This thesis presents a hierarchical segmentation scheme for The segmentation of lungs from volumetric CT images that concerns variational segmentation methods, namely geodesic active surfaces (GAS) and active surfaces without edges(ASWE), a volumetric similarity registration technique, statistical shape modelling using principal component analysis (PCA), and volumetric texture modelling. GAS and ASWE are 3-D extensions of their 2-D version, geodesic active contours (GAC) and active contours without edges (ACWE). The two models are generalized into a uni-fied framework, referred to as integrated active contours (IAS). Numerical implementation methods are derived for 3-D and the experiments are conducted both in 2-D and 3-D on synthetic and CT images. Global and local properties of active contours/surfaces under different parameter settings are presented and several applications of these models are proposed based on experimental results. The similarity registration technique aims tom find an optimal match between shapes with respect to rotation, scale and translation parameters. In this registration method, PCA is initially employed to calculate the principal axes of shapes. These principal axes are used to obtain a coarse match between shapes to be registered. Then geometric moments are exploited to estimate the isotropic scale parameter. The rotation and translation parameters are estimated by phase correlation techniques which take advantage of the fast Fourier transform (FFT). Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed technique, compared with the standard iterative gradient descent method, is fast, robust in the presence of severe noise, and suitable in registering various types of topologically complex volumetric shapes. Shape decomposition using PCA is the current state of the art and is widely drawn on in building deformable shape templates. The major problem to be solved in the modelling is to find proper PCA shape parameters that best approximate a novel shape of the same class. A comparison of popular methods for parameter estimation in the literature is presented and a hybrid coarse-to-?ne method based on previous works is proposed. The method achieves satisfactory accuracy over previous works and is validated by a database of lung shapes. A hierarchical shape-based segmentation method that incorporates GAS, ASWE, similarity registration, and statistical shape modelling is proposed to extract lungs from volumetric low-dose CT images. The method is extensively experimented with a large variety of images including synthetic images with noise and occlusions, low-dose CT images with artificial noise and synthetic tumors, and a low-dose CT database. The results indicate that the method is robust against noise and occlusions. Last but not least, a novel volumetric texture modelling technique based on isotropic Gaussian Markov random field (IGMRF) is developed and applied to low-dose CT images of lungs. Based on the proposed texture modelling, a hard classification approach is suggested to provide proper initializations for the shape-based segmentation method and enables the segmentation to achieve a higher degree of automation. The method is evaluated by low-dose CT images with synthetic tumors and the low-dose CT database. The experimental results suggest its suitability for offering proper initializations for shape-based segmentation.


The Bay Point II Apartments Case Study focuses on the evaluation of a development opportunity for a 10-acre parcel adjacent to Lake Ontario in Greece, New York. After The Presidio Group acquired a multifamily portfolio (which included the parcel), Troy Toller, president and chief operating officer, must decide what to do with the parcel. Toller puts together an ad hoc team to determine options for the land. The team settles on three options but must determine the profitability of each opportunity. The Bay Point case study assists students with financial modeling and critical thinking skills vital to the real estate development decision-making processes and provides opportunities to consider quantitative and qualitative issues in real estate.


The issue of insecticide resistance to Helicoverpa insects is of increasing concern to the Australian cotton industry. In this paper we begin to consider this issue using bioeconomic modelling and analysis. We develop management strategies at the farm level within an integrated resistance management framework. Because of our emphasis on resistance, we first discuss an index of resistance risk that can be applied to chemical and other strategies. After this initial filter is used, the resulting strategies can be evaluated in a bio-economic framework. The Helicoverpa Armigera and Punctigera Simulation (HEAPS) model can be used to evaluate the entomological impacts of alternative strategies for insect control. The method of analysis proposed involves dynamic optimisation techniques based on predicted stock and flow outcomes from the simulation and other models.


Mammary gland tissue changes appearance and functionality in different sequential steps. The tissue of virgin, pregnant, or lactating mammary glands changes controlled by finely regulated physiological processes. A fourth stage (involution), triggered upon weaning, involves remodeling, and the gland regresses to resemble a prepregnant stage. This highly complex process characterized by a high degree of epithelial cell death and tissue remodeling can be divided into phases, which can be independent of each other. The present article describes a variety of signaling pathway components, transcription factors, and mRNA stabilization proteins that play a role in the regulation of cell fate during the involution process. These molecular actors are finely related in health to trig - ger the delicate mechanism that govern involution after weaning, leaving the gland in a latent stage until needed again. Importantly, it has been shown that this process may contribute to cancer development in the years following childbirth, mainly because of the involvement of inflammatory and remodeling factors.


How can an intelligent agent learn an effective representation of its world? This dissertation applies the psychological principle of cognitive economy to the problem of representation in reinforcement learning. Psychologists have shown that humans cope with difficult tasks by simplifying the task domain, focusing on relevant features and generalizing over states of the world which are "the same" with respect to the task. This dissertation defines a principled set of requirements for representations in reinforcement learning, by applying these principles of cognitive economy to the agent's need to choose the correct actions in its task.
The dissertation formalizes the principle of cognitive economy into algorithmic criteria for feature extraction in reinforcement learning. To do this, it develops mathematical definitions of feature importance, sound decisions, state compatibility, and necessary distinctions, in terms of the rewards expected by the agent in the task. The analysis shows how the representation determines the apparent values of the agent's actions, and proves that the state compatibility criteria presented here result in representations which satisfy a criterion for task learnability.
The dissertation reports on experiments that illustrate one implementation of these ideas in a system which constructs its representation as it goes about learning the task. Results with the puck-on-a-hill task and the pole-balancing task show that the ideas are sound and can be of practical benefit. The principal contributions of this dissertation are a new framework for thinking about feature extraction in terms of cognitive economy, and a demonstration of the effectiveness of an algorithm based on this new framework.


The transcendental Logic of disjunctive synthesis presents one of the more subtle fine points in Kant's Critical system. Kant's own lectures on the subject appearing in Logik can be difficult to follow owing to Kant's annoying habit of not identifying, much less defining, many of his key technical terms. Compounding the problem for the English-speaking world is the fact that English translations of Kant's gesammelte Schriften are frequently misleading. This occurs innocently enough. In order to properly translate, a translator must translate the author's ideas, not merely his words. Because Kant's own words present numerous ambiguities of interpretation, and because translators of his Logic works tend to be logicians themselves and habitually accustomed to interpreting logic terminology in traditional ways, Kant's very nontraditional system of Logic has a tendency to not "travel" well into English. Further compounding the problem is the fact that other key translations that translators frequently call upon to interpret Kant's meanings, such as Critique of Pure Reason, are also sometimes extremely poor, misleading, or even technically wrong. Kemp Smith's "standard" translation of Critique of Pure Reason is probably the foremost example of a translation that is so bad one is better off not reading it at all.


Two novel small molecular non-fullerene acceptors, BF-PDI2 and BF-PDI4, respectively, carrying two and four peripheral perylenediimide moieties, are obtained from appositely functionalized 9,9′-bifluorenylidene and perylenediimide via Suzuki cross-coupling reaction. Owing to their twisted molecular structures, these acceptors possess good solution processability and exhibit relatively weak intermolecular interactions in both solution and the solid state as evidenced from their spectral characteristics. Both display an optical bandgap of 1.94 eV, and their LUMOs as estimated from electrochemical data are −3.83 and −3.92 eV for BF-PDI2 and BF-PDI4, respectively. Both can be utilized as a fullerene acceptor replacement in bulk heterojunction organic solar cells with a polymer donor, PBT7-Th, affording reasonable power conversion efficiencies of 2.46 and 4.43%, respectively.


As colleges and universities aim for greater diversity in their undergraduate populations, one population researchers consider is first-generation students, or students whose parents do not have a college education. The research reported here addresses first-generation college students' discipline of study (e.g., biology) and its impact on their persistence. Exploring how female, low-income, first-generation college students evaluate their persistence within undergraduate science learning environments contributes to understanding how gender and social class influence persistence in STEM fields. Two White, female, low-income, first-generation college students were interviewed during their last year in college. Using constant comparative coding methods and Ricoeur's (Ricoeur [1984] Time and narrative, Volume I (K. McLaughlin & D. Pellauer, Trans.). Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press) description of narrative construction, common tensions were identified related to participants' descriptions of undergraduate science as competitive. These persistence-related tensions are (1) differing experiences in lecture and lab, (2) managing time to work, study, and maintain family relationships, and (3) weighing their personal (family) priorities against the longer time it would take them to reach their science-related career goals. These tensions depict a traditional undergraduate science learning environment focused on individuals and abstract knowledge that positions female lower-income students as "academic non-competitors" because of the importance of kinship ties and physical skills in their cultural background (Lareau [2002] American Sociological Review 67(5), 747–776; Lareau [2003] Unequal childhoods: Class, race, and family life. Berkeley: University of California Press). The participants' experiences support that the gendered and classed expectations needed to succeed in a science environment could be somewhat alleviated through reforms to traditional lecture and laboratory undergraduate science courses that promote cooperative student learning groups and integration of lecture with hands-on activities. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 50: 802–825, 2013


Lung metastasis is an important cause for the low 5-year survival rate of colorectal cancer patients. Understanding the metabolic profile of lung metastasis of colorectal cancer is important for developing molecular diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. We carried out the metabonomic profiling of lung tissue samples on a mouse lung metastasis model of colorectal cancer using 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR). The lung tissues of mice were collected at different intervals after marine colon cancer cell line CT-26 was intravenously injected into BALB/c mice. The distinguishing metabolites of lung tissue were investigated using 1H-NMR-based metabonomic assay, which is a highly sensitive and non-destructive method for biomarker identification. Principal component analysis (PCA), partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) were applied to analyze 1H-NMR profiling data to seek potential biomarkers. All of the 3 analyses achieved excellent separations between the normal and metastasis groups. A total of 42 metabolites were identified, ~12 of which were closely correlated with the process of metastasis from colon to lung. These altered metabolites indicated the disturbance of metabolism in metastatic tumors including glycolysis, TCA cycle, glutaminolysis, choline metabolism and serine biosynthesis. Our findings firstly identified the distinguishing metabolites in mouse colorectal cancer lung metastasis models, and indicated that the metabolite disturbance may be associated with the progression of lung metastasis from colon cancer. The altered metabolites may be potential biomarkers that provide a promising molecular approach for clinical diagnosis and mechanistic study of colorectal cancer with lung metastasis.


As we see a growing variety of network and application behaviors, it becomes more important that protocols adapt to their surroundings. Building adaptive protocols is complicated, and therefore we have considered building hybrid protocols that switch between specialized protocols. We show for which communication properties this is a correct solution, and classify these using a new concept called meta-properties. We also show how well these switches perform.


This aim of this study is to examine the application of tritik technique in creating exquisite batik pattern design. Essentially, tritik is a technique in batik pattern making that is almost similar to the "tie-and-dip" (ikat-dan- celup) technique; however, the subtle difference between the two techniques lies in the aspect of fabric treading, with the former being able to produce elegant and appealing patterns. This study used a qualitative approach using an observation method in which the researchers observed the creation of such art through studio practice. Essentially, the examination of the practice of such a technique was carried out based on direct observation and unstructured interviews, and the collection of textile products. The research findings showed the experimentation of the tritik technique in the textile pattern designs was highly effective, as evidenced by the exquisite aesthetical effects on the surface of the fabrics, such as the formation of elegant lines consisting of dots and of dashed lines and 3-dimensional texture. In addition, the research findings revealed that the quality of fabrics, the type of colors, and sewing polarity heavily influenced such exquisite tritik pattern design. Collectively, all the above elements were intertwined that helped create appealing, beautiful tritik pattern design infused with high aesthetical values.


Concept maps are tools for organizing and representing knowledge. They include concepts, usually enclosed in circles or boxes of some type, and relationships between concepts or propositions, indicated by a connecting line between two concepts. Words on the line specify the relationship between the two concepts. Concept maps measured students' understanding of the complexity of concepts, and interrelationships. Researchers found that concept mapping helped students improve the performance on high cognitive level questions, increase the accuracy and complexity of the students' knowledge, and have a more positive attitude toward learning science.This study aims to show the impact of using concept maps as a brainstorming to help students organize their own thinking (individual or group) and idea development process  to improve their writing  skills. It also reviews the traditional techniques used in teaching writing to EFL and  identifies concept mapping  techniques along with as an application procedure to enhance the writing skill. To achieve the aim of the study of verifying the effectiveness of the concept mapping strategy on the performance of the selected sample which is randomly chosen from  the second year students of department of English at college of languages and human sciences / Garmian university,the adopted design which is "Posttest Only Control Group Design" is used.
In this design ,only the experimental group receives the independent variable (concept mapping).After that ,the two groups(control and experimental) are tested and their scores are compared to ascertain the effect of the independent variable .The statistical analysis of the data was carried out by using SPSS. The results indicated that the learners, who have been taught through concept maps produced well-connected paragraph , enough supporting ideas, improved cohesion and coherence, content paragraph structure and enough length in writing. The results manifested that the hierarchical structure of the concept  mapping techniques used in the pre-writing process enhanced the EFL learners'writing.


PURPOSE
Exhaled carbon monoxide and arterial blood carboxyhemoglobin concentrations increase in inflammatory pulmonary diseases. The present study was undertaken to elucidate whether arteriovenous carboxyhemoglobin (a-vHb-CO) concentration differences are also useful to define the site of inflammation, either in the lung or organs other than the lung.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We examined concentrations of carboxyhemoglobin in both arterial and peripheral venous blood and exhaled carbon monoxide in patients with acute pulmonary inflammation including bronchial asthma (n = 18) and pneumonia (n = 33), and those in patients with extrapulmonary inflammatory diseases, including acute pyelonephritis (n = 28) and active rheumatoid arthritis (n = 16).

RESULTS
The values of carboxyhemoglobin in both arterial and peripheral venous blood were significantly higher in patients with pulmonary and extrapulmonary inflammation compared with those in control subjects (n = 22). Furthermore, a-vHb-CO differences in patients with inflammatory pulmonary diseases were higher than those in patients with acute pyelonephritis and patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and than those in control subjects. The a-vHb-CO differences correlated with the WBC count of peripheral venous blood in patients with pneumonia. In patients with bronchial asthma, the a-vHb-CO differences inversely correlated with FEV(1), although they did not correlate with WBC count of peripheral venous blood. The a-vHb-CO differences in patients with acute pyelonephritis were higher than those in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis.

CONCLUSION
The present study suggests that a-vHb-CO differences may be a useful means to define the site of inflammation, either in the lung or organs other than the lung, in patients with a fever of unknown origin. The large a-vHb-CO differences may be caused by carbon monoxide production in pulmonary inflammation.


Caffeine is widely known for its ability to arouse the central nervous system. However, it is unclear whether caffeine can improve muscle performance. Previous studies have shown that caffeine has no significant effect on muscles during contraction. We conducted this experiment to determine if caffeine acts as a potential stimulant to the resting biceps, and unlike previous studies, ours was conducted on the resting human body after caffeine intake. The state of muscle was assessed with surface electromyography (sEMG), which non-invasively measures the muscle signals, or the level of electric activity of muscles. The sEMG results collected before caffeine intake and after 45 minutes of intake were compared to test the hypothesis that caffeine intake significantly changes the sEMG results. We also measured sEMG 10 hours after intake to investigate if there were any significant changes after caffeine is expected to be completely metabolized in the body and cleared from the bloodstream. We found that the average amplitudes were significantly increased in the sEMG 45 minutes after caffeine intake compared to before caffeine intake. Also, there were no significant changes in the sEMG 10 hours after caffeine intake, after most of the caffeine would have cleared from the bloodstream. We concluded that caffeine has significant potential to affect the resting biceps and suggest further research to study the contrasting outcomes from our experiments and previous research.


The phenomenon of glucose catabolite repression was studied in E. coli mutants inable to transport this carbohydrate. The pts 1, H mutant P34 was much less sensitive to the repressive effect of glucose on beta-galactosidase synthesis than the parent type. The 1103 mutant devoid of enzyme 1 of the phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent phosphotransferase system (PTS) behaves in the same way as P34 mutant after addition of glucose to casamino acid mineral medium. However, in minimal medium with succinate as the sole source of carbon, cells of the 1103 mutant show enhanced sensibility to transient glucose repression. The effect of hypersensibility disappears when the lac I mutation leading to constitutive the beta-galactosidase synthesis is introduced in 1103 mutant. It is shown that the enhanced sensibility of beta-galactosidase synthesis to glucose transient repression in 1103 mutant is an effect of the aburpt decrease in its growth rate in the presence of succinate and most probably this decrease leads to "inducer exclusion" of the lac operon. It is also shown that if one introduces the P34 mutation in strain JD3 devoid of one of the enzymes II for glucose (and due to this resistant to glucose catabolite respression) then the level of resistance in double mutant does not increase in spite of considerable supression of 14C glucose accumulation. In connection with this the role is discussed of separate components of the E. coli K 12 glucose transport system in realization of the phenomenon of catabolite repression.


Background Osteoporosis in transplanted patients is a well-documented event, and shows a multifactorial etiology. Intervention and prevention in these patients could be related to a secondary osteoporotic effect decreasing (as a reduced fracture incidence), as well as a reduced sanitary cost associated to fracture treatment and intervention.

Objectives The identification of osteoporotic fracture incidence reduction in hepatic transplanted patients with preventive osteoporotic treatment.

Methods We considered 142 hepatic transplanted patients (that had undergone surgery at the reference hospital) immediately after the transplantation and at one-year after monitoring. Demographic and clinical data about symptomatic fractures and radiological fracture diagnosis where collected. All patients were administered 1000 mg Ca daily, 5600 IU vitD weekly and 200 IU calcitonin nasally during the first three months followed by oral Bophosphonates (as is described on bibliography).

Results Our samples series consists of 76% of men and 24% of women. The average transplant age is 53.61 years, and no significant variations of this variable in both sexes were observed.

The clinical diagnosis on which the transplant is based is shown in the following table:

View this table:

Mainly, transplants are due to VHC and chronic enolism. In 23 patients basal fractures were observed (all vertebral), and after treatment 9 new fractures (8 vertebrals and 1 in ankle) were observed. In this way, fracture rate decreases from 13.38% at trasplant to 7.9% at annual monitoring, with a relative decrease of the fracture risk in 40.95%, even in HCV patients a decrease from 17.34% to 5.79% 1 year later was observed (relative risk of decrease 66.6%).

Conclusions Preventive osteoporosis treatment in hepatic transplanted patients leads to a decreasing on osteoporotic fracture risk, as is shown on control results and the monitoring of clinical results in these patients. Thus, it is possible to reach an osteoporotic post-transplant event decrease, as well as the decrease of the sanitary derived-cost.

Disclosure of Interest None Declared


SUMMARY: A methicillin-resistant strain of Staphylococcus aureus (no. 5982) contained cocci with differing intrinsic resistances to methicillin. Most of the population was slightly more resistant than a typical methicillin-sensitive staphylococcal isolate, but a few were mutants with ability to grow at markedly increased concentrations of methicillin (500 μg./ml. or more). Penicillinase production was not essential for methicillin resistance since a penicillinase-negative variant of strain 5982 was able to produce penicillinase-negative strains with high degrees of methicillin resistance. Methicillin-sensitive strains also gave rise to mutants with increased intrinsic resistance to methicillin, but, in the mutants from methicillin-resistant strains, the increase in resistance was much greater. The mutants were characteristically slower growing than the wild type. Many were small colony variants which reverted to the parent type when passed in liquid media. With 5% NaCl-methicillin plates strain 5982 exhibited a phenotypic increase in resistance. On such plates a few L-type colonies were produced at high concentrations of methicillin.


Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a major staple food crop grown worldwide on >220 million ha. Climate change is regarded to have severe effect on wheat yields, and unpredictable drought stress is one of the most important factors. Breeding can significantly contribute to the mitigation of climate change effects on production by developing drought-tolerant wheat germplasm. The objective of our study was to determine the annual genetic gain for grain yield (GY) of the internationally distributed Semi-Arid Wheat Yield Trials, grown during 2002–2003 to 2013–2014 and developed by the Bread Wheat Breeding program at the CIMMYT. We analyzed data from 740 locations across 66 countries, which were classified in low-yielding (LYE) and medium-yielding (MYE) environments according to a cluster analysis. The rate of GY increase (GYC) was estimated relative to four drought-tolerant wheat lines used as constant checks. Our results estimate that the rate of GYC in LYE was 1.8% (38.13 kg ha−1 yr−1), whereas in MYE, it was 1.41% (57.71 kg ha−1 yr−1). The increase in GYC across environments was 1.6% (48.06 kg ha−1 yr−1). The pedigrees of the highest yielding lines through the coefficient of parentage analysis indicated the utilization of three primary sources—'Pastor', 'Baviacora 92', and synthetic hexaploid derivatives—to develop drought-tolerant, high and stably performing wheat lines. We conclude that CIMMYT's wheat breeding program continues to deliver adapted germplasm for suboptimal conditions of diverse wheat growing regions worldwide.


The maxilla named by T. H. Huxley Dasygnathus longidens, from the Trias of Findrassie near Elgin, is re-described. A pterygoid from the same locality is referred to this species and described for the first time. These two bones indicate a large, carnivorous pseudosuchian apparently allied to Erythrosuchus. A detailed description is given of the osteology of the pseudosuchian Stagonolepis, amplified by a large number of hitherto undescribed specimens. The material (considered to represent at least twenty-one individuals) shows an almost complete segregation into two size-groups, distinguished by only a few minor morphological differences of the postcranial skeleton. The larger and small individuals are considered to be males and females respectively, of the one species S. robertsoni Agassiz. Study of Stagonolepis has demonstrated its close relationship to Aetosaurus from the Stubensandstein (Keuper) of Stuttgart. The latter genus, however, was in urgent need of revision. Accordingly a brief account is included of the principal respects in which previous descriptions of this form require modification. Specimens referred by von Huene (1921) to A. crassicauda are shown to have been misidentified in many cases; this material is a composite of a small coelurosaur and a true aetosaurid. Some modifications are also suggested to previous accounts of Typothorax and Desmatosuchus from the Trias of North America, and new restorations are given of the skulls of these forms. The extremely close relationship between Stagonolepis and Aëtosaurus, perhaps even indicating generic identity, makes unavoidable the merging of the two families previously founded on these genera. On grounds of priority the name Aetosauridae is retained for the taxonomic unit which includes Aëtosaurus, Stagonolepis, Typothorax and Desmatosuchus as principal members. A restricted diagnosis of the family Aëtosauridae is given, based on the above four forms, and this is followed by a review of the genera which have from time to time been included in the former families Stagonolepidae and Aëtosauridae. The great majority of these genera are excluded from the group as now defined. Possible evolutionary trends within the family are briefly outlined; the sequence of increase of specialization appears to be Aëtosaurus, Stagonolepis, Typothorax, Desmatosuchus. The conclusions of Dollo (1884), Adams (1919) and others concerning the function of the preorbital fossa in archosaurian reptiles are endorsed, and it is suggested that a trend towards the reduction of the anterior pterygoid muscle took place in aetosaurids, in parallel with a similar trend in ornithischian dinosaurs. Many features of the skeleton of aetosaurids recall the Ornithischia. These include the elongate naris, reduced dentition, vertical or forwardly inclined quadrate, slipper-shaped jaw, small skull and well-developed dermal armour. However, a direct ancestor-descendant relationship appears to be ruled out by the position of the supratemporal fossa, reduction of the infratemporal opening, probable loss of the coronoid and typically pseudosuchian pubis, although the aëtosaurids may well lie close to the root-stock of the Ornithischia. The mode of life of the aetosaurids is considered, and it is concluded that these animals were herbivorous, or possibly feeders upon invertebrates obtained, in the case of Stagonolepis at least, by digging with the peculiar expanded snout-tip and dentary rostrum. A simple muscular mechanism is postulated whereby this could be effected. The stratigraphical implications of these studies are briefly examined and the suggestion, based primarily on the close relationship between Stagonolepis and Aëtosaurus, is put forward that the Triassic sandstone of Elgin occupies a higher horizon than has previously been considered.


Cadherins are a family of cell adhesion molecules that exhibit calcium- dependent, homophilic binding. Their function depends on both an HisAlaVal sequence in the first extracellular domain, EC1, and the interaction of a conserved cytoplasmic region with intracellular proteins. T-cadherin is an unusual member of the cadherin family that lacks the HisAlaVal motif and is anchored to the membrane through a glycosyl phosphatidylinositol moiety (Ranscht, B., and M. T. Dours- Zimmermann. 1991. Neuron. 7:391-402). To assay the function of T- cadherin in cell adhesion, we have transfected T-cadherin cDNA into CHO cells. Two proteins, mature T-cadherin and the uncleaved T-cadherin precursor, were produced from T-cadherin cDNA. The T-cadherin proteins differed from classical cadherins in several aspects. First, the uncleaved T-cadherin precursor was expressed, together with mature T- cadherin, on the surface of the transfected cells. Second, in the absence of calcium, T-cadherin was more resistant to proteolytic cleavage than other cadherins. Lastly, in contrast to classical cadherins, T-cadherin was not concentrated into cell-cell contacts between transfected cells in monolayer cultures. In cellular aggregation assays, T-cadherin induced calcium-dependent, homophilic adhesion which was abolished by treatment of T-cadherin-transfected cells with phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C. These results demonstrate that T-cadherin is a functional cadherin that differs in several properties from classical cadherins. The function of T-cadherin in homophilic cell recognition implies that the mechanism of T-cadherin- induced adhesion is distinct from that of classical cadherins.


ABSTRACT This study aims to relate information about the waiting times of ride-sourcing services, with specific reference to Uber, using socioeconomic variables from São Paulo, Brazil. The intention is to explore the possibility of using this measure as an accessibility proxy. A database was created with the mean waiting time data per district, which was aggregated to a set of socioeconomic and transport infrastructure variables. From this database, a multiple linear regression model was built. In addition, the stepwise method selected the most significant variables. Moran's I test confirmed the spatial distribution pattern of the measures, motivating the use of a spatial autoregressive model. The results indicate that physical variables, such as area and population density, are important to explain this relation. However, the mileage of district bus lines and the non-white resident rate were also significant. Besides, the spatial component indicates a possible relation to accessibility.


The present experiment compared the effects of two different interfaces on text-based, computer-mediated communication occurring in real time. In one condition, dyads attempted to solve a figure-matching task while using a WYSIWIS interface in which messages are transmitted character by character. In the other condition, dyads used a standard IRC (Internet Relay Chat) interface in which messages are composed privately and then sent as a message unit. Comparison of the two conditions revealed superior task performance in the IRC condition and more frequent use of verbal turn coordination devices in the WYSIWIS condition. The results are interpreted as evidence for the importance of turn coordination devices in text-based CMC.


An analysis of consumer preferences on the food market in Poland indicates that freshness, sensory properties and healthiness play a key role among criteria influencing the choice of food products. Although the satisfaction of Polish consumers is still limited by economic restrictions, the quality and safety of food, particularly that of animal origin, represent factors of great importance. On the one hand, safety aspects have become especially significant by a growing demand for natural, non-changed, minimal processed food, e.g. food chilled only, or, on the other hand, by a demand for convenience food products demonstrating desirable quality and durability. In relation to preservation of animal food like: meat, poultry, fish, milk or eggs etc., main interests are focused on the use of new physical methods, including high hydrostatic pressure, ultrasounds, pulsed electric fields with high voltage, electromagnetic radiation – especially ultraviolet light, pulsed light, ionizing radiation or even radio waves. New combined methods for food preservation based on the so-called hurdle technology are already proposed for practical use. This manuscript is a brief presentation of innovative preservation methods of animal food mentioned above in respect of its safety issues. The authors emphasize a variety of new available food preservation techniques, illustrating their effectiveness with results of several studies, including results of own experiments.


Objective: To analyze the influence of informal caregivers on the functional independence of older adults in the postoperative period of proximal femoral fracture due to falls. Method: It is an integrative review of a corpus for analysis that gathered 23 articles, between 2002 and 2012, from databases "Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde" (Latin-American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature in Health Sciences), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, US National Library of Medicine and Scopus. Results: There was a predominance of studies by Chinese authors and nurses. The analysis of the studies evidenced that falls followed by fractures lead to dependence of older adults and, consequently, an overload to caregivers. Moreover, older adults and caregivers showed a need for support in the rehabilitation process. Conclusions: Informal caregivers still need to be included in care planning and to be qualified for such care by health professionals, since they positively influence functional independence in the postoperative period.


Animals are able to form associative memories and benefit from past experience. In classical conditioning an animal is trained to associate an initially neutral stimulus by pairing it with a stimulus that triggers an innate response. The neutral stimulus is commonly referred to as conditioned stimulus (CS) and the reinforcing stimulus as unconditioned stimulus (US). The underlying neuronal mechanisms and structures are an intensely investigated topic.

The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is a prime model animal to investigate the mechanisms of learning. In this thesis we propose fundamental circuit motifs that explain aspects of aversive olfactory learning as it is observed in the fruit fly. Changing parameters of the learning paradigm affects the behavioral outcome in different ways.

The relative timing between CS and US affects the hedonic value of the CS. Reversing the order changes the behavioral response from conditioned avoidance to conditioned approach. We propose a timing-dependent biochemical reaction cascade, which can account for this phenomenon.

In addition to form odor-specific memories, flies are able to associate a specific odor intensity. In aversive olfactory conditioning they show less avoidance to lower and higher intensities of the same odor. However the layout of the first two olfactory processing layers does not support this kind of learning due to a nested representation of odor intensity. We propose a basic circuit motif that transforms the nested monotonic intensity representation to a non-monotonic representation that supports intensity specific learning.

Flies are able to bridge a stimulus free interval between CS and US to form an association. It is unclear so far where the stimulus trace of the CS is represented in the fly's nervous system. We analyze recordings from the first three layers of olfactory processing with an advanced machine learning approach. We argue that third order neurons are likely to harbor the stimulus trace.


AIMS: To determine the causes of ovarian granulomatous inflammation and to discuss the differential diagnoses. METHODS: The pathological features of all ovarian granulomas identified by pathology SNOMED coding in Northern Ireland over a 13 year period were reviewed. Case notes of patients were also reviewed. RESULTS: The most common cause of ovarian granuloma was a foreign body reaction to suture material introduced at a previous operative procedure (15 cases). Other causes were Crohn's disease (four cases), previous diathermy (two cases), tuberculosis (two cases), a necrotising reaction following previous surgery (two cases), endometriosis (one case), and bacterial tubo-ovarian abscess (one case). In five cases, no cause was apparent for the granulomatous inflammation. In these, varying numbers of small, well circumscribed cortical granulomas were present. These cases correspond to so-called "idiopathic" cortical granulomas. CONCLUSION: The study confirms the wide range of conditions which can give rise to ovarian granulomatous inflammation.


The purpose of this study was to compare a recent contemporaneous experience between laparoscopic (LS) and open (OS) splenectomy in children. All splenectomy cases between 1994 and 1999 at our institution were reviewed. The study included open and laparoscopic cases performed according to surgeon preference. Emergency splenectomies for trauma were excluded. The patient record was reviewed for the diagnosis, indications, postoperative length of stay, operative technique, postoperative complications, blood loss/blood transfusion, total amount of parenteral narcotics, and time to resumption of oral intake. Chi-square and t tests were used to compare measured differences for statistical significance. Between May 1994 and December 1999, 52 splenectomies were performed at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. Of these, 45 were elective operations with 29 open and 16 laparoscopic procedures. During four OS and five LS operations a concomitant cholecystectomy was performed. The median patient age was 9.2 years (range 0.5 to 17.3). There was no statistical difference between the two groups in terms of age, weight, American Society of Anesthesiologists class, or estimated blood loss. There were no immediate postoperative complications in either group. There were no conversions from LS to OS. The mean duration of surgery was 264 minutes (LS) versus 169 minutes (OS) (P < 0.05). The average time to first oral intake was shorter in patients undergoing LS (1.1 vs 1.6 days, P < 0.05) and the mean postoperative length of stay was also shorter in the LS group (1.3 vs 3.1 days, P < 0.05). The use of postoperative intravenous narcotics (in morphine-equivalent doses) was significantly less in LS patients than in OS patients (7.5 mg or 0.15 mg/kg vs 46.9 mg or 1.5 mg/kg, P < 0.001), as was the need for PCA pump analgesia (90% in the OS group vs 25% in LS group, P < 0.01). Overall the average hospital charge (anesthesia fee, narcotics charge, and hospital room charge) was $5400 (range $4240–6250) in the OS group and $4950 (range $4450–6240) in the LS group (P < 0.05). Among the nine patients undergoing splenectomy with cholecystectomy, findings between the OS and LS groups were similar except for one late complication consisting of a diaphragmatic hernia in an LS patient. Both LS and OS with or without a concomitant procedure can be accomplished safely in children. LS appears to result in longer operative times but shorter lengths of stay, earlier first oral intake, and significantly fewer requirements for intravenous narcotics; all of these contribute to a reduction in hospital charges compared with the open operation.


In order to keep subscribers up-to-date with the latest developments in their field, this current awareness service is provided by John Wiley & Sons and contains newly-published material on comparative and functional genomics. Each bibliography is divided into 16 sections. 1 Reviews & symposia; 2 General; 3 Large-scale sequencing and mapping; 4 Genome evolution; 5 Comparative genomics; 6 Gene families and regulons; 7 Pharmacogenomics; 8 Large-scale mutagenesis programmes; 9 Functional complementation; 10 Transcriptomics; 11 Proteomics; 12 Protein structural genomics; 13 Metabolomics; 14 Genomic approaches to development; 15 Technological advances; 16 Bioinformatics. Within each section, articles are listed in alphabetical order with respect to author. If, in the preceding period, no publications are located relevant to any one of these headings, that section will be omitted


Abstract Over the last 20,000 years, one third of the continental land mass of Australia, or 2.12 million km2, has been drowned by postglacial sea-level rise. Much of this drowned territory is thought to have been occupied by humans. Where archaeological remains have survived inundation, they can be investigated by underwater and airborne remote sensing, survey, and ground-truthing. This study of the Dampier Archipelago of North West Australia is contextualized by a review of the current state of the art of underwater prehistory. In the absence of known sites, we propose terrestrial analogy as a predictive tool for targeting submerged archaeological sites. Geological and topographic contexts are important for assessing preservation potential as is identifying landforms and features around which people may have focused occupation. Analysis of more than 2,500 known archaeological sites from the extraordinarily rich Dampier Archipelago reveals that the vast majority are rock art sites, but these are interspersed by a significant number of artifact scatters, myriad stone structures, shell middens, and quarry and reduction areas. The majority of these sites are focused on coastal and interior valleys, associated uplands, and coastal embayments. While over two thirds of sites occur on granophyre and basalt substrates, the others are located on Quaternary sediments. Regional research on nearby continental islands shows that use of these environments can be expected to pre-date sea-level rise. The most likely submerged sites include: 1) compacted middens associated with rock pools and estuarine features; 2) stone structures with associated middens on limestone pavements or with granophyre and basalt boulder fields; 3) buried midden and other occupation deposits on protected sand sheets; 4) quarry outcrops, extraction pits, and associated reduction debris in areas of fine-grained granophyre and basalt; and 5) middens in consolidated calcarenite shoreline contexts to the north and west of the volcanic suites of the Dampier Archipelago.


As history has shown, remote islands or small states can be flashpoints for international crises. This collection of commissioned essays examines African countries that, because of their seeming insignificance, have been passed over in recent scholarship. The essays focus on current political and economic issues. Why do such states find it difficult to sustain stable economic and political orders? The role of such countries in international trade; the effects of their small size, remoteness, or paucity of resources; and their use as military bases for other powers are among the subjects discussed.


Haemoparasitic infections in wild birds have been widely studied in order to understand parasite–host relation- ships, but our understanding of their impact on the host's fitness is still limited. In this study, we quantified the associations between microfilarial infections and body mass and between microfilarial infections and haemato- crit values in Village Weavers Ploceus cucullatus. We screened blood samples (thin smear and buffy coat) for the presence of haemoparasitic infections and measured haematocrit values. Fifty-seven percent of 91 individuals screened carried a microfilarial infection but, contrary to expectations, no other haemoparasitic infections were detected in the blood samples. We found a negative relationship between microfilarial infection status and body mass, but no relationship between infection status and haematocrit values. Our results suggest that microfilarial infections may be associated with body mass loss in wild birds.


Drawn from in-depth qualitative research, Queer Company provides the first extended, academic analysis of gay men's workplace friendships, offering theoretical and empirical insights into a subject that is timely and important. Although theoretically framed in poststructuralism and the sociology of friendship, this book also draws on feminism, organisation studies, gender and sexuality studies to explore the diverse roles and meanings of gay men's workplace friendships. Shedding light on the significance of workplace friendship for those who participate in them, particularly in terms of how these workplace relationships can help gay men to construct meaningful identities and selves, Queer Company examines the manner in which gay men's workplace friendships are established, developed and organised, whilst considering the effects of organisational contexts upon friendship processes. A detailed investigation of the links between friendship, sexuality, gender and intimacy in the workplace, this book will appeal to scholars of management studies as well as sociologists with interests in gender and sexuality, the sociology of organisations and cultural studies.


Linear discriminant analysis (LDA), which works by maximizing the within-class similarity and minimizing the between-class similarity simultaneously, is a popular dimensionality reduction technique in pattern recognition and machine learning. In real-world applications when labeled data are limited, LDA does not work well. Under many situations, however, it is easy to obtain unlabeled data in large quantities. In this paper, we propose a novel dimensionality reduction method, called semi-supervised discriminant analysis (SSDA), which can utilize both labeled and unlabeled data to perform dimensionality reduction in the semi-supervised setting. Our method uses a robust path-based similarity measure to capture the manifold structure of the data and then uses the obtained similarity to maximize the separability between different classes. A kernel extension of the proposed method for nonlinear dimensionality reduction in the semi-supervised setting is also presented. Experiments on face recognition demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.


The European Union has no unilateral legislative capacity in the area of social policy. However, the European Commission does play the role of guide by providing a discursive framework and targets for its 28 Member States to meet. Since the late 1990's, the EU's ideas on social policy have moved away from the traditional social protection model towards promoting social inclusion, labour activation and investing in children. These new policies represent the social investment perspective, which advocates preparing the population for a knowledge-based economy to increase economic growth and job creation and to break the intergenerational transmission of poverty. The EU began the gradual incorporation of the social investment perspective to its social dimension with the adoption of ten-year strategies. Since 2000, it has continued to set goals and benchmarks as well as offer a forum for Member States to coordinate their social initiatives. Drawing on a series of interviews conducted during a research experience in Brussels as well as official documents, this paper is a descriptive analysis of the recent modifications to the EU's social dimension. It focuses on the changes created by the Europe 2020 Strategy and the Social Investment Package. By tracing the genesis and evolution of these initiatives, the author identifies four obstacles to social investment in the European Union's social dimension.


We consider the problem of computing shortest paths subject to an additional resource constraint such as a hard limit on the (positive) height difference of the path. This is typically of interest in the context of bicycle route planning, or when energy consumption is to be limited. So far, the exact computation of such constrained shortest paths was not feasible on large networks; we show that state-of-the-art speed-up techniques for the shortest path problem, like contraction hierarchies, can be instrumented to solve this problem efficiently in practice despite the NP-hardness in general.


Background In 2014, Kenya's Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program (FELTP) initiated a 3-month field-based frontline training, Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP-F), for local public health workers. Objective This study aimed to measure the effect of FETP-F on participant workplace practices regarding quality and consistency of public health data, critical interaction with public health data, and improvements in on-time reporting (OTR). Methods Between February and April 2017, FELTP conducted a mixed methods evaluation via online survey to examine outcomes achieved among all 215 graduates from 2014 and 2015. Data quality assessment (DQA) and data consistency assessment (DCA) scores, OTR percentages, and ratings of the training experience were the quantitative measures tracked from baseline and then at 6-month intervals up to 18 months postcompletion of the training. The qualitative component consisted of semistructured face-to-face interviews and observations. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Qualitative data were transcribed and analyzed to identify key themes and dimensions. Results In total, 103 (47%) graduates responded to the survey. Quantitative analyses showed that the training significantly increased the mean DQA and OTR scores but there was a nonsignificant increase in mean DCA scores. Qualitative analyses found that 68% of respondents acquired new skills, 83% applied those skills to their day-to-day work, and 91% improved work methods. Conclusions FETP-F improved overall data quality and OTR at the agency level but had minimal impact on data consistency between local, county, and national public health agencies. Participants reported that they acquired practical skills that improved data collation and analysis and OTR.


The trustworthiness of analysts' reports has rightly been questioned after the financial crises of the 1990s and 2000s revealed biases in their behaviour. This study investigated the inclination of analysts to issue overly-positive recommendations, the issuance patterns preferred by individual analysts, and the differential impact of recommendations between periods of positive and negative sentiment. The recommendation issuance preferences of 901 local and international analysts, who collectively issued 30 486 recommendations for shares listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange from 1993 to 2011, were scrutinised. The investigation revealed that analysts issued their opinions using many different patterns within five possible recommendation categories, and showed signs of positive biases during all market cycles and investor sentiment periods. Surprisingly, analysts issued the same proportion of negative recommendations during periods of low business confidence and economic contraction than during phases of growth- and economic upswing. The BER Business Confidence Index outperformed the SARB's business cycle indicator in demarcating periods where investors reacted stronger to recommendations issued by analysts. Investors are advised to study an analyst's recommendation history in addition to current advice.


Executable business process models build on the specification of process activities, their implemented business functions (e.g., Web services) and the control flow between these activities. Before deploying such a model, it is important to verify control-flow correctness. A process is sound if its control-flow guarantees proper completion and there are no deadlocks. However, a sound control flow is not sufficient to ensure that an executable process model indeed behaves as expected. This is due to business functions requiring certain preconditions to be fulfilled for execution and having an effect on the process (postconditions). Semantic annotations provide a means for taking such further aspects into account. Inspired by OWL-S and WSMO, we consider process models in which the individual activities are annotated with logical preconditions and postconditions specified relative to an ontology that axiomatizes the underlying business domain. Verification then means to determine whether the interaction of control flow and logical states of the process is correct. To this end, we formalize the semantics of annotated processes and point out which kinds of flaws may arise. We then identify a class of processes with restricted semantic annotations where correctness can be verified in polynomial time; and we prove that the semantic annotations cannot be generalized without losing computational efficiency. The paper is written at a semi-formal level using an illustrative example, details can be looked up in a longer technical report.


This essay analyzes the impact of Israeli unilateralism—specifically that of its settlement project—on the two-state solution. After exploring the relationship between unilateralism and power, the authors show, inter alia, that in-migration has accounted for about half the settlement growth since the international embrace of the land-for-peace formula in 1991, that the level of in-migration does not fluctuate according to government composition (right or left), and that Israeli-Palestinian negotiations have spurred rather than inhibited settlement expansion. The essay is framed by a contrast with the Palestinian bid for full UN membership, rejected as unilateralism by the Western powers but in fact aimed at undercutting Israeli unilateralism and creating the conditions for meaningful negotiations.


Background and Hypothesis: The potential association between venous thromboembolism (VTE) and COVID-19 is an area of growing research, and methods of effective prophylaxis, detection, and treatment continue to be sought. D-dimer assays have been previously established as a highly sensitive — albeit nonspecific — test to assess patient risk of VTE, but the full clinical utility of this test in COVID-19 patients is currently not well understood. We hypothesized that, in patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) and determined to be positive for COVID-19, an elevated D-dimer value is associated with an increased 30-day incidence of VTE.

Project Methods: Deidentified patient encounter data was collected and analyzed from a multicenter registry of ED patients tested for SARS-CoV-2. We measured the frequency of a positive SARS-CoV-2 test and compared the incidence of VTE between SARS-CoV-2 positive and negative patients. We also compared average D-dimer values in SARS-CoV-2 positive patients with and without VTE.

Results: Of 6,445 patient encounters queried, 2,051 tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (32%).
SARS-CoV-2 positive patients had a significantly higher incidence of VTE in the 30-day follow-up period compared to SARS-CoV-2 negative patients (3.2 vs. 1.6%, p= 0.0002). D-dimer values were available for 537 of these SARS-CoV-2 patients, with an average D-dimer of 1813.83 ng/mL. The average D-dimer in SARS-CoV-2 positive patients who did develop VTE tended to be higher than those who did not develop VTE (2969 ng/mL vs. 1822 ng/mL), although this difference was not statistically significant (p=0.34). The fitted areas for binomial receiver operating characteristic curves of D-dimer for detection of VTE in patients with and without SARS-CoV-2 were 0.628 and 0.829, respectively.

Conclusion and Potential Impact: We found a positive SARS-CoV-2 test to be associated with a higher incidence of VTE. However, an elevated D-dimer continues to be nonspecific for VTE in SARS-CoV-2 positive patients, and performs more poorly in SARS-CoV-2 positive patients than in negative patients. Additional clinical criteria should be identified to further guide the use of diagnostic imaging modalities and prophylactic anticoagulation in COVID-19 positive patients with suspicion of VTE.


This paper investigates the incentives of investors to set up an actively managed fund in an emerging market or asset class. The analysis highlights the role of agency problems between fund managers and investors in determining this entry decision. It is shown that investors may wish to set up a fund in a new market, only when another fund is also active in that market. Fund entry into a new market can therefore be subject to a co-ordination problem, which may result in no entry of funds. This problem is acute when fund managers have little information about underlying asset values. Equilibrium wage contracts for managers are derived for the case when one or two managers are active in a market. It is shown that wage contracts induce (i) overly aggressive trading by managers when two funds are active in a market, and (ii) insufficiently aggressive trading when only one manager is active. The evidence of country fund inception for emerging markets is reviewed in light of this analysis and policy implications are presented.


Objective: To evaluate the efficacy as antihypercholesterolemic agent of berberine in patients with low cardiovascular risk. Research design and methods: 144 Caucasian subjects were enrolled. After a 6-month run-in period following diet and practicing physical activity, patients were randomized to take placebo or berberine 500 mg twice a day, for 3 months, in a double-blind, placebo-controlled design. Berberine and placebo were then interrupted for 2 months (washout period), and all patients continued with only diet and physical activity. At the end of the washout period, patients restarted berberine or placebo twice a day for further 3 months. Anthropometric and metabolic parameters were assessed during the run-in period, at randomization, before and after the washout period. Results: A decrease of body weight and BMI was observed after the run-in period. Berberine reduced total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL cholesterol and increased HDL cholesterol after 3 months from randomization and compared with placebo. After the washout period, lipid profile worsened; afterward, when berberine was reintroduced, lipid profile improved again both compared with the washout period, and with placebo. Conclusions: Berberine is effective and safe to mildly improve lipid profile in subjects with low risk for cardiovascular disease.


Objective
The aim of this study was to determine whether significant fiducial marker migration occurs between the periods of prostatic marker insertion and computed tomography (CT) performed for radiotherapy planning and if a waiting period is necessary.

Material and methods
Thirty-nine patients with prostate adenocarcinoma underwent fiducial marker insertion before radiotherapy between June 2013 and December 2015. Three markers were inserted by one radiologist under the guidance of transrectal ultrasonography. All patients underwent CT three hours after insertion to confirm the number and position of fiducial markers. Radiotherapy planning CT was performed on an average of 11 days (range 7-20) after insertion. CT images were imported into treatment planning system to analyze the position of fiducial markers. Point- based marker match algorithm was used to find the distance of marker migration. The mean and maximum distances between each fiducial markers were calculated.

Results
The mean distance of migration was 1.029±0.42 mm (range 0.23-1.93 mm) and the maximum distance was 1.361±0.59 mm (range 0.25-2.74 mm). The distance of marker migration was not statistically significant for the groups organized according to the timing of marker insertion, prostate volume, patient age, prostate specific antigen level and Gleason score.

Conclusion
According to our results significant fiducial marker migration did not occur during the interval between insertion and treatment planning CT. It should be taken into consideration that performing simulation on the same day as marker insertion might prevent increased cost and delayed radiation therapy by saving the patients from extra visits to the clinic.


Background: It is well established that neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are sensitive to inhalational anesthetics. The authors previously reported that halothane potently blocked &agr;4&bgr;2-type nAChRs of rat cortical neurons. However, the effect of isoflurane, which is widely used clinically, on nAChRs largely remains to be seen. The authors studied the effects of isoflurane as compared with sevoflurane and halothane on the human &agr;4&bgr;2 nAChRs expressed in human embryonic kidney cells. Methods: The whole-cell and single-channel patch clamp techniques were used to record currents induced by acetylcholine. Results: Isoflurane, sevoflurane, and halothane suppressed the acetylcholine-induced currents in a concentration-dependent manner with 50% inhibitory concentrations of 67.1, 183.3, and 39.8 &mgr;m, respectively, which correspond to 0.5 minimum alveolar concentration or less. When anesthetics were coapplied with acetylcholine, isoflurane and sevoflurane decreased the apparent affinity of receptor for acetylcholine, but halothane, in addition, decreased the maximum acetylcholine current. When isoflurane was preapplied and coapplied, its inhibitory action was independent of acetylcholine concentration. Isoflurane blocked the nAChR in both resting and activated states. Single-channel analyses revealed that isoflurane at 84 &mgr;m decreased the mean open time and burst duration without inducing "flickering" during channel openings. Isoflurane increased the mean closed time. As a result, the open probability of single channels was greatly reduced by isoflurane. Conclusions: Isoflurane, sevoflurane, and halothane potently blocked the &agr;4&bgr;2 nAChR. Isoflurane suppression of whole-cell acetylcholine currents was a result of decreases in the open time, burst duration, and open probability and an increase in the closed time of single channels. The high sensitivity of neuronal nAChRs to inhalational anesthetics is expected to play an important role in several stages of anesthesia.


Following oncologic surgery for advanced cancer of the hypopharynx, primary closure of the defect of the upper aerodigestive tract is difficult to achieve. Usually locoregional or free flaps are used, the choice being determined by the extent of the surgical defect, the expertise of the surgeons and the general condition of the patient. Aim of the present study was to evaluate the functional recovery of patients who underwent surgical reconstruction, following hypopharyngeal cancer resection, with pedicled or free flaps. A retrospective analysis was conducted examining hospital records of the patients submitted to surgical treatment for hypopharyngeal cancer and reconstruction with pedicled or free flaps in the period between January 1995 and July 2004. Free flaps showed less severe complications, shorter hospital stay, less time to resume oral feeding compared with pedicled flaps. For this reason, we consider free flaps the gold standard for hypopharyngeal reconstruction, while pedicled flaps as the pectoralis major or other locoregional flaps should be used in those cases in which free flap reconstruction is not feasible or contraindicated.


The clinical success of a surgical implantation depends on various factors including the design and biocompatibility of the biomaterial, surgical procedure adopted, injuries made during implantation and health and condition of the patient. The success of a biomaterial depends on the interaction and the progressive reaction between the blood components and the surface of the implant. Proteins present in the blood will be the first components to become adsorbed on the surface of the biomaterial. Studies show that the protein fibrinogen present in the blood plasma is the major initiator of inflammatory reactions and involved in blood clotting. By minimizing the fibrinogen adsorption it is possible to reduce the contribution of the biomaterial surface characteristics to thrombosis and inflammatory reactions.

In this work, silicon and titanium based thin film coatings with four different surface characteristics were deposited by PECVD on 316L stainless steel substrates. Polymer-like SiOxCyHz, silica-like SiOx, titanium oxide TiO, and silicon-titanium mixed oxide coatings were deposited by plasma decomposition of organic molecules. An extensive study was done on silicon based coatings deposited from hexamethyl disiloxane (HMDSO) to analyze the influence of plasma process parameters like RF power, precursor flow ratio and flow rate on the surface chemical and mechanical characteristics of the film. Titanium dioxide coatings deposited from titanium tetraisopropoxide (TIP) were also analyzed for the effect of plasma process parameters on their surface characteristics. Silicon - titanium mixed oxide coatings were deposited to obtain intermediate characteristics between silicon oxide and titanium oxide films and the process was optimized to get a hydrophilic surface with wettability lower than SiO, and a bandgap higher than that of titanium dioxide. It was concluded, from the fibrinogen adsorption studies, that both the film wettability and bandgap has to be optimized in order to minimize the fibrinogen adsorption.


Oral drug delivery system becomes challenging when the drug product needs to be delivered in modified release pattern in elderly patients, especially since it is difficult to swallow for them. Multiparticulates are the choice of dosage form when fast disintegration is desirable without loss of original release profile. Compressed multi-particulate system prepared by using pellets have several pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, commercial and other advantages as mentioned henceforth in this review article. It includes not only different types of modified release pellets that can be compressed into Multiple Unit Pellet System (MUPS) but also factors regulating the compression behavior of pellets including properties of pellets, core material, and compressible excipients. This review also presents detailed explanation on physicochemical properties of pellets and formulation strategies of


A moped user's risk of being killed on the road is much higher than that of a motorist. If numerous studies have been performed for bikers, much rarer are works dealing with moped users, who however represent a population of vulnerable users. Compared with bikers and other types of road users, this population of low cylinder users has the particularity of being made up of a majority of teenagers, that is, riders with little experience, little training and the particular problems linked with this age group. This qualitative study proposes to investigate the social representation of the moped among French teenage boys with the method of little stories. It deals with group influence on driving and taking risks.


Over the past 15-20 years, there has been growing interest and concern from the scientific and regulatory communities over the potential risks of emerging environmental contaminants (ECs). State-of-the-art techniques used for monitoring ECs do not provide the high spatial and temporal resolution measurements required to better understand and mitigate the risks. Immunoassays, which use antibodies to detect a target compound with high affinity, specificity and selectivity, partly address these limitations. However, the use of antibodies for the detection of small-sized, non-immunogenic environmental contaminants, presents a number of challenges. Recent advances in protein engineering have led to the emergence of antibody mimetics that offer the high affinity and specificity associated with antibodies, but with reduced batch-to-batch variability, increased stability, and in vitro selection to ensure rapid discovery of binders against a wide range of targets. This study explores the potential of Affimers, a recent example of antibody mimetics, as suitable bioreceptors for the detection of small organic molecules. Methylene blue (MB), a redox-active molecule used as a fabric dye and diclofenac (DCF), an important environmental contaminant, were selected as the target compounds and Affimers against MB and DCF were developed by the BioScreening Technology Group, University of Leeds. The objectives of this project were to a) demonstrate that the developed Affimers can bind to the selected targets with very high affinity, b) assess their performance in the complexity of environmental water samples (selectivity), and c) investigate the potential of an Affimer-based assay for small molecule detection.

Target immobilisation for Affimer characterisation was achieved using long-chained alkanethiol linkers coupled with oligoethylene glycol (LCAT–OEG) and the immobilisation approach was evaluated through electrochemical measurements and infrared spectroscopy. Subsequently, binding between the immobilised targets and target-specific Affimers was quantified using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D). Affimer affinity studies revealed Affimer dissociation constants (KD=13.7 nM and 73 nm for MB and DCF Affimers respectively) was comparable to that of high affinity antibodies. Furthermore, the high selectivity of MB-Affimers was demonstrated using limnetic water samples. Finally, an Affimer-based competition ELISA was demonstrated (LOD=75 nM), illustrating the potential of Affimers as bioreceptors in immunoassays for the detection of small-sized, non-immunogenic compounds. These findings are very promising, encouraging further research into Affimer-based assays and biosensors in order to introduce a novel, alternative path for rapid, on-site monitoring of contaminants in the environment.


Traditionally, capacity and resistance have been used as the features to determine the state of health of lithium-ion batteries. In the present study, two additional features, the length of time of the constant current and the constant voltage phases of charging were used as additional indicators of state of health. To compare the appropriateness of each state of health feature, batteries were subjected to different discharge profiles and tested to failure. For each cycle, capacity, resistance, length of the constant current charge time and length of the constant voltage charge time were measured and compared based on their usefulness to estimate the state of health. Lastly, all the features were combined to give a fusion result for state of health estimation.


Since independence in 1974 the military of Guinea-Bissau have succeeded in controlling the political system, even attempting to impose their rule directly in the aftermath of the 1998/9 war. What makes the analysis of civil–military relations and political order in contemporary Guinea-Bissau particularly challenging is the overlapping of political, ethnic and personal considerations of the politico-military elite and their fluctuating and ambiguous short-term alliances. Guinea-Bissau's armed forces include an amalgam of veterans, claiming historical legitimacy from the liberation war, and officers who use their positions for personal gain rather than furthering democracy and national interests. This article examines the logic of civil–military relations against the heterarchical political figuration and the specific character of the politico-military elite of Guinea-Bissau.


Course Description Freud often insisted that, at bottom, dreams are simply a particular form of thinking made possible by the conditions of sleep. We will take this insight as the central theme of our course. Here dream will be understood both as a specific mental event and as a form of thinking, which is to say we will be exploring the terrain of dream-life but also investigating the nature of this "other form" of thinking and what it offers for ethics, politics, and social thought. As Derrida once proposed, while reflecting on one of Benjamin's dreams, we must dare to take dream seriously, to care for what it let's us think about, especially when it let's us think about the "possibility of the impossible" and what would have to be done to think differently, to think thinking differently.


Digital technology has created the possibility of a paradigm shift in scientific publishing for the first time in four centuries.

Traditional, high impact publishing largely relies on the publication of only a limited number of papers, which are highly selected by the editors and reviewers aiming at the highest "impact" on the field. As a consequence, the journal's publications may be frequently referenced by investigators in the field, much to the benefit of a journal's impact factor. In general, a high impact factor is sought after by the publishers and scientists alike as the gold standard of the excellence of the journal, promoting the widest distribution of new findings to the scientific community and essentially giving the publisher a reputation without regard to any individual articles. For a restricted-access journal, a high impact factor is of course further desirable to promote subscriptions and advertising, and eventually ensure a lucrative return. In a way, the traditional restricted-access system of scientific publishing is geared to reject submitted papers, forcing a bet between the high cost of printing what may be a "mediocre" scientific article and the assignment of a high impact factor which translates directly into revenue. Most of the highest impact journals publish only ∼10% of the papers submitted for review, and proudly tout these numbers as a sign of their exclusivity. For example, Science states that "Because of the stiff competition for space in the journal, Science now accepts less than 8% of the original research papers submitted. About 80% of submitted manuscripts are rejected during an initial screening stage by the Staff Editors and the Board of Reviewing Editors" (see Science info for authors – FAQ).

In this author's opinion, this system of peer review is flawed. In order to reduce the number of manuscripts sent for review, so as to reduce the workload, editors who are not, or no longer, practicing scientists, make the editorial decision whether to send a paper for review. This decision is often driven by the familiarity of the editor with the topic or the fame of the authors of the manuscript, and not necessarily based on a thorough reading and understanding of the contents of the paper. Accordingly, many submitted papers do not make it past this first "cut."

A manuscript that does make it into the review system can easily become the victim of politics within the scientific community, as the reviewers and authors are often directly competing groups. The reviewer then wields formidable power in rejecting or delaying the acceptance of a manuscript as long as possible, making the time interval from submission to eventual publication over 1 year. The reviewers may request additional experiments and data for completely valid scientific reasons to improve the manuscript, but do not necessarily realize that at some point the authors are forced to compromise the quality of the figures or clarity of the explanations in order to still abide by journal-imposed length restrictions. This has led to supplementary online material (SOM) flourishing over the past decade, with one of my own recently submitted manuscripts weighing in at more than 85 pages.

The pointless irony of all these flaws in the traditional restricted-access publishing system is that everything is based on an outdated business model of the print technology. The question we must ask ourselves is whether we can evolve from the established "restricted-access," reader-funded publishing practice to an "open access," author-funded publishing industry managed by scientists themselves by leveraging the internet age. In this regard, it is noteworthy that the costs of publishing with Frontiers are equivalent to the "page charges" levied by the traditional restricted-access publishers.

In the Frontiers review process, authors submit their manuscripts to the Associate Editors, who assign two Review Editors for most manuscript types. These editors are charged with evaluating and certifying, in the most rigorous way, the accuracy of articles to ensure the dissemination of as much of the total amount of scientific information as possible. To facilitate this process, the Frontiers review forum has been designed to foster interaction between authors and review editors, with the overall goal of improving the manuscript – rather than finding flaws with the intention to reject. This renders the peer review process interactive and author-friendly for the first time. Review Editors are responsible for the validating the flawlessness of the experiments performed and data presented, and for the legibility and clarity of the manuscript. If the Review Editors have uncovered issues with the manuscript, the Review Editors communicate anonymously in a blog-style discussion forum with the authors to resolve the issues. If a consensus is reached with the issues resolved to the satisfaction of both of the Review Editors and the authors, the Associate Editor can accept the manuscript.

One important departure from the traditional publishing system is that if the manuscript is accepted and published, the reviewers' names are also published, thereby ensuring reviewer transparency and objectivity. This is the point where the Frontiers publishing paradigm shifts 180° from the old-fashioned traditional publishing methods. The editors are charged with using their experience and expertise to improve the manuscript to the stage where it is acceptable for publication, and not to simply reject it out of hand! However, if the issues cannot be reconciled to the satisfaction of everyone, then the manuscript is rejected and the reviewers remain anonymous to the authors.

Obviously, quantity does not equal quality, and researchers entrenched in the traditional publishing paradigm are often initially suspicious that the author-pay open access model will fail to safeguard quality. Scientific reputations are, after all, derived from the quality as well as the quantity of one's publications, and therefore, the reputations of both authors and Frontiers are on the line. Accordingly, Frontiers has adopted the motto of The New York Times, "All the news fit to print," so that Frontiers in Immunology will accept and publish "All the science deserved to be known!"

Another growth of the grassroots Frontiers publishing paradigm is the tiered publishing system, a democratic meritocracy highlighting the quality of individual papers deemed important by the entire community of scientists. Article-level metrics based on actual views and downloads replace the journal-level impact factor that is calculated from the number of references to the entire journal. Authors can follow their own papers' Impact Stats from the date of acceptance. Over the first 6 months after publication, the number of times an individual paper is accessed, and the number of times it is downloaded, is tracked electronically. The authors of the most accessed original research from the first tier, meaning the Specialty Journals, are effectively electronically nominated by the article tracking numbers to write a "tier 2" article on the same subject, but geared toward a broader audience and thus placing the findings in a broader context. This Focused Review would be published on the general Frontiers in Immunology site, and not in a specialty section. The Reviewers and Editor of this prestigious article are then also invited to submit a Frontiers Commentary on the article, which is also featured in Frontiers in Immunology. In other words, the whole community of scientific peers – rather than the publisher's editorial staff – democratically selects the highest quality papers for recognition based on actual readership.

The quality of a Frontiers paper is also ensured by the policies of the construction of the manuscript, as "space" is no longer limited. SOM is kept to a minimum and consists of material that should be in an appendix, such as equations or nucleotide sequence data, and not simply additional text, data, and figures. This allows the authors to place all relevant data and figures in the main body of the paper, so that the reader can easily access and understand the figures, as well as the text. Accordingly, it is the authors' care in telling a full story and their creativity in the construction of the figures/tables illustrating it that earn recognition, and not simply what prestigious high impact journal in which the final paper appears.

For all of these reasons, publishing in Frontiers in Immunology promises to be an enjoyable and useful experience for authors. Ever since scientific publishing began in the seventeenth century, we have been at the mercy of the publishers. Like Rock and Roll artists, we have written the songs and sung the songs, but then we have given up ownership of our creative efforts to the record companies, which have controlled their distribution. Moreover, the traditional publishing companies have charged us for publishing our songs, as well the readers, and then walked away with the proceeds! No more! Frontiers authors retain the copyright to their own work. Just like Steve Jobs revolutionized the music industry with the iPod and iTunes, publishing with Frontiers promises to revolutionize scientific communication!


OF DISSERTATION CHRONIC ANKLE INSTABILITY AND AGING Lateral ankle sprains are the most common musculoskeletal injury among the general population and U.S. military personnel. Despite the common perception of being a minor injury, at least 1 out of 3 individuals with a previous ankle sprain will develop chronic ankle instability (CAI). This clinical phenomenon creates a significant barrier for patients to return to their prior level of physical function. Specifically, CAI is associated with reductions in physical activity level, leading to decreases in lower health-related quality of life and increase risk of developing of post-traumatic ankle osteoarthritis. Current evidence has largely focused on characterizing the mechanical and sensorimotor insufficiencies associated with CAI in adolescent and young-adult populations, with little attention on middleand older-aged adults. This restricts our understanding of how these insufficiencies associated with CAI that develop in early adulthood progress over time and contribute to other chronic diseases such as post-traumatic osteoarthritis. Therefore, the overall objective of this study was to compare self-reported and physical function between three age groups: 1) young, 2) middle-aged, and 3) older-aged adults with and without CAI. We hypothesized participants with CAI would have age-related changes in self-reported and physical function compared to non-injured individuals across the lifespan. The objective of this dissertation was to compare regional and global healthrelated quality of life (HRQoL), static and dynamic balance, spinal reflex excitability of the soleus muscle, openand closed-kinetic chain dorsiflexion range of motion and spatiotemporal gait parameters between those with and without CAI across the lifespan. Her callIt was hypothesized that all self-reported and physical characteristics would be decrease with age, but significantly more in those with CAI compare to non-injured individuals. Results from the first study demonstrated participants with CAI had worse regional HRQoL compared to healthy-controls as evidenced by the lower Foot and Ankle Disability Index scores. Likewise, participants with CAI reported having worse overall physical function and pain interference during activity compared to healthy-controls. There was no significant interaction for Injury (CAI and healthy-control) and Age group (young, middle, and old) for any dependent variable. In the second, it was determined that static and dynamic balance, spinal reflex excitability, ankle (dorsiflexion and plantarflexion) and hip extension torque were all lower in the older-aged participants compared to the younger-aged adults. In addition, it was determined that participants with CAI had decreased dorsiflexion range of motion, ankle (dorsiflexion and plantar flexion) and hip extension peak isometric torque compared to the healthy-control group. However, no significant interaction was found for Injury (CAI & healthy-control) and Age (young, middle, old) for any dependent variable. In the third study, there were no differences in spatiotemporal gait parameters between groups (CAI vs. healthy-controls) or age categories. It can be concluded from this dissertation that regardless of the age, individuals with CAI have worse region-specific HRQoL, lower overall physical function, greater pain interference, limited dorsiflexion range of motion, and decreased ankle and hip peak isometric torque compared to healthy-controls. Several age-related observations were found including decreased static and dynamic balance, ankle and hip strength, and spinal reflex excitability. Though no relationship was found between CAI and age, several interactions were found to be trending towards significance. Therefore, future work is needed to better understand the consequences of CAI on middleand older-aged adults.


Abstract. This study investigated the rifting mechanism that preceded the prolonged subsidence of the Paleozoic Parnaiba basin in Brazil and shed light on the tectonic evolution of this large cratonic basin in the South American platform. From the analysis of aeromagnetic, aerogravity, seismic reflection and borehole data, we concluded the following: (1) large pseudo-gravity and gravity lows mimic graben structures but are associated with linear supracrustal strips in the basement. (2) Seismic data indicate that 120–200 km wide and up to 300 km long rift zones occur in other parts of the basins. These rift zones mark the early stage of the 3.5 km thick sag basin. (3) The rifting phase occurred in the early Paleozoic and had a subsidence rate of 47 m Myr−1. (4) This rifting phase was followed by a long period of sag basin subsidence at a rate of 9.5 m Myr−1 between the Silurian and the late Cretaceous, during which rift faults propagated and influenced deposition. These data interpretations support the following succession of events: (1) after the Brasiliano orogeny (740–580 Ma), brittle reactivation of ductile basement shear zones led to normal and dextral oblique-slip faulting concentrated along the Transbrasiliano Lineament, a continental-scale shear zone that marks the boundary between basement crustal blocks. (2) The post-orogenic tectonic brittle reactivation of the ductile basement shear zones led to normal faulting associated with dextral oblique-slip crustal extension. In the west, pure-shear extension induced the formation of rift zones that crosscut metamorphic foliations and shear zones within the Parnaiba block. (3) The rift faults experienced multiple reactivation phases. (4) Similar processes may have occurred in coeval basins in the Laurentia and Central African blocks of Gondwana.


Various indexes have been developed and used to collect information on the prevalence, aetiology and prevention of periodontal disease, but few efforts have been made to utilize this information to assess treatment needs in the populations examined. Recently, Johansen et al. (1973) have developed the Periodontal Treatment Needs System and Moller and Beck (1976) included an assessment of treatment requirements in the Collaborative Study of Dental Manpower Systems sponsored by WHO and the USPHS. The value of these various indexes and the problems encountered in their application to field studies are discussed in detail. The lessons learned have been incorporated into the second edition of the booklet Oral Health Surveys (WHO, 1977), but it is contended that the methods advocated are still less than perfect. Particular doubt is cast on the recommendation for the use of a periodontal probe in field surveys often conducted in primitive conditions and by examiners with minimal training and experience. It is suggested that the critical depth of 3 mm is too small to be regarded as requiring radical treatment. The need for a treatment index is questioned in the light of the probability that treatment needs could not be fully met even in developed countries.


In 2006 China implemented the green credit policy that demands from banks to integrate sustainability considerations into their lending and investment processes. The goals of the policy are to incentivize the financial sector to finance the transformation into a greener economy and to create financial benefits for financial institutions through risk mitigation. In our study we used institutional theory as our theoretical background to test whether the green credit policy makes Chinese banks greener and has a positive effect on the financial sustainability of the banks. In particular, we analyzed whether institutional pressure has an impact on both the sustainability performance and the financial performance of Chinese banks. Using panel regression and Granger causality our results suggest that there is a correlation between financial performance indicators and sustainability performance in Chinese banks and that both are influenced by the green credit policy. We concluded that institutional pressure can be an effective way to increase both financial and sustainability performance in the financial sector. Furthermore, our research contributed to institutional theory by explaining the connection between institutional pressure, financial, and sustainability performance for financial sector regulations that address the sustainability of the sector.


We present the first resolved images of the debris disk around the nearby K dwarf HD 92945, obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope's (HST 's) Advanced Camera for Surveys. Our F606W (Broad V) and F814W (Broad I) coronagraphic images reveal an inclined, axisymmetric disk consisting of an inner ring about 2.″0–3.″0 (43–65 AU) from the star and an extended outer disk whose surface brightness declines slowly with increasing radius approximately 3.″0–5.″1 (65–110 AU) from the star. A precipitous drop in the surface brightness beyond 110 AU suggests that the outer disk is truncated at that distance. The radial surface-density profile is peaked at both the inner ring and the outer edge of the disk. The dust in the outer disk scatters neutrally but isotropically, and it has a low V-band albedo of 0.1. This combination of axisymmetry, ringed and extended morphology, and isotropic neutral scattering is unique among the 16 debris disks currently resolved in scattered light. We also present new infrared photometry and spectra of HD 92945 obtained with the Spitzer Space Telescope's Multiband Imaging Photometer and InfraRed Spectrograph. These data reveal no infrared excess from the disk shortward of 30 μm and constrain the width of the 70 μm source to ≲180 AU. Assuming that the dust comprises compact grains of astronomical silicate with a surface-density profile described by our scattered-light model of the disk, we successfully model the 24–350 μm emission with a minimum grain size of amin = 4.5 μm and a size distribution proportional to a−3.7 throughout the disk, but with maximum grain sizes of 900 μm in the inner ring and 50 μm in the outer disk. Together, our HST and Spitzer observations indicate a total dust mass of ∼0.001M⊕. However, our observations provide contradictory evidence of the dust's physical characteristics: its neutral V–I color and lack of 24 μm emission imply grains larger than a few microns, but its isotropic scattering and low albedo suggest a large population of submicron-sized grains. If grains smaller than a few microns are absent, then stellar radiation pressure may be the cause only if the dust is composed of highly absorptive materials like graphite. The dynamical causes of the sharply edged inner ring and outer disk are unclear, but recent models of dust creation and transport in the presence of migrating planets support the notion that the disk indicates an advanced state of planet formation around HD 92945.


Background Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination was introduced into the adolescent immunisation schedule in the United States in mid 2006. Vaccination is recommended for females at age 11 or 12 years and through age 26 if not previously vaccinated. Estimated 3-dose coverage was 32% among 13–17 year-olds in 2010. Objectives To compare HPV prevalence among females in the first 4 years of the vaccine era (2007–2010) with the prevaccine era (2003–2006), and to determine vaccine effectiveness (VE). Methods The National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) are a series of cross sectional surveys, designed to be nationally representative of the civilian, non-institutionalised US population. HPV prevalence was determined in self-collected cervicovaginal swabs from females aged 14–59 years; 4150 in 2003–2006 and 4253 in 2007–2010. Type-specific HPV prevalence was determined by the Linear Array HPV Genotyping Assay. VE was estimated among sexually active 14–26 year-olds in 2007–2010. Results Among females aged 14–19 years, vaccine type (VT) HPV prevalence decreased from 11.5% (95% CI = 9.2, 14.4) in 2003–2006 to 5.1% (95% CI = 3.8, 6.6) in 2007–2010; a 56% (95% CI = 37%, 69%) decline. Prevalence did not differ between the two time periods in other age groups. History of vaccination was associated with lower VT HPV prevalence among sexually active 14–19 years-olds, 3.5% vs. 12.6% (aRR = 0.18; 95% CI, 0.7–0.48, estimated VE = 82%) and among 20–26 year-olds, 12.4% vs 21.3% (aRR = 0.46; 95% CI, 0.22–0.99, estimated VE = 54%). Our sample size was too small to evaluate effectiveness by number of doses. Conclusions Within 4 years of vaccine introduction, there was a decrease in VT HPV prevalence in a nationally representative sample of females aged 14–19 years. As expected, VE was lower among those vaccinated at older ages. Ongoing monitoring will allow assessment of vaccine impact on prevalence, possible cross protection or type replacement.