Background A patient affected by blue rubber–bleb nevus syndrome had chronic gastrointestinal bleeding requiring weekly blood transfusions. Despite multiple surgical and endoscopic procedures to treat the venous malformations, the patient continued to bleed primarily from lesions in the small bowel. Therefore, this patient was treated with octreotide, a somatostatin analog known to decrease splanchnic blood flow and that is used for acute and chronic gastrointestinal bleeding. Methods Octreotide therapy, 5.7 &mgr;g/kg subcutaneously twice daily, was initiated, and the patient was followed up clinically. Complete blood counts, blood glucose concentration, pancreatic enzyme concentration, liver function tests, and growth hormone concentration were monitored during treatments. Results During the 4 weeks after initiation of octreotide therapy, hemoglobin concentration was maintained without the need for transfusions. Octreotide decreased the patient's monthly need for blood transfusion from 52 ± 7 mL · kg−1 · mo−1 of packed red blood cells to 23 ± 7 mL · kg−1 · mo−1. She had no detectable side effects or growth inhibition. Other medical interventions including -εaminocaproic acid, nadolol, and total parenteral nutrition with bowel rest were not as effective as octreotide alone. Conclusion Octreotide decreased the patient's need for blood transfusions. Possible mechanisms include altering blood flow to the gastrointestinal tract and direct effects on the venous malformations.


Because of their frequently recurring and chronic course, psychiatric disorders are virtually predestined for integrated medical care models. Despite this, only a few integrated care contracts have been concluded in psychiatry. Since July 1, 2004, an integrated care project has been available for patients with affective disorders, schizophrenias and dementia at the Regional Hospital in Haar (BKH Haar). Up until now, the project has shown that the patients' care can be improved through better coordination of the available resources and tighter intersector cooperation.


Because the spatial distribution of frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs) regulates the thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) property, researchers synthesize TADF emitters by designing their FMO distribution. However, it remains challenging to clarify how the FMO distribution is altered at molecular interfaces. Thus, visualizing the FMOs at molecular interfaces helps us to understand the working behavior of TADF emitters. Using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), we investigated the electronic structure of a single TADF emitter, hexamethylazatriangulene-triazine, at molecule-metal and molecule-insulating film interfaces. FMOs at the molecule-metal interface were not spatially confined to the donor-acceptor moieties because of hybridization. Meanwhile, FMOs at the molecule-insulator interface exhibited spatially separated filled and empty states confined to each moiety, similar to the calculated gas-phase FMOs. These observations illustrate that the molecule-environment interaction alters the spatial distribution of FMOs, proving that STM is a powerful tool for studying TADF molecules.


In this research work the Welding technology that implements high frequency contact welding process (HFCW), is presented as a method for automatic steel pipes production. The pipes produced by the HFCW are meant to be used for natural gas transportation. X60M steel coils with thickness of 6.5 mm are used as a raw material. The outer pipe diameter is φ508 and the length is 12000 mm. The preliminary welding procedure is based on the personal experience, technical knowledge and the expert judgment. A special attention has been paid to the most important welding parameters such as: current frequency, voltage and welding speed. After the welding was finished, an additional heat treatment (normalization) of the welded pipes (joints) was performed at the temperature of 900oC.

In order to justify the proposed welding technology a complex analysis is applied. The first analysis was the chemical analysis of base metal. The next was the nondestructive testing consisted of a visual inspection, and ultrasound testing of the pipes. The destructive testing was consisted of tensile testing, bend testing and the hardness measurement. Besides the analysis of the micro and macro structure of the welded joints, a metallographic analysis is performed as well. Moreover a hydrostatic test and a flattening test were performed as an integral part of the entire testing process. The test results confirmed that the pipes produced with the predicted welding parameters completely fulfilled standard requirements. The manufacturing process for the pipes for natural gas transportation is ready to begin.


BACKGROUND
Three multicenter studies were conducted in East Germany on the treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia in children. The latest of the three studies (AML-BFM-93-OST) was part of the common German study AML-BFM-93.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
The total number of registered patients was 262. The number and dosage of administered chemotherapeutic agents was elevated with each new study.

RESULTS
Both the remission rate (85 %) and the likelihood of an event free survival (52 % after 5 years) could be improved significantly in study AML-BFM-93-OST. The results of the common German study AML-BFM-93 were identical to those of the East German part AML-BFM-93-OST. Compared with international studies it was one of the most successful treatment strategies in children with AML. Patients who showed toxic side effects to heart, liver, kidneys, skin or nervous system during the chemotherapy had a significantly lower risk of relapse, once they overcame the intensive therapy. During the five years of study AML-BFM-93-OST, treatment results could be improved despite an unchanged therapy strategy. This may partly be due to the modernisations and restorations that were carried out in many East German hospitals in this time.

CONCLUSIONS
The therapy regimen of study AML-BFM-93 allowed a substantial improvement in the treatment of children with AML. Further intensification of chemotherapy should only be undertaken in accordance to the individual sensitivity of each patient.


Bullying victimisation during adolescence has been found to be associated with a range of individual factors. In contrast, family factors have been poorly investigated or findings have been contradictory. Even less is known about factors related to victimisation in the home by siblings. A range of family factors and their relationship to bullying victimisation in school and at home was investigated in 2,163 adolescents 10-15 years old within the Understanding Society sample. Approximately 12% were victims of bullying in school overall, 4.8% of direct and 10% of relational bullying. In contrast, sibling bullying was widespread with half of all children with siblings involved in bullying each other. In particular bully/victims at home and those victimized at school were at increased risk for behaviour problems in the clinical range and were significantly less happy. Sibling bullying was found to be related to sibling composition, in particular the number of siblings and presence of brothers and to less or negative parental involvement, while school bullying was more frequent in those growing up in material deprivation at home and who were bullied by their siblings. Strengthening families and parenting skills and increasing sibling support may reduce bullying in school and increase wellbeing.


The mammalian cerebral cortex is typically organized in six layers containing multiple types of neurons, with pyramidal neurons (PNs) being the most abundant. PNs in different cortical layers have distinct morphology, physiology and functional roles in neural circuits. Therefore, their development and synaptic plasticity may also differ. Using in vivo transcranial two-photon microscopy, we followed the structural dynamics of dendritic spines on apical dendrites of layer (L) 2/3 and L5 PNs at different developmental stages. We show that the density and dynamics of spines are significantly higher in L2/3 PNs than L5 PNs in both adolescent (1 month old) and adult (4 months old) mice. While spine density of L5 PNs decreases during adolescent development due to a higher rate of spine elimination than formation, there is no net change in the spine density along apical dendrites of L2/3 PNs over this period. In addition, experiences exert differential impact on the dynamics of apical dendritic spines of PNs resided in different cortical layers. While motor skill learning promotes spine turnover on L5 PNs in the motor cortex, it does not change the spine dynamics on L2/3 PNs. In addition, neonatal sensory deprivation decreases the spine density of both L2/3 and L5 PNs, but leads to opposite changes in spine dynamics among these two populations of neurons in adolescence. In summary, our data reveal distinct dynamics and plasticity of apical dendritic spines on PNs in different layers in the living mouse cortex, which may arise from their distinct functional roles in cortical circuits.


A series of experiments were carried out using a triaxial system modified for unsaturated soil testing to investigate brittle transitional and ductile failure behaviour of a sandy clay loam soil under varying soil water and effective confining stress levels. Mechanical properties and deviatoric stress-strain relationships of the soil were also established. The specimens were prepared under laboratory conditions where the inter-particle cementation bonds were allowed to form to their natural state. An unsaturated soil mechanics approach was used to define critical state relations for the soil. All specimens
attained a critical state under continuous shearing. The results demonstrate that brittle/ductile behaviour of unsaturated soils and their tendency to dilate/compact at failure are both controlled by soil water and confining stress levels. An exponential model used to fit the deviatoric stress-axial strain test data accurately predicted the trends. Soil water
significantly influenced the shear strength and internal angle of friction ( \') and hence the mechanical behaviour of the sandy soil. The regression equations developed showed that \' have quadratic relationships with soil water with an asymptotic surface (transitional stage). Hence, in civil works or soil tillage the transitional range (w.c. 5 - 9% d.b.) could be
taken as a useful guide towards understanding soil behaviour upon loading Keywords : Triaxial testing, critical state, brittle failure, transitional, ductile flow, effective confining stress, soil water Discovery and Innovation Vol. 19 (2) 2007: pp. 140-146


Middle Chinese was affected by the language contact with Sanskrit to a great extent through the large-scale translation of Buddhist sutras. However the aligned corpora of Chinese and Sanskrit texts are too scanty to support the related research topics. The construction of a bilingual annotated corpus with Chinese Buddhist translation and their Sanskrit parallels is introduced, of which the main data were obtained from the existing research output of Sanskrit-Chinese comparative collation. It will be a first attempt in this field and will provide a basis for future research in tracing how the language elements with foreign origins have affected the development of Chinese language.


Interest-group lobbying is a controversial activity in American politics and this book provides a study of group power. This edition includes expanded coverage of the changing dynamics of power politics in America new media venues and grassroots organizing and the perennial issue of reform.


Introduction. Xing Su Ning (XSN) is a multi-herbal Chinese medicine produced by Momentum Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., which is sold in China since 2005 for treating cardiac ventricular arrhythmia, especially arrhythmias induced by cardiac ischemia and viral myocarditis. Aims. To discover the cellular electrophysiological mechanism of the actions of XSN in treating cardiac arrhythmia. Methods. Whole-cell patch-clamp techniques (1) were used to record action potentials and whole cell current in isolated adult rat ventricular myocytes. The myocytes were continuously perfused with physiological solution without or with XSN. Results. XSN at 2mg/ml significantly prolonged the action potential Duration (APD) as shown in the Figure: control was 45.4ms±4.9 and with XSN 2mg/ml was 52.2ms±4.5 (P<0.01, n=7). At this concentration XSN did not have significant effect on the resting potential or the amplitude of the action potential. The effect of XSN is reversible upon the washout of the medicine. Discussion. XSN Prolongs APD, an action that increases the effective refractory period which suppress tachyarrhythmias caused by reentry mechanisms. XSN displays the property of Class III antiarrhythmic drugs, such as amiodarone, without adverse reactions. Further studies on the effect of XSN at various concentrations on action potential and ionic channels, i.e. potassium channels, will be carried out.


The common justifications for government subsidies for rural telecommunications are to promote universal service and to promote economic development. While the case for subsidizing many rural telephone services is stronger than for more urban settings, it is still weak and subsidy implementation has likely been corrupted by rent seeking practices. Because of this and because many newer technologies tend to reduce rural disadvantages, a policy of limiting subsidies is likely efficient.


Neoliberal political ideas, management methods and 'entrepreneurialism' spread globally but are translated differently and have different implications due to contextual variations. This paper sets out to explore contextual variations in implications for women and their entrepreneurship from a feminist perspective. We compare the highly differing contexts of Sweden, known for consistently high rankings on gender equality indices much due to a family- and women friendly welfares state system, and the patriarchal context of East Africa. A mixed methods approach is used including theoretical and policy studies as well as ethnographic and interactive research. The local translations of feminism and entrepreneurialism in the respective contexts are discussed, as well as the relation between feminism and entrepreneurialism. In a stepwise analysis we draw three main conclusions. First, we argue that cut-backs in public spending in the public sector in Sweden have implied a set-back for feminism. Second, we find that entrepreneurialism more clearly empowers women in the studied East African countries, than in Sweden. Our third argument is that the differing outcomes can be traced back to the existence or non-existence of a benevolent, non-corrupt and 'women-friendly' state.


A method for nalidixic acid (NA) determination by transmitted room-temperature phosphorescence is proposed. The antibacterial agent NA in acidic solution shows native fluorescence; when NA is spotted on a filter paper precoated with β-cyclodextrin and lead (II) acetate and dried for 5 min, phosphorescence results. The transmitted phosphorescence was measured directly with the use of a homemade sample holder. The excitation and emission wavelengths were 330 and 417 nm, respectively. The applicable concentration range was between 0.06 and 4.50 μg/mL with a relative standard deviation of 2.8% and a detection limit of 0.02 μg/mL. The method was applied to the determination of NA in human urine and pharmaceuticals, with recoveries from 97.5 to 105.5%.


The energy determination of thermal and cold neutrons could revolutionize the field of neutron scattering science and transform the instrument design for future facilities. This contribution evaluates the feasibility and potential of a statistical determination of the neutron energy in the new generation of neutron detectors. In particular, the novel technology of multi-layer 10B thin film detectors present a unique opportunity of exploiting this possibility by using the various neutron penetration depths to extract energy information. A statistical mathematical model for doing so is being developed. To this end, measurements of absorption profiles on boron carbide have been performed at the Institutt for Energiteknikk, Norway and the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin, Germany. The results of the data analysis allow for a preliminary estimate on the feasibility and the potential of this method.


The present Review addresses current developments related to polymer-derived ceramic nanocomposites (PDC-NCs). Different classes of preceramic polymers are briefly introduced and their conversion into ceramic materials with adjustable phase compositions and microstructures is presented. Emphasis is set on discussing the intimate relationship between the chemistry and structural architecture of the precursor and the structural features and properties of the resulting ceramic nanocomposites. Various structural and functional properties of silicon-containing ceramic nanocomposites as well as different preparative strategies to achieve nano-scaled PDC-NC-based ordered structures are highlighted, based on selected ceramic nanocomposite systems. Furthermore, prospective applications of the PDC-NCs such as high-temperature stable materials for thermal protection systems, membranes for hot gas separation purposes, materials for heterogeneous catalysis, nano-confinement materials for hydrogen storage applications as well as anode materials for secondary ion batteries are introduced and discussed in detail.


Drawing on insights from an extensive business literature review such as marketing, management, and accounting, a model which incorporates important factors that enhance customers' intention to adopt technology is proposed.  The factors examined in this study include customers' attitude toward innovativeness, technology familiarity/knowledge, and technology apprehension.  Results indicated that attitude and technology apprehension are predictors of technology adoption intention. Surprisingly, innovators, while behaviorally did adopt high technology, were not found to have the intention to adopt it. The article concludes with managerial implications, limitations, and future research.


Apolipoprotein E (apoE) has been shown to exert anti-proliferative and anti-migratory effects on smooth muscle cells in vitro and protection against neointimal hyperplasia in vivo. In this study, apoE was detected in the medial layers of the carotid artery following vascular injury. The presence of a liver-specific human apoE transgene confirmed the recruitment from circulation, although detection of native apoE message by in situ hybridization indicated that local synthesis also occurs. Although the neointima-resistant C57BL/6 strain showed a transient apoE presence, the susceptible FVB/N strain showed a continuous presence. Interestingly, detection of iNOS expression was positive only in the C57BL/6 wildtype strain. Upon addition of the overexpressed apoE transgene, the FVB/N strain recovered expression of iNOS, while loss of the apoE gene in the C57BL/6 strain resulted in a concurrent loss of iNOS expression. ApoE and iNOS colocalization was demonstrated in the medial layer of mice that are resistant to injury-induced neointimal hyperplasia. NOS2 deficient C57BL/6 mice showed no difference in neointimal hyperplasia compared to wildtype, but a significant increase in medial thickness and area was observed. These data documented that injury-induced activation of iNOS requires apoE recruitment, both apoE and iNOS are necessary for suppression of cell proliferation, and apoE recruitment without iNOS expression resulted in medial smooth muscle hyperplasia without their migration to the intima. In addition, the apoEdependent inhibition of smooth muscle cell migration is dependent on LRP-1 function in the smooth muscle cell. Interestingly, apoE accumulation in apoE transgenic mice followed a layer-specific pattern, and was inversely associated with smooth muscle αactin expression. The vascular accumulation of apoE after endothelial denudation, and its association with α-actin-depleted smooth muscle cells, suggests that apoE inhibition of injury-induced neointimal hyperplasia is not due to the inhibition of injury-induced smooth muscle cell de-differentiation, but is likely a direct effect of apoE on smooth muscle cell migration and proliferation. Examination of A7R5 cells in culture indicated that the addition of apoE prior to PDGF mitogenic stimulation resulted in a loss of α-actin signal as seen my immunocytofluorescence. Specific inhibition of kinase mediators of the α-actin polymerization pathway showed that both PKC and PKA mediate the apoE/PDGF effect. Examination of the RhoA activation state showed that apoE pretreatment lowers active levels of RhoA, causing a depolymerization of the α-actin cytoskeleton. We conclude there to be a significant apoE-dependent effect on the smooth muscle cell component of the vessel wall in response to vascular injury, including direct recruitment, iNOS-dependent inhibition of proliferation, LRP-dependent inhibition of migration, and modulation of the cytoskeleton.


Wall loss is a major cause of deteriorating performance and reliability in air-based miniaturized analytical devices and it can cause unexpected changes in structures and operational conditions. Therefore, there is a great demand for the reduction of the wall loss on airborne particle processing chips. This paper demonstrates a wall loss reduction technique using an electrodynamic disturbance. The proposed technique is applied to a serpentine microchannel for a feasibility test, and then it is applied to a virtual impactor, which is an inertial airborne particle classifier. An electrodynamic disturbance is generated by applying ac electric potentials to an interdigitated electrode pair integrated at the bottom of the microchannel. In the serpentine microchannel, the application of electric potentials from 0 to 3 kV at 1 kHz caused the wall loss to decrease exponentially as a function of the aerodynamic diameter. When the electric potential was 3 kV, the wall loss decreased by 17.2 ± 1.8% for particles with a 0.96 µm diameter. In the virtual impactor, the wall loss curve at 1 kV and 1 kHz had an estimated maximum reduction of 11.6% compared to the wall loss curve at 0 V. Furthermore, the collection efficiency curves approached the ideal cut-off curve as the applied electric potential was increased from 0 to 1 kV.


Current North American guidelines endorse the use of flexible sigmoidoscopy every 10 years as an alternative to fecal testing for the screening of colorectal cancer (CRC). The present study aims to evaluate its performance in a hypothetical population-based scenario, using data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)-18 database. We explored the SEER database with the SEER*stat software. All cases diagnosed as colorectal carcinoma within the age group of 50-74 years during the year 2010 were included. Cases were considered either accessible or non-accessible to detection by screening sigmoidoscopy by virtue of their anatomic location. For example, cases within the rectum, sigmoid or descending colon were considered accessible whereas cases within other colorectal sub-sites were considered non-accessible. Assuming that all eligible United States' citizens underwent screening sigmoidoscopy and assuming that all CRC cases within accessible sites were correctly identified by sigmoidoscopy, true positive, true negative, and false negative cases were calculated. False positive cases, however, were non-calculable. Sensitivity and negative predictive value (NPV) of screening sigmoidoscopy were derived accordingly. A total of 18,794 patients aged between 50-74 years were diagnosed in 2010. The total United States' population covered by the SEER-18 registry in the same year and within the same age group was 21,613,411 individuals. A total of 10,786 CRC patients (57.4%) were diagnosed in sigmoidoscopy-accessible sites, 7,532 CRC patients (40.1%) were diagnosed in sigmoidoscopy-non-accessible sites, and an additional 476 patients (2.5%) were identified as unknown sub-sites. This translated into 2,853 CRC-related deaths at 5 years for sigmoidoscopy-accessible tumors versus 2,126 CRC-related deaths for sigmoidoscopy-non-accessible tumors. Based on the study's assumptions, sensitivity of screening sigmoidoscopy would be 58.8% and NPV would be 99.9%. Flexible sigmoidoscopy has an unacceptably low sensitivity for the detection of right-sided CRC; therefore, its use as a first-line screening modality should be questioned. Additional studies on alternative screening options for right-sided CRC are warranted.


According to the fracture mechanics, Rail damage acoustic emission (AE) signal is related to the rail material, structure, load and crack development. For the rail with fixed material, fixed structure and load fluctuating in a small range, the rail damage can be monitored on-line by monitoring the AE signal. The existing AE signal processing technology can't simultaneously achieve noise suppression and high resolution transform domain representation. By introducing Wiger-Ville higher-order spectrum, the high resolution time-frequency domain two-dimensional representation of Rail damage AE signal under strong background Gauss noise is obtained successfully. The feature extraction and clustering analysis of Rail damage AE signal are realized. Accurate identification of rail damage AE signal of rail fracture, spalling of rail bottom, spalling of rail head, wheel/rail impact, friction of wheel flange, switching of pneumatic turnout, temperature force release is achieved. Theoretical analysis, experimental data (more than 3000), field data (more than 3 million) have proved the effectiveness and reliability of the method.


Emergency admissions of elderly patients constitute a major management issue due to the complexity of their problems. The aim of this retrospective observational study was to identify medical and social characteristics and crisis factors for emergency department (ED) hospitalization in elderly patients, and to evaluate the influence of these factors on the length of stay and outcome at discharge. During a 4-month period, 396 patients aged 70 years and older were referred to the ED of a University Hospital (Hĵpital Edouard Herriot) in Lyon, France. A questionnaire specifically designed for the study was completed for each patient using the information in the patients' files previously filled in by the "Rapid Geriatric Assessment Team" of the ED. We described civil and marital status, living conditions, reason for admission to ED and other associated pathologies according to the ICM-9, crisis factors, length of stay (LOS) and outcome at discharge. The mean age was 81.9 years (SD 6.5); two thirds (66.7%) of the study subjects were female, and 46.7% were widowed; the majority (68.7%) lived in their own homes. The main reasons for admission were cardiopulmonary diseases in 31.6% of cases, followed by neuropsychiatric disorders in 28.2%, and falls in 8.3%; a final category (31.8%) included subjects admitted for general, non-specific symptoms. Among the crisis factors observed, 49.4% presented an acute episode of a chronic illness, 33.6% lived alone, and 20.9% had been hospitalized during the 6-month period preceding the study. The average LOS was 3.15 days. The multivariate model showed that falls increase LOS by 74%, dementia by 65%, and depression by 21%. Upon discharge, 13% returned to their residence before hospitalization, 55% were transferred to a medical speciality ward, and 4% to other facilities, whereas only 19% were transferred to a geriatric ward, and 9% died during their stay in the ED. The multinomial model showed that outcome at discharge was influenced by functional dependency, dementia, depression, and acute episodes of a chronic illness. For many elderly, the ED remains a critical point of access to more complete managed care. This elderly population is comprised of polypathological, frail persons whose morbid state requires multidisciplinary management in geriatric units. The findings of this study suggest that interventions of multidisciplinary networks, such as home health care programs aimed at detecting crisis factors and establishing early prevention of crisis states, may improve unfavorable medical and social conditions and reduce hospitalization in geriatric patients.


Spontaneous, localized intracellular Ca(2+) concentration ([Ca(2+)](i)) transients (Ca(2+) sparks) in skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscle cells are thought to represent Ca(2+) release through ryanodine-receptor (RyR) channels. In porcine tracheal smooth muscle (TSM) cells, ACh induces propagating [Ca(2+)](i) oscillations that also represent Ca(2+) release through RyR channels. We used real-time confocal imaging to examine the spatial and temporal relationships of Ca(2+) sparks to propagating [Ca(2+)](i) oscillations in TSM cells. Ca(2+) sparks within an intracellular region displayed different spatial Ca(2+) distributions with every occurrence. The amplitudes of Ca(2+) sparks within a region were approximately integer multiples of the smallest response. However, across different regions, the attributes of Ca(2+) sparks varied considerably. Individual sparks were often grouped together and coupled across adjacent regions. Fusion of individual sparks produced large local elevations in [Ca(2+)](i) that occasionally triggered a propagating [Ca(2+)](i) wave. The incidence of sparks was increased by ryanodine and caffeine but was unaffected by removal of extracellular Ca(2+). Exposure to ACh triggered repetitive, propagating [Ca(2+)](i) oscillations that always originated from foci with a high spark incidence. The [Ca(2+)](i) oscillations disappeared with the removal of ACh, and Ca(2+) sparks reappeared. We conclude that agonist-induced [Ca(2+)](i) oscillations represent a spatial and temporal integration of local Ca(2+)-release events through RyR channels in TSM cells.


. Implementation of many statistical methods for large, multivariate data sets requires one to solve a linear system that, depending on the method, is of the dimension of the number of observations or each individual data vector. This is often the limiting factor in scaling the method with data size and complexity. In this paper we illustrate the use of Krylov subspace methods to address this issue in a statistical solution to a source separation problem in cosmology where the data size is prohibitively large for direct solution of the required system. Two distinct approaches are described: one that uses the method of conjugate gradients directly to the Kronecker-structured problem and another that reformulates the system as a Sylvester matrix equation. We show that both approaches produce an accurate solution within an acceptable computation time and with practical memory requirements for the data size that is currently available.


: The suppressing effect on melanogenesis of genes determining high wool productivity in domestic sheep has been discussed for the first time. Morpho-physiological mechanism of suppression of the activity of pigment cells function in lambs of Tajik breed was shown: melanocytes lose their activity during some weeks-months after birth and migrate from the zone of usual localization on follicle papilla into forming hair. The result of genes-modificators' action (the period of postembryonic development, when white wool starts growing) is determined by their interaction with alleles of genes A and E: the lower intensity of melanogenesis, the earlier and more effective the inhibitory effect of genes-modificators. Some factors which suppress pigmentation are characterized: these are an increase in SH groups content, deficiency of tyrosine, rise in growth rate and reduction of the diameter of hairs, intensification of antagonism between melanocytes and keratinocytes. The problem is also interesting in evolutional aspect: since suppression of melanogenesis in the process of creating wooly sheep illustrates possible mechanisms of inhibition of one function, because of hyperfunction of other, such negative correlations could play significant role in evolution of organisms.


Objectives: To investigate whether mean platelet volumes and leukocyte counts are altered significantly in patients with tubal ectopic pregnancy (TEP). Materials and Methods: Retrospective analysis of mean platelet volumes and leukocyte counts of 138 TEP patients, diagnosed between 2005 and 2012, and the control group consisting of 72 pregnants was performed. Patients with TEP were further subdivided into 2 subgroups composed of 72 ruptured and 66 non-ruptured cases. Statistical analysis was performed using the Kruskal-Wallis and the Mann-Whitney U tests. Results: Mean platelet volume was found to be larger in patients with TEP (whether ruptured or non-ruptured) when compared to controls (p=0.007). However, no significant difference could be observed between the ruptured or non-ruptured cases (p=0.89). With respect to leukocytosis, the TEP group with tubal rupture had significantly higher white blood cell numbers when compared to the non-ruptured TEP and the control groups (p=0.022 and p<0.001, respectively). Conclusions: Mean platelet volume seems to be higher in ectopic pregnancy and this finding evokes a possible role of increased platelet activity in the pathophysiology. Leukocytosis may occur more apparently in EP cases with tubal rupture. However, further prospective, controlled and with a larger sample size studies must be conducted to find clues on the correlation between the clinical entities and laboratory findings.


A theorem of McEliece on the p-divisibility of Hamming weights in cyclic codes over Fp is generalized to Abelian codes over Zopf/p dZopf. This work improves upon results of Helleseth-Kumar-Moreno-Shanbhag, Calderbank-Li-Poonen, Wilson, and Katz. These previous attempts are not sharp in general, i.e., do not report the full extent of the p -divisibility except in special cases, nor do they give accounts of the precise circumstances under which they do provide best possible results. This paper provides sharp results on p-divisibilities of Hamming weights and counts of any particular symbol for an arbitrary Abelian code over Zopf/p dZopf. It also presents sharp results on 2-divisibilities of Lee and Euclidean weights for Abelian codes over Zopf/4Zopf.


Listeria monocytogenes invades the cytoplasm of macrophages and induces the activation of caspase-1 and the subsequent maturation of IL-1β and IL-18. Although apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a caspase-activating and recruitment domain (ASC), an adaptor protein of nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (Nod)-like receptors, has been shown to play an essential role in inducing this cellular response to L. monocytogenes, the mechanism has not been fully elucidated. In this study, we demonstrate the role of absent in melanoma 2 (AIM2), a recently described receptor of cytosolic DNA, in the activation of caspase-1 upon infection with L. monocytogenes. Secretion of IL-1β and IL-18 from Nod-like receptor family, pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) and Nod-like receptor family, caspase-activating and recruitment domain containing 4 (NLRC4) knockout macrophages in response to L. monocytogenes was only slightly decreased compared with the levels secreted from wild-type macrophages, whereas secretion from ASC knockout macrophages was completely impaired, suggesting that receptors other than NLRP3 and NLRC4 also take part in inflammasome activation in an ASC-dependent manner. To identify such receptors, the abilities of several receptor candidates (NLRP2, NLRP6, NLRP12, and AIM2) to induce the secretion of IL-1β in response to L. monocytogenes were compared using the inflammasome system reconstructed in HEK293 cells. Among these receptor candidates, AIM2 conferred the highest responsiveness to the bacterium on HEK293 cells. Knockdown of AIM2 significantly decreased the secretion of IL-1β and IL-18 from L. monocytogenes-infected macrophages. These results suggest that AIM2, in cooperation with NLRP3 and NLRC4, plays an important role in the activation of caspase-1 during L. monocytogenes infection.


This paper describes the use of Bernoulli mixture models for extracting boolean rules from data. Bernoulli mixtures identify high data density areas on the corners of a hypercube. One corner represents a conjunction of literals in a boolean clause and the set of all identified corners, of the hypercube, indicates disjuncts of clauses to form a rule. Further class labels can be used to select features or variables, in the individual conjuncts, that are relevant to the target variable. This method was applied to the SIGNET dataset of the causality workbench challenge. The dataset is derived from a biological signaling network with 21 time steps and 43 random boolean variables. Results indicate that Bernoulli mixtures are quite effective at extracting boolean rules from data.


One of the most important and sometimes most involved, problems brought about by the many interconnections of electrical systems, is a means of accurate and flexible regulation of power flow. The adjustment of voltage and the control of wattless current by means of tap-changing-under-load equipment has become quite extensive. The regulation of power flow by means of phase-angle control has been put into practise on a limited scale. One means of accomplishing this which has been used in a few cases and which is being considered on a larger scale is the adaptation of tap-changing-under-load equipment with properly connected static transformers. The purpose of this paper is to discuss briefly the connections employed and the equipment used in connection with static transformers for the purpose of voltage and phase-angle control.


Human beings show a robust nonindependence effect in causal reasoning: they predict that collateral effects should be correlated even given a common cause. This presents a problem for existing models of causal reasoning, as most predict independence. To deal with this problem, we propose an edge replacement process that builds up apparently probabilistic causal relations using hidden deterministic causes. This model allows us to fit nonindependence effects, and shows promise for modeling other phenomena, such as how causal relations change over time.


In wireless sensor networks, since sensor nodes are distributed in inaccessible regions for data gathering, they need to be operated during an assigned time without battery recharging and relocation. For this reason, there has been abundant research on improving energy efficiency. PEGASIS, one of the well-known chain-based routing protocols for improving energy efficiency, builds a chain based on the greedy algorithm. However, due to long communication distance of some sensor nodes in a chain formed by the greedy algorithm, unbalanced energy consumption of sensor nodes occurs. Eventually, the network lifetime from this cause decreases. We propose energy efficient chain formation (EECF) algorithm to resolve the unbalanced energy consumption problem caused by long-distance data transmission of some nodes in a chain formed by the greedy algorithm. The simulation results are used to verify the energy consumption balance of sensor nodes and the whole network lifetime. In simulation, it is shown that EECF produces better results than the greedy algorithm.


Hydrogen redistribution caused by thermotransport in the Zr-1.0Nb-1.0Sn-0.1Fe alloy under the temperature gradient which is likely to be encountered between nuclear fuel cladding and primary cooling water (300-340) was investigated. The heat of transport (Q*) of hydrogen was determined by using a steady state technique to evaluate the magnitude and direction of thermotransport of hydrogen in the alloy. The values of Q∗ were 23.1, 23.7 and 27.1 KJ/mol for the hydrogen concentration of 73.4, 75.8 and 94.3 ppm by weight respectively. In other words, hydrogen was transported from hot region to cold region and the value of Q∗ increased with increasing overall hydrogen concentration. The Zr-1.0Nb-1.0Sn-0.1Fe alloy had the smaller Q∗ value than that of Zircaloy-4 when compared with same overall hydrogen concentration. Thus, Zr-1.0Nb-1.0Sn-0.1Fe alloy has better resistance to the formation of hydride due to thermotransport than Zircaloy-4 does.


This article will examine the 10th Company Law Directive on Cross-Border Mergers in the light of the EU fundamental freedom of establishment. The provisions of the Cross-Border Mergers Directive must comply with the fundamental freedom of establishment. This article argues that the contribution of some provisions of this Directive to freedom of establishment is questioned. It is argued that some provisions of this Directive do not fully comply with freedom of establishment and that the choices of the European legislature are definitely open to criticism. The EU fundamental freedoms could impose certain safeguards which derive directly from the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) had interpreted the freedom of establishment with regard to crossborder mergers. According to the ECJ's case law (SEVIC), cross-border mergers constitute an exercise of the freedom of establishment. This article scrutinizes the main provisions of the Cross-Border Mergers Directive and analyses their relationship with the fundamental freedom of establishment, as interpreted by the ECJ. The relationship between SEVIC and the Cross-Border Mergers Directive will also be discussed and some conclusions would be drawn. The EU Mergers and Acquisitions market is a fragment of the internal market and as such all the corporate financial mechanisms of this market must comply with the EU fundamental freedoms.


The conventional models of organizational change present an unrealistic image of change as an episodic phenomenon in which corporate leaders develop and implement elaborate change programs on an occasional basis in response to specific, isolated environmental shocks. This type of change does occur, but more often the corporate environment is characterized by change that is open-ended, fluid and less closely tied to specific shocks. In fact, continuous change is a cycle with four phases, each with its own dynamics and specific type of champion. ?Evangelists? promote the value of innovation and creativity, influencing those around them so that new ideas spread and take root. ?Autocrats? choose which ideas are translated into practice, using their authority to alter behaviors. ?Architects? design and implement systems that embed change into the organizational infrastructure. Finally, ?educators? create work experiences that increase employees? expertise and sense of mastery, leading to the generation of new ideas that extend and potentially transform the organization?s direction, thereby keeping the cycle going around. An understanding of these four phases can help managers transform their companies into organizations that experience change, not as a tumultuous, anxiety-inducing event, but as part of an everyday routine.


A cross sectional survey was conducted to characterize production system and to identify breeding objectives of Maefur goat population in the eastern zone of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia. A pre-tested questionnaire was used for the personal interview with purposively selected 150 households. The data collected through personal household interview were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Indices were used to provide the ranking. The mean (±SD) family size of the household was 8.5±2.1. The average (±SD) livestock holdings of the sampled household for goat, chicken, sheep, bee colony, and cattle were 31.0±11.1, 12.2±4.2, 6.8±4.5, 3.7±3.7, and 3.0±1.5, respectively. Does are mainly reared for milk, breeding, meat and for manure production with an index value of 0.25, 0.24, 0.17 and 0.14, respectively. Average composition of goat flock was 50, 22, 15, 10, and 3% for does, gimmers, bucks and wethers, respectively with an average ration of intact male to female goat was 6.3:1. Male and female goat reached for sexual maturity at the average (±SD) age of 11.1± 1.5 and 12.7±2.1 months, respectively with an average (±SD) age of 21.1±2.0 months at first kidding of the female goat. The average (±SD) kidding interval was 7.1±0.6 months.

 Key words: Maefur goat, breeding objectives, selection criteria, reproductive performance.


Varying the regrowth interval, pre-graze herbage mass and mowing pasture prior to grazing are strategies used to try to improve pasture quality and nutrient availability to grazing livestock. This study compared the nutritive value of pastures which had been mown before grazing, or grazed as standing pastures following a long (Long, 28 days) or moderate (Mod, 21 days) regrowth interval. Nutritive value and dry matter percent were determined at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12 and 24 hours in replicated paddocks during a 24-hour grazing period following allocation to dairy cows at 0700 h. Due to previous grazing management, which maintained a high proportion of leafy material in the grazed stratum, the nutritive value of the available herbage before grazing was similar for all treatments. Mowing before grazing resulted in a relatively constant nutrient supply over a 24 h grazing period; however, this did not alter cow performance (e.g., milksolids production or BCS) compared with grazing standing pasture. By contrast preferential selection of higher quality pasture by cows grazing standing pasture resulted in lower concentration of herbage crude protein (P<0.05) and greater concentration of fibre (P<0.05) at the end of the grazing period. When pastures were mown, herbage wilted, increasing DM from 17.5 to 39.4% DM within 24 hours (P<0.05). Despite large differences in pasture management, extending the regrowth interval and using repeated pre-graze mowing did little to alter herbage nutritive content.


We describe here how the origin time, the epicenter location, the epicentral intensity and the magnitude of the earthquakes included in the Catalogue of Strong Italian Earthquakes (CFTI3) have been determined from the documentary information available. As the literature lacks widely accepted formal definitions for these parameters in the case of macroseismic data, we developed ad hoc procedures that starting from generally shared qualitative statements give reasonable and stable results which can also be useful for statistical analysis. These procedures use all of the information available in the CFTI3 database as much as possible and make use of "robust" estimators in order to minimize the effects of anomalous data. The resulting parametric catalogue has been examined statistically for completeness showing that the great majority of the Italian earthquakes with moment magnitude larger that 5.5-6.0 of the last four centuries are correctly reported in CFTI3.


Several lines of evidence have implicated high levels of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) in diabetes. Pancreas impairment caused by AGEs has been found in recent studies. Monascin (MS) and monacolin K (MK) are active compounds identified from Monascus-fermented products, which have been reported to inhibit inflammation and improve insulin resistance. In order to confirm the protective effects of MS and MK on pancreatic function, BALB/c mice were treated with AGEs via intraperitoneal injection for 22 weeks to induce hyperglycemia, and the pancreas-protecting mechanism of MS and MK from AGE-induced damage was investigated. We found that the expression of pancreatic and duodenal homeobox-1 (PDX-1) and glucose transporter 2 (GLUT2) was recovered by MS or MK administration to AGE-treated mice. In addition, MS strongly improved performance in the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and the insulin tolerance test (ITT), suggesting that MS sensitized to insulin in AGE-treated mice. Both MS and MK elevated pancreatic insulin expression when compared to the AGE-treated group, suggesting that MS and MK attenuated AGE-induced pancreatic dysfunction. Histopathology studies showed that intraperitoneal injection of AGEs did not result in pancreas damage. These findings confirm that the potential mechanism of AGEs on pancreatic dysfunction involves the induction of inflammation and the suppression of PDX-1 and GLUT2 expression. Taken together, MS and MK may be developed as an anti-diabetic agent in the future.


Abstract The concept of a mental model is increasingly becoming of interest to organisations, as it is a person's beliefs, thoughts, interpretations, or otherwise termed, 'mental model' that can affect our actions and therefore how people achieve organisational outcomes (Jensen & Rasmussen 2004). This paper establishes a robust definition of the concept of a mental model for future research. The research was conducted using coherent conversations as part of a complexity-based inquiry. This project seeks to understand and explore the views held by individuals about actual work practices and ideal work practices. This research concludes that the individuals, who make up the organisation, are in a state of chaotic edge thinking, where everything is perceived as a threat, procedures are formed to control, and people react radically. Moreover, this is concluded to be due to miscommunication and a lack of communicative connectedness between staff and supervising managers. Abstract The concept of a mental model is increasingly becoming of interest to organisations, as it is a person's beliefs, thoughts, interpretations, or otherwise termed, 'mental model' that can affect our actions and therefore how people achieve organisational outcomes (Jensen & Rasmussen 2004). This paper establishes a robust definition of the concept of a mental model for future research. The research was conducted using coherent conversations as part of a complexity-based inquiry. This project seeks to understand and explore the views held by individuals about actual work practices and ideal work practices. This research concludes that the individuals, who make up the organisation, are in a state of chaotic edge thinking, where everything is perceived as a threat, procedures are formed to control, and people react radically. Moreover, this is concluded to be due to miscommunication and a lack of communicative connectedness between staff and supervising managers.


Chinese medicine's concept of qi mediates between a person's mental-emotional life and the physiological processes producing and maintaining the body form. The pathogenic potential of human emotions and desires figured prominently in China's ancient medical and philosophical texts and, more than any other type of qi, the sovereign and minister fire embody the influences and relationships between mental, emotional, sensory and physiological activities. Contemporary traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) textbooks rarely mention the minister fire, except as an illness mechanism that is identified with liver and gall bladder yang repletion patterns. The preferred term for its physiological influences today is the kidney yang qi. The two parts of this paper examine the physiological and clinical implications of the minister fire. In the Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon commentaries (after c. 100 BCE), minister fire is the complement of the heart's sovereign fire; in the Treatise on Cold Damage commentaries (after c. 200 CE) it is an emergent property of the lifegate; and in TCM it is equivalent to the kidney yang. When Song-Jin-Yuan (960-1368) medicine revisited the Inner Canon's division of the fire phase into 'sovereign' and 'minister', minister fire became a key physiological concept guiding some of China's lasting medical developments, methods and formulas. Part One begins with the pericardium and lifegate. Premodern references link the pericardium and lifegate with the minister fire that disseminates the orders of the sovereign fire. Together, the pericardium and lifegate reflect the communication between the heart and kidney visceral systems and disseminate their qi-influences - the pericardium communicating the executive influences of the sovereign fire, and the lifegate producing the physiological influences of the minister fire. The minister fire itself, and the pathogenic stirring of minister fire due to emotions and desires, will be the subject of Part Two.


Purpose To determine the rates of neurologic adverse events following Pipeline Embolic Device (PED) placement for intracranial aneurysm treatment. Methods A retrospective review of medical records was performed at 19 centres to identify consecutive intracranial aneurysms treated with the PED following regulatory approval for marketing the device in the given country. All patients in whom at least one PED was placed and in whom follow-up was available prior to IRB or ethics panel approval were enrolled. Three anatomic/size subgroups were defined, including 1) pre-PComm, internal carotid artery aneurysms 10mm or greater ("large ICA"), 2) ICA aneurysms >10mm and/or at/distal to the PComm region ("other anterior circulation"), and 3) posterior circulation aneurysms. "Primary safety events" included stroke, haemorrhage, parent artery stenosis, permanent cranial neuropathy, and spontaneous rupture of the target aneurysm. Severe safety events were defined as any event causing significant impairment of functioning causing the inability of the subject to carry out usual activities. Statistical analysis was performed using standard summary statistics; p-values comparing subgroups were computed using Pearson's chi-square test for discrete variables and analysis of variance for continuous variables. Results To date, 580 aneurysms, including 183 large ICA, 344 other anterior circulation, and 53 posterior circulation aneurysms have been treated and followed for a mean duration of 7.8 months (SD 7.3, range 0.1 - 40.8). 437 (76%) of 580 aneurysms were saccular and 80 (14%) were fusiform; 32 (5.5%) were classified as giant (<25mm diameter). 549 (93%) were unruptured. 241 (42%) were treated with multiple PEDs. Primary safety events were noted in 62 (12%) cases. Severe neurological events occurred in 35 (6.8%) cases, and occurred more frequently in posterior circulation aneurysms (7 (13%)) than in either large ICA or other anterior circulation aneurysms (15 (8.8%) and (13 (4.5%), respectively, p=.035). Major stroke occurred in 20 (3.9%) of 515 subjects (4.1%, 3.1%, and 7.5% in large ICA, other anterior circulation, and posterior circulation aneurysms, respectively, p=.31). Ipsilateral intracranial haemorrhage occurred in 12 (2.3%) subjects (3.5%, 1.7%, and 1.9% in large ICA, other anterior circulation, and posterior circulation aneurysms, respectively, p=.47). Spontaneous aneurysm rupture occurred in 3 (0.6%) aneurysms, all of which were giant, resulting in a 9% incidence of rupture in giant aneurysms. Mortality rate was 4.3% and was significantly higher for posterior circulation aneurysms (11.3%) as compared to anterior circulation aneurysms (3.5%, p=.019). Conclusions Preliminary data indicates that in approximately 7% of aneurysms treated with PED, substantial neurologic complications occurred, with rates of both severe neurologic events and mortality occurring significantly higher in the posterior as compared to the anterior circulation. Both ipsilateral haemorrhage and spontaneous aneurysm rupture were rare, with the latter event limited to giant aneurysms. Disclosures D. Kallmes: 1; C; MicroVention, Sequent, Benvenue, eV3. 2; C; General Electric, Codman, eV3. E. Boccardi: None. A. Bonafe: None. S. Cekirge: None. D. Fiorella: 2; C; Pipeline proctor, consultant, (<10K, EV3). R. Hanel: None. P. Jabbour: None. E. Levy: None. D. Lopes: 6; C; Receives compensation for training & proctoring for Pipeline devices. P. Lylyk: None. C. McDougall: None. A. Siddiqui: None. I. Szikora: None. H. Woo: None.


The paper gives the results of surgical management in 18 patients with migrainous neuralgia who underwent 20 surgical interventions. High-frequency transcutaneous trigeminal rhizotomy eliminated pain in 2 of 6 patients. Microsurgical radicular exploration of the trigeminal nerve (1 case) and the intermediate facial nerve (2 cases) revealed no vascular compression of nerve fibers. Vertical ultrasonic destructions of the trigeminal caudal subnucleus and the descending upper spinal segment CII tract in 12 patients. The upper border of nucleotractomy varied from the obex level of the fourth ventricle to as long as 5 mm below. Complete removal of migrainous neuralgia was achieved in 11 patients followed for 12-81 months and in 1 patient with recurrent facial pain successfully treated with repeated trigeminal nucleotractotomy. Sensory sequelae of destruction and somatotopic organization of the trigeminal caudal subnucleus are also dealt with in the paper.


Cyclic Form and the English Mystery Plays is centred upon the five extant English mystery cycles with a view to examining the cyclic form they share. It is based upon consideration of the differences between the texts and upon the underlying assumptions governing this dramatic form. The cycles are extensively compared with practices in the cyclic dramas of France, the German-speaking areas, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain in the late middle ages and the early modern period. There is also a unique and innovative bridging with iconographical material from a range of artistic modes giving further insight into the structure and organisation of cyclic form. Cyclic Form and the English Mystery Plays should be of interest to undergraduate students and to more experienced researchers in the early drama and the study of visual images and artefacts. Contents: 1. Cyclic Form (I) 2. Cycles and Iconography 3. Continental Analogues: A Review of Allied Forms – France and Germany 4. Continental Analogues: A Review of Allied Forms – Italy. The Netherlands and Spain 5. English Practice 6. Cyclic Form (II)


Gas explosion is very disastrous accident all over the world. Influence scope analysis of shock wave and smoke after gas explosion is of great importance and significance. The results indicate that, during the process of shock wave propagation destroying the air throttle, the shock wave energy will be consumed as part of air throttle destruction, which causes the overpressure reduced. However, the shock wave continues to be propagated and attenuated to a certain distance. Results on analyzing influence scope of smoke flow show that the smoke temperature and concentration in roadway are higher before restoring ventilation. The smoke is diluted by the fresh air through diffusion. After restoring ventilation, the temperature and concentration of smoke flow are lowered greatly. In conclusion, the influence scope study of shock and smoke flow is of full practice.


Background: Cancer patients with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) have deficits in sensory and motor skills leading to inappropriate proprioceptive feedback, impaired postural control, and fall risk. Balance training programs specifically developed for CIPN patients are lacking. Objective: This pilot study investigated the effect of an interactive motor adaptation balance training program based on wearable sensors for improving balance in older cancer patients with CIPN. Methods: Twenty-two patients (age: 70.3 ± 8.7 years) with objectively confirmed CIPN [vibration perception threshold (VPT) >25 V] were randomized to either an intervention (IG) or a control (CG) group. The IG received interactive game-based balance training including repetitive weight shifting and virtual obstacle crossing tasks. Wearable sensors provided real-time visual/auditory feedback from the lower limb trajectory and allowed the perception of motor errors during each motor action. The CG received no exercise intervention and continued their normal activity. Outcome measures were changes in sway of ankle, hip, and center of mass (CoM) in both mediolateral and anteroposterior (AP) directions during 30-second balance tests with increasing task difficulty [i.e. standing in feet-closed position with eyes open (EO) and eyes closed (EC), and in semi-tandem position with EO] at baseline and after the intervention. Additionally, gait performance (speed, variability) and fear of falling [Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I)] were measured. Results: Training was safe despite the participants' impaired health status, great severity of CIPN (VPT 49.6 ± 26.7 V), and great fear of falling (FES-I score 31.37 ± 11.20). After the intervention, sway of hip, ankle, and CoM was significantly reduced in the IG compared to the CG while standing in feet-closed position with EO (p = 0.010-0.022, except AP CoM sway) and in semi-tandem position (p = 0.008-0.035, except ankle sway). No significant effects were found for balance with EC, gait speed, and FES-I score (p > 0.05). Conclusions: This proof-of-concept study demonstrates that older cancer patients with CIPN can significantly improve their postural balance with specifically tailored, sensor-based exercise training. The training approach has potential as a therapy for improving CIPN-related postural control deficits. However, future studies comparing the proposed technology-based training with traditional balance training are required to evaluate the benefit of the interactive joint movement feedback.


Aneurysms of the popliteal artery are quite common in this category of vascular lesions, occurring second in frequency only to aortic aneurysms. Despite the superficial location of the involved vessel, the diagnosis of a popliteal aneurysm may frequently be overlooked, even at the time of rupture. Rupture of a popliteal aneurysm represents a grave surgical emergency and usually heralds gangrene of the extremity. It is the purpose of this paper to describe an unusual course of a ruptured popliteal aneurysm, characterized by hematomatous dissection in the subcutaneous tissue. Extensive bluish discoloration of the skin with swelling led initially to an erroneous diagnosis of phlegmasia cerulea dolens. The correct diagnosis was finally established one month after the time of rupture, just prior to successful surgical intervention. During this time viability of the foot of the involved extremity was satisfactory. In addition, a diagnostic sign pathognomonic of a ruptured popliteal artery was


This study aims to determine the competence of inclusive elementary school teachers in utilizing media based on technology in terms of planning of learning based on information and communication technology. The research method is descriptive quantitative. The research was carried out in the province particular region of Yogyakarta. The subjects consisted of 138 teachers of SD Inklusi located in Bantul, Gunungkidul, Sleman, Kulonprogo and Yogyakarta. The research instrument using the test is completed with observation and interview. The results showed that the ability of elementary school teachers Inclusion in planning learning based on information and communication technology (ICT) of 38.65%. The highest value is the ability to plan ICTbased learning activities by 54.35%. Furthermore, the ability to prepare ICT-based materials reaches a value of 32.61%. While the lowest cost is the ability to plan ICTbased e-learning media of 28.98%. The result of the study illustrates that the learning done in the classroom is still conventional and teacher-centered with the dominance of the lecture method and has not done the development of ICT-based learning media capable of accommodating all the diversity and also raises the participation of all students in the class.


Abstract The transcription of two genes, PS-IAA4/5 and PS-IAA6 in pea is induced by indoleacetic acid (IAA) and protein synthesis inhibitors such as cycloheximide (CHX) and anisomycin (ANI). Induction by IAA is rapid, taking 5 and 7.5 minutes for PS-IAA4/5 and PS-IAA6 respectively, and is independent of IAA concentration and whether IAA has a free or esterified carboxyl group (ethyl-IAA). The rate of mRNA accumulation, however, is dependent on hormone concentration, and is greater with IAA than with ethyl-IAA. The turnover rates ( t 1/2 ) of the PS-IAA4/5 and PS-IAA6 mRNAs are 60 and 75 minutes, respectively, and are not affected by IAA. CHX or ANI induce the transcription of PS-IAA4/5 and PS-IAA6 more slowly than IAA (5 to 10 minutes for PS-IAA4/5 and 20 minutes for PS-IAA6 ). While protein synthesis inhibitors stabilize both mRNAs, the rapidity of induction by CHX and ANI cannot be accounted for solely by mRNA stabilization. The relationship between mRNA induction and protein synthesis inhibition does not obey Michaelis-Menten kinetics, but rather is best described by a hyperbolic curve, suggesting the release of transcriptional repression by the inhibition of protein synthesis. RNA expression experiments with transgenic tobacco seedlings or with transfected pea protoplasts using PS-IAA4/5 promoter GUS or CAT fusions reveal that CHX transcriptionally activates PS-IAA4/5 gene expression. Thus protein synthesis inhibitors have a dual effect on PS-IAA4/5 and PS-IAA6 . (1) They stabilize both mRNAs (possibly by a translational arrest-linked process or by preventing the synthesis of a labile nuclease(s)). (2) They activate transcription (possibly by preventing the synthesis or function of a repressor).


Measuring semantic relatedness between two words is a significant problem in many areas such as natural language processing. Existing approaches to the semantic relatedness problem mainly adopt the co-occurrence principle and regard two words as highly related if they appear in the same sentence frequently. However, such solutions suffer from low coverage and low precision because i) the two highly related words may not appear close to each other in the sentences, e.g., the synonyms; and ii) the co-occurrence of words may happen by chance rather than implying the closeness in their semantics. In this paper, we explore the latent semantics (i.e., concepts) of the words to identify highly related word pairs. We propose a hierarchical association network to specify the complex relationships among the words and the concepts, and quantify each relationship with appropriate measurements. Extensive experiments are conducted on real datasets and the results show that our proposed method improves correlation precision compared with the state-of-the-art approaches.


Abstract : This conference grant supported the Parkinson's Action Network (PAN)'s 13th Annual Research and Education Forum for Parkinson's patients, their families/caretakers and advocates held February 11 to 13, 2007 at the Washington Plaza Hotel, Washington, DC. This forum brought together some of the foremost doctors and scientists working on Parkinson's research to share their work with patients and leaders in the Parkinson's community. PAN's Research and Education Forum serves as a premier educational program for Parkinson's physicians, patients, researchers as well as leaders in the Parkinson's community. The primary goal of the Forum is to bring together these various stakeholders so that they can share information and learn about the latest developments in Parkinson's research. Through plenary sessions, workshops and networking opportunities, participants will learn about the latest research and discuss creative ideas for new research endeavors. Fundamental to the success of the Forum is the premise that visiting scientists and researchers can learn from each other and from Parkinson's patients and caregivers.


This paper presents a formal development approach for designing interactive applications using a correct-by-construction approach. In this work, we propose a refinement strategy using model-view-controller (MVC) to structure and design Event-B formal models of the interactive application. The proposed MVC-based refinement strategy facilitates the development of an abstract model and a series of refined models by introducing the possible modes, controller's behaviour and visual components of the interactive application while preserving the required interaction-related safety properties. To demonstrate the effectiveness, scalability, reliability and feasibility of our approach, we use a small example (from automotive domain) and real-life industrial case studies (from aviation). The entire development is realized in Event-B and the associated Rodin tool is used to analyse and verify the correctness of the formalized model. Finally, the developed Event-B models are used to generate source code using EB2ALL tool for going from the specification to the implementation of the interactive application.


Several million Americans are afflicted with Alzheimer's disease or a related dementing disorder. For families, professional caregivers, policy makers, and the patients themselves, the challenges are immense and the economic costs are staggering. In Dementia and Aging Robert H. Binstock, Stephen G. Post, and Peter J. Whitehouse bring together experts in gerontology, geriatrics, psychiatry, neurology, nursing, ethics, philosophy, public policy, and law to examine the ethical, moral, and policy controversies surrounding dementia. The authors first present background information on dementia and related ethical and policy issues. The remainder of the book is divided into three parts. Part One conveys the difficulties experienced by dementia patients and their caregivers. Part Two deals with ethical and moral issues involved in decisions regarding treatment and care, including the highly controversial subject of euthanasia. Part Three lays out societal choices regarding the allocation of resources for treatment, care, and research on dementia.


The topic of this paper is model predictive control (MPC) for max-plus linear systems with stochastic uncertainties the distribution of which is supposed to be known. We consider linear constraints on the inputs and the outputs. Due to the uncertainties, these linear constraints are formulated as probabilistic or chance constraints, i.e., the constraints are required to be satisfied with a predefined probability level. The proposed chance constraints can be equivalently rewritten into a max-affine (i.e., the maximum of affine terms) form if the linear constraints are monotonically nondecreasing as a function of the outputs. Based on the resulting max-affine form, two methods are developed for solving the chance-constrained MPC problem for stochastic max-plus linear systems. Method 1 uses Boole's inequality to convert the multivariate chance constraint into univariate chance constraints for which the probability can be computed more efficiently. Method 2 employs Chebyshev's inequality and transforms the chance constraint into linear constraints on the inputs. The simulation results for a production system example show that the two proposed methods are faster than the Monte Carlo simulation method and yield lower closed-loop costs than the nominal MPC method.


Graft versus host disease is associated with a myriad of cutaneous signs and few nail manifestations. A case of documented chronic graft versus host disease with the initial cutaneous presentation of white superficial onychomycosis is presented. The patient developed a lichenoid eruption in an unusual distribution and a reticulated hyperpigmentation of the face. Culture of the nails was positive for Trichophyton rubrum, an uncommon cause of white superficial onychomycosis, this being the third known reported case. Histopathologic examination revealed fungal elements in the superficial nail plate with an absence of fungus in the ventral aspect of the nail plate. A summary of cutaneous skin and nail manifestations in graft versus host disease is presented.


Certain specialized breeding techniques may come in handy during the analysis of a mutation in order to further understanding of the mutation and its interactions with other genes. Different mutant alleles of the gene in question might be available from other sources or mutations with similar phenotypes could potentially be alleles. This could be determined by complementation testing. In the production of a conditional allele, retention of exogenous DNA in the allele could fortuitously disrupt a regulatory element and thus result in a hypomorphic allele, which can be simply tested by breeding. Mutations in different genes frequently affect the same organ, tissue, or cell type through genetic interactions. Common approaches to investigate and interpret genetic interactions are detailed here for gene families, in which there may be redundancy or genetic compensation of different genes, for genes that constitute different components of a biochemical pathway, for genes with overlapping expression patterns, and for unrelated genes that produce similar mutant phenotypes.


Tamoxifen has been found to be metabolized by liver primarily into three metabolites, tamoxifen- N -oxide, formed by the flavin-containing monooxygenase, and N -desmethyl- and 4-hydroxytamoxifen, formed by cytochrome P450. The N -demethylation was demonstrated to be catalyzed by P4503A in rat and human liver; however, the P450s catalyzing the 4-hydroxylation have not been identified. Although 4-hydroxytamoxifen exhibits more potent estrogen agonist/antagonist activity than tamoxifen, the relative contributions of the parent drug and its 4-hydroxy metabolite(s) to the activity of tamoxifen in vivo have not been established. We report here that the rate of tamoxifen 4-hydroxylation is higher in livers of adult chicken and chick embryos than in livers of mammalian species. Tamoxifen 4-hydroxylation was increased by treatment of chick embryos with 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo- p -dioxin (TCDD), β-naphthoflavone (βNF), and to a lesser extent by phenobarbital (PB). The major effect of PB treatment was an increase in tamoxifen N -demethylation. Tamoxifen 4-hydroxylase activity of reconstituted purified chicken P450s was highest for TCDDAA, a P450 active in arachidonate epoxygenation and estradiol 2-hydroxylation, and one of the two major P450s induced by TCDD and βNF in chick embryo liver. The second P450, TCDDAHH, which is active in aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase and 7-ethoxyresorufin deethylase was inactive in tamoxifen 4-hydroxylation. Anti-TCDDAA IgG immunoinhibited tamoxifen 4-hydroxylation in microsomes from βNF-treated embryos by over 80%, but was ineffective against this reaction in the controls. The immunochemical findings together with the reconstitution data identify TCDDAA as the P450 responsible for TCDD/βNF-induced tamoxifen 4-hydroxylation in chick liver. In PB-treated livers, a P450 fraction containing CYP2H1/H2, the major PB-induced P450s, had the highest tamoxifen 4-hydroxylase and N -demethylase activities, a finding compatible with one or both of those P450s being responsible for the PB-induced tamoxifen 4-hydroxylation and N -demethylation. The findings reported here raise the possibility that exposure of women undergoing tamoxifen therapy to agents that induce human CYP1A2 or CYP2B1/2 analogues may produce increased levels of 4-hydroxytamoxifen and that this may affect the therapeutic potency of tamoxifen.


A method to prevent operative wound suppuration is offered. An experimental animal model of operative wound suppuration was elaborated to specify rational antibiotic-antiseptic prophylaxis and adequate wound drainage. This yielded a complex of measures to prevent purulent complications on the part of the operative wound. In addition, an original turbidimetric technique to assess the resistance of the biological fluid microflora to antisepsis was elaborated. The complex prophylaxis against suppuration of infected wounds was clinically tested on 124 patients operated on for different acute surgical conditions of abdominal organs. The wound process was controlled by means of an original endoscopic-bacteriologic technique. The postoperative period was complicated by the wound suppuration in two of the 124 patients (1.6 per cent). The postoperative hospital stay in most cases lasted 5-7 days.


Background: With outbreaks of COVID-19 around the world, lockdown restrictions are routinely imposed to limit the spread of the virus. During periods of lockdown, social media has become the main channel for citizens to exchange information with others. Public emotions are being generated and shared rapidly online with citizens using internet platforms to reduce anxiety and stress, and stay connected while isolated. Objectives: This study aims to explore the regularity of emotional evolution by examining public emotions expressed in online discussions about the Wuhan lockdown event in January 2020. Methods: Data related to the Wuhan lockdown was collected from Sina Weibo by web crawler. In this study, the Ortony, Clore, and Collins (OCC) model, Word2Vec, and Bi-directional Long Short-Term Memory model were employed to determine emotional types, train vectorization of words, and identify each text emotion for the training set. Latent Dirichlet Allocation models were also employed to mine the various topic categories, while topic emotional evolution was visualized. Results: Seven types of emotions and four phases were categorized to describe emotional evolution on the Wuhan lockdown event. The study found that negative emotions such as blame and fear dominated in the early days, and public attitudes towards the lockdown gradually alleviated and reached a balance as the situation improved. Emotional expression about Wuhan lockdown event were significantly related to users' gender, location, and whether or not their account was verified. There were statistically significant correlations between different emotions within the subtle emotional categories. In addition, the evolution of emotions presented a different path due to different topics. Conclusions: Multiple emotional categories were determined in our study, providing a detailed and ex-plainable emotion analysis to explored emotional appeal of citizen. The public emotions were gradually easing related to the Wuhan lockdown event, there yet exists regional discrimination and post-traumatic stress disorder in this process, which would lead us to pay continuous attention to citizens lives and psy- chological status post-pandemic. In addition, this study provided an appropriate method and reference case for the government's public opinion control and emotional appeasement. © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


Over the last two decades, three countries in the Black Sea Region—Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan—became global leaders in grain production and trade, and replaced the USA and France as the most previous largest wheat exporting countries. In this study we investigate world wheat price linkages and identify the current "price leaders" of the global wheat market. This empirical analysis is focused on the price relationships between eight of the largest wheat exporting countries and uses a cointegration framework and a vector error-correction model. The results show that, regarding price formation on the world wheat market, the French price is more important for transmitting price signals to other wheat export markets compared to the USA. Furthermore, our results indicate that, despite being leaders in wheat export volumes, the Black Sea wheat prices in Russia and Ukraine adjust to price changes in France, the USA, and Canada. Albeit unrealistic in the short run, the creation of the futures market in the Black Sea region might significantly improve the participation of Black Sea markets in price formation of the global wheat market.


Digital platforms are supporting a new universe of audiovisual production, distribution, and audience viewing, and they are now tightly integrated into many people's everyday lives. The changes in commercial and public service media business strategies demand the analysis of emerging trends and perspectives in the audiovisual landscape. The articles in this Special Section are selected from submissions to the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) International Communication Section, and they include examinations of both the cultural and the political economy of the European audiovisual industry's operations and practices. These articles address the impacts of "platformization" and changing policies and regulation in the audiovisual industry, focusing on developments in the European Union and, nationally, in Spain and the UK. They highlight successful instances of adaptation to changing market conditions in the cases of television series production and public service media. They also call attention to how new cultural, political, and economic dynamics, regulations, and changes in the competitive environment in Europe are challenging the financial sustainability of local audiovisual content production and efforts to strengthen media plurality and diversity, as well as online public service media discoverability. This special issue signals a continuing need for research to monitor interactions between changing technologies for monetizing audience data, commercial business strategies, and the constraints and opportunities facing European commercial and public service media players.


There are no longer doubts about the existence of gender's differences in cog- nition, only their origin is still controversial. The literature provides evidence of differences in cognitive performance and brain activation patterns and links these differences in men and women with biological, social and psychological measures. To date, the favored hypo- thesis explaining these differences is the cognitive style hypothesis according to which women and men would favor different strategies while resolving some tasks. Some of these tasks are autobiographical memory tasks, which are also the most sensitive to the effects of age but very few studies had explored the impact of aging on the differences in cognition between men and women. We discuss the importance of such studies about the gender's differences in aging. A better understanding of gender differences in cognition in pathological aging as in health would provide the opportunity to offer a more personalized care.


As a tensile reinforcement of a concrete structure member, tensile strength of Unresin Continuous Carbon Fiber (UCCF) cables should be stated clearly. It has been reported that, through direct tensile test, tensile capacity of UCCF cables ranged from 30% to 35% for the cables made of 120 strings to 40 strings". By calculate the tensile strength of the cables using the total section area of cables it was found that the tensile strength of cables ranged form 1500 MPa to 1680 MPa. From the other studies 2 , 3 ) , it was reported that it is impossible to use all fibers in a cables to sustain the applied load. The results indicated that the effective section area of the UCCF cables as a tensile reinforcement in concrete beams was 67%. So, the tensile strength reported before" should be reevaluated using the consideration of the effective section area. This study present the evaluation of the tensile strength of UCCF cables for concrete structures. The effective section area of 1.5 reported in previous studies 2 , 3 ) is used in evaluation and finally the relationship between tensile strength and the number of string of UCCF cables will be presented. To clarify more about the maximum tensile strength of UCCF cables, the experimental investigation under flexural test of under reinforced beams are carried out. The results indicated that there was a good agreement between the experimental recorded maximum tensile capacity with the predicted results.


Abstract Background The inappropriate use of laboratory resources, due to excessive number of tests not really necessary for patient care or by failure to order the appropriate diagnostic test, may lead to wrong, missed or delayed diagnosis, thus potentially jeopardizing patient safety. It is estimated that 5–95% of tests are currently used inappropriately, depending on the appropriateness criteria, thus significantly contributing to the potential of generating medical errors, the third leading cause of death in the US. Content In this review, we discuss the reasons as well as the medical and financial consequences of inappropriate utilization of laboratory tests. We then provide demand management (DM) tools as a means for overcoming this issue and also discuss their benefits, challenges, limitations and requirements for successful implementation. Summary and outlook When based on current evidence, adapted to local conditions and developed in close collaboration with clinicians, DM is a reasonable strategy for progressing toward better management of over- and underuse of laboratory resources.


Purpose The purpose of this cross-sectional study is to evaluate the presence of any correlations between dysfunctions related to visual impairments and dental occlusion. Methods The test group included 34 subjects (21 males and 13 females; mean age 11 ± 2 years) randomly selected with the following inclusion criteria: absence of any diagnosis for problems at visual level except those related to refractive defects, visual acuity of at least 1.0, absence of any syndrome or malformation in the craniofacial area, good general health, and absence of any systemic disease able to influence the vision or the craniofacial growth. They underwent visual clinical tests to evaluate the presence of fusional vergence defects and amplitude. Each patient underwent an orthodontic clinical exam and the occlusal molar relationship of each subject was recorded and considered as occlusal variable. A statistical analysis with Chi-Squared test was performed in order to analyze the associations between the visual defects and the occlusal variable. Results A statistically significant association between the molar occlusal relationship and the occurrence of exodeviations was observed. The percentage of subjects presenting fusional amplitudes with convergence lower of the cut-off value was statistically significantly higher in the group of occlusal molar second class. Conclusions The results obtained show that there is an association between occlusal second molar class and fusional vergence defects.


The focus of this paper is on how two main manifestations of nonlinearity in low-dimensional systems – shear around a center fixed point (nonlinear center) and the differential divergence of trajectories passing by a saddle (nonlinear saddle) – strongly affect data assimilation. The impact is felt through their leading to non-Gaussian distribution functions. The major factors that control the strength of these effects is time between observations, and covariance of the prior relative to covariance of the observational noise. Both these factors – less frequent observations and larger prior covariance – allow the nonlinearity to take hold. To expose these nonlinear effects, we use the comparison between exact posterior distributions conditioned on observations and the ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) approximation of these posteriors. We discuss the serious limitations of the EnKF in handling these effects.


Stem cells capable of long-term proliferation and differentiation into different cell types may be a promising source of cells for regenerative medicine. Recently, much attention has been paid to fetal stem cells, among which are cells from amniotic fluid (AF). We have isolated amniotic stem cells from 3 AF samples. Flow cytometry, RT -PCR and immunohistochemistry have shown that these cells express mesenchymal (CD90, CD73, CD105, CD13, CD29, CD44, and CD146), neural (≤3-tubulin, Nestin, and Pax6), epithelial (keratin 19 and p63) markers and also markers of pluripotency (Oct4, Nanog, and Rex-1). Transplantation of the cells to nude mice does not lead to tumor formation. Thus, putative stem/progenitor cells from AF are capable of long-term proliferation in vitro and the profile of gene expression led us to speculate that they have greater differentiation potential than mesenchymal stem cells and may be useful for cell therapy.


There is a parallel between the information that produces fundamental laws and life processes.  In each case we observe, not the information, but the results of quantum mechanical equations: (1) Information → Schrodinger based protons and electrons that define the laws of nature; and (2) Information → Schrodinger/Feynman based evolution of body/vision/brain. Another interesting parallel is that the Information → life process is cyclical because information must be stored and unfolded as the body redevelops. The information stored appears to be fundamental and shared. It is reasonable to believe there was pre-existing information associated with creation.  Information creation is a mathematical process related to probability.  Probability is a ratio - One thing compared to everything else.  It is possible that the Mind of creation holds information, including the information in the processes above. This article studies information storage for three life processes (body, perception, and brain). They occur later by several billion years but it is reasonable to suspect that (our) mind develops within the Mind of creation.  Processes with two levels will be discussed.  Information will be called level 1 and the result of an equation (computation) will be called level 2.  The life processes require input and learning.  For example, vision is based on light input, the body is dependent on DNA evolution and the brain requires feedback to develop networks.  An equation developed by Feynman for light absorption yields a probability that depends on matching input wavelengths with stored wavelengths. Wavelength*probability are stored in molecules (level 1) and we perceive the equation output as color vision (level 2). There is evidence that Mind and mind use the same information code.  Is our information more enduring than we think?  Can nature recreate us with information similar to the way DNA information reconstructs the body?  Could a goal of creation be the potential of ongoing creation?


In this paper, we combine the perturbation method in supersymmetric quantum mechanics with the WKB method to restudy an angular equation coming from the wave equations for a Schwarzschild black hole with a straight string passing through it. This angular equation serves as a naive model for our investigation of the combination of supersymmetric quantum mechanics and the WKB method, and will provide valuable insight for our further study of the WKB approximation in real problems, like the one in spheroidal equations, etc.


This study assessed the research output on Bamboo for a period of 29 years (1989-2018). The web of science database has been used to retrieve worldwide publication records on bamboo research. The records were analysed using the descriptive statistics. Based on the retrieved data, various aspect of literature on bamboo research analysed and interpreted. The performance of the most productivity countries, authors, journals, Institution wise, and Growth rate and doubling time have assessed. The articles were classified as Research, review and others and grouped under 22 subjects to identify the subject coverage of bamboo research. The study found a positive growth in research and review article while very sharp decrement was observed. The growth rate and doubling period were estimated 8.5 and 8.34 respectively. Most of the articles written on Agriculture, Material Science, building technology and chemistry. M. Das (Presidency University, Department Life Science, Kolkata) is the most prolific primary author while R. Kumar (National Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineer, Silchar, India) mostly occurred as secondary author. Local and National collaboration mostly observed in the paper. India is the most productive country of world followed by china and Tamilnadu is most productive state of India. Indian Institute of Technology, India is a premier institute in bamboo research activity. Keyword: Bamboo Research, Bibliometrics Analysis, Research Articles, Review Articles, Prolific Authors, Publication output


: Various forms of electronic exams have been provided at the University of Helsinki for years, but all in small scale; the mainstream is still to take a lecture hall exam written with pen on paper. Two pilot projects – the online exam pilot at the faculty of social sciences and the electronic examining project – provide electronic exam opportunities for teachers and students. This case study is based on student experiences on electronic examining in the pilot projects, collected by electronic questionnaires. The results indicate that online and electronic exam room exams may lower stress related to examining, promote deep learning, provide flexibility in studies as part of busy life and thus promote to shorter graduation times and increase the quality of learning.


Among the running field tests that measure aerobic fitness indirectly, the 20-m shuttle run test is the one most commonly used among obese youth. However, this back and forth running test induces premature cessation of exercise in this population. The present study aimed to examine the psycho-physiological responses of obese adolescents to an intermittent (15-15) progressive and maximal run test as compared with a continuous shuttle run test. Eleven obese adolescents (age: 14-15 years; BMI = 34.01 ± 5.30 kg·m-2) performed both tests. A two-way ANOVA examined the main effects of the running test, participant's sex, and their interaction on maximal aerobic performance (net exercise duration and final velocity), physiological values (heart rate, pulmonary oxygen uptake, respiratory exchange ratio and blood lactate concentration) and psychological responses (rating of perceived exertion, and physical self-perceptions). Oxygen uptake and heart-rate values at 9 km·h-1 were also compared. Compared with a 20-m shuttle run, the 15-15 test induced lower pulmonary oxygen uptake values at 9 km/h (28.3 ± 2.7 vs. 35.4 ± 2.7 ml·min-1·kg-1) and finished with higher maximal velocity and net exercise duration (566 ± 156 vs. 346 ± 156 s, p < 0.001), with no inter-test physiological difference. The 15-15 test also resulted in higher ratings of perceived exertion (16.0 ± 1.2 vs. 12.7 ± 1.6, p < 0.001) and improved perceived physical condition compared with the 20-m shuttle run (+1.4 ± 1.4 vs. +0.2 ± 1.0, p < 0.05). Both tests induced a maximal aerobic power of obese adolescents, but the 15-15 test provided a more progressive speed increment and longer exercise duration. The 15-15 test also elicited a significant improvement of perceived physical condition. In conclusion the 15-15 test can be considered a relevant field test for assessing the aerobic fitness of obese adolescents.


NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase (NQO1) converts benzene-derived quinones to less toxic hydroquinones and has been implicated in benzene-associated hematotoxicity. A point mutation in codon 187 (Pro to Ser) results in complete loss of enzyme activity in homozygous subjects, whereas those with 2 wild-type alleles have normal activity. The frequency of homozygosity for the mutant allele among Caucasians and African Americans is 4% to 5% but is higher in Hispanics and Asians. Using an unambiguous polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method, we assayed nonmalignant lymphoblastoid cell lines derived from 104 patients with myeloid leukemias; 56 had therapy-related acute myeloid leukemia (t-AML), 30 had a primary myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), 9 had AML de novo, and 9 had chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). All patients had their leukemia cells karyotyped. Eleven percent of the t-AML patients were homozygous and 41% were heterozygous for the NQO1 polymorphism; these proportions were significantly higher than those expected in a population of the same ethnic mix (P =.036). Of the 45 leukemia patients who had clonal abnormalities of chromosomes 5 and/or 7, 7 (16%) were homozygous for the inactivating polymorphism, 17 (38%) were heterozygous, and 21 (47%) had 2 wild-type alleles for NQO1. Thus, NQO1 mutations were significantly increased compared with the expected proportions: 5%, 34%, and 61%, respectively (P =.002). An abnormal chromosome no. 5 or 7 was observed in 7 of 8 (88%) homozygotes, 17 of 45 (38%) heterozygotes, and 21 of 51 (41%) patients with 2 wild-type alleles. Among 33 patients with balanced translocations [14 involving bands 11q23 or 21q22, 10 with inv(16) or t(15;17), and 9 with t(9;22)], there were no homozygotes, 15 (45%) heterozygotes, and 18 (55%) with 2 wild-type alleles. Whereas fewer than 3 homozygotes were expected among the 56 t-AML patients, 6 were observed; 19 heterozygotes were expected, but 23 were observed. The gene frequency for the inactivating polymorphism (0. 31) was increased approximately 1.4-fold among the 56 t-AML patients. This increase was observed within each of the following overlapping cohorts of t-AML patients: the 43 who had received an alkylating agent, the 27 who had received a topoisomerase II inhibitor, and the 37 who had received any radiotherapy. Thus, the frequency of an inactivating polymorphism in NQO1 appears to be increased in this cohort of myeloid leukemias, especially among those with t-AML or an abnormality of chromosomes 5 and/or 7. Homozygotes and heterozygotes (who are at risk for treatment-induced mutation or loss of the remaining wild-type allele in their hematopoietic stem cells) may be particularly vulnerable to leukemogenic changes induced by carcinogens.


An econometric model was used to evaluate the impact that the Smithfield / Packerland merger had on the price differential between Holstein feeder steers and non-dairy feeder steers in Kentucky. Weekly data were used from the Kentucky Livestock Database and the Livestock Marketing Information Center. An increase in the Holstein / non-dairy feeder steer spread of more than $3.00 per hundredweight was associated with the time period following the merger. While the possibility remains that unidentified factors contributed to the wider spread, the contention that the merger was the cause could not be rejected.