A scheme to reduce false and misleading advertising by drug manufacturers is drawing praise and criticism.

In May 2010, the US Food and Drug Administration's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research launched a "Bad Ad" programme with the goal of "encouraging health care professionals to recognize and report suspected untruthful or misleading drug promotions."

During the first year of the programme's operation, the number of reports received by FDA tripled from an average of 104 reports per year to 328 reports. Healthcare professionals submitted 188 reports, consumers submitted 116, and 24 came from individuals working for industry.

To date, the agency has issued five warning letters asking companies to stop making their false or misleading claims.

The drugs were advertised in direct mailings to healthcare providers, on websites, …


Objective The reported incidence of brain metastasis from epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), endometrial cancer (EC), and cervical cancer (CC) is exceedingly rare. As the long-term survival for patients with gynecologic cancer increases, there has been a corresponding increase in the number of diagnosed intracranial metastases. We seek to report our experience with managing brain metastatic disease (BMD) in patients with gynecologic cancer. Methods A retrospective review of all patients with EOC, EC, and CC at our institution revealed 47 patients with concurrent BMD between 2000 and 2013. Demographic data, risk factors, treatment modalities, progression-free data, and overall survival data were collected. Results Median survival time in patients with brain metastasis from EOC, EC, and CC was 9.0, 4.5, and 3.0 months, respectively. Two-year overall survival rates were 31.6%, 13.6%, and 0%, respectively. Patients received surgery, radiation therapy alone, palliative care, or radiation plus surgery. Radiation combined with surgical resection resulted in a significant hazards ratio of 0.36 (95% confidence interval, 0.15–0.86), compared with radiation alone. Conclusions Our report provides a large single-institution experience of brain metastases from gynecologic cancer. Patients with BMD have poor prognoses; however, treatment with multimodal therapy including surgical resection and radiation may prolong overall survival.


This correspondence presents a solution to a multiscale deconvolution problem using higher order spectra where the data to be deconvolved consist of noise-corrupted sensor array measurements. We assume that the data are generated as a convolution of an unknown wavelet with reflectivity sequences that are linearly time-scaled versions of an unknown reference reflectivity sequence. This type of data occurs in many signal processing applications, including sonar and seismic processing. Our approach relies on exploiting the redundancy in the measurements due to time scaling and does not require knowledge of the wavelet or the reflectivity sequences. We formulate and solve the deconvolution problem as a quadratic minimization subject to a quadratic constraint in the sum-of-cumulants (SOC) domain. The formulation using the SOC approach reduces the effect of additive Gaussian noise on the accuracy of the results when compared with the standard time-domain formulation. We demonstrate this improvement using a simulation example.


The Tunisian Bchira Ben M'rad (1913–1993), a feminist for some, a reformist for others, was a significant figure in Tunisia in the first half of the 20th century in the struggles for women's education, for a more balanced relationship within the married couple, and against colonialism. Her participation in these struggles was shaped both by her own personal experience as well as by the then social, cultural and political context of Tunisia and its region.
 Bchira Ben M'rad was the first Tunisian woman to request official recognition for a women's organization, the Union of Muslim Women of Tunisia (l'Union des femmes musulmanes de Tunisie, or UFMT), which she founded in 1936 and headed until 1956, during the period when Tunisia was a French colony. The refusal by the authorities to award official recognition and the excuses they offered in defense of their refusal provide an insight into the complex relations between the French colonial power and the Tunisian authorities, headed by the Bey, as the debate over women's rights, including the right to form women's organizations, became an increasingly profound societal issue. It was only in the early 1950s, in the years just before Tunisian independence was achieved in 1956, that the UFMT obtained official recognition.


Several rules-based algorithms have been developed to interpret results of HIV-1 genotypic resistance tests. To assess the concordance of these algorithms and to identify sequences causing interalgorithm discordances, we applied four publicly available algorithms to the sequences of isolates from 2,045 individuals in northern California. Drug resistance interpretations were classified as S for susceptible, I for intermediate, and R for resistant. Of 30,675 interpretations (2,045 sequences x 15 drugs), 4.4% were completely discordant, with at least one algorithm assigning an S and another an R; 29.2% were partially discordant, with at least one algorithm assigning an S and another an I, or at least one algorithm assigning an I and another an R; and 66.4% displayed complete concordance, with all four algorithms assigning the same interpretation. Discordances between nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor interpretations usually resulted from several simple, frequently occurring mutational patterns. Discordances between protease inhibitor interpretations resulted from a larger number of more complex mutation patterns. Discordances between nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor interpretations were uncommon and resulted from a small number of individual drug resistance mutations. Determining the clinical significance of these mutation patterns responsible for interalgorithm discordances will improve interalgorithm concordance and the accuracy of genotypic resistance interpretation.


The Minkowski question mark function F(x) arises as a real distribution function of rationals in the Farey (alias, Stern-Brocot or Calkin-Wilf) tree. In this thesis we introduce its three natural integral transforms: the dyadic period function G(z), defined in the cut plane; the dyadic zeta function zeta_M(s), which is an entire function; the characteristic function m(t), which is an entire function as well. Each of them is a unique object, and is characterized by regularity properties and a functional equation, which reformulates in its own terms the functional equation for F(x). We study the interrelations among these three objects and F(x). It appears that the theory is completely parallel to the one for Maass wave forms for PSL_2(Z). One of the main purposes of this thesis is to clarify the nature of moments of the Minkowski question mark function.


Abstract. We developed a high-resolution MIKE SHE/MIKE 11 model of a 231.3 ha headwater catchment in the granitic uplands of the French
Massif Central to estimate the contribution of groundwater upwelling to the
water balance of the Dauges mire, an acidic valley mire of international
importance for nature conservation. We estimated that groundwater upwelling
from the underlying weathered granite formations – mostly an approximately 55 m deep fissured zone – provides 27.1 % of total long-term inflows to
the mire. This contribution increases to 37.2 % in September when total
inflows are small. Overland boundary inflow accounts for an average of
40.2 % of total inflows. However, most of this originates from
groundwater seepage through mineral soils along the mire margins or in small
non-channelised valleys upslope of the mire. A sensitivity analysis showed that model performance in terms of the simulation of mire groundwater levels was most sensitive to parameters describing the mineral soils and weathered granite formations rather than the overlying peat layer. Variation partitioning demonstrated that groundwater upwelling was the most important
factor driving simulated monthly groundwater table depth within the mire.
Sustained groundwater upwelling maintains the mire water table close to or
at ground level for most of the year. As a result, precipitation and
overland boundary inflows quickly leave the wetland as saturation-excess runoff. There was close agreement between the observed distribution of mire habitats and areas where the simulated long-term groundwater seepage rate
was larger than zero in September. Our results demonstrate that, contrary to
the assumed small contribution of groundwater to the hydrology of hard-rock regions, groundwater upwelling from underlying weathered formations can be a
quantitatively important and functionally critical element of the water
balance of valley mires in granitic headwater catchments. These results have
important legal and management implications.


The experience with a new approach of using combined debulking technique for treating heavily calcified coronary artery lesions with both LASER and high speed rotational atherectomy, which is being labeled as RASER PCI, is described. The RASER PCI approach has been used in three different patients with severely calcified, undilatable coronary artery lesions that were unresponsive to either technique alone, with successful and satisfactory outcome. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


IMPORTANCE
The use of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) kinase (MEK) inhibitors has become more common in the treatment of systemic cancer. These agents have been associated with a central serous-like retinopathy in some patients. Recognition of such retinal findings and the relatively benign nature of these events is important to avoid unnecessary intervention, including the cessation of a potentially life-prolonging medication.

OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the presence and characteristics of subretinal fluid (SRF) associated with the use of MEK inhibitors in the treatment of systemic cancer and to correlate the presence of SRF with visual acuity and symptoms over time.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
Post hoc analysis was conducted of prospectively collected data from 51 patients with locally advanced or metastatic cancer undergoing treatment with the MEK inhibitor binimetinib in 1 of 4 clinical trials. All clinical trial participants underwent complete ophthalmic examination by retina specialists at a private practice in Boston, Massachusetts, and were monitored between February 29, 2012, and January 8, 2014. The examination included Snellen-measured visual acuity, dilated fundus examination, and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography at baseline, biweekly for 2 months, then monthly for the remainder of their trial participation. Post hoc design and data analysis were performed between December 1, 2013, and June 20, 2014.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
Visual symptoms, visual acuity, fundus appearance, and the presence and characteristics of SRF noted on optical coherence tomography. The characteristics of angiograms performed at the discretion of the treating physician were reviewed.

RESULTS
Of the 51 participants, 18 (35%) were men; the mean (SD) age was 60 (13) years (range, 32-87 years). Forty-six (90%) study participants developed SRF during the study period, with 9 (20%) experiencing symptoms at any point. The mean (SD) central retinal thickness of 39 study participants who developed SRF at the first visit increased from 280 (26) µm at baseline to 316 (43) µm at the first visit after starting binimetinib treatment (paired t test, P < .001). On examination, SRF appeared as elevated, yellow-orange pockets in the fovea and/or along the arcades. Corresponding optical coherence tomographic imaging revealed SRF beneath the interdigitation zone. The fovea was affected in 37 of 46 (80%) individuals; the location of SRF accumulation varied. Visual symptoms were mild and mainly transient, occurring in 9 participants with SRF (20%; 95% CI, 10%-33%). Only 2 participants (4%) were found to have SRF at the last study visit after discontinuation of treatment with binimetinib. Both had Snellen-measured visual acuity of 20/25 or better.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
The presence of SRF was common in study participants undergoing treatment with the MEK inhibitor binimetinib. Visual symptoms were mild and mainly transient. The presence of SRF did not lead to permanent ocular sequelae. Cessation of life-extending treatment with MEK inhibitors is not indicated when SRF is present.


Using the finite-difference time-domain method and density functional theory, we theoretically investigate the plasmons of topological crystalline insulator (TCI) SnTe with nanostructured patterns. Due to the fact that the topological material has an insulating bulk surrounded by topologically protected metallic surfaces, the TCI nanogratings are uniquely described by the core–shell-like model. In contrast to the plasmons of metallic nanoparticles usually found in visible spectra, four plasmon resonances excited on the TCI SnTe nanogratings are numerically observed in the visible-near-infrared (vis-NIR) spectral region, which is in agreement with the theoretical analyses. Furthermore, periodic shifts of resonance wavelengths are achieved with the variation of grating heights. The facile control of the plasmons of TCI nanopatterns in the vis-NIR spectral region may have potential applications in biomedicine, plasmonic nanodevices, and integrated optoelectronic circuits.


Peter T. C. So Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Mechanical Engineering and Biological Engineering 500 Technology Square, NE47-279 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Abstract. The imaging depth of two-photon excitation fluorescence microscopy is partly limited by the inhomogeneity of the refractive index in biological specimens. This inhomogeneity results in a distortion of the wavefront of the excitation light. This wavefront distortion results in image resolution degradation and lower signal level. Using an adaptive optics system consisting of a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor and a deformable mirror, wavefront distortion can be measured and corrected. With adaptive optics compensation, we demonstrate that the resolution and signal level can be better preserved at greater imaging depth in a variety of ex-vivo tissue specimens including mouse tongue muscle, heart muscle, and brain. However, for these highly scattering tissues, we find signal degradation due to scattering to be a more dominant factor than aberration. © 2010 Society of PhotoOptical Instrumentation Engineers. DOI: 10.1117/1.3475954


Previous studies on perceptual decision-making have often emphasized a tight link between decisions and motor intentions. Human decisions, however, also depend on memories or experiences that are not closely tied to specific motor responses. Recent neuroimaging findings have suggested that, during episodic retrieval, parietal activity reflects the accumulation of evidence for memory decisions. It is currently unknown, however, whether these evidence accumulation signals are functionally linked to signals for motor intentions coded in frontoparietal regions and whether activity in the putative memory accumulator tracks the amount of evidence for only previous experience, as reflected in "old" reports, or for both old and new decisions, as reflected in the accuracy of memory judgments. Here, human participants used saccadic-eye and hand-pointing movements to report recognition judgments on pictures defined by different degrees of evidence for old or new decisions. A set of cortical regions, including the middle intraparietal sulcus, showed a monotonic variation of the fMRI BOLD signal that scaled with perceived memory strength (older > newer), compatible with an asymmetrical memory accumulator. Another set, including the hippocampus and the angular gyrus, showed a nonmonotonic response profile tracking memory accuracy (higher > lower evidence), compatible with a symmetrical accumulator. In contrast, eye and hand effector-specific regions in frontoparietal cortex tracked motor intentions but were not modulated by the amount of evidence for the effector outcome. We conclude that item recognition decisions are supported by a combination of symmetrical and asymmetrical accumulation signals largely segregated from motor intentions.


In the recent past, the Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have attracted intense research. The high processing requirements (of CNNs) and the availability of efficient mapping tools have made GPUs a popular CNN accelerator. To extract the maximum performance, the mapping tools transform the unsupported convolutions to GPU supported matrix multiplications. However, this transformation incurs significant memory overheads (3-5X). Furthermore, since the tool is unaware of the GPU architecture, even after the transformation the performance and power is sub-optimal. To tackle this problem we present MTP-Caffe that complements Caffe by making it memory, timing, and power aware. It analyses the CNN structure and the GPU architecture to convert a CNN into smaller parts, tailored for GPU resources. Simulation results reveal that MTP-Caffe not only eliminates the additional memory overheads but also provides up to 21% speedup and up to 23.5% less power.


This study is an analysis of the visual element of an archive (or corpus) of popular UK EFL coursebook series produced between 1960 and 2009. During this time, the increasing globalisation of the world economy, and the parallel development of English as a world language, raised moral and pedagogic questions regarding the ownership of English and the promotion of an Anglophone neo-liberal agenda. This prompted questions regarding EFL coursebooks and the extent to which they, implicitly or explicitly, promoted such an agenda, and the degree to which they could be said to be appropriate for the many global contexts in which such books were marketed and used.


We explore the possible connection between the open cluster IC 2391 and the unbound Argus association identified by the SACY survey. In addition to common kinematics and ages between these two systems, here we explore their chemical abundance patterns to confirm if the two substructures shared a common origin. We carry out a homogenous high-resolution elemental abundance study of eight confirmed members of IC 2391 as well as six members of the Argus association using UVES spectra. We derive spectroscopic stellar parameters and abundances for Fe, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, Ni and Ba. All stars in the open cluster and Argus association were found to share similar abundances with the scatter well within the uncertainties, where [Fe/H] = -0.04 +/-0.03 for cluster stars and [Fe/H] = -0.06 +/-0.05 for Argus stars. Effects of over-ionisation/excitation were seen for stars cooler than roughly 5200K as previously noted in the literature. Also, enhanced Ba abundances of around 0.6 dex were observed in both systems. The common ages, kinematics and chemical abundances strongly support that the Argus association stars originated from the open cluster IC 2391. Simple modeling of this system find this dissolution to be consistent with two-body interactions.


The Family Biography Workshop (FBW) is a process through which staff, family members and friends of the person with dementia living in a residential facility develop stories of their residents' lives. The stories aim to help staff develop a better, more deeply felt understanding of the lives of residents, persons who can no longer tell their own story themselves. This paper describes the process of the FBW and discusses the outcomes of a partnership project between Griffith University, Research Centre for Clinical Practice Innovation and Spiritus Care Services, Brisbane. It suggests ways of using elements of the process to: introduce staff to information and experiences which help them to more richly appreciate the unique person for whom they are providing dementia care; provide a foundation for conversations and ways of relating wherein family take up a position of unique expertise and which acknowledges and balances the expertise held by staff; encourage the building of positive staff-family relationships that will improve care outcomes; and construct life story narratives to supplement the medical diagnosis, nursing care plans, and regulatory rules which dominate the landscape of conversation in long-term dementia care.


Photovoltaic (PV) power systems have been in the spotlight of scientific research for years. However, this technology is still undergoing developments, and several new architectures are proposed each year. This study describes the main challenges facing grid-connected PV systems without galvanic isolation, then carries out a review of the state-of-the-art of single-phase systems. The converter topology review is focused on the match between the different types of converters and the different PV panel technologies, determined by the common-mode voltage between the PV string terminals and the ground. The ground leakage current, due to time variations of this voltage, is a source of electric safety and electromagnetic interference (EMI)-related problems, and its amplitude is constrained by international standards. The basic principles of operation of the different solutions are described, along with their strengths and drawbacks. Conversion efficiency is evaluated qualitatively comparing the semiconductor power losses. Finally, the future trends regarding semiconductor devices, PV panels and international regulations for single-phase grid-connected equipment are discussed, and indications on how these might steer future research efforts in PV converters are inferred.


It has been estimated that the remaining cemetery land in Toronto will run out of space within the next 30 years. Although death is the only certainty we have in life, planners aren't planning for it. Toronto's population is increasingly aging, growing, and diversifying, which makes this an issue that can longer be ignored. There are 23 active cemeteries in Toronto, of which only 13 are non-denominational cemeteries that are able to capture the religious diversity for accommodating the deceased. Through this paper, it is found that cemeteries not only provide an essential public service, but they also play an important role in anchoring immigrant communities. Through exploratory research methods, findings suggest that those religions that require in-ground burial will face the brunt of accessing affordable cemetery services in Toronto. Recommendations are made to address this land use policy gap and calls for action to increase supply within existing cemetery lands in Toronto so that cities are not only planned for the living, but also for the dead.

Key words: cemetery; diversity, religion; immigration; land use; death sprawl, Toronto


Estimating human age automatically via facial image analysis has lots of potential real-world applications, such as human computer interaction and multimedia communication. However, it is still a challenging problem for the existing computer vision systems to automatically and effectively estimate human ages. The aging process is determined by not only the person's gene, but also many external factors, such as health, living style, living location, and weather conditions. Males and females may also age differently. The current age estimation performance is still not good enough for practical use and more effort has to be put into this research direction. In this paper, we introduce the age manifold learning scheme for extracting face aging features and design a locally adjusted robust regressor for learning and prediction of human ages. The novel approach improves the age estimation accuracy significantly over all previous methods. The merit of the proposed approaches for image-based age estimation is shown by extensive experiments on a large internal age database and the public available FG-NET database.


This work presents the implementation and validation of a numerical model that simulates the thermal and fluid-dynamic phenomena inside capillary tubes. The algorithm is based on a two-phase flow model where the governing equations (continuity, momentum, energy and entropy) are integrated over the discretized fluid domain and solved by means of a step-by-step scheme. The numerical procedure considers four different transitional regions (sub-cooled liquid region, metastable liquid region, metastable two-phase flow region and equilibrium two-phase flow region), allows the prediction of both critical and non-critical flow conditions, and evaluates the heat exchanged between the capillary tube and the compressor suction line. The model predictions have been compared against experimental data sets including adiabatic and non-adiabatic conditions. In addition, a parametric study on capillary tubes used in household refrigerators and working with isobutane has been carried out (different geometric conditions were considered).


This study investigated how the recruitment patterns of shoulder muscles were influenced by wheelchair propulsion speed. Electromyography (EMG) activity of seven muscles was recorded with surface electrodes on 15 nondisabled subjects during wheelchair propulsion on a stationary ergometer. Kinetic data were measured by a SmartWheel. EMG total intensities were calculated to describe the muscle activation level, while the angles formed by first principal component and second principal component loading scores were calculated to describe the spectral content of EMG signals. Significant differences were observed in kinetic variables between the two testing speeds (p < 0.05). The EMG intensity of the tested muscles increased significantly with increased speed (p < 0.05). The push muscles showed a longer EMG duration, whereas the recovery muscles exhibited significantly earlier EMG onset and peak activities at the fast speed. The smaller angle values in the fast propulsion speed indicated that faster motor units were recruited to match the mechanical requirement for the faster motion. Pushing a manual wheelchair at a faster speed not only requires a higher level of propulsive muscle activity but also a higher level of recovery muscle activation.


This study evaluated the ability of Zostera marina L. (eelgrass) to balance the daily photosynthetic deticit by mobilization of carbon reserves stored in below-ground tissues during a period of extreme winter light limitation. A quantitative understanding of the mobilization process and its limitations is essential to the development of robust models predicting minimum light levels required to maintain healthy seagrass populations. Plants were grown in running seawater tanks cinder 2 light regimes. One treatment was provided with 2 h irradiance-saturated photosynthesis (H sat ) to produce severe light limitation, while control plants were grown under 7 h H sat , simulating the typical winter-time condition in Monterey Bay, California, USA. Although plants maintained under 2 h H sat were more severely carbon limited than plants grown under 7 h H sat , whole-plant carbon balance calculated from metabolic needs and growth rates was negative for both H sat treatments. The eelgrass studied here responded to negative carbon balances by suppressing the production of new roots, depleting sucrose reserves, and effecting a gradual decrease in growth rate and an increase in the activity of sucrose synthase (SS, E.C. 184.108.40.206) in sink tissues in the terminal stages of carbon stress. The 7 h H sat plants survived the 45 d course of the experiment while the plants grown under 2 h H sat died within 30 d, even though one-third of their carbon reserves remained immobilized in the rhizome. Thus, extreme light limitation can prevent full mobilization of carbon reserves storod in below-ground tissues, probably through the effects of anoxia on translocation. Metabolic rates, particularly photosynthesis and respiration of the shoot, were unaffected by prolonged carbon limitation in both treatments. The patterns observed here can provide useful indices for assessing the state and fate of seagrass ecosystems in advance of catastrophic declines.


Many studies have found that the economic benefits from investment in urban infrastructure are substantial. In Australia, much of the responsibility for the provision of urban infrastructure rests with regional governments. Throughout the1990's many of these governments embarked on a program of fiscal restraint, seeking to restore financial positions weakened by exposure to failed government enterprises. A large proportion of this fiscal adjustment appears to have been borne by spending on public infrastructure. Today, regional government policy attention is again focussing on public infrastructure. In spite of the now robust fiscal positions of Australia's regional governments, they remain reluctant to finance infrastructure through debt, and raising the rates of existing taxes is perceived as politically unpopular. Instead, governments are exploring alternative financing instruments, such as developer charges and public-private partnerships. This paper uses a dynamic multi-regional CGE model (MMRF) to evaluate the regional macroeconomic consequences of four methods of financing a program of regional government infrastructure provision. The methods are developer charges, debt, payroll tax and residential rates. We demonstrate that the net gains from a program of urban infrastructure development are quite sensitive to the chosen financing means. The net gains tend to be greatest under rates and debt financing, and least under developer charges.


Developmental Psychology is a study of human growth and physical, cognitive and psychosocial development with emphasis on major theories and perspectives.


Background
The challenge of recognizing ward-based patients at risk of deterioration is discussed frequently within the relevant literature. Nurses in particular hold the prime position to identify problems at an early stage using systematic patient assessment. However, general ward nurses' perceived knowledge, attitudes, and practice related to assessment of the risk of deterioration are not well understood. Failures to recognize or act upon the deterioration of general ward patients has sometimes resulted in the implementation of early warning scoring systems and Critical Care Outreach teams.
Aim: The study aim to explore general ward nurses' perceived knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) in assessing patients at risk of deteriorating in general wards.
Method
A Cross-sectional study design with Modified Early Warning Score questionnaire for general ward nurses was done in one tertiary hospital in Malaysia in 2013 and 2014.
Results: General ward nurses perceived that they struggled with knowledge and attitude, but they feel they performed good practice in assessing patients at risk for deterioration. Nevertheless, the study finding shows otherwise. Only one respondent achieved 'grade B' (85%) and the remainder scored in the band 'grade F' (very poor). The respondents' attitude was measured by their perception of their levels of confidence and concern. The mean confidence level was greater than six out of 10 for all categories. The attitudes mean score ± SD was set at 42.02 ±7.76. The data showed that 51% (N=50) scored below mean core of 42.02. However, participants' overall mean score ±SD for perceptions of practice (risk of deterioration assessment) was 90.27 ± 21.87 (6.94+/-1.683). The majority of participants awarded themselves a score between eight and nine, which is in the 'good' range for the scale (0-2 weak; 3-5 moderate; 6-8 good; 9-10 excellent). Those who scored above it were classified as having a good attitude.
Conclusion: A need exists for general ward nurses to gain a knowledge foundation in detecting abnormality to address lack of confidence, poor attitude and alertness, and concern.


ABSTRACT Background: Patients with more severe forms of SARS-CoV-2 exhibit activation of immunological cascades. Participants (current or ex-smokers with at least 20 years pack history) in a trial (Early Diagnosis of Lung Cancer, Scotland [ECLS]) of autoantibody detection to predict lung cancer risk had seven autoantibodies measured 5 years before the pandemic. This study compared the response to Covid infection in study participants who tested positive and negative to antibodies to tumour-associated antigens: p53, NY-ESO-1, CAGE, GBU4-5, HuD, MAGE A4 and SOX2. Methods: Autoantibody data from the ECLS study was deterministically linked to the EAVE II database, a national, real-time prospective cohort using Scotland's health data infrastructure, to describe the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 infection, patterns of healthcare use and outcomes. The strength of associations was explored using a network algorithm for exact contingency table significance testing by permutation. Results: There were no significant differences discerned between SARS-CoV-2 test results and EarlyCDT-Lung test results (p = 0.734). An additional analysis of intensive care unit (ICU) admissions detected no significant differences between those who tested positive and negative. Subgroup analyses showed no difference in COVID-19 positivity or death rates amongst those diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with positive and negative EarlyCDT results. Conclusions: This hypothesis-generating study demonstrated no clinically valuable or statistically significant associations between EarlyCDT positivity in 2013-15 and the likelihood of SARS-CoV-2 positivity in 2020, ICU admission or death in all participants (current or ex-smokers with at least 20 years pack history) or in those with COPD or lung cancer.


ABSTRACT Approximately 9,000 physicians were uprooted for so-called "racial" or "political" reasons by the Nazi regime and 6,000 fled Germany. These refugees are often seen as survivors who contributed to a "brain drain" from Germany. About 432 doctors (all specialties, private and academic) were dismissed from the major German city of Hamburg. Of these, 16 were Hamburg University faculty members dismissed from their government-supported positions for "racial" reasons, and, of these, five were neuroscientists. In a critical analysis, not comprehensively done previously, we will demonstrate that the brain drain did not equal a "brain gain." The annihilation of these five neuroscientists' careers under different but similar auspices, their shameful harassment and incarceration, financial expropriation by Nazi ransom techniques, forced migration, and roadblocks once reaching destination countries stalled and set back any hopes of research and quickly continuing once-promising careers. A major continuing challenge is finding ways to repair an open wound and obvious vacuum in the German neuroscience community created by the largely collective persecution of colleagues 80 years ago.


Electrocardiograms (ECG) remain the main noninvasive tool that cardiologists use first for examining CAD in clinical practice. Since the invention of cardiograph, the cardiologists following the original Eindhoven construction traditionally have been using 12 lead electrodes kit for registering ECGs. However, together with development of telemedicine the one lead electrode ECG registering is in high demand. The heart, being a self-sustained oscillatory system could be possibly analyzed through studying the Fourier spectrum features of the ECG registered by any of the 12 conventional leads, which remind electricity consumer's lines going from a central generating power station – the heart. So far, any lead as any electrical line may contain the overwhelming heart dynamic characteristics by analogy with the parameters of the central electric generator.


Oltipraz and related dithiolethiones are an important class of chemopreventive agents. Studies were undertaken to identify cancer chemopreventive dithiolethiones more active than oltipraz. Largely based upon enzyme induction activities in vitro, 17 dithiolethiones, including oltipraz, were analyzed for their ability to induce hepatic phase II enzyme activities in vivo. Of these compounds, 15 produced greater induction of NAD(P)H:quinone reductase and 11 yielded greater induction of glutathione S-transferase than oltipraz. All 17 dithiolethiones were then tested for their ability to inhibit acute hepatotoxicity by aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), which previously has been shown to be an intermediate predictor of chemopreventive activity. Rats were pretreated with dithiolethiones (0.3 mmol/kg body wt, three times a week per os) and challenged with two acutely toxic doses of AFB1 (0.5 mg/kg body wt, once daily for two successive days per os). Inhibition of hepatotoxicity was measured by changes in body weight gain during AFB1 challenge, reduction in levels of hepatic enzymes in serum and diminution of bile duct cell proliferation. Nine dithiolethiones spanning a range of responses in this toxicity screen were further tested for their ability to prevent AFB1-induced tumorigenicity, as assessed by a reduction in hepatic burden of putative preneoplastic foci. Six dithiolethiones were found to be considerably more effective than oltipraz in preventing AFB1-induced tumorigenesis. In general, dithiolethiones that were very effective in inhibition of acute hepatotoxicity were also found to be effective in prevention of hepatic tumorigenesis.


Abstract A backprojection method is applied to the 27 February 2010 M w  8.8 and 25 March 2012 M w  7.1 Maule, Chile, earthquakes using high‐frequency (0.8–2 Hz) USArray data. During the 2010 event, highest energy release occurred north of the epicenter, with two subevents comprising this rupture. The gap between these subevents was about 100 km and 15 s, suggesting that P waves from the first subevent dynamically triggered the second subevent. This triggering can be explained as a consequence of stopping phases generated at the terminus of subevent 1, as the rupture encounters a region of low interseismic coupling. This argument is supported by the occurrence of the 2012 M w  7.1 event, which is the largest interface earthquake since the 2010 mainshock and ruptured an area that completely filled the gap left from the mainshock. Seismic gaps, regions between the slip areas of past giant earthquakes, are known to have a higher potential for generating future large events. The results of this study show that a coseismic gap behaves similarly, and detailed imaging of rupture propagation can be used to identify areas that may produce large earthquakes. A comparable coseismic gap to the 2010 Chile gap is identified for the 2011 M w  9.0 Tohoku, Japan, earthquake that may be the site of a large event in the near future. Online Material: Figures showing point source synthetic tests for the back projection method, station location, and distribution of energy release.


A small scale wind energy conversion system has tremendous diversity of use and operating conditions, and consequently is evolving rapidly along with the large scale wind energy conversion system for generation of electricity in either stand-alone or grid connected applications. In recent years, the grid connected small wind turbine industry is primarily dominated by the Permanent Magnet Generator (PMG) machines. The power conditioning systems for grid connection of the PMG-based system requires a rectifier, boost converter and a grid-tie inverter. Such system should be based on an appropriate control strategy to control the aerodynamic power during high wind speed, maximum power production, and maximum power flow to the grid at all operating conditions. This paper presents mathematical modeling and control strategy for the grid connected PMG-based small wind turbine systems. Furling control and expected dynamics are adopted with the wind turbine for aerodynamic power control, while the optimum speed of the PMG is followed to ensure maximum power production. A novel controller is derived from the optimum speed information that promise maximum power flow to the grid by controlling the boost converter output voltage and current through the duty cycle. It is found that the proposed modeling and control strategy is feasible and results are verified through simulation.


ZrW2O8 was successfully synthesized via combustion method with (NH4)5H5[H2(WO4)6] ·H2O, ZrOCl2·8H2O, H3BO3, (NH2)2CO and HNO3. The best prescription of combustion synthesizing of ZrW2O8 was obtained. The linear thermal expansion coefficient of synthesized ZrW2O8 is -5.08×10-6oC-1 in the temperature range of 50-600oC. Different weight ratios of ZrW2O8 and ZrO2 were taken into account. Al2O3 was added into the composite during sintering to increase the density of the composites. When the weight ratio of ZrO2 to ZrW2O8 is 2, the composite with near zero thermal expansion can be obtained. 0.25 wt% Al2O3 can effectively increase the density of ZrO2/ZrW2O8 composites with slight influence on the thermal expansion property.


Peliosis hepatis is an unusual disorder associated with a variety of diseases and treatments. This is the first report of peliosis hepatis associated with administration of 2-chloro-3'-deoxyadenosine. The literature is reviewed.


An estrogen-responsive murine Leydig cell tumor (M5480A) was examined for the presence of cross-reactive proteins to a monoclonal antibody directed against a M, 24,000 estrogenregulated protein in human breast cancer cells. Human breast tumor biopsies were used as controls for the cytosol prepara tions, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and Western blot conditions used in these experiments. The estrogen-regulated M, 24,000 protein was detected in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels of cytosols from four human breast tumor biopsies examined. Larger amounts of the M, 24,000 protein were present in the two estrogen-progesterone receptor-positive tumor biopsies in comparison to the two estro gen-progesterone receptor-negative samples. In addition, the two receptor-positive samples demonstrated an additional, less intense immunoreactive band at Mr 21,000. Under identical con ditions, the same monoclonal antibody bound to two major protein bands from sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels of Leydig cell tumor cytosols at M, 56,000 and M, 86,000. Antibodies prepared from BALB/c mouse ascites fluid of animals bearing the parent myeloma cell line (P3X63NS1) exhibited no immunoreactivity against the human breast or Leydig cell tumor proteins. In light of the high degree of specificity which this monoclonal antibody exhibits, our results suggest that similar antigenic determinants may exist in these proteins from two distinct tumors.


This paper traces the development of Jewish Christianity from its beginnings in the earliest Christian communities through its apparent disappearance in the fourth or fifth century. The author's thesis is that within the diversity which characterized the Jewish Christianity of the Church, there existed at least one Jewish Christian sect whose theology stood within the acceptable boundaries of orthodoxy of the greater Church, that this sect existed through at least the fifth century, at which point it was declared heretical by the Church Fathers and eventually died out despite the fact that it remained within the bounds of orthodoxy and considered itself a part of the greater Church. The thesis also suggests that the increasing antipathy of the Church toward Jewish Christianity was the result of a variety of interrelated influences operating over several centuries. Some of these influences included the changing demographics of the Church and the accompanying clash of cultures; the increasing isolation of Jewish Christianity from the predominantly Gentile Church; power struggles between competing Christian communities in Palestine, as well as Rome"s interest in asserting its primacy; theological and pastoral concerns, which were wellintentioned but which resulted in increasingly narrow views of orthodoxy and orthopraxis; as well as some outright anti-Jewish feelings.


An advanced constitutive model incorporating two specific aspects of Ni-base superalloy deformation behaviour is proposed. Several deformation mechanisms are active in these two-phase materials. In the matrix phase, cube slip plays an important role in the orientation dependence of the material. Moreover, inelastic deformation of the precipitate phase leads to non-Schmid effects in the material response. Macroscopic cube slip is modelled here by incorporating a zig-zag cross slip mechanism into the constitutive relations for the matrix phase. A cross slip factor is proposed that quantifies the amount of cross slip and consequently represents the orientation dependence of the cube slip. Further, a detailed precipitate phase constitutive model is proposed, which enables the simulation of non-Schmid effects, like the tension–compression asymmetry. The cross slip mechanism and the associated splitting of partial dislocations in the γ′-phase, which are responsible for the anomalous yield behaviour, are incorporated in the model. The proposed formulations are implemented in a recently developed crystal plasticity framework for single crystal Ni-base superalloys and a consistent set of model parameters for the commercial alloy CMSX-4 is determined. The model is shown to reasonably predict the material tensile response and creep behaviour for a range of temperatures and stress or strain rate levels. The incorporation of the cross slip mechanisms in the matrix and precipitate results in an adequate simulation of the material orientation dependence and the experimentally determined tension–compression asymmetry.


A new technology, duplex ion nitrocarburizing and sulphurizing technology (DINS), for friction reduction and anti-scuffing applications of diesel engine cylinder was studied. Duplex ion nitrocarburized-sulphurized layer was prepared on the surface of CrMoCu alloy cast iron by using the DINS process. The morphology, phase structure and tribological behaviors under sulphur contained additive lubrication were investigated. Results show that the sulphide surface layer of the duplex layer is mainly composed of close-packed hexagonal structured FeS phase and cubic structured FeS2 phase. The nitrocarburized sub-surface layer of the duplex layer is mainly composed of Fe2C and Fe3N phases. The harder nitrocarburized layer can provide effective support to the softer sulphide layer and avoid its lamellar tear. The synergistic effect between the duplex layer and the sulphur contained additive lubricant, resulted in 10% and 33.3% reduction in coefficient of friction and wear volume, respectively, compared with those of the sulphurized surface, and 25% and 50.1% reduction, respectively, compared with those of the plain surface. Bench test of diesel engine further demonstrated that the DINS process can provide the treated cylinder with superior properties in anti-scuffing and friction reduction, so that it can be used to prolong the service life of the cylinder.


OBJECTIVES
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with a higher risk of pulmonary infections. This risk not only negatively affects patients' quality of life but also increases social and health costs. Hence, there is a need for an effective rehabilitative treatment including airway clearance. The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the efficacy of a new tool for bronchial clearance based on expiratory flow accelerator (EFA) technology compared with positive expiratory pressure (PEP) treatment.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Twenty stable patients with COPD, Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease 3-4 stage, were enrolled and allocated to treatment with EFA or Bubble-PEP (BP) for 20 days during a pulmonary rehabilitation program. At baseline and the end of treatment, the following parameters were measured: arterial blood gases (ABG); respiratory function, including peak cough expiratory flow (PCEF), maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP), and maximal expiratory pressure exercise capacity using the 6-minute walk test (6MWT), dyspnea using the Medical Research Council scale, and quality of life using the St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire.

RESULTS
Expiratory flow accelerator showed a significant pre- and post-improvement in ABG and a significantly greater improvement than BP in PCEF, MIP, and 6MWT post-treatment.

CONCLUSION
Expiratory flow accelerator is a valid device compared with BP as an adjunctive therapy for the treatment of patients with severe COPD.


Abstract Buseckite (IMA 2011-070), (Fe,Zn,Mn)S, is the Fe-dominant analog of wurtzite, a new member of the wurtzite group discovered in Zakłodzie, and an ungrouped enstatite-rich achondrite. The type material occurs as single-crystal grains (4-20 μm in size) in contact with two or more of enstatite, plagioclase, troilite, tridymite, quartz, and sinoite. Low-Ni iron, martensitic iron, schreibersite, keilite, cristobalite, and graphite, which are also present in the type sample, are not observed to be in contact with buseckite. Buseckite is black under diffuse illumination and nearly opaque grayish brown in transmitted light. The mean chemical composition of buseckite, as determined by electron microprobe analysis of the type material, is (wt%) S 35.84, Fe 28.68, Zn 23.54, Mn 10.04, Mg 1.18, sum 99.28, leading to an empirical formula calculated on the basis of 2 atoms of (Fe0.46Zn0.32Mn0.16Mg0.04 )Σ0.99S1.01. Electron backscatter diffraction patterns of buseckite are a good match to that of synthetic (Zn0.558Fe0.442)S with the P63mc structure, showing a = 3.8357, c = 6.3002 Å, V = 80.27 Å3, and Z = 2. Buseckite is likely derived from the breakdown of high-temperature pyrrhotite to form troilite and buseckite following the solidification of sulfide-rich liquids produced during impact melting of an enstatite-rich rock.


The process of reviewing this text has been similar to a roller coaster ride. When initially approached to conduct a review, I was intrigued and excited by the title and its promise. When the book arrived and I noted the hefty $51.75 price tag for a paperback with just over 200 pages, my enthusiasm began to wane. Further, as I read that the authors define older adults as "anyone over the age of 50" (p. xi), I was interested to see how this text would relate to my life as a 54-year-old. I know from 27 years of experience as a researcher, educator, and community developer in the field of gerontology that my life now is much different than it will be when I am 65 and no longer in the paid workforce. I also recognize that my life as an older, white, professional woman will be different from the lives of others not considered in the mainstream of Canadian society. So my initial response was, how could they just lump all of these age groups together?Another initial concern that I had when reading the text was the lack of discussion of the concepts of gender, race, and ethnicity, sexual preference, and class when dealing with matters of the perceived and actual ability of particular individuals to undertake leadership roles. Although the authors do discuss the concept of ageism, they do not link this ideology and behaviour with that of the equally confining expectations noted above.So why my conundrum while reading and reviewing this text? Essentially, the book is about ways to empower older adults to take on leadership roles in their communities. As well, it is about how to change organizational structures to ensure that older persons are included in decision-making processes which affect their lives. With such inclusive policies in place, it is argued, older adults would see their retirement as an "opportunity for growth and personal development" and as a means to remain active and engaged in "challenging and worthwhile enterprises" (p.12). Thus there is an implied assumption that all older adults choose to become leaders in their communities and that this form of community participation is somehow more valuable than some others in terms of living an active and fulfilled life.After a discussion of both gerontological and leadership training theories as a means to frame the topic under discussion, the authors present case studies of leadership training programs in two seniors' centers, Centennial Center and Carnegie Hall. …


SUMMARY
We report the case of a 27-year-old female patient, with 8-
year history of ulcerative colitis (UC), admitted to our department
because of exacerbation of the disease. Hematology
and blood chemistry results confirmed the diagnosis
of UC exacerbation. Abdominal CT detected a left liver lobe
mass. Needle biopsy histological examination demonstrated
adenocarcinoma. The patient was treated with left hepatic
lobectomy. Histopathology of the resected lobe revealed
the presence of Mixed Hepatocellular Carcinoma and
Cholangiocarcinoma (MHCC) and changes characteristic
of sclerosing cholangitis of small bile ducts at a distance
from the carcinomatous areas. Our patient had no previous
history of liver disease. Liver function tests were normal,
except for mild increase in 㭇T and alkaline phosphatase.
Serum values of CEA and CA19-9 were quite elevated,
while AFP was normal. The association of cholangiocarcinoma
with UC is well established, while MHCC is
reported in a few case reports. Primary sclerosing cholangitis
(PSC) of intrahepatic (pericholangitis) or extrahepatic
(classic PSC) bile ducts usually precedes the development
of cholangiocarcinoma, occasionally asymptomatic. MHCC
is a rare hepatobiliary complication of UC, probably in preexisting,
asymptomatic PSC of small bile ducts. The issue
of liver manifestations in patients with UC is discussed here. Key words: ulcerative colitis, mixed hepatocellular carcinoma
and cholangiocarcinoma, pericholangitis


Web services and cloud computing have revolutionized the way software is developed, deployed, and consumed. As a consequence, there has been a proliferation of web services, which developers make accessible to users via web application programming interfaces (web APIs) and cloud-based deployment technologies. Because this model significantly simplifies and expedites deployment of web APIs, it also poses new software maintenance and evolution challenges. In particular, it becomes difficult to track, control, and compel reuse of web APIs, inadequately tested services can be deployed into production, and API changes can be introduced that break API-user code or that breach security or organizational procedures. To address these challenges, we investigate a new approach to API governance – combined policy, implementation, and deployment control of APIs for software and data deployed as web services. Our approach, called EAGER, provides a software architecture that can be easily integrated into cloud platforms as a cloud-native feature, and supports system-wide, deployment-time enforcement of API governance policies. Specifically, EAGER can check for and prevent backward incompatible API changes from being deployed into production, enforces service reuse, and facilitates enforcement of other best practices in software maintenance via policies. We also describe a prototype EAGER implementation that integrates with an open source platform-asa-service cloud and evaluate its feasibility, efficiency, scalability, and effectiveness for enforcing cloud-based API governance.


Regression analysis is one of methods widely used in prediction problems. Although there are many methods used for parameter estimation in regression analysis, ordinary least squares (OLS) technique is the most commonly used one among them. However, this technique is highly sensitive to outlier observation. Therefore, in literature, robust techniques are suggested when data set includes outlier observation. Besides, in prediction a problem, using the techniques that reduce the effectiveness of outlier and using the median as a target function rather than an error mean will be more successful in modeling these kinds of data. In this study, a new parameter estimation method using the median of absolute rate obtained by division of the difference between observation values and predicted values by the observation value and based on particle swarm optimization was proposed. The performance of the proposed method was evaluated with a simulation study by comparing it with OLS and some other robust methods in the literature.


The heat exchanger is the most common equipment in the industry. Nowadays, CFD simulation has been used widely to predict the performance of heat transfer. The accuracy of the CFD depends on several factors such as simulation parameters, models, and quality of the grid. The heat exchanger in industrial application has big heat transfer capacity, since it consists lot of tube and big shell size. In this study, the fluid heat transfer on the tube is represented by uniform wall tube temperature. The objective of this works is to evaluate the performance of the SST kco turbulent and by applying heat transfer simulation of fluid on the tube side represented by uniform wall tube temperature. This present work compared CFD simulation and Experimental study. While the working fluids which are used in the experimental study are cooking oil in the shell and exhaust gas in the tubes. The constant of SST kw turbulent are cmu: 0.09, c1: 1.44, c2: 1.92, and sigma epsilon 1.3. The CFD simulation result shows in 50 s simulation that the temperature of cooking oil is from 48 °C to 54 °C. This tendency has good agreement with the experimental study.


In this review we focus on the transvaginal meshes used for pelvic organ prolapse (POP) repair and possible changes in application after the first FDA warning in 2008. A systematic review of the literature was performed. The data was reviewed for reoperation rates and complications following the Clavien-Dindo classification. A total of 11 randomized controlled and 9 prospective studies with 2,289 patients (most POP-Q≥II, median follow-up 12 mos) were included. The results showed a mean total complication rate of 27% in anterior, 20% in posterior, and 40% in combined mesh repair group (ns). Grade ≥III complications occurred in 8% anterior, 3.5% posterior, and 13% combined (p < 0.05) mesh repairs. No differences were found for reoperation rates for POP (2% to 3%). The following risk factors for complications were identified: operative technique, surgeon experience, previous prolapse repair, concomitant hysterectomy, total mesh repair, mesh properties (light weight, collagen coating were positive factors), young age, sexual activity, and smoking. Due to high complication rates (especially mesh erosion, voiding dysfunction, and dyspareunia) a careful individualized selection of patients and materials, education of patients, and elimination of identified risk factors are urgent prior to implantation of vaginal meshes.


Aerosol-assisted methods possess a strong capability for synthesis of titania (TiO2) microspheres. For dynamic separation applications, rough TiO2 microspheres with uniform large micron sizes, high external-surface-area-to-volume ratios, high surface areas, uniform mesopores and abundant hydroxyl groups are desirable. Herein, we demonstrate the combination of evaporation induced self-assembly (EISA) with a microfluidic-jet spray drying process for scalable synthesis of novel mesoporous TiO2 materials with the above-mentioned properties for Cr(VI) removal under both static and dynamic conditions. The TiO2 materials are spherical with uniform large micron sizes (∼45 μm). They possess wrinkled surfaces and thus have high particle external-surface-area-to-volume ratios. They show high surface areas (22–138 m2 g−1), large pore volumes (0.15–0.27 cm3 g−1) and uniform mesopores (5.2–20.7 nm). They carry abundant surface Ti–OH groups due to the presence of oxygen vacancies and the Ti3+ valence state. Several experimental parameters, such as drying and calcination temperatures, are varied, leading to TiO2 samples with tunable surface areas and mesopore sizes. They can be adopted as batch sorbents for removal of Cr(VI) in water with fast adsorption rates, large capacities and pH-dependent adsorption behavior. Part of the adsorbed Cr(VI) can be reduced to Cr(III) in acidic solutions. The influences of adsorbent properties on adsorption performance are elucidated. Moreover, their uniform large micron sizes make them excellent fillers for efficient separation of Cr(VI) in dynamic flows with similar performance to that under static conditions, as well as easy regeneration and high cycling stability. Their adsorption performance under flowing conditions is much better than those of commercial TiO2 nanoparticles and mesoporous TiO2 materials prepared by a conventional EISA method, which make them very attractive for practical dynamic separation applications.


AbstractThe majority of companies working with new product development today are using a productdevelopment process. Although very helpful, a process will not guarantee successful productdevelopment. One of the most important aspects to consider in projects and product developmentis communication - how project members exchange information with one another. Successfulproduct development is hard to achieve without efficient project communication.This master thesis is based on the previously mentioned background. The questions to beanswered are: What problems exist within product development projects? How are these relatedto communication? How can communication be improved to solve them? To answer thesequestions, a case study at the product development company ITT Water and Waste Water wascarried out. By conducting 37 interviews, data regarding the company's communication anddevelopment process has been collected. In addition, theories regarding project development andcommunication are researched. Together, theses constitute the basis for the thesis analysis.The empirical research showed that there indeed exist problems in the case company'sdevelopment process: a lack of project evaluation, too development times, a lack of marketorientation, and decisions being made without sufficient information. The later two where foundclosely dependent on communication.Further research showed that introducing a project overview would solve these problems. As afinal conclusion, a layout of the proposed project overview was introduced. Even thoughinsufficient communication is not believed to be the only cause for the identified problems, theauthors believe that the project overview would in part solve them. Since there are largesimilarities in how product development is carried out at different companies, the findings aremost likely transferable to other organizations.


OBJECTIVE
This study evaluated the performance of the novel liquid fiducial marker (BioXmark®) in IGRT for bladder cancer.

METHODS
Twenty patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer were entered in this prospective, single center, Phase I-II study. The novel BioXmark® liquid markers were injected around the tumor using a flexible cystoscopy. Visibility and stability of the markers were evaluated on planning-CT and cone-beam CT (CBCT). Prospectively defined threshold for success was set at a visibility of 75%.

RESULTS
In total 76 markers were implanted in 20 patients. Of those, 60 (79% 95% CI ± 9%) were visible on CT-scan. Due to the learning curve of the technique the visibility improved in the last 75% of patients (86% visibility) compared to the first 25% of patients with 58% visibility. Concerning stability of the BioXmark® marker, all visible markers after CT-acquisition were still detectable at the last CBCT without displacement. In 15/20 (75%) of the patients three or more markers were visible on CT. No BioXmark® related adverse-events were reported.

CONCLUSION
The success rate of this novel fiducial marker was 79% which is above the prospectively defined threshold rate. A distinct learning curve of the injection of the liquid marker was seen over the study period. The marker showed sustained visibility and positional stability during treatment phases and also appears to be safe and easy to inject.

ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE
This novel liquid BioXmark® marker seem to be a very promising tool in daily-adaptive IGRT for bladder preserving chemo-radiotherapy in muscle invasive bladder cancer.


Anesthetic preconditioning (APC) may decrease the myocardium injury nearly 50% following ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) by enhancing recovery of cardiac function, reducing myocardial enzyme release and lowering infarct size when utilized as pretreatment or posttreatment agents. I/R increases nitric oxide (NO) production through endothelial NO synthase (NOS3) and heat shock protein 90 (HSP90). The present study aimed to observe the role of BH4 availability and the association of HSP90 with NOS3 in APC‑mediated cardioprotection against I/R injury. Isolated rat hearts were subjected to no‑flow ischemia for 30 min and reperfusion for 120 min. Sevoflurane (3.5%) was administered for 15 min followed by a 15 min washout prior to ischemia. 2,4-Diamino-6-hydroxypyrimidine (DAHP) or sepiapterin (SP) was administered for 40 min until the onset of ischemia. The results revealed that compared with pre‑ischemic basal levels, BH4 levels decreased and BH2 levels increased following I/R. BH4 levels were significantly increased and BH2 levels were significantly decreased in the APC + I/R hearts compared with the I/R group hearts. The BH4:BH2 ratio in the APC‑treated hearts was also increased compared with that in the I/R group hearts. SP increased the recovery of contractile function and the production of NO, and decreased the production of superoxide anion (O2·‑) in I/R heart, but did not elicit these effects in APC‑treated hearts. DAHP treatment inhibited the APC‑mediated recovery of contractile function, increased O2·‑ levels and decreased NO production, but had no effect in I/R hearts. The cardioprotection of APC was demonstrated to be modulated by the BH4 precursor SP, which increased BH4 levels, or DAHP, which inhibited GTP cyclohydrolase I. Both APC and SP treatments increased the combination of HSP90 and NOS3, which improved the NOS3 activity and function. The results suggested that BH4, which servesas a cofactor for NOS, mediated the resistance of APC to I/R injury by promoting the binding of HSP90 and NOS3.


On account that there is an innovative aspect underlying contemporary studies on migrations which is the possibility of conceiving categories such as nation, ethnicities, identity and citizenship from the perspective of subjectivity, some considerations regarding the concept of identity in its interconnections with the production of subjectivity will be undertaken in this paper. The production of subjectivity is understood as the process through which individuals singularize themselves and produce new relational modalities - affective and cognitive - that materialize in activities of the new working class. This new class of workers has been denominated by Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt as "multitude" - a new ontology of globalization that clearly expresses itself in the desire of rendering the differences of space into something common. Our perspective is that identity must be studied in the context of relations with the other, from the production of difference, not mistaking "difference between" - which would be the opposite of "identity" - with the process of producing difference.


This paper considers working memory capacity, critically examining the hypothesis that counting span (the ability to count arrays of objects and store count totals) reflects a trade-off in resources available for processing and short-term storage. Previous evidence interpreted as favouring this hypothesis has confounded task difficulty with counting time. Experiment 1 validated a manipulation of the attentional demands of counting in which target objects were differentiated from non-targets by either a single feature (colour) or a feature conjunction (a combination of line orientations). The results confirmed that the two presentations involved qualitatively different attentional loads. Experiment 2 used these displays to compare counting span for children aged 6 to 11, both with and without an adjustment of target numerosity to control for differences in processing time. At all ages, span was lower when counting took longer, but there was no difference between feature and conjunction arrays once counting time was accounted for. These results argue against a resource trade-off interpretation of counting span. Rather, they support a hypothesis of resource-switching among children, implying that counting span acts as a measure of time-based forgetting.


Abstract Fe-Cr-W based low activation ferritic steels are widely regarded as promising blanket structural materials for fusion reactors, while liquid lithium breeder/coolant concept provides an attractive option for high efficiency and simplicity of blanket system. However, past compatibility tests of ferritic steels with liquid lithium were almost limited to conventional Fe-Cr-Mo steels. In this study, the corrosion behavior of the candidate reduced activation ferritic steel, JLF-1(Fe-9Cr-2W-0.1C) in lithium was investigated. Static immersion tests were carried out using coupon specimens (16 × 4 × 0.25 mm) at 873K and 973K for 100hr. At 973K, the phase transformation from martensite to ferrite resulted in decrease in hardness from 250 to 140Hv. This seemed to be caused by depletion of C. Examinations of binary Fe-Cr and pure iron were also carried out for comparison with JLF-1.


This brief article is a review of Robert J. Miller, Reservation "Capitalism": Economic Development in Indian Country (2012). It highlights some of the significant points Miller makes in his book and concludes that the book is a "must read" for those interested in reservation economic development.


Safety and health management system has started since last thirty years ago. At that time, the systems focused on protecting and informing workers with the assumption that workplace accidents were generally the result of individual unsafe acts. Safety standards were poor if compared with today, until the introduction of legislation in the 1970s. It was the first time, law placed responsibilities on employers and managements for ensuring the health and safety of the workers and the general public. Organizations management were started to view health and safety as an integral part of their business management and kept improving it by involving governmental and non-governmental organizations. Many organizations believed in effective health and safety management as one of the major factors for their profitability, not only contributing to reduce the cost of damage, down time and compensation, but also has significant effects on maximizing team and individual performance. An assessment known as Chemical Hazard Risk Assessment (CHRA) was carried out continuously for the purpose of safety and health improvement at workplace. In this paper, CHRA that was conducted in one of petrochemical companies in Malaysia is reported. Two work units have been chosen in which the workers were exposed to different types of chemical, duration of exposure and different mode of handling. The purpose of this assessment is to ensure that the workers are in safe workplace environment. In this assessment, hazards of every chemical were studied by referring to Material Safety Data Sheet or Chemical Safety Data Sheet which provided by chemical suppliers. Every task performed by workers was investigated to find out the safety work practice and degree of hazards released by the chemicals. Once the assessment was completed, actions required to control the risk at the workplace were determined. Results revealed that some work units were good at meeting the safety standards, but with CHRA, better safe workplace could be provided. More intensive enforcement by government agencies such as Department of Organization Safety and Health (DOSH) are required to ensure employers pursue relevant initiatives to meet the safety laws and regulations.


The etiology of traumatic optic neuropathy is uncertain, except when intraocular pressure is elevated and CRAO can be observed. Various mechanisms have been implicated, and the etiology probably varies with individual cases. Prognosis is best when vision is initially intact and subsequently deteriorates, suggesting compression that may be reversible. Some authorities recommend high doses of systemic steroids as initial therapy. Anatomically, the orbit is a relatively closed compartment, and significant pressure may develop following intraorbital hemorrhage, edema, or emphysema. When clinical signs of severe orbital hemorrhage and pressure (proptosis) are associated with an optic neuropathy, the clinician is faced with a difficult decision. Mechanical decompression of the orbit is technically within our ability, and considerable positive experience has been derived from the treatment of compressive optic neuropathy in Grave's disease. Although the efficacy of decompression in trauma is uncertain, the literature provides anecdotal reports of restored vision. With full informed consent regarding these issues, orbital decompression seems appropriate for the rare case in which clinical signs of orbital pressure are impressive.


Messiah College recently participated in the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP) survey of alumni in the arts. This survey has compiled data on the jobs, income and artistic life of more than 150,000 arts alumni nationwide.


Introduction Onchocerciasis, caused by the filarial nematode Onchocerca volvulus, remains endemic in Cameroon despite decades of community-directed treatment with ivermectin (CDTI). CDTI is often hampered by coendemicity with loiasis (another filariasis caused by Loa loa) in some areas. Strong epidemiological evidence suggests that O. volvulus infection increases the risk for onchocerciasis-associated epilepsy (OAE) among Cameroonian children. This highlights the urgent need to strengthen onchocerciasis elimination programmes in mesoendemic/hyperendemic areas. Novel alternative strategies, such as the 'slash and clear' (S&C) vector control method, may be required to complement ongoing CDTI to accelerate elimination of transmission. The short-term impact of S&C on the biting rates of the blackfly vectors has been demonstrated in other settings. However, its long-term effectiveness and impact on parasitological and serological markers of onchocerciasis transmission as well as on OAE are still unknown. Methods and analysis We aim to assess the effectiveness of annual S&C interventions combined with CDTI in reducing onchocerciasis transmission and epilepsy incidence. Eight onchocerciasis-endemic villages located <5 km from the Mbam or Sanaga rivers will be randomised to two arms: four villages will receive yearly CDTI only for two consecutive years (Arm 1), while the other four villages will receive CDTI plus annual S&C for 2 years (Arm 2). Study outcomes (blackfly biting rates, infectivity rates and seroprevalence of onchocerciasis antibodies (Ov16 antibodies) in children, prevalence of microfilaridermia and epilepsy incidence) will be monitored prospectively and compared across study arms. We expect that S&C will have an added benefit over CDTI alone. Ethics and dissemination The protocol has received ethical approval from the institutional review board of the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Board (reference number: IRB2021-03) and has been registered with the Pan African Clinical Trials Registry. Findings will be disseminated at national and international levels via meetings and peer-reviewed publications. Trial registration number PACTR202101751275357.


3-D composite photonic crystals were fabricated on ITO substrates and slide glass substrates by two different methods, modified dip-coating and coating first method. It was found that there were lots of line defects existing in the composite films fabricated by dip-coating method but few existing in the composite films fabricated by coating first method. The reflectance spectra were measured by UV-vis spectrometry and revealed that all the fabricated photonic crystals exhibit a photonic band gap in the normal direction. The optical properties of the core-shell structure strongly depended on the intrinsic defects in the films.


Communication networks, power grids, and transportation networks are all examples of networks whose performance depends on reliable connectivity of their underlying network components even in the presence of usual network dynamics due to mobility, node or edge failures, and varying traffic loads. Percolation theory quantifies the threshold value of a local control parameter such as a node occupation (resp., deletion) probability or an edge activation (resp., removal) probability above (resp., below) which there exists a giant connected component (GCC), a connected component comprising of a number of occupied nodes and active edges whose size is proportional to the size of the network itself. Any pair of occupied nodes in the GCC is connected via at least one path comprised of active edges and occupied nodes. The mere existence of the GCC itself does not guarantee that the long-range connectivity would be robust, e.g. to random link or node failures due to network dynamics. In this paper, we explore new percolation thresholds that guarantee not only spanning network connectivity, but also robustness. We define and analyze four measures of robust network connectivity, explore their interrelationships, and numerically evaluate the respective robust percolation thresholds for the 2D square lattice.


In this article, the authors introduce a combined approach for investigating currency funds by using methods from network science and risk factor analysis. They document a positive relationship between currency funds' style exposure, fund age, size, and connectedness, providing both economically and statistically significant results. The most important funds in the network can influence the currency market with significant exposure to the risk factors' carry, value, and trend. In general, the authors' approach helps investors to identify market interconnectedness; shows how risk can be transmitted; and highlights the factors that could represent significant idiosyncratic, systematic, and systemic economic risk. The authors argue that the interconnectedness is asymmetrical and the network is reciprocal. There are funds with significant importance scores. They provide a framework for practical implementation. TOPICS: Currency, analysis of individual factors/risk premia, statistical methods, risk management


The law of directors' duties in Canada has traditionally not been very concerned with creditors' interests. In the context of corporations who are nearing insolvency, the prevailing view is that the directors owe their fiduciary duty to the company as a whole. That of course begs the question of "who is the company?" Other Commonwealth countries have developed significant protections for creditors and with the Supreme Court of Canada decision in Peoples v. Wise , Canada has effectively caught up and surpassed other countries in this regard. The decision made clear that directors of a financially unstable company owe a duty to other stakeholders in the corporation besides shareholders, but this duty is not fiduciary in nature. In addition, the oppression remedy, located in the Canada Business and Corporations Act , is ample means by which creditors interests will receive protection, while it also ensures that directors' discretionary decisions will not be subject to unlimited liability.


Background: The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) lesion causes a deficit in joint stability and mobility, trophism and muscular strength, generating asymmetries between the lower limbs. Objective: To verify the effect of a physiotherapeutic protocol on the Lower Limb Symmetry Index (LLSI) and the correlation between strength and EMGs, pre and post reconstruction of the ACL. Methods: Twenty subjects (10 ACLrg + 10 CONTg) were evaluated regarding isometric force and electrical activity of knee extensors, knee flexors and hip abductors. Results: A significant increase (P<0.01) in knee extension and flexion strength and hip abduction strength were observed both for the affected limb and non-affected limb. Regarding the LLSI, a significant increase was observed for knee extension and hip abduction movements in the pre- and post-treatment comparison, and between ACLrg X CONTg (P<0.01) for the knee extension movement in the pre-reconstruction phase of the ACL. A very strong correlation (r=0.945; P<0.01) was also observed between the LLSI strength X EMGs during knee extension, pre- and post-reconstruction surgery. Conclusions: Six months after reconstruction of the ACL, there was an increase in strength and EMG activity of the knee flexor, knee extensor and hip abductor muscles, leveling the LLSI between ACLrg and the CONTg, however, with a significant correlation between the two variables (strength X EMGs) for only one of the three movements (knee extension).


Chalcopyrite bioleaching process using Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and a mixed culture of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans like bacterium was carried out. Two mineral particle sizes were evaluated, 200 and 325 Tyler mesh. The strains were adapted by gradually decreasing of the main energy sources and increasing in the mineral content. The experiments were performed in absence of ferrous sulphate and elemental sulfur. When the mixed culture was used, pH values were always over 2,1, indicating a probable passivation of Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans in the consortium. For both cultures, the Cu2+ dissolution occurred at relatively low redox potential values, around 400mV–450mV, while at high redox potential values, 550mV, chalcopyrite dissolution was inhibited. Copper lixiviation was around 40% for both tests. The Fourier Transform-Infrared spectra showed that the main oxidation phase is jarosite. The results showed that chalcopyrite oxidation is more dependent on the redox potential than particle size or type of culture used.


The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is responsible for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which has led scientists all over the world to push for the identification of novel therapies for COVID-19. The lack of a vaccine and specific treatment has led to a surge of novel therapies and their publicity in recent times. Under these unprecedented circumstances, a myriad of drugs used for other diseases is being evaluated and repositioned to treat COVID-19 (example- Remdesivir, Baricitinib). While multiple trials for potential drugs and vaccines are ongoing, and there are many unproven remedies with little or no supporting evidence. Presently, discussions are revolving around the use of multivitamins (Vitamin, C, D, A), minerals (selenium, zinc), probiotics, flavonoids, polyphenols, and herbal remedies (curcumin, artemisinin, herbal drinks). Our review delves further into the details of some of these controversial therapies for COVID-19.


Recent literature on biofuels has questioned whether biofuels policies are likely to reduce the negative effects of climate change. Our analysis explicitly takes into account that oil is a nonrenewable natural resource. A blending mandate has no effect on total cumulative oil extraction. However, extraction of oil is postponed as a consequence of the renewable fuel standard. Thus, if emissions from biofuels are negligible, the standard will have beneficial climate effects. The standard also reduces total fuel (i.e., oil plus biofuels) consumption initially. Hence, even if emissions from biofuels are nonnegligible, a renewable fuel standard may still reduce climate costs. In fact our simulations show that even for biofuels that are almost as emissions intensive as oil, a renewable fuel standard has beneficial climate effects.


In this work, we consider the existence of global solution and the
exponential decay of a nonlinear porous elastic system with time delay. The
nonlinear term as well as the delay acting in the equation of the volume
fraction. In order to obtain the existence and uniqueness of a global solution,
we will use the semigroup theory of linear operators and under a certain
relation involving the coefficients of the system together with a Lyapunov
functional, we will establish the exponential decay of the energy associated to
the system.


Plate-cone reticulated shell is a new type of space structures with good mechanical behavior and technical economy. In this paper, a continuum analysis method for plate-cone spherical reticulated shell which is equated to three layers thin shell is put forward. Based on mechanical characteristics of plate-cone spherical reticulated shell, the equivalent stiffness is derived through the theory of elasticity. Then, plate-cone spherical reticulated shell is equated to a special type of three layers thin shell working interactively, the governing differential equations are derived on the basis of the theory of thin shells, these differential equations being from the displacement method and the mixed method of derivation. The solution of this system of differential equations gives the displacements and internal forces of plate-cone spherical reticulated shell.


Bortezomib (Velcade) proved to be the standard element of refractory myeloma 2nd and 3rd line treatment, while many studies are suggesting excellent results in 1st line. Proteasome inhibition, the block of angiogenesis, modification of the NF-kappa-B system seems to be a challenging target in other malignant diseases, including refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML), as well. In vitro data clearly support, that bortezomib exerts antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic effects in different AML cell-lines, along with human AML cell cultures, and moreover bortezomib was able to restore, or at least improve anthracyclin and possibly ARA-C sensitivity in different cell-lines (including AML). More recently, a Phase I trial showed bortezomib monotherapy efficient (only in few percents) in childhood refractory acute leukemia. Some case reports were shown at ASH 2007. We have tried bortezomib containing first or second line combinations in 27 (14 female, 13 male, mean age 57.6 years) patients with refractory or poor risk AML, in a small retrospective survey. The combinations were as follows: HAM or Flag-Ida, combined with bortezomib 1,3 mg pro sqm, day O and seven). The following groups were considered as refractory or poor risk AML:

De novo AML, 2nd line: No response/remission to first line standard treatment ("3+7"), n=2 (Velcade- Flag-Ida treatment)

De novo AML 1st line: bilineal or biphenotypic (flow-cytometry) n=2 (Velcade-Flag- Ida treatment)

De novo AML with complex (numerical or more than 3 abnormalities) karyotype or normal karyotype with flt-3 TKD mutation, n=9, 1st line (Velcade-Flag-Ida n=6, Velcade- HAM protocol, n=3)

Secondary AML or AML with evidence of previous more than 6 mo duration high grade MDS, n=14, 1st line: (Velcade-Flag-Ida n=9, Velcade-HAM n=5)

RESULTS: Complete remission (CR) 12/27, partial remission (PR) 9/27, no remission 5/27, progression during treatment: 1/27.Best responses were seen in de novo cases. CR had been achieved in all patients of group 1 (two standard risk patients not responding to 3+7 protocol), and group 2 (biphenotypic, bilineal). The CR rate was quite appreciable in group 3, i.e. 6/9 (complex karyotype or normal karyotype with FLt-3 mutation – the response rate was excellent with flt-3 mutated cases). In group 4. (MDS, secondary AML) the results were less impressive. There were no major differences according to protocol (Flag-Ida or HAM)

Allogeneous stem cell transplantation could have been performed in 1st CR in two patients (one from group 1. and another from group 2.). One of them died due to relapse, the other one is in CR since then.

The combinations seem to be relatively safe. Induction related death rate was low (1 elderly patient acute thrombocytopenic bleeding with refractory MDS-AML). 5 other patients had severe neutropenic sepsis (2 with fatal outcome). Pulmonary syndrome, which may follow Velcade+ARA-C had not been documented. Other adverse events did not differ from the pattern observed with standard induction therapies.


The automatic generation of Chinese fonts is an important problem involved in many applications. The predominated methods for the Chinese font generation are based on the deep generative models, especially the generative adversarial networks (GANs). However, existing GAN-based methods (say, CycleGAN) for the Chinese font generation usually suffer from the mode collapse issue, mainly due to the lack of effective guidance information. This paper proposes a novel information guidance module called the skeleton guided channel expansion (SGCE) module for the Chinese font generation through integrating the skeleton information into the generator with the channel expansion way, motivated by the observation that the skeleton embodies both local and global structure information of Chinese characters. We conduct extensive experiments to show the effectiveness of the proposed module. Numerical results show that the mode collapse issue suffered by the known CycleGAN can be effectively alleviated by equipping with the proposed SGCE module, and the CycleGAN equipped with SGCE outperforms the state-of-the-art models in terms of four important evaluation metrics and visualization quality. Besides CycleGAN, we also show that the suggested SGCE module can be adapted to other models for Chinese font generation as a plug-and-play module to further improve their performance.


In late 1993, we decentralized critical care and emergency room (ER) laboratory testing services at our institution. An institutionalpolicy that limits patients' total length of stay in the ER to 4 hours prompted this change, as did continued complaints about the lengthy therapeutic STAT turnaround time (STAT TAT) for all critical care testing. Our goal was to decrease therapeutic STAT TAT by simultaneous intervention in the laboratory and nonlaboratory areas. To address the laboratory component, we decreased the laboratory STAT TAT from 1 hour to 45 minutes with an acceptable performance target for the ER greater than 95%. We improved the critical care unit (CCU) testing services by implementing satellite laboratories. Respiratory therapists now perform testing in the new satellite laboratories under the supervision of medical technologists. Recent review of quality assurance data showed an average TAT in the ER of less than 45 minutes and an average TAT in the CCU of less than 5 minutes (ULTRASTAT) or less than 10 minutes (STAT), with acceptable performance greater than 98%.


Solid oxide fuel cells integrated with gas turbine (SOFC-GT) systems are considered among the most promising power generation units, not only because of the high efficiency, low emissions and carbon capture ability, but also the flexibility to use different kinds of fuels such as natural gas, syngas and biogas directly. In the case of natural gas, Previous researches have demonstrated that solid oxide fuel cells possess the ability to utilize natural gas directly by reforming it inside the anode because of the high operating temperature. But the major problem of internal reforming is that it increases the temperature gradient at the leading edge of fuel cell which may lead to high thermal stress and damage the cells. On the other side, external reforming requires an additional reformer outside of fuel cell, which may increase the investment costs. Also, the amount of air needed to cool the fuel cell is doubled, compared with internal reforming. A full comparison between internal reforming and external reforming of the pressurized SOFC is needed for the hybrids application.
 In this paper, a real time equilibrium reformer model based on minimization of Gibbs free energy was built to couple with 1D real time solid oxide fuel cell model. An internal on-anode reforming SOFC stack configuration for hybrid SOFC-GT system application was compared with external reforming configurations with 800K, 900K and 1000K reforming temperatures. The results show that internal reforming provides better performance of SOFC stack in the case of high fuel utilization. However, the external reforming showed a higher stack efficiency and smaller stack size compared with on-anode reforming when keeping a relatively lower SOFC stack fuel utilization, necessarily for high hybrid efficiency. Results indicated that external and internal reforming of fuel needs to be optimized depending on different design conditions of the entire hybrid system in terms of efficiency and investment cost. This paper shows that the hybrid system provides the opportunities for thermal integration on performance and efficiency improvement over fuel cell anode reforming.


Plants have developed a fine-tuned complex of stress responses, among which one of the earliest signaling pathways after perception of stimuli is the evolutionary conserved mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade. These cascades are major pathways by which extracellular signals are transduced into internal responses. In this study, oligonucleotide primers were designed based on conserved regions of plant MAPK sequences available in pubic databases. A cDNA clone of 467 bp encoding a MAPK (designated CnMAPK1) was isolated by RT-PCR from leaves of coconut plantlets subjected to water stress using polyethylene glycol (PEG) treatment. CnMAPK1 was significantly homologous to other plant MAPKs viz., MPK7 and MPK5 from Zea mays, SIPK and MAPK6 from Oryza sativa and FLRS from Triticum aestivum (93% identity). Coconut MAPK belongs to the Serine/Threonine Kinases (STKs), Plant TEY MAPK subfamily group A. Molecular modeling of the coconut MAPK was also undertaken.


Background Interstitial lung disease (ILD) in primary Sjögren Syndrome (pSS) includes Non Specific Interstitial Pneumonia (NSIP), Usual Interstitial Pneumonia (UIP), Lymphocytic interstitial pneumonia (LIP) and Organized Pneumonia (OP), all related to poor outcome. The existing frequency of ILD is unknown in Argentina. Objectives To describe the frequency of ILD in pSS using the Argentinean Group of Study for Sjögren Syndrome (GESSAR) database and to identify the associated features of the disease. Methods GESSAR database included 374 patients who fulfilled the 2002 criteria for pSS. The diagnosis of ILD was based on High Resolution Chest Computed Tomography (CT) according to the American-European Consensus for ILD. A control/case analysis was performed including patients with (cases) and without ILD (controls) with a 4:1 ratio. Mann-Whitney was employed for numeric variables and chi square or fisher's test for categorical variables. A p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results Of the 374 patients analyzed, 95% were women. Mean age at inclusion was 55,67 (range 25-83) and 51,07 (range 21-80) at diagnosis. The frequency of ILD was 6,41% (24/374). Mean age at inclusion was 61,91 (range 51-72) and 52.2 at diagnosis (range 34-69). NSIP was found in 75%, followed by UIP in 20,2% and OP in 4,8%. Ground glass opacities: 87,5%, honeycombing: 20% (2 patients had both). FEV1 and FVC were below predicted values in 58,3% and 54,1% respectively. DLCO was done in 66,6%, with a mean value of 64,6% and 80,2% when DLCO was corrected with VA. Patients with ILD more frequently showed sialoadenitis (28%), purpura (16,6%), Raynaud's (20,8%), non-erosive arthritis (41%), polyclonal hypergammaglobulinemia (41%), hypocomplementemia (29%), leucopenia (28%), cryoglobulinemia (4,1%), PBC (4,5%), anti-Ro/SSA (80%), urticarial vasculitis (4,7%) and glomerulonephritis (9,52%). After case/control comparison, only glomerulonephritis reached statistical significance (p=0.042). Conclusions Although the frequency of ILD was characteristically low in our cohort, NSIP was the most frequent. A significant correlation was found between those patients with ILD and glomerulonephritis. Disclosure of Interest : None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.2619


In recent years solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC) interconnect components have proven to be a key-component accountable for the functionality of high temperature fuel cells. Amongst adequate thermal expansion and high temperature strength, highest oxidation resistance in anode and cathode gases under thermal cycling conditions is required in order to reach long term durability, particularly when using thin film light-weight components with particular focus on automotive applications. In order to match the challenging parameter profile Plansee developed the mechanically alloyed ITM, a ferritic P/M Fe26Cr alloy strengthened with additions of Y2O3 dispersoids, since it has been observed that apart from their HT strengthening effect, which is of specific interest for thin sheets components, finest ODS particles reduce the growth and enhance the adhesion of the forming oxide layers. The latter effect is of particular interest in applications where alloys are exposed to HT cyclic conditions. In this work the nucleation phase of the oxide scale formation on P/M ODS Fe26Cr ITM is compared to that on a reference ingot steel Fe22Cr in typical anode gases containing significant amounts of H2, CO and approximately 3% H2O as well as in laboratory air at 850°C. Thermal cycling oxidation tests following the COTEST standard up to 168h are carried out in both environments. Moreover cyclic oxidation tests are performed in dry anode gas. Detailed studies of oxide scale formation and evolution by means of electron microscopy of cross sections as well as oxide surfaces are undertaken.