Human synovial fibroblasts in culture have been stimulated to augment hyaluronate synthesis and glucose utilization by connective tissue activating peptides (CTAP) extracted from human spleen, lymphocytes, platelets, granulocytes, and tumour cells. The platelet-derived mediator CTAP-III also stimulated DNA synthesis in synovial fibroblasts, but CTAP-I from lymphocytes and spleen did not. The present study demonstrates the mitogenic potential of a granulocyte mediator (CTAP-PMN). Normal granulocytes were prepared with Ficoll-diatrizoate gradients, platelet contamination being estimated by phase microscopy and by radioimmunoassay for the platelet-specific protein, beta-thromboglobulin. CTAP-PMN preparations derived from 4 x 10(7) cells/ml stimulated culture 3H-thymidine incorporation to 3.56 +/- 1.32 (SD) times control levels. Although exposure of preparations to thiols reduced their mitogenicity, CTAP-PMN was relatively heat-stable. SDS gel electrophoresis of active fractions suggested a molecular weight between 12,700 and 15,700 daltons. In double immunodiffusion, antisera to CTAP-III showed no reactivity with CTAP-PMN. CTAP-PMN or other granulocyte factors capable of stimulating fibroblast DNA synthesis may play a role in chronic proliferative synovitis or in other settings where exudative inflammation is accompanied by connective tissue growth.


This study was to explore the personal history signs and symptoms, grading and types of treatmentreceived bygallbladder cancer patients.Association of Quality of life in Gallbladder cancer patients was assessed with different factors i.e., Socioeconomic status, education, stage and treatment.Quality of life was reviewed at 0,1, and 3 months in 100 patients attending general surgery and surgical oncology OPD.Method: Information was collected by quality of life questionnaire containing five parameters, physicalwell being, social wellbeing, emotional wellbeing, functional, well being, and disease specific wellbeing which was obtained from facit.org. FACT Hep Hindi(version4) was used by the permission of copy write owner. Self developed questionnaire related to symptoms, sign, stage and treatment ofpatientswere also included.Association of QOL in Gallbladder cancer patients with different factors i.e. socioeconomic status, education, stage and treatment of patient have been assessed at the time of admission.The association was assessed by dividing the patients into three groups according to their score of mean ± SD range poor, moderate and good QOL. Result:Mean age is 53 years; range is (25-80). Male/female ratio is 1:2.8, 65% patients were literate. Diet veg. & Non-veg. were 55% and 45% respectively.96% patients were married.Mean score of 100 patients in PWB, SWB, EWB, FWB, HCS, FACT-Hep score is 16.6, 19.6, 14.19, 12.88, 41.96, 103.76 respectively, which is found to be average,Most of the patients found to be in late stage with poor QOL.


Observations in the far ultraviolet (FUV) at wavelengths below ~125 nm, which include the H Lyman series and the spectral lines of many other important species, are expected to unveil fundamental information for solar physics and astrophysics. Among these, observations of the solar corona at 102.6 nm H Lyman β are of high interest, but they may be masked by the strong H Lyman α at 121.6 nm. This goal has been addressed here through the development of novel multilayer coatings with high reflectance at 102.6 nm and at the same time a low reflectance at 121.6 nm; the latter wavelength is mostly absorbed. An efficient reflection/rejection coating is not straightforward because of the lack of high-transmission materials in the short FUV. We have designed and prepared novel multilayers with combinations of the following materials: Al, LiF, SiC and C. Various combinations were found to display a high reflectance ratio at 102.6/121.6 nm when fresh. Some of them resulted in an undesired reflectance increase at 121.6 nm for the samples aged for a few weeks. The most promising multilayers are based on Al/LiF/SiC/LiF (starting with the innermost layer), which resulted in a good performance and a small evolution after months of storage in a desiccator. At the same time, these multilayers may the most efficient reflective narrowband coatings that have been developed with a peak wavelength in the ~100-130 nm.


The mechanical properties of X100 pipeline girth welds are quite sensitive to welding parameters and the design range for a viable welding procedure is narrower compared to pipeline steels of lower grades. The use of a high-productivity welding process, such as dual-torch gas metal arc welding (GMAW), further compounds the dependency of weld properties on welding parameters. Consequently, for X100 pipe welding procedure development, the path to achieve the required weld performance can be a time-consuming and costly process.Developed in a recently completed project, the essential welding variable methodology provides an effective approach to optimize the development process for X100 pipe welding, with the benefits of reducing development time and saving cost. The present paper presents a practical case study of the methodology for girth welds.The present paper focuses on the information needed and the analyses performed in the application of the methodology to the process of welding procedure development for a dual-torch pulsed GMAW (GMAW-P) procedure.Using an analysis tool that can predict the thermal cycles from welding parameters and the available knowledge of microstructure and mechanical responses of both pipe materials and weld metals to welding thermal cycles (cooling rate), several candidates of dual-torch pulsed GMAW procedures were evaluated first for cooling times to help the determination of the final welding procedures. The finalized welding procedures used for the production of the qualification welds were evaluated to estimate the mechanical properties of the girth welds. The estimated weld properties will be compared to those from the test results when they become available.© 2014 ASME


This paper discusses the appropriate design for super high-rise housing. The population of Tokyo, which had been decreasing, began increasing again in 1997. High-rise and super high-rise housing, which allow people to live in urbanized areas, are some of the factors behind this population growth. Super highrise housing is now a mainstream concept of current housing projects. However, for the people that live in them, super high-rise housing is a new living environment. As residences, these living environments are cross-sectional rather than planar in design. Creating these residential spaces requires a design technique incorporating a multiplicity of layers on the premises, as well as input from the prospective residents. The research was conducted at Ohkawabata River City 21.We produced and analyzed cognitive area maps with reference to the questionnaire survey regarding residents recognition of local community. We analyzed the factors in the variation of environmental perception with the multivariate analysis. The attributions of environmental cognition and life territory were determined, particularly those regarding the floors of residents of super high-rise Towers, and discussed the formation of environmental perception which is attributable to displacement floor group.This provides the appropriate attribution of the data for the design technique.


This video presents BiebBeep, an interactive touchscreen system that has been developed with the aim to support information and social services for the New Library in Almere, The Netherlands. The constantly updated information displayed on the interactive screen concerns not only the library itself, but also features happenings in the local area. The system's distinctive feature is that people can add information to the screen themselves, such as tweets, photos, local and cultural news announcements, so that the library and its visitors can inform and connect with each other. Over the course of almost one year, several studies were conducted, including focus group, interview- and observation-based studies that have motivated the functionality, and particularly the user-generated and localized content the system supports. Consequently, the services and functionality the system offers are aimed towards supporting Library 2.0, the next generation library.


Introduction: The carpometacarpal joint (CMCJ) plays a pivotal role in thumb function and essentially, hand function. Investigation concerning the most preferable occupational therapy treatment approach for osteoarthritis (OA) of the CMCJ was therefore indicated. Factors that affect the course of treatment in the South African context were to be identified.  Methodology : A descriptive qualitative research design was implemented with a purposive sample of occupational therapists in the Western Cape. Semi-structured interviews were held. These were transcribed and analysed. Results:  A fixed treatment regimen was not followed by participants of the study. Factors contributing to the choice of treatment emerged from the data. These included the source of the referral, aspects of the OT process and the patient. Results demonstrated that it would not be practical to set up a rigid regimen, due to the diverse nature by which OA of the CMCJ presents in patients as well as the contributing factors participants reported to impact intervention. Discussion: The compilation of a basic guideline is proposed. Each phase of the occupational therapy process according to the stage of OA of the CMCJ should be included to provide meaningful intervention. A proposed guideline is presented based on the results of the study.


In this paper, the development and implementation of a new fault diagnosis scheme for generator winding protection using artificial neural networks (ANN) is introduced. The proposed scheme performs internal fault detection, fault type classifications and faulted phases identification. This scheme is characterized with higher sensitivity and stability boundaries as compared with the differential relay. Effect of the presence of nonsynchronous frequencies on the scheme performance is examined. Effect of different values of ground resistance on ground fault detection sensitivity is outlined. The scheme hardware is implemented based on a digital signal processing (DSP) board interfaced with a multi input/output (MIO) board. Test results of the proposed scheme corroborate the scheme stability and sensitivity.


As the largest branch of the autonomic nervous system, the enteric nervous system (ENS) controls the entire gastrointestinal tract, but remains incompletely characterized. Here, we develop RAISIN RNA-seq, which enables the capture of intact single nuclei along with ribosome-bound mRNA, and use it to profile the adult mouse and human colon to generate a reference map of the ENS at a single-cell resolution. This map reveals an extraordinary diversity of neuron subsets across intestinal locations, ages, and circadian phases, with conserved transcriptional programs that are shared between human and mouse. These data suggest possible revisions to the current model of peristalsis and molecular mechanisms that may allow enteric neurons to orchestrate tissue homeostasis, including immune regulation and stem cell maintenance. Human enteric neurons specifically express risk genes for neuropathic, inflammatory, and extra-intestinal diseases with concomitant gut dysmotility. Our study therefore provides a roadmap to understanding the ENS in health and disease.


Abstract Purpose: To determine childhood predictors of participation in domestic life and interpersonal relationships of young adults with cerebral palsy (CP). Materials and methods: This 13-year follow-up of an existing cohort (baseline age 9–13 years) included 67 young adults with CP (age 21–27 years). The Vineland adaptive behavior scales (VABS) and Life Habits questionnaire were used to assess attendance and difficulty in participation in domestic life and interpersonal relationships. Baseline factors were categorised according to the international classification of functioning, disability, and health. Stepwise multiple linear regression analyses determined significant predictors (p < 0.05). Results: Lower manual ability, intellectual disability (ID), epilepsy and lower motor capacity predicted decreased future participation in domestic life, and/or interpersonal relationships (explained variance R2 = 67–87%), whereas no association was found with environmental and personal factors. Extending models with baseline fine motor skills, communication, and interpersonal relationships increased R2 to 79–90%. Conclusions: Childhood factors account for 79–90% of the variation in young adult participation in domestic life and interpersonal relationships of individuals with CP. Children with limited motor capacity, low manual ability, ID, or epilepsy are at risk for restrictions in participation in young adulthood. Addressing fine motor, communication, and social skills in paediatric rehabilitation might promote young adult participation. Implications for rehabilitation Childhood risk factors for limited participation in domestic life and interpersonal relationships as a young adult with CP are ID, epilepsy, low manual ability, low motor capacity, and low activity & participation levels. In line with current practice, this study confirms the importance of addressing gross and fine motor skills in children with CP for their future participation in domestic life. In addition, results suggest that addressing communication and social skills during paediatric rehabilitation may optimise future participation in interpersonal relationships.


Bell's palsy (BP) has been related to inflammation and oedema of the facial nerve, leading to focal ischaemia and demyelination. Serological and PCR studies have suggested that BP is related to reactivation of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and varicella-zoster viruses (VZVs).1 2 Because the infectious burden of certain viruses of the herpes virus family has been associated with an increased risk of stroke,3 we sought to investigate whether there is an increased risk of stroke after BP.

The data used in this study were taken from the complete National Health Insurance (NHI) claim database in Taiwan from 2000 to 2003. This study included a BP cohort and a non-BP cohort, both of which were selected from Taiwanese residents retrieved from the complete NHI claim database for 2001, in which more than 21.6 million persons were registered. To determine the date and cause of death, the claim database was linked to the national mortality registry. To keep individual information confidential in order to satisfy regulations regarding personal privacy in Taiwan, all personal identification numbers in the data were encrypted by converting them into scrambled numbers before data processing under the auspices of the Department of Health.

The BP cohort consisted of subjects who had received a principal diagnosis of BP (ICD-9-CM code …


CDC is collaborating with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to urge U.S. residents to pay attention to their local air quality during Air Quality Awareness Week, April 28–May 2, 2014. May also is Asthma Awareness Month, and May 6 is World Asthma Day. Asthma sufferers are particularly affected by air pollution. One in 12 U.S. residents (approximately 25.5 million persons) currently has asthma, and nine persons in the United States die from asthma-related complications every day (1). Ozone air pollution, more common in the summer months, can trigger asthma attacks, leading to increased medication use, visits to emergency departments, and hospital admissions. Persons with asthma and other at-risk groups can use daily forecasts of the Air Quality Index to plan exercise and other outdoor activities for times when air pollution is predicted to be low. Persons with asthma and other chronic lung diseases, such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis, are not the only ones affected by ozone. Children, older adults, and active persons of all ages who exercise or work vigorously outdoors also are at risk. Ozone can irritate the respiratory system, reduce lung function, and inflame and damage the lungs. Over time, ozone exposure can cause permanent lung damage. Daily air quality forecasts and current conditions for 400 U.S. cities are available at http://www.airnow.gov and through the AirNow mobile app (http://m.epa.gov/apps/airnow.html) and Enviroflash e-mail service (http://www.enviroflash.info). Information on Air Quality Awareness Week is available at http://epa.gov/airnow/airaware/index.html. Information on Asthma Awareness Month is available at http://www.epa.gov/ asthma/awareness.html. Additional information about asthma is available from CDC at http://www.cdc.gov/asthma.


The vortex street is a unique type of unsteady flow separation seen commonly in flow over a bluff body with a characteristic periodic wake. A consequence of the periodic flow is that the drag and lift forces acting on the body also oscillate periodically. When the wake shedding frequency is near a structural frequency, flow induced resonance will occur. The continuing interest in the study of vortex street generation is propelled by the ever-present nature of these flows in a variety of applications including aerodynamics, hydrodynamics and underwater acoustics. Recent advances in material science and the development of high power density actuators have led to the study of adaptive structure technology wherein the vorticity of periodic flows can be actively controlled by changing the 'bluffness' or shape of the body. In this paper, the development and experimental testing of a two-dimensional shape-variable flow control surface are discussed in relation to the generation and manipulation of periodic flow separation. Two series of wind tunnel tests were designed to evaluate the potential of the morphing structure that replaced a section of the trailing edge of a symmetric airfoil. The test section successfully demonstrated a smooth transition between three prescribed trailing edge profiles ranging from sharp to blunt. Unsteady pressure spectra were measured near the trailing edge for three different shape profiles over a range of speeds between 50 and 110 ft/s. The measured pressure spectra amplitudes were compared to previously-published surface pressure spectra of a similar, two-dimensional, blunt edge foil. A second set of tests was performed to measure the resulting flow field in the direction transverse to the flow and downstream from the airfoil. Velocity measurements were made using a traversing hot-wire probe at three trailing edge configurations and speeds of 50, 70 and 90 ft/s. The corresponding Reynolds number based on wake thickness ranged from 3.9–9.8 × 104 . Measured vortex shedding frequencies varied between approximately 50 to 130 Hz at the different trailing edge profiles. This type of change in the vortex shedding frequency can be used to reduce flow-induced vibration and its associated noise generation by avoiding shedding frequencies at operating speeds that coincide with airfoil resonances.Copyright © 2003 by ASME


Migrants arriving in a country are not always welcome. Similarly, the arrival of new technologies can be perceived as a blot on the familiar landscape of established educational practices. This paper seeks a productive synergy between migrants' educational requirements with respect to learning the language of their host society; their valuable and unique human experiences and talents; and innovative learning designs that harness the ubiquity of smartphones and other mobile technologies. The present-day mass mobility and migration of individuals and groups of people sows the seeds of new ideas, generating novel approaches to language teaching and learning supported by personal technologies. There is a substantial body of evidence from research and practice for the effectiveness and appeal of mobile language learning in various educational settings, however, a specific focus on migrant learners is a more recent development. The paper provides an analysis of innovative mobile language learning projects and applications designed for migrants. It is argued that innovations resulting from a concern with supporting migrant learners can also benefit other mobile populations, such as students and business people, through the introduction of more adaptable ways of fostering and organizing learning.


Feature weighting is an aspect of increasing importance in clustering because data are becoming more and more complex. In this paper, we propose new feature weighting methods based on genetic algorithms. These methods use the cost function defined in LKM as a fitness function. We present new methods based on Darwinian, Lamarckian, and Baldwinian evolution. For each one of them, we describe evolutionary and coevolutionary versions. We compare classical hill-climbing optimization with these six genetic algorithms on different datasets. The results show that the proposed methods, except Darwinian methods, are always better than the LKM algorithm.


The profession of health physics has as its goal the protection of workers and the public from the harmful effects of ionizing radiation. On-the-job training used to be the major part of the young health physicist's professional development, and we can all name many respected pioneers still practicing radiation protection in its purest form. Health physicists of the future, however, will be required to build on that stable platform and move into a different arena--one in which their motives, programs and qualifications are constantly questioned in a much broader context. They will be required to defend their actions and themselves in the courtroom as well as the laboratory and the field. The need for certified health physicists will certainly increase dramatically in relation to the total number required just to get the job done. This comes at a time when colleges and universities are finding it increasingly difficult to obtain funding for their degree programs. Members of the profession must become aware of the changing times and expanding potential for litigation, because many health physicists will be involved in this new arena in one way or another.


Over the last thirty years, the poor state of certain fish stocks in the Large Marine Ecosystem of the Canary Current gradually revealed the limits of the West African fisheries management. The Ecosystem Approach advocated in Mauritania, calls to change the perception of fisheries management to incorporate participatory management considerations total admissible catches (TACs) and fishing quotas. An experiment around, a total allowable capture of 800 tons of pink lobster (Palinurus mauritanicus) is at the heart of this approach using methodological tools of analysis / assessment of the economic performance of crawfish exploratory fishery. Survey results show that during the period from February 2015 to January 2016, the fishery was based on a total of 23 vessels. 52% is held by Mauritanian and the rest is chartered with European (EU) ship owners. The capture of the Mauritanian fishery is significantly higher than that of the European Union, respectively 393 tons against 390 tons. 98% of the overall production volume is in live lobsters, mainly for the European market. This production generated sales of 4.26 billion MRO Affairs. Overall, experimental rock lobster industry is an important macroeconomic activity. The Turnover (CA) represents approximately 5% of revenue from exports of the Mauritanian Fish Marketing Company in 2015 (US $ 268 million) and 13% of fishing GDP in 2014 (33.47 billion MRO, BCM 2015). Over two thirds of this amount (3.62 billion MRO) is generated by the (VA) Added Value 85% of turnover. The VA created by Mauritanian operators is 10% more than the VA created by European operators. The Fixed Annual Costs and the Estimated Gross Excess (FACEGE) represents 1.3 MRO billion or 32% of sales. More than half (MRO 896.6 million) in FACEGE is generated by Mauritanian. Experimental lobster industry creates 557 direct and indirect jobs. These jobs represent 10% of the industrial fishing jobs, globally estimated at 3764 Live 2014. It is estimated that the Mauritanian segment creates 25% more jobs than the European segment. This assessment of socio-economic performance of the exploratory fishery in Mauritania lobster is a first step towards a deeper understanding of its cost structure and its dynamics, necessary for the management of TACs and fishing quotas.


Yeast alanine-tRNA was reacted with 1-cyclohexyl-3-[2-morpholinyl-(4)-ethyl] carbodiimide 14C-methoiodide in the presence of magnesium ion. The carbodiimide formed addition products with bases in the sequences ψpGp, UpCp and UpUpIpGpCp. The expected bases in the sequence TpψpCpGpApUp did not react, although this region is postulated to be in a loop that is not hydrogen-bonded. The capacity of the alanine-tRNA to accept amino acids decreased after reaction with the carbodiimide.


Participants saw a series of situations in which a cue (a light appearing at a certain position) could be followed by an outcome (a drawing of a tank that exploded) and were afterwards asked to rate the likelihood of the outcome in the presence of the cue. In Experiments 1 and 2, the compound cues AT and KL were always followed by the outcome (AT+, KL+). During an elemental phase that either preceded or followed the compound phase, Cue A was also paired with the outcome (A+). Cue T elicited a lower rating than Cues K and L when cues were described as being weapons but not when the cues were said to be indicators. The magnitude of this blocking effect was also influenced by whether the outcome occurred to a maximal or submaximal extent. Experiment 3 replicated the effect of cue instructions on blocking (A+, AT+) but showed that cue instructions had no impact on reduced overshadowing (B-, BT+). The results shed new light on previous findings and support probabilistic contrast models of human contingency judgements.


Post-tonsillectomy pain and bleeding among children undergoing traditional tonsillectomy with those undergoing electrodessiction tonsillectomy were compared. A total of 190 children (2 -12 years old). Eighty-Nine males and 101 females, who were admitted to Al-Namas General Hospital during the period of 2008 to 2011 for tonsillectomy were randomized into either traditional tonsillectomy (97 patients) or electrodissection tonsillectomy (93 patients). Post-tonsillectomy severe pharyngeal pain was more experienced by patients who underwent tonsillectomy by electrodissection. Pain was significantly higher on day 5 (p=0.029). Postoperative hemorrhage was experienced by 6 cases who underwent traditional tonsillectomy (6.2%) and 2 cases who underwent tonsillectomy by electrodissection (2.2%). Difference between both study groups regarding postoperative hemorrhage was not statistically significant. Electrodissection tonsillectomy technique is associated with significantly higher postoperative pain and slightly less incidence of post-tonsillectomy bleeding than that associated with postoperative traditional tonsillectomy technique.


Design Of Engine Components With Thermoresistant Composite Material The twenty-first century was characterized by an increasing demand in terms of technology progress, from the informatic field to the automotive one. Regarding the automotive field, in the last years global pollution became more and more important and, with this in mind the engine efficiency and the fuel saving have concentrated on themselves the efforts of the fabricants. The project is based on the usage of composite materials in the automotive field. In order to reach this goal, FEM (Finite Element Method) analyzes have been performed on different engine components. In particular, this project focus on the wrist pin, between the piston and the connecting rod. A parallel study was made on the connecting rod, following the same physical model. The original geometry of the components comes from a FIAT Fire 1.4 8V engine. The new components have been redesigned coherently with the composite material properties in order to be produced and to resist to the stress due to combustion. The aim of the new design is to produce the components with the actual technologies. The use of composite materials allows to reduce considerably the weight of the components and therefore the inertial forces on the engine. However, the aim of this project is not only to reduce weight, but also to design an optimal fibers orientation. In this way is possible to avoid discharged portion of material inside the component. To perform the FEM analysis, different programs have been used. First, the geometry of the pin was drawn on Solidworks. Then the pin was meshed with Altair Hypermesh. The simulation was performed with the solver Altair Optistruct. Finally, results were analyzed with the post-processing software Altair Hyperview. During the preparation of the model, a new feature of Hypermesh was used. It is the PCOMPLS property, a particular property able to simulate solid composite layers. Usually, composite materials are analyzed with the Laminate Tool in Hypermesh. This tool is able to generate only shell elements, so surface elements, not suitable for this project. The tool was used as first attempt for the analysis, then PCOMPLS property was used. The characteristic of this property will be discussed later, as well as the laminate tool model preparation. In order to converge the results of Optistruct, some modifications have been performed on the model, and will be discussed in the Model chapter. The divergence is due to the non-linearity of the analysis, due in turn to the introduction of contact surfaces between the different parts.


The Domain Name System (DNS) protocol is one of the few application protocols that are allowed to cross network perimeters of organizations. However, comprehensive monitoring of DNS traffic has been often overlooked in many organizations' cybersecurity strategies. As such, DNS provides a highly attractive channel for advanced threat actors and botnet operators to establish hard-to-block and stealthy communication channels between infected devices and command-and-control (C&C) infrastructures. Fast-fluxing (FF) and domain name generation algorithms (DGAs) are two well-known public DNS exploitation techniques to build agile C&C infrastructures. The detection of FF and DGA domain names is a big data problem, as it requires analyzing millions of DNS queries and replies over extended time periods. In this paper, we propose two algorithms to perform DNS analytics and effectively detect FF and DGA domain names. More importantly, we describe how the algorithms are implemented using two big data processing models: MapReduce and Feature Collection and Correlation Engine. The algorithms and implementation proposed are iterative and scale over long analysis periods. We describe the implementations and provide an evaluation complemented with case studies on 50 days of real-world DNS data consisting of more than 40 billion events, collected within a large corporate network.


This study presents the algorithm and architecture of the decimal floating-point (DFP) antilogarithmic converter, based on the digit-recurrence algorithm with selection by rounding. The proposed approach can compute faithful DFP antilogarithmic results for any one of the three DFP formats specified in the IEEE 754-2008 standard. The proposed architecture is synthesised with an STM 90-nm standard cell library and the results show that the critical path delay and the number of clock cycles of the proposed Decimal64 antilogarithmic converter are 1.26 ns (28.0 FO4) and 19, respectively, and the total hardware complexity is 29325 NAND2 gates. The delay estimation results of the proposed architecture show that it has a significant decrease in terms of latency in contrast with recently published high performance decimal CORDIC implementations.


This study proposed a new type of the shape memory alloy (SMA) bending bars with a new clamping machine and investigated their bending and cyclic behavior subjected to pushing and pulling actions through experimental works. The aim was to characterize the self-centering and damping capacity of the SMA bending bars to develop self-centering and damping devices and evaluate their efficiency in seismic and dynamic applications. For this aim, two types of SMAs were considered: (1) superelastic SMA (SE SMA) and (2) martensite SMA (MA SMA). First, the bending tests were performed on single SE SMA and MA SMA bars and their corresponding bending behaviors were illustrated in the form of force–displacement curves. Results showed that the MA SMA bar provided higher energy dissipation capacity while the SE SMA could provide a better displacement recovery. Thereafter, the bending behaviors of multiple bars with various combinations of SMA bars, namely, double SE SMA (SS), SE SMA-MA SMA-SE SMA (SMS), and MA-SE-MA (MSM) were investigated. Results showed that MSM provided the highest energy dissipation capacity among all while the SMS showed a better structural performance considering a combination of damping and self-centering capacities. Then, to enhance the displacement recovery and energy dissipation capacity of SMA bars, the single SE SMA bar, and SMS were annealed. Results showed that the annealing enhanced the structural performance, but no perfect displacement recovery was still obtained.


This paper describes the characterization, modeling, and application of a direct-readout complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) camera in white-light interferometry (WLI). The camera that was used consisted of a direct-readout 1024times1024 pixel logarithmic CMOS sensor. A continuous analog voltage from each pixel was converted to an 8-bit value by an internal analog-to-digital converter and processed with a digital signal processor. A mathematical model relating the input light intensity to the 8-bit digitized output is developed, which is critical in applications where knowledge of the scene intensity is essential to estimating the maximum allowable frame rates. The camera was utilized in WLI, and its application is analyzed in terms of maximum output signal amplitude, imaging speed, and light intensity. The mathematical modeling is implemented with SPICE simulations and verified with experimental data.


A key problem often encountered by many learning algorithms in computer vision dealing with high dimensional data is the so called "curse of dimensionality" which arises when the available training samples are less than the input feature space dimensionality. To remedy this problem, we propose a joint dimensionality reduction and classification framework by formulating an optimization problem within the maximum margin class separation task. The proposed optimization problem is solved using alternative optimization where we jointly compute the low dimensional maximum margin projections and the separating hyperplanes in the projection subspace. Moreover, in order to reduce the computational cost of the developed optimization algorithm we incorporate orthogonality constraints on the derived projection bases and show that the resulting combined model is an alternation between identifying the optimal separating hyperplanes and performing a linear discriminant analysis on the support vectors. Experiments on face, facial expression and object recognition validate the effectiveness of the proposed method against state-of-the-art dimensionality reduction algorithms.


Layered compression therapy for venous leg ulcers and ulcers associated with chronic leg edema has been shown to be an effective treatment in patients with adequate arterial circulation. However, no study has looked specifically at compression therapy in the diabetic population. This clinical case review examines outcomes in two groups of diabetic patients with edema and either venous ulcers or preulcerative conditions. Patients in Group 1 had clinically adequate arterial circulation and were treated with a four-layer compression bandage system. The highly elastic third layer was eliminated in the Group 2 patients, who had compromised peripheral arterial circulation. Healing occurred in 81% of patients in Group 1 and 67% of patients in Group 2. There was no acute progression of lower limb ischemia. Layered compression therapy was an effective and safe treatment in this diabetic population with adequate arterial circulation. Reduced compression also can be helpful in some patients with arterial compromise.


While it has been established that childhood trauma is associated with experiencing psychosis, the dynamics of this relationship are far from being understood. Social cognition is thought to be an important factor for understanding this association as it has been found that social difficulties predict functional outcome in psychosis better than non-social cognitive difficulties. This thesis set out to explore these variables, specifically the role that affective theory of mind has on the association between childhood trauma and psychotic-like experiences. Following PRISMA guidelines, the association between the reading the eyes in the mind test, a measure of affective theory of mind, and paranoia, a psychosis-like experience, were evaluated through a systematic literature review and meta-analysis of the studies. Deficits on the tests have been found to be associated with the experience of paranoia with a small magnitude effect size. In the research paper, the reading the eyes in the mind test was used to explore the effect of affective theory of mind on the association between childhood trauma and psychotic-like experiences, through an online survey. Affective theory of mind was not a mediator of this association and did not predict psychotic-like experiences. This suggests that the affective component of theory of mind is not related to psychotic-like experiences in the general population. The characteristics of the sample and the nature of the questionnaires implemented may have played an important role in obtaining these results. These confounders have been fully explored and discussed within the context of future research.


Objective: To investigate the levels of serum cystatin C (CysC) and chemokine (Chemerin) in patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR) and their roles in the onset and progression of DR. Methods: A total of 150 diabetic patients were enrolled as subjects and randomly divided into three groups: the proliferative DR (PDR) group (n=50), the non-proliferative DR (NPDR) group (n=50) and the control group (diabetes mellitus (DM) alone, n=50). In addition, 50 healthy adults were selected as normal controls. The four groups of patients were compared in demographic characteristics and biomarkers including gender, age, body mass index (BMI), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high sensitive C reactive protein (hsCRP), as well as serum cystatin C and Chemerin levels. Besides, Pearson correlation analysis and Logistics regression analysis were performed. Results: The control group was associated with a significant increase in serum CysC and Chemerin levels as compared with the normal control group; the patients with PDR or NPDR showed significantly higher levels than those with diabetes mellitus (DM) alone; and the ones with PDR had significantly higher levels than those with NPDR. The serum CysC and Chemerin levels were significantly different across groups and increased with the severity of the disease (P<0.05). Pearson correlation analysis showed that the serum CysC levels were positively associated with systolic blood pressure (SBP), HbA1c, HOMA-IR, FPG, TG, TC and LDL-C (P<0.05), and the serum Chemerin levels were positively associated with BMI, HOMA-IR, urinary albumin and hsCRP (P<0.05). What's more, the serum CysC levels were also positively associated with the serum Chemerin levels (P<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that serums CysC and Chemerin were independent risk factors for DR. Conclusion: Elevated serum CysC and Chemerin levels are risk factors for DR, and they play a role in the pathogenesis of DR. Thus they are likely to become potential markers for assessment of DR.


The development of renewable energy technologies (RETs) in rural areas requires accep‐ tance of technical solutions by key stakeholders, such as consumers and decision‐makers, as well as energy providers. This study aims to identify the current status of public accep‐ tance of RETs, especially biogas technology, the associated influencing factors, and the vil ‐ lager's preference of role to biogas management. Questionnaires were distributed to the respondents in Bendosari village to collect the required data for logistic regression and measurement of willingness to pay (WTP). Bidding game format was used to assess the WTP of three different groups, that is, biogas farmer, non‐biogas farmers, and non‐farmers. Three regression models were generated from the analysis, describing the factors influenc ‐ ing the public acceptance of each group toward biogas technology. The determinants of one group differed from the other group, reflecting the customer behavior in deciding toward certain goods which is biogas technology in this case. Measurement of public acceptance in percentage indicates the high acceptance and low acceptance of biogas technology for biogas farmers and for other two groups, respectively. This is affirmed by the result of the WTP‐ATP comparison where WTP is lower than ATP and indicates that biogas technol‐ ogy has no important value for most non‐biogas farmers and non‐farmers. Furthermore, the preference of role as a consumer in biogas technology development is higher than as provider or co‐provider. Biogas technology in rural areas is more sustainable when most farmers have roles as a co‐provider.


One of the major issues in the deployment of solar powered base stations (BSs) is to dimension the photovoltaic (PV) panel and battery size resources, while satisfying outage constraints with least cost. The fundamental step in this dimensioning is to evaluate the power outage probability associated with a particular configuration of PV panel and battery size. This paper addresses this issue by first proposing an analytic model to evaluate the power outage probability of a solar powered BS. The proposed model accounts for hourly as well as daily variation in the harvested solar energy as well as the load dependent BS power consumption. The model evaluates the steady state probability of the battery level, which is then used to estimate the BS power outage probability. Next, given a tolerable power outage probability, we address the problem of obtaining the cost-optimal PV panel and battery dimensions for the BS. The proposed model and the framework have been evaluated using empirical solar energy data for geographically diverse locations.


We present a novel flow-visualization technique utilizing reflective flakes in combination with color illumination. Three differently colored columated light beams are used to illuminate the flow, each color being directed from a separate direction. In this way, the color of the light reflected from the flakes gives an indication of the local flake orientation. The flake orientation in complex three-dimensional (3-D) flow is in general a complicated function of the local velocity gradient tensor, but can be calculated if the underlying velocity field is known. This has recently been demonstrated by Gauthier et al. [Phys. Fluids. 10, 2147 (1998)] using monochome light. In complex flow fields the distribution of flakes may, however, be rearranged by the motion, thus making the local intensity of reflection depend on both orientation and flake concentration. The color is, however, immune to the local number density of flakes inside the flow, making quantitative information possible. This technique is demonstrated by visualizing the finer details of vortices in a Taylor–Couette device.


Background The relationship of elevated T cell activation to altered T cell differentiation profiles, each defining features of HIV-1 infection, has not been extensively explored. We hypothesized that anti-retroviral suppression of T cell activation levels would lead to alterations in the T cell differentiation of total and HIV-1 specific CD8+ T cell responses among recently HIV-1 infected adults. Methodology/Principal Findings We performed a longitudinal study simultaneously measuring T cell activation and maturation markers on both total and antigen-specific T cells in recently infected adults: prior to treatment; after the initiation of HAART; and after treatment was halted. Prior to treatment, HIV-1 Gag–specific CD8+ T cells were predominantly of a highly activated, intermediate memory (CD27+CD28−) phenotype, while CMV pp65-specific CD8+ T cells showed a late memory (CD27−CD28−), low activation phenotype. Participants with the highest fraction of late memory (CD27−CD28−) HIV-1-specific CD8+ T cells had higher CD4+ T cell counts (rho = +0.74, p = 0.004). In turn, those with the highest fraction of intermediate memory (CD27+ CD28−) HIV-1 specific CD8+ T cells had high total CD8+ T cell activation (rho = +0.68, p = 0.01), indicating poorer long-term clinical outcomes. The HIV-1 specific T cell differentiation profile was not readily altered by suppression of T cell activation following HAART treatment. Conclusions/Significance A more differentiated, less activated HIV-1 specific CD8+ T cell response may be clinically protective. Anti-retroviral treatment initiated two to four months after infection lowered T cell activation but had no effect on the differentiation profile of the HIV-1-specific response. Intervention during the first month of acute infection may be required to shift the differentiation phenotype of HIV-1 specific responses to a more clinically favorable profile.


IMPORTANCE
The focus of occupational therapy is often on personal care, life skills, and daily living. Sport, as a type of leisure activity, can also provide benefits to health and well-being. Occupational therapy practitioners should therefore promote the role of sport in the lives of clients.

OBJECTIVE
To investigate the extent, range, and nature of peer-reviewed occupational therapy literature investigating sport as a leisure occupation.

DATA SOURCES
The following databases were searched: Embase, MEDLINE, OTseeker, PsycINFO, PubMed, and SPORTDiscus.

STUDY SELECTION AND DATA COLLECTION
We identified published studies investigating competitive sport in occupational therapy research or practice. Included studies investigated adult participants (age ≥18 yr) participating in sport, had a clear occupational therapy input, and were written in the English language.

FINDINGS
Six studies met the inclusion criteria. Only 2 of the 6 studies identified through the search strategy were conducted after 2004, diagnosis and outcome measures varied widely, and sport as a leisure occupation was found to have positive individual outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
Opportunities exist to investigate sport as a leisure occupation and its involvement in occupational therapy practice. Future research may contribute to positive outcomes and experiences for clients who receive occupational therapy.

WHAT THIS ARTICLE ADDS
This scoping review describes literature about sport as an occupation and highlights the opportunities for practitioners and researchers to incorporate sport as a leisure occupation.


There has been much debate as to whether 210Pb‐226Ra disequilibria in young volcanic rocks result from partial melting, cumulate interaction or magma degassing. Here we present new data from basalts erupted in 1978 from Ardoukoba volcano in the Asal Rift. The (210Pb/226Ra)t ratios are very low (0.2 to 0.6) and appear to correlate negatively with (226Ra/230Th). Invariant (230Th/238U) and (231Pa/235U) ratios require similar melting rates, porosities, and extents for all parental magmas. Thus, the range in (226Ra/230Th), which is negatively correlated with Th concentration, reflects fractional crystallization over millennia after the magmas were emplaced into the crust. This precludes the 210Pb deficits from resulting from partial melting. Instead, the 210Pb deficits must have formed subsequent to magma differentiation and are interpreted to reflect several decades of magma degassing. Many young basalts erupted in a variety of tectonic settings are similarly depleted in 210Pb with respect to 226Ra, suggesting that they continuously degas over a period of a few to several decades, perhaps reflecting the time required to rise to the surface from deeper reservoirs. In some of these basalts, gas accumulation leads to the shallowest, most evolved, and earliest erupting magmas having the highest (210Pb/226Ra) ratios and sometimes 210Pb excesses.


Wastewater got much of our intention these days because
wastewater is polluting our lakes, pounds and even sea have a lot of
contaminated amount of waste. This water is hazardous for the acute life,
dangerous for living things. Wastewater polluted the natural reservoirs.

Over the
past, the knowledge of the mechanisms of electrochemical wastewater treatment
has progressively evolved. A comprehensive understanding of the types of methods
and mechanisms of treatment of wastewater is a prerequisite to the
understanding of their relativities and elucidation of intermediate products
generated during the oxidation process and degradation pathways. The type,
nature, and quantity of reactive species generated in electrochemical treatment
processes are controlled by many factors, including the type of the treatment
technique, electrode/electro catalyst materials, water/wastewater composition,
water pH conditions, and operating parameters are to be considered. Multiple
methods such as separation, conversion and combined methods are used for
treatment. However, basic principle works on the electrochemical mechanism. This
article gives the basic idea of electrochemical methods working principles, techniques
being considered. It will also help us understand the byproducts recovery of
different metal ions and how they converted into useful form. Best methods
based on the efficiency and economic value. Feasibility of long term and short
term methods for the treatment of wastewater.


Erythrosine, also known as FD & C Red No. 3, is a synthetic dye that has been used for food coloring and dental plaque detection. The objective of this study was to evaluate erythrosine as a viable photosensitizer in photodynamic inactivation (PDI) of bacteria and yeast. Cells were treated with erythrosine with or without acetic acid in the presence and absence of light. Erythrosine in the absence of light did not show any activity against the microorganisms. When treated with light, erythrosine was efficient in eradicating non-adherent (planktonic) Gram (+) bacteria and yeast. However, Gram (-) bacteria were less responsive to PDI. Addition of acetic acid was found to enhance the activity of erythrosine and significantly lower the survival of Gram (-) bacteria. This study demonstrated the potential applications of erythrosine in PDI and the potentiating effects of acetic acid.


MicroRNAs (miRNAs), one type of small RNAs (sRNAs) in plants, play an essential role in gene regulation. Several miRNA databases were established; however, successively generated new datasets need to be collected, organized and analyzed. To this end, we have constructed a plant miRNA knowledge base (PmiRKB) that provides four major functional modules. In the 'SNP' module, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data of seven Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) accessions and 21 rice (Oryza sativa) subspecies were collected to inspect the SNPs within pre-miRNAs (precursor microRNAs) and miRNA—target RNA duplexes. Depending on their locations, SNPs can affect the secondary structures of pre-miRNAs, or interactions between miRNAs and their targets. A second module, 'Pri-miR', can be used to investigate the tissue-specific, transcriptional contexts of pre- and pri-miRNAs (primary microRNAs), based on massively parallel signature sequencing data. The third module, 'MiR–Tar', was designed to validate thousands of miRNA—target pairs by using parallel analysis of RNA end (PARE) data. Correspondingly, the fourth module, 'Self-reg', also used PARE data to investigate the metabolism of miRNA precursors, including precursor processing and miRNA- or miRNA*-mediated self-regulation effects on their host precursors. PmiRKB can be freely accessed at http://bis.zju.edu.cn/pmirkb/.


Age-associated changes in the microsomal mono-oxygenase enzyme, aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH), were investigated in peripheral blood monocytes isolated from young and elderly subjects. Young subjects were selected from the age group 70 years. AHH activity, expressed as nM 3-hydroxy benzopyrene formed/10(6) cells/h of incubation, was similar in young and elderly non-smokers (elderly = 6.7 +/- 1.8; young = 9.1 +/- 0.9; p > 0.05). In smokers, contrary to some previous reports, AHH activity was not significantly higher than in non-smokers of similar age (elderly smokers = 8.6 +/- 1.0; young smokers = 10.5 +/- 2.4; p > 0.05). There was no significant difference between young and elderly smokers (p > 0.05). We conclude that: (a) AHH activity is similar in young and old non-smoking individuals; (b) no significant differences were detected in in vivo induction of this enzyme activity between smokers and non-smokers.


Background: Micro-organisms resistant to most of the commercial antibiotics are rapidly expanding and there is an urgent need for detection of novel antimicrobial compounds. Tooth decay is a dental infection with bacterial sources such as Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sanguis. Objectives: The present study aimed to evaluate the in vitro antibacterial effects of different concentrations of Citrus limon peel, pineapple fruit, and pineapple peel extracts on oral pathogens such as S. mutants and S. sanguis. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, the hydroethanolic extracts of the selected plants were prepared by maceration method and their antibacterial effects were evaluated by agar well diffusion method. Results: Two-fold dilutions of plant extract solutions were tested to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) against each selected microorganism. The results of the current study revealed that pineapple peel extracts had the highest antibacterial effect on S. sanguis (MIC: 1.56 mg/mL and MBC: 3.12 mg/mL). Pineapple fruit had the lowest antibacterial activity against S. mutans (MIC: 25 mg/mL and MBC: 100 mg/mL). C. limon peel had significant antibacterial activity against S. mutans and S. sanguis. Conclusion: The peel of C. limon and pineapple had significant antibacterial activity against cariogenic microorganisms such as S. mutans and S. sanguinis.


OBJECTIVE
The purposes of our study were to describe the CT appearance of recurrent intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms of the pancreas after surgical resection and estimate the performance of CT in detecting recurrent neoplasms.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A single unblinded reviewer characterized the presence and appearance of recurrent intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms on 66 CT scans of 17 patients with proven recurrence, noting location and appearance of recurrent neoplasm. These results, described in this article, were summarized in tabular format and shown to three blinded observer. The observers then evaluated one postoperative CT examination from every patient at our institution who underwent surgical removal of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (n = 45) for the presence or absence of local or distant recurrence.

RESULTS
The unblinded reviewer found 11 cases of local recurrence. Extrapancreatic local recurrences tend to have solid components (5/6), tend to be located adjacent to the resection margin (5/6), and may exhibit vascular invasion (2/6). Intrapancreatic neoplasms are usually cystic (4/5). Nine patients had distant metastases. Prospective sensitivity for recurrent tumor ranged from 76% (13/17) to 94% (16/17). Sensitivity for local recurrence ranged from 55% (6/11) to 82% (9/11). Specificity ranged from 79% (22/28) to 96% (27/28). Interobserver agreement for predicting recurrence was moderate to substantial (kappa = 0.51-0.65).

CONCLUSION
Locally recurrent intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms of the pancreas tend to be either extrapancreatic and solid at the resection margin or intrapancreatic and cystic. CT can detect most recurrent intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms of the pancreas with moderate to substantial interobserver agreement.


Along with the implementation of electronic KTP (National ID Card that is powered by smart card technology), the Government of Indonesia has also planned to implement electronic voting or E-Voting for National Voting in year 2014. To realize this major plan, thorough planning, design, and implementation of the new system should be done. BPPT (Badan Penerapan dan Pengkajian Teknologi) has been chosen by the government to conduct research about this new E-Voting system. They currently already have a prototype of E-Voting system, but it lacks a verification module using fingerprint scanner, and is still using costly Microsoft Windows operating system. This book will focus on the planning, design, and implementation of automated fingerprint identification system specifically built for E-Voting which is fully based on open source software.


The environmental contamination and fate of benzotriazole UV stabilizers (BZTs) have received increasing attention due to their large production volume and wide usage in various consumer and industrial products. In the present work, 60 municipal sewage sludge samples from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in 33 cities in China were collected to investigate the occurrence and distribution of 9 frequently used BZTs. The most dominant analogue was 2-[3,5-bis(1-methyl-1-phenylethyl)-2-hydroxyphenyl]benzotriazole (UV-234) at a median concentration of 116 ng/g (dry weight) and accounted on average for 27.2% of total BZTs. The abundance was successively followed by 2-(2-hydroxy-5-tert-octylphenyl)benzotriazole (UV-329, average 24.3%), 2-(2-hydroxy-3-tert-butyl-5-methylphenyl)-5-chlorobenzotriazole (UV-326, average 22.2%), 2-(3,5-di-tert-amyl-2-hydroxyphenyl)benzotriazole (UV-328, average 17.7%), and 2-(2-hydroxy-5-methylphenyl)benzotriazole (UV-P, average 6.6%), with median concentrations of 66.8, 67.8, 57.3, and 20.6 ng/g, respectively. 5-Chloro-2-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-hydroxyphenyl)benzotriazole (UV-327) and 2-(3-sec-butyl-5-tert-butyl-2-hydroxyphenyl)benzotriazole (UV-350) had low detection frequency, while 2-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-hydroxyphenyl)benzotriazole (UV-320) and 2-(5-tert-butyl-2-hydroxyphenyl)benzotriazole (UV-PS) were not detectable in any sample. To our knowledge, this is the first study reporting the occurrence of UV-234, UV-329, and UV-350 in sewage sludge in China. Significant correlations were found among the BZT concentrations and also with a WWTP characteristic (daily treatment volume). Furthermore, results from degradation prediction and multimedia fate simulation based on a quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) model at screening level also implied that the commercial BZT chemicals and their plausible transformation products might be persistent in the environment.


Identifying sections containing a logically coherent text about a particular aspect is important for fine-grained IR, question-answering and information extraction. We propose a novel problem of identifying repeated sections, such as project details in resumes and different sports events in the transcript of a news broadcast. We focus on resumes and present four techniques (2 unsupervised, 2 supervised) for automatically identifying repeated project sections. The knowledge-based method is modeled after the human way closely. The other methods are based on integer linear programming and sequence labeling. The proposed techniques are general and can be used for identifying other kinds of repeated sections (and even non-repeating sections) in different types of documents. We compared the four methods on a dataset of resumes of IT professionals and also evaluated the benefits of identifying such repeated sections in practical IR tasks. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first to propose and solve the problem of repeated sections identification.


Complementary advances in the fields of virtual reality (VR) and reality capture have led to a growing demand for VR experiences that enable users to convincingly move around in an environment created from a real-world scene. Most methods address this issue by first acquiring a large number of image samples from different viewpoints. However, this is often costly in both time and hardware requirements, and is incompatible with the growing selection of existing, casually-acquired 360-degree images available online. In this paper, we present a novel solution for cinematic VR with motion parallax that instead only uses a single monoscopic omnidirectional image as input. We provide new insights on how to convert such an image into a scene mesh, and discuss potential uses of this representation. We notably propose using a VR interface to manually generate a 360-degree depth map, visualized as a 3D mesh and modified by the operator in real-time. We applied our method to different real-world scenes, and conducted a user study comparing meshes created from depth maps of different levels of accuracy. The results show that our method enables perceptually comfortable VR viewing when users move around in the scene.


The theory and computation of integrated water vapor transport vectors are described and it is shown how the synoptic analysis of these vectors may be used for 'quantitative precipitation forecasting. An example of the vector field and the precipitation forecast is given. Although the prognostic formula does not give correct point values of the precipitation, reasonably good agreement is found between the distributions of forecast and observed precipitation. The technique is probably too laborious for daily forecasting routine but may be useful in the evaluation of rainmaking experiments.


We aimed to determine the mutagenic, antimutagenic and antigenotoxic effects ofRhizoplaca chrysoleuca and Rhizoplaca melanophthalma's methanol extracts on the known mutagens against two different organisms using Mitotic Index (MI) and Ames-Salmonella assay systems. For the MI assay the genotoxic dose of NaN3was defined on Zea mays seeds and different dose of the lichen extract used as anti-mutagen (5, 10, 20, 40 μg/plate). Observed data showed that methanol extracts prevent the cytotoxic effect of NaN3 partially. In addition, the antimutagenic activities of the methanol extracts were investigated against 9-AA in TA1537 and NaN3 in TA1535 strains of Salmonella typhimurium. Extracts show antimutagenic effect against 9-AA-induced mutation in TA1537 strain at all tested concentrations. The inhibition rates ranged from 70.73 to 85.71% (R. chrysoleuca, 0.5 μg/plate - 5 μg/plate). The results show that these natural compounds have an ability to reduce or prevent the effects of these mutagenic substances.

 Key words: Ames, Salmonella, antimutagenicity, genotoxicity, mitotic index,Rhizoplaca chrysoleuca, Rhizoplaca melanophthalma.


The Comment, Question, and Answer department is published as a service to professional readers and parents of deaf children. It is an attempt to provide practical information on the basic aspects of deafness, particularly in relation to education. Although all questions submitted cannot be used, those considered to be of greatest interest to readers will be published. Answers are prepared by competent authorities. Material submitted must contain the writer's name and address. Address questions and comments to: Alan B. Crammatte, 897 Windsong Drive, Arnold, MD 21012.


ABSTRACT Nikaido, R.; Aoki, S.; Tamura, H., and Jinbo, M., 2016. Simulation of tsunami runup in the Tone River using generalized coordinate system and influence of river mouth bar on tsunami water level. In: Vila-Concejo, A.; Bruce, E.; Kennedy, D.M., and McCarroll, R.J. (eds.), Proceedings of the 14th International Coastal Symposium (Sydney, Australia). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue, No. 75, pp. 28 - 32. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. This study simulated the tsunami runup in the Tone River using generalized coordinate system and discussed influence of river mouth bar on tsunami water level. This simulation focused on the 2011 off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake Tsunami. Numerical simulation of the 2011 Tsunami runup in the Tone River and comparison of the results with the field data showed that the model using generalized coordinate system gave more accurate results than the model using the Cartesian coordinate system. This may be because the configuration of the curved river was precisely represented by the generalized coordinate system. Comparison of the computed results between the three cases, no removal, half removal and all removal of the river mouth bar, showed that the existence of the river mouth bar decreased water level and reduced inundation depth in the Tone River estuary. Therefore, the river mouth bar has tsunami reduction effects of tsunami disaster in the river.


One hypothesis suggests that patients undergoing Angiotensin Converting Enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) or Angitensin Receptor Blocker (ARB) treatment might be at greater risk for severe COVID-19 disease. This retrospective study aims to elucidate whether patients with reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)–confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection undergoing ACEI or ARB treatment present with a more severe clinical presentation or more severe lung injury than other patients, as evaluated by CT thorax scans. Comorbidities related to ACEI or ARB use, including arterial hypertension (AHT), heart disease (HD), and diabetes mellitus (DM), were found to be more frequent (p < 0.05 ) in the ACEI or ARB users' group. The odds ratio of ACEI or ARB users for having a more severe clinical presentation was 1.12 (95% [CI] 0.59–2.13, p = 0.741). For having a severe CT severity score (with a cut-off of 12.5 on a total score of 25), the odds ratio was 1.46 (95% [CI] 0.73–2.94, p = 0.287). Furthermore, the odds ratio of the mortality outcome was 1.1 (95% [CI] 0.49–2.48, p = 0.824). Although the group of ACEI or ARB users had more comorbidities, we found no significant association between CT severity, clinical severity, or mortality and the use of these drugs. These findings bolster the argument against ACEI or ARB withdrawal in COVID-19 patients.


Abstract. Greenup dates of the mountainous Acadia National Park, were monitored using remote sensing data (including Landsat 8 surface reflectances (at a 30 m spatial resolution) and VIIRS reflectances adjusted to a nadir view (gridded at a 500 m spatial resolution)) during the 2013–2016 growing seasons. Ground-level leaf-out monitoring in the areas alongside the north-south-oriented hiking trails on three of the park's tallest mountains (466 m, 418 m, and 380 m) was used to evaluate satellite derived greenup dates in this study. While the 30 m resolution would be expected to provide a better scale for phenology detection in this mountainous region than the 500 m resolution, the daily temporal resolution of the 500 m data would be expected to offer vastly superior monitoring of the rapid variations experienced during vegetation greenup along elevational gradients. Therefore, the greenup dates derived from the Landsat 8 Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) data, augmented with Spatial and Temporal Adaptive Reflectance Fusion Model (STARFM) simulated EVI values, does provide more spatial details than VIIRS data alone and agree well with field monitored leaf out dates. Satellite derived greenup dates from the 30 m of Acadia National Park vary among different elevational zones, although the date of greenup is not always the most advanced at the lowest elevation. This indicates that the spring phenology is not only determined by microclimates associated with different elevations in this mountainous area, but is also possibly affected by the species mixture, localized temperatures, and other factors in Acadia.


Background: The purpose of this study was to validate myocardial microdialysis measurements in patients after myocardial infarction with or without associated postoperative functional recovery in order to develop a highly sensitive tool for real-time in vivo detection of microcellular disorder during cardiac operations. Methods: In 20 patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting, microdialysis catheters were implanted into scar or hibernating segments detected by means of magnetic resonance imaging, and into a vital area of the right ventricle (control). Myocardial glucose, lactate and pyruvate were analyzed perioperatively. Myocardial ethanol washout was measured as a sign of recovered local blood flow. Results: After surgical revascularization, improvement of wall motion was found in all hibernating segments compared to the scar segments paralleling an increased glucose delivery to the tissue and increased myocardial tissue flow. The myocardial glucose/lactate ratio and pyruvate also showed significantly higher values. Microdialytic measurements of the viable segments were comparable with those of the right ventricle. Conclusions: Our results indicate that microdialysis measurements parallel magnetic resonance imaging findings in patients with revascularization of chronic ischemic myocardium with dyskinetic segments. The metabolism of those segments is characterized by a significantly increased tissue flow, an increased utilization of glucose and a better oxidative nutrition.


Authors review the case history and follow-up of a rare malignant fibrous histiocytoma patient, based on the relevant literary data. The tumor filled the retroperitoneum on the right side, in front of the right kidney. Intravenous urography and computer tomography revealed a 10 x 15 cm sized mass, suspect of being a kidney tumor. Upon surgery, the tumor was found to be a retroperitoneal malignant fibrous histiocytoma. In connection to the case, a brief review is given of the storiform type of malignant fibrous histiocytoma, regarding its etiological, clinical and pathological aspects, the difficulties in diagnosis, as well as the therapeutic possibilities. Authors regard their case worthy of publication because of the retroperitoneal location and significant size of the tumor, and because of the unproven diagnosis prior to surgery. Even after 4 years the patient is symptom- and complaint-free, and CT has revealed no metastases.


Background: Medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS) or shin splints is the result of soft tissue injuries surrounding the tibial shaft. The most common causative factor is that of repetitive trauma while doing exertional exercises and maneuvers. These injuries cause pain in the lower leg and affects the lower part of the tibia shaft. This is frequently encountered in athletes and dancers. Case Presentation: We present a 22 year old college student who happened to be in the athletic team and reported with the left leg pain. Various radiological investigations diagnosed him as a case of medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS). Magnetic resonance imaging played a pivot role in grading the injury and patient was advised accordingly. Conclusion: MTSS may remain unnoticed till the time it causes concern of non resolving pain of the lower leg. The case requires careful evaluation for the management purpose. Fredericson MRI classification helps in deciding about the conservative or surgical management.


This article discusses an important jurisprudential issue related to one of the sources of reasoning by Imām Al-Shāfi'ī, especially in his book (Al-umm), which is the opinions of (Saḥābah) the Companion.
This article collects all the clear texts that are directly related to the companion's opinion in each book (Al-umm), and mentions the jurisprudential events that were mentioned because of them. It aims, therefore, to prove that Imām Al-Shāfi'ī considered the statement of the Companion to be one of the sources of legislation in Islamic jurisprudence, and that it comes after the Qur'ān and Sunnah and before Qiyās.
This article also explains - inference from the texts of Al-Shāfi'ī - the different cases of the companions saying, such as the state of the companions 'consensus and their difference, and the criteria for weighting between the opinions of the companions of jurisprudence in the case of their difference.
In the end, the article concludes that Al-Shāfi'ī considered the statement of the Companion as a legal evidence in itself, and that it is part of the Prophet's Sunnah, and that the difference of the Companions does not preclude taking some of their sayings. This result is different with the well-known from Shāfi'ī's sayings in the books of Fundamentals of Jurisprudence that were written after him, even books written by jurists belonging to the Shāfi'ī school of thought.
The article relies on the method of extrapolating all texts in the book (Al-umm) in order for the result to be an unquestionable affirmation, and for it to be a reference for all texts related to the subject in this book.


1. Glaucoma may be starved for at least a month without any deaths occurring. 2. Starved Glaucoma stop multiplying in from 6 to 12 hours according to the extent of feeding before starvation. 3. The food vacuoles are all eliminated by about 5 hours of starvation. 4. The starving individuals become smaller and smaller, the decrease in size being most rapid at first while the ciliates are still multiplying. 5. The nucleus becomes smaller in the same way as the volume of the ciliate, but to a relatively less extent. 6. During the early stages of starvation the Glaucoma become long and slender, and later they tend to return to their normal more spherical shape. 7. The changes in shape induced by starvation are interpreted in terms of the relative changes in the surface and volume of the ciliates.


We compare magnetization switching in Co/Cu/Co nanopillars with uncoupled and dipole-field coupled Co layers. In uncoupled nanopillars, current-driven switching is hysteretic at low magnetic field H and changes to reversible, characterized by telegraph noise, at high H. We show that dipolar coupling both affects the switching current and causes the switching to become reversible at small H. The coupling thus changes the switching to reversible, hysteretic, and then reversible again as H increases. We describe our results in terms of current-assisted thermal activation.


This article considers how the arts, creativity and imagination can be employed in feminist sociological inquiry in order to capture the complex nature of human lives and to authentically represent research findings. This dual concern is reflected in the article's title which comes from Amanda Kemp's work. Here she describes her one‐woman show as using performance 'both as a way of knowing and as a way of showing'. The arts offer a way for researchers and research participants to examine their lived experience, to reflect creatively upon this, and to know themselves more deeply. The arts can also guide an enriched writing of research and vivify the dissemination of results, stirring the audience's imagination with the outcome, in line with feminist research's principal aim, of effecting change on a variety of levels. The article reflects upon a participatory, arts‐based research project carried out at a Sure Start programme in North West England. Here, the arts were employed throughout the research process: visual art, poetry and short‐film making offered innovative and emotive methods of collecting data and of encouraging self‐reflection in research participants; drama was used as a means of disseminating the results of the research to a wide and varied audience.


To improve the cracking resistance of lightweight aggregate concrete, rubber particles and polymer were added. Experimental results showed that the shrinkage rate increased when rubber particles were added into lightweight aggregate concrete, but when polymer was mixed, the shrinkage rate decreased dramatically. Microstructure analysis indicated that the interface transition zone (ITZ) influenced the shrinkage performance of rubberized lightweight aggregate concrete with polymer directly; the ITZ bondage between rubber particles and cement matrix was very poor and the restriction to shrinkage was weak, which were the main reasons for the increase of shrinkage rate of rubberized lightweight aggregate concrete; when polymer was mixed into the concrete, the hole and ITZ structure of concrete were improved, which made the strain energy absorbing function of rubber particles can be exerted entirely and the flexibility of ITZ was boosted, thereby the shrinkage performance and cracking resistance of lightweight aggregate concrete were improved.


Gait analysis is essential to identify accurate cause and knee condition from patients who display abnormal walking. Traditional linear tools can, however, mask the true structure of motor variability, since biomechanical data from a few strides during the gait have limitation to understanding the system. Therefore, it is necessary to propose a more precise dynamic method. The chaos analysis, a nonlinear technique, focuses on understanding how variations in the gait pattern change over time. Healthy eight subjects walked on a treadmill for 100 seconds at 60 Hz. Three dimensional walking kinematic data were obtained using two cameras and KWON3D motion analyzer. The largest Lyapunov exponent from the measured knee angular displacement time series was calculated to quantify local stability. This study quantified the variability present in time series generated from gait parameter via chaos analysis. Gait pattern is found to be chaotic. The proposed Lyapunov exponent can be used in rehabilitation and diagnosis of recoverable patients.


We determine the capacity region of a degraded Gaussian relay channel with multiple relay stages. This is done by building an inductive argument based on the single-relay capacity theorem of Cover and El Gamal. For an arbitrary distribution of noise powers, we derive the optimal power distribution strategy among the transmitter and the relays and the best possible improvement in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) that can be achieved from using a given number of relays. The time-division multiplexing operation of the relay channel in the wideband regime is analyzed and it is shown that time division does not achieve minimum energy per bit.


Studying the corrosion of the alloy 600, under water pressure, is of high importance to understand the ageing process of pressurized water reactors. Today, the impact of the oxide growth on the mechanical properties of nickel alloys is a challenge. The surface analysis and the quantification of the local deformation are key factors to deduce the surface damage of the substrate produced by corrosion. Here, we introduce a new methodology to determine the deformation distribution of the alloy 600 by using polycrystalline samples. The method is based on nanopads disposed on the surface samples, which allow a mapping, at the microscopic scale, of the spatial deformation. We applied to the samples a tensile loading in the plastic domain from 0 to 4%. The obtained asymmetric deformations distribution reflects the polycrystallinity of the system.


The correlation between the molecular size of the surface layer protein (S protein) and both structure and antigenicity of the Campylobacter fetus surface layer (S layer) was investigated in several clinical strains and their spontaneous variants which produce S proteins of molecular weights (MW) different from those of the parents. Only three molecular sizes of the S proteins were observed (98, 127, and 149 kDa) in the parental and variant strains. Immunologically, the 98-kDa protein and the 149-kDa protein but not the 127-kDa protein were cross-reactive. Freeze-etching analysis showed that the 98-kDa S protein formed a hexagonal arrangement with a 24-nm center-to-center space and that the S proteins with larger MW (127 or 149 kDa) formed tetragonal ones with an 8-nm center-to-center space. Thus, the MW changes of the S proteins seen in the variant strains were associated with both morphological and antigenic changes in S layer. These observations support the hypothesis that the pattern and antigenicity of the C. fetus S layer is determined by the particular type of S protein. Furthermore, the presence of the two different S layer patterns on a single bacterial cell indicates that multiple S proteins can be produced and expressed in a single cell.


Sediment is fractionated by size during its cascade from source to sink in sediment routing systems. It is anticipated, therefore, that the grain size distribution of sediment will undergo down‐system changes as a result of fluvial sorting processes and selective deposition. We assess this hypothesis by comparing grain size statistical properties of samples from within the erosional source region with those that have undergone different amounts of transport. A truncated Pareto distribution describes well the coarser half of the clast size distribution of regolith, coarse channel bed sediment and proximal debris flows (particularly their levees), as well as the coarser half of the clast size distribution of gravels that have undergone considerable amounts of transport in rivers. The Pareto shape parameter a evolves in response to mobilization, sediment transport and, importantly, the selective extraction of particles from the surface flow to build underlying stratigraphy. A goodness of fit statistic, the Kolmogorov–Smirnov vertical difference, illustrates the closeness of the observed clast size distributions to the Pareto, Weibull and log‐normal models as a function of distance from the depositional apex. The goodness of fit of the particle size distribution of regolith varies with bedrock geology. Bedload sediment at catchment outlets is fitted well by the log‐normal and truncated Pareto models, whereas the exponential Weibull model provides a less good fit. In the Eocene Escanilla palaeo‐sediment routing system of the south‐central Pyrenees, the log‐normal and truncated Pareto models provide excellent fits for distances of up to 80 km from the depositional apex, whereas the Weibull fit progressively worsens with increasing transport distance. A similar trend is found in the Miocene–Pliocene gravels of the Nebraskan Great Plains over a distance of >300 km. Despite the large fractionation in mean grain size and gravel percentage from source region to depositional sink, particle size distributions therefore appear to maintain log‐normality over a wide range of transport distance. Use of statistical models enables down‐system fractionation of sediment released from source regions to be better understood and predicted and is a potentially valuable tool in source‐to‐sink approaches to basin analysis.


In this paper a new algorithm is presented in order to overcome the stability vs. formation ability dilemma of competitive learning. This algorithm is based on growing cell structures of self-organizing mapping. The new algorithm is effective for endless learning and automatic classification. Applying the algorithm in the case where the input pattern is changed temporally, we have confirmed that it has much better performance than conventional algorithms.


Existing work examining the trade effect of colonial legacy does not consider services trade or the impact on LDCs. We bridge this gap by providing evidence from the Commonwealth and Francophonie countries assembling a larger, more recent panel (241 countries, over 1995-2010). Commonwealth membership is found to increase services exports by 56.2% in our baseline estimates while being a Francophonie country is associated with four times more trade; both effects are significantly larger than the corresponding goods trade effects. Descriptive statistics reveal the growing reliance of small, low-income former colonies on the respective "colonial groups". Corroborating this, we find much larger (than average) services trade effects for ex-colonies characterized as LDCs, a significant finding given the links between market access and development. Our results are robust to accounting for China and to Brexit (for the Commonwealth).


Ohio Dominican College (ODC), a private, four-year, liberal arts institution with about 1,800 students, established its Dominican Learning Network (DLN) with the help of a U.S. Department of Education Title III grant from 1994-1999. Each faculty and staff member received a computer and printer. Three state-of-the art computer classrooms were built in the library and science buildings. Several banks of computer stations were constructed for student use, and classrooms and offices across campus were equipped with data ports. Finally, the network's operating and office systems were brought up and running--thereby linking the entire campus in cyberspace. The college's mandate for the DLN clearly focused on using computers to facilitate student learning within the college curriculum and on increasing the number of faculty who utilized technology in instruction from 10% in 1993 to 80% in 1999. Faculty and staff attended on-campus training sessions on topics such as Word, e-mail, HTML and search engines. They also participated in campus-wide discussions about student learning styles and the competencies students would need for living and working in the 21st century. Small groups of faculty visited other college campuses to see their Computer networks and applications first hand, though some of these visits did not yield much useful information because of more extensive support services available at the other colleges and significantly different student demographics. Other faculty members read books and articles and visited Web sites about the use of technology in college teaching. The interest level on the part of most faculty and staff was high. Problem Lies in Lack of Sharing Faculty and staff members began to try various computer applications in their classrooms and offices. However, few faculty were aware of what their colleagues, even those in their own departments, were doing with technology to facilitate student learning. Further, faculty had no way of easily and systematically obtaining this information short of questioning their peers on an informal basis. Faculty also lacked information on a variety of instructionally useful yet easy-to-implement applications. Solution: The ODC Ideabook A committee of faculty members created the ODC Technology Ideabook: A Sourcebook of Faculty/Staff-Tested Ideas on Using Computers to Promote Student Learning and Make Life Easier. The Ideabook is actually not a physical book, but rather a Web site that is reached quickly and easily from Ohio Dominican College's home page. It is designed to disseminate ideas originated by ODC faculty and staff across the entire campus. Using this vehicle, faculty and staff can conveniently exchange workable ideas with one another, use each other as resources and mentors, and in general become aware of how the community is using the DLN for educational purposes. Six faculty members in education, philosophy, history, psychology and English, in addition to the Director of the Library, obtained ideas for the Ideabook. The Network Administrator provided the necessary technical assistance. This committee designed a standard format that was used to record the details of each idea submission. Sections included: * Title of idea; * Type of application; * Course in which idea was used; * Description/purpose; * Student learning objectives; * How to implement the idea; * Evaluation; * Comments; * Suggestions for variations/follow-up; and * Contributor information. To begin the project, the committee targeted potential contributors who represented a cross-section of the campus community. Contributors were contacted by phone and half-hour interviews were conducted with them to record their ideas. Contributors were also offered the option of filling in the form themselves, but most opted for the interview. …


Introduction: Clinicians in the present scenario are always exposed to constant and sustained levels of physical and mental stress. As they form the backbone of healthcare setup, the health of clinicians themselves is a very significant factor towards providing good health to all. Aim: To determine the effect of Body Mass Index (BMI) on Work Related Musculoskeletal Discomfort (WMSD) and Occupational Stress (OS) in clinicians. Materials and Methods: The descriptive study with inferential design was conducted on 200 clinicians working in Out-Patient Department (OPD) clinics of various departments of our Medical College, various private hospitals and clinics of Jalandhar with approximate duration of study being one year. BMI was calculated as ratio of Weight (kg) to the square of height (m). WMSD and OS were determined through reliable and valid questionnaires and their values were associated with demographic variables via statistical tests of Chi-square, ANOVA and Student t-test to infer their inter-relational significance. Results: High BMI was reported more in above 40-year-old clinicians with higher incidence in surgical doctors than medical doctors. Majority (n=115) 57.5% of the clinicians were found to have mild musculoskeletal discomfort followed by no discomfort (23%) while 19.5% of them exhibited moderate to severe discomfort. Female clinicians showed more level of discomfort than male clinicians. BMI has high significance in relation to the questionnaire score. Clinicians with BMI >25 also showed high percentage (57.1%) of moderate and severe levels of OS. Conclusion: BMI is positively related to physical as well as mental well-being of clinicians, especially in the middle age group. This information serves as an awareness and warning signal for the clinicians to safeguard their own health.


Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are a major public health concern in the United States as childhood trauma can lead to long-term health and mental health consequences. They disproportionally affect low-income children of diverse backgrounds; however, parent education can potentially reduce ACEs among low-income young children. This study aims to examine whether parents' perceptions toward ACEs changed after exposure to ACEsrelated infographic education. In this study, we identified three main themes across the focus group interviews that highlight the importance of ACEs-related educational intervention. Following the ACEs-related education, our study found that the vast majority of participants' attitudes toward and perceptions of ACEs changed from normalizing ACEs to acknowledging and accepting the consequences of ACEs; the participants also reported feeling empowered to prevent the cycle of ACEs. More importantly, the participants recognized that ACEs could cause long-term traumatic damage to the exposed child's health outcomes, and they felt empowered to seek resources for ACEs-related interventions. These findings shed positive light on the significance of educating parents on ACEs, which should be considered for policy implications and program interventions to prevent child maltreatment in the United States. We propose an intervention model using the health literacy and educational empowerment frameworks along with other policy recommendations that highlight the importance of culturally and linguistically appropriate services for diverse families living in low-income housing communities.


: The myeloperoxidases possessing the specific activity of 500 000-700 000 of o-dianisidine units per 1 mg of protein were isolated and purified from the lysosome-like granules of pig and cattle neutrophylic leukocytes. The absorbance spectra for the enzymes in the visible region are identical; their molecular weight is 140 000-160 000. The enzymes are made up of two subunits, each containing a heavy (m. w. 68 000) and a light (m. w. 10 000) polypeptide chains. The pH optimum for myeloperoxidase oxidation of o-dianisidine lies around 5.8-6.2 for both enzymes. The dependence of the reaction rate on H2O2 concentration does not obey the Michaelis--Menten kinetics. The optimal concentrations of the reaction substrates are 0.34 mM for o-dianisidine and 0.075 mM for H2O2. The amino acid composition and the peptide maps for pig and cattle myeloperoxidases are in many ways similar, showing no coincidence of enzymes, however, in terms of antigenic determinants. The similarities of some physico-chemical properties of pig and cattle enzymes and their immunological differences are discussed.


Lead magnesium niobate ceramics (PMN) are promising materials for applications in the field of underwater acoustic projectors. A finite element procedure has been developed in the ATILA code to model the static deformation of these materialss [J. C. Debus et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 100, 2584(A) (1996)]. Two different elements are available according to whether or not the saturation of polarization is included. An extension of this model to nonlinear transient analysis is presented in this paper. The procedure is derived for time stepping by finite difference, using a central difference scheme. This new capability is demonstrated by analyzing the transient response of an electrostrictive bar submitted to different electrical excitations (voltage step, charge step, continuous sine). The validation of the model is carried out by comparing the results obtained with the analytical results for a lumped constants model. The validity of commonly used transducer characteristics is discussed to describe electrostr...


Malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) is a fatal lymphoproliferative disease affecting ruminants. The disease is caused by infection of susceptible hosts with one of two gammaherpesviruses, Alcelaphine Herpesvirus -1 (AHV -1) or Ovine Herpesvirus -2 (011V-2). On isolation AHV -1 infectivity is cell -associated and will induce MCF on inoculation into experimental animals. After serial passage cell -free infective virus is observed, but this virus cannot produce MCF experimentally. The aim of this project was to characterise the genomic alterations which occurred in one isolate, C500, associated with this altered pathogenicity. Viral DNA of virulent (PP) and cell -free attenuated (CFA) C500 derivatives was compared by restriction endonuclease profiling. Variability was observed using Sma I, as a 5kbp fragment was present in PP DNA but not CFA DNA. Conversely a 3.8kbp fragment was present in CFA DNA but absent from PP DNA. Homology was observed between these Sma I fragments. The Sma I 3.8kbp fragment was cloned (ATT -1), as were two Hind III equivalents of the PP 5kbp Sma I fragment (VIR -1 and VIR -2). These clones were mapped for several restriction endonucleases, subcloned and sequenced. The location of the C500 clones was assessed by Southern blotting and PCR. The structure of the C500 genome consisted of a central unique region of approximately 130kbp, flanked on either side by multiple copies of a 1050bp repeat unit, resulting in an overall genome size of 160kbp. The ATT -1 clone was found to be present twice in the CFA genome, located at both ends of the unique region, close to the terminal repeats, with both copies orientated in the same direction. The location of the VIR -1 and VIR -2 clones in the PP genome was not fully deteimined during this study, however, the results obtained suggested that the VIR -1 and VIR -2 clones were located approximately 1.4kbp apart, at one end of the unique region, close to the terminal repeats. The mapping data suggested that two sequential deletions occur as the C500 virus is passaged in tissue culture, resulting in a total deletion of approximately 3.8kbp. This deletion correlates with loss of virulence. The sequence of the three C500 clones was compared to other known sequences at both nucleic acid and amino acid levels, but no significant homology was observed. One open reading frame (ORF), encoding a peptide designated peptide 5, and an adjacent unsequenced region of 800óp were lost on attenuation of the C500 isolate, suggesting that this region encodes sequence essential to the development of MCF. The sequence of peptide 5 did not exhibit structural similarity to the peptides involved in the transforming potential of either of the related gammaherpesviruses Herpesvirus saimiri (HVS) or Epstein -Barr virus (EBV). However, the location of the ORF encoding peptide 5 in the C500 genome was similar to that of the transforming protein of HVS in the HVS genome One ORF, encoding a peptide designated peptide 1, was found to be conserved in OHV -2, and is a further indication of the close relationship between these two herpesviruses. Peptide 1 also exhibited limited structural homology to the transforming proteins of HVS, however, the presence of two copies of peptide 1 in the CFA C500 genome suggested that peptide 1 did not have a similar function to the HVS peptides. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1General Introduction 1.


Bacterial genomes encode thousands of genes whose expression is regulated in response to changes in the environment. Much of this regulation takes place at the level of the initiation of transcription of specific genes. Bacteria use hundreds of different proteins to activate transcription by a variety of mechanisms.

Keywords:

RNA polymerase;
promoters;
transcription initiation;
σ factors;
transcription activators;
nucleoid-associated proteins