Background. Task-based language teaching (TBLT) is still attracting considerable interest from second language teachers and researchers, partly due to unresolved issues of task sequencing and task complexity. Moreover, in spite of burgeoning attention to writing at the present stage of evolution of TBLT, the interaction of task complexity and corrective feedback in writing performance of language learners has not been explored well.
Purpose. To fill in this research gap, the present study aimed to explore the role of task complexity and task condition in learners' gain from corrective feedback in second language writing.
Methods. A pretest-immediate posttest-delayed posttest design was adopted in this study. The participants of the study were 114 English as foreign language learners, randomly assigned to one of the five groups: four experimental groups and a control group. The four experimental groups differed in (a) whether they carried out the simple or complex version of a task (b) whether they did the writing task individually or collaboratively. They received feedback on their writing in three treatment sessions.
Results. Statistical analyses revealed that task condition played a larger role than task complexity in the linguistic performance of language learners who received feedback on their writing.
Conclusion. The findings add support to the view that selecting appropriate levels of task complexity and suitable task implementation conditions alongside providing corrective feedback enhances the different dimensions of the written performance of language learners.


Two-dimensional layers of molybdenum disulfide, MoS2, have been recognized as promising materials for nanoelectronics due to their exceptional electronic and optical properties. Here we develop a new ReaxFF reactive potential that can accurately describe the thermodynamic and structural properties of MoS2 sheets, guided by extensive density functional theory simulations. This potential is then applied to the formation energies of five different types of vacancies, various vacancy migration barriers, and the transition barrier between the semiconducting 2H and metallic 1T phases. The energetics of ripplocations, a recently observed defect in van der Waals layers, is examined, and the interplay between these defects and sulfur vacancies is studied. As strain engineering of MoS2 sheets is an effective way to manipulate the sheets' electronic and optical properties, the new ReaxFF description can provide valuable insights into morphological changes that occur under various loading conditions and defect distributions, thus allowing one to tailor the electronic properties of these 2D crystals.


Total anomalous pulmonary venous return (TAPVR) is a rare congenital cardiac defect, accounting for 1.5-3% of cases of congenital heart disease. With prenatal ultrasonography, the majority of these patients are diagnosed in utero with definitive surgery performed during the neonatal period. However, as prenatal screening may not be available in developing countries, patients may present in later infancy. We pre-sent successful surgical repair of a 6-month-old infant with TAPVR who presented for medical care at 5 months of age in Lima, Peru. The late presentation of such infants and the limited resources available for the treatment of elevated pulmonary vascular resistance may impact successful surgical correction of such defects. The perioperative care of such infants in developing countries is discussed and strategies for managing postoperative pulmonary hypertension is reviewed.


Article Info Background: The issue of addiction among teenagers is critically important due to the sensitive nature of this life stage and its role in their future life. The present study aims to investigate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and emotionregulation training on rumination and social anxiety in teenagers prone to addiction living in group foster care centers in 2018. Materials and Methods: This is an experimental research with a pre-test, post-test, and follow-up design. The statistical population included all male teenagers aged 13 to 18 years living in group foster care centers of Tehran in 2018. Using the convenience sampling method, 45 teenagers were selected and randomly divided into two experimental groups and a control group (n= 15 per group). The research instrument included the Addiction Potential Scale (APS), the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN), and the Ruminative Response Scale (RRS). SPSS version 22.0 was further used to analyze the data. Results: The mean of the post-test scores of rumination and physiological symptoms in the cognitive therapy group (55.00±2.00 and 10.47±1.88, respectively) and the emotionregulation group (61.80±5.28 and 11.40±1.24, respectively) were significantly lower than them in the control groups (69.07 ± 1.99 and 13.00 ± 1.55, respectively). The results indicated a significant effect of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and emotionregulation training on rumination and social anxiety in teenagers (p<0.05). Conclusion: Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and emotion-regulation training can be used to reduce the social anxiety and rumination of teenagers prone to addiction.


Aspiration plays an important role in the pronunciation of Bangla words. It not only brings variety in pronunciation, but also distinguishes meanings in words. Some pairs of similar-sounding words are differently recognized in Bangla only because of the aspiration trait. Hence it is claimed that aspiration is a distinctive feature in Bangla. In this paper the distinctiveness of Bangla has been tested with minimal pairs, in order to establish the distinct linguistic fact in question. Examples have been drawn widely from contemporary Bangla language in sufficient number with utmost care and contemplation. Phonemic and phonetic transcriptions, as necessary, have been provided beside the words along with meanings for a better grasp of the contrast in minimal pairs. The relevant aspects of phonetics and phonology of Bangla have also been compared with those of English to bring into focus the aspirational characteristics. The elaboration of the concept 'intonation' at the beginning of thesis will be helpful for a clear understanding of technicalities involved in the Bangla-specific analysis of the subject.


This paper describes the application of photoelectric mixing techniques to the study of the ruby laser. Following a brief theoretical analysis of laser oscillation frequencies, extensive experiments are described. These experiments permit conclusions concerning: (1) the behavior of the laser's spectral output as a function of pump power and temperature; (2) the validity of applying homogeneous interferometer mode analyses to the case of ruby; and (3) the effects of fluorescence line-shape and stimulated emission in determining oscillation frequencies. In addition, they provide extremely high-resolution measurements of the oscillation line-width.


Twenty-nine children (23 girls, 6 boys) with precocious puberty were treated with cyproterone acetate for various periods of time ranging from 6 months to 3 years 4 months. They received an oral dose ranging from 70-150 mg/m2 per day, or an intramuscular depot injection once a fortnight or once a month at a dose ranging from 107-230 mg/m2. Both forms of therapy were found to suppress the signs of sexual maturation, but the oral form proved to be superior. Only the younger patients with a bone age under 11 years showed a beneficial effect upon linear growth and bone maturation. No side effects were noted, but additional advantageous effects upon behaviour and sociability were. It is concluded that at present cyproterone acetate by mouth is the drug of choice in the treatment of precocious puberty. The treatment should be initiated as early as possible to attain maximum benefit.


A new navigation method, called a Line of Sight Counteraction Navigation (LOSCAN) algorithm has been introduced to aid manoeuvre decision making for collision avoidance based on a two-ship encounter. The LOSCAN algorithm is derived from an extension of the basic principle of traditional missile proportional navigation, recognising that the objective of the latter is target capture rather than target avoidance. The basic concept is to derive an acceleration command so as to increase the misalignment between the ships' relative velocity and the line-of-sight. The algorithm includes a risk assessment and the generation of appropriate navigation commands to manoeuvre own ship free of collision if a risk of collision exists. Numerical examples have been used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm. The relationship between the distance at the closest point of approach with respect to early warning distance, and with the norm of the acceleration, has also been analysed. In operation, the collision avoidance decision making process is a complicated problem, with its solution subject to ship states, practical dynamic constraints, Collision Avoidance Regulations (COLREGS), encountering ship manoeuvre coordination and human decision making factors. The proposed algorithm provides a consistent manoeuvre signal to aid decision-making.


The microwave -assisted non-thermal degumming of hemp fibre has been studied and then compared with the water bath heating under different time and temperature conditi ons. T he results show that the residual gum content of the lean hemp using microwave-assisted heating method is lower than that obtained using water bath heating. The residual gum content gap between the two degumming processes increase s first and then decreas es as the heating time and temperature are increased. This proves the existence of non-thermal effects in microwave heating process besides the thermal effects in water bath heating. In addition, the structures of the lean hemp fibres obtained from these two methods are also studied by scanning electron microscopy and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.


This paper explores dimensions of the anarchist cultural and pedagogical practices that served as a reference for the Brazilian experience of Modern Schools, in the beginning of the 20th century (1912). Based on bibliographical research accomplished by innumerable scholars in Brazil and Spain, it tries to point out the inseparability of culture and education in the anarchist conceptions and practices. Such a specificity configures the educational view-point of anarchists, inside and outside school, as a field of appropriation of culture and as an instrument of social liberation.


textabstractThe function of the heart is to pump blood from the veins into the
arteries in response to the need of the tissues for oxygen and
substrates. During its action the heart itself needs these nutrients.
Factors that mainly determine the myocardial oxygen demand are
(fig.0.1): heart rate, myocardial contractile performance
(contractility) and ventricular wall tension. The oxygen supply is
delivered by the coronary perfusion. Under normal conditions of
coronary perfusion an equilibrium between the demand and the supply is
present and adaptation is possible during a wide range of
circumstances where myocardial oxygen demand is increased.
A limitation of the coronary inflow, due to a coronary stenosis,
quickly leads to an oxygen deficit. Even at slight flow reductions a
redistribution of blood flow from the endocardium to the epicardium
leads to endocardial malfunction. Therefore, the distribution of the
blood flow within the myocardium is also a determinant of myocardial
oxygen supply (fig.0.1). Acute myocardial ischaemia leads within
seconds to an impaired segmental contractile function. When the
ischaemic area constitutes a considerable fraction of the left
ventricular muscle mass, a decrease in overall contractile function,
cardiac output and arterial blood pressure occurs. Furthermore, the
cardiac electro-physiological stability is disturbed, which frequently
leads to arrhythmias of various severities including ventricular
fibrillation.
The pharmacological treatment of ischaemia is directed to restore
the myocardial oxygen demand and supply relationship, either by
decreasing the demand or by increasing the supply, whereas
antiarrhythmic therapy is used to stabilize the haemodynamic condition
and to reduce the risk of fatal arrhythmias. Enhancement of the
oxygen supply can theoretically be realized by augmentation of
perfusion pressure or perfusion time, while another approach is to
lower the coronary vascular resistance or to augment the blood flow
through interarterial collateral channels. The reduction of
myocardial oxygen demand is carried out by reducing heart rate,
myocardial contractility or intramyocardial wall tension.
The present thesis, where an attempt is made to gain insight into
the transmural distribution of the myocardial blood flow and its
relationship with segmental function, has been broadly subdivided into
four parts


Importance
Ocular hypertension is an important risk factor for the development of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG). Data from long-term follow-up can be used to inform the management of patients with ocular hypertension.

Objective
To determine the cumulative incidence and severity of POAG after 20 years of follow-up among participants in the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study.

Design, Setting, and Participants
Participants in the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study were followed up from February 1994 to December 2008 in 22 clinics. Data were collected after 20 years of follow-up (from January 2016 to April 2019) or within 2 years of death. Analyses were performed from July 2019 to December 2020.

Interventions
From February 28, 1994, to June 2, 2002 (phase 1), participants were randomized to receive either topical ocular hypotensive medication (medication group) or close observation (observation group). From June 3, 2002, to December 30, 2008 (phase 2), both randomization groups received medication. Beginning in 2009, treatment was no longer determined by study protocol. From January 7, 2016, to April 15, 2019 (phase 3), participants received ophthalmic examinations and visual function assessments.

Main Outcomes and Measures
Twenty-year cumulative incidence and severity of POAG in 1 or both eyes after adjustment for exposure time.

Results
A total of 1636 individuals (mean [SD] age, 55.4 [9.6] years; 931 women [56.9%]; 1138 White participants [69.6%]; 407 Black/African American participants [24.9%]) were randomized in phase 1 of the clinical trial. Of those, 483 participants (29.5%) developed POAG in 1 or both eyes (unadjusted incidence). After adjusting for exposure time, the 20-year cumulative incidence of POAG in 1 or both eyes was 45.6% (95% CI, 42.3%-48.8%) among all participants, 49.3% (95% CI, 44.5%-53.8%) among participants in the observation group, and 41.9% (95% CI, 37.2%-46.3%) among participants in the medication group. The 20-year cumulative incidence of POAG was 55.2% (95% CI, 47.9%-61.5%) among Black/African American participants and 42.7% (95% CI, 38.9%-46.3%) among participants of other races. The 20-year cumulative incidence for visual field loss was 25.2% (95% CI, 22.5%-27.8%). Using a 5-factor baseline model, the cumulative incidence of POAG among participants in the low-, medium-, and high-risk tertiles was 31.7% (95% CI, 26.4%-36.6%), 47.6% (95% CI, 41.6%-53.0%), and 59.8% (95% CI, 53.1%-65.5%), respectively.

Conclusions and Relevance
In this study, only one-fourth of participants in the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study developed visual field loss in either eye over long-term follow-up. This information, together with a prediction model, may help clinicians and patients make informed personalized decisions about the management of ocular hypertension.

Trial Registration
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00000125.


A fundamental property of the Standard Model is that the Higgs potential becomes unstable at large values of the Higgs field. For the current central values of the Higgs and top masses, the instability scale is about 1011 GeV and therefore not accessible by colliders. We show that a possible signature of the Standard Model Higgs instability is the production of gravitational waves sourced by Higgs fluctuations generated during inflation. We fully characterise the two-point correlator of such gravitational waves by computing its amplitude, the frequency at peak, the spectral index, as well as their three-point correlators for various polarisations. We show that, depending on the Higgs and top masses, either LISA or the Einstein Telescope and Advanced-Ligo, could detect such stochastic background of gravitational waves. In this sense, collider and gravitational wave physics can provide fundamental and complementary informations. Furthermore, the consistency relation among the three- and the two-point correlators could provide an efficient tool to ascribe the detected gravitational waves to the Standard Model itself. Since the mechanism described in this paper might also be responsible for the generation of dark matter under the form of primordial black holes, this latter hypothesis may find its confirmation through the detection of gravitational waves.


This article contains the collective views expressed at the first session of the workshop ''Tissue Engineering—The Next Generation,'' which was devoted to the interactions between developmental biology and tissue engineering. Donald Ingber discussed the chasms between developmental biology and tissue engineering from the perspective of a cell biologist who has had interest in tissue engineering since its early days. Van C. Mow shared a historical perspective on the development of tissue engineering as one of the first engineers involved in the field. David Butler offered an assessment of functional tissue engineering, a new area he helped establish and promote. Laura Niklason discussed how to be more effective in developing cellular therapies for large numbers of patients. Johnny Huard described his approach to tissue engineering, based on the use of muscle-derived cells. Jeremy Mao focused on cell homing and cell density in the context of native development and relevance to tissue engineering. Ioannis Yannas proposed a set of ''rules'' in organ regeneration. Collectively, the faculty expressed a remarkable level of enthusiasm for bridging the gaps between developmental biology and tissue engineering and offered new ideas on how to facilitate the interaction between the two fields.


Purpose of this paper
This paper investigates the question: What are the challenges to the purchasing function when faced with discontinuous innovation? The paper defines discontinuous innovation, differentiating it from other forms of innovation, and discusses the challenges for the purchasing function involved in the discontinuous innovation process.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews and analyses the existing literature on purchasing involvement in incremental and discontinuous innovation. Analysing existing research on early supplier - and early purchasing - involvement in new product development and innovation, we develop conceptual frameworks to further the understanding of, and radically rethink, the role of purchasing involvement in innovations of different degrees of change.
Findings
The typology highlights some important challenges for the purchasing function when faced with discontinuous rather than the more common incremental innovation challenge. In particular, our analysis of the literature suggests that both Early Supplier involvement (ESI) and Early Purchasing Involvement (EPI) practices need to be reconsidered when applied to discontinuous innovation.
Research limitations/implications
The paper is conceptual so does not rely on an empirical study conducted for the purpose of addressing our specific research question. Nevertheless, on the basis of analysis of the existing literature we suggest discontinuous innovation calls for a fundamental rethink of established ESI and EPI practices.
Practical implications (if applicable)
Purchasing functions are advised to widen their search and selection environments for completely new technologies, scanning outside existing supply relationships and supply chains. Purchasing should be involved particularly early in the sourcing process, before any specific project has even been formally started. Short-term supplier relationships or dalliances should be developed. Ask new suppliers for solutions instead of informing suppliers of well-defined specifications.
What is original/value of paper
The paper examines a well-established field (ESI) and an emerging related field (EPI). Focusing on the challenges of discontinuous innovation, we suggest that both ESI and EPI practices need to be fundamentally reconsidered when applied to discontinuous innovation.


Abstract : The United States Air Force Research Lab, Munitions Directorate, Flight Vehicles, Integration Branch (AFRL/MNAV), has developed a flexible wing micro air vehicle (MAV) to be used with special tactics groups. In keeping with the requirement that this MAV be compact, previous research developed a rotatable tail mechanism which resulted in tail movement similar to that of a bird's tail. In this study the design of this tail was modified to produce a more storable vehicle. The redesign also allowed the tail to deflect upward to large angles, enabling the tail to be used as a spoiler. The aerodynamic affects of adding a vertical stabilizer mechanism to improve the stability of the vehicle and rotatable tail combination was also quantified. Data from these tests confirmed the tail is a plausible method to reduce lift and increase drag, consistent with proper spoiler function. A wide range of angles were used to demonstrate that forces and moments from the flat tail were similar to those of traditional rudder. Directional stability was improved by the stabilizer, and recommendations for further improvements are given.


This chapter describes the evolution of the history of territorial and maritime dispute (Nicaragua V. Colombia) and advisory opinions that has been dealt by the International court of justice (ICJ). The territorial and maritime dispute is systematically organised with the final question or claim made by the parties, basis of jurisdiction, proceedings, orders rendered by the Court, headnotes and operative paragraphs of the judgments, orders and advisory opinions, names of judges and ad hoc judges who have appended declaration, separate opinion, dissenting opinion individually or jointly with other judges, each source of law the Court has cited and information on the litigation teams. It provides case-law digest of legal maxims and extracts from cases that have been dealt by the ICJ since 1992 till 31 December 2010. The case-law digests are literal citations, as per the Anglo-American style, for the systematic presentation of judicial pronouncements. Keywords: Colombia; International Court of Justice (ICJ); Nicaragua; territorial and maritime dispute


Web syndication technologies help us easily aggregate daily news from diverse sources. However, the huge amount of information makes us more difficult to read let alone digest and focus on the most important events. Therefore, we need an efficient way of news extraction and mining. In this paper, we propose an unsupervised approach to multilingual concept discovery from daily online news extracts. First, key terms are extracted statistically from short news extracts. Second, similar term candidates are grouped into concrete concepts with unsupervised term clustering methods. Our goal is automatic news processing with minimum resources, which requires no training in advance. The experimental results show the potential of the proposed approach in efficiency and effectiveness. Further investigation is needed to study the cross-lingual relation between extracted concepts.


This paper presents an analysis of regional fluxes obtained with a small aircraft over heterogeneous terrain in the south-west of France, during the large scale field experiment CERES'07. We use a method combining variable flight-path segmentation with basic airborne footprint analysis. The segmentation is based on topography, land use and soil type, using a.o. satellite imagery and digital maps. The segments are delineated using an average footprint length, based on all flights, and segment lengths, which are variable in space but not in time. The method results in segment averaged carbon and energy fluxes, which are shown to be representative of regional fluxes. Our analysis is focussed on carbon dioxide, heat and evaporative fluxes around solar noon. We will show that spatial and seasonal variations in the fluxes can be linked to the underlying landscape. In addition, a comparison between the airborne data and ground flux data is made to support our results. However, due to the incompleteness of ground data for some predominant vegetation types (even in such a data dense context), upscaling of ground data to regional fluxes was not possible. Without the comparison, we are still able to demonstrate that aircraft can provide direct and meaningful estimates of regional fluxes of energy and carbon dioxide. Correspondence to: O. S. Vellinga (firstname.lastname@example.com)


This non-interventional observational open study (TOCCATA, sponsored by Basilea Pharmaceutica Germany) investigated the use of alitretinoin to treat chronic hand eczema under daily "real life" medical practice conditions in Germany. A total of 349 dermatologists through-out Germany enrolled 680 adult patients with chronic hand eczema. Patients were prescribed and treated with alitretinoin in accordance with the summary of product characteristics. The maximum observation duration was 24 weeks, with efficacy and safety parameters evaluated every 4 weeks. Efficacy was primarily evaluated by assessing disease severity according to the Physician Global Assessment. In total, 56.7% of patients achieved a Physician Global Assessment rating of "clear" or "almost clear" hands, with only small differences in patients with different morphological forms: hyperkeratotic-rhagadiform (59.2%), fingertip (52.2%) and vesicular (47.9%). This observational study demonstrates the effectiveness and tolerability of alitretinoin in everyday clinical practice in addition to the known efficacy and safety obtain-ed by randomized controlled clinical trials.


Women contribute decisively to the economy and have an important participation in agricultural exploitation in the world, providing their labor. But if they had better access to technology and training in a more equitable way, they could contribute much more. In effect, the rapid technological changes that have occurred in the sector pose an even greater challenge to achieve equalizing the role of women to that of men in the agri-food sector. The limitation of the female gender to training and empowerment prevents them from taking advantage of the technology that are contributing to the achievement of a world free of hunger and malnutrition, which is one of the sustainable development goals (SDG). Therefore, this work analyzes the world situation in terms of training and gender gaps to see if these elements affect the achievement of four of the sustainable development goals (SDG 2, 4, 5 10) in 87 countries. The results of the multiple linear regression show the existence of a positive relationship between these elements is demonstrated. Then, as a real example, Spain is chosen as a country reference and analyzed in terms of training by gender, digital gender gap and labor gap. Finally, some advice and recommendations that allow the achievement of the inclusion of women in the improvement of the countries are suggested.


"Theology of the Cross" is an important site of religious reflection and controversy, especially today. Westhelle repeatedly uncovers the evasions - personal, social, religious, and even theological - by which we skirt the sharp challenge that the Cross and suffering love pose to a culture, lifestyle, and economy that avoid suffering and evade love. And he challenges every Christian to embrace Jesus' cross to find our own resurrection.


OBJECTIVE
This study looked at whether oral vitamin C and vitamin E would protect the erythrocyte from oxidant damage caused by dapsone in patients with dermatitis herpetiformis.

DESIGN
Fifteen consecutive patients with dermatitis herpetiformis taking dapsone therapy received, in addition, 800 U/d of vitamin E for 4 weeks; then 1000 mg of vitamin C per day for 4 weeks, and, finally, combined vitamin E and vitamin C therapy for 4 weeks. Hemolysis indexes were assessed at baseline and after each 4-week period.

RESULTS
Statistical analysis of the results suggests that oral administration of 800 units of vitamin E daily for 4 weeks confers partial protective effect against dapsone-induced hemolysis in patients with dermatitis herpetiformis.

CONCLUSION
Partial protection against dapsone-induced hemolysis by orally administered vitamin E, if confirmed as being clinically relevant by further trials, may allow clinicians to continue dapsone therapy orally in patients who develop significant hemolysis. Prophylactic vitamin E to minimize potential hemolysis at the initiation of dapsone therapy may also be appropriate.


A 23-year old man with paroxysmal, poorly tolerated and spontaneously terminating palpitations, was referred to our department for electrophysiological study. Burst pacing from high right atrium using a cycle length of 350 ms induced a slowfast atrioventricular nodal reentry tachycardia. We excluded the presence of accessory atrioventricular tracts. During tachycardia a constant alternans of QRS morphology and cycle length was observed. The cycle length alternans could be due to the presence of three nodal pathways and activation circulating in a figure-of-eight pattern using alternatively two slow pathways as the antegrade arm of the reentry loop. The alternans could also originate from altering decremental properties of a single slow pathway that changed its conduction properties with relation to the length of the preceding cycle. The QRS alternans occurred both during burst pacing and tachycardia. As it was related to the rate and the changing cycle length, we concluded that it could reflect aberration in intraventricular conduction.


This article aims to explore the impact of education in the empowerment of women in the district of Gurdaspur, Punjab, India. In an in-depth survey including thirty villages, the article attempts to find out the condition of women, thoughts towards girls" education in society and problems hold back the education of women. The article also draw attention to that educated and economically empowered women are against the practice of dowry thus directly bearing the fruit of economic empowerment in society of Gurdaspur district of Punjab. Finally some recommendation has been recommended to stamp out the practice of intra-household and social discrimination of girl child and women. It was found that from the survey that education is indicator of empowerment which mitigates the horrors of dowry. Key words: Education, women, education, empowerment, dowry, survey.


R is a programming language and environment that is a central tool in the applied sciences for writing program. Its impact on the development of modern statistics is inevitable. Current research, especially for big data may not be done solely using R and will likely use different programming languages; hence, having a modern integrated development environment (IDE) is very important. Atom editor is modern IDE that is developed by GitHub, it is described as "A hackable text editor for the 21st Century". This report is intended to present a package deployed entitled Rbox that allows Atom Editor to write and run codes professionally in R.


Virologic measurements are increasingly used to evaluate prognosis and treatment responses in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 infection. Markers of HIV-1 replication, including infectious HIV-1 titer from peripheral blood mononuclear cells, serum HIV-1 p24 antigen, plasma HIV-1 RNA, CD4 cell numbers, and viral syncytium-inducing (SI) phenotype, were determined in 391 virology substudy participants in AIDS Clinical Trials Group study 175. The subjects had 200-500 CD4 cells/mm3. All markers of viral replication significantly correlated with one another and were inversely related to CD4 cell number. Disease progression to an AIDS-defining event or death or loss of >50% of CD4 cells was associated with infectious HIV-1 titer (P < .001), HIV-1 RNA (P < .001), and HIV-1 p24 antigen (P = .007). In multivariate proportional hazards models, p24 antigen was never significant when HIV-1 RNA level was included. In a model containing infectious HIV-1 titer (P = .038), HIV-1 RNA (P < .001), SI phenotype (P < .001), and CD4 cell number (P = .18), only the virologic parameters remained significantly associated with progression.


Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 (HSV-1) is a virus commonly existent in nature. Others reported that herpesvirus DNA probably activates type C virus in vitro. L6565 Murine Leukemia Virus (L6565 MuLV) is a kind of virus inducing the murine Leukemia. The main aim of the study was to explore the activation of HSV-1 to the pathogenicity of L6565 MuLV in vivo. Suckling mice were inoculated with either L6565 MuLV & inactivated HSV-1, or L6565 MuLV alone. In order to determine the infection of the mice, HE staining and RT-PCR techniques were applied. The result shows that the L6565 MuLV RNA was detected in 8 th week in the mice of MuLV plus HSV-1 group, while delayed to 10 th week in the L6565 MuLV alone group. The infection rates of the two groups were 74.3% and 41.7%, respectively. Also, L6565 MuLV RNA was detected in the thymus one week after the inoculation, and it was detected in both thymus and spleen two weeks after inoculation. It is obvious that HSV-1 promoted the infection of L6565 MuLV and increased the incidence rate of murine leukemia induced by L6565 MuLV.


Dysregulation of Maspin expression and constitutive activation of NF-κB subunits are important events in tumorigenesis of prostate cancer. Recent finding points that RelB, which contributes to the alternative NF-κB activity, interferes with carcinogenesis in the prostate. We report here, that both the classical (predominantly p50/RelA heterodimers) and the alternative NF-κB activities (p52/RelB heterodimers) are constitutively present in androgen-insensitive human prostate cancer cells. An inverse relationship of Maspin and RelB expression is observed in prostate cancer tissues at the later stage. TNF-α signaling triggers the nuclear accumulation of RelB and the concomitant reduction of Maspin expression in a time-dependent manner. In addition, the proteasome inhibitor-induced Maspin expression is accompanied by the reduction of RelB expression. A successful depletion of RelB expression, but not RelA expression, induces Maspin expression. RelB-deficiency abrogates the proteasome inhibitor-induced Maspin expression. Moreover, we demonstrate that the enforced expression of RelB protein in prostate cancer cells inhibits Maspin expression. We propose that RelB is an essential molecule controlling the endogenous and the proteasome inhibitor-induced Maspin expression. Developing a RelB-targeted therapeutic intervention, which might be coupled with the induction of a tumor suppressor Maspin, is valuable in treating advanced, metastatic prostate cancer. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2011 Nov 12-16; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2011;10(11 Suppl):Abstract nr C151.


This paper analyzes selection diversity as an effective tool to combat channel impairments in relay-assisted cellular systems. We consider the downlink scenario where the base station equipped with N antennas transmits to the mobile station either directly, or indirectly via a relay station, according to the link with the strongest received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). For this system, we analyze the performance of fixed gain amplify-and-forward relaying that does not require full channel-state-information (CSI) at the relay. We derive new exact closed-form expressions for the outage probability and symbol error rate (SER) based on new statistical properties of the end-to-end SNR. Furthermore, we quantify the asymptotic behavior of the outage probability and SER. We explicitly reveal the impact of multiple antennas with relay selection diversity, on the array gain and the diversity order. Our new asymptotic results prove that the maximum diversity order of N+1 is achieved.


Over the first years of the extraordinary intervention in the Mezzogiorno - from 1950 to 1957 - the «Cassa per il Mezzogiorno» focused on the financing of infrastructures, land reclamation and improvement works, aimed at supporting agriculture and tackling unemployment. In the following stage (1958-1965) an industrialization policy based on «poles of development» started; it absorbed about two thirds of global spending and worsened internal gaps in an area already disadvantaged, in a not homogeneous way, at the end of the war. The effectiveness of industrialization policy in mitigating development not homogeneity in the Southern regions has raised conflicting evaluations, but the analysis of intra-Mezzogiorno regional gaps has to take note of an unquestionable general improvement in standards of living in all the Southern regions. In this perspective, the controversial results of postwar industrialization strategies in the South of Italy can be reconsidered today, in the light of their longperiod effects on social and productive structures in such regions; these effects are estimated by composite indicators such as the human development index (HDI), which links a traditional economic indicator, i.e. per capita income, to not monetary indicators, such as life expectation and education level. This index shows that, after twenty years, the situation looks deeply different both in the Mezzogiorno's converging towards this index's national average and in reducing internal gaps present at the beginning of this twenty-year period.


International medical school graduates (IMGs) play a vital role in the health care system of the United States. They constitute roughly one-quarter of the physician workforce, comprising a significant proportion of the primary care providers in high-need rural and urban areas, where they provide equal and, in some instances, better care than U.S. graduates. Nonetheless, they face a series of hurdles in entering U.S. residency programs and throughout their training experiences.IMGs must expend significant resources to obtain Education Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) certification, which includes Steps 1, 2 Clinical Knowledge (CK), and 2 Clinical Skills (CS) of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE). They encounter the uncertainty of matching and, if successful, obtaining a visa to enter the U.S. Once here, they need to adapt to the complexities of the health care system and familiarize themselves with the cultural nuances, professional behaviors, and communication skills of another country. They encounter biases and microaggressions and lack support groups and mentors. Those who choose an academic career are less likely to obtain leadership positions.This Perspective provides an overview of these challenges and highlights opportunities for change at local and national levels. Specifically, it identifies strategies that would assist IMGs before entry, at entry, during training, at the transition to practice, and in practice. The current COVID-19 pandemic highlights the shortage of physicians in the U.S. and illustrates the importance of ensuring that IMGs, who are essential health care workers, feel welcome, valued, and recognized for their contributions.


Abstract. Vehicle-based measurements of wind speed and direction are presently used for a range of applications, including gas plume detection. Many applications use mobile wind measurements without knowledge of the limitations and accuracy of the mobile measurement system. Our research objective for this field-simulation study was to understand how anemometer placement and the vehicle's external airflow field affect measurement accuracy of vehicle-mounted anemometers. Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations were generated in ANSYS Fluent to model the external flow field of a research truck under varying vehicle speed and wind yaw angle. The CFD simulations provided a quantitative description of fluid flow surrounding the vehicle and demonstrated that the change in wind speed magnitude from the inlet increased as the wind yaw angle between the inlet and the vehicle's longitudinal axis increased. The CFD results were used to develop empirical speed correction factors at specified yaw angles and to derive an aerodynamics-based correction function calibrated for wind yaw angle and anemometer placement. For comparison with CFD, we designed field tests on a square, 12.8 km route in flat, treeless terrain with stationary sonic anemometers positioned at each corner. The route was driven in replicate under varying wind conditions and vehicle speeds. The vehicle-based anemometer measurements were corrected to remove the vehicle speed and course vector. From the field trials, we observed that vehicle-based wind speed measurements differed in average magnitude in each of the upwind, downwind, and crosswind directions. The difference from stationary anemometers increased as the yaw angle between the wind direction and the truck's longitudinal axis increased, confirming the vehicle's impact on the surrounding flow field and validating the trends in CFD. To further explore the accuracy of CFD, we applied the function derived from the simulations to the field data and again compared these with stationary measurements. From this study, we were able to make recommendations for anemometer placement, demonstrate the importance of applying aerodynamics-based correction factors to vehicle-based wind measurements, and identify ways to improve the empirical aerodynamic-based correction factors.


The economic literature shows how economic efficiency can be enhanced through the reduction of fiscal distortion. In this context, this paper assesses the overall neutrality of both theoretical and existing fiscal systems concerning capital income taxation. The newly adopted methodology is simple and can be used by policy makers to design practical fiscal systems, which are often a combination of different level of taxes and tax bases. To benefit from the advantages of the nominal system, together with the real accounting (derived adjusting the balance sheets' entries for inflation), we build a rigorous nominal accounting system (adding the appropriate budget entries) that can achieve similar results. Our analysis allows us to underline the conditions of financial and real neutrality, as well as the changes needed in order to make existing fiscal schemes neutral.


For decades, private companies planning to enter public markets have used bankers operating as intermediaries, helping them decide on issue timing and pricing, and in meeting disclosure requirements. That banker-led process has always had inefficiencies, but without clear alternatives, companies had to accept the high costs and the money left on the table on the offering date, as bankers set offering prices well below market prices, and rewarded preferred clients. The IPO process is being disrupted by three major changes. First, companies are waiting longer to go public, and are focusing more on scaling up revenues than on building business models that deliver profits, while private. Second, the investor base for IPOs is shifting, from primarily institutional, to include more retail investors, many of whom are young, and get their investing cues more from social media than from roadshows. Third, there are alternatives emerging to the banker-led process, with a few turning to direct listings and many more, especially in the last two years, using special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). These alternatives clearly are works in progress, and need improvement, but change is coming. In the final part of the paper, we look at disclosures that companies are required to make when they go public, and argue that they not only suffer from bloat, but are not in sync with changes that have occurred in both the companies going public, and those who trade their shares in the immediate aftermath of going public. We argue for reducing disclosure bulk and an easing of restrictions on companies making projections about the future, since these restrictions actually make it easier for companies to sell pie-in-the-sky stories.


Binary options on the Polish capital market The paper presents characteristics of binary option belonging to the group of exotic options. Exotic option is a non standard option. Binary options are options with discontinuous payoffs. A simple example of a binary option is a cash or nothing call and cash or nothing put. Another type of binary option is an asset or nothing call and asset or nothing put. A regular European call option is equivalent to a long position in an asset or nothing call and a short position in a cash or nothing call, where the cash payoff in the cash or nothing call equals the strike price. Similarly, a regular European put option is equivalent to a long position in a cash or nothing put and a short position in an asset or nothing put where the cash payoff on the cash or nothing put equals the strike price. In Poland, the first binary option has started in June 2009. The underlying instrument is WIG20, with expiration dates ranging from between one week and six months.


In the new world of globalization of ideas and mobility difficulties in knowledge diffusion still remains. The effective exchange of experiences and skills in new generation networks is not guaranteed by the enormous potentials ofinternetworking systems and devices. Conceptual model for performance modeling and evaluation of multiservice networks has been major interest for mobile networks providers. It is essential to assess the performance of mobile system architectures in order to identify where potential bottlenecks and data packet blocking probability are possible to occur. Educational platforms, new simulations opportunities represent a good opportunity to reduce the digital divide and to ensure faster and higher communication trends. Several universities and companies are currently involved in using educational platforms to provide better results. Conceptual model for teletraffic engineering in educational platform and applications focuses on some important aspects: tutorials, exercise, simulations, and expectation values of parameters, testing and estimation of students work. In the same time the same model is very appropriate for simulation of network management for the new generation networks. This educational platform for academics, students and researchers, puts together some of the critical aspects of distributed systems and their characteristics, parameters and probability of blocking.


Study Design. Systematic review. Objective. We performed a systematic review to determine the risk and to define potential identifiable risk factors for the development of adjacent segment pathology (ASP) after cervical fusion surgery. Summary of Background Data. During the past several decades, the indications for spinal arthrodesis have expanded, with a dramatic increase in the rate of cervical spine fusion in the United States during the past decade. However, as more of these procedures are performed over time, there have been concerns regarding the potential for these patients to develop changes at levels adjacent to the index procedure. Questions remain whether the development of clinical ASP (CASP) are iatrogenic in nature or part of natural history. Methods. A systematic review of the literature was undertaken for articles published in English language between 1990 and March 15, 2012. Electronic databases and reference lists of key articles were searched to identify articles reporting risk factors for CASP after cervical fusion. Two independent reviewers assessed the level of evidence and the overall quality of the literature using the Grades of Recommendation Assessment, Development, and Evaluation criteria. Disagreements were resolved by consensus. Results. We identified 5 studies (4 retrospective cohorts, 1 database study) from our search strategy that met the inclusion criteria from a total of 176 possible studies for review. The prevalence of CASP ranged from 11% to 12% at 5 years, 16% to 38% at 10 years, and 33% at 17 years. Factors that may contribute to the development of CASP include age less than 60 years, fusing adjacent to the C5–C6 and/or C6–C7 levels, a pre-existing disc herniation, and/or dural compression secondary to spinal stenosis with a mean anteroposterior diameter spinal canal of 13 mm or smaller. Conclusion. CASP remains a controversial topic despite multiple attempts of elucidating an iatrogenic effect of spinal fusion versus the natural history of spinal degeneration. The mean rate of the development of symptomatic degeneration in the cervical spine after arthrodesis is estimated between 1.6% and 4.2% per year. The mean rate of reoperation for CASP is estimated at 0.8% per year. In addition, fusing adjacent to but not including the C5–C6 and/or C6–C7 disc spaces seems to consistently increase the risk of developing CASP. Consensus StatementThe risk of developing new symptoms secondary to adjacent segment pathology causing radiculopathy and/or myelopathy after cervical fusion surgery ranges from a cumulative rate of 1.6% to 4.2% per year.Strength of Statement: StrongThe risk of developing adjacent-level symptoms may be increased if disc protrusion, disc degeneration, or cord effacement is present at C5–C6 and/or C6–C7 and if those levels are adjacent to the planned surgical level.Strength of Statement: Strong


The use of open-loop coding can be easily extended to a closed-loop concatenated code if the transmitter has access to feedback. This can be done by introducing a feedback transmission scheme as an inner code. In this paper, this process is investigated for the case when a linear feedback scheme is implemented as an inner code and, in particular, over an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel with noisy feedback. To begin, we look to derive an optimal linear feedback scheme by optimizing over the received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). From this optimization, a linear feedback scheme is produced that is asymptotically optimal in the sense of blocklength-normalized SNR; it is then compared to other well-known schemes. Then, the linear feedback scheme is implemented as an inner code to a concatenated code over the AWGN channel with noisy feedback. This code shows improvements not only in error exponent bounds, but also in bit error rate (BER) and frame error rate (FER). It is also shown that if the concatenated code has total blocklength L and the inner code has blocklength, N, the inner code blocklength should scale as N = O(C/R), where C is the capacity of the channel and R is the rate of the concatenated code. Simulations with low-density parity-check (LDPC) and turbo codes are provided to display practical applications and their error rate benefits.


H2O2 is an essential signal in absicic acid (ABA)induced stomatal closure. It can be synthesized by several enzymes in plants. In this study, the roles of copper amine oxidase (CuAO) in H2O2 production and stomatal closure were investigated. Exogenous ABA stimulated apoplast CuAO activity, increased H2O2 production and [Ca]cyt levels in Vicia faba guard cells, and induced stomatal closure. These processes were impaired by CuAO inhibitor(s). In the metabolized products of CuAO, only H2O2 could induce stomatal closure. By the analysis of enzyme kinetics and polyamine contents in leaves, putrescine was regarded as a substrate of CuAO. Putrescine showed similar effects with ABA on the regulation of H2O2 production, [Ca]cyt levels, as well as stomatal closure. The results suggest that CuAO in V. faba guard cells is an essential enzymatic source for H2O2 production in ABA-induced stomatal closure via the degradation of putrescine. Calcium messenger is an important intermediate in this process.


Aim. To detect changes in the concentration of nitric oxide and its metabolites – nitrites and nitrates in conjunction with the  indices of the glutathione system in  the children with chronic hepatitis В and С .   Patients and methods . In the research took a part 76 patients (boys or girls) with chronic hepatitis В and С aged  from 7 up to 16 years. N itric oxide and its metabolites  determined by method of V.A. Metel'skaya and N.G. Gumanova; level of  reduced glutathione – the titrimetric analysis; activity of glutathione transferase – the method of spectrophotometry.  Results . The content of nitric oxide and its metabolites– nitrites and nitrates – in serum and urine of children with chronic viral hepatitis В and С have increased. Correlations were revealed between nitric oxide and its metabolites  in serum and urine, as well as between these indices and glutathione system parameters – reduced glutathione concentration and activity of enzymes of glutathione transferase of erythrocytes and plasma. Conclusions . In the children with chronic viral hepatitis В and С the increase of the concentration of  nitric oxide and its metabolites in serum and urine is accompanied by decrease of reduced glutathione concentration and increase of glutathione transferase activity in erythrocytes and plasma. These findings suggest the presence of oxidative stress due to which the therapy should be strengthened by antioxidant effect.


This work addresses unsteady heat conduction in a plane wall subjected to a time-variable incident heat flux. Three different types of flux are studied (sinusoidal, triangular and step waveforms) and constant thermal properties are assumed for simplicity. First, the direct heat conduction problem is solved using the Network Simulation Method (NSM) and the collection of temperatures obtained at given instants is modified by introducing a random error: The resulting temperatures act as the input data for the inverse problem, which is also solved by a sequential approach using the NSM in a simple way. The solution is a continuous piece-wise function obtained step by step by minimising the classical functional that compares the above input data with those obtained from the solution of the inverse problem. No prior information is used for the functional forms of the unknown heat flux. A piece-wise linear stretches of variable slope and length is used for each of the stretches of the solution


Central nervous system (CNS) involvement is rare in scleroderma unless there are concomitant abnormalities in renal or lung function or malignant hypertension. A 43-year-old woman with typical scleroderma developed subacute encephalopathy despite absence of the above abnormalities. Cerebral angiography demonstrated a focal arteritis. The patient improved while being given corticosteroids. We believe this case indicates that cerebral arteritis can occur in scleroderma. Stroke Vol 10, No 5, 1979


South Africa is experiencing high rates of unemployment and poverty, particularly among the youth. Entrepreneurship, and the education of it, is often seen as a solution to this socio-economic issue, yet studies show conflicting results on the impact the field of study has on entrepreneurial intent. Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to evaluate and compare the entrepreneurial intention among urban students enrolled for an entrepreneurship qualification versus students who were registered for a non-entrepreneurship related qualification. The article presents quantitative, empirical data collected from 603 students by means of a questionnaire to determine if the field of study has an influence on entrepreneurial intent. The study makes use of descriptive statistics, factor analysis, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin and Bartlett test in order to discover similarities and differences in entrepreneurial intent in students pursuing entrepreneurial and non-entrepreneurial qualifications. The results reveal that students view entrepreneurship as a valuable career path, regardless of field of study. Both groups hold similar strong positive views and beliefs regarding their intention to pursue this career path. Entrepreneurship students, however, display a marginally higher self-observed personal attitude toward becoming entrepreneurs. Results also show that family support is an important influencer in entrepreneurial intent among students.


Can information literacy (IL) help students to become global citizens? Contemporary citizenship encompasses a wide range of political, civil, social and cultural rights and responsibilities. Formal education is becoming more aware of this and of the need to equip students with the skills they need to exercise their rights and responsibilities in their workplace and beyond. This article will briefly reflect on the nature of these concepts and on their place in higher education. Higher education institutions are no longer producing 'graduates'
and are instead expected to produce lifelong learning global citizens. Learning is not complete on graduation. Rather it is hoped and expected that learning is a lifelong practice related not only to a career but also to the wider experiences of life and living.


ABSTRACT Encephalomyelitis occurs in paraneoplastic syndrome and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis through different autoimmune mechanisms. No postvaccinal encephalomyelitis other than acute disseminated encephalomyelitis has been reported in patients with malignancy. A 68-year-old woman was admitted because of a headache followed by a gait disturbance and psychomotor retardation 2 days after she had received an influenza vaccination followed by abulia, limb rigidity and hyperreflexia of both legs, and meningeal irritation. Cerebrospinal fluid studies showed increased intracranial pressure, elevated immunoglobulins G and A, and pleocytosis. Contrasted brain magnetic resonance imaging revealed ventriculomegaly and multiple symmetric leptomeningeal enhancement, without demyelinating changes or cortical ribbon signs. Somatosensory evoked potentials and nerve conduction velocity studies suggested myelitis. Encephalomyelitis was diagnosed on the basis of clinical and laboratory examinations. The etiological survey identified a lung adenocarcinoma. Both the encephalomyelitis and the lung adenocarcinoma simultaneously progressed after the vaccination and then, after targeted therapy for lung cancer, simultaneously subsided. In conclusion, postinfluenza-vaccination paraneoplastic encephalomyelitis may occur in patients with lung adenocarcinoma.


Potassium-ion batteries (PIBs) are promising candidates for scalable energy storage devices due to their low cost, high operating voltage and fast ionic conductivity in electrolyte. However, the research progress of PIBs still faces great challenges due to the lack of suitable hosts for reversible depotassiation/potassiation of large size K+, thus leading to low reversible capacity and poor cycling stability and rate capability. Herein, we have rationally designed a new necklace-like V3S4/carbon composite composed of V3S4 microspheres encapsulated in N-doped carbon nanofibers (V3S4@NCNFs) as an advanced anode for PIBs. Benefiting from the remarkable ion/electronic conductivity, fast electron transport, structural integrity upon cycling, and significant pseudocapacitance contributions, the V3S4@NCNF electrodes exhibit a high reversible capacity of 445 mA h g−1 after 300 cycles at 0.2 A g−1, a prolonged cycling stability of 245 mA h g−1 capacity retention over 1000 cycles at 2 A g−1, and an excellent rate performance of 249/202 mA h g−1 at 5/10 A g−1, which are superior to those of most reported anode materials for PIBs.


This section demonstrates how fundraising can be the result of focusing on a goal as well as determination fueled by the love for a child, sibling, neighbor, or friend.


Abstract
Feature selection is a term given to the problem of selecting important domain
attributes which are most predictive of a given outcome. Unlike other dimensionality
reduction methods, feature selection approaches seek to preserve the semantics of
the original data following reduction. Many strategies have been exploited for this
task in an effort to identify more compact and better quality feature subsets. A
number of group-based feature subset evaluation measures have been developed,
which have the ability to judge the quality of a given feature subset as a whole, rather
than assessing the qualities of individual features. Techniques of stochastic nature
have also emerged, which are inspired by nature phenomena or social behaviour,
allowing good solutions to be discovered without resorting to exhaustive search.
In this thesis, a novel feature subset search algorithm termed ?feature selection
with harmony search? is presented. The proposed approach utilises a recently
developed meta-heuristic: harmony search, that is inspired by the improvisation
process of musical players. The proposed approach is general, and can be employed
in conjunction with many feature subset evaluation measures. The simplicity of
harmony search is exploited to reduce the overall complexity of the search process.
The stochastic nature of the resultant technique also allows the search process to
escape from local optima, while identifying multiple, distinctive candidate solutions.
Additional parameter control schemes are introduced to reduce the effort and impact
of static parameter configuration of HS, which are further combined with iterative
refinement, in order to enforce the discovery of more compact feature subsets.
The flexibility of the proposed approach, and its powerful performance in selecting
multiple, good quality feature subsets lead to a number of further theoretical developments.
These include the generation and reduction of feature subset-based
classifier ensembles; feature selection and adaptive classifier ensemble for dynamic
data; hybrid rule induction on the basis of fuzzy-rough set theory; and antecedent
selection for fuzzy rule interpolation. The resultant techniques are experimentally
evaluated using data sets drawn from real-world problem domains, and systematically
compared with leading methodologies in their respective areas,


1. We have examined the effect of picrotoxin on GABA‐induced currents in dissociated rat hippocampal neurons. In addition, we used the putative picrotoxin receptor antagonist, alpha‐isopropyl‐alpha‐methyl‐gamma‐butyrolactone (alpha IMGBL), and the picrotoxin agonist, beta‐ethyl‐beta‐methyl‐gamma‐butyrolactone (beta EMGBL) to explore the mechanisms of picrotoxin's interaction with the GABA‐Cl‐ receptor‐ionophore complex. 2. The picrotoxin block of GABA current was use dependent, suggesting that the site of picrotoxin block is exposed by the conformational change initiated by GABA binding to the receptor. 3. The alkyl‐substituted butyrolactone antagonist, alpha IMGBL, selectively blocked the use‐dependent mechanism of picrotoxin effect. After the apparent complete inhibition of the use‐dependent effect, there was a residual picrotoxin effect that was independent of the time or concentration of GABA application. This indicates that the picrotoxin block of the GABA current is mediated by two different mechanisms. alpha IMGBL influences just one of these mechanisms. 4. The picrotoxin receptor agonist, beta EMGBL, exclusively blocked the GABA current in a use‐dependent manner. Consistent with a use‐dependent mechanism, the rate of onset of block increased with GABA concentration. Surprisingly, the fraction of GABA current block decreased with increasing GABA concentration. 5. These results suggest that the relationship of picrotoxin and gamma‐butyrolactones with the GABA‐Cl‐ receptor‐ionophore is quite complex. They are consistent with at least two possible models of agonist‐antagonist interactions. Both cases require different antagonist affinities for the various kinetic states of the GABA‐Cl‐ receptor‐ionophore. However, there is no need to require that either picrotoxin or beta EMGBL acts as an open channel blocker.


AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of adults living with ulcerative colitis.

BACKGROUND
Research to date has focused on the impact of inflammatory bowel disease, by analysing the responses of persons with ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease collectively. This article addresses the dearth in literature by exploring the experiences of adults living with ulcerative colitis.

DESIGN
An exploratory qualitative phenomenological design was used.

METHOD
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 10 adults with ulcerative colitis. Verbatim transcripts were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.

RESULTS
Three super-ordinate themes emerged from the analysis: 'living with physical discomfort', 'emotional turmoil in living the experience' and 'social interactions'.

CONCLUSION
The participants described a fundamental change in their lifestyle, as a result of physical discomfort and emotional turmoil. Misconceptions held regarding the causes of their disease, further compounded their negative emotional experience.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE
It is of importance that health care professionals understand and explore the unique perspectives of individuals with ulcerative colitis. These perspectives relate to both physical and psychosocial issues. The needs and concerns of persons with ulcerative colitis can then guide the formulation and development of an individualised care plan.


Exosomes are nano-sized extracellular vesicles (EVs) released from cells that act as mechanisms of cellular communication both between the surrounding cells that make up the cellular mileu and cells at distant locations in the body (1). Not only do they play many different roles in normal physiology, exosomes have been shown to exacerbate the progression of numerous different pathologies (1), including playing dual roles in immune regulation (2). Exosomes activate immunity by way of transferring antigens and promoting activation of antigen presenting cells. They also have been shown to participate in immunosuppression under different circumstances (2). For example, exosomes released from intestinal epithelial cells have the ability to suppress global immune function and are critical players in immune evasion in tumor models. Additionally, exosomes released by mesenchymal stem cells suppress immune function in various animal models of disease and tissue damage when used for therapeutic cellular regeneration (2).


Language rights, language development and the need for a multilingual literate
population in South Africa have been issues debated not only in public, but also among
academics and other stakeholders in education in South Africa. There remains a need
for a population proficient at least in some indigenous languages, but also able to
access languages that facilitate communication beyond the confines of the nation or
region. In the recent past schools and universities have responded to national imperatives
to develop this capacity. They have employed a range of policy and other types of
incentives aimed at increasing access to the indigenous languages of South Africa and
improving the quality of education received in those languages, where sufficiently
large communities exist to support mother-tongue communication and use. This
article provides a different account from those already mentioned, drawing instead
on theoretical developments in linguistics to illustrate a number of points concerning
the relationship between theory, approaches and contexts in language development
in South Africa. The article addresses the educational imperatives in relation to
theoretical, socio-geographic, and socio-economic contingencies that affect their
sustainability. Journal for Language Teaching vol Vol. 41 (2) 2007: pp.1-16


Through detection by low gravitational wave space interferometers, the capture of stars by supermassive black holes will constitute a giant step forward in the understanding of gravitation in strong field. The impact of the perturbations on the motion of the star is computed via the tail, the back-scattered part of the perturbations, or via a radiative Green function. In the former approach, the self-force acts upon the background geodesic, while in the latter, the geodesic is conceived in the total (background plus perturbations) field. Regularisations (mode-sum and Riemann-Hurwitz $\zeta$ function) intervene to cancel divergencies coming from the infinitesimal size of the particle. The non-adiabatic trajectories require the most sophisticated techniques for studying the evolution of the motion, like the self-consistent approach.


Overexpression of the ErbB2/HER2 receptor tyrosine kinase occurs in up to 20% of human breast cancers and correlates with aggressive disease. Several efficacious targeted therapies, including antibodies and kinase inhibitors, have been developed but the occurring of resistance to these agents is often observed. New therapeutic agents targeting the endocytic recycling and intracellular trafficking of membrane in tumor cells overexpressing ErbB2 are actually in clinical development. Nevertheless the mechanisms underlying ErbB2 downregulation are still obscure. We have previously demonstrated that the overexpression of the p130Cas adaptor protein in ErbB2 positive breast cancer, promotes tumor aggressiveness and progression. Here we demonstrate that lowering p130Cas expression in breast cancer cells is sufficient to induce ErbB2 degradation by autophagy. Conversely, p130Cas overexpression protects ErbB2 from degradation by autophagy. Furthermore, this autophagy-dependent preferential degradation of ErbB2 in absence of p130Cas is due to an increased ErbB2 ubiquitination. Indeed, the overexpression of p130Cas impairs ErbB2 ubiquitination by inhibiting the binding of Cbl and CHIP E3 ligases to ErbB2. Finally, our results indicate that p130Cas-dependent ErbB2 protection from degradation by autophagy may alter the sensitivity to the humanized monoclonal antibody trastuzumab. Consistently, in human ErbB2 positive breast cancers that develop resistance to trastuzumab, p130Cas expression is significantly increased suggesting that elevated levels of p130Cas can be involved in trastuzumab resistance.


Work in the 21st century is vastly different from what it was as recently as 15 years ago, work is technological and multicultural, teams dominate the workplace and computers are ubiquitous (Landy & Conte, 2004). Internationally, skills shortages are being reported across both first world and developing economies (Woodridge, 2006). To combat this, a wide range of programs have been set up to cater for the needs of students interested in a career in design and engineering. These range from programs for individual students to international competitions with multimillion dollar budgets. The programs involve four distinct groups; schools, universities, professional bodies and industry. Due to the range of expectations among stakeholders, providing a measure of success is difficult. A model entitled 'Pathways of engagement' has been developed which proposes six distinct pathways of engagement between these groups. From this model, several hypotheses have been proposed from which analysis of the interaction of these groups can be undertaken and the effect of these interactions on the success of the programs noted. Comparison of this model with the work undertaken by the Great Engineering Challenge as well as a selection of existing and past programs is made.


Digital image analysis have been applied to determine and follow the body measurement, live weights, and animal growth. The objectives on this study were to compare linear body measurement (BMs) method (manually and digital image analysis) and to compare size and body dimension of Friesian Holstein (FH) and Limousin cows. In this study, the BMs of FH and Limousin cows was determined using digital image analysis (IA). Linear measurement of primary morphometrics, part of Columna vertebralis, and extrimity length of cows was first determined manually, by direct measurement. Then the digital images of cows were taken and the results obtained through the calculations were recorded into the computer and analized by Corel draw. Result showed that the BMs with both methods measurement was not significant different and IA method had lower coefficient variation (CV) than manual, which indicates the IA method can be used for morphometric study. For the body dimension, FH had larger frame size and lower body weight than Limousin. The different of breed caused differences in morphometric performances. FH had longer thoraxoc vertebrae, wither height, space between ischium, and space coxae to ischium than Limousin. Limousin had longer cervicalis vertebrae, sacral vertebrae, and scapulla.


Mice with high numbers of the Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase-1 G93A transgene (SOD1G93AG1H) have become the most commonly used animal model to study amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This study investigated changes in size, numbers, and cell stress/death markers of motor neuron numbers in G1H mice that re-express the common p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR). SOD1G93AG1H mice and age-matched C57BL/6J controls at 60, 80, 100, 120 days and end stage/140 days were analyzed for p75NTR, choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3), and cleaved caspase-3. In addition, motor neuron counts and soma sizes were recorded. Motor neurons re-expressing p75NTR in SOD1G93AG1H mice were first observed at 80 days, and this continued to 140 days, peaking at 100–120 days at ∼5%. The soma area of motor neurons re-expressing p75NTR was always 600–800 µm2, suggesting that these are alpha motor neurons, which was confirmed after examination of somas post injection of a retrogradely transported antibody to p75NTR in 110-day-old SOD1G93AG1H mice. In motor neurons not re-expressing p75NTR, the frequency of small soma 200–400 µm2 motor neurons increased, whereas the larger 600–900 µm2 motor neurons decreased with progression, indicating that large motor neurons were dying off and shrinking in the process. There was minimal coexpression of p75NTR with ATF3, a marker for cell stress, but 85% coexpressed the apoptotic marker cleaved caspase-3. These findings indicate that in SOD1G93AG1H mice, p75NTR re-expression is detectable from 80 days in a small population of large motor neurons that represent 5% of the total motor neurons. Furthermore, p75NTR re-expression occurs in larger alpha motor neurons that express cleaved caspsase-3 and are destined to die. J. Comp. Neurol. 523:1664–1682, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Coastal dolphins are increasingly exposed to a variety of human activities through the proliferation of coastal development. Threats to dolphins in near-shore environments include the loss of suitable habitat, increasing vessel traffic and tourism, entanglement in fishing gear or other marine debris, noise pollution, environmental contaminants and disease. Baseline data and long-term monitoring are needed to inform effective management initiatives to conserve dolphin populations. This study focused on the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) population that inhabits the waters around the rapidly developing city of Bunbury, Western Australia. This study investigated the spatial and temporal variability in population abundance, social dynamics, calving seasonality, home range size and habitat use of dolphins in Bunbury waters over a three-year study period. From 2007-2010, year-round boat-based, photo-identification surveys followed pre-determined transect lines within a 120 km2 study area (212 transect lines total; N=578 dolphin group encounters) to achieve intensive and consistent sampling effort. Abundance and demographic parameters were estimated using the capture-recapture Robust Design model. The model with Markovian temporary emigration was favoured over other varying parameters (survival, capture probability and emigration time). Abundance estimates varied from 65 individuals (± SE 8.53; 95% CI: 54- 90) in winter 2007 to 139 individuals (±SE 3.41; 95% CI: 134-148) in autumn 2009. The apparent adult survival estimate was 0.985 (±SE 0.006; 95% CI: 0.964- 0.994). Calving peaked in late February to early March. Associations between adult females showed an annual seasonal cyclic pattern that peaked during the breeding and calving season. Home range estimates were important in identifying critical habitat areas. Home range areas for individual dolphins were estimated using the Minimum Convex Polygon method and adult females occupied statistically different sized areas (ANOVA: P ≤0.0001). Females in sheltered inner waters (Leschenault Estuary and Koombana Bay) had smaller home ranges (7.4-24.6km2; N=9) than those in exposed coastal areas (home ranges: 32.1-125.2km2; N=9). Seasonal differences in ranging patterns were analysed using the kernel density hotspot method. During the summer and autumn calving season, there was a hotspot for adult females on the lee-side of an artificial groyne, adjacent to the Estuary and Bay. Habitat use was explored further through maximum entropy modelling. Reef habitat had the strongest influence over dolphin presence whilst distance from coast was a weak predictor. Managers can now focus on protecting this critical habitat. This project has demonstrated the benefits of intensive multi-year research on a population by detecting the seasonal differences in abundance, behaviour and habitat use – information critical to managing human impacts on this species. Future research should combine our spatial understanding of this dolphin population and human use of the area to conduct a risk assessment and rank the threats to these dolphins.


ABSTRACT Nevirapine is one of the most extensively prescribed antiretrovirals worldwide. The present analyses used data and specimens from two prior studies to characterize and compare plasma nevirapine phase I metabolite profiles following a single 200-mg oral dose of nevirapine in 10 HIV-negative African Americans and a steady-state 200-mg twice-daily dose in 10 HIV-infected Cambodians. Nevirapine was assayed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The 2-, 3-, 8- and 12-hydroxy and 4-carboxy metabolites of nevirapine were assayed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). Pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated by noncompartmental analysis. The metabolic index for each metabolite was defined as the ratio of the metabolite area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) to the nevirapine AUC. Every metabolite concentration was much less than the corresponding nevirapine concentration. The predominant metabolite after single dose and at steady state was 12-hydroxynevirapine. From single dose to steady state, the metabolic index increased for 3-hydroxynevirapine (P < 0.01) but decreased for 2-hydroxynevirapine (P < 0.001). The 3-hydroxynevirapine metabolic index was correlated with nevirapine apparent clearance (P < 0.001). These findings are consistent with induction of CYP2B6 (3-hydroxy metabolite) and a possible inhibition of CYP3A (2-hydroxy metabolite), although these are preliminary data. There were no such changes in metabolic indexes for 12-hydroxynevirapine or 4-carboxynevirapine. Two subjects with the CYP2B6 *6*6 genetic polymorphism had metabolic indexes in the same range as other subjects. These results suggest that nevirapine metabolite profiles change over time under the influence of enzyme induction, enzyme inhibition, and host genetics. Further work is warranted to elucidate nevirapine biotransformation pathways and implications for drug efficacy and toxicity.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Iron-induced cardiac disease remains the main cause of death in patients with thalassemia major, despite chelation therapy with deferoxamine. Deferiprone is an iron chelator that has the potential to be more effective than deferoxamine in removing intracellular iron from the heart. However, to date, no study has been designed to examine the frequency of cardiac complications and survival as the primary outcomes of a comparative study between these two chelators. This retrospective study assessed the survival and the occurrence of cardiac disease in all patients with thalassemia major treated for at least 4 years with deferiprone or deferoxamine at a single center. DESIGN AND METHODS: The patients were, on average, 18.4 years old at the start of the review period and were followed up, on average, for 6 years. At baseline there was no significant difference in the percentage of patients with cardiac disease in the two therapy groups. RESULTS:At the end of the study, cardiac dysfunction, expressed as worsening of pre-existing cardiac abnormality or development of new cardiac disease, was diagnosed in 2 (4%) of the 54 deferiprone-treated patients and in 15 (20%) of the 75 deferoxamine-treated patients, from the first to the last measurement (p = 0.007). The Kaplan Meier analysis of cardiac disease-free survival over the 5-year period was significantly more favorable in the deferiprone group (p = 0.003). INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS: None of the patients treated with deferiprone died, while 3 of the patients treated with deferoxamine died because of irreversible worsening of their cardiac condition during the study period. Findings from this study suggest that long-term therapy with deferiprone provides a greater cardio-protective effect against the toxicity of iron overload than does subcutaneous deferoxamine. Formal prospective studies are warranted to confirm this effect.


Paper is characterized by scientific novelty as it involves a very scarce research problem in Lithuanian's energy sector, assessing the impact of renewable energy resources on the energy economy. Renewable energy sources have a multiplier effect in spurring the economy and the development of not only the energy sector but also all the supporting activities related to such industry. The impact of the development of renewable energy is one of the factors that develop the quality of technology innovation development. This study includes the impact of renewable energy on the energy economy, using multiple linear regression models. The results of the study have shown that renewable energy resources: wind, sun, water, geothermal and biomass can not always be used together because they compete with each other and therefore reduce the efficiency of the energy economy. In this context, three combinations of renewable energy resources have been developed, which have been adapted to assess the impact of the energy economy on energy productivity and energy intensity. It has been found that the combination of resources of the second model (M2) RE is significant for the efficiency of the energy economy.Keywords: Renewable energy resources; Energy economy; Impact of efficiency


The study aimed to investigate the relationship between creativity and schizotypy, whilst assessing the best measure of creativity in relation to schizotypy. Further, the relationship between academic achievement and both creativity and schizotypy will be explored.
The Biographical Inventory of Creative Behaviours (Batey, 2007), The IPIP scales of creativity and imagination (Goldberg, 1992; 1999), and DT tests measured creativity and The Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences (O-LIFE – Short Form) (Mason et al, 2005) measured schizotypy. Academic achievement was measured in terms of UCAS points.
Eighty participants (M = 34, F = 46) of all ages completed the online questionnaire. Pearson's correlations, Fisher's r transformation to z and step-wise multiple regressions were employed when assessing both creativity-schizotypy and academic achievement relationships.
DT did not correlate with schizotypy whereas self-reported measures positively correlated with schizotypy (p <.001). Academic achievement did not significantly correlate with schizotypy, BICB, or DT, however correlated with IPIP Creativity. In conclusion, self-reported measures are good tests of creativity in relation to schizotypy and should be included in future research, as should creative styles.


The subject of computer Go is an active eld under AI and has achieved much attention in research. The current state of the art computer Go im-plementations uses a game tree search approach rather than advanced heuristics. This thesis aims to bridge these two approaches and combineMonte Carlo Tree Search with heuristics to deduce if any general results can be found. The results of the thesis indicate that the performance of a combined MCTS-heuristic approach correlates strongly with performance of the heuristic. Furthermore, MCTS can be used with any heuristic to improve its performance.1


The resonance frequencies of whispering gallery mode resonator (WGMR) are a↵ected by various parameters such as temperature, pressure or an interaction of a dielectric material with the evanescent of the WGMs. Here, we investigate a frequency detuning method based on moving a dielectric substrate towards the WGMR. As long as the dielectric substrate has not touched the resonator, the detuning will undergo an exponential change as the distance decreases. This technique can be used for dielectric material analysis and sensing due to the shifts of the whispering gallery modes. Furthermore, if the dielectric substrate applies a pressure on the WGMR, it can change the mode frequency in the range of few GHz. We characterize this tuning method and its potential use as a continuous frequency tuning mechanism for nonlinear optical processes in the WGMR.


Background Patients' own medicines (POMs) are medicines that patients have obtained in the community setting and bring to the hospital when admitted. Literature suggests that using POMs has benefits to the patient and the hospital that include improving the accuracy of admission prescriptions and continuity of care as well as reducing medicine costs. Nonetheless the quality and the practice of using POMs have been poorly investigated. Purpose To evaluate the quantity and quality of POMs to assess the disadvantages and benefits of using them. Materials and methods Clinical pharmacists in 4 wards comprised of 3 acute care wards and 1 geriatric ward at 3 different hospitals in Denmark evaluated POMs for quantity and quality. The POMs were evaluated on their appearance, container, labelling, identification, storage conditions and expiry date. POMs were defined suitable for use if the medicine was intact, labelled with patient ID, in original container, had visibly not exceeded the expiry date, appeared clean and the contents could be verified. Current policies in Zealand Region allow POMs to be used if they meet the above criteria and if no suitable substitute (generic or equivalent) is stocked in the hospital. Results During March 2010 to July 2011 529 patients were assessed by the clinical pharmacist. According to medicines histories the patients took 4600 medicines (including over the counter medicines and supplements) averaging 8.7 per patient. A total of 60% patients (315) brought POMs, equivalent to 44% (2035) of the medicines from the medicine history to the hospital. The majority of the POMs were suitable for use according to the criteria set, although only a small percentage were actually used under the criteria that no suitable substitute was available. Conclusions More than half of patients bring their own medicine to the hospital and the majority of POMs are suitable for use. Only a small proportion are actually used since substitution is often possible.


This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of inadequate empiric antimicrobial therapy (IEAT) on mortality of patients with Escherichia coli or Klebsiella species bacteremia. Patients with E coli or Klebsiella species bacteremia were retrospectively analyzed to determine the effect of IEAT on 14-day mortality. IEAT of bacteremia was defined as administration of an antimicrobial agent to which the microorganism responsible for the bacteremia was resistant. IEAT was significantly associated with central venous catheter placement, Klebsiella species, and antimicrobial resistance among the 135 patients with E coli or Klebsiella species bacteremia (110 adequate, 25 inadequate). IEAT significantly increased 14-day mortality (32% vs 19%; P = .019). The increased 14-day mortality associated with IEAT was consistent among patients infected with E coli (33% vs 11%) or Klebsiella species (31% vs 15%). Independent risk factors for 14-day mortality in the multivariate analysis included Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) score (odds ratio [OR] 1.16; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.07-1.27), IEAT (OR 9.4; 95% CI = 1.36-65.14), and initial imipenem therapy (OR 20.66; 95% CI = 1.48-287.74). Of the 6 patients receiving empiric imipenem/cilastatin, 3 had APACHE II scores ≥ 30 (all 3 of these patients died). The 14-day mortality rate was similar for patients who received IEAT, regardless of whether their therapy was changed (32%) or not (33%). Based on these results and previous studies, greater efforts should be made to identify patients at risk for resistant pathogens before initiating antimicrobial therapy.


BACKGROUND: The univariate study of clinical, electrophysiological, or biochemical variables has been shown to predict the outcome in postanoxic coma in about 50% of patients for each type of variable. Previous studies did not, however, consider the prognostic accuracy of a multivariate approach. METHODS: Sixty patients in coma for more than six hours after cardiac arrest were prospectively examined by means of repeated clinical examinations (including Glasgow coma score (GCS)), EEG, and medianus nerve somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs). In 16 patients, the early concentrations of serum neuron specific enolase and ionised calcium were also measured. RESULTS: Within the first year after cardiac arrest, 20% of patients made a good neurological recovery; 80% remained in a vegetative state or died. Clinical examination correctly predicted outcome in 58% of patients, SEP in 59%, and EEG in 41%. The combination of clinical examination, SEP, and EEG raised the percentage of correct predictions to 82%, without false pessimistic predictions. Concentrations of serum neuron specific enolase and ionised calcium were of no additional prognostic help. Multivariate regression analysis identified the association of GCS < 8 at 48 hours with abnormal or absent early cortical SEPs as highly predictive of a bad outcome (risk = 97%, 95% confidence interval = 86-99%). CONCLUSION: The combination of GCS at 48 hours, SEP, and if these are non-conclusive, EEG, permits a more reliable prediction of outcome in postanoxic coma than clinical examination alone.


The scarcity of reliable and controlled observations of water and sediment fluxes near the shore is one of the main reasons for the many remaining challenges in the field of morphodynamics. In this paper we shall present three largescale data sets from the CIEM flume of the Maritime Engineering Laboratory (LIM/UPC) in Barcelona, looking for the distinctive behaviour of such fluxes between erosive and accretive conditions. Two different erosive conditions are presented, which report an expected different behaviour of the bar and measured physical parameters (wave height, velocity and suspended sediment cocentration). These erosive time series also report an unexpected similitude on the profile comparisson between both data sets from the bar until the shoreline. The acquired data under accretive conditions present the important control played by the initial bar, controlling the hydrodynamics of the surf and swash zones.


Glucocorticoids (GCs) have essential roles in the regulation of development, integrated metabolism, and immune and neurological responses, and act primarily via the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). In most cells, GC treatment results in down-regulation of GR mRNA and protein levels via negative feedback mechanisms. However, in GC-treated thymocytes, GR protein levels are maintained at a high level, increasing sensitivity of thymocytes to GCs, resulting in apoptosis termed glucocorticoid-induced cell death (GICD). CD4(+)CD8(+) double-positive thymocytes and thymic natural killer T cells in particular are highly sensitive to GICD. Although GICD is exploited via the use of synthetic GC analogues in the treatment of hematopoietic malignancies, the intracellular molecular pathway of GICD is not well understood. To explore GICD in thymocytes, the authors performed whole genome expression microarray analysis in mouse GR exon 2 null vs wild-type thymus RNA 3 hours after dexamethasone treatment. Identified and validated direct GR targets included P21 and Bim, in addition to an important transcriptional regulator Nfil3, which previously has been associated with GICD and is essential for natural killer cell development in vivo. Immunostaining of NFIL3 in whole thymus localized NFIL3 primarily to the medullary region, and double labeling colocalized NFIL3 to apoptotic cells. In silico analysis revealed a putative GC response element 5 kb upstream of the Nfil3 promoter that is strongly conserved in the rat genome and was confirmed to bind GR by chromatin immunoprecipitation. The knockdown of Nfil3 mRNA levels to 20% of normal using specific small interfering RNAs abrogated GICD, indicating that NFIL3 is required for normal GICD in CTLL-2 T cells.


This manual addresses whether schools and classroom spaces enhance or detract from the learning process and provides school assessment guidelines for communities anticipating the expansion of existing schools or the construction of new ones. It is a collection of survey and discussion tools that encourage stakeholders to discover and reflect upon the physical features of school buildings. The manual identifies what works and what does not work in K-12 school buildings. Each assessment tool presented is for a particular purpose. Building surveys focus on the assessment of existing school facilities, while photo questionnaires present alternative spatial arrangements for group discussions. Small group discussions are suggested as an effective method for creating a productive dialogue allowing people to consider many different viewpoints. (Contains 17 references.) (GR) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.


ABSTRACT Progesterone (P4) and the synthetic glucocorticoid dexamethasone (Dex) inhibit luminal epithelial (LE) proliferation in neonatal mouse uteri. This study determined the roles of progesterone receptor and estrogen receptor 1 (PR and ESR1, respectively) in P4- and Dex-induced inhibition of LE proliferation using PR knockout (PRKO) and Esr1 knockout (Esr1KO) mice. Wild-type (WT), heterozygous, and homozygous PRKO female pups were injected with vehicle, P4 (40 μg/g body weight), or Dex (4 or 40 μg/g body weight) on Postnatal Day 5, then 24 h later immunostained for markers of cell proliferation. In WT and heterozygous mice, P4 sharply reduced LE proliferation, and Dex produced dose-responsive decreases equaling those of P4 at the higher dose. Critically, although both doses of Dex similarly decreased proliferation compared to vehicle-treated PRKOs, treatment of PRKO pups with the high Dex dose (40 μg/g) did not inhibit LE as much as treatments of WT mice with this Dex dose or with P4. Stromal proliferation was stimulated by P4 in WT but not PRKO mice, and Dex did not alter stromal proliferation. Uteri of all genotypes strongly expressed glucocorticoid receptor (GR), demonstrating that impaired Dex effects in PRKOs did not reflect GR deficiency. Furthermore, inhibition of LE proliferation by Dex (40 μg/g body weight) in Esr1KO mice was normal, so this process does not involve ESR1. In summary, inhibitory Dex effects on LE proliferation occur partially through non-PR-mediated mechanisms, presumably GR, as indicated by Dex inhibition of LE proliferation in PRKOs. However, maximal inhibitory Dex effects on uterine LE proliferation are not seen in PRKO mice with even high Dex, indicating that maximal Dex effects in WT mice also involve PR.


In this paper we build on previous theoretical work and describe the implementation and testing of a virus throttle - a program, based on a new approach, that is able to substantially reduce the spread of and hence damage caused by mobile code such as worms and viruses. Our approach is different from current, signature-based anti-virus paradigms in that it identifies potential viruses based on their network behaviour and, instead of preventing such programs from entering a system, seeks to prevent them from leaving. The results presented here show that such an approach is effective in stopping the spread of a real worm, W32/Nimda-D, in under a second, as well as several different configurations of a test worm.