Livestock have long been integral to food production systems, often not by choice but by need. While our knowledge of livestock greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions mitigation has evolved, the prevailing focus has been—somewhat myopically—on technology applications associated with mitigation. Here, we (1) examine the global distribution of livestock GHG emissions, (2) explore social, economic and environmental co‐benefits and trade‐offs associated with mitigation interventions and (3) critique approaches for quantifying GHG emissions. This review uncovered many insights. First, while GHG emissions from ruminant livestock are greatest in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMIC; globally, 66% of emissions are produced by Latin America and the Caribbean, East and southeast Asia and south Asia), the majority of mitigation strategies are designed for developed countries. This serious concern is heightened by the fact that 80% of growth in global meat production over the next decade will occur in LMIC. Second, few studies concurrently assess social, economic and environmental aspects of mitigation. Of the 54 interventions reviewed, only 16 had triple‐bottom line benefit with medium–high mitigation potential. Third, while efforts designed to stimulate the adoption of strategies allowing both emissions reduction (ER) and carbon sequestration (CS) would achieve the greatest net emissions mitigation, CS measures have greater potential mitigation and co‐benefits. The scientific community must shift attention away from the prevailing myopic lens on carbon, towards more holistic, systems‐based, multi‐metric approaches that carefully consider the raison d'être for livestock systems. Consequential life cycle assessments and systems‐aligned 'socio‐economic planetary boundaries' offer useful starting points that may uncover leverage points and cross‐scale emergent properties. The derivation of harmonized, globally reconciled sustainability metrics requires iterative dialogue between stakeholders at all levels. Greater emphasis on the simultaneous characterization of multiple sustainability dimensions would help avoid situations where progress made in one area causes maladaptive outcomes in other areas.


This thesis explores topics in Agricultural Economics and is composed of five papers. In the first paper (Chapter 2), a latent-class stochastic frontier model is used to estimate efficiency scores of farmers in Ethiopia. Compared to conventional models, which assume a unique frontier, much lower inefficiencies are found, suggesting that part of the inefficiencies uncovered in the literature could be an artefact of the methods used. The second paper (Chapter 3) revisits the link between cereal diversity and productivity using a panel dataset in Ethiopia. The results suggest that the positive effect between cereal diversity and productivity becomes much smaller when households who produce teff (a low-productivity and high-value crop) are excluded from the sample, hinting at the possibility that results could be driven by yield differentials between cereals, rather than diversity. The third paper (Chapter 4) estimates the labour impacts of the adoption of Soil and Water Conservation technologies (SWC) in Ethiopia. The results suggest that adopting SWC technologies leads to an increase in adult and child labour. Understanding the labour impacts is important in itself, but it also raises concerns about using impact evaluation methods that require no change in inputs as an identifying assumption of impacts. Paper 4 (Chapter 5), assesses the pertinence of a drought index that has recently been proposed in the literature by Yu and Babcock (2010) and argues that it defines drought too narrowly. An extension to this index is proposed and we show, using a dataset of Indian districts, that the original index is likely to underestimate the impacts of drought. In Paper 5 (Chapter 6), we identify data-driven ranges of rainfall for which the marginal effects of a rainfall-temperature index (RTI) are different and then we discuss how the impacts of drought have changed over the 1966-2009 period in India. Finally, Chapter 7 concludes.


We have used transcriptional and translational fusions between various vir gene promoters and the lacZ gene to study the regulation of vir genes. Like other vir promoters, the virA promoter was induced by acetosyringone in a virA virG-dependent fashion. In addition to being induced by acetosyringone, the virG promoter was partially induced by acidic growth conditions and by starvation for inorganic phosphate. These two conditions appeared to act synergistically. The response to low pH and to phosphate starvation occurred in the absence of the Ti plasmid and must therefore have been mediated by chromosomal genes. Two transposon-generated mutations were obtained which attenuated induction by low pH. One of these transposons was cloned along with flanking DNA; the flanking DNA was sequenced (858 base pairs total), and the predicted amino acid sequence showed homology with a family of proteins including the Rhizobium leguminosarum nodI gene, many of whose members bind ATP and have been implicated in active transport systems. These results are discussed as possible explanations for previous observations that the induction of the octopine vir regulon (i) occurs only in acidic media and (ii) shows hyperbolic kinetics after a long lag phase.


The traditional face of banking is undergoing change - from one of mere intermediator to that of provider of quick cost effective and efficient services. In most emerging economies the banking sector is having to face difficult challenges. A discussion on these challenges and issues arising as a result of the ongoing financial sector reforms is important. What are the weaknesses in the system and how may it cope with the critical issues which will arise as a result of the reform process?


The tasks of humor understanding and generation are challenging and subjective even for humans, requiring commonsense and real-world knowledge to master. Puns, in particular, add the challenge of fusing that knowledge with the ability to interpret lexical-semantic ambiguity. In this paper, we present the ExPUNations (ExPUN) dataset, in which we augment an existing dataset of puns with detailed crowdsourced annotations of keywords denoting the most distinctive words that make the text funny, pun explanations describing why the text is funny, and fine-grained funniness ratings. This is the first humor dataset with such extensive and fine-grained annotations specifically for puns. Based on these annotations, we propose two tasks: explanation generation to aid with pun classification and keyword-conditioned pun generation, to challenge the current state-of-the-art natural language understanding and generation models' ability to understand and generate humor. We showcase that the annotated keywords we collect are helpful for generating better novel humorous texts in human evaluation, and that our natural language explanations can be leveraged to improve both the accuracy and robustness of humor classifiers.


Background:
 Stroke and myocardial infarction (MI) share similar risk factors and pathophysiological mechanisms. Ischemic stroke (IS) patients often harbor asymptomatic coronary heart disease (CHD); furthermore, beyond one month after the index stroke, they are at a higher risk of death from MI than recurrent stroke. Framingham Cardiovascular Risk Score (FCRS) is a simple, widely recognized tool for estimating 10-year risk for "hard" CHD outcomes, but its role as a prognosticator after recent stroke has not been assessed.

 Objectives:
 To determine the prevalence, predictors, and prognosis of high FCRS (≥ 20%) among recent IS patients.

 Methods:
 Analysis of a trial dataset involving 3680 recent (≤120 days) IS patients aged ≥ 35 years, recruited from 56 centers between 1996 and 2003, and followed for 2 years. We determined prevalence of high FCRS among subjects without known CHD. Association between baseline vascular risk factors and high FCRS were assessed using multivariable logistic regression. Cox models with and without competing risks were used to determine the associations between high FCRS vs. primary (stroke, MI, vascular death) and secondary (stroke) outcomes.

 Results:
 Of 2547 subjects (∼70% of cohort) who met study criteria, 37% had a high FCRS. Prior carotid endarterectomy (CEA), hypertension, and higher NIHSS, BMI, triglyceride, and LDL levels were associated with high FCRS. After adjusting for age and sex, BMI ≥30 kg/m
 2
 (HR 1.66, 95% CI 1.25–2.20), triglyceride level >150 mg/dL (OR 2.86, 95% CI 2.29–3.56), LDL level >100 mg/dL (OR 2.62, 95% CI 2.04–3.36), black vs. white race (OR 1.72, 95% CI 1.08–2.72) and other vs. white race (OR 1.78, 95% CI 1.31–2.43) were associated with higher odds of high FCRS, while alcohol use in the past year was associated with lower odds of high FCRS (OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.59–0.92). After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, vascular risk factors, stroke severity, and medication use at baseline, high FCRS was associated with a higher risk of stroke, MI or vascular death (HR 1.43, 95% CI 1.14–1.81)(
 Figure
 ). The adjusted association between high FCRS and recurrent stroke followed a similar trend, but was weaker and not significant.

 Conclusions:
 Over 1/3 of recent IS patients without known CHD have a high FCRS. High FCRS among such patients independently confers a higher risk of a major vascular event within 2 years. Using available information on history/risk profile, FCRS could be a cheap, practical, and sustainable way for clinicians to identify IS patients who may benefit from add-on CHD-specific therapies and to assess progress of major vascular risk modification.


Although the importance of long-term prophylactic treatment is certain in bipolar disorder, there is stil debate on how to which patients and evaluate the treatment response. Efficacious long-term treatment can reduce morbidity and mortality significantly and improve quality of life of bipolar patients. The concept of ideal response should also be defined very clearly in order to discuss the difficulties of measuring the effectiveness of the prophyla ctic treatment. The aims of this paper are to determine whether our currently methods and criteria are valid, reliable and sensitive evaluating the efficacy of the treatment response and to briefly inform the clinicians about the drugs used in pharmacologic prophylaxis in accordance with relevant data.


This Thesis is a sociolinguistic study about the compliment responses between maJes and femaJes in bahasa Indonesia Through this study, the writer wants to find out whether there are any differences between males and females in responding to compliments in bahasa Indonesia As her respondents, the writer takes 12 males and 12 females students of the faculty of letters who are still in the first up to third semesters. While in collecting the data, the writer is helped by two friends as her assistants to state the compliments. The writer follows those two friends in turn and write down secretly the compliments given by the assistants and the responses given by the respondents. The data which have been collected are analyzed based on Herbert's theory on the types of compliment responses and then the results are shown on some tables. At the end of the analysis, there is a summary table containing the overall findings of this research. From that table then the writer gets her conclusion. As a conclusion, the writer finds that in Indonesian, males and females tend to prefer different types of compliment responses. The type of Indonesian compliment responses most frequently used by males is praise upgrade, while the type of Indonesian compliment responses most frequently used by females is scale down.


The objectives of this study are 1) to investigate air pollution produced from electricity generation using renewable energies of a VSPP (very small power producer) and to assess the air pollution incurred in each process 2) to investigate the air pollution management of the renewable energy power plants studied; and 3) to suggest appropriate air pollution management for the power plants in each process of their electricity generation. Data are collected using in-depth interviews with the environmental management personnel of the 13 renewable energy power plants studied. The results show that in the scope of this study, wind and solar energies do not produce air pollution problems compared to other renewable energies. Biomass and refuse derived energies produce more air pollution in each process of the electricity generation especially the combustion process. Measures in the air pollution management are suggested as follows: 1) Regarding transportation, there should be a system in following up and supervising the transportation of the raw materials to the plant and measures in preventing particulate emissions and the spillage of the raw materials along the way. 2) Regarding storage, the raw materials should be stored in a proper condition and the storehouse should be located far away from a residential community; and 3) Regarding electricity generation, the technology employed should be efficient resulting in complete combustion and there should be an appropriate system in treating the pollutants resulting from the combustion.


This paper explores the changing climate, its impact, and the diversified practices of agropastoral adaption by a mountain community of Nepal. The findings reveal that there is an unswerving link between the changes in climate and their impact on the community and its adaptation options. The vulnerability and risk induced by the climate change has threatened the agropastoral subsistence, the sociocultural and economic structure, and the food sovereignty of the Loba community of Mustang district of Nepal and made them experience unanticipated complications in livelihood. In a changing climate, the community has attuned and restructured its adaptive strategy with diversified practices of collective labour in a traditional agropastoral system of landholding, mystical connectivity and seasonal relocation as an adaptive response ensuring the shared sustenance of the com munity. The challenge of climate change began long ago; it will persevere and be long- lasting. Hence, this paper argues for the need for a prudent adoption of measures to maintain an environmentally suitable agropastoral system of liveli hood well-being. Beyond enhancing community capacity and climate resilience, it is necessary to streamline and readjust indigenous sociocultural institutions by expanding their adaptive capacity, while recognizing the cultural dimensions grounded in systems of meanings and relationships and the way people and their culture experience and respond to exceptional climatic changes.


This paper contributes to a recent debate about the structural and institutional conditions under which discretion may be superior to timeless perspective. We show this is unlikely when the policy maker relies on a welfare-theoretic loss function obtained as a second-order approximation of households'utility, even in the presence of features that should enhance the relative performance of discretionary policymaking in the baseline New Keynesian model. This result stands in contrast to the existing studies, whose analysis has typically relied on ad hoc welfare criteria that reflect neither households'preferences, nor the degree of rigidity in price-setting. JEL classification: E23; E32; E52


Policies and practices around domestic and family violence (DFV) increasingly focus on perpetrator accountability. With growing evidence that punitive responses alone have a limited deterrent effect on perpetrators, behaviour change programs play a significant role in creating accountability and improving safety for victims and children. Motivating perpetrators to engage in such programs can, however, be challenging. Few perpetrators seem to recognize the need to change for their intimate (ex)-partner due to victim-blaming attitudes and a sense that relationships are replaceable. Relationships with their children on the other hand seem to hold more value. This article explores the role of fatherhood as a motivating factor for male perpetrators to engage in relevant behaviour change programs. Based on face-to-face interviews with 18 fathers in a court-mandated intervention program, findings alert to the need for education of abusive fathers in 3 key areas: the impact of DFV on children's well-being, the impact of DFV on the parent–child relationship, and the impact of DFV-related repercussions on the parent–child relationship. Fathers' desire to have a relationship with their children suggests fatherhood offers a viable angle to motivate their engagement in interventions that address gendered forms of DFV and subsequently improve victims' and children's safety.


ABSTRACT This paper outlines an overview of recent research advances in different production technologies toward sustainable development of nonwoven naturally sourced materials as alternatives to conventional synthetic laminated and bovine leather in the footwear industry. The current state of the footwear industry as a major stakeholder in the fashion sector is discussed, its footprints on the environment, and key developments from nonwoven natural fibrous materials for different footwear components are highlighted. Lastly, the review discusses recent research innovations of naturally sourced fibrous materials as leather alternatives in the footwear sector with special focus on sustainability and material performance. In addition, challenges and limitations in terms of industrial scalability and market potential are outlined. In conclusion, featuring promising nonwoven natural fibrous leather alternatives obtained via up-cycling of agro-wastes using microbes and fungi may be used in the textile and shoe industries. Since the prepared sheets through simple and cost-effective processes visually resemble conventional leather and demonstrate comparable material and tactile properties.


This paper examines the relationship between the incidences of violent crime and the level of drug enforcement. To do this, the paper compiles a panel dataset from 30 large cities across the US and using fixed effect regression analyzes the dataset. The paper finds that increase in drug enforcement does not lead to significant or noticeable decrease in violent crime offenses. Specifically, the paper finds that the relationship between drug enforcement and violent crime offenses has a positive and significant contemporaneous relation although it is no longer significant with lagged enforcement.


OBJECTIVE
To study the expression of alternatively spliced isoforms of platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1/CD31) of embryonic stem cells (ES cells) during vasculogenesis and angiogenesis.

METHODS
Mouse ES cells of the line J1 were cultured. Another ES cells were cultured in differentiation medium to induce the formation of embryonic bodies (EBs). Then the ES cells with PECAM-1 and EBs were inoculated with methylcellulose into Petri dish, containing cell growth factor, VEGF, bFGF, EPO, and IL-6 and the ES cells cultured for 11 days were inoculated in the Petri dish with collagen for 72 hours so as to induce sprouting angiogenesis. Immunofluorescence analysis, RT-PCR, and flow cytometry were used to detect the expression of PECAM-1, Oct-4, and stage-specific embryonic antigen (SSEA)-1 in the undifferentiated ES cells, EBs, and EB sprouting. In order to delineate the alternatively spliced cytoplasmic domain isoforms of PECAM-1 specific primers were designed to span the exon-exon junctions in the regions of alternative splicing. In order to amplify the cytoplasmic domains of all possible PECAM-1 isoforms a sense primer spanning the border of exons 9 and 10 within the cytoplasmic domain and an antisense primer spanning the border of exon 16 and 3'-untranslated region were used. Then the PCR products of the cytoplasmic domain underwent subsequent sequencing to analyze the expression of the 8 known alternatively splice isoforms of PECAM-1.

RESULTS
The ES cells expressed high level PECAM-1 that was mainly located at the cell-cell junctions. The SSEA-1 and Oct-4 levels rapidly decreased along with the differentiation of the ES cells. All 8 known alternatively splice isoforms of PECAM-1 were expressed in the ES cells and the EB sprouting, the expression of Delta14%15 and Delta12&14&15 being the highest. The expression level of Delta12&14&15 increased markedly and the expression of Delta15 decreased along with the differentiation of ES cells.

CONCLUSION
PECAM-1 is a constitutive feature of undifferentiated ES cells. Its changes in splice form mark the differentiation and may participate in vasculogenesis and angiogenesis.


We report our experience with seven cases of thyrotoxicosis associated with hypokalaemic periodic paralysis seen over a 25-year period in Trinidad, West Indies, an ethnically diverse island. All the cases were males, one was a Chinese, two were of East Indian and four of African descent, with a mean age 31.4 years (range 22–54 years). Early diagnosis and appropriate treatment led to the prompt resolution of the symptoms. Although rare in the Caribbean region, clinicians should be aware of the features of this potentially fatal but readily remediable complication of thyrotoxicosis.


The aim of this project has been to improve the visual quality of
holograms by improving the quality of commercially available photographic
recording materials and their associated photochemical processing. This
aim has been achieved by carefully considering all aspects of processing
stages and applying them to the very high resolution images encountered
in holography. [Continues.]


Warm wishes for the New Year and greetings from the editorial board. It is our great pleasure to showcase our issue of the Journal of Karnataka Orthopaedic Association which is being released during the 47th annual conference of the Karnataka Orthopaedic Association. This issue has articles related to technologies in total knee arthroplasties, proximal tibial fractures and very interesting case reports related to 3D printing, supercutaneous plating technique and rare case reports of PIN syndrome and calcaneal tumor. I must admit that the issue has been brought out with great difficulty due to paucity of submissions. However, the efforts of the executive committee of KOA and many KOA members have resulted in submission of many of these articles. The editorial team has worked very hard to put the issue in place in its present form. We would also like to thank our peer reviewers for their prompt and timely reports and suggestions. I urge our KOA members to also have a look at the previous issue of JKOA which is available online, the content of which has a very interesting review article on the management of Complex regional pain syndrome and also an unique approach to the hip joint. As we go through the process of indexing our journal as per the NMC requirements, I request and urge our members to support us in these crucial times by regularly submitting articles which will be always remembered by our future generations. Our Journal of KOA would definitely attain the best of indexing and academic repute in the near future. Sincerely Dr. Anil K. Bhat Editor in Chief, JKOA Associate Dean, Professor and Head Department of Hand surgery, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, MAHE.


Abstract
This chapter sets out to examine the role of masculinity in the development of a gendered organizational culture over time. The development of images of masculinity within one company—British Airways—is examined through content analysis of company newsletters, advertising copy, annual reports, internal memoranda, and written rules and regulations. Exploring the notion of "multiple masculinities," the chapter traces the prominent forms of masculinity that emerged in British Airways and assesses their impact on the ways that organizational practices were developed, maintained, and understood. Four key corporate images of masculinity are examined—the pilot, the steward, the engineer, and the "native boy"—and it is argued that those images contributed to the exclusion of women and people of color from those occupations by laying down cultural rules about the ideal typical characteristics of the job holder. The chapter concludes by raising questions about the value of a multiple masculinities focus in explaining changing and contradictory practices of discrimination; the primacy of extra-organizational over organizational practices; and the relationship between multiple masculinities and hegemonic masculinity. Further research is suggested into the extent to which hegemonic masculinity is undermined, over time, by changing and contradictory forms of masculinity within definite sites of gender construction.


Informality is a growing phenomenon in the developing and transition country labor market context. In particular, it is noticeable that working in an informal employment relationship is often not temporary. The degree of persistence of informality in the labor market might be due to different sources: structural state dependence due to past informality experiences and spurious state dependence due to time-invariant unobserved individual effects, which can alter the propensity of being in the informal sector independently from actual informality experiences. The purpose of our paper is to study the dynamics of informality using a genuine panel data set in the Ukrainian labor market. By estimating a dynamic panel data probit model with endogenous initial conditions, we find a highly significant degree of persistence due to previous informality experiences. This result implies that policies attempting to reduce current levels of informality may have a long-lasting effect on the labor market.


While funding agencies have provided substantial support for the developers and vendors of services that facilitate the unfettered flow of information through the Internet, little consolidated knowledge exists on the basic communications network infrastructure of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In the absence open access and public data, rumors and fear have reigned supreme. During provisional research on the country's censorship regime, we found initial indicators that telecommunications entities in Iran allowed private addresses to route domestically, whether intentionally or unintentionally, creating a hidden network only reachable within the country. Moreover, records such as DNS entries lend evidence of a 'dual stack' approach, wherein servers are assigned a domestic IP addresses, in addition to a global one. Despite the clear political implications of the claim we put forward, particularly in light of rampant speculation regarding the mandate of Article 46 of the 'Fifth Five Year Development Plan' to establish a "national information network," we refrain from hypothesizing the purpose of this structure. In order to solicit critical feedback for future research, we outline our initial findings and attempt to demonstrate that the matter under contention is a nation-wide phenomenom that warrants broader attention.


IS academics are under increasing pressure to apply for national competitive grants, internal university grants, and industry funding to support their research programs. This paper presents an investigation of the nature of DSS research funding through the analysis of 1,020 papers published in 14 high quality journals from 1990 to 2003. In the sample, 23.6% of DSS papers acknowledged grant support, 14.7% were supported by major competitive grants, and only 5.1% received industry grant support. This level of grant funding may be a major problem for the DSS field. Even more worrying is the finding that overall grant support is falling over time. The detailed analysis of DSS research funding shows what types of DSS are grant-funded, where the grantfunded papers are published, what paradigms and methods are grant-funded in DSS research, the relationship between research quality and funding type, and the relationship between grant funding and research relevance. The findings and conclusions relate to DSS research, but because of the proportion of IS research that concerns DSS, they are also important for IS research in general.


Cells of the oral bacterium Streptococcus gordonii express three cytoplasmic membrane-bound lipoproteins with apparent molecular masses of 76 to 78 kDa that are the products of three genes (designated hppA, hppG, and hppH). The lipoproteins are immunologically cross-reactive, contain 60% or more identical amino acid residues, and are highly similar to the AmiA, AliA (PlpA), and AliB substrate-binding protein components of an oligopeptide permease in Streptococcus pneumoniae. Insertional inactivation of the hppA or hppH gene resulted in loss of the ability of S. gordonii cells to utilize specific peptides of five to seven amino acid residues for growth. An insertion within the COOH-terminal coding region of hppG that caused apparent truncation of the HppG polypeptide had a similar effect; however, S. gordonii mutants in which HppG polypeptide production was abolished were still able to grow on all oligopeptides tested. Inactivation of hppA gene (but not inactivation of the hppG or hppH gene) caused reduced growth rate of cells in complex medium, slowed the rate of development of competence for transformation, reduced the efficiency of transformation, and increased the resistance of cells to aminopterin. These results suggest that the formation of a solute-binding-protein complex consisting of at least the HppA and the HppH lipopolypeptides is necessary for binding and subsequent uptake of primarily hexa- or heptapeptides by a Hpp (Hexa-heptapeptide permease) system in S. gordonii. In addition, Hpp may play a role in the control of metabolic functions associated with the growth of streptococcal cells on complex nitrogen sources and with the development of competence.


This paper involves the effect of iron powder in recycling of aluminum cans scrap on some mechanical properties. This process includes burning aluminum cans to remove paint and shredding into small pieces then melting aluminum pieces using an electrical furnace at (750 ºC). Iron powder (0.6, 1.2 and 1.8 wt %) was added to the melt sequentially. The composition is then casted into cylinder steel molds. The mechanical and metallurgical characteristics of the fabricated alloys were studied through an optical microscope including hardness, tensile testing, scanning electronic microscope and X-ray fluorescence. The results indicated that the maximum value of tensile strength and elongation percentage are recorded for the addition of (1.2%) of Iron powder. While maximum modulus of elasticity reported was at (0.6%) Iron powder cast. Hardness also increased with the increase of Iron additives.


Of the 257 strains of bacteria belonging to 75 species of 30 genera isolated from morbid or post-mortem samples of animals, fish, birds and human beings only 15 strains were sensitive to 2 mg discs of caraway essential oil (CEO). Fifteen CEO sensitive strains belonged to 13 species of bacteria namely Bacillus cereus, Bordetella bronchiseptica, Brucella abortus, Dermatophilus congolensis, Erwinia ananas, Escherichia coli, Moraxella canis, Moraxella osloensis, Pasteurella multocida, Proteus penneri, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Raoultella terrigena and Streptococcus pyogenes. The MIC of CEO for all resistant strains was more than 2.0 mg/ mL while MIC of sensitive strains ranged between 0.20 mg/ mL to 2mg/ mL, minimum for M. osloensis (0.20 mg/ mL) strains. The study revealed only limited antimicrobial activity against clinically important bacteria causing disease or death. The antibacterial activity of CEO was more prominent for some of the strains of high zoonotic significance viz., Brucella abortus, Burkholderia mallei and Bordetella bronchiseptica which might be important in designing antimicrobials for their therapeutic control.


Over the years, Ochsner's Graduate Medical Education Graduation programs have been honored by many outstanding speakers representing the leadership of American medical education. Some of our speakers represented the academic leadership of our institutions, others were chosen because of their academic responsibilities at fellow institutions. Still others have been the leaders in the academic, investigative, and educational fields. By their accepting our invitation to speak at our commencement programs, we have had the opportunity to present Ochsner's academic programs at their very best to these individuals and to American medical education.

The Table presents is a list of each of the speakers and the institutions that they represented. At each program, a certificate attesting to the completion of the house officer's training requirements is presented and special awards honoring academic accomplishments of our outstanding trainees are presented, some commemorating the academic contributions of Ochsner's earlier leaders.


This paper discussed the working principle, classification, modeling process and technology features for rapid tooling based on rapid prototyping and investigated into the difference between rapid tooling with traditional modeling manufacture. Several typical rapid tooling technologies are compared and summarized from mould period, fabrication cost and production cycle. Some key problems that rapid tooling industry will face with are analyzed. The application of the rapid tooling based on rapid prototyping is prospected.


Background: In the context of scarce health-resources robust priority setting for access to existing interventions is critical for at least two reasons: ensuring efficient use of resources, and equitable access to existing interventions. This need is more urgent, and its achievement more intractable in severely resource-constrained health systems, of Low and Middle Income Countries, such as Uganda. COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting need for large-scale and immediate vaccination amidst extreme scarcity of vaccines in Uganda necessitated an exploration of stakeholders' perspectives on the country's priority setting for access to COVID-19 vaccines. We aimed at exploring stakeholders' perspectives on priority setting for COVID-19 vaccination in Ugandan. Methods: We conducted key informant and in-depth interviews with key stakeholders in the COVID-19 intervention including public health experts, clinicians, policy makers, human rights experts, bioethicists, legal fraternity, biomedical scientists and members from the general public. Stakeholders' views were sought on the status of official guidelines for rationing COVID-19 vaccines; who they thought should get priority for vaccination and why; and what the process of setting such priorities should involve. Data were transcribed and analysed thematically using NVivo software (QSR international 2020).Results: There was concern about lack of clarity regarding context-specific guidance on priorities COVID-19 vaccination. This concern was corroborated by the fact that national guidelines for COVID-19 vaccination are still in draft form and inaccessible to the public. Regarding who should get priority and why, dominant views indicated more concern for efficiency-cum-effectiveness at controlling the spread of the virus, although further probing revealed that some of these views were partly motivated by equity concerns. Most respondents felt that the process of developing the needed guidelines should have employed a bottom-up approach involving rigorous community engagement. Conclusion: Given extreme of scarce health resources, in order to strike favourable balance between effectiveness and equity in rationing COVID-19 vaccines, there is need for clear and context-specific official guidelines. To achieve such a goal, the guidelines need to be developed through a bottom-up approach involving robust public engagement.


Endospermum malaccense or locally known as Sesendok is one of the timber species belong to the family of Euphorbiaceae. It has a good characteristic in term of growth performance and wood properties similar with rubberwood. From the previous research, it has the potential to be a timber replacement to the rubberwood since the resource of rubberwood is decreasing. Therefore, the conservation of the superior genotype of Sesendok is necessary to take place in order to preserve the gene source of superior genotype. The process to conduct the ex-situ conservation must follow the scientific procedure to ensure the material taken can survive in the new environment. The selection of the Sesendok was conducted at three different populations. The selection of superior mother trees was based on the phenotypic and also wood properties. The establishment of ex-situ conservation (germplasm) for Sesendok will ensure the gene bank material resources keep well conserve. The result of survival rate for the wilding varies from 5% to 30% based on the height and size of the wilding. While for the seeds collected, germination rate varies from 80-95%. Ex-situ conservation and planting of Sesendok in large scale would be the answer to preserve the selected genotype for future breeding program and ensure sustainable supply of raw material to the industries.


This review provides explanations of how geodesy, rotation and gravity can be addressed using radioscience data of an orbiter around a planet or of the lander on its surface. The planet Mars is the center of the discussion. The information one can get from orbitography and radioscience in general concerns the global static gravitational field, the time variation of the gravitational field induced by mass exchange between the atmosphere and the ice caps, the time variation of the gravitational field induced by the tides, the secular changes in the spacecraft's orbit induced by the little moons of Mars named Phobos and Deimos, the gravity induced by particular targets, the Martian ephemerides, and Mars' rotation and orientation. The paper addresses as well the determination of the geophysical parameters of Mars and, in particular, the state of Mars' core and its size, which is important for understanding the planet's evolution. Indeed, the state and dimension of the core determined from the moment of inertia and nutation depend in turn on the percentage of light elements in the core as well as on the core temperature, which is related to heat transport in the mantle. For example, the radius of the core has implications for possible mantle convection scenarios and, in particular, for the presence of a perovskite phase transition at the bottom of the mantle. This is also important for our understanding of the large volcanic province Tharsis on the surface of Mars.


Indirect allorecognition has been implicated in the mechanism of chronic rejection and alloantibody formation but precise definition of the epitopes involved has been limited. We have undertaken a detailed assessment of the antigenic properties of peptides derived from HLA-A2. Candidate epitopes were identified in vitro by assessment of MHC class II binding. The immune response to these epitopes was determined in patients awaiting a renal transplant by the assessment of PBMC activation using gamma-interferon ELISPOT. Twenty-two of fifty-five patients responded to peptides from HLA-A2 and this was associated with but not confined to those who had made antibody to HLA-A2 (14/18). Nineteen of twenty-two patients responded to peptides derived from the hypervariable alpha1 and alpha2 domains and 18/22 responded to peptides from the alpha 3 and transmembrane domain, the sequences of which show little polymorphism. In six patients, the sequence of these peptides was identical to self, that is, the response was autoimmune. The finding of indirect epitopes derived from regions of MHC class I that exhibit little polymorphism provides a novel perspective on the immune response to alloantigen and has potential implications for the development of specific therapies.


Polysulfone (PSf) membranes were prepared by the wet-phase-inversion using 1-hexadecyl-3-methylimidazolium thiocyanate [C16mim][SCN] as an new additive. Scanning electron microscope was utilized to visualize cross-sections of the membranes to gain more better understanding the influence of [C16mim][SCN] on the pore-forming. Moreover, Membrane-forming mechanism using ionic liquid as a pore-former was also discussed. The results showed that ionic liquid [C16mim][SCN] had restrained the demixing of the casting solutions and has the ability of the pore-forming, higher than those of its analogues of PEG400. With increase of concentration of ionic liquid [C16mim][SCN] in casting solutions, the structures of the membranes changed from asymmetric finger pores to the spongy-finger-macrovoid structure of the pores. Compared with PEG400 as a pore-former,[C16mim][SCN] has the pore-forming ability to the membrane at lower concentration of [C16mim][SCN] in the casting solution. Especially, at the 4:76 ratio of [C16mim][SCN]/NMP, the prepared membrane has the asymmetric finger-pores structure, with the 2~6μm pores close to surface layer and the 10~24μm pore for its sublayer. Its retention rate of PEG10000 and solution flux are 97.1% and 48.7 L• h-1• m-2. Meanwhile, ionic liquid can be a plasticizer, according the thermal properties of the membranes.


ABSTRACT The phenology of migrating birds is shifting with climate change. For instance, short-distance migrants wintering in temperate regions tend to delay their migration in fall during spells of warmer temperature. However, some species do not show strong shifts, and the factors determining which species will react to temperature changes by delaying their migration are poorly known. In addition, it is not known whether a slower migration or a postponed departure creates the observed delays in fall migration because most studies occur far south of the boreal breeding areas making it difficult to separate those 2 mechanisms. We used 22 yr of data at a northern observatory in eastern North America, at the southern edge of the boreal forest, to examine how 21 short-distance migrants responded to changing temperatures. We investigated if those species responding to temperature share life-history features (i.e. diet, size, total migration distance, breeding habitat, timing of migration). The period of migration in each species was, by far, the most important factor predicting the response of a species to temperature. Eight of the 13 species migrating in October changed their migration onset with temperature (usually by delaying migration by 1–2 days/°C), while the migration timing of none of the 8 species migrating in September was dependent on temperature. Furthermore, the absence of a greater migration delay by birds breeding farther from the study site (i.e. Arctic-breeding birds) suggests the mechanism is a postponed departure rather than a slower migration. We conclude that temperature variations in late fall influence the conditions on the breeding grounds, so that birds still present at that time benefit more from postponing their departure in warm weather.


The Fraenkel-Mostowski permutation model of set theory with atoms (FM-sets) can serve as the semantic basis of meta-logics for specifying and reasoning about formal systems involving name binding, /spl alpha/-conversion, capture avoiding substitution, and so on. We show that in FM-set theory one can express statements quantifying over 'fresh' names and we use this to give a novel set-theoretic interpretation of name abstraction. Inductively defined FM-sets involving this name abstraction set former (together with cartesian product and disjoint union) can correctly encode object-level syntax module e-conversion. In this way, the standard theory of algebraic data types can be extended to encompass signatures involving binding operators. In particular, there is an associated notion of structural recursion for defining syntax-manipulating functions (such as capture avoiding substitution, set of free variables, etc.) and a notion of proof by structural induction, both of which remain pleasingly close to informal practice.


INTRODUCTION

Stacking is a technique that combines large numbers of seismograms with different source-receiver geometries into a single composite image that typically has better signal-to-noise ratios than the individual records. This method has been routinely used by the oil industry for some time to image crustal structure from digital waveform data obtained using controlled source experiments. The increased availability of digital recordings of earthquakes from both local and global networks has made it possible to apply the stacking approach to studies of deep Earth structure. Walck and Clayton (1984) combined short-period vertical records from the Southern California Seismic Network to obtain upper-mantle velocity structure. Similarly, Vidale and Benz (1993) used vertical short-period records from seismic networks in the western United States to image upper-mantle discontinuities in the vicinity of deep earthquakes. Stacks of long-period Global Digital Seismograph Network seismograms have been used to image global body- and surface-wave phases (Shearer,...


New methods of improving the short-time Fourier transform representation of signals have recently emerged. These methods use linear canonical transforms to bring the signal into a minimal time-bandwidth product form. Here we show that linear canonical transforms are not sufficient to achieve the minimum time-bandwidth product for high-order modulated monocomponent signals. Therefore we propose a novel short-time Fourier transform method which requires an adaptive window, making use of an initial instantaneous frequency estimator. The new approach is able to achieve the highest possible resolution for monocomponent signals. Finally, we discuss the benefits of the proposed method.


Abstract. Light fields are four-dimensional parametrizations of rays, extensively used for the representation of the rays emitted from three-dimensional objects. With the increasing availability of spectral imagers, conventional light fields can be augmented by the additional spectral information, yielding a five-dimensional ray parametrization referred to as a spectral light field. We demonstrate that utilization of the spectral channel information can improve the profilometric performance of light-field cameras.


Objectives: Thyroid disorders are a significant health concern in India and globally, being the second most common disease. Cognitive impairment associated with thyroid disorders is often neglected by healthcare providers, necessitating improved awareness and screening to identify neurocognitive changes in affected individuals. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of cognitive impairment in thyroid disorders and identify the associated risk factors. This study also predicted the risk of the development of cognitive impairment using a machine learning algorithm and was conducted in a tertiary hospital in South India. Materials and Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted among 202 patients with thyroid disorders over six months. In order to achieve primary and secondary goals, tools such as the M-ACE questionnaire and XGBoost algorithm were used. Data were collected using a validated form and analyzed using standard statistical methods. Results: Among the studied population, 29.21% were cognitively impaired, with an average M-ACE Score of 22.56± 2.62. Age, duration of illness, BMI, comorbidities, and tobacco chewing were sign ificant contributors when factors were analyzed for their association with cognitive impairment. A similar number of people with hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism had a >75% risk of developing cognitive impairment in the near future. Conclusion: This study revealed that thyroid disorders have significant effects on the cognitive status of individuals and were also successful in predicting future risk.


This paper is focused on cultural due diligence as a tool to handle the changes related to a merger and acquisition process. The main goal is to provide a framework to handle the whole merger process in a proactive perspective to managing changing. For a due diligence to be strategic in the decision-making process, it must be related to the ability of evaluating its actual success: the identification of potential problems of culture clash and the anticipated management of the post-merger integration process define a proactive logic of change management, rather than a reactive strategy or an adjustment strategy. Cultural change should occur in all the companies involved and begin as soon as the deal is considered, rather than when due diligence is completed: cultural due diligence helps anticipate the demands of integration. When preliminarily considering cultural characteristics, the acquirer's executives can be prepared to articulate a cultural "end state" for the combined organization; decisions can be made to retain a degree of cultural autonomy in the target or to approach the work of fully assimilating the acquired culture. For the purposes, I examine the use of a professional advisor - NM Rothschild & Sons - in particular. The study is carried out by means of the behaviour analysis of the "due diligence teams" made up of the advisor in the framework of four cross-border merger operations, carried out in the banking sector in particular.


Healthcare is one of the most promising applications of Internet of
Things. This paper describes a prototype for the IoT healthcare systems. We propose
the Movement-Aided Energy-Balance (MAEB) routing protocol. The movement and
energy information of the neighbor Coordinators are collected and
stored in the neighbor discovery procedure. The MAEB forwarding is used to
select the most suitable neighbor to forward the data. The simulation results
show that the proposed protocol has better performance than the other three
routing protocols.


Over the course of the 19th century, a new field of publishing would appear: that of school textbooks. Although classes had seen textbooks before, it would be over the course of an entire century that they would gain a huge foothold in schools. This article studies the school textbooks of a generation, that of 1817, and focuses on one figure: that of the Catalan thinker Jaume Balmes. Coverage is given to the first textbooks on grammar, rhetoric and philosophy to be used in classes at the Vic Seminary, books that not only allow us to understand the education of said philosopher and the methods of an educational institution, but which also show us the ideological resources of an entire epoch and culture. key words Balmes, school textbooks, rhetoric, philosophy, grammar.


This article traces recent changes in methods of controlling unemployment at the company level, comments on the significance of present-day practices, and outlines some future problems. The unemployment problem at the company level is viewed for convenience as consisting of three phases of a sequence: prevention of unemployment, the distribution of unemployment among individual workers, and compensation to workers who are selected for temporary or permanent separation from the payroll. In fact, of course, these phases frequently overlap. (Author's abstract courtesy EBSCO.)


Objectives Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a vasoproliferative disease of the preterm retina with the potential to cause irreversible blindness. Timely screening and treatment of ROP are critical. Neonatal nurses trained in wide field digital retinal photography (WFDRP) for screening may provide a safe and effective strategy to reduce the burden of ophthalmologists in performing binocular indirect ophthalmoscopy (BIO). The objective of the study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of WFDRP in the diagnosis of referral warranting ROP (RWROP). Design Prospective diagnostic accuracy study. Setting A tertiary neonatal intensive care unit in Perth, Western Australia. Participants Preterm infants who fulfilled the Australian ROP screening criteria (gestational age (GA) <31 weeks, birth weight (BW) <1250 g). Intervention Sets of 5–6 images per eye (index test) were obtained within 24–48 hours prior to or after the BIO (reference standard), and uploaded onto a secured server. A wide field digital camera (RetCam, Natus, Pleasanton, California, USA) was used for imaging. A paediatric ophthalmologist performed the BIO. The ophthalmologists performing BIO versus reporting the images were masked to each other's findings. Primary outcome The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used as a measure of accuracy of WFDRP to diagnose RWROP. Results A total of 85 infants (mean BW; 973.43 g, mean GA; 29 weeks) underwent a median of two sessions of WFDRP. There were 188 episodes of screening with an average of five images per eye. WFDRP identified RWROP in 7.4% (14/188 sessions) of examinations. In one infant, BIO showed bilateral plus disease and WFDRP did not pick up the plus disease. WFDRP image interpretation had a sensitivity of 80%, specificity of 94.5% for the detection of RWROP. The 'area under the ROC curve' was 88% when adjusted for covariates. Conclusions WFDRP by neonatal nurses was feasible and effective for diagnosing RWROP in our set up. Trial registration number ACTRN12616001386426.


The motivation functions as the most important and decisive factor in choosing the profession Therefore it has an especially remarkable role in the further professional activity of a social-educational worker to raise one's qualification and progress as a specialist. The issue of the professional motivation for choosing social-educational work-studies is becoming increasingly important in post-soviet countries, where the institution of social worker is new and the social exclusion is so widely expressed. The issue of the professional aptitude of students is also important in various professional fields, however in social-educational professions it's importance is exceptional. The profession of social-educational work is based on competences that are constantly expanding and becoming more and more complex.


Little is known about the profitability of treating soybean infected with frogeye leaf spot (FLS) with a foliar fungicide. We determine the economic effect of total water applied, growing degree days, and foliar fungicide treatment on FLS severity and yield of soybean MG III, IV, and V with a two-stage severity/treatment outcome model. Data were collected from an 11-year soybean fungicide experiment in Tennessee under high, natural disease pressure. The marginal value product and the breakeven price of soybean for applying a foliar fungicide to treat FLS were estimated for each MG. Applying foliar fungicide reduced FLS severity and increased yields for each MG. The results suggest a profit-maximizing producer would apply a foliar fungicide each year to manage FLS.


We studied 4,058 subjects from a representative sample of the Singapore population 1) to determine the association between the S447X polymorphism at the LPL locus and serum lipid concentration in Chinese, Malays, and Asian Indians living in Singapore and 2) to explore any interactions with apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype, exercise, obesity, cigarette smoking, and alcohol intake. Information on obesity, lifestyle factors (including smoking, alcohol consumption, and exercise frequency), glucose tolerance, and fasting lipids was obtained. Male and female carriers of the X447 allele had lower serum triglyceride concentrations and higher HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) concentrations. The association between the X447 allele and serum HDL-C concentration was modulated by APOE genotype in males and cigarette smoking and alcohol intake in females. The effect of the X447 allele was greatest in men who carried the E4 allele and women who smoked or consumed alcohol. The X447 allele at the LPL locus is common and associated with a less atherogenic lipid profile in Asian populations. Interactions with APOE genotype, cigarette smoking, and alcohol intake reinforce the importance of examining genetic associations, such as this one, in the context of the population of interest.


In order to construct intelligible and effective land evaluation classifier, a semi-supervised learning algorithm constructed by utilizing simplified association rules combining with k-mean clustering algorithm is proposed in this paper. To reduce the complexity of the land evaluation models and improve the efficiency and intelligibility of association rules further, an algorithm to eliminate redundant rules for obtaining the simplified association rules is presented. Experimental results of Guangdong Province land resource demonstrate that, by only using 500 training samples chosen randomly, 89.5143% correct area rate of land evaluation could be obtained by the semi-supervised learning algorithm. It provides a higher precision with the accuracy improved by 14.3484%, comparing with the results of the method k-mean and 7.1159% comparing with the results of the method support vector machine in the same condition.


A merican foreign policy during the Bush Administration has focused around what the president termed a "global war on terrorism." But there are serious problems with the idea of a war on terror, much less making that the theme for foreign policy. For example, Britain has recently told its officials not to use the words "war on terrorism." Americans have a rhetorical tradition of declaring war on abstract nouns like drugs and poverty, but the British have focused on concrete opponents. The basic British concern, however, lies in a different analysis of the problem. When interrogating arrested terrorists, British officials have found a common thread. Al Qaeda and affiliated groups use a simple yet effective narrative to recruit young Muslims to cross the line into violence. While extreme religious beliefs, diverse local conditions, or issues like Palestine or Kashmir can create a sense of grievance, it is the language of war and a narrative of battle that gives recruits a cult-like sense of status and larger meaning that leads to action.


Framing a news article means to portray the reported event from a specific perspective, e.g., from an economic or a health perspective. Reframing means to change this perspective. Depending on the audience or the submessage, reframing can become necessary to achieve the desired effect on the readers. Reframing is related to adapting style and sentiment, which can be tackled with neural text generation techniques. However, it is more challenging since changing a frame requires rewriting entire sentences rather than single phrases. In this paper, we study how to computationally reframe sentences in news articles while maintaining their coherence to the context. We treat reframing as a sentence-level fill-in-the-blank task for which we train neural models on an existing media frame corpus. To guide the training, we propose three strategies: framed-language pretraining, named-entity preservation, and adversarial learning. We evaluate respective models automatically and manually for topic consistency, coherence, and successful reframing. Our results indicate that generating properly-framed text works well but with tradeoffs.


We recently showed that histone H2A.Z, as well as members of the ATP-dependent p400 chromatin remodeling complex (p400.com), are essential components of estrogen receptor a (ERa) signaling. More specifically, we showed that H2A.Z and p400.com are incorporated into the promoter regions of ERα target genes only upon gene induction, and also in a cyclic fashion. RNAi-mediated cellular depletion of H2A.Z and p400.com strongly impedes estrogen-dependent growth of breast cancer cells as well as strongly affect ERa-target gene expression. Two mechanisms emerged from our studies of how H2A.Z incorporation within ERa-target regulatory regions can actually regulate estrogen-mediated signaling: (1) by stabilizing nucleosomes within the translational DNA axis, a process that allows general transcription factors to be efficiently recruited to promoter regions; 2) by allowing estrogen-responsive enhancer function. In the current study, we now show that in MCF7 cells, ectopic overexpression of H2A.Z increases proliferation, and such in conditions where estrogen levels are low. Also, immunohistochemical studies of breast cancer biopsies show that the presence of H2A.Z correlates highly with that of ERa, but is associated with high-grade ER-negative cancers. Finally we show that ERa directly associates to the H2A.Z promoter, and consequently modulates its expression. Our study provides a possible link between H2A.Z and endocrine resistance by showing that H2A.Z overexpression leads to increased growth, particularly when estrogen levels are very low.


For more than a decade, Into Africa has provided valuable advice to those who are interested in traveling to, living in or working in sub-Saharan Africa—business people, human rights and development workers, diplomats, academics and trainers—and anyone else who seeks a better understanding of the cultural characteristics of this dynamic part of the world. This new and expanded edition of Into Africa brings a fresh view on sub-Saharan Africa, showing how its nations have adapted to Western ways while retaining their cultural traditions and diversity. With depth and sensitivity, Into Africa examines the effects of community, ethnicity and language on doing business and establishing professional and personal relationships in African countries. The book explores regional differences, offers detailed guidelines for conducting training programs in Africa and examines issues that reflect the complex relationships involved, including increased trade with the U.S. and Europe, the role of politics and business, changes in mass communication and the continuing threat of HIV/AIDS.


OBJECTIVE To describe the nature and extent of tobacco company sponsorship in the USA during the period 1995-99 and analyse this sponsorship in a marketing context. DESIGN A cross-sectional study of tobacco company sponsorships identified through a customised research report from IEG Inc, and from internet web site searches. METHODS First, a customised report was received from IEG Inc, which identified sponsorship activities for Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds, Brown & Williamson, Lorillard, and US Tobacco for the years 1997 and 1998. Second, the internet was systematically searched for tobacco industry sponsorships during the period 1995-99 by the same parent companies and their respective brands. RESULTS During the period 1995-99, tobacco companies sponsored at least 2733 events, programmes, and organisations in the USA. Sponsorships involved all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and the minimum total funding amount of these sponsorships was $365.4 million. Tobacco corporate sponsorships involved numerous small, community based organisations, both through direct funding and through grants to larger umbrella organisations, and many of these organisations were part of the public health infrastructure. CONCLUSIONS Tobacco corporate sponsorship serves as an important marketing tool for tobacco companies, serving both a sales promotion and public relations function. Public health practitioners need to develop better surveillance systems for monitoring tobacco sponsorship, to seek out alternative funding sources for tobacco company sponsored events and organisations, and to consider promoting a ban on tobacco sponsorship, possibly linking such regulation to the creation of alternative funding sources.


Biodiversity offset areas may compensate for ecological damage caused by human activity elsewhere. One way of determining the offset ratio, or the compensation area needed, is to divide the present conservation value of the development site by the predicted future conservation value of a compensation area of the same size. Matching mean expected utility in this way is deficient because it ignores uncertainty and time lags in the growth of conservation value in compensation areas. Instead, we propose an uncertainty analytic framework for calculating what we call robustly fair offset ratios, which guarantee a high enough probability of the exchange producing at least as much conservation value in the offset areas than is lost from the development site. In particular, we analyze how the fair offset ratio is influenced by uncertainty in the effectiveness of restoration action, correlation between success of different compensation areas, and time discounting. We find that very high offset ratios may be needed to guarantee a robustly fair exchange, compared to simply matching mean expected utilities. These results demonstrate that considerations of uncertainty, correlated success/failure, and time discounting should be included in the determination of the offset ratio to avoid a significant risk that the exchange is unfavorable for conservation in the long run. This is essential because the immediate loss is certain, whereas future gain is uncertain. The proposed framework is also applicable to the case when offset areas already hold conservation value and do not require restoration action, in which case uncertainty about the conservation outcome will be lower.


Recently, it has been suggested that macroeconomic forecasts from estimated DSGE models tend to be more accurate out-of-sample than random walk forecasts or Bayesian VAR forecasts. Del Negro and Schorfheide(2013) in particular suggest that the DSGE model forecast should become the benchmark for forecasting horse races. We compare the real-time forecasting accuracy of the Smets and Wouters DSGE model with that of several reduced form time series models. We first demonstrate that none of the forecasting models is efficient. Our second finding is that there is no single best forecasting method. For example, typically simple AR models are most accurate at short horizons and DSGE models are most accurate at long horizons when forecasting output growth, while for inflation forecasts the results are reversed. Moreover, the relative accuracy of all models tends to evolve over time. Third, we show that there is no support the common practice of using large-scale Bayesian VAR models as the forecast benchmark when evaluating DSGE models. Indeed,low-dimensional unrestricted AR and VAR forecasts may forecast more accurately.


Chymotrypsin C is a bifunctional secretory-type serine protease in pancreas; besides proteolytical activity, it also exhibits a calcium-decreasing activity in serum. In this study, we purified activated chymotrypsin C from porcine pancreas, and identified its three active forms. Active chymotrypsin C was found to be different in the length of its 13-residue activation peptide due to carboxydipeptidase (present in the pancreas) degradation or autolysis of the activated chymotrypsin C itself, resulting in the removal of several C-terminus residues from the activation peptide. After limited chymotrypsin C cleavage with endopeptidase Lys C, several purified peptides were partially sequenced, and the entire cDNA sequence for porcine chymotrypsin C was cloned. Recombinant chymotrypsinogen C was successfully expressed in Escherichia coli cells as inclusion bodies. After refolding and activation with trypsin, the comparison of the recombinant chymotrypsin C with the natural form showed that their proteolytic and calcium-decreasing activities were at the same level. The successful expression of chymotrypsin C gene paves the way to further mutagenic structure-function studies.


We compute the electronic and optical properties of the long‐range Si(110)‐(16 × 2) surface reconstruction using a first‐principles approach. We consider the adatom‐tetramer‐interstitial (ATI) model proposed by Stekolnikov et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 136104 (2004)] that is the lowest energy structural model proposed up to now. Calculations of the electronic band structure and surface differential reflectance (SDR) are compared with available experimental data. We conclude that the ATI model is not completely consistent with the experimental observations, and more precise studies are necessary to establish the surface atomic structure with certainty.


The aim of this study is to determine a more convenient physiological measurement instead of HR (the physiological indicators of competition anxiety). STAI, CSAI-2 and ProComp+Biofeedback were used before and after the competition (N=38). Data were analyzed with repeated measure ANOVA and Multiple Linear Regression. Non-significant difference was found between the results of HR, EMG, skin transmission, EEG, state anxiety and self confidence before and after the competition. Significant difference was found between the respiration, skin temperature, cognitive, somatic and trait anxiety before and after the competition. The post competitive variables are significant predictors of post competitive cognitive and somatic anxiety. As a result respiration, skin temperature measurements and questionnaires can be used instead of Heart Rate.


In the drawing process of underground high-voltage power supply system, the position of the bus is to complete the drawing of the underground high-voltage power supply system through the direct alignment between the high voltage outlet switch graphic element and the high voltage outlet switch graphic element, there is no independent bus graphic element. The existing topology analysis method of the high-voltage grid of coal mine based on incidence matrix cannot complete topology analysis and construct topology model of the above underground high-voltage power supply system diagrams. Network topology model of high-voltage power supply system of coal mine based on node coincidence and incidence matrix, which can solve the above problems effectively, is proposed. The simulation results show that the model can easily complete the topology identification of the power supply network of the high-voltage power supply system as well as realize the function of automatic short-circuit calculation. It has the characteristics of simplicity and high efficiency.


The development and validation of a new multibody joint that constrains a body to follow a spatial path and an orientation defined by a user is presented. The resulting joint has a single degree of freedom (DOF), and maintains equivalent kinematic behaviour when compared to higher-fidelity models. As such, it is referred to as a single-DOF equivalent kinematic (SEK) joint. The primary application of this joint is in the reduction of complex multibody systems, specifically vehicle suspensions. The first formulation of the joint is developed using the user interface of MapleSim. Starting with a planar particle joint, the theory is extended to a full 3D rigid body constraint. At each development stage, the joint is successfully validated against conventional models in both Adams and MapleSim. This formulation of the joint results in the kinematic pair being represented by a system of differential algebraic equations (DAEs) which is not the desired functionality, and so a second formulation is developed. By removing the constraint of using the MapleSim user interface, the formulation can be developed from first principles. Using the path-length as the coordinate for the joint, and the FrenetSerret equations to compute the motion and reaction spaces, the kinematic pair can be represented by a single ordinary differential equation (ODE). The theory is implemented in the MapleSim source code using the symbolic computing language Maple. The theory of the SEK joint can be extended to create different joints. The first is the compliant SEK joint. In this version of the joint, the body is constrained to move along a spatial path using a simple linear bushing model. The compliant SEK joint is useful for modeling the suspension systems of passenger cars as bushings are used extensively in these systems to increase passenger comfort. The second extension is to add an additional DOF to the SEK joint to created the double-DOF equivalent kinematic (DEK) joint. The DEK joint is useful for modelling steered suspension systems as the steering introduces an additional DOF to the suspension. The envelope of motion for the steered wheel is a surface rather than a spatial line. Once the joints are successfully validated, three example applications of the joint are shown. In the first, rigid, compliant and steered suspension models are developed and compared against high-fidelity models in Adams/Car and MapleSim. Next, a full vehicle model is assembled using the suspension models and compared against an equivalent high-fidelity full vehicle model built in MapleSim. The comparisons show the accuracy of the SEK joint as well as the simulation speed improvements it can offer compared with conventional modelling techniques. The second example, from the domain of biomechanics, shows a knee model created using the SEK joint. Finally, a roller coaster model is created to demonstrate the flexibility of the path generation algorithm to create splines that represent complex paths.


This article originally appeared in BMJ USA

The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) is an independent panel first convened in 1984 by the US Department of Health and Human Services to develop evidence-based recommendations for clinicians about preventive health care. The Guide to Clinical Preventive Services, released in 19891 and completely revised in 1996,2 assessed more than 200 common screening tests, counseling interventions, immunization strategies, and medications for prevention of disease. The primary audience for USPSTF recommendations continues to be clinicians in primary care settings, but many professional societies, health plans and insurers, quality organizations, and policy makers have come to rely on the USPSTF for rigorous and objective guidance about which preventive services should be routinely incorporated into clinical practice.3

The third USPSTF was convened in late 1998 by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). A priority-setting process, which included review by staff and input from outside experts and organizations, found that more than 50 of the 70 chapters in the 1996 Guide were in need of substantial updating; it also identified a number of high-priority new topics. The first new and revised recommendations from the USPSTF resulting from this work, along with summaries of the supporting evidence, have just been released in a special supplement to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine4 and on AHRQ's web site (www.ahrq.gov/clinic/uspstfix.htm).

Detailed descriptions of the methods by which the USPSTF develops its recommendations are available on the USPSTF web site and in the recent supplement.5 A number of specific features distinguish the USPSTF recommendations from those of many other organizations. The USPSTF uses an explicit process to define key questions and specify the necessary evidence to establish that a given service is effective. Research teams at two evidence-based practice centers supported by …


In this essay, the sense of gantong 感通 is taken as a vital clue, and a line of interpretation is established that brings the complex meanings of ren and its various forms of writing into a coherent unity. The interpretation here identifies one of the oldest meanings of ren as gantong: open and affective comportment with spiritual, human, and natural beings in the surrounding world. The origin of ren lies in the ancient rites of ancestral worship that featured the spiritual surrogates (shi 尸) who served as the intermediary for the communication and interaction (gantong) between dead ancestors and living descendents, between heavenly spirits and human beings. While this use of ren as gantong did not start with Confucius, what distinguished the Confucian understanding of ren was the shift of priority from the way of heaven to the way of the human, from the divination and intuition of godly injunctions to care and compassion among different individuals in the human community. Openness and sincerity of heart became the central meaning of ren in Confucian teachings and the root of Confucian moral cultivation, which can be best described as a gradual process of person opening instead of person making.


Background Discharge from acute mental health services has long been associated with mortality, risk, and related adverse outcomes for patients. Many of the interventions that currently aim to reduce adverse outcomes focus on a single group of healthcare professionals within a single healthcare setting. A recent systematic review highlights very few robust interventions that specifically aim to improve communication across services. However the importance of promoting interagency working and improving information flow between services is continually highlighted as a key priority. Methods Using a novel codesign and experience based approach we worked with a multistakeholder group to develop possible solutions to reduce the adverse outcomes commonly associated with discharge from acute mental health services. This utilized a modified Nominal Group Technique and creative problem solving method to follow a four-stage process: Problem Identification, Solution Generation, Decision-Making, Prioritization and Implementation. Thirty-two healthcare professionals and an expert by lived experienced engaged with the process that took place over two stakeholder events. Results Stakeholders at the first event identified and agreed upon 24 potential ideas to improve discharge from acute mental health services. These were refined at the second event to four elements of an interagency intervention: a multiagency 'Discharge Team' (with designated discharge coordinator), inclusive technology enabled team meetings, universal documentation and a patient generated discharge plan. Conclusion This is the first study to codesign an interagency mental health discharge intervention based around a discharge team. We developed a model for working that places a greater focus on a patient generated discharge plan, interagency working, and information flow. A pilot of the proposed intervention is now needed to test the feasibility and effectiveness in reducing adverse outcomes.


Based on the significant improvement of model robustness by AT (Adversarial Training), various variants have been proposed to further boost the performance. Well-recognized methods have focused on different components of AT (e.g., designing loss functions and leveraging additional unlabeled data). It is generally accepted that stronger perturbations yield more robust models. However, how to generate stronger perturbations efficiently is still missed. In this paper, we propose an efficient automated attacker called A2 to boost AT by generating the optimal perturbations on-the-fly during training. A2 is a parameterized automated attacker to search in the attacker space for the best attacker against the defense model and examples. Extensive experiments across different datasets demonstrate that A2 generates stronger perturbations with low extra cost and reliably improves the robustness of various AT methods against different attacks.


Background Acute appendicitis is the most common abdominal surgical emergency in children, and appendectomy is the most frequent acute abdominal operation. Prompt diagnosis and surgical treatment are required to reduce the risk of perforation and prevent complications, especially in small children. Enterochromaffin cells that contain large amounts of serotonin are mostly located in the distal appendix. Serotonin metabolite 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) could therefore be a marker for acute appendicitis. Objective We tested urinary 5-HIAA concentrations in spot urine samples from children with acute appendicitis. Methods We enrolled 93 patients who underwent surgery for suspicion of acute appendicitis. The diagnosis was made intraoperatively and confirmed histopathologically. Additionally, urine samples from 102 healthy children were collected as controls. Their 5-HIAA was measured using high-performance liquid chromatography. Results Acute appendicitis was diagnosed in 81 patients, whereas there were other explanations for abdominal pain in the remaining 12 patients in the non-appendicitis group. The control group comprised 102 healthy children. Considering the median of all measured 5-HIAA values as the cut-off, we analysed the proportions of patients with elevated values in all the groups. Our analysis showed that statistically there was no significant difference in the distribution of percentages among the groups. The area under the curve for 5-HIAA was 0.55 (95% CI 0.47 to 0.62) with sensitivity and specificity 60.4% and 48.9%, respectively. Conclusions Urine 5-HIAA concentration measured in spot samples is not a reliable method for diagnosing acute appendicitis in children.


The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the positive effect of GH002 on high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol in vitro and in vivo. In vitro assay, effects of GH002 on apolipoprotein (apo) A-I was studied using stable-transfected HepG2 cells with recombinant vector including apoA-I promoter; Effects of GH002 on apoA-I, apoA-II and apoC-III production were determined using HepG2 cells. In vivo assay, Effects of GH002 on lipid profile were investigated in hyperlipidemic rats. The results showed that GH002 can effectively activate apoA-I promoter, enhance apoA-I and apoA-II secretion in vitro, whereas reduce apoC-III production significantly. Furthermore, after in vivo study that the hyperlipidemic rats were treated with GH002, HDL-cholesterol levels were increased significantly (P<0.01) at 2 weeks (100 mg/kg, 28.8%) and 3 weeks (30mg/kg, 19.8% and 100mg/kg, 36.4%, respectively) compared with control group. Triglyceride levels were reduced significantly at 2 and 3 weeks (19.5%, P<0.05 and 28.1%, P<0.01 respectively). Total cholesterol levels also were reduced at 3 weeks (19.1%, P<0.05) after 100mg/kg GH002 administration, but GH002 didn't increase the ratio of liver/body weight compared with the control group at the end of the experiments. It is therefore reasonable to assume that GH002 is an effectively HDL-cholesterol enhancer by regulating apoA-I gene expression, consequently enhancing apoA-I, apoA-II secretion and reducing apoC-III production.


This article, the fifth in a series on the history of packet switching, provides an account of the early days of commercial packet switching services in the United States. It is remarkable and refreshing - and possibly controversial - in stressing the business of technology more than the technology itself. The previous articles covered the early history of packet switching in the UK (by Peter Kirstein, February 2009) and in Canada (by Tony Rybczynski, December 2009), the early history of the Internet (by Len Kleinrock, August, 2010), and the development of X.25 virtual circuit networking in France (by Remi Deprés, November 2010). Commercial packet switching networks were launched in most countries by the Postal Telephone & Telegraph administrations (PTTs), but the situation in the U.S. was different. AT&T was the dominant communications service provider, but initially showed little interest in packet communications. Entrepreneurial companies, particularly Telenet and Tymnet, became leaders in commercializing packet switching services. The earlier articles in this series described the technical history of packet switching and the development of the international X.25 standards. This article focuses on commercial, competitive and regulatory developments in the U.S. and is written by key figures in these developments. Larry Roberts is generally considered one of the pioneering architects of packet technology and, in particular, the ARPANET, and was co-founder and President of Telenet, the first regulated commercial packet carrier in the world. Stu Mathison was VP of Planning at Telenet from its creation until it became a part of Sprint in the 1980's. Phil Walker, an attorney, was also a co-founder and managed Telenet's regulatory and legal affairs.


This research is concerned with the study of language and the social order. Working within the systemic functional theory of language, and utilising the concept of a social network to model the social order, the primary aim is to put on display the relationship between the linguistic system and social order, between language and culture. Systemic functional grammar (Halliday, 1995; Halliday and Hasasn, 1985/9; Halliday and Matthiesen, 1997; Eggins and Slade 1997), with its emphasis on language as a social semiotic, is used to analyse the language used by a group of four women engaged in casual conversation in a small Australian island community. Here the analysis reveals how the women negotiate their social reality when speaking to each other. It shows how their social relations are shaped within a text (Hasan, 1996), and explores the notion that, despite the seemingly trivial, unconscious nature of casual interactions, power and solidarity are continually being negotiated by the participants (Halliday, 1994; Eggins and Slade, 1997). More specifically, this research examines the notion that through lexico-grammatical and semantic selections participants are able to negotiate dominant positions in interaction. Social Network analysis has been used to examine the relationship between the individual and the group. It offers a quantifiable analytical tool for describing the character of an individual's everyday social relationships (Milroy, 1987). A social network analysis is used in the present study to map the social relationships in the tight-knit network, or speech fellowship, of these women (creating a map of the context of situation in SFL terminology). Change in the social relationships and language choices is modeled by revisiting the participants 15 months later in a contextually similar environment and re-analysing the network and linguistic options. Systemic functional linguistics is then used to highlight the interdependency of language and social order. Through systematic accounts of language and the context in which it is embedded this reciprocal nature is displayed and language and social order can be seen, not as two distinct entities, but rather as one phenomena seen from two different perspectives (Halliday, 1978; Mathiessen, 1993).


We propose that pyrrolid-2-one-5-carboxyl-tRNA is not involved in the initiation of protein synthesis in eukaryotic cells and that the N-terminal pyrrolid-2-one-5-carboxylic acid group of an IgG (immunoglobulin G) (that secreted by the mouse plasmacytoma Adj PC5) is formed by the enzymic cyclization of the N-terminal glutamine of the heavy chain of the completed IgG molecule and that the cyclization takes place inside the cell. We base these conclusions on the following evidence. (1) Pyrrolidonecarboxyl-tRNA was not found in incorporation experiments with rat liver preparations and [U-14C]-pyrrolidonecarboxylic acid, glutamic acid and glutamine, even though an incorporation extent of less than 2 % of the total products could have been detected. (2) Double-labelling experiments showed that less than 8% of the nascent peptides of heavy chains (those obtained by precipitation by the antibody to Fc fragment) began with pyrrolidonecarboxylic acid. (3) Further double-labelling experiments showed that 60-66 % of the heavy chains of the completed intracellular IgG molecule began with pyrrolidonecarboxylic acid after both 1 and 5h of labelling. (4) The IgG, after secretion by plasmacytoma Adj PC5, was found to have the sequence rGlu- Val-Gln-Leu- at the N-termini of the heavy chains. Our results indicate that the N-terminal pyrrolidonecarboxylic acid group of the IgG secreted by mouse myeloma Adj PC5 is formed by the enzymic cyclization of the N-terminal glutamine on the heavy-chains of fully assembled IgG inside the cell.'


ABSTRACT The mammalian TOB1 and TOB2 proteins have emerged as key players in repressing cell proliferation. Accumulating evidence indicates that TOBs regulate mRNA deadenylation. A recruitment model was proposed in which TOBs promote deadenylation by recruiting CAF1-CCR4 deadenylase complex to the 3′ end of mRNAs by simultaneously binding CAF1 and PABP. However, the exact molecular mechanism underlying TOB-promoted deadenylation remains unclear. It is also unclear whether TOBs' antiproliferative and deadenylation-promoting activities are connected. Here, we combine biochemical analyses with a functional assay directly monitoring deadenylation and mRNA decay to characterize the effects of tethering TOBs or their mutant derivatives to mRNAs. The results provide direct evidence supporting the recruitment model and reveal a link between TOBs' antiproliferative and deadenylation-promoting activities. We also find that TOBs' actions in deadenylation are independent of the phosphorylation state of three serines known to regulate antiproliferative actions, suggesting that TOBs arrest cell growth through at least two different mechanisms. TOB1 and TOB2 were interchangeable in the properties tested here, indicating considerable functional redundancy between the two proteins. We propose that their multiple modes of modulating mRNA turnover and arresting cell growth permit the TOB proteins to coordinate their diverse roles in controlling cell growth and differentiation.


The intermediate mass-ratio inspiral of a stellar compact remnant into an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) can produce a gravitational wave (GW) signal that is potentially detectable by current ground-based GW detectors (e.g., Advanced LIGO) as well as by planned space-based interferometers (e.g., eLISA). Here, we present results from a direct integration of the post-Newtonian N-body equations of motion describing stellar clusters containing an IMBH and a population of stellar-mass black holes (BHs) and solar-mass stars. We take particular care to simulate the dynamics closest to the IMBH, including post-Newtonian effects up to an order of 2.5. Our simulations show that the IMBH readily forms a binary with a BH companion. This binary is gradually hardened by transient three-body or four-body encounters, leading to frequent substitutions of the BH companion, while the binary's eccentricity experiences large-amplitude oscillations due to the Lidov–Kozai resonance. We also demonstrate suppression of these resonances by the relativistic precession of the binary orbit. We find an intermediate mass-ratio inspiral in 1 of the 12 cluster models we evolved for ∼100 Myr. This cluster hosts a IMBH embedded in a population of 32 BH and 32,000 stars. At the end of the simulation, after ∼100 Myr of evolution, the IMBH merges with a BH companion. The IMBH–BH binary inspiral starts in the eLISA frequency window ( ) when the binary reaches an eccentricity . After yr the binary moves into the LIGO frequency band with a negligible eccentricity. We comment on the implications for GW searches, with a possible detection within the next decade.


Retroviruses can induce hematopoietic disease via insertional mutagenesis of cancer genes and provide valuable molecular tags for cancer gene discovery. Here we show that insertional mutagenesis can also identify genes that promote the immortalization of hematopoietic cells, which normally have only limited self-renewal. Transduction of mouse bone marrow cells with replication-incompetent murine stem cell virus (MSCV) expressing only neo, followed by serial passage in liquid culture containing stem cell factor (SCF) and interleukin-3 (IL-3), produced immortalized immature myeloid cell lines with neutrophil and macrophage differentiation potential in about 50% of the infected cultures. More than half of the lines have MSCV insertions at Evi1 or Prdm16. These loci encode transcription factor homologs and are validated human myeloid leukemia genes. Integrations are located in intron 1 or 2, where they promote expression of truncated proteins lacking the PRDI-BF1-RIZ1 homologous (PR) domain, similar to what is observed in human leukemias with EVI1 or PRDM16 mutations. Evi1 overexpression alone appears sufficient to immortalize immature myeloid cells and does not seem to require any other cooperating mutations. Genes identified by insertional mutagenesis by their nature could also be involved in immortalization of leukemic stem cells, and thus represent attractive drug targets for treating cancer.


This paper deals with the head-type torque sensor, on the basis of magnetoelastic effect, installed on the main shaft of machine tool for sensing cutting torque in order to monitor cutting process. The tests of two types of sensor are carried out under various cutting conditions. In order to confirm the accuracy of these sensors measuring cutting torque, the torque values obtained by two types of magnetic torque sensor are compared between measuring value of strain gauge and calculating value of cutting force experimental formula. The investigation demonstrates that the on-line monitoring of cutting force can be detected through measuring cutting torque by means of magnetoelastic torque sensor, and the cutting state can be shown by cutting parameters.


A human alloimmune cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) clone (4E4) was generated against the HLA-A2 molecule. Lysis of 51Cr-labeled HLA-A2 target cells was blocked by monoclonal antibodies (mAb), including mAb PA2.1 (anti-HLA-A2), mAb BB7.2 (anti-HLA-A2), mAb 4B (anti-HLA-A2-plus-A28), mAb MA2.1 (anti-HLA-A2-plus-B17), and mAb W6/32 (anti-HLA-A,B,C), which are directed against different serologic epitopes on the HLA-A2 molecule. However, HLA-A2 mutant lines lacking the serologic epitope recognized by mAb BB7.2 (anti-HLA-A2) were efficiently lysed by CTL 4E4. Thus, although mAb may block cytolysis, the HLA-A2 epitope recognized the 4E4 CTL clone is distinct from the HLA-A2-specific epitope recognized by serologic reagents. Moreover, analysis of HLA-A2 population variants revealed that only the predominant HLA-A2.1 subtype molecule was recognized by CTL 4E4. No cross-reactivity on other, biochemically related HLA-A2 population subtypes was observed, including HLA-A2.2 cells (Hill, CVE, ZYL, M7), HLA-A2.3 cells (TENJ, DK1), or HLA-A2.4 cells (CLA, KNE). This CTL clone appears to recognize a single epitope and, like monoclonal antibody counterparts, can be used to discriminate among immunogenic cellular and serologic epitopes on closely related HLA-A2 molecules. On the basis of the known sequence changes in mutant and subtype HLA-A2 molecules, it appears that the sequence spanning residues 147 to 157 may be critical for cellular recognition of this Class I MHC molecule.


anomaly. Three-dimensional surface rendering showed an irregular and nodular tumor surface. The mass was considered as a malignant tumor. The patient was monitored by ultrasound every 2 weeks and no increase in tumor size was detected up to 38 weeks. A 3.1 kg male infant was delivered via cesarean section at 38 weeks' gestation (1 and 5 minute Apgar scores were 9 and 9, respectively). The newborn had a large cutaneous lesion covering the dorsal chest. The lesion showed marked heterogeneity in colour, with dark-brown to black and erythematous violaceous areas. The whole lesion was soft with proliferative nodules and cauliflower appearance, some ulcerated areas were present. MRI of the thorax and abdomen confirmed the ultrasound findings. Multiple biopsies were taken for histological analysis of the lesion. Histological examination revealed that the mass was a giant melanocytic nevus. The MRI investigation of the brain showed no intracerebral lesions. There are several postnatal case reports, but to our knowledge, no sonographic description of the prenatal findings of this type lesion has been reported up to now.


Development of biomarkers capable of estimating absorbed dose is critical for effective triage of affected individuals after radiological events. Levels of cell-free circulating miRNAs in plasma were compared for dose-response analysis in non-human primates (NHP) exposed to lethal (6.5 Gy) and sub-lethal (1 and 3 Gy) doses over a 7 day period. The doses and test time points were selected to mimic triage needs in the event of a mass casualty radiological event. Changes in miRNA abundance in irradiated animals were compared to a non-irradiated cohort and a cohort experiencing acute inflammation response from exposure to lipopolysaccharide (LPS). An amplification-free, hybridization-based direct digital counting method was used for evaluation of changes in microRNAs in plasma from all animals. Consistent with previous murine studies, circulating levels of miR-150-5p exhibited a dose- and time-dependent decrease in plasma. Furthermore, plasma miR-150-5p levels were found to correlate well with lymphocyte and neutrophil depletion kinetics. Additionally, plasma levels of several other evolutionarily and functionally conserved miRNAs were found altered as a function of dose and time. Interestingly, miR-574-5p exhibited a distinct, dose-dependent increase 24 h post irradiation in NHPs with lethal versus sub-lethal exposure before returning to the baseline level by day 3. This particular miRNA response was not detected in previous murine studies but was observed in animals exposed to LPS, indicating distinct molecular and inflammatory responses. Furthermore, an increase in low-abundant miR-126, miR-144, and miR-21 as well as high-abundant miR-1-3p and miR-206 was observed in irradiated animals on day 3 and/or day 7. The data from this study could be used to develop a multi-marker panel with known tissue-specific origin that could be used for developing rapid assays for dose assessment and evaluation of radiation injury on multiple organs. Furthermore this approach may be utilized to screen for tissue toxicity in patients who receive myeloablative and therapeutic radiation.


Abstract Marine invertebrates are a promising source of novel natural products with biological activities. The phylum Bryozoa is relatively under-investigated in this context, although a number of compounds with medical potential has been discovered in recent years. Here, we report on the novel group of brominated metabolites from the bryozoan Terminoflustra membranaceatruncata, including analysis of biological activities of the tribrominated terminoflustrindole A (Cm-1) and the structures of the related dibrominated variants terminoflustrindoles B and C. Terminoflustrindole A was previously shown to have fungicidal properties. Although they vary by just one bromine group in each case from terminoflustrindole A, in this study, we report that terminoflustrindoles B and C exhibit no antimicrobial activity in the same assays. In addition to displaying antifungal activity, Terminoflustrindole A was also found to exhibit potent cytotoxic activity when tested against tumour cell lines. The gradient distribution of this compound within the bryozoan colony was demonstrated using LC-MS-analysis.