This study was based on the records of baculum features, hair scale form, and karyotype of Taphozous nudiventris magnus. The baculum is a distinctive feature in separating this subspecies from T. n. kachhensis. The structure of the hair scale type examined by scanning electron microscope (SEM) was divaricate, dentate coronal at the tip, and varied from the tip of the hair to the base; it had a divergent, dentate coronal at the shaft and an appressed, repand coronal at the base. The diploid number (2n) and the number of autosomal arms (NFa) of T. n. magnus were 42 and 64, respectively.


ABSTRACT The Multi-purpose Tree (MPT) species have the ability to fit into the farming systems of the East African region where low agricultural productivity, widespread land degradation and hence a diminishing capacity to support the growing human and livestock population are major problems. GIS has been used to develop a spatial representation of the recommendation domains of five MPT species (Calliandra calothyrsus, Sesbania sesban, Leucaena diversifolia, L. pallida and Chamaecytisus palmensis) in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. The recommendation domains were selected based on climatic, edaphic and topographic factors. The likelihood of adoption, within the agro-ecologically suitable areas for each species, has been defined by weighing and combining three factors: the type of land cover/land use, the human and cattle population densities.


We evaluate a program in Guatemala offering training and transfers of a local chicken variety using a randomized phase-in design with imperfect compliance. We do not find strong evidence for or against positive intent-to-treat effects on household-level outcomes, including indicators of expenditure, calorie and protein intake, diet quality, egg consumption and production, as well as chicken ownership and management. Among girls between the ages of six and 60 months, we find that the program reduced stunting by 23.5 (19.4) percentage points, while also improving other height and weight outcomes. Boys are more likely to suffer from intestinal illness, which could explain differences in program impacts by sex. Children in the poorest households experienced the largest impacts on dietary diversity and the probability of consuming animal-source foods, but these impacts did not translate into larger effects on height or weight.


BACKGROUND
Physical performance of military tasks can deteriorate during field training.

HYPOTHESIS
Drinking a carbohydrate-electrolyte (CHO-E) beverage during military relevant training would improve fluid and caloric intake, and better sustain physical performance.

METHODS
Some 27 volunteers restricted to approximately 2600 kcal.d-1 were randomly assigned to one of three groups: CHO-E, placebo, or water. Fluid intake was ad libitum. The volunteers completed 3 d of field training in hot humid conditions (30 degrees C, 60% rh). Training days 1 and 2 each included a 16-21 km march over hilly terrain, marksmanship training, and 2 h of rock climbing. Day 3 included a 14.5 km march followed by marksmanship tests, a timed rock climb and a 0.7 km uphill (21% grade) run.

RESULTS
The CHO-E beverage provided an additional approximately 2800 kcal (p < 0.05) for the 3 d of training. There were no differences (ANOVA, p > 0.05) between the groups absolute or changes from pre-training values for fluid intake, body weight, climb time, run time, marksmanship, or mood. Those drinking CHO-E were, however, more likely to maintain uphill run performance after training (chi 2 = 7.2; p < 0.05) and more likely to maintain both uphill run and marksmanship ability (chi 2 = 17.2; p < 0.05). There was also an inverse relationship between caloric intake and deterioration of uphill run performance (r = -0.75; p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
Persons drinking CHO-E or practicing good food discipline are more likely to sustain physical performance than those eating only a portion of their food. CHO-E provides an accessible source of calories which can be advantageous when limited food is available or inadaquate food consumption is likely.


The cytochrome P450-dependent monooxygenases play a central role in the metabolism of chemical carcinogens. The action of these enzymes can lead to either carcinogen detoxication or activation. Differences in P450 expression in animal models give rise to large differences in susceptibility to chemical carcinogens, so genetic polymorphisms in P450 expression may be expected to be an important factor in individual human susceptibility to cancer. Of particular interest is the genetic polymorphism at the cytochrome P450debrisoquine/sparteine hydroxylase locus (CYP2D6). Although this is a minor liver P450, its polymorphic expression is associated with the abnormal metabolism of at least 30 therapeutic drugs, including 3-blockers and tricyclic antidepressants. Conflicting reports have been made on the association of this polymorphism with cancer susceptibility. This disagreement may be attributable to limitations of the phenotyping assay used to identify affected individuals (poor metabolizers, PMs). In order to clarify these anomalies, we have developed a simple DNA-based assay with which we can identify the majority of PMs. The assay is centered around the primary gene defect responsible for the polymorphism, a G to A transition at the junction of intron 3/exon 4 which results in a frame-shift in the resultant mRNA. The frequency of this mutation is 70-80% in PMs. We have studied the frequency of mutated alleles in a control population and in a wide range of cancer patients. No association between this polymorphism and lung cancer susceptibility was observed; however, in other populations of cancer patients some very interesting shifts were found in the proportion of PMs and heterozygotes from that in the normal population.


This study aimed to assess the biofilm reduction, staining potential, and cytotoxicity of guava extract mouth rinse compared to chlorhexidine (CHX). Substantivity, staining, and antibiofilm potential were investigated by spectrophotometry, colony-forming units, and luminosity color meter, respectively. The cell viability assay was conducted using a colorimetric assay to determine nontoxic levels of guava (0.15%) and CHX in human gingival epithelial keratinocytes (HGEK-16). Cells were treated with lipopolysaccharides (LPS, 1μg/mL) and guava to assess inflammatory gene expression levels of interleukin-β1, tumor necrosis factor-α, and Prostaglandin E2. A scratch wound healing assay investigated the effects of guava on cell migration. The teeth coated in guava mouth rinse displayed 19.4% higher substantivity compared to CHX (0.2%), and the anti-biofilm reduction was observed with both guava and CHX mouth rinses (P < 0.05). The overall discoloration changes were higher with CHX and distilled water compared to guava. Also, guava significantly enhanced HGEK-16 cell viability (P < 0.05), and IL-β1, TNFα and PGE2 expression presented a 0.6-fold decrease when exposed to guava and LPS (P < 0.05). The present study showed that guava mouth rinse fulfilled the requirement for an effective and useful oral care product with desirable substantivity and anti-biofilm action. In addition, guava reduced the inflammation response in HGEK-16 and may be a potential oral rinse for oral anti-inflammatory therapies.


The success of the transformer architecture in natural language processing has recently triggered attention in the computer vision field. The transformer has been used as a replacement for the widely used convolution operators, due to its ability to learn long-range dependencies. This replacement was proven to be successful in numerous tasks, in which several state-of-the-art methods rely on transformers for better learning. In computer vision, the 3D field has also witnessed an increase in employing the transformer for 3D convolution neural networks and multi-layer perceptron networks. Although a number of surveys have focused on transformers in vision in general, 3D vision requires special attention due to the difference in data representation and processing when compared to 2D vision. In this work, we present a systematic and thorough review of more than 100 transformers methods for different 3D vision tasks, including classification, segmentation, detection, completion, pose estimation, and others. We discuss transformer design in 3D vision, which allows it to process data with various 3D representations. For each application, we highlight key properties and contributions of proposed transformer-based methods. To assess the competitiveness of these methods, we compare their performance to common non-transformer methods on 12 3D benchmarks. We conclude the survey by discussing different open directions and challenges for transformers in 3D vision. In addition to the presented papers, we aim to frequently update the latest relevant papers along with their corresponding implementations at: https://github.com/lahoud/3d-vision-transformers.


Weight, oil, fatty acids, tocopherol, polyphenol, and sterol properties of 5 olive cultivars (Zard, Fishomi, Ascolana, Amigdalolia, and Conservalia) during crude, lye treatment, washing, fermentation, and pasteurization steps were studied. Results showed: oil percent was higher and lower in Ascolana (crude step) and in Fishomi (pasteurization step), respectively; during processing steps, in all cultivars, oleic, palmitic, linoleic, and stearic acids were higher; the highest changes in saturated and unsaturated fatty acids were in fermentation step; the highest and the lowest ratios of ω3 / ω6 were in Ascolana (washing step) and in Zard (pasteurization step), respectively; the highest and the lowest tocopherol were in Amigdalolia and Fishomi, respectively, and major damage occurred in lye step; the highest and the lowest polyphenols were in Ascolana (crude step) and in Zard and Ascolana (pasteurization step), respectively; the major damage among cultivars occurred during lye step, in which the polyphenol reduced to 1/10 of first content; sterol did not undergo changes during steps. Reviewing of olive patents shows that many compositions of fruits such as oil quality, fatty acids, quantity and its fraction can be changed by alteration in cultivar and process.


While passaging a recently isolated strain of poliomyelitis virus through a rhesus monkey, another virus was procured from its central nervous system. After intracerebral inoculation, the virus produced meningoencephalitis in monkeys, cotton rats, hamsters, guinea pigs, and rabbits; after intracutaneous inoculation a necrotic skin lesion was produced in the monkey and rabbit and this was often followed by myelitis. The virus could also be passed in newborn mice less than 48 hours old and in chick embryos by inoculation of the chorioallantoic membrane. Immunological and host range studies revealed this virus to be related to the B virus originally described by Sabin and Wright in 1934 (1). To our knowledge this is the first record of B virus having been isolated from a monkey, and lends support to the inclusion of this agent as the simian member of the herpes group. The infection is not uncommon in monkey stocks, as revealed by the finding of antibodies to the virus in their sera. In the present series 9 of 44 monkeys gave positive antibody tests. Gamma globulin prepared in the United States in 1945, 1951, and 1953, as well as a certain proportion of sera from normal individuals in Bombay, India, and elsewhere, showed neutralizing activity against the new strain of B virus, and also to herpes simplex virus. This may be the result of the partial crossing which exists between the two viruses.


Summary The Geodata Group of the Exploration Division of Britoil plc maintains six computerized information systems on behalf of the explorationists in the Company. These systems contain data about wells, licences, field studies, well exchange, shotpoint locations and 3-D grids. The wells system contains basic reference data and drilling summaries. The licence system consists of complete licence details as well as co-ordinate information for plotting purposes. The field studies system contains pairs of files, geological/petrophysical data and deviation survey data, for all wells in each field covered. The well exchange system is a list of what wells were 'given' for those wells 'obtained'. The shotpoint locations system consists of navigation data obtained during seismic surveys from which shotpoint basemaps are directly produced. The 3-D grids are generated by the Radian Corporation package CPS-1 and contain two-way seismic times, seismic velocities or structural depth surfaces over fields or prospects. All the systems have developed in response to specific requirements of geologists or geophysicists. A database requirements review was undertaken during 1982 and the results of this will be built in to a proposed integrated information system. Because of this transition only an abstract of the paper is presented here.


© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Aim: Mapping tree species richness across the tropics is of great interest for effective conservation and biodiversity management. In this study, we evaluated the potential of full-waveform lidar data for mapping tree species richness across the tropics by relating measurements of vertical canopy structure, as a proxy for the occupation of vertical niche space, to tree species richness. Location: Tropics. Time period: Present. Major taxa studied: Trees. Methods: First, we evaluated the characteristics of vertical canopy structure across 15 study sites using (simulated) large-footprint full-waveform lidar data (22 m diameter) and related these findings to in-situ tree species information. Then, we developed structure–richness models at the local (within 25–50 ha plots), regional (biogeographical regions) and pan-tropical scale at three spatial resolutions (1.0, 0.25 and 0.0625 ha) using Poisson regression. Results: The results showed a weak structure–richness relationship at the local scale. At the regional scale (within a biogeographical region) a stronger relationship between canopy structure and tree species richness across different tropical forest types was found, for example across Central Africa and in South America [R2 ranging from.44–.56, root mean squared difference as a percentage of the mean (RMSD%) ranging between 23–61%]. Modelling the relationship pan-tropically, across four continents, 39% of the variation in tree species richness could be explained with canopy structure alone (R2 =.39 and RMSD% = 43%, 0.25-ha resolution). Main conclusions: Our results may serve as a basis for the future development of a set of structure–richness models to map high resolution tree species richness using vertical canopy structure information from the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI). The value of this effort would be enhanced by access to a larger set of field reference data for all tropical regions. Future research could also support the use of GEDI data in frameworks using environmental and spectral information for modelling tree species richness across the tropics.


NERSC has partnered with 20 representative application teams to evaluate performance on the Xeon-Phi Knights Landing architecture and develop an application-optimization strategy for the greater NERSC workload on the recently installed Cori system. In this article, we present early case studies and summarized results from a subset of the 20 applications highlighting the impact of important architecture differences between the Xeon-Phi and traditional Xeon processors. We summarize the status of the applications and describe the greater optimization strategy that has formed.


The influence on the wear properties of ductile iron with Cr-containing steel inserts has been investigated before and after austempering. The microstructure of locally reinforced ductile iron, with and without an austempering treatment, has been characterized using optical microscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry. The introduction of such inserts during casting leads to the precipitation of carbides M3C, M7C3 and M23C6 (M stands for Fe and/or Cr) inside the inserts and to M3C and M7C3 in the region surrounding the inserts. After austempering, a partial dissolution of these latter carbides and transformation of the matrix to ausferrite occur. The wear properties of these materials have been evaluated under reciprocating sliding motion using cylinder-on-disc line contact configuration. The results of the present investigation show a better wear behavior of the reinforced material related to the microstructural changes observed.


We study how carbon dioxide (CO2) emission cuts affect income for 23 OECD countries over the 1980-2004 period. The importance of this question is manifested in the disagreements at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen and the 2010 State of the Union Address by United States President Barack Obama. We start by deriving an income-CO2 relationship based on a structural production function, which is a natural way to model the relationship among income, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions. We then use a similar empirical methodology as Tucker (1995) to estimate the income-CO2 relationship. Such an approach not only allows us to focus on the long-run relationship but also enables us to project the relationship between income and CO2 emissions for future years. Our findings suggest that the economic cost of CO2 emission cuts is significant. To reduce emissions 50% below 1990 levels by 2050, the economic cost per year for developed countries is about 0.3% reduction in GDP per capita which represents a 15% slowdown in economic growth.


The effect of reduced light intensity on the growth and development of three common grass weeds, blackgrass, silky windgrass, and annual bluegrass, was studied. Two identical greenhouse experiments displaced in time were performed with six light levels aiming at 0%, 20%, 50%, 80%, 90%, and 95% shade corresponding to a mean daily light integral (DLI) of 12.4, 9.63, 7.13, 2.74, 0.95, and 0.69 mol m?2 d?1 in experiment 1 and 21.2, 18.0, 10.7, 3.71, 1.64, 1.20 mol m?2 d?1 in experiment 2. Climate screens of acrylic fabric were used to create the light levels. A DLI of 0.69 to 3.71 mol m?2 d?1 substantially reduced the plant height, the number of leaves, leaf chlorophyll content index, stomatal conductance, maximum photochemical efficiency of photosystem II, and dry matter of blackgrass. It also reduced plant height, the number of leaves, and dry matter and delayed flowering of windgrass and annual bluegrass. Annual bluegrass reacted most rapidly when light levels increased from the lowest levels by producing more leaves. DLI thresholds for blooming were estimated to be about 7.13 mol m?2 d?1 for windgrass and 1.64 mol m?2 d?1 for annual bluegrass. Annual bluegrass was able to bloom and sustain biomass even at a DLI of 1.64 mol m?2 d?1. This ability may contribute to an explanation of why annual bluegrass is among the most common weed species in highly competitive and well-fertilized crops even though it is much smaller than the two other grass species. Nomenclature: Blackgrass, Alopecurus myosuroides Huds.; silky windgrass, Apera spica-venti (L.) Beauv.; annual bluegrass, Poa annua L.


A system has been developed for the detection of super-high-frequency (SHF) partial discharge (PD) at frequencies up to 6 GHz. The system consists of three antennas for capturing PDs and a fast digital oscilloscope for sampling data. One of the antennas is a disk-cone antenna with frequency range below 710 MHz. The other two half TEM horn antennas have been designed and constructed for the frequency range 716 MHz - 5 GHz. To extend the frequency range up to 6 GHz, a methodology has been developed by compensating amplitude-response to frequency-magnitude. The compensation is realised by using multilayer feed-forward neural networks to equalise on amplitude-response. A direct sampling method is used to log the captured PD data. This PD detection system has been implemented to measure PDs at a 400 kV electrical substation (Strathaven, Scottish Power Ltd).


We characterize the joint evolution of cross-sectional inequality in earnings, other sources of income and consumption across generations in the U.S. To account for cross-sectional dispersion, we estimate a model of intergenerational persistence and separately identify the influences of parental factors and of idiosyncratic life-cycle components. We find evidence of family persistence in earnings, consumption and saving behaviours, and marital sorting patterns. However, the quantitative contribution of idiosyncratic heterogeneity to cross-sectional inequality is significantly larger than parental effects. Our estimates imply that intergenerational persistence is not high enough to induce further large increases in inequality over time and across generations.


Optimal transport has recently been reintroduced to the machine learning community thanks in part to novel efficient optimization procedures allowing for medium to large scale applications. We propose a Python toolbox that implements several key optimal transport ideas for the machine learning community. The toolbox contains implementations of a number of founding works of OT for machine learning such as Sinkhorn algorithm and Wasserstein barycenters, but also provides generic solvers that can be used for conducting novel fundamental research. This toolbox, named POT for Python Optimal Transport, is open source with an MIT license.


The defective expression of frataxin causes the hereditary neurodegenerative disorder Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA). Human frataxin is synthesized as a 210 amino acid precursor protein, which needs proteolytic processing into mitochondria to be converted into the functional mature form. In vitro processing of human frataxin was previously described to yield a 155 amino acid mature form, corresponding to residues 56-210 (frataxin(56-210)). Here, we studied the maturation of frataxin by in vivo overexpression in human cells. Our data show that the main form of mature frataxin is generated by a proteolytic cleavage between Lys80 and Ser81, yielding a 130 amino acid protein (frataxin(81-210)). This maturation product corresponds to the endogenous frataxin detected in human heart, peripheral blood lymphocytes or dermal fibroblasts. Moreover, we demonstrate that frataxin(81-210) is biologically functional, as it rescues aconitase defects in frataxin-deficient cells derived from FRDA patients. Importantly, our data indicate that frataxin(56-210) can be produced in vivo when the primary 80-81 maturation site is unavailable, suggesting the existence of proteolytic mechanisms that can actively control the size of the mature product, with possible functional implications.


The nitrogenous fertilizer segment hardly represents the most glamorous sector – even if it represents one of the most important. Simply put, we could not eat (or live) without nitrogen feeding our crops. Yet, economists have paid little attention to modelling this boring yet vital market segment. In this paper, we provide a model of the nitrogenous fertilizer sector (SIC codes 2870-3). We develop a simple dynamic model of segment profitability as a function of revenue in a differential equations framework. We show that any strategy to "get big fast" (in revenue terms) depends on structural factors affecting firm profitability. Our models and results should serve other analysts studying the fertilizer industry and potentially a range of other sectors – in the US and in places like Poland.


A highly pure fraction of hyaluronic acid is disclosed which is non-inflammatory and avoids post-operative complications in ocular surgery. Also disclosed is a process for the preparation of hyaluronic acid characterized by converting hyaluronic acid into a corresponding quaternary ammonium salt and, following purification procedures, reconverting the quaternary ammonium salt into a sodium salt of hyaluronic acid.


Abstract Nitrogen and phosphorus removal from oil refinery wastewater using an integrated submerged membrane bioreactor anaerobic/aerobic (ISMBR-A/O) was investigated in this laboratory study. The objectives were to demonstrate suitability of the membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology to the treatment of refinery wastewater and its ability to achieve nitrogen and phosphorus removal effectively. IMBR-A/O comprised four reactor tanks: an influent tank, anaerobic tank, aerobic tank, and effluent tank. The IMBR-A/O was operated in cycles of four phases: fill, anaerobic, aerobic, and draw. During the fill phase, the influent tank was half-filled with oil refinery wastewater. During the subsequent anaerobic phase, most of the phosphorus release took place from the submerged biofilm in this reactor. In the aerobic phase, the wastewater was circulated by pumps between the influent tank and the anaerobic tank, resulting in denitrification at the start of the aerobic phase due to low oxygen concentrations, followed by nitrification and luxury uptake of phosphorus when oxygen concentrations increased. Ultimately, the treated water flowed from the effluent tank. The results show that the chemical oxygen demand (COD), 5-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), oil, NH+ 4-N, total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP) removal efficiencies were 91, 90, 91, 99, 80, and 66%, respectively.


A number of methods have been proposed for synchronizing chaotic systems. The most widely used methods are continuous synchronization schemes. In a continuous synchronization scheme, chaotic systems are coupled to each other continuously such that synchronization errors converge to zero. In this paper, chaos synchronization in coupled discrete- time dynamical systems is presented. Especially, practical impulsive synchronization scheme for 3 discrete time chaotic systems is shown. Simulation results finally demonstrate the effectiveness of the method. Experimental results show that chaotic and hyperchaotic systems can be synchronized by impulses sampled from one or two state variables. The impulsive synchronization can be applied to almost all chaotic and hyperchaotic systems even in the case when continuous synchronization systems fail to work. The example of data transmission based on simple discrete-time chaotic systems is also presented.


This thesis aims to analyse the problems concerning the reorganization of the Swedish consulary system, which took place right after the Swedish entry in the European Union in 1995. This thesis shows the underlying debate in the Parliament before the changes. It also discusses which factors caused the reorganisation. My work focuses on the Swedish consulary representation in Spain which exist of an embassy in Madrid and 20 underlying honorary consulates. The consulates are not foreign authorities but are still handeling a lot of cases as an govenmental authority. This add to the fact that the assignment as an consul is unpaid makes the case with the honorary consulates even more complex. The thesis analyses the problems with the implementaty chain and it also sees to the consul´s role. The consul works as a burecrate right under the Embassay, which in their turn works under the Foreign Affair departement (UD) in Stockholm. The role is quite complex and has to be seen in both a top- down and an bottom- up perspective, taking consideration to the local conditions. Threw a metod of interviews and empirical research is my intention to analyse the role of the counsul, the power of the authorities and the legitimacy of the consulary activities with the help of theories from Michael Lipsky's Street- Level bureaucracy, Guy Peter's management thinking and Max Weber's legitimacy thoughts. The result of the analysis indicates that there are some problems with the Swedish consulary activities of today. The system is not a long- term solution and it has to be rechanged to be both effective and durable. The opinions of the future consulary system are diverging and they suggest different courses of development even though most of the involved proclaims that a changing is needed in one way or another.


2); cystic lung disease (n = 2); congenital diaphragmatic hernia (n = 3); heterotaxia with right sided stomach (n = 2), double bubble and bowel obstructions (n = 2) cardiac defects (n = 8) renal malformations N = 4. Conclusions: Malformations affecting the fluid filled organs can be easily demonstrated with the transparent minimum mode. This method is also easy in quickly demonstrating normality of organs as stomach position and filling.


Accurate range estimation and tracking of moving targets is an important task in urban sensing applications. A dual-frequency radar, which estimates the range of a target based on the phase difference between two closely spaced frequencies, has been shown to be a cost-effective approach to accomplish both range-to-motion estimation and tracking. This approach, however, suffers from two drawbacks: it cannot deal with multiple moving targets, and has poor performance in noisy environments. To overcome these drawbacks, we propose, in this paper, the use of time-frequency signal representations. High signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is obtained by focusing on the moving target instantaneous Doppler frequency law provided by the power localization properties of time-frequency distributions. The case of multiple moving targets is handled by separating the different Doppler signatures prior to phase estimation.


The long-term prognosis of patients with IgA nephropathy (IgAN) who present with preserved renal function and minimal proteinuria is not well described. We investigated the long-term outcomes of IgAN patients with an apparently benign presentation and evaluated prognostic factors for renal survival and clinical remission. We studied Japanese patients with biopsy-proven IgAN who had an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) ≥60 mL/min/1.73 m2 and proteinuria <0.5 g/day at the time of renal biopsy. The renal biopsies were reviewed using the Oxford classification. Twenty patients met the inclusion criteria. At diagnosis, the median eGFR (interquartile range) was 76.8 (65.2–91.1) mL/min/1.73 m2, and the median proteinuria level was 0.31 (0.16–0.39) g/day. Only one patient had an increase in serum creatinine of over 50% and no patient progressed to end-stage renal disease. The 15-year renal survival rate was 93.8%. Clinical remission was observed in 9 (45%) patients. Baseline proteinuria was the only factor significantly associated with the absence of clinical remission. The long-term prognosis of Japanese patients with IgAN who presents with minor urinary abnormalities and preserved renal function is excellent.


With the recent growth of urban mapping and autonomous driving efforts, there has been an explosion of raw 3D data collected from terrestrial platforms with lidar scanners and color cameras. However, due to high labeling costs, ground-truth 3D semantic segmentation annotations are limited in both quantity and geographic diversity, while also being difficult to transfer across sensors. In contrast, large image collections with ground-truth semantic segmentations are readily available for diverse sets of scenes. In this paper, we investigate how to use only those labeled 2D image collections to supervise training 3D semantic segmentation models. Our approach is to train a 3D model from pseudo-labels derived from 2D semantic image segmentations using multi-view fusion. We address several novel issues with this approach, including how to select trusted pseudo-labels, how to sample 3D scenes with rare object categories, and how to decouple input features from 2D images from pseudo-labels during training. The proposed network architecture, 2D3DNet, achieves significantly better performance (+6.2-11.4 mIoU) than baselines during experiments on a new urban dataset with lidar and images captured in 20 cities across 5 continents.


One of the current challenges related to Open Educational Resources (OERs) is how to produce quality and relevant materials to be reused and adapted to different contexts and learning situations. In this paper we present a flexible and systematic method for OERs, called AM-OER, that allows the development of OERs to evolve incrementally, and be modified and improved as needed. Practices of Learning Design are incorporated into the OERs development, making the design more understandable and shareable, and facilitating the reuse and adaptation. We applied AM-OER through a case study involving the development of a course in the software engineering domain. The results obtained suggest the applicability and usefulness of the AM-OER in the development of OERs.


Since 1975, the American Board of Surgery has annually offered a multiple-choice in-training examination to directors of accredited general surgery programs in the United States for administration to residents in their programs. Residents' scores for the total examination and the five body-system categories are provided to program directors, along with normative data for comparison of their residents' performance against that of all examinees. Each year, residents' scores have correlated well with their level of training. Reliability coefficients have verified that the examinations have functioned effectively as test instruments. The increasingly wide use of the examination and its favorable acceptance by program directors have indicated that the examination is making a significant contribution to surgical education in the United States.


There appear to be striking contradictions between different strands of anarchist thought with respect to violence – anarchism can justify it, or condemn it, can be associated with both violent action and pacifism. The anarchist thinkers studied here saw themselves as facing up to the realities of violence in politics – the violence of state power, and the destructiveness of instrumental uses of physical power as a revolutionary political weapon. Bakunin, Tolstoy and Kropotkin all express ambivalence about violence in relation to political power. Instead of reading this ambivalence as a mark of inconsistency, or of abdication of responsible judgement, we argue that it signals a profound recognition of the dynamics of violence in both repressive and resistant politics. Kropotkin and Bakunin seek a cooperative collective political effort which is negated by individual acts of violence although it cannot be committed to non-violence as such. Tolstoy by contrast in his recognition of the organised violence of political power, turns from politics to morality, from organisation to individual renunciation. Tolstoyan non-violence is the opposite of Kropotkin's mutual aid, and paradoxically Tolstoyan renunciation has effects only when it is underpinned by violence. Tolstoy leaves violence in its place, in his renunciation of it; and Bakunin and Kropotkin leave violence in its place in their plans for its undoing.


The theory of Fuchsian group plays an important role in the study of compact Riemann surfaces Automorphism groups, which was initially studied by A.M. Macbeth. The biholomorphic self transformations of a compact Riemann surface S of genus g (  2) forms a finite group whose order cannot exceed 84 ( g  1). This maximum bound is attained for infinitely many values of g , the least being 3. The groups for which this bound is attained are called Hurwitz groups, and this groups belong to the class of perfect groups which are non soluble. In context to the class of soluble groups, the corresponding bound is 48 ( g  1) and this bound is also attained for infinitely many values of g . The problem of finding such bounds for various sub-classes of the finite soluble groups and the number of values of g for which these bounds are attained has been the theme of many research papers during the last few decades. In this paper, a set of necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of smooth epimorphism from a Fuchsian group to the point group O h , which belongs to the sub-class of octahedral group considering the symmetries of Sulfur-Hexafloride ( S F 6 ) molecule Having the abstract group representation  2 =  4 =(  ) 2 =1


This paper discusses efforts to develop metacognition in teams of engineering students by: first, exploring personal learning patterns, and second, ongoing biweekly journaling exercises. Thirtythree junior and senior engineering students (30 chemical engineer, one each from mechanical, civil and electrical) working on semester-long projects in the Rowan Engineering Clinics were broken into four groups. Members of the first determined their learning patterns by taking the Learning Connections Inventory (LCI) then met with faculty advisors to discuss their patterns and those of their teammates. The second group performed structured writing assignments focusing on team dynamics and logistical barriers to success. The third received both LCI instruction and the writing assignments, while the fourth received neither. Students who received instruction on their own learning patterns as well as those of their teammates performed better on semesterlong team projects and reported a significant improvement in their attitude towards teaming skills. Structured writing assignments focusing on team dynamics also seemed to benefit performance, but were less popular with the students.


The A2A adenosine receptor (A2AAR) functions as a key non-redundant suppressor of
inflammatory responses in vivo. However, whether it regulates activation of the JAK-STAT
pathway utilised by many pro-inflammatory cytokines is unknown. Using a
vascular endothelial cell model system, I have demonstrated that adenovirus-mediated
expression of the human A2AAR conferred an ability of IFNα, leptin and a soluble IL-
6 receptor-α/IL-6 (sIL-6Rα/IL-6) trans-signalling complex to promote a time-dependent
reduction in the levels of STAT proteins that was entirely due to
proteasomal degradation. In terms of functional consequences, degradation was
sufficient to attenuate sIL-6Rα/IL-6-stimulated STAT3-dependent up-regulation of
vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR-2) and enhance eNOS
expression. Degradation required JAK activity since A) it was blocked by
preincubation with JAK inhibitor. B) STAT1 but not STAT3 was resistant to both
tyrosine phosphorylation and down-regulation in response to leptin and C) a
Tyr705→Phe mutated STAT3 was also resistant to cytokine-triggered degradation,
suggesting that JAK-mediated phosphorylation of this residue is required to produce
the effect. Consistent with this hypothesis, sIL-6Rα/IL-6 treatment of A2AAR-expressing
cells resulted in the accumulation of polyubiquitylated endogenous and
epitope-tagged recombinant wild-type but not Tyr705→ Phe-mutated STAT3. In
addition the results show that inhibition of proteasome function was sufficient to
block the inhibitory effect of the A2AAR on STAT3 phosphorylation, demonstrating
that priming of STATs for degradation is the only mechanism responsible for the
reduced cytokine-stimulated STAT phosphorylation observed in A2AAR-expressing
cells. To date there is only one E3 ligase known for mediating STAT degradation
which is SLIM protein. However, our results suggest the involvement of another E3
ubiquitin ligase in HUVECs, since we have been unable to detect SLIM message or
protein in HUVECs under conditions in which STAT degradation occurs. In addition,
while Tyr-phosphorylation is clearly the critical step in targeting STATs for
degradation in A2AAR-expressing cells, it is unclear as to whether it functions simply
as a classical phosphodegron, or whether the nuclear translocation that occurs as a
result of phosphorylation is also important for localising the phosphorylated STAT
dimer with the relevant E3 ubiquitin ligase.
Together, these observations suggest a model whereby expression of the A2AAR in
endothelial cells primes JAK-phosphorylated STATs for polyubiquitylation and
subsequent degradation by the proteasome following cytokine treatment, and
represents a previously unappreciated mechanism by which G-protein-coupled
receptors can negatively regulate responsiveness to specific JAK-STAT-mobilising
adipocytokines acting on the vascular endothelium.


The laboratory study was conducted to evaluate the persistence of Spirotetramat 240 SC (w/v) in sandy loam, loamy sand, sandy clay and clay soils. The applied dosages are T0 – Untreated Control, T1 – Spirotetramat 240 SC (w/v) @ 0.05 mg/L and T2 – Spirotetramat 240 SC (w/v) @ 1.0 mg/L. Collected the composite soil sample from 0-15 cm depth 2 hours (0 day) after the application. Continued the sampling on 1 3, 5 and 7 days for Spirotetramat and its BYI 08330 enol metabolite. All the samples were analysed for spirotetramat content by a validated HPLCUV method with an acceptable mean recovery of spirotetramat; 92% for Sandy loam, 93% for Loamy sand, 91% for Sandy clay and 90% for Clay soil. The limit of determination (LOQ) is 0.03 ppm for Spirotetramat and its BYI 08330 enol metabolite. The DT50 (Half Life) of Spirotetramat and 08330 enol metabolite calculated by regression analysis from the dissipation data.


We present the electromechanical characterization of organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) fabricated with different organic semiconductors. Pentacene- and poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT)-based OFETs have been investigated as strain sensors, and a clear correlation between the structural and morphological properties of the active layer with the device sensitivity has been observed. The highly disordered structure of polymeric films, as P3HT, confirmed by morphological and structural investigations, gives rise to a dramatic reduction of the device response to mechanical stimuli. Nevertheless, an unambiguous, fast, and reproducible response has been obtained also for this material, which, being solution processible, represents a valuable solution for the fabrication of low-cost pressure sensors for a variety of innovative applications.


This is model output from CGMS-WOFOST for millet as part of AgMIP's Global Gridded Crop Model Intercomparison (GGCMI) phase 1 output data set. The data have been generated following the modeling protocol of Elliott et al. (2015) and has been used to evaluate the models (Muller et al., 2017). A data description paper has been published in Scientific Data (Muller et al. 2019).


Paper presents project of experimental gearbox design and production with application of Rapid Prototyping technology realized by students and workers of Faculty of Manufacturing Technologies in Presov, Slovakia. In frame of gearbox design there was model with four gears realized together with its control mechanism. Production of gearbox was connected with realization of produced parts dimensional issues and final gearbox assembly.


Advances in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and especially micro aerial vehicle (MAV) technology together with increasing quality and decreasing price of imaging devices have resulted in growing use of MAVs in photogrammetry. The practicality of MAV mapping is seriously enhanced with the ability to determine parameters of exterior orientation (EO) with sufficient accuracy, in both absolute and relative senses (change of attitude between successive images). While differential carrier phase GNSS satisfies cm-level positioning accuracy, precise attitude determination is essential for both direct sensor orientation (DiSO) and integrated sensor orientation (ISO) in corridor mapping or in block configuration imaging over surfaces with low texture. Limited cost, size, and weight of MAVs represent limitations on quality of onboard navigation sensors and puts emphasis on exploiting full capacity of available resources. Typically short flying times (10-30 minutes) also limit the possibility of estimating and/or correcting factors such as sensor misalignment and poor attitude initialization of inertial navigation system (INS). This research aims at increasing the accuracy of attitude determination in both absolute and relative senses with no extra sensors onboard. In comparison to classical INS/GNSS setup, novel approach is presented here to integrated state estimation, in which vehicle dynamic model (VDM) is used as the main process model. Such system benefits from available information from autopilot and physical properties of the platform in enhancing performance of determination of trajectory and parameters of exterior orientation consequently. The navigation system employs a differential carrier phase GNSS receiver and a micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) grade inertial measurement unit (IMU), together with MAV control input from autopilot. Monte-Carlo simulation has been performed on trajectories for typical corridor mapping and block imaging. Results reveal considerable reduction in attitude errors with respect to conventional INS/GNSS system, in both absolute and relative senses. This eventually translates into higher redundancy and accuracy for photogrammetry applications.


Ethacizine was given to 28 patients with frequent (at least once a week) paroxysms of cardiac fibrillation (PCF), the larger proportion of the patients was those with coronary heart disease. The long-term use of ethacisine was preceded by an acute drug test in which the drug was administered orally in a starting dose of 100 mg to assess its effects on myocardial conduction and contractility. Its positive effect as evidenced by reduction in PCF frequency by 70% per more was seen in 19 (68%) patients. The antiarrhythmic effect of the drug showed up on day 2 after initiation of the therapy. Analysis of the relationship between the drug's positive effect and the changes in the atrial myocardium showed that the most potent effect (up to 80%) was observed in patients with coronary heart disease complicated with PCF in the presence of "combined" changes in the atrial myocardium as compared to "hemodynamic" changes. The authors studied the most common adverse effects resulted from the therapy, the most dangerous of them included abnormal right bundle branch conduction (1 case) and sinoauricular block (1 case).


Universal access to information and data is an important goal of current research. Previously different forms of information and data, captured by different devices or held on different systems, were isolated. However, the development of different networks has created the "glue" by which the overall goal of universal access can be achieved. Another important goal is the development of personalized information and communication systems in which the user has increasing control over access to and presentation of information and data. The current challenge is to bring these two ideas together into integrated systems. This paper investigates a personalized communication system that is able to intercept, filter, convert and direct communications and data, thereby giving the user control over the delivery and presentation of information. Such a system must provide flexible and intuitive mechanisms whereby users can specify their preferences and control access to and presentation of information and data. It must cater for user mobility, and handle routing and data conversion. The need for these components is motivated by using an example scenario to derive the design requirements for the architecture. The implementation technology of components of the architecture is described briefly.


One of the many reforms to have emerged from the Stephen Lawrence inquiry is that requiring the police to make a record of all stops (Recommendation 61). What might have been accepted as a fairly routine extension of the existing regulatory framework was widely resented by officers who considered it part of an 'attack' on the police service spearheaded by allegations of institutional racism. This 'attack', it is argued here, has been experienced as a form of collective trauma, giving rise to a series of defence mechanisms and allied forms of resistance that have distanced the new recording requirement from its intended purpose. Such defences, it is concluded, should be anticipated and addressed as part of the process of reform.


OBJECTIVE
To describe the attitudes of Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) clinic attendees towards male circumcision.

DESIGN AND METHODS
A convenience sample of attendees at the main STI clinic in Kingston was interviewed using a structured questionnaire in June 2008.

RESULTS
One-hundred men and 98 women were interviewed. Over 90% of the men were not circumcised. Although 60% of men and 67% of women reported that they had heard of circumcision, the research nurse assessed that 28% of men and 40% of women actually understood what circumcision was. When asked about the benefits of circumcision, 32% of men and 41.8% of women said that circumcision makes it easier to clean the penis while 13% of men and 20.4% of women said that circumcision lessens the likelihood of STI. Twenty-two per cent of men and 13.3% of women said that the foreskin offers protection while 18% of men and 10.2% of women said that the penis looks more attractive when uncircumcised. When informed that research showed that circumcision reduced the risk of HIV 35% of men said that they were willing to be circumcised and 67.3% of women said that they would encourage their spouse to be circumcised (p < 0.001) while 54% of men and 72.4% of women said that they would circumcise their sons (p = 0.057).

CONCLUSION
Knowledge of circumcision and its benefits were limited among STI clinic attendees. Significantly more women than men were in favour of circumcision when informed that it reduced the risk of HIV infection.


The horse is a herbivorous animal that is used for various purposes, one of them is the production of meat intended for human consumption. Worldwide, horse meat production is led by Asia, leaving Europe in third place. Spain is not a country with a great tradition of consumption of this meat, even so, 18,275 farms are dedicated to it, sacrificing 52,908 horses per year. SpecifCarla Ibáñez Sanchis, Marta Parra Escribano y Antonio Calvo Capilla 150 NEREIS 10 [Marzo 2018], 149-159, ISSN: 1888-8550 ically, 6,368 horses are slaughtered approximately in a year in the Valencian Community. The objective of the present study is to determine, through antemortem and postmortem inspection, the causes of the main seizures produced in equine livestock destined for human consumption, recognizing the lesions and taking the pertinent decision in each of the organs and parts of the animal. To this end, an experimental study was carried out in 794 horses in 2016 and during the months from January to April 2017. Data have been collected from the inspections carried out during the working day in the so-called "Daily Equine Inspection Part'', where each of the generated seizures and their causes are recorded. Knowing the sacrifices and the amount of seizures made, it is observed that total confiscation is relegated to a second plane and partial seizure is the predominant one. The lung is the most common partial seizure, followed by the liver. The main pathologies causing seizures are pneumonias, and a large number of cases are seized by decision of the official veterinarian.


OBJECTIVE: To compare the estimated proportion of contraindications to combined oral contraceptives between women who obtained combined oral contraceptives in U.S. public clinics compared with women who obtained combined oral contraceptives over the counter (OTC) in Mexican pharmacies. METHODS: We recruited a cohort of 501 women who were residents of El Paso, Texas, who obtained OTC combined oral contraceptives in Mexico and 514 women who obtained combined oral contraceptives from family planning clinics in El Paso. Based on self-report of World Health Organization category 3 and 4 contraindications and interviewer-measured blood pressure, we estimated the proportion of contraindications and, using multivariable-adjusted logistic regression, identified possible predictors of contraindications. RESULTS: The estimated proportion of any category 3 or 4 contraindication was 18%. Relative contraindications (category 3) were more common among OTC users (13% compared with 9% among clinic users, P=.006). Absolute contraindications (category 4) were not different between the groups (5% for clinic users compared with 7% for OTC users, P=.162). Hypertension was the most prevalent contraindication (5.6% of clinic users and 9.8% of OTC users). After multivariable adjustment, OTC users had higher odds of having contraindications compared with clinic users (odds ratio [OR] 1.59, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.11–2.29). Women aged 35 years or older (OR 5.30, 95% CI 3.59–7.81) and those with body mass index 30.0 or more (OR 2.24, 95% CI 1.40–3.56) also had higher odds of having contraindications. CONCLUSION: Relative combined oral contraceptive contraindications are more common among OTC users in this setting. Progestin-only pills might be a better candidate for the first OTC product given their fewer contraindications. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II


Future multiterminal high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) grids are considered an enabling technology to efficiently integrate large amounts of renewable energy into the existing grid. However, already in today's existing point-to-point HVDC links, harmonic interaction issues and instabilities related to the control and protection system of the converters have been reported. The converter control software is usually black-boxed and problems are therefore solved in close cooperation with the HVDC vendor. This paper aims to provide a starting point for a discussion on an open-source HVDC control system. In particular, it covers the control design including technical and non-technical aspects. The open-source approach can be useful to solve current as well as future control-related problems, both in point-to-point links as well as in multiterminal and multivendor HVDC grids.


Many theoretical and empirical models exist to predict the effective thermal conductivity of polymer foams. However, most of the models only consider the effect of porosity, while the pore size effect is ignored. The objective of this study is to understand the effect of pore size on the thermal conductivity of polymer foams, especially when it reduces to the micro and nanometer scales. A wide range of pore sizes from 1 nm to 1 mm were studied in conjunction with the porosity effect using finite element analysis and molecular dynamics simulation methods. Experimental data was used to validate the modeling result. It is shown that the pore size has significant effect on thermal conductivity, even for microcellular and conventional foams. The contribution of heat conduction through air is negligible when pore size is reduced to the micrometer scale. The extremely low thermal conductivity of nanofoams is attributed to extensive diffusive scattering of heat carriers in the solid phase of polymer matrix, instead of air. This study provides quantitative understanding of the pore size effect on thermal conductivity of polymer foams. It is also shown that polyetherimide (PEI) nanofoams could have a thermal conductivity as low as 0.015 W/m-K. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2013. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers


Abstract The goal of this study was to analyse the spatial pattern of tuberculosis (TB) mortality using different approaches, namely: mortality rates (MR), spatial relative risks (RR) and Bayesian rates (Global and Local) and their association with human development index (HDI), Global and its three dimensions: education, longevity and income. An ecological study was developed in Curitiba, Brazil based on data from Mortality Information System (2008–2014). Spatial scan statistics were used to compute RR and identify high-risk clusters. Bivariate Local Indicator of Spatial Associations was used to assess associations. MR ranged between 0 and 25.24/100.000 with a mean (standard deviation) of 1.07 (2.66). Corresponding values for spatial RR were 0–27.46, 1.2 (2.99) and for Bayesian rates (Global and Local) were 0.49–1.66, 0.90 (0.19) and 0–6.59, 0.98 (0.80). High-risk clusters were identified for all variables, except for HDI-income and Global Bayesian rate. Significant negative spatial relations were found between MR and income; between RR and HDI global, longevity and income; and Bayesian rates with all variables. Some areas presented different patterns: low social development/low risk and high risk/high development. These results demonstrate that social development variables should be considered, in mortality due TB.


A combined process using ozone and titanium dioxide under the illumination of UV light (O/sub 3/TiO/sub 2//UV) was tested to decompose refractory organic substances in wastewater. A synergistic effect was observed between ozone and illuminated TiO/sub 3/, and more than 60 percent of total organic carbon (TOC) in wastewater was removed by the O/sub 3//TiO/sub 2//UV process. The quantum yield for the reaction in the O/sub 3//TiO/sub 2//UV process was obtained, and trial calculations were made of the energy and cost required for the decomposition of organic substances. If a black-light lamp is used as the light source, trial calculations based on the results show that TOC can be removed at the rate of 1 mg/L at an electric energy of 0.59 kW/spl middot/hr/m/sup 3/, which indicates that a low-cost circulation system can be created with the use of the O/sub 3//TiO/sub 2//UV process.


The full potential linear-muffin-tin-orbital method within the spin local density approximation has been used to study the structural, electronic, magnetic and thermodynamic properties of three multiferroic compounds of XFeO3 type. Large values of bulk modulus for these compounds have been obtained, which demonstrates their hardness. The calculated total and partial density of states of these compounds shows a complex of strong hybridized 3d and 4d states at Fermi level. The two degenerate levels eg and t2g clearly demonstrate the origin of this complex. We have also investigated the effect of pressure, from 0 GPa to 55 GPa, on the magnetic moment per atom and the exchange of magnetic energy between the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic states. For more detailed knowledge, we have calculated the thermodynamic properties, and determined heat capacity, Debye temperature, bulk modulus and enthropy at different temperatures and pressures for the three multiferroic compounds. This is the first predictive calculation of all these properties.


Background: The role of inflammation in cancer is not well established although some organs of the body show greater risk of cancer when they are chronically inflamed. Recent advances in understanding complex tumor interactions have led to the discovery of an association between inflammation and cancer, in particular for colon and lung cancer, but only a very few have dealt with oral cancer & none with oral precancers. Aims & Objectives: To investigate pretreatment Creactive protein (CRP) levels in oral precancers & evaluate their usefulness as prognostic markers. Materials and Methods: The study sample consisted of 25 control and 25 oral precancer patients (Leukoplakia, OSMF & Oral lichen planus) confirmed by histopathological examination. All samples were subjected to CRP analysis. Results: Highly significant differences in mean CRP levels were found (p=0.00) between control versus study group. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that prediagnostic concentrations of CRP are strongly associated with subsequent development of oral cancer.


In this paper Yinan Bao presents a very timely legal investigation into aspects of the current territorial dispute in the East China Sea. The author focuses on the Chinese Air Identification Zone and considers the issues regarding the legitimacy of the Chinese ADIZ and Chinese Aircraft Identification Rules. Drawing on previous comparable behaviour involving other countries and international relations, he makes the argument that this Zone is in accordance with international law.


In the first hours after initial hemorrhage, up to 15% of patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) due to aneurysmal rupture may have a sudden episode of clinical deterioration resulting from rebleeding. In patients suffering from an aneurismal rebleeding, the prognosis becomes much poor. Early detection of rebleeding and preoperatively appropriate medical treatment for increased intracranial pressure (IICP) might be crucial to decrease the overall mortality and morbidity rate in a patient with aneurismal rebleeding. We report a case of a successful reversal of focal neurological deficit showed in a patient with abrupt rebleeding of ruptured aneurysm whose intracranial pressure was preoperatively reduced with hyperventilation, and thiopental and mannitol administration under general anesthesia in angiography suite, although the patient ended up in death due to postoperative IICP.


In a previously published insertional mutagenesis screen for candidate brain tumor genes in the mouse using a Moloney mouse leukemia virus encoding platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-B, the Sox10 gene was tagged in five independent tumors. The proviral integrations suggest an enhancer effect on Sox10. All Moloney murine leukemia virus/PDGFB tumors had a high protein expression of Sox10 independently of malignant grade or tumor type. To investigate the role of Sox10 in gliomagenesis, we used the RCAS/tv-a mouse model in which the expression of retroviral-encoded genes can be directed to glial progenitor cells (Ntv-a mice). Both Ntv-a transgenic mice, wild-type, and Ntv-a p19Arf null mice were injected with RCAS-SOX10 alone or in combination with RCAS-PDGFB. Infection with RCAS-SOX10 alone did not induce any gliomas. Combined infection of RCAS-SOX10 and RCAS-PDGFB in wild-type Ntv-a mice yielded a tumor frequency of 12%, and in Ntv-a Arf−/− mice the tumor frequency was 30%. This indicates that Sox10 alone is not sufficient to induce gliomagenesis but acts synergistically with PDGFB in glioma development. All induced tumors displayed characteristics of PNET-like structures and oligodendroglioma. The tumors had a strong and widely distributed expression of Sox10 and PDGFR-α. We investigated the expression of Sox10 in other human tumors and in a number of gliomas. The Sox10 expression was restricted to gliomas and melanomas. All glioma types expressed Sox10, and tumors of low-grade glioma had a much broader distribution of Sox10 compared with high-grade gliomas. (Mol Cancer Res 2007;5(9):891–7)


: With 18 glial brain tumours serving as a base material the activity of acid phosphatase was studied dynamically in the course of cultivation. The enzyme is demonstrable both in differentiated and actively proliferating cells, as well as in those showing signs of dystrophy. The enzyme was found to display chiefly a moderate activity in monomorphic tumour cells, its content being higher in atypical neoplastic cells. A significantly rising activity of the acid phosphatase was discovered in cells presenting dystrophic and necrobiotic alterations.


Author(s): Cox-Muranami, Wesley Akira | Advisor(s): Li, G.P.; Bachman, Mark | Abstract: Eukaryotic cell sorting is a ubiquitous technique used for biological applications ranging from pharmaceutical drug discovery to cancer research. Evaluating and differentiating cells based on their features, whether they be intracellular or extracellular, has revealed that cellular systems are highly complex, possessing varying behavior even among cells typically classified within the same groups. While there have been massive improvements in characterization capabilities for single cells achieved through use of inventions such as the fluorescence activated cell sorter, there has yet to be an equally impactful technology developed for analyzing clonally expanded cell colonies. Being able to analyze and isolate cell colonies is necessary for cancer and stem cell research where the observed behavior of cells in colonies is just as important, if not more so than when they are in their single cell forms. There is currently a need for new analysis and sorting systems that enable researchers to conduct more in depth studies of cell colonies as well as increase the throughput of colony collection protocols which are typically time consuming and manually intensive. Micropallet arrays are a powerful technology specifically designed for high precision sorting of adherent mammalian cells. This technology, composed of thousands of photolithographically fabricated microscopic structures, has enabled researchers to study, identify, and collect individual cells from within vastly heterogeneous samples. Furthermore, micropallet arrays have been an ideal sorting technology for characterizing the natural morphology of single adherent cells preserved by enabling continuous cellular contact with the pallets throughout the entirety of analytical studies. In some cases, rare cells such as cancer stem cells with an occurrence rate as low as 0.01% have been successfully identified and collected from within heterogeneous cell samples prepared from breast cancer tumor biopsies and seeded to the arrays. While being a powerful sorting technology for single cells, micropallet array technology has just recently been expanded upon for meaningful cell colony research. In this work, we describe a novel micropallet array design specifically created for efficient, high throughput cell colony sorting. A new approach for simple, consistent large scale micropallet ejection was achieved by utilizing an innovative pallet formation substrate consisting of ultra-thin gold coated microscope slides. These semi-transparent slides maintained the optical clarity necessary for in depth cellular analysis on the pallet surfaces while also acting as laser absorption layers for the creation of heat generated vapor microbubbles. The formation of the bubbles generated sufficient force to lift off targeted pallets with little to no damage to the cell colonies adhered to the pallet surfaces, a result previously shown to be difficult. In addition to enabling consistent pallet ejection, the conductive gold layers also acted as seed layers for the electroformation of ferromagnetic nickel structures integrated into the micropallet arrays. With creative pallet designs, the ferromagnetic structures were fabricated within every pallet, making individual pallet manipulation via magnetic probe possible. This complete system with simplified pallet ejection and collection was successfully utilized to perform highly efficient cell colony sorting studies at rates not possible with conventional methods.


This paper considers the problem of multiobjective fuzzy control design for a class of nonlinear spatially distributed processes (SDPs) described by parabolic partial differential equations (PDEs), which arise naturally in the modeling of diffusion-convection-reaction processes in finite spatial domains. Initially, the modal decomposition technique is applied to the SDP to formulate it as an infinite-dimensional singular perturbation model of ordinary differential equations (ODEs). An approximate nonlinear ODE system that captures the slow dynamics of the SDP is thus derived by singular perturbations. Subsequently, the Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model is employed to represent the finite-dimensional slow system, which is used as the basis for the control design. A linear matrix inequality (LMI) approach is then developed for the design of multiobjective fuzzy controllers such that the closed-loop SDP is exponentially stable, and an L2 performance bound is provided under a prescribed H∞ constraint of disturbance attenuation for the slow system. Furthermore, using the existing LMI optimization technique, a suboptimal fuzzy controller can be obtained in the sense of minimizing the L2 performance bound. Finally, the proposed method is applied to the control of the temperature profile of a catalytic rod.


ABSTRACT The TRIM5α proteins of humans and some Old World monkeys have been shown to block infection of particular retroviruses following virus entry into the host cell. Infection of most New World monkey cells by the simian immunodeficiency virus of macaques (SIVmac) is restricted at a similar point. Here we examine the antiretroviral activity of TRIM5α orthologs from humans, apes, Old World monkeys, and New World monkeys. Chimpanzee and orangutan TRIM5α proteins functionally resembled human TRIM5α, potently restricting infection by N-tropic murine leukemia virus (N-MLV) and moderately restricting human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection. Notably, TRIM5α proteins from several New World monkey species restricted infection by SIVmac and the SIV of African green monkeys, SIVagm. Spider monkey TRIM5α, which has an expanded B30.2 domain v3 region due to a tandem triplication, potently blocked infection by a range of retroviruses, including SIVmac, SIVagm, HIV-1, and N-MLV. Tandem duplications in the TRIM5α B30.2 domain v1 region of African green monkeys are also associated with broader antiretroviral activity. Thus, variation in TRIM5α proteins among primate species accounts for the observed patterns of postentry restrictions in cells from these animals. The TRIM5α proteins of some monkey species exhibit dramatic lengthening of particular B30.2 variable regions and an expanded range of susceptible retroviruses.


The Saunders v Vautier principle is one of the most fundamental principles of English trust law. Several scholars have addressed the prudence of civil law countries incorporating this principle when adopting trust-like instruments. More importantly for the Czech Republic, some remarks on this issue have been made in Québec - the jurisdiction which, to an extent, served as an inspiration for the Czech legislator when drafting the Czech trust-like instrument. Unfortunately, the debate on the topic is almost non-existent in the Czech Republic. This article discusses whether, as a result of the principle of Saunders v Vautier, the beneficiaries of the Czech trust-like instrument have similar rights to those of the beneficiaries of the English trust. It is suggested that it is not only civil law countries, but also some common law countries, that do not fully respect this principle. Therefore, there clearly exists a diversity of opinion regarding the question of whether beneficiaries should or should not have rights that prevail over the intentions of the settlor. This article focuses on supporting this principle and, in this light, puts forward a number of justifications for its incorporation.


Background: Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal and molecularly diverse malignancies. Although HER2 amplification occurs in pancreatic cancer, it is inadequately characterised to define its clinical relevance and to exploit the potential of anti-HER2 therapies. Aims: We aim to characterise the clinicopathological features of HER2 amplified pancreatic cancer. Our work extends the clinical relevance of our effect as part of the Australian Pancreatic Cancer Genome Initiative (APGI) in cataloguing genomic aberrations that characterise pancreatic cancer. Methods: 469 cases of surgically resected pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) from 12 institutions associated with the APGI from 1990 to 2012 were assessed for HER2 overexpression by immunohistochemistry and HER2 gene amplification by in situ hybridization. 55 of these cases were also assessed for DNA copy number changes and mRNA expression. Results: HER2 amplification was found in 10 of 469 (2.1%) of samples. HER2 gene amplification was found in 100% (7/7) of HER2 3+, 11% (3/27) of HER2 2+ and none of 1+ overexpressiong tumours. In all but one case, HER2 overexpression was uniform throughout tumours rather than showing clonal heterogeneity. HER2 amplification was associated with moderately differentiated tumours with distinctive macroglandular morphology. HER2 amplified tumours were also distinctive in their pattern of metastasis, with involvement of the lung ± brain without liver metastasis. Conclusions: HER2 amplification occurs in 2% of PDAC and has distinct clinicopathological features with implications to clinical practice. The molecular heterogeneity of PDAC implies that even an incidence of 2% represents an attractive target for anti-HER2 therapies, as options for PDAC are limited. Recruiting patients based on HER2 amplification rather than organ of origin could make clinical trials of anti-HER2 therapies more feasible but needs to be well defined with robust diagnostic assays.


Various methods of capturing charges for supplies stocked on nursing units have been devised, such as stickers and charge slips attached to the items. Effectiveness and efficiency were not maximized through these methods. A new system customized for each unit showing daily patient charges per patient provides for an audit of inventory and for lost charges. Items from both pharmacy and central supply are included. Charge capture is maximized with relative ease for the nursing staff.


This paper aims to measure the time pattern of multiple and resurgent food scares and their direct and cross-product impacts on consumer response. The Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) is augmented by a flexible stochastic framework which has no need for additional explanatory variables such as a media index. Italian aggregate household data on meat demand is used to assess the time-varying impact of a resurgent BSE crisis (1996 and 2000) and the 1999 Dioxin crisis. The impact of the first BSE crisis on preferences seems to be reabsorbed after a few months. The second wave of the scare at the end of 2000 had a much stronger effect on preferences and the positive shift in chicken demand continued to persist after the onset of the crisis. Empirical results show little relevance of the Dioxin crisis in terms of preference shift, whilst not excluding the more relevant price effect.


Introduction: Patient handover is one of the safety threatening processes in caring for critical patients, deficiencies in which can be the initiator of future problems for the patient. The present study aimed to determine the problems existing in patient handover process between emergency medical service (EMS) technicians and nursing staff of emergency department (ED) in university affiliated health centers in Khuzestan province, Iran. Methods: In the present cross-sectional study, initially, the researcher prepared 2 separate questionnaires for evaluating the existing problems regarding giving and receiving the patient. After confirming their validity and reliability, the questionnaires were given to 100 EMS technicians of Khuzestan province, Iran, and 101 ED nurses of teaching hospitals in Khuzestan province, Iran, who were randomly selected. The resulting data were then analyzed. Results: Based on the obtained findings, 100% of the participants in big and intermediate cities had a high level of problems in the protocol of giving patients and 92.9% of those who were enrolled had a high level of problems regarding receiving patients. Conclusion: Based on the results of the current study, the most common problem in patient handover was lack of knowledge among the personnel of both groups regarding the existing protocols in this area. Another considerable point was presence of interpersonal communication problems in both groups.


Li metal anodes represent the ultimate energy density, but to address safety issues caused by dendrite formation, it is critical to understand the solid–electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer which forms on the metal surface. Dynamic nuclear polarisation (DNP) boosts sensitivity in NMR by harnessing the greater polarisation of unpaired electrons, however typical exogenous organic radicals are non-selective, could react with the SEI, and require cooling the sample to cryogenic temperatures. We instead exploit the inherent conduction electrons to hyperpolarise lithium metal at room temperature, utilising the Overhauser mechanism by which DNP was first discovered. This permits selective enhancement of the organic and inorganic SEI components, revealing their chemical nature and spatial distribution, via the 7Li, 1H and 19F NMR spectra.


Sexual antagonism occurs when there is a positive intersexual genetic correlation in trait expression but opposite fitness effects of the trait(s) in males and females. As such, it constrains the evolution of sexual dimorphism and may therefore have implications for adaptive evolution. There is currently considerable evidence for the existence of sexually antagonistic genetic variation in laboratory and natural populations, but how sexual antagonism interacts with other evolutionary phenomena is still poorly understood in many cases. Here we explore how self-fertilization and inbreeding affect the maintenance of polymorphism for sexually antagonistic loci. We expected a priori that selfing should reduce the region of polymorphism, since inbreeding reduces the frequency of heterozygotes and speeds fixation. Although this expectation was supported, our results show that there is an interactive effect between the degree of selfing and dominance such that those segregating sexually antagonistic loci that do exist are more likely to be partially dominant. In addition, inbreeding effects may influence population persistence and genomic location of sexually antagonistic loci in separate-sexed organisms.


A novel intrinsically microporous polymer was synthesized by polycondensation reaction of 1,1′,2,2′,-tetrahydroxy-tetraphenylethylene (TPE) and 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoroterephthalonitrile (TFTPN). In addition, a series of copolymers was prepared from TPE, 5,5′,6,6′-tetrahydroxy-3,3,3′,3′-tetramethylspirobisindane (TTSBI) and TFTPN. All TPE-derived polymers exhibited high molecular weight, good solubility in common organic solvents, high thermal stability and high surface area (550 to 660 m2 g−1). The CO2 permeability of a methanol-treated and 120 °C vacuum-dried TPE-TFTPN film was 862 Barrer with a moderate CO2/N2 selectivity of 26. The selectivity of the TPE-TTSBI-PIMs decreased with increasing TTSBI content coupled with a sharp increase in permeability. Molecular simulations indicated that the introduction of the tetraphenylethylene unit resulted in an increased rotational freedom of dihedral angles in the polymer main chain relative to those of the spirobisindane-based PIM-1.


The realization of low‐cost silicon (Si) light harvesting antennas, made with industrially compatible technology and implementable in current devices, represents a goal with a tremendous impact for several commercial applications. For the first time, the use of Si nanowires (NWs) as energy donor in a light harvesting antenna is demonstrated. Through a detailed study of the optical properties, an energy transfer process from the NWs to the dyes is reported here. In this paper, the realization of this novel hybrid material based on the luminescence of ultra‐thin Si NWs and dyes demonstrates the potential of these systems for the transfer of light, opening the route to several strategic applications from photonics to photovoltaics, sensors, and bio‐imaging.


The use of substitutes for commercial feeds such as crop residues and agro-industrial wastes has been proposed as a sustainable means of livestock production. However, the research carried out in the recent past shows that problems of low crude protein, mineral and vitamin content; reduction in availability of certain mineral elements; high ash, high crude fiber content and poor digestibility limit their use. The enrichment by microbial fermentation to alleviate these problems has been proposed but the nutritional value of the subsequent feed for animal consumption has not been fully elucidated. This study investigated whether fermentation with various methods of pineapple waste (PW) at varying times using the fungi Aspergillus niger and Trichoderma viride could improve its nutrient content. In addition, the study investigated the conversion efficiency of the nutrient enhanced PW as feeds in poultry. Five test diets were formulated using PW that recorded significant nutrient enrichment after fermentation. Diet A, formulated using PW fermented by solid state fermentation (SSF) using A. niger for 72 hours mixed in the ratio of 1: 1 with a standard commercial broiler feed (SCBF). Diet B, formulated using PW fermented by SSF using T viride for 96 hours mixed in the ratio of 1:1 with SCBF. Diet C, composed of SCBF representing the control diet. Diets D and E, composed of PW fermented by SSF using A. niger for 72 hours and T viride for 96 hours, respectively. Results show that fermentation of PW by SSF using the fungi A. niger and T viride significantly (P < 0.05) enriches the nutrient content of the waste, particularly increasing the crude protein and ash content while lowering the crude fiber content. The most significant nutrient enrichment was recorded at 72 hours of fermentation by SSF using A. niger and at 96 hours of fermentation by SSF using T viride. In liquid state fermentation (LSF) method, the nutrient enrichment of PW is evident though significantly (P < 0.05) lower compared to SSF. Indiscernible changes were noted in the mineral content of PW under both fermentation methods. Dry matter increased significantly (P < 0.05) as fermentation progressed with the highest values recorded at 96 hours. The study established no significant differences (P > 0.05) in the fermentation abilities of the two fungi, A. niger and T viride. SSF was the most viable fermentation method than LSF and fermentation periods, 72 and 96 hour found to be equally viable. Results of feeding trials of the test diets showed that broilers fed on diets A and B had significantly (P > 0.05) lower mean body weight and feed intake than those fed on diet C, while those fed on diets D and E died within the first week of the feeding trials. As such, the level of inclusion of fermented pineapple waste (FPW) in the test diets in this study had a negative effect on the performance of the broilers. Despite this, FPW may be a potential supplement in feed formulation due to its non toxicity and non pathogencity.


[Extract] Culturally sensitive integration of medical circumcision could avert adverse effects at traditional male initiation rites.

In many traditional cultures, male initiation rites involve circumcision practices that can sometimes result in medical complications. In a recent incident in the Northern Territory, three young men required airlifting from their Borroloola initiation site to Darwin for medical assistance. The risk of permanent harm and potentially fatal outcomes could be decreased if safer options were available during initiation ceremonies. In this article, we report that it is possible to provide safe circumcision at male initiation rites.


Abstract. The aim of this study is to select new landfill sites in Antalya, Turkey which is the fifth biggest city according to the population, approximately 1.2 million. It is the first rank according to the population growth rate in Turkey. The city of Antalya is the touristic places and its climate is Mediterranean climate. Therefore, choosing landfill site is very crucial and it affects the future of the city. Existing landfill site will not be sufficient in near future. The study was implemented in the Aksu, Dosemealti, Kepez, Konyaalti, and Muratpasa districts in Antalya. The study area has almost 1980 km-square. Twelve parameters which are geology, fault lines, landslides, river, lake, elevation, slope, aspect, population, rain, road network, and temperature data were determined. These parameters were assessed using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method and the weights of criteria layers were computed. Then, the computed weights were checked by the consistency index and consistency ratio which were found as 0.12 and 8.5%, respectively. The consistency index for 12 parameters should be lower than 1.48 and the consistency ratio should be less than 10%. This means that the constructed AHP matrix is suitable for analysis. Finally, the most suitable areas for landfill were computed according to the weights achieved from AHP matrix. The results were obtained in a range between 0.39 and 0.90. When the obtained results were compared with the existing landfill site called Kizilli area, the AHP score was found as 0.62. Therefore, new landfill area(s) should be selected from the determined results.


Faster and more cost-efficient, crowdsourced delivery is needed to meet the growing customer demands of many industries, including online shopping, on-demand local delivery, and on-demand transportation. The power of crowdsourced delivery stems from the large number of workers potentially available to provide services and reduce costs. It has been shown in social psychology literature that <italic>fairness</italic> is key to ensuring high worker participation. However, existing assignment solutions fall short on modeling the dynamic fairness metric. In this work, we introduce a new assignment strategy for crowdsourced delivery tasks. This strategy takes fairness towards workers into consideration, while maximizing the task allocation ratio. Since redundant assignments are not possible in delivery tasks, we first introduce a 2-phase allocation model that increases the reliability of a worker to complete a given task. To realize the effectiveness of our model in practice, we present both offline and online versions of our proposed algorithm called <italic>F-Aware</italic>. Given a task-to-worker bipartite graph, F-Aware assigns each task to a worker that minimizes unfairness, while allocating tasks to use worker capacities as much as possible. We present an evaluation of our algorithms with respect to running time, task allocation ratio (TAR), as well as unfairness and assignment ratio. Experiments show that F-Aware runs around <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10^7 \times$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:mrow><mml:msup><mml:mn>10</mml:mn><mml:mn>7</mml:mn></mml:msup><mml:mo>×</mml:mo></mml:mrow></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="basik-ieq1-2854866.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> faster than the TAR-optimal solution and allocates 96.9 percent of the tasks that can be allocated by it. Moreover, it is shown that, F-Aware is able to provide a much fair distribution of tasks to workers than the best competitor algorithm.


Since the development of reinforced concrete over a century ago, engineers have constantly struggled with the corrosion problem of steel reinforcement. The new advances in the field of materials science have resulted in the development of fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) materials that could potentially be used as bars in reinforced concrete structures. The attractive features of this type of bars include high strength, light weight, and resistance to electrochemical corrosion. E-glass is the most widely used fiber material in FRPs; however, studies have shown that this type of fiber is susceptible to degradation in alkaline environments (i.e., concrete). This paper presents the results of a durability study on FRP bars made from an alternative glass fiber, alkali resistant (AR) glass, that could potentially improve the durability of FRP bars. A total of 160 bar samples were tested after exposure to corrosive solutions at temperatures of 25°C and 60°C. These solutions were designed to simulate accelerated exposure to adverse conditions in the field. Test variables included two matrix materials (polyester and vinyl ester), seven chemical solutions, and ultraviolet radiation. Moisture absorption by bars and associated changes in the mechanical properties were the focus of this study. In addition, 10 reinforced concrete beams were tested in flexure until failure, to examine the effects of exposure to concrete and deicing salts. Test results indicated that significant loss of strength could result from exposure of AR glass FRP bars to simulated aggressive field conditions. An analytical study based on diffusion models and Fick's law was also conducted to predict the loss of strength. In the Fickian range of diffusion, the models predicted the loss of strength with a reasonable accuracy.


This paper through explaining the theory of solar radiation energy, plant spectroscopy, ecology, and vegetation remotely sensed, these transdisciplinaries, to identify the vegetation cooling effect mechanism, is aimed to eliminate disagreement in this field. In this paper we propose vegetation stress monitoring, through investigating in urban greening's health state management, improving vegetation ecology service function should be a new research point. Urban vegetation has numerous ecology services function, especially important for mitigating urban heat island effect in summertime. Recently a lot of research study on the correlation between vegetation cover and urban heat island, based on extracting information from remote sensing data, however most of the study ignored about the real mechanism of vegetation cooling temperature.


While it is widely acknowledged that Canadian Muslims are targeted at airports and borders, few studies have focused on their actual experiences of state surveillance practices. Moreover, little attention has been paid to how these experiences impact and shape identity formation and their understanding of citizenship. To address this gap, we conducted 50 in-depth interviews with young Canadian Muslims living in Vancouver and Toronto. Our interviewees referred to being repeatedly stopped, questioned, detained, and harassed by security personnel. They felt that any evidence of their Muslim identity – name, country of birth, appearance, or clothing – makes them a target for extra surveillance, resulting in heightened fears about being stripped of their rights and a lack of ability to assert their religious identities. This paper explores the implications of racialized border practices on identity formation and citizenship depletion among Muslim Canadians.


This Article examines the relationship between the American political culture of individualism and long-standing, well-established tort doctrine. Although much of the doctrine in the abstract is obviously reflective of the prevailing political culture, there remains a certain ambivalence. Thus, when judges and jurors are faced with deciding concrete cases before them, they frequently abandon their professed commitment to mythological notions of self-sufficiency and personal responsibility and find the injured plaintiff to be entitled to compensation. The modern American tort reform movement's recognition of this ambivalence underlies the essential strategy for reform. The reformers' goals are more far reaching than the limitation of jury decision making through such devices as capping damages or modifying rules of evidence and procedure. Changes such as those are, relatively speaking, minor. Rather, by altering the basic concept of duty, tort reformers seek to undermine the entire institution of civil trials so that cases can be decided by reference to abstract principles instead of real-world assessments of the parties' injuries and harm-causing conduct.


Drought at the reproductive stage is a major constraint to pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] productivity. Quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping provides a means to dissect complex traits, such as drought tolerance, into their components, each of which is controlled by QTLs. Molecular marker-supported genotypic information at the identified QTLs then enables quick and accurate accumulation of desirable alleles in plant breeding programmes. Recent genetic mapping research in pearl millet has mapped several QTLs for grain yield and its components under terminal drought stress conditions. Most importantly, a major QTL associated with grain yield and for the drought tolerance of grain yield in drought stress environments has been identified on linkage group 2 (LG 2) which accounts for up to 32% of the phenotypic variation of grain yield in mapping population testcrosses. The effect of this QTL has been validated in two independent marker-assisted backcrossing programmes, where 30% improvement in grain yield general combining ability (GCA) expected of this QTL under terminal drought stress conditions was recovered in the QTL introgression lines. To transfer effectively favourable alleles of this QTL into pearl millet varieties that otherwise are high yielding and adapted to specific agricultural zones, efforts are currently underway to develop closely spaced gene-based markers within this drought tolerance (DT)-QTL. In this review, an overview is provided of information on the genetic maps developed in pearl millet for mapping drought tolerance traits and their applications in identifying and characterizing DT-QTLs. Marker-assisted transfer of desirable QTL alleles to elite parent backgrounds, and results from introgression line validation in multiple terminal drought stress environments are discussed. Current efforts undertaken towards delimiting the interval of a major DT-QTL mapping to LG 2, and towards identifying candidate genes and physiologies underlying this QTL are presented. Highly specialized genetic stocks [QTL-near-isogenic lines (NILs), a high-resolution cross, and a germplasm population] and genomic resources (gene sequences, gene-based markers, and comparative genomics information) specifically developed for these purposes are discussed.


: Combined use of the penicillins and sulfanylamides in patients resulted in increased antibiotic blood levels and circulation. Retarded elimination of the penicillins was mainly due to the depositing effect of the sulfanylamides on the antibiotics at the account of increasing levels of the latter in peripheral tissues which was realized through increasing the drug distribution volume. It is not excluded that the primary mechanism of changing the penicillin kinetics in patients is lowered antibiotic binding to plasma proteins.


The extraordinary increase in reliance on debt by U.S. business in the 1980s has generated widespread concern that overextended borrowers may become unable to meet their obligations and that proliferating defaults could then lead to some kind of rupture of the financial system, with ensuing consequences for the nonfinancial economy as well. The thesis advanced in this paper, however, is that the more likely threat posed by a continuing rapid rise of corporate indebtedness is instead a return to rapid price inflation. In particular, a review of recent developments lead to four specific conclusions: First, problems of debt service within the private sector are more likely to arise among business borrowers, not households. Because businesses, and especially corporations, have used much of the proceeds of their borrowing merely to pay down their own or other firms' equity, their interest payments have risen to postwar record levels compared to either their earnings or their cash flows. Second, despite these high debt service burdens, debt default on a scale large enough to threaten the financial system as a whole is unlikely in the absence of a general economic downturn. But the sharp increase in indebtedness has made U.S. businesses crucially dependent on continued strong earnings growth. Third, the consequent need to prevent a serious recession -- so as to preclude the possibility of a systemic debt default -- will increasingly constrain the Federal Reserve System's conduct of monetary policy. The Federal Reserve's reluctance to risk a situation of spreading business (and LDC) debt defaults, especially with the U.S. commercial banking system in its current exposed position, will increasingly prevent it from either acquiescing in a recession or bringing one about on its own initiative. Fourth, over time this constraint will severely limit the ability of monetary policy to contain or reduce price inflation. Episodes of disj in the United States since World War II have invariably involved business recessions, including declines in business earnings and increases in bankruptcies and defaults. If the economy's financial system has become fragile to withstand any but the shortest and shallowest recession, it is unlikely to be able to support a genuine attack on inflation by monetary policy.


IMPORTANCE
E-cadherin (CDH1) is a cancer predisposition gene mutated in families meeting clinically defined hereditary diffuse gastric cancer (HDGC). Reliable estimates of cancer risk and spectrum in germline mutation carriers are essential for management. For families without CDH1 mutations, genetic-based risk stratification has not been possible, resulting in limited clinical options.

OBJECTIVES
To derive accurate estimates of gastric and breast cancer risks in CDH1 mutation carriers and determine if germline mutations in other genes are associated with HDGC.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
Testing for CDH1 germline mutations was performed on 183 index cases meeting clinical criteria for HDGC. Penetrance was derived from 75 mutation-positive families from within this and other cohorts, comprising 3858 probands (353 with gastric cancer and 89 with breast cancer). Germline DNA from 144 HDGC probands lacking CDH1 mutations was screened using multiplexed targeted sequencing for 55 cancer-associated genes.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
Accurate estimates of gastric and breast cancer risks in CDH1 mutation carriers and the relative contribution of other cancer predisposition genes in familial gastric cancers.

RESULTS
Thirty-one distinct pathogenic CDH1 mutations (14 novel) were identified in 34 of 183 index cases (19%). By the age of 80 years, the cumulative incidence of gastric cancer was 70% (95% CI, 59%-80%) for males and 56% (95% CI, 44%-69%) for females, and the risk of breast cancer for females was 42% (95% CI, 23%-68%). In CDH1 mutation-negative index cases, candidate mutations were identified in 16 of 144 probands (11%), including mutations within genes of high and moderate penetrance: CTNNA1, BRCA2, STK11, SDHB, PRSS1, ATM, MSR1, and PALB2.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
This is the largest reported series of CDH1 mutation carriers, providing more precise estimates of age-associated risks of gastric and breast cancer that will improve counseling of unaffected carriers. In HDGC families lacking CDH1 mutations, testing of CTNNA1 and other tumor suppressor genes should be considered. Clinically defined HDGC families can harbor mutations in genes (ie, BRCA2) with different clinical ramifications from CDH1. Therefore, we propose that HDGC syndrome may be best defined by mutations in CDH1 and closely related genes, rather than through clinical criteria that capture families with heterogeneous susceptibility profiles.