causal model of manipulation is used to disambiguate and parse these into a coherent account of video's action. The causal constraints are drawn from studies of infant perceptual development; as with infants, they precede and may possibly even bootstrap the ability to reliably segment still objects. Our implementation produces a script of the causal evolution of the scene-output that supports cartoon summary, automated editing, and higher-level reasoning.


This update provides information on recent developments on the draft Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) and Oxfam GB's position on it. Oxfam had fundamental concerns with the draft MAI relating to its scope, process, principles and provisions. Our analysis led us to conclude that the draft MAI was a seriously unbalanced agreement that would be likely to exacerbate inequality and social tensions, thereby reducing business confidence and the prospect of environmentally-sound, pro-poor development in the long run.


The four-layer structure angle-dependent pigments with compositions of Mica/TiO2 /Al2O3/Fe2O3, Mica/TiO2/Al2O3/Cr2O3 and Mica/TiO2/Al2O3/Co2O3 were firstly prepared by the wet-chemical coating method, respectively. The as-prepared pigments were performed by precipitating different metal ions, such as Cr3+, Fe3+, Co2+and Al3+, on the pretreated substrates, mica titanium. The optical effects of four-layer structure pigments were investigated in detail by using the five angles' spectrophotometer. The angle-dependent spectral reflectance and color changes can be quantitatively measured, and the results show that the angle-dependent effects for the as-prepared pigment were improved by the increasing coated Al2O3 layers.


In accordance with shari'ah principles, Islamic banks have to be involved in supply chains of financed assets. However, Islamic banks are simultaneously part of the western banking system that is reluctant to be involved in the real economy. Due to these dual poorly understood boundaries, scholarly disputes persist on the similarities between Islamic and conventional banking. This study adopts the library research and systematic literature review method. After discussing "Islamic finance involvement in the supply chain of the financed asset" by library research method, the systematic literature review (SLR) approach, to search and review Islamic finance and supply chain integrated studies, was adopted, and the Web of Science and Scopus databases initially searched. An extended SLR was then used to search other databases for the review period from 2010 until 3rd February 2020. The library research method discovered the involvement of Islamic finance in the supply chain of the financed asset. The SLR also found similar involvement in several other studies. This study showed that Islamic finance can support the supply chain and solve real business issues, including support beyond traditional financing. It maintains, within a different perspective, that the integration between Islamic finance and supply chain is able to resolve real business problems. And as such, the differentiation between Islamic and conventional banking will be self-explanatory. This study potentially contributes, in a novel perspective, to a greater understanding of the working of current Islamic banking and finance in the economy.


Objective: To determine the feasibility and reliability of fetal gender assignment (FGA) by prenatal ultrasound (US) assessment of the pelvic organs in 2nd and 3rd trimester. Methods: We performed a prospective double blinded study. FGA was either by US visualization of fetal external genitalia or postnatal follow-up. On a transverse image of the fetal pelvis, at the level where the umbilical arteries are at the midpoint of the bladder sidewalls, the distance between the posterior wall of the fetal bladder and anterior wall of the rectum was measured. A video loop of the pelvis was obtained. A second reader, blinded to external FGA, rated the pelvic video loop subjectively as female, male or uncertain and repeated the axial measurement. Results: Of 109 patients, 62.4% were in 2nd trimester, and 37.6% were in 3rd trimester. The additional time to determine internal FGA was less than 5 minutes in 85.3%. The intraclass correlation coefficient between the readers was 0.97. 45 patients were assigned external female gender, with 100% concordance with internal FGA. The endometrium was visualized in 75.6%. 90% females demonstrated a convex interface of the uterus and bladder. 64 patients were assigned external male gender of which 2 were uncertain on internal FGA by the double reader only. 94% males demonstrated a flat interface of the rectum and bladder. In 2nd trimester, 97.0% of males were below discriminatory value of 3.3 mm, and 96.8% of females were above this value. In 3rd trimester, 96.3% of males were below a discriminatory value of 4.2 mm, and 100% of females were above this value. Conclusion: US assessment of the fetal pelvis for FGA can be performed rapidly, with a high degree of sensitivity and specificity by both subjective and objective analysis. A numerical discriminatory level can be utilized to aid discrimination of male versus female gender assignment. Larger numbers will be required to further refine these values.


In every day life we presuppose that indexical thoughts trigger the action: the agent has to believe that he himself is in the right space-time position in order to act hic et nunc. Under the reasons for actions we thus subsume not only intentions, information and knowledge, but indexical beliefs as well. For accepting tensed indexical beliefs as reasons for actions we need an ontology with continuants/endurers. A mere four-dimensional event-ontology without tensed facts might be a good ontological framework for scientific, impersonal explanations, but for the personal explanations of actions based on indexical thoughts it will not suffice. I thuse plead for tensed facts (A-series), but not for spatial indexical facts: there are disanalogies between spatial and temporal indexicals.


With its capacity to unharness the power of narrative to promote meaning-making of lived experience, narrative inquiry is developing as a credible approach to research in several areas in the field of language teaching (Johnson, 2006). This article tells the story of two narrative researchers working in language teacher education who engaged in a collaborative narrative inquiry as both participants and inquirers, in order to learn more about narrative inquiry. The 'bounded' nature of their inquiry design provided a feasible way for them to explore their focus of research (i.e., their learning about narrative inquiry), and led them, through an iterative and reflexive process of analysing their narrative data, to formulate what they believe are essential ingredients of principled narrative inquiry work. Four narrative inquiry variables became the scaffolding which enabled them to answer their research questions, and are offered here as a heuristic for teaching practitioners, whether they be teachers, teacher educators or researchers, to guide them in narrative inquiries into their own work.


This research was carried out to characterize both 200 pure lines selected from Turkish bread wheat landraces and 25 Turkish bread wheat cultivars based on 3 grain quality traits [thousand kernel weight (TKW), protein content (PC), Zeleny sedimentation test (ZSDS)] and 5 mixograph parameters. Univariate and Multivariate (clustering and ordination) techniques were used to investigate the diversity present among the pure lines and cultivars. Both cluster and ordination analyses suggested that there were ten groups of studied genotypes. Applying genotype-by-trait (GT) biplot analysis to the multiple quality trait data revealed that GT-biplot graphically displayed the interrelationships among traits and facilitated visual comparison of pure lines and selection. The results also showed that, based on the quality traits, the pure lines in different groups were belonged to different provinces of Turkey. They were also proved to be highly diverse for 8 quality trait values (both mixograph and grain quality) to breeders and end-users. Especially most of the pure lines had higher PC, midline peak value of mixogram (MPV), midline time x = 8 min integral of mixogram (MTxI) and ZSDS values than some of the cultivars. Also, our results were very contributive in selection of precious pure lines for further breeding programs.


This study numerically investigated the performance of a 64-fan induced draft Air-Cooled Condenser (ACC) subjected to crosswind conditions. An Actuator Disk Model (ADM) was used to model the axial flow fans and a combination of the Darcy-Forchheimer porosity model and the Effectiveness Number of Transfer Units (ε-NTU) heat transfer model were used to model the heat exchangers. Crosswind conditions were applied to the ACC model in multiple directions and multiple reference velocities, with the results compared to a reference case where no wind was present.
 The induced draft ACC attained a mean fan volumetric effectiveness of 1.065, a mean heat transfer effectiveness of 1.039 and a mean heat-to-power ratio of 120.6 when no crosswinds were present. At relatively high crosswind velocities of 9 m/s the mean volumetric effectiveness decreased by 10.1% from wind coming from the primary direction, and by 10.3% from wind coming from the secondary direction. Similarly, the mean heat transfer effectiveness decreased by 21.7% under primary cross-winds, and by 31.3% under secondary crosswinds. Finally, the heat-to-power ratio of the ACC decreased to 92.5 under primary crosswinds, and by 77.6 under secondary crosswinds.


This work proposes an optimization-based manipulation planning framework where the objectives are learned functionals of signed-distance fields that represent objects in the scene. Most manipulation planning approaches rely on analytical models and carefully chosen abstractions/state-spaces to be effective. A central question is how models can be obtained from data that are not primarily accurate in their predictions, but, more importantly, enable efficient reasoning within a planning framework, while at the same time being closely coupled to perception spaces. We show that representing objects as signed-distance fields not only enables to learn and represent a variety of models with higher accuracy compared to point-cloud and occupancy measure representations, but also that SDF-based models are suitable for optimization-based planning. To demonstrate the versatility of our approach, we learn both kinematic and dynamic models to solve tasks that involve hanging mugs on hooks and pushing objects on a table. We can unify these quite different tasks within one framework, since SDFs are the common object representation. Video: https://youtu.be/ga8Wlkss7co


Consumer behaviour is often complex and even sometimes not economically rational. Wrongly, the first techno-economic energy planning models assumed the economic rationality hypothesis and, therefore, represented consumers' behaviour incorrectly. Nevertheless, the current trend is to couple these models with behavioural approaches that were specially developed to describe the real consumer choices. A novel approach was recently proposed, where a classical energy model is coupled with a share of choice model. This new approach has however two weaknesses. First, the share of choice increases the computational complexity as it necessitates additional binary variables for the modelling. Second, for complex models, the inclusion of the share of choice can lead to non-linearity and hence to severe computational problems. In the present paper, we propose to improve this method by externalizing the share of choice. Doing so, the number of binary variable will be reduced and the linearity property will be kept even for complex models.


Concerns have frequently been raised regarding the impact of federally-subsidized crop insurance and agricultural subsidy payments on land allocation and crop mix choices. If the reduction in production risk encourages farmers to plant on economically marginal land, it has often been asserted that this will lead to increases in environmental damage, including increases in soil erosion rates. This paper investigates the "conventional" wisdom that economically marginal land is also environmentally fragile, as defined by higher levels of inherent soil erodibility. We address this issue by looking at the distribution of crop yields for 4 major crops across National Resource Inventory (NRI) erodibility classes and by performing regression analysis. Our results indicate that land with higher levels of soil erodibility exhibit lower mean crop yields, a proxy for economic marginality, which lends support to the conventional wisdom.


Aims To identify the prevalence of pathological gambling (PG) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) from studies using comparable methodology to the best general population estimates. Additionally, to collate case-control based observations regarding the clinical characteristics of this phenomenon. Methods MEDLINE, EMBASE and PyscInfo databases were searched for prospective prevalence studies which used systematic screening methods and interview based diagnosis using recognised diagnostic criteria for PD. The same search strategy was used to identify case-control studies examining the clinical characteristics of PG. Results Five prospective studies were included in this review with a total of 1032 patients with PD. 3.2% of all patients fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for PG, compared to 0.43–1% in the general population based on North American surveys. The prevalence in men was 1% higher than in women, although this was not statistically significant. The prevalence of PG among patients on dopamine agonists was 5.7%. Younger age of PD onset, increased novelty seeking behaviours and personal/family history of alcohol misuse were all associated with PG. Psychiatric co-morbidities including other impulse control disorders were commonly reported, although no statistically significant associations have been found. Conclusions Currently available evidence-based data suggest a high prevalence of PG among patients with PD. Dopamine agonist use was strongly associated with PG across all studies. Patients who develop PG present with specific clinical characteristics which are suggestive of underlying susceptibility factors.


The software Cabri 3D allows the nets of polyhedra to be constructed using one or more sets of connected polygons where the angle between all connected polygons is the same. These collections can be folded into the polyhedron by dragging a point controlling the angle between the polygons. Viewed from above, the polygons act as a kaleidoscope as the angle changes, and when the angle is decreased so that polygons intersect, surprisingly beautiful symmetric figures emerge, which can be constructed as physical artifacts or experienced as dynamic computer animations.


We consider a model for data envelopment analysis with infinitely many decision-making units. The determination of the relative efficiency of a given decision-making unit amounts to the solution of a semi-infinite optimization problem. We show that a decision-making unit of maximal relative efficiency exists and that it is 100% efficient. Moreover, this decision-making unit can be found by calculating a zero of the semi-infinite constraint function. For the latter task we propose a bi-level algorithm. We apply this algorithm to a problem from chemical engineering and present numerical results


Background and aims Human toll-like receptors (TLRs) participate in the innate response and signal the activation of adaptive immunity. TLRs play a vital role in sensing infection. A common 23 bp insertion/deletion polymorphism at 5'UTR of TLR2 gene has been shown to affect TLR2 expression and plasma levels of pro-inflammatory molecules. We hypothesised that a mutation at 5'UTR region of TLR2 gene could be associated with susceptibility/resistance to SLE and malaria. We performed a hospital based case-control study on SLE patients residing in P. falciparum endemic areas. Methods Two hundred female SLE patients and age and sex, matched healthy controls were enrolled. 120 P. falciparum infected patients including 50 uncomplicated cases and 70 severe malarial patients were included.. TLR2 (23bp ins/del) polymorphism was typed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). 20% samples were randomly sequenced for validation of PCR results. Results The mean age and disease duration of SLE patients were 27.44 and 2.91 years respectively. Prevalence of mutants (ins/del+del/del) of TLR2 gene polymorphism were significantly lower in SLE patients compared to healthy controls (p=0.02; OR=0.54). Distribution of TLR2 variants were comparable among different clinical phenotypes of SLE. The TLR2 5'UTR mutants were associated with elevated TNF alpha, IL1 beta and IL6 compared to the wild genotypes. Mutants were more prevalent in severe malaria patients than uncomplicated cases (p=0.05; OR=2.31). Conclusions TLR2 5'UTR 23bp ins/del variants are associated with development of severe disease in P. falciparum malaria but possibly an evolutionary mechanism to protect SLE patients against severe malaria in endemic areas


Objectives Rotator cuff tendinopathies are the most common shoulder disorders. As persistent symptoms lasting more than 3 months have been shown to be a strong indicator of poor outcomes, it is important to have successful interventions in the acute stage. However, there is no evidence yet to guide clinical interventions in an acute pain context. The objective of this study was to compare the short-term effect of a 2-week gradual reloading exercises programme with the use of cryotherapy on symptoms and function for acute rotator cuff tendinopathy. Methods This simple-blind, randomised controlled trial included 44 participants with acute rotator cuff tendinopathy who were randomly allocated to either the exercises or cryotherapy group. Symptoms and functional limitations were evaluated at weeks 0, 2 and 6 using self-reported questionnaires (Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand, Western Ontario Rotator Cuff, and Brief Pain Inventory), while acromiohumeral distance, shoulder strength and active range of motion were evaluated at weeks 0 and 2. Results Following interventions, both groups showed statistically significant improvements on symptoms and function at week 2 and week 6 compared with baseline. However, there was no significant group × time interaction. There was no time effect on acromiohumeral distance, shoulder strength and active range of motion, as well as no time × group interaction. Conclusion The results showed a statistically significant improvement in symptoms and function in both groups, but there was no difference between the short-term effect of a cryotherapy based-approach and a gradual reloading exercises programme. Trial registration number NCT02813304.


M-services provide mobile users wireless access to Web services. In this paper, we present a novel infrastructure for supporting M-services in wireless broadcast systems. The proposed infrastructure provides a generic framework for mobile users to look up, access, and execute Web services over wireless broadcast channels. Access efficiency is an important issue in wireless broadcast systems. We discuss different semantics that have impact on the access efficiency for composite M-services. A multiprocess workflow is proposed for effectively accessing composite M-services from multiple broadcast channels based on these semantics. We also present and compare different broadcast channel organizations for M-services and wireless data. Analytical models are provided for these channel organizations. Practical studies are presented to demonstrate the impact of different semantics and channel organizations on the access efficiency.


Recently, there is an emerging interest for applications of tensor factorization in big-data analytics and machine learning. Tensor factorization can extract latent features and perform dimension reduction that can facilitate discoveries of new mechanisms hidden in the data. The nonnegative tensor factorization extracts latent features that are naturally sparse and are parts of the data, which makes them easily interpretable. This easy interpretability places the nonnegative factorization as a uniquely suitable method for exploratory data analysis and unsupervised learning. The standard Canonical Polyadic Decomposition (CPD) algorithm for tensor factorization experiences difficulties when applied to tensors with rank deficient factors. For example, the rank deficiency, or linear dependence in the factors, cannot be easily reproduced by the standard PARAFAC because the presence of noise in the real-world data can force the algorithm to extract linearly independent factors. Methods for low-rank approximation and extraction of latent features in the rank deficient case, such as PARALIND family of models, have been successfully developed for general tensors. In this paper, we propose a similar approach for factorization of nonnegative tensors with rank deficiency. Firstly, we determine the minimal nonnegative cones containing the initial tensor and by using a nonnegative Tucker decomposition determine its nonnegative multirank. Secondly, by a nonnegative Tucker decomposition we derived the core tensor and factor matrices corresponding to this multirank. Thirdly, we apply a nonnegative CPD to the derived core tensor to avoid the problematic rank deficiency. Finally, we combine both factorizations to obtain the final CPD factors and demonstrate our approach in several synthetic and real-world examples.


Optimal control strategies for wave energy converters (WECs) commonly require noncausal knowledge of the incident wave to maximize energy production. To enable these control methods, the prediction capabilities of two autoregressive (AR) models are evaluated. This work utilized autoregressive methods to predict the wave excitation force since they can be implemented in real time to adapt to changing conditions. The two models evaluated in this work are AR and AR with exogenous inputs (ARX) models. These models describe the wave propagation between two devices. To substantiate the validity of the predictions presented here, the wave excitation force was also estimated using an extended Kalman filter (EKF). The EKF incorporated nonlinear heave models of each body to determine the wave excitation force that was formulated as a harmonic disturbance to each system. The combination of the EKF and the AR models presents an opportunity to evaluate the prediction capabilities of what can be currently implemented on board WECs in real time; there is no need for offline training or postprocessed filtering of the wave. The ARX model incorporating excitation force data from other deployed bodies (the exogenous input) is shown to significantly improve the performance of the wave excitation force prediction. It is concluded that WECs in a wave farm may be able to improve their energy harvesting performance through enhancing their prediction capabilities by using wave estimation data gathered from other WECs. Experimental data from a two-body wave tank test is used for this work.


This paper presents a model for combining contrastive analysis and interlanguage analysis. It can be seen as an extension of Granger's (1996) Integrated Contrastive Model, but it explicitly requires a bidirectional parallel corpus for the contrastive analysis and matching learner corpora for the (multiple) interlaguage analysis. Thus, the model operates at the interface between Contrastive Analysis and Learner Corpus Research. Within the model, the contrastive, cross-linguistic, analysis produces hypotheses for learner behaviour in the languages involved. Hence the learner corpus study of L2 data includes a cross-linguistic interlanguage analysis, based on comparable data produced by (at least) two learner groups (with different L1s and different L2s). As an illustration of the model, the English noun people and its typical Norwegian translation correspondences (folk and menneske) are studied, with particular attention to postmodification patterns. The proposed Parallel Contrastive Model is shown to have the potential to throw new light on the cross-linguistic relationship between languages and interlanguages in a common framework.


Abstract A fairy tale as a form of a cultural code is the most important tool for cultural and ethnic socialization, the transfer of social experience, values, and worldview. Modern society is characterized by a high level of technologization, standardization, and universalization of the communication process which leads to the formation of new social practices of communication of various social groups. The article is focused on highlighting the functional and activity role of a fairy tale in the formation of the social memory of the younger generation and the features of the implementation of intergenerational communication through the fairy tale. Communication is a powerful mechanism to live a life of harmony, impact and emotional resilience. Effectively conveying your thoughts into words that build trust and influence has the ability to dramatically shift the course of your life. Think about some of the most legendary people that have lived on this planet. In modern society, the range of communication agents in the transmission of social experience between generations has significantly expanded. There appear agents of non-family communication, which take part in the transmission of cultural memory and the formation of memory places in the younger generation.


In the years 1994-1997 the University of Tromso participated in "The Documentation project", a nation-wide project with the aim of transferring various collections from paper to electronic form. We are now publishing the results in a system of databases. The different documents have separate interfaces for searching and browsing. Like many other "electronic libraries" on the worl wide web, the "books" are single-standing units. The next step is to integrate the texts in larger systems of information. In the documents, there are many references to other works. We try to convert these to hypertext links, either to full-text version of the document referenced to, or, at least, to the meta-data in a bibliographical database. All the electronic documents have different interfaces for searching, based on their distinctive characteristics. Is it possible to make an integrated interface for searching in more than one of the documents? And, if it is possible, is it wise to do so? In our case, an integrated searching inteface for some of the materials is not problematic, as they share a set of concepts (e.g. names of muncipalities), while other documents require a difficult process of translation before an integration will be possible. In yet other cases the task may be impossible.


How is religion and religiosity – especially Muslimness ‒ perceived and constructed in school children's everyday life? This is the main question of the article which is explored through an analysis of a photo-project and a mind map session with two fifth grade classes in a school in Copenhagen. The children were given the task of taking pictures of places, people, situations or objects from their everyday lives which they believed were associated with religion or religiosity. The analysis of the images and the mind map produced in the class shows some interesting patterns in regard to the dominant regimes of representations. The visual and material expressions of religiosity are centered on specific religions, namely Christianity and Islam and locations, such as private/public and school/home. These patterns are connected to societal and national discourses on religiosity and secularity, and processes of minoritisation and majoritisation of religious practice. The article also includes reflections on the methodology of using pictures as a visual medium in the exploration of the religiosity of everyday life in and outside the school.


In this work we detail the first algorithm that provides topological control during surface reconstruction from an input set of planar cross-sections. Our work has broad application in a number of fields including surface modeling and biomedical image analysis, where surfaces of known topology must be recovered. Given curves on arbitrarily oriented cross-sections, our method produces a manifold interpolating surface that exactly matches a user-specified genus. The key insight behind our approach is to formulate the topological search as a divide-and-conquer optimization process which scores local sets of topologies and combines them to satisfy the global topology constraint. We further extend our method to allow image data to guide the topological search, achieving even better results than relying on the curves alone. By simultaneously satisfying both geometric and topological constraints, we are able to produce accurate reconstructions with fewer input cross-sections, hence reducing the manual time needed to extract the desired shape.


Patients who present with wide complex tachycardia are always challenging both diagnostically and therapeutically. Mahaim fiber is an uncommon cause of tachycardia in which cardiac pre-excitation occurs via slow-conducting, long accessory pathways that terminate in the right ventricular free wall or into the adjacent right bundle. It was first reported by Mahaim and Bennett in 1937, subsequently, other investigators have elucidated the electrophysiological properties of this pathway. We report a 45 years old man presented to the emergency department with history of sudden onset palpitations associated with fatigue. He was known case of diabetes mellitus and hypertension.Twelve leads electrocardiogram was suggestive of narrow QRS regular tachycardia with left bundle branch block (LBBB) morphology,left axis deviation with late transition of QRS in precordial leads in V5 (Figure 1). Patient was hemodynamically stable and was given intravenous adenosine. Subsequently 2D transthoracic echocardiogram revealed normal study. Baseline electrocardiogram showed normal sinus rhythm with no septal q waves in left precordial leads and rS pattern in lead III (Figure 2) typical of Mahaim tachycardia. Electrophysiologic study then confirmed the diagnosis of Mahaim fiber tachycardia. Treatment was successful with mapping of the accessory pathways followed by radiofrequency ablation. In this situation, clinicians must not administer agents that slow conduction through the AV node, as this makes conduction via the accessory pathway more likely and results in immediate hemodynamic collapse, ventricular fibrillation, or death.


For the past 150 years the most constant factor in the pathologist's histopathological diagnostic work-up has been haematoxylin staining. This technique, in combination with later additional staining techniques, determined knowledge on a cellular level for a long time. The invention of the transmission electron microscope added an ultrastructural dimension, and for many decennia in the middle of the twentieth century this was an important diagnostic tool. Enzyme histochemistry and morphometry came next, but these techniques never really became important as they were largely overtaken by immunohistochemistry and molecular diagnostics. These, in their turn, will face competition from proteomics and other forms of genomics. It seems likely that the trusty light microscope will lose out to digital microscopy, which is developing rapidly and offers the possibility to make a diagnosis at a distance. Pathology will continue to be a specialty on the move.


This research project is a conceptual exploration of a specific social phenomenon - nonviolent action. Within the discipline of peace and development studies the dissertation explores how peace with peaceful means is possible to conceptualize. Earlier theories about nonviolence (mainly Gandhi and Sharp) are discussed in the perspective of late modern sociology (Bourdieu, Foucault, Goffman, Habermas et al) in an attempt to develop a social and practical description system. The concept of nonviolence combines 'without-violence' and 'against-violence', differing from the better known concepts of 'peaceful' or 'pacifism'. Contrary to earlier research, nonviolence is described as a multidimensional rationality and contradictory action repertoire transforming conflicts through dialectical creativity. Nonviolence seeks consensus between parties - it is argued - even in conflicts plagued by power relations, enemy images, institutionalised violence, competing truth claims, dysfunctional social relations and cultural differences of groups. The repertoire of nonviolence is a combination of resistance and construction, expressed through dialogue facilitation, normative regulation, power breaking and utopian enactment. Nonviolent action's overriding goal is to facilitate consensus and common universal truth (Satyagraha). Contrary to earlier research this study highlights truth-regimes, power production, manipulation and other inherent contradictions of nonviolence, while maintaining the possibility of liberation struggles against organised violence and oppression. Based on a resulting apparatus of social concepts (summarised in conceptual maps) a number of possible research options and development alternatives of nonviolent practices are suggested. Taken together they point towards the possibilities of a relational, constructivist and pragmatic school of nonviolence studies and an increased potential of peaceful change in difficult conflicts and oppression systems.


In this paper, we have proposed a new poly-Si triple-gate thin-film transistor (TG-TFT) where the front gate consists of two materials and three sections in order to reduce the OFF state leakage current without affecting the ON state voltage. We have used one and three grain-boundaries in the channel for analyzing the electrical characteristics of the poly-Si TG-TFT. The key idea in this paper is to make the dominant conduction mechanism in the channel to be controlled by the accumulation charge density modulation by the gate and not by the gate-induced grain barrier lowering. As a result, we demonstrate that the TG-TFT exhibits a highly diminished pseudosubthreshold region resulting in a substantial OFF state leakage current without any significant change in the ON voltage when compared to a conventional poly-Si TFT (C-TFT). Using two-dimensional and two-carrier device simulation, we have examined various design issues of the TG-TFT and provided the reasons for the improved performance.


Abstract Our investigations at the lowland Maya center of Ceibal have demonstrated that a formal spatial pattern consisting of an E-Group assemblage and large platforms started around 1000 b.c. and gradually expanded over the next several centuries. A re-evaluation of ceramic and radiocarbon data from other lowland Maya sites suggests that the beginning of sedentary life and ceramic use in various parts of the Maya lowlands started roughly simultaneously around 1000 b.c., which may have been triggered by a change in maize productivity. The standardized spatial pattern including the E-Group assemblage probably developed in the Isthmian Interaction Sphere, encompassing the southern Gulf Coast, central Chiapas, the Chiapas-Guatemalan Pacific Coast, and Ceibal, during the transitional period between the decline of San Lorenzo and the rise of La Venta as a major center (1200–800 b.c.). Most of the lowland Maya communities adopted the E-Group assemblage after 800 b.c., but not other elements of the standardized spatial pattern.


Abstract : Thirty-three rhesus monkeys--7 normal, 13 given low-dose radiation, and 13 given high-dose radiation--were presented with 12 object-quality discrimination problems each day for 16 days. Four trials were allowed on each problem. Each problem involved one new or novel stimulus and one stimulus which had appeared in the preceding problem. Half the time, the stimulus brought forward had been positive (rewarded) and half the time negative (nonrewarded) in the preceding problem. In each problem, the new or novel stimulus was made positive (rewarded) and the stimulus retained from the preceding problem, regardless of previous sign, became negative. The monkeys attained significant first-trial solution of the successive problems. Previous exposure to whole-body radiation did not produce significant differences in performance in this experiment. A significantly greater likelihood of error resulted when the positive stimulus was retained with reversed sign than when the negative stimulus was retained without reversed sign. The relative difficulty of the positive-brought-forward with reversal and the negative-brought-forward without reversal was found to depend on the degree of training. (Author)


Abstract Decision-making during host selection by phytophagous insects has proved to be related to host range, with specialists taking faster decisions than generalists; however, this pattern fails to materialize in some host selection studies performed with aphids. Differences found in testing designs point to rearing effects on aphid host selection. To test whether specialization patterns derive from the nature of the aphid or as a consequence of rearing environment, host selection behaviours were compared between the generalist Myzus persicae (Sulzer) s.s. and its subspecies specialized on tobacco when reared on a common host and offered the choice of an alternative host and a non-host plant. Pre-alighting (host finding and attraction towards host volatiles) and post-alighting (leaf surface exploration and probing) behaviours did not differ between the generalist and the tobacco-specialist, except in the allocation of time to probing behaviour; furthermore, all specialists chose the host on which they performed best. Thus, although the specialist was not faster than the generalist, it showed a higher level of commitment to its preferred host plant.


This handbook reviews the methods employed in price indexes to adjust for quality change: "conventional" quality adjustment methods, which are explained in Chapter II, and hedonic price indexes (Chapter III). Hedonic indexes have a prominent place in price indexes for information and communication technology (ICT) products in several OECD countries, and are also used for measuring prices for some other goods and services, notably housing. The handbook's objective is to contribute to a better understanding of the merits and shortcomings of conventional and hedonic methods, and to provide an analytic basis for choosing among them.This handbook compares and contrasts the logic and statistical properties of hedonic methods and conventional methods and the results of employing them in different circumstances. In Chapter IV, it reviews empirical evidence on the difference that alternative methods make in practice, and offers an evaluation framework for determining which is better. In ...


We examine multiattribute decision problems where a value function is specified over the attributes of a decision problem, as is typically done in the deterministic phase of a decision analysis. When uncertainty is present, a utility function is assigned over the value function to represent the decision maker's risk attitude towards value, which we refer to as a value-based approach. A fundamental result of using the value-based approach is a closed form expression that relates the risk aversion functions of the individual attributes to the trade-off functions between them. We call this relation utility transversality. The utility transversality relation asserts that once the value function is specified there is only one dimension of risk attitude in multiattribute decision problems. The construction of multiattribute utility functions using the value-based approach provides the flexibility to model more general functional forms that do not require assumptions of utility independence. For example, we derive a new family of multiattribute utility functions that describes richer preference structures than the usual multilinear family. We also show that many classical results of utility theory, such as risk sharing and the notion of a corporate risk tolerance, can be derived simply from the utility transversality relations by appropriate choice of the value function. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Finance is important for Indonesian farmers to purchase agricultural inputs and machinery and to pay for hired labour, which can improve farm performance. Farmers in Indonesia can access finance from various finance providers, i.e. banks, micro-finance institutions, farmers' associations, traders, agricultural input kiosks and so-called "other sources" such as family and friends. The overall objective of this thesis was to analyse the relation between finance utilisation from different finance providers and horticultural business performance in Indonesia. This thesis first compares farmer knowledge of the requirements to obtain finance with the actual requirements set by finance providers, and investigates factors that determine farmer knowledge of the requirements. Next, this thesis analyses the relation between finance utilisation from different finance providers and the technical efficiency of horticultural farms using a bootstrap truncated regression. Furthermore, the role of finance utilisation from different finance providers in production risk is analysed using an ordinary least squares regression. Finally, this thesis analyses finance utilisation and its relation with chili supply chain continuity as reflected by contract fulfilment rates using a censored regression analysis. Findings show that farmers generally have little knowledge of the finance requirements. Findings also show that in-kind finance utilisation from farmers' associations positively associates with farmer knowledge of finance requirements. The results of the bootstrap truncated regression show that commercial credit from banks and in-kind finance from farmers' associations positively associate with the technical efficiency of some types of horticultural farms. Commercial credit from micro-finance institutions and flexible payment of inputs to agricultural input kiosks generally have negative associations, especially with the technical efficiency of mangosteen farms. Subsidised credit from banks and in-kind finance from traders have both positive and negative associations with the technical efficiency of the horticultural farms. With regard to production risk, results show that depending on the risk measure, risk-reducing associations were found for commercial credit from banks and flexible payments of inputs to kiosks. With respect to supply continuity, outcomes show that chili contract fulfilment rates are positively associated with in-kind finance from farmers' associations, but negatively associated with subsidised credit from banks and flexible payment of inputs to agricultural input kiosks.


Demonstration of central bronchiectasis (CB) with normal periph- eral bronchi is an essential requirement for the diagnosis of allergic bronchopul- monary aspergillosis (ABPA). Although the results of bronchography remain the gold standard for demonstration of central bronchiectasis they are not always diagnostic. Moreover, it is an unpleasant invasive procedure which may be diffi- cult to perform in a patient of allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis with acute severe asthma. In an attempt to find a safe and effective alternative to demonstrate central bronchiectasis computed tomography (CT) of the thorax was evaluated against bronchography. Twenty one patients with allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis underwent com- puted tomography of the thorax followed by bronchography. Of the 378 bron- chopulmonary segments available for analysis, 42 had to be excluded because of consolidation or non-filling of the contrast dye, leaving 336 segments for evaluation. CB was identified on CT in all 21 patients. Detailed analysis of the visualized segments revealed that computed tomography (using 8 mm contiguous scans) iden- tified 146 of the 212 segments showing central bronchiectasis on bronchography (sensitivity 70%) and 114 of the 124, read as normal on bronchography (specifi- city 92%). Supplemental 4 mm scans, used in 8 out of 21 patients improved the overall sensitivity of computed tomography to 83%, whilst the specificity remained unchanged at 92%. Thus, computed tomography of the thorax, being more acceptable to the patient, has the potential of being the investigation of choice for the demonstration of cen- tral bronchiectasis in patients with allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis.


The stair is the vertical transport hinge among stories, it becomes a very important component. the stair is seriously damaged in Wenchuan earthquake, and it failed to perform the role for person escaping in case of emergency. a reinforced concrete frame structure with plate stairs as an example, the finite analysis is used. Calculation result shows that plate stairs have a great influence on earthquake resistant behavior of the structure. Designing without the plate staircase in consideration would lead to structural weakness in some columns and cause seriously damage under earthquake and affect the safety of structure.


Oesophageal intubation is rapidly fatal if not recognised. We report a patient who not only survived an oesophageal intubation but who had chest X-rays taken which showed an oesophageal intubation which was initially recognised by the attending physician.


This paper introduces a generative model equivariant to Euclidean symmetries: E(n) Equivariant Normalizing Flows (E-NFs). To construct E-NFs, we take the discriminative E(n) graph neural networks and integrate them as a differential equation to obtain an invertible equivariant function: a continuous-time normalizing flow. We demonstrate that E-NFs considerably outperform baselines and existing methods from the literature on particle systems such as DW4 and LJ13, and on molecules from QM9 in terms of log-likelihood. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first flow that jointly generates molecule features and positions in 3D.


This article focuses on the career and writings of a neglected eighteenth-century High Church cleric, Thomas Townson (1715–92). It aims to restate his contemporary prominence as a writer and pastor and present fresh research into the intergenerational transmission and reception of High Church ideas and practices within a distinctive religio-political milieu in Staffordshire and Cheshire. In this recovery of contexts, it notes Townson's relatively slight inspirational importance within both the Hackney Phalanx and the earlier Oxford Movement, and argues that, while there were undoubted continuities and connections between the Georgian Church of England and the Tractarians, Townson's marginality for most of the latter serves to confirm Peter Nockles's emphasis on the Oxford Movement as, in many senses, a 'new start'.


Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA), a polyunsaturated fatty acid, refers to a group of dienoic derivatives of linoleic acid that can be found in natural food sources, such as milk fat and the meat of ruminant animals. CLA has been shown to have anti-carcinogenic activity in many in vitro and in vivo studies. Previous studies have focused on the effects of dietary CLA on the prevention of tumour appearance, yet relatively little is known about the actual mechanism of CLA's anti-cancer activity.

The most lethal aspect of cancer is the ability of tumour cells to metastasise and form secondary tumours. The matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), a multi-gene family of enzymes, which degrade components of the extracellular matrix (ECM) have been implicated as major role players in tumour invasion and metastasis. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of CLA on the proliferation, migration, invasion and MMP-9 expression of a murine mammary cancer cell line, 4T1, which is known to be highly metastatic in vivo.

Cells were treated with CLA, which contains a mixture of various isomers, and with the purified predominant isomers present in CLA, 9c, 11 i( l8:2) and 10/,12c(l 8:2). Cytotoxicity of CLA was examined by varying the concentration and incubation time. Sublethal as well as lethal doses were determined. Interestingly, it appeared that the 10/,l2 e ( l8 :2 ) isomer had the most lethal effect.

Flow cytometric analysis revealed deregulation of the cell cycle correlating with the observed cytotoxic effects of CLA, especially with the 10i,12c(18:2) CLA isomer. The effect of CLA and its isomers on apoptosis was also investigated. The results from this assay were inconclusive, although examination of the cell cycle histogram plots indicated that cell death due to CLA was not occurring through an apoptotic pathway as there was no sub-Go/Gi peak.

Treatment of the cells with a sub-lethal dose of CLA and its isomers resulted in a reduction of the invasive activity of the 4T1 cell line with the 9c, 11 18:2) isomer having the greatest effect. CLA and its isomers also resulted in a reduction in the percentage migration of the cells, especially the 9c, 11/(18:2) isomer and the CLA mixture. Substrate zymography gels were used to detect MMP activity and showed that the 4T1 cells expressed significant amounts of murine MMP-9. Following treatment with CLA and its isomers, there was no reduction in MMP expression.