The alpha is one of the most used terms in finance. Yet, the alpha is mystical since it has no theory. It is, for example, in contradiction to the standard CAPM with homogenous beliefs. The purpose of this paper is to show that the alpha naturally arises in a financial market equilibrium when the CAPM is extended to heterogenous beliefs. We show that the hunt for alpha-opportunities is a zero-sum game and that alpha-opportunities erode with the assets under management. Moreover, it is shown that a positive alpha is not necessarily a good criterion for the choice between active and passive investment. Finally, we argue that the standard CAPM with homogenous beliefs can be seen as the long run outcome of our model when investors' expectations are linked to the trading success.


We present a system which is able to track objects under partial and total occlusion. The occlusion and movement reasoning uses abstract object descriptions for inference and is based on an extendable knowledge-base. The system manages various hypotheses about where objects could be and where they could reappear. It is able to deal with occlusion, noise and low-level vision failure. Our system uses a top-down approach, and is an initial step to integrate topdown and bottom-up processing of visual information.


Tryptase was purified 13,000-fold to apparent homogeneity from rat skin. The two-step procedure involved ammonium sulfate fractionation of the initial extract followed by combined sequential affinity chromatography on agarose-glycyl-glycyl-p-aminobenzamidine and concanavalin A-agarose. The purified enzyme had a specific activity toward N-benzoylarginine ethyl ester (BzArgOEt) of 170 mumol/min mg-1 and was obtained in a yield of 28% as determined by the specific substrate, H-D-Ile-Pro-Arg-p-nitroanilide. Rat skin tryptase was thermal labile, losing 50% of its activity when preincubated for 30 min at 30 degrees C. The presence of NaCl (1 M) improved thermal stability and was necessary for long-term storage. Heparin did not stabilize the enzyme against thermal denaturation, and heparin-agarose failed to bind the enzyme. Rat skin tryptase was inhibited by diisopropylphosphofluoridate, antipain, leupeptin, and aprotinin but not by alpha 1-antitrypsin, ovomucoid, or soybean or lima bean trypsin inhibitors. Substrate specificity studies using a series of tri- and tetrapeptidyl-p-nitroanilide and peptidyl-7-amino-4-methylcoumarin substrates demonstrated the existence of an extended substrate binding site. Rat skin tryptase hydrolyzed [Arg8]vasopressin, neurotensin, and the oxidized B-chain of insulin at the -Arg8-Gly9-NH2, -Arg8-Arg9-, and -Arg22-Gly23-bonds, respectively. No general proteinase activity was observed toward casein, hemoglobin, or azocoll. Rat skin tryptase had a Mr of 145,000 by gel filtration. The subunit Mr was either 34,000 or 30,000 depending on the electrophoretic technique used. Treatment of the enzyme with peptide N-glycosidase F (N-glycanase) decreased the subunit Mr by 4000. The enzyme exhibited multiple isoelectric forms (pI's of 4.5-4.9). Rat skin tryptase was found to be related statistically to other tryptases on the basis of amino acid composition. The N-terminal amino acid sequence was Ile1-Val2-Gly3-Gly4-Gln5-Glu6-Ala7-+ ++Ser8-Gly9-Asn10-Lys11-Trp12-Pro13- Trp14- Gln15-Val16-Ser17-Leu18-Arg19-Val20- --21-Asp-22Thr23-Tyr24-Typ25-, with a putative glycosylation site at residue 21. This sequence was 72-80% homologous with the N-terminus of other tryptases but only 40% homologous with that of bovine trypsin.


Suspicion has been raised that high aspect ratio nanoparticles or nanofibers might possess asbestos-like pathogenicity. The pleural space is a specific target for disease in individuals exposed to asbestos and by implication of nanofibers. Pleural effects of fibers depends on fiber length, but the key threshold length beyond which adverse effects occur has never been identified till now because all asbestos and vitreous fiber samples are heterogeneously distributed in their length. Nanotechnology advantageously allows for highly defined length distribution of synthetically engineered fibers that enable for in-depth investigation of this threshold length. We utilized the ability to prepare silver nanofibers of five defined length classes to demonstrate a threshold fiber length for acute pleural inflammation. Nickel nanofibers and carbon nanotubes were then used to strengthen the relationship between fiber length and pleural inflammation. A method of intrapleural injection of nanofibers in female C57Bl/6 strain mice was used to deliver the fiber dose, and we then assessed the acute pleural inflammatory response. Chest wall sections were examined by light and scanning electron microscopy to identify areas of lesion; furthermore, cell-nanowires interaction on the mesothelial surface of the parietal pleura in vivo was investigated. Our results showed a clear threshold effect, demonstrating that fibers beyond 4 µm in length are pathogenic to the pleura. The identification of the threshold length for nanofiber-induced pathogenicity in the pleura has important implications for understanding the structure-toxicity relationship for asbestos-induced mesothelioma and consequent risk assessment with the aim to contribute to the engineering of synthetic nanofibers by the adoption of a benign-by-design approach.


AbstracL Congestion in the Internet is a major cause of network performance degradation. The Generalized Window Advertising (GWA) scheme proposed in this paper is a new approach for enhancing the congestion control properties of TCP. GWA requires only minor modifications to the existing protocol stack and is completely backward compatible, allowing GWA-hosts to interact with non-GWA hosts without modifications. GWA exploits the notion of end-host-network cooperation, with the congestion level notified from the network to end hosts. It is based on solid control theory results that guarantee performance and stable network operation. GWA is able to avoid window oscillations and the related fluctuations in offered load and network performance. This makes it more robust to sustained network overload due to a large number of connections competing for the same bottleneck, a situation where traditional TCP implementations fail to provide satisfactory performance. GWA-TCP is compared with traditional TCP, TCP with RED and also ECN using the ns-2 simulator. Results show that in most cases GWA-TCP outperforms the traditional schemes. In particular, when compared with ECN, it provides smoother network operation and increased fairness.


Data grids are becoming a popular infrastructure for distributed, data intensive scientific application. Data access optimization is one of the key features of such systems, as the transfer and access to the huge amounts of data are often the bottleneck of the data intensive tasks. Concept of replication, creation of multiple copies of a data source across multiple grid nodes, was adopted by grid community to increase data availability. In this paper, we present the ongoing work on the grid replica optimization framework that addresses both short-term and long-term replica optimization problems. We describe high level architecture of the optimization framework and discuss the promising results achieved by prototype implementation of several system components


Summary Mutant Frigid A (fgdA) of Dictyostelium discoideum is defective in a functional Ga2 subunit of a G protein and is characterized by a complete blockade of the cyclic AMP-mediated sensory transduction steps, including cyclic AMP relay, chemotaxis and the cyclic GMP response. Folic acid-mediated transmembrane signal transduction was investigated in this mutant; the results show that: (1) cell surface folic acid receptors are present in fgdA mutants. (2) Folic acid induces intracellular responses, including activation of guanylate cyclase and chemotaxis. (3) The inhibitory effect of GTP on folic acid binding to membranes is present. (4) GTPyS binding and highaffinity GTPase are stimulated by folic acid. These data strongly suggest that folic acid receptors are coupled to guanylate cyclase and chemotaxis via a Ga protein that is different from Ga2. The results imply that surface receptors for cyclic AMP and folic acid are coupled to different G proteins.


The drop in Ukraine's GDP by nearly 18% in the first three months of 2015 (versus the corresponding
period in 2014) has confirmed the decline of the country's economy. Over the last
14 months, the Ukrainian currency was subject to an almost threefold devaluation against
the US dollar, and in April 2015 the inflation rate was 61% (year-on-year), which exacerbated
the impoverishment of the general public and weakened domestic demand. The main reason
behind the crisis has been the destruction of heavy industry and infrastructure in the war-torn
Donbas region, over which Kyiv no longer has control, as well as a sharp decline in foreign trade
(by 24% in 2014 and by 34% in the first quarter of 2015), recorded primarily in trading volume
with Ukraine's major trade partner, i.e. Russia (a drop of 43%). The conflict has also had
a negative impact on the production figures for the two key sectors of the Ukrainian economy:
agriculture and metallurgy, which account for approximately 50% of Ukrainian exports.
The government's response to the crisis has primarily been a reduction in the costs of financing the
Donbas and an increase in the financial burden placed on the citizens and companies of Ukraine.
No radical reforms which would encompass the entire system, including anti-corruption reforms,
have been carried out to stop the embezzlement of state funds and to facilitate business activity.
The reasons for not initiating reforms have included the lack of will to launch them, Ukraine's
traditionally slow pace of bureaucratic action and growing dissonance among the parties making
up the parliamentary coalition. The few positive changes, including marketisation of energy
prices and sustaining budgetary discipline (in the first quarter of 2015, budgetary revenues grew
by 25%, though partly as a result of currency devaluation), are being carried out under pressure
from the International Monetary Fund, which is making the payment of further loan instalments
to the tune of US$ 17.5 billion conditional upon reforms. Despite assistance granted by Western
institutional donors and by individual states, the risk of Ukraine going bankrupt remains real. The
issue of restructuring foreign debt worth US$ 15 billion has not been resolved, as foreign creditors
who hold Ukrainian bonds have not consented to any partial cancellation of the debt. Whether
Ukraine's public finances can be stabilised will depend mainly on the situation in the east of the
country and on the possible renewal of military action. It seems that the only way to rescue Ukraine's
public finances from deteriorating further is to continue to 'freeze' the conflict, to gradually
implement wide-ranging reforms and to reach a consensus in negotiations with lenders.


The military raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that resulted in the killing of Osama bin Laden was preceded by a fake childhood immunization campaign meant to collect DNA samples for confirming the bin Laden family's presence. This use of a public health activity under false pretences undermines the validity and effectiveness of international public health endeavours, and may put workers in danger. It is time for agencies and governments to declare that health and development programs will no longer be used as cover for violent or subversive adventures. In May of 2011, Osama bin Laden was shot dead by US forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan. It was later reported that bin Laden family's presence was likely confirmed via the comparison of DNA samples from bin Laden's dead sister to samples taken from children in the Abbottabad neighbourhood. They were obtained via a childhood Hepatitis-B immunization program that was devised and implemented by US Intelligence for the sole purpose of locating bin Laden [1]. While acknowledging that the Hepatitis-B campaign was implemented for reasons unrelated to public health, the CIA insists that the actual injections were real and can therefore be considered a valid public health intervention [2]. But reports suggest that the duplicitous nature of the vaccine's delivery did not allow for provision of the follow-up dosages required for proper conferral of immunization against Hep-B [3]. This means that the inoculated children do not have full immunity; their health has therefore been compromised. Concern has been voiced in the international public health community about the damage that this operation has done to the effectiveness of real public health campaigns, current and future. Two themes predominate: fear of greater distrust of public health campaigns, leading to reduced treatment compliance and vaccination coverage, and fear of backlash, perhaps violent, against individual health care workers. Public health campaigns, particularly vaccination programs, already suffer from public distrust. This is particularly true in Pakistan, where a 2007 polio vaccination program famously failed to immunize 160,000 children due to rumours that the campaign was "a conspiracy of the Jews and Christians to stunt the population growth of Muslims" [4] or an "American conspiracy" to cause widespread sexual impotence [5]. Similar stories arise from other parts of the developing world, such as Nigeria, where accusations of a population control agenda were also laid against the polio vaccine [6]. In such areas, the success of an immunization campaign depends strongly on the cooperation of local religious and community leaders. With public admission now that at least one such campaign was in fact a CIA operation, the chances of such future cooperation in that region –and others-are greatly reduced. In wealthier countries, of course, the anti-vaccination movement is similarly driven by conspiratorial sentiments, usually with pharmaceutical companies, rather than government agencies, typically painted as the villains. Distrust of vaccination campaigns endangers the workers. The 2007 scare in Pakistan involved cases of violence against the clinicians who gave the inoculations [7], an issue that is growing worldwide. By undermining the legitimacy of health programs, the Abbottabad raid has increased the likelihood of violence against all caregivers. American international health and development efforts have long been accused of being fronts for American intelligence. According to William Blum, a few decades ago USAID maintained "a close working relationship with the CIA, and Agency officers often operated abroad under USAID cover" [8]. And well before the Abbottabad raid, the media reported The Killing of bin Laden and the Undermining of Public Health 2 of 3 on Pakistan's suspicion that USAID efforts in that country were thin cover for CIA activities [9]. Health and development workers are thus unknowingly tainted with a history of official duplicity. Steps must be taken immediately to assuage the damage to public health that the Abbottabad raid and similar operations have wrought upon workers' ability to protect both themselves and the populations in need. While most international health workers have become experienced in helping to diffuse anti-vaccination propaganda, now is the time for more official and systematic steps to be taken. There are rumours that WHO and UNICEF are devising special identification procedures for vaccination workers, to make it harder for them to be infiltrated by intelligence agents [7].While this is unlikely to deter infiltrations that have official state sanction, it is at least a first step in restoring public confidence. What is truly needed is for key agencies to issue individual and joint public statements, first to condemn the use of public health as cover for an act of military violence, and second to make assurances that despite whatever activities might have been permitted in the past, in future all public health activities and interventions will be free from any type of political or intelligence-related duplicity.


The effect of different combinations of response feedback on the performance of active control system on nonlinear frames has been studied in this paper. To this end different feedback combinations including displacement, velocity, acceleration and full response feedback have been utilized in controlling the response of an eight story bilinear hysteretic frame which has been subjected to a white noise excitation and controlled by eight actuators which could fully control the frame. For active control of nonlinear frame Newmark nonlinear instantaneous optimal control algorithm has been used which a diagonal matrix has been selected for weighting matrices in performance index. For optimal design of active control system while the objective has been to reduce the maximum drift to below the yielding level, Distributed Genetic Algorithm (DGA) has been used to determine the proper set of weighting matrices. The criteria to assess the effect of each combination of response feedback have been the minimum required control force to reduce the maximum drift to below the yielding drift. The results of numerical simulation show that the performance of active control system is dependent on the type of response feedback where the velocity feedback is more effective in designing optimal control system in comparison with displacement and acceleration feedback. Also using full feedback of response in controller design leads to minimum control force amongst other combinations. Also the distributed genetic algorithm shows acceptable convergence speed in solving the optimization problem of designing active control systems. Keywords—Active control, Distributed genetic algorithms, Response feedback, Weighting matrices.


OBJECTIVE
This study examined the relation of cerebral tissue reductions associated with VLBW to patterns of growth in core academic domains.

METHOD
Children born <750 g, 750 to 1,499 g, or >2,500 g completed measures of calculation, mathematical problem solving, and word decoding at time points spanning middle childhood and adolescence. K. A. Espy, H. Fang, D. Charak, N. M. Minich, and H. G. Taylor (2009, Growth mixture modeling of academic achievement in children of varying birth weight risk, Neuropsychology, Vol. 23, pp. 460-474) used growth mixture modeling to identify two growth trajectories (clusters) for each academic domain: an average achievement trajectory and a persistently low trajectory. In this study, 97 of the same participants underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in late adolescence, and cerebral tissue volumes were used to predict the probability of low growth cluster membership for each domain.

RESULTS
Adjusting for whole brain volume (wbv), each 1-cm(3) reduction in caudate volume was associated with a 1.7- to 2.1-fold increase in the odds of low cluster membership for each domain. Each 1-mm(2) decrease in corpus callosum surface area increased these odds approximately 1.02-fold. Reduced cerebellar white matter volume was associated specifically with low calculation and decoding growth, and reduced cerebral white matter volume was associated with low calculation growth. Findings were similar when analyses were confined to the VLBW groups.

CONCLUSIONS
Reduced volume of structures involved in connectivity, executive attention, and motor control may contribute to heterogeneous academic trajectories among children with VLBW.


Abstract The intensity of summer precipitation inter-annual variability is strongest over the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Valley (MLYRV). The variability is larger than 1.5 mm d-1 and up to 35%–40% of the climatological mean summer precipitation. The relationship between the interdecadal change in the intensity of summer precipitation and its interannual variability over this area is investigated, by analyzing five gauged and reconstructed precipitation datasets. The relationship is found to be very weak over the MLYRV, with a correlation coefficient of only approximately 0.10. The Pacific Decadal Oscillation influences the western North Pacific subtropical high, which is responsible for the interdecadal change in summer precipitation over the MLYRV. However, the precipitation interannual variability is closely related to the ENSO events in the preceding winter due to its impact on the meridional displacement of the East Asian westerly jet. Different physical mechanisms cause different interdecadal variation in the intensity of summer precipitation and its interannual variability, and thus result in a poor relationship.


ABSTRACT There has been growing interest in the practice of reduced-impact logging (RIL) to enhance various ecological services of selectively logged tropical forests. It is thus important to evaluate the effectiveness of different logging operations between RIL and conventional logging (CON). The Myanmar Selection System (MSS) has a long history and is well known for its use of elephants for skidding, which is considered one form of RIL. However, the difference in the impacts of logging operations between the MSS using elephants for skidding and machine-only-based operations commonly adopted in other countries is unknown. The present study evaluated ground disturbance along elephant skid trails, along logging roads and at log landings in four compartments logged under the MSS, comparing with reported values for CON and RIL in the other countries. The ground disturbance in the MSS compartments was, respectively, 2.1% and 0.4% in average for logging roads and log landings; it is not significantly different from that for CON and RIL (p > 0.05). In contrast, the disturbed area along elephant skid trails (0.9%) is much lower than that for CON (5.2%) and RIL (4.7%) (p < 0.05). A large difference in the width of skid trails was found between elephant skidding (1.0 m) and machinery (CON: 5.5 m, RIL: 4.6 m) (p < 0.0001). We conclude that elephant skidding can largely reduce ground disturbance due to much narrower width of the skid trails as compared with machine skidding, while MSS does not differ from the other countries in ground disturbance at logging roads and log landings.


Qudit is a multi-level computational unit alternative to the conventional 2-level qubit. Compared to qubit, qudit provides a larger state space to store and process information, and thus can provide reduction of the circuit complexity, simplification of the experimental setup and enhancement of the algorithm efficiency. This review provides an overview of qudit-based quantum computing covering a variety of topics ranging from circuit building, algorithm design, to experimental methods. We first discuss the qudit gate universality and a variety of qudit gates including the pi/8 gate, the SWAP gate, and the multi-level controlled-gate. We then present the qudit version of several representative quantum algorithms including the Deutsch-Jozsa algorithm, the quantum Fourier transform, and the phase estimation algorithm. Finally we discuss various physical realizations for qudit computation such as the photonic platform, iron trap, and nuclear magnetic resonance.


Anaemia occurs frequently during critical illness. Recent studies have increased our understanding of how well critically ill patients tolerate anaemia. It is known that anaemia does not result simply from diagnostic and physical blood loss, but is multifactorial in origin. Recently, abnormalities in circulating red cell function have been described that are potentially relevant to efficient oxygen delivery. Potential new approaches to the management of the anaemic patient during critical illness have also been evaluated. This narrative review considers methodological issues relevant to understanding the critical care literature on anaemia. We summarize current understanding of the prevalence of anaemia during critical illness, specifically among patients in intensive care units (ICUs), and discuss the various factors that contribute to its development. We consider how red cell function may alter during critical illness and the possible clinical relevance of these changes. The treatment of anaemia is discussed, with particular emphasis on haemoglobin triggers for allogeneic red cell transfusions among critically ill patients, with reference to clinically important subgroups. The place of erythropoietin, an emerging therapy for anaemia in this setting, is considered and key future research questions identified.


One kind of bismaleimide resin (BMI) was prepared from Michael addition reaction with modification carbon nanotubes (m-CNTs). CNTs were modified by N-phenyl maleimide (N-PMI) and ethylenediamine. The effect of modification was determined by NMR spectra and Raman Analyser. The cure kinetics, thermal behavior and mechanical property of carbon nanotubes/bismaleimide-o,o-diallyl bisphenol A resin (CNTs/BMI-BA) were studied. It was found that this kind of CNTs can be easily dispersed in high performance resin only with a slight stirring. The curing apparent activation energy (Ea) decreased with the increasing amount of m-CNTs. The maleimide-CNTs could fully express its unique mechanical properties and dramatically increase the reaction activity, the storage modulus, impact strengths and bending stress of the CNTs/BMI-BA composites while the CNTs-COOH reduce the important mechanical properties. These critical enhancements will definitely help to attract more researches in this field.


The treatment of hypertensive vascular disease with the rice diet 1-5 was suggested by observations made on the protein, fat and carbohydrate metabolism of isolated kidney cells under various pathologic conditions (cell injury and/or changes in pH, sodium bicarbonate concentration, oxygen tension and metabolizable substrate 6-11 ). Until 1944 the consensus was that dietary treatment was useful in kidney disease but of no value in hypertensive vascular disease. "The diet in uncomplicated hypertension requires no essential change from the normal. There is no justification for restriction of protein intake, indeed, such restriction may result in anemia and other evidences of malnutrition. Likewise, in the absence of edema or paroxysmal dyspnea, the restriction of salt is unwarranted; claims that such restriction may lower the blood pressure have not been substantiated. Obesity should be avoided for the same reasons that apply to normal individuals and not because of any demonstrated relationship to hypertensive


Introduction: Hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is a standard therapy for patients with intermediate to high-risk acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), associated with improved long-term disease-free survival. Virginia is a diverse state, with rural and urban areas, including wealthy and disadvantaged counties. In this study, we compared HCT rates among different regions in the state of Virginia, and analyzed the impact of race/ethnicity, urban vs rural location, primary insurance payor, and socioeconomic status on access to HCT.
 Methods: We conducted a retrospective, cohort study of patients age 18-75 diagnosed with AML in Virginia from 2013-2017 as reported to the Virginia Cancer Registry (VCR); the VCR was further linked with the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) database for identification of patients who had undergone HCT within two years of diagnosis. Socioeconomic data were generated from the VCR and the American Community Survey (ACS). Univariate and multivariable logistic regression models were used to examine several socioeconomic factors of interest, including patient-level information such as sex, age, race, marital status, primary insurance payor, and distance to closest transplant center as well as factors associated with geography, including specific regions (see Figure 1) and percentage of African Americans residing in the region (see Figure 2).
 Results: There were 818 patients diagnosed with AML in Virginia from 2013-2017, and of these, 168 (21%) underwent HCT within two years of diagnosis. Median age was lower in the HCT cohort vs. the non-HCT cohort, 55 vs. 64 (p=<0.0001). There was a higher proportion of married patients in the HCT cohort vs. the non-HCT cohort, 67% vs. 53% (p=0.005). The rate of HCT varied by geographic region (p=0.004; see Figure 1). The univariate and multivariate analyses (see Table 1) showed decreased likelihood of HCT with increasing age (OR: 0.96; 95% CI: 0.95-0.98). Patients from regions which had greater than 25% African American population were 42% less likely to undergo HCT (OR: 0.58; 95% CI: 0.38-0.89) (see Figure 2). Patients who were not married were less likely to undergo HCT compared to married patients (OR 0.56; 95% CI: 0.38-0.92). Patients with government insurance as primary payor were less likely to undergo HCT compared to patients with private insurance (OR 0.49; 95% CI: 0.32-0.77). Patients living in areas (by zip code) with a greater percentage of population with a college/graduate degree were more likely to undergo transplant than the patients living in areas with a lower percentage of college/graduate degree (OR: 1.02; 95% CI: 1.00-1.03).
 Conclusion: From 2013-2017, only 21% of patients with AML in Virginia underwent HCT within two years of diagnosis. We found that the likelihood of undergoing HCT is associated with age, percent of African Americans residing in the region, marital status, primary insurance payor, and percent of population with a bachelor or graduate degree. Our findings suggest geographic and socioeconomic factors are likely barriers to access to HCT. The decreased rate of HCT in regions with a higher percent of African-Americans may reflect structural racism, both due to factors outside and within the medical community. Resources should be devoted to specific interventions addressing disadvantaged populations, including early human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing, caregiving resources, increased diversity of donor pool, and improved insurance coverage. Future studies will evaluate access to HCT after referral to HCT centers as well as racial disparity in access to HCT across the United States.

 Balkrishnan: Merck and Co.: Consultancy. Devine:Magenta Therapeutics: Consultancy.


Many microfluidic applications require modified surface wettability of the microchannels. Patterning of wettability within enclosed microfluidic structures at high spatial resolution has been challenging in the past. In this paper, we report an improved method for altering the surface wettability in poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) microchannels by UV-induced graft polymerization of poly(acrylic acid). Our method presents significant improvements in terms of wettability contrast and spatial resolution of the patterned structures as compared to recent literature and is in particular applicable to complex microfluidic structures with a broad range of channel sizes and aspect ratios. A key part of our work is the clear description of the surface treatment process with the identification of key parameters, some of which have been overlooked, neglected, or misinterpreted in previous works. We have studied these key parameters in detail and provide recommended values for each parameter supported by experimental results. This detailed understanding of the treatment process and the effects of the critical parameters on it allowed us to significantly improve quality and reliability of the treatment process.


The concentration of atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) in atria and plasma was investigated in relation to the regulation of renal glomerular ANF receptors in the rat during changes in water and sodium intake. A decrease in plasma immunoreactive ANF (IR-ANF) was observed after 4 days of water deprivation or after 1 wk on a low-sodium diet, whereas animals offered 1% NaCl in their drinking water had elevated plasma ANF values. Atrial IR-ANF was lower in water-deprived and higher in sodium-restricted rats than in their respective controls. A low-sodium intake or water deprivation increased the density of glomerular ANF receptors, whereas the inverse occurred with a high-salt consumption. It is concluded that an inverse correlation exists between ANF plasma concentration and renal glomerular ANF receptor sites.


This research evaluates built form and demographic factors of GO Transit commuter rail station areas that contribute to ridership and utilization of existing services in the A.M. peak period using biannual GO Rail ridership information from the Spring of 2010 to Spring of 2015. In order to identify predictors of ridership growth, four regression models were estimated that evaluated factors affecting cross-sectional ridership, cross-sectional utilization of capacity,
station-level utilization at each time period, and station-level year-over-year utilization growth. Results indicate that the strongest predictors of ridership, utilization, and growth were station parking capacity and household density of the surrounding area. This suggests potential for tensions in developing GO-supportive station-area land use policy strategies focused on either expanding station-area parking capacity or station-area residential intensification. The station level utilization model produced a priority list of future service increases on GO Rail corridors based on existing capacity and ridership.


This paper selects 9 indicators to build the economic development indicators of urban tourism in Gansu Province. We use the principal components analysis method to analyze the level of tourism economy development, with the help of ArcGIS and GeoDA software. And it reveals the regional tourism economic differences between 14 prefecture-level cities in Gansu Province. The result indicates that the level of tourism economic development shows features of general section in the geographical space, and it formed a "dumbbell" type space pattern. Then we analyze the main causes of this phenomenon, and find out solutions to solve the problem.


The effects and modes of action of certain antineoplastic phospholipid analogues (racemic l-O-octadecyl-2-O-methyl glycero-3-phosphocholine, BM 41.440, JH-1, CV-3988, and HePC) on (sodium plus potassium)-activated adenosine triphosphatase (Na,K-ATPase) and sodium pump activities were investigated. Inhibition of Na,K-ATPase in purified rat brain synaptosomal membranes by these lipids, in contrast to ouabain, was subject to membrane surface dilution and unaffected by whether the reaction was started with Ml. NaCI, or ATP. Kinetic analysis indicated that the analogues, again dissimilar to ouabain, were likely to interact directly or indirectly with sodium-binding sites of Na,K-ATPase located at the intracellular surface of the plasma membrane, a conclusion also supported by studies using the inside-out vesicles of human erythrocyte membranes. The studies also showed that ouabain (but not the lipids) increased the affinity constant of Na.K-ATPase for K*, whereas the lipids (but not ouabain) increased that for Na*. The lipids also inhibited ""Kb uptake by intact human leukemia HL60 cells at potencies quite com parable to those seen for inhibition of purified protein kinase C or Na.KATPase. It is suggested that Na,K-ATPase (sodium pump) might repre sent a hitherto unrecognized site of action for the lipid analogues, and that the antineoplastic effects of the agents might be due to, in part, inhibition of both protein kinase C and Na,K-ATPase and perhaps other membrane-associated enzymes.


This study describes a follow‐up of 15 non‐injured women, all from the same socio‐economic background, who were exposed to a terrorist attack in Israel. All of the women participated in group debriefing with brief group psychotherapy, involving six meetings during the first 2 months following the event. Two days after the attack, and 2 months and 6 months after the event, the women were administered a post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnostic scale, the Impact of Event Scale (IES) and the SCL‐90. At 6 months, four subjects (27%) were diagnosed with full PTSD. The IES showed significantly higher scores at the first measure than at the other two measures. Furthermore, the phobic anxiety subscale score immediately after the event was significantly associated with the General Severity Index of the SCL‐90 and the severity of PTSD symptomatology at 6 months. The present paper discusses the effectiveness of psychological intervention following trauma, and raises questions concerning the need to invest public resources in this kind of intensive intervention. Suggestions are proposed regarding the desired emphasis of the psychological treatment in order to improve its benefits to victims.


Despite the fact that accounting standards tend to be used as tools to legitimise
questionable accounting decisions, it is essential to ensure that the standards provide a
proper level of prescription for guiding managers' financial reporting decisions and
minimising aggressive reporting. Drawing inferences from the newly issued IFRS 15, this
study examined the issues related to the inclusion of indicators in a set of principle-based
standards. In addition, taking into consideration that incentives play an important role in
the financial reporting process, given different levels of accounting standard precision
(principle, principle with indicators), the present study examined the moderating effect of
different reported revenue trends (increasing, decreasing, and volatile) and credit rating
downgrade types (notch, category) on revenue management through a 2x3x2 betweensubject
experiment. The empirical results of the experiment show that the inclusion of
indicators in a principle-based standard can constrain managers' revenue management
intentions. When a standard is less precise, the incentives of reported revenue trends and
credit rating downgrades will moderate the manner in which the standard will be
interpreted, making it easier for managers to engage in revenue management. The
findings of this study not only extend the literature in the field of accounting standard
precision and incentives, and their effects on aggressive reporting, they also provide
useful insights for standard setters engaged in revisiting accounting standards in use.


Maintenance of functional β-cell mass is critical to preventing diabetes, but the physiological mechanisms that cause β-cell populations to thrive or fail in the context of obesity are unknown. High fat-fed SM/J mice spontaneously transition from hyperglycemic-obese to normoglycemic-obese with age, providing a unique opportunity to study β-cell adaptation. Here, we characterize insulin homeostasis, islet morphology, and β-cell function during SM/J's diabetic remission. As they resolve hyperglycemia, obese SM/J mice dramatically increase circulating and pancreatic insulin levels while improving insulin sensitivity. Immunostaining of pancreatic sections reveals that obese SM/J mice selectively increase β-cell mass but not α-cell mass. Obese SM/J mice do not show elevated β-cell mitotic index, but rather elevated α-cell mitotic index. Functional assessment of isolated islets reveals that obese SM/J mice increase glucose stimulated insulin secretion, decrease basal insulin secretion, and increase islet insulin content. These results establish that β-cell mass expansion and improved β-cell function underlie the resolution of hyperglycemia, indicating that obese SM/J mice are a valuable tool for exploring how functional β-cell mass can be recovered in the context of obesity.


In the period 1985-1986 twenty-four patients with a recurrent lumbar disk herniation were subjected to surgery in the department of Neurosurgery in the Academic Medical Hospital of Utrecht. In 25% of these patients the second lumbar disk herniation was at the same level and side as the first one. Recurrence of the disk rupture at the same side and level as the first one occurred most often within two years after initial surgery. A recurrent slipped disk at different lumbar level occurred after a time interval of two years or more. Correct diagnosis depends on the results of imaging techniques. All reoperated patients did well after surgery and could return to their work or normal daily obligations.


This communication demonstrates that all de novo fatty acid biosynthesis in spinach leaf cells requires acyl carrier protein (ACP) and occurs specifically in the chloroplasts. Antibodies raised to purified spinach ACP inhibited at least 98% of malonyl CoA-dependent fatty acid synthesis by spinach leaf homogenates. Therefore, the presence of ACP in a compartment of the spinach leaf cell would serve as a marker for de novo fatty acid biosynthesis. A radioimmunoassay capable of detecting 10(15) mol (10(-11) g) of spinach ACP was developed to measure the levels of ACP in leaf cell components isolated by sucrose gradient centrifugation of a gentle lysate of spinach leaf protoplasts. All of the ACP of the leaf cell could be attributed to the chloroplast. Less than 1% of the ACP associated with chloroplasts resulted from binding of free ACP to chloroplasts. Of interest, ACP from Escherichia coli, soybean, and sunflower showed only partial crossreactivity with spinach ACP by the radioimmunoassay. These results strongly suggest that, in the leaf cell, chloroplasts are the sole site for the de novo synthesis of C16 and C18 fatty acids. These fatty acids are then transported into the cytoplasm for further modification and are either inserted into extrachloroplastic membrane lipids or returned to the chloroplast for insertion into lamellar membrane lipids.


An overview is given of Korean VLSI and CAD technology, which did not develop naturally as it did in more advanced countries. Korean engineers had no electronic systems developed domestically for studying bipolar and MOS IC design. Consequently, they had to apply reverse engineering to the problem, which slowed development considerably. In 1982, the Korean government initiated the national project specifically to speed the progress of electronic technology development. Since then, VLSI design and CAD technology have begun to spread throughout the country. A prototype CAD system, called EDAS, was developed this year, and the project's goal has become the establishment of fully domestic VLSI CAD technology by 1991.<<ETX>>


Due to inadequate funding for road maintenance and expansion, many state governments are exploring the implementation of a vehicle-miles-traveled (VMT) policy. Such a policy requires adequate communication to the public that not only informs but also communicates the issues of concern to the constituents. As part of this communication, the Nevada Department of Transportation began by conducting workshops, while local newspapers allowed Internet-based response to the basic idea of this tax. Our article takes the qualitative data obtained from these multiple sources and analyzes it via a two-pronged qualitative methodology. First, we ascertain common profiles through iterative coding, and then we use concept maps to delve into the relationships between themes within these segments. Our findings indicate that by using qualitative segmentation followed by concept mapping of open-ended customer data, public policy officials can find genres or issues of interest to large segments and address those in communicat...


In lossy source coding with side information at the decoder (i.e., the Wyner-Ziv problem), the estimate of the source obtained at the decoder cannot be generally reproduced at the encoder, due to its dependence on the side information. In some applications, this may be undesirable, and a common reconstruction (CR) requirement, whereby one imposes that the encoder and decoder be able to agree on the decoder's estimate, may be instead in order. The rate-distortion function under the CR constraint has been derived recently for a point-to-point (Wyner-Ziv) problem. In this paper, this result is extended to three multiterminal settings with three nodes, namely the Heegard-Berger (HB) problem, its variant with cooperating decoders, and the cascade source coding problem. The HB problem consists of an encoder broadcasting to two decoders with respective side information. The cascade source coding problem is characterized by a two-hop system with side information available at the intermediate and final nodes. For the HB problem with the CR constraint, the rate-distortion function is derived under the assumption that the side information sequences are (stochastically) degraded. The rate-distortion function is also calculated explicitly for three examples, namely Gaussian source and side information with quadratic distortion metric, and binary source and side information with erasure and Hamming distortion metrics. The rate-distortion function is then characterized for the HB problem with cooperating decoders and (physically) degraded side information. For the cascade problem with the CR constraint, the rate-distortion region is obtained under the assumption that side information at the final node is physically degraded with respect to that at the intermediate node. For the latter two cases, it is worth emphasizing that the corresponding problem without the CR constraint is still open. Outer and inner bounds on the rate-distortion region are also obtained for the cascade problem under the assumption that the side information at the intermediate node is physically degraded with respect to that at the final node. For the three examples mentioned above, the bounds are shown to coincide. Finally, for the HB problem, the rate-distortion function is obtained under the more general requirement of constrained reconstruction, whereby the decoder's estimate must be recovered at the encoder only within some distortion.


Orthonormal bases for L/sup 2/(R/sup n/) are constructed that have properties that are similar to those enjoyed by the classical Haar basis for L/sup 2/(R). For example, each basis consists of appropriate dilates and translates of a finite collection of 'piecewise constant' functions. The construction is based on the notion of multiresolution analysis and reveals an interesting connection between the theory of compactly supported wavelet bases and the theory of self-similar tilings. >


Temperate bacteriophages express transcription repressors that maintain lysogeny by down-regulating lytic promoters and confer superinfection immunity. Repressor regulation is critical to the outcome of infection—lysogenic or lytic growth—as well as prophage induction into lytic replication. Mycobacteriophage BPs and its relatives use an unusual integration-dependent immunity system in which the phage attachment site (attP) is located within the repressor gene (33) such that site-specific integration leads to synthesis of a prophage-encoded product (gp33103) that is 33 residues shorter at its C-terminus than the virally-encoded protein (gp33136). However, the shorter form of the repressor (gp33103) is stable and active in repression of the early lytic promoter PR, whereas the longer virally-encoded form (gp33136) is inactive due to targeted degradation via a C-terminal ssrA-like tag. We show here that both forms of the repressor bind similarly to the 33–34 intergenic regulatory region, and that BPs gp33103 is a tetramer in solution. The BPs gp33103 repressor binds to five regulatory regions spanning the BPs genome, and regulates four promoters including the early lytic promoter, PR. BPs gp33103 has a complex pattern of DNA recognition in which a full operator binding site contains two half sites separated by a variable spacer, and BPs gp33103 induces a DNA bend at the full operator site but not a half site. The operator site structure is unusual in that one half site corresponds to a 12 bp palindrome identified previously, but the other half site is a highly variable variant of the palindrome.


Purpose: Dose Volume Histograms (DVH) are the main assessment of IMRT plans, yet they rely on organ contour accuracy. This study quantifies the change in DVH parameters caused by systematic modification of contours to replicate typical inter‐observer and auto‐contouring errors. Methods: Eight prostate patients planned for 78 Gy IMRT with margins of 8 mm, (6 mm anterior and posterior) were selected. Prostate contours were uniformly expanded by ±1 and 2 mm, bladder contours uniformly by 1 and 2 mm and in the posterior and inferior by ±1, 1.5 and 2 mm, and rectum contours uniformly by 1 and 2 mm and anteriorly by ±1 and 1.5 mm. This simulated typical contouring errors due to low contrast at the prostate and bladder/rectum borders. The following DVH parameters were calculated for the rectum and bladder contours: V70 and V60 (% and cc), and prostate contours: D100, D98 and mean dose. Results: For prostate, the contour error had no substantial effect on the DVH. For bladder, at the 1 mm level, the deviations in V70 and V60(%) are below 4.6% and for rectum below 7.1%. The bladder, and particularly rectum, showed dramatic (22–56%) increase in absolute volume (cc) receiving 60 and 70 Gy when contour errors were greater than 1 mm, but this absolute change is <12.4% with errors <1 mm. Because V70 and V60 are initially small in the plan, the <12.4% increase was still clinically acceptable. When a 4 mm (2 mm anterior and posterior) margin plan was assessed, the prostate D100 deviation at 1 mm is still <1%, while bladder and rectum deviation were reduced, implying 1 mm accuracy is a robust target level. Conclusions: Agreement between contours of 1 mm must be achieved to ensure comparable DVHs. Changes in the DVH occur precipitously above this level.


. The paper attempts to comprehend the legal status of the head of a department with the identification of the most significant areas of his activities. The author considers the basics of the labor law status of the head of the department of a Russian university, and studies their correlation with the legal norms of France and Germany using a comparative approach. A review of strategic approaches to filling the position of the head of the department has been carried out. The models of organizational behavior of the head of a department, his leadership styles, methods of department management are analyzed. A model of the qualities of the head of a department of the university has been built, attention is given to professional competence, as well as the system of its constituent competencies. The characteristic of the pedagogical function of the head of a department is given, a reasoned opinion is expressed about the growth of its role in the conditions of digitalization of education. The scientific component of the manager's functional is considered through the prism of criteria for an academic degree, academic title, membership in dissertation councils, scientific management of graduate students, undergraduates, etc. The role of the head of the department as the leader of the scientific school is shown. The author expresses an opinion about the need to increase the importance of departments in Russian universities, reduce the teaching load of heads of departments, legitimize the positions of their deputies, etc. It is concluded that the head of a department is a "universal soldier" who performs almost all functions in an educational organization, he is called upon to become an effective manager, while remaining a successful teacher and famous scientist.


Quantization-based embedding has been used for integrity verification in semi-fragile watermarking. However, some of the illegal modifications cannot be detected in the normal quantization-based methods, especially when the host values (i.e., the values chosen in a host signal for data embedding) are independent from each other. In this paper, a sequential quantization strategy (SQS) is proposed to make the modulation of a host value dependent on a certain number of the previous ones. Therefore, a balance between security improvement and tamper localization can be achieved for integrity verification. Furthermore, the proposed SQS is incorporated with a reversible data hiding mechanism. A new watermarking algorithm is then generated for mesh authentication. The experimental results show that the chance to detect illegal modifications is increased by adopting the SQS while the property of reversibility is achieved.


The landscape for program accountability in K-12 school leadership preparation can be daunting for even the most seasoned professor or higher education administrator. The rising demands in today's accountability-driven environment require individuals to have the knowledge and skills needed to provide evidence that all accrediting agencies and program approval agency standards are met or exceeded and that there is continuous improvement in program outcomes. For an educational leadership preparation program in the Southeastern portion of the United States, four accreditors/program approval agencies include the National Policy Board for Educational Administration (NCPEA), the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), and the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). For those at the crossroads of assessment and evaluation responsible for establishing data gathering and data analysis, determining the best structures, supports, and approaches to advance student learning outcomes while fostering an improved school culture is a substantial undertaking.


BACKGROUND
Methamphetamine (MAP) is one of the most frequently used illegal substances in Japan, and family and twin studies have suggested that genetic factors contribute to psychostimulant dependence, including MAP dependence. Organic cation transporter 3 (OCT3) has been reported to be involved in the disposition of MAP as well as MAP-induced behavioral changes in animals. Moreover, SLC22A3 (which encodes OCT3) is a candidate gene for MAP dependence because it is located within a chromosomal region associated with substance dependence.

METHODS
Using 96 healthy control subjects, linkage disequilibrium (LD) within the SLC22A3 was investigated, and 5 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were selected as haplotype tag SNPs to search for an association with MAP dependence. Single-marker analyses and haplotype analyses of these SNPs were performed in 213 subjects with MAP dependence and 443 healthy controls.

RESULTS
SLC22A3 polymorphisms were not significantly associated with MAP dependence in any of the single-marker and haplotype analyses. When subjects with MAP dependence were divided into polysubstance and single-MAP users, genotype and allele frequency of SNP2 (p=0.024, p=0.011, respectively), allele frequency of SNP3 (p=0.037), and haplotypic frequencies for these 2 SNPs (p=0.0438) differed significantly between groups.

CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that polymorphisms of SLC22A3 are related to the development of polysubstance use in Japanese patients with MAP dependence.


Security and performance evaluation of Internet protocols can be greatly aided by emulation in realistic deployment scenarios. We describe our implementation of such methods which uses high-level abstractions to bring simplicity into a virtualized test-lab.

We argue that current test-labs have not adequately captured those challenges, partly because their design is too static. To achieve more flexibility and to allow the experimenter to easily deploy many alternative scenarios we need abstractions that allow autoconfiguration and auto-deployment of real router and server code in a multi-AS infrastructure. We need to be able to generate scenarios for multi-party players in a fully isolated emulated test-lab and deploy the network using virtualized routers, switches, and servers.

In this paper, our abstractions are specifically designed to evaluate the BGP security framework currently being documented by the IETF SIDR working group. We capture the relevant aspects of the SIDR security proposals, and allow experimenters to evaluate the technology in topologies of real router and server code. We believe such methods are also useful for teaching newcomers and operators, as it allows them to gain experience in a sand-box before deployment. It allows security experts to set up controlled experiments at various levels of complexity, and concentrate on discovering weaknesses, instead of having to spend time on tedious configuration tasks. Finally, it allows router vendors and implementers to test their code and to perform scalability evaluation.


The giant Al Shaheen Field in Block 5 and Block 5 Extension, offshore Qatar, contains a stacked sequence of thin Lower Cretaceous reservoirs associated with a complex array of subtle faults which influence dynamic reservoir behaviour in certain areas of the field. A multidisciplinary analysis that integrates 3D seismic, well data and a regionally developed structural model indicates that at reservoir levels, deformation occurred in an incipient low-displacement (lateral and vertical) strikeslip dominated regime, characterized by a complex pattern of predominately steep to sub-vertical branching fault zones. Seismic interpretation and well calibration indicates two major fault zones trending WNW-ESE and NNWSSE, showing a dextral and sinistral sense of shear respectively. These fault zones are expressed as elongated depressions on structure maps and are formed by discontinuous arrays of en-echelon segments resulting in a spatial variability of fault distribution and behaviour. A secondary set of faults trending NW-SE and bounded between major WNW-ESE fault zones can be consistently mapped and is interpreted to represent either synthetic Riedel structures or normal faults. At deeper Permo-Triassic levels, continuous, well-developed fault lineaments are observed below the weaker Cretaceous lineaments. The interpreted deformation in the Al Shaheen Field can therefore be related to the development of shear zones associated with the reactivation of pre-existing deepseated Infra-Cambrian basement anisotropies during the Cretaceous Oman Alpine 1 and Tertiary Zagros Alpine 2 tectonic events. The proposed structural model of the Al Shaheen Field provides a key input and a further calibration area to constrain the tectonic evolution of Qatar and of the entire Arabian plate with regards to basin evolution, timing of structuration, structural style and faults and fractures distribution on both regional and field scales.


This thesis concerns the design, construction and applications of two equipments, the Recurrent-Surge Oscillograph (R.S.O.), and the Recovery Voltage Indicator (R.V.I.) which rely on the recurrent injection of a suitable voltage or current waveform to an electrical network, and the oscillographic display of potentials across the whole or part of the network on a timebase synchronised to the injection waveform. The R.S.O. is particularly useful in determining the voltage distribution in windings, especially transformer windings, when subjected to rapid rates-of-rise of voltage such as occur on transmission lines under fault conditions, Whereas the natural phenomena are of considerable magnitude and occurring at random, the instrument described generates typical surge waveforms of low amplitude ( < 1000 volts) repetitively at fifty times per second, so that resulting stresses may be investigated at will and without fear of damage to the winding. The equipment may also be used as a high-speed oscillograph for the recording of repetitive transient phenomena, a special feature being the time resolution afforded, of the order of ten millimicroseconds, during the period immediately following timebase triggering. Tests may also be made to determine the characteristics (and certain faults to earth) of cables using reflected pulse techniques. The R.V.I. is used to inject a current repetitively, again at fifty times per second, into an electrical system which ideally may be a uniform transmission line, but in practice consists more often of an inter-connection of cables, reactors and transformers. The Injected current is of half-sine-wave form and represents the last half-cycle of line current (often a heavy fault current) before circuit breaker contacts open ideally, and the current ceases. Again the injected quantity is small (milllamperes) compared with the typical practical quantity (up to thousands of amperes), and the resultant recovery voltage across the circuit breaker contacts, which in the case of miniature simulation are represented by anode and cathode of a valve, is correspondingly small compared with the abnormally high potentials which may cause restriking of an arc between contacts in practice. These recovery voltages are due to the stored energy in the system at the time of rupture of current, and theoretical prediction of their severity is considered in various appendices. Part 1 of the thesis refers particularly to the R.S.O., and Part 2 to the R.V.I.


Primary ovarian hepatoid carcinomas (POHC) are extremely rare. Especially rare are those with phenotypic properties of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and an absence of clinical evidence of hepatic tumor. We report a case of a POHC with a common microscopic, immunophenotypic, and ultrastructural property of HCC in the absence of a liver mass. It is extremely difficult to differentiate POHC from metastatic HCC using any kinds of ancillary studies, with the exception of clinical identification of a hepatic tumor.


The most confronting factor in this modern era using a microprocessor is to save power. This paper has been worked on to study the comparison between power consumption and saves among different proposed buffer memory. It has already been proved that using different types of buffer memory at different level in general saves power consumption as different rate. Researchers have established the truth that more than 50% of the total power consumption of a microprocessor controlled devices is consumed by the memory. To enhance the future work and power conservation a brief comparative study have been done and the findings were practical and it is expected that this paper will guide into the track of further improvement for higher efficiency and low power consumption memory buffer.


AIM
To investigate the protective effect of mistletoe combined with carboxymethyl cellulose eye drops on dry eye in postmenopausal women.

METHODS
Sixty postmenopause female patients diagnosed of dry eye were assigned randomly to mistletoe combined with carboxymethyl cellulose eye drops treatment group (n=30) and control group treated with normal saline eye drops (n=30). The subjective symptoms of ocular surface, Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI), tear film function tests, tear protein and corneal morphology by confocal scanning microscopy were analyzed before treatment and at 1, 2, 4 and 8wk after treatment respectively. To ensure the safety of the trial, all patients were examined with systolic pressure, diastolic pressure, glutamic-pyruvic transaminase, glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, urine creatinine, and blood urea nitrogen at 8wk after treatment.

RESULTS
There were no obvious differences between two groups before the treatment (P>0.05). In two months after the treatment, the symptoms of ocular surface, OSDI, tear protein, and tear film function were only slightly changed in normal saline eye drops group. However, all indices were improved after the treatment of mistletoe combined with carboxymethyl cellulose eye drops group (P<0.05). In addition, the average amount of corneal epithelium basal cells and inflammatory cells of mistletoe treated group were 3174±379 and 38±25 cells/mm2, significantly decreased as compared to the control group with 4309±612 and 158± 61 cells/mm2, respectively. In the control group, although nerves still maintained straight under corneal epithelium, the number of nerves were significantly decreased, as compared with normal female. In the mistletoe treated group, the number of nerves was only slightly reduced, compared with normal female.

CONCLUSION
Mistletoe combined with carboxymethyl cellulose eye drops can alleviate the symptoms and signs of dry eye symptoms.


The proving study of Strychnos henningsii 30CH was primarily conducted to extract as many symptoms as possible from healthy provers to create a Homoeopathic picture of the drug. This would allow practitioners in clinical practise to prescribe Strychnos henningsii 30CH based on the Law of Similars. The second part of this study was to assess the symptoms produced, and thereafter determine the relationship to the natural history of the Strychnos henningsii plant as it relates to the Doctrine of Signatures. Methodology The Homoeopathic drug proving of Strychnos henningsii 30CH took the form of a mixed-method triple-blind, placebo-controlled study. The proving population consisted of a minimum of 32 subjects who met all the inclusion criteria. The proving was conducted by 4 M.Tech.Hom students, under the supervision of the principal researcher. The 32 provers were randomly divided into four equal groups of eight provers, with each group supervised by one of four M.Tech.Hom student researchers. Nine powders each of the respective test substance (verum or placebo) was randomly assigned by an independent clinician to 32 prover numbers (16 verum and 16 placebo). Randomisation was conducted by an independent clinician who was unaware of the proving substance. The physical and behavioural symptoms that were noted by the provers were extracted from their prover journals, case-histories and post-proving group discussions. This was then written up into Materia Medica and Repertory format and graded accordingly. Once this proving data was captured it allowed for the application of the Doctrine of Signatures. During this analysis, similarities were compared between the behaviour of the patient and the behaviour of the substance in nature, which indicated the therapeutic action of the plant. The main characteristics used to link the Strychnos henningsii plant in its natural state to the Homoeopathic remedy developed was the plants habitat, kingdom, toxicity, structure, Anthroposophy and Vibrational therapy. By applying the Anthroposophical and vibrational therapy view, it allowed the researcher to establish a more holistic approach. Results A broad spectrum of symptoms was obtained which resulted in the formation of 876 rubrics. The areas that Strychnos henningsii had a profound affinity for were the mind which yielded 170 rubrics, head (76 rubrics), extremities (82 rubrics), dreams (91 rubrics) and the generals (80 rubrics). These rubrics were used in the evaluation of the Doctrine of Signatures. The sensation of heat, dryness and burning appeared to be an integral part of the manifestation of symptoms in this proving study which correlated to the habitat of the plant in its natural environment. Many mind themes were noted, but in particular emotional sensitivity was one of the major themes. Sensitivity is the Plant Kingdom's key sensation in general. The remedy was prepared using the bark of the plant which contained high levels of the alkaloid strychnine. This reflected in the provers symptoms (itching, skin eruptions, cramps, stiffness, tingling). The structure, colour, mode and speed of growth were all factors which yielded satisfactory comparative results. Chakras, Colour Therapy and Anthroposophy allowed the researcher to apply a more dynamic scientific methodology. This tied in well with the Doctrine of Signatures and essentially provided a broader understanding of the remedy. Conclusion The hypotheses of this study were largely validated by the symptoms produced and analysis conducted, after applying the scientific methodology. The Doctrine of Signatures evaluation helped to reveal the intrinsic nature of Strychnos henningsii, further highlighting the underlying themes in the remedy and explained certain symptoms in more detail and finally distinguished between the behaviour of the patient and the substance in nature aiding us with a better understanding for clinical practise. It is important to note that recommendations have been made for future provings.


Hepatitis C virus (HCV) cure rates have been similar in patients with and without human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfection; however, in the ION‐4 study, black patients treated with ledipasvir/sofosbuvir (LDV/SOF) were significantly less likely to achieve cure (90%) compared to nonblack patients (99%). There are limited real‐world data on the effectiveness of oral direct‐acting antivirals (DAAs) in predominantly minority HIV/HCV coinfected populations. We analyzed HCV treatment outcomes among 255 HCV coinfected patients initiating DAAs between February 2014 and March 2016 in an urban clinic in Baltimore, Maryland. To facilitate adherence, patients received standardized HIV nurse/pharmacist support, which included nurse visits and telephone calls. Median age was 43 years, 88% were black, 73% male, 69% had a history of injection drug use, 45% a history of hazardous alcohol use, and 57% a comorbid psychiatric diagnosis. Median CD4 count was 577 (interquartile range, 397‐820) cells/mm3; most (97%) were on antiretroviral therapy, had HIV RNA <20 copies/mL (87%), and were infected with HCV genotype 1 (98%). Over 60% had significant fibrosis (Fibrosis‐4 Index score 1.45‐3.25 [44%] and >3.25 [17%, cirrhosis]) and 30% were HCV treatment experienced. The majority of patients received LDV/SOF with or without ribavirin (91%) and were treated for 12 weeks. Overall, the sustained virological response rate was 97% (95% confidence interval [CI], 93‐98) and did not vary by race (black, 96% [95% CI, 93‐98]; nonblack, 97%, [95% CI, 83‐99]), history of injection drug use, alcohol use, or psychiatric diagnosis. Conclusion: HCV treatment was highly effective among HIV‐infected patients who received care within an integrated nurse/pharmacist adherence support program. These results suggest that race and psychosocial comorbidity may not be barriers to HCV elimination. (Hepatology 2017;66:1402–1412).


A design procedure for a structure's monitoring system using sensitivity analysis and a neural network is developed. The monitoring system is to be used to monitor damage to members critically affecting the overall safety of structures. Recently, many techniques for evaluating the damage of isolated members and models of simple structures have been investigated. However, actual structures are large, and their complex behavior may not be based on damage of isolated members or their simple models. To monitor large structures realistically, structures' data on behavior at many points need to be monitored. Identifying the optimal locations and numbers of these monitoring points and assessing the safety of the entire structure from the limited data are the monitoring system design problem. The procedure presented for this design problem is a two‐step process. In the first step, using sensitivity analysis and damage‐assessment techniques, individual members are ranked according to their influence on the failure probability of the entire structure or according to their effect on the abnormal behavior of the structure. Based on the rank, critical members are identified. In the second step, sensitivity analysis and a neural network are used to determine the optimal locations. In addition, the optimal number of sensors for monitoring damage to the critical members selected in step 1 is also suggested. Truss and frame examples are used to show the validity and applicability of the monitoring system design procedure.


Perhaps no region on earth presents such a confusing array of place names as does the area made up of the former provinces of Kham and Amdo in historic Tibet (Xizang). Within these areas, cities, towns, villages, mountains, lakes and other geographic features have at least two names applied to them, one Tibetan, the other Chinese. Overlying this indigenous nomenclature are the names applied by outsiders, mostly Europeans, each of whom used their native language to transliterate the names they heard or read from Tibetan or Chinese script, and names in the languages of other ethnic minorities who live within the area. Adding to the confusion are the conflicting "standards" for transliterating Tibetan and Chinese names. To resolve the inconsistencies and uncertainties of place names in this region, a multilingual gazetteer and thesaurus was prepared. The gazetteer-thesaurus was compiled to be used as a tool for correlating the often radically different names assigned to a single place or feature and to provide the geographic coordinates for each. The impetus for this project was the need to assign geographic coordinates to plant specimens collected in the area since the latter part of the 19th century up until the advent and widespread use of Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers in the 1990s. Georeferencing specimens is necessary for plotting the historical distribution of species and for more completely understanding the information contained on specimen labels. Knowing the distribution of plants is important for answering phylogenetic questions, determining local and widespread biogeographical patterns, identifying areas of unusually high diversity or endemism, and determining areas in need of special protection. The value of such a gazetteer, however, extends well beyond the field of botany. It is intended to be of use to anyone with a desire to know the nomenclatural history of places in the area and for pinpointing with a fair degree of accuracy the location of each of those places.


The study aims at investigating the long run and short run relationships between private savings and economic growth in Bahrain. The study covers the period (1990-2013).The study methodology is based on the econometrics analytical approach to estimate the parameters' value and the trends of the economic relations between the study variables by using the co-integration and Granger causality techniques. Johansen co-integration test indicates that a positive long run relationship between the study variables, while Granger causality test reveals that significant bilateral causality between the private savings and the economic growth, this means that the economic growth Granger causes the private saving, and also the private savings Granger cause the economic growth. These results indicate that the economic growth could stimulate the private saving, and the private savings could accelerate the economic growth in the long run. The study recommends that government and policy makers in the kingdom of Bahrain should employ policies that would attract more private savings in order to accelerate economic growth which would lead to raise GDP per capita and Bahraini standard of living. Keyword: Private Savings, Economic growth, Econometrics, Kingdom of Bahrain.


Plug-and-Play methods constitute a class of iterative algorithms for imaging problems where regularization is performed by an off-the-shelf denoiser. Although Plug-and-Play methods can lead to tremendous visual performance for various image problems, the few existing convergence guarantees are based on unrealistic (or suboptimal) hypotheses on the denoiser, or limited to strongly convex data terms. In this work, we propose a new type of Plug-and-Play methods, based on half-quadratic splitting, for which the denoiser is realized as a gradient descent step on a functional parameterized by a deep neural network. Exploiting convergence results for proximal gradient descent algorithms in the non-convex setting, we show that the proposed Plug-and-Play algorithm is a convergent iterative scheme that targets stationary points of an explicit global functional. Besides, experiments show that it is possible to learn such a deep denoiser while not compromising the performance in comparison to other state-of-the-art deep denoisers used in Plug-and-Play schemes. We apply our proximal gradient algorithm to various ill-posed inverse problems, e.g. deblurring, super-resolution and inpainting. For all these applications, numerical results empirically confirm the convergence results. Experiments also show that this new algorithm reaches state-of-the-art performance, both quantitatively and qualitatively.


Abstract With time, medical and pharmaceutical research has advanced significantly. However, one of the major issues is how to administer the active substance. Among these, it counts over-or under-dosage of the active substance, low response to treatment, or increased clinical risk of the patient. An innovative method able to avoid these obstacles is represented by controlled release systems for active substances. The interest for these systems came with allowing encapsulation in the antibiotic release matrices, local anesthetics, protein or other substances. Moreover, a number of such vehicles are now available to release controlled substances used predominantly in the anesthesia and intensive care unit.


We explain the axisymmetric gaps seen in recent long-baseline observations of the HL Tau protoplanetary disc with the Atacama Large Millimetre/Submillimetre Array (ALMA) as being due to the different response of gas and dust to embedded planets in protoplanetary discs. We perform global, three dimensional dusty smoothed particle hydrodynamics calculations of multiple planets embedded in dust/gas discs which successfully reproduce most of the structures seen in the ALMA image. We find a best match to the observations using three embedded planets with masses of 0.2, 0.27 and 0.55 MJ in the three main gaps observed by ALMA, though there remain uncertainties in the exact planet masses from the disc model.


Due to the wide-spread use of disruptive digital technologies like mobile phones, cities have transitioned from data-scarce to data-rich environments. As a result, the field of geoinformatics is being reshaped and challenged to develop adequate data-driven methods. At the same time, the term "smart city" is increasingly being applied in urban planning, reflecting the aims of different stakeholders to create value out of the new data sets. However, many smart city research initiatives are promoting techno-positivistic approaches which do not account enough for the citizens' needs. In this paper, we review the state of quantitative urban studies under this new perspective, and critically discuss the development of smart city programs. We conclude with a call for a new anti-disciplinary, human-centric urban data science, and a well-reflected use of technology and data collection in smart city planning. Finally, we introduce the papers of this special issue which focus on providing a more human-centric view on data-driven urban studies, spanning topics from cycling and wellbeing, to mobility and land use.


The rise of collaborative consumption or the sharing economy has brought forward new business models in many industries, such as in hotels (e.g. Airbnb), transportation (e.g. Uber), and more recently, in the fashion retail industry (e.g. Rent the Runway). While the exchange of fashion items commonly used to take place between private individuals, an increasing number of retailers have innovated their business models to provide a platform that facilitates renting or sharing of clothing items between consumers and/or the retailer. Little academic research exists however on how retailers can design their business models to create, deliver and capture value from this new form of collaborative consumption. Based on a sample of twenty-six fashion retailers (Europe, US) that engage in fashion-sharing, this paper analyses their different underlying business models and identifies three sharing business model archetypes (Fashion Rental Model, Swapping Model, and Second-hand Retailing Model). Interviews with CEOs of these companies provide further insight into the main motivations and challenges in adopting sharing-business model. In so doing, we offer retailing managers a practical framework to guide business model innovation for collaborative consumption, as well as advance academic research by bridging the literatures on business model innovation and collaborative consumption.


In this research the role of the Cathedral is as a beacon inspiring and guiding community development. Good practice case studies in community collaboration, like the Cathedral's, are perceived as central and critical to the success of regeneration and development. The philosophical approach used engages the paradigms of community development (Moscardo, 2014; Ness, 2014; Goodson and Phillimore, 2012; Gilchrist and Taylor, 2011). A bottom-up, endogenous approach to development is perceived to deliver unique selling points to the community. An exogenous and centralist approach is perceived to deliver standardised outcomes that may not encourage actors to develop distinctive and special features for future strategies. This report measured the strength of the Cathedral, the seat of the Bishop of Derby, in delivering community outcomes that reflect both the values, beliefs and aims of the Church of England and of the city. At the same time it identifies the structures required within the Cathedral to support these aims and objectives. A participatory action approach, rooted in social constructivism, is used to frame the investigation into delivery and operation (Mayo et al., 2013). With the active encouragement of participants at the Cathedral and within other specific organisations located in the City I conjecture the future requirements of strategy and operations to deliver exceptional outcomes that encompass the good practices. This approach incorporates analysis of community's beliefs, expectations and values. The model then creates a framework for supporting, advocating and co-creating a development agenda that has the Cathedral at its core. The model reflects on the achievements of the Cathedral, the structure needed to make those achievements, it sells the strategy for people to operate it, and it tells the stories of that strategy to reflect the output and outcomes and concludes with indicators for future development by the Cathedral. I conclude by reflecting the increased social capital that is created in this approach.


In the past six months, hackers have infiltrated the websites and internal servers of the United States Senate, the CIA, numerous other state and federal agencies, private corporations, and individuals. The onslaught seems unstoppable, and the FBI and other US law enforcement agencies struggle to identify and arrest the hackers responsible for the attacks. Many hackers are after money, concentrating on identify theft and other frauds that have allowed them to steal tens of millions of dollars, primarily from small businesses in the United States. More ominous, however, is the recent trend of attempted and successful cyber-infiltrations into government agencies, the military, and the email accounts of government officials and other individuals with high security clearances, in the United States as well as other nations. At the same time that attacks are being launched against the United States, the United States has come much closer to launching its own cyber attacks. In early 2011, before leading conventional military strikes against Gaddafi's regime in Libya, the United States considered, and ultimately rejected, initiating a cyber attack against Libya's air-defense system, hoping to cripple its ability to act against the upcoming airstrikes. Although the United States rejected the plan, that it was even considered is strong evidence of the importance that the Obama administration has placed on cybersecurity, as it has become increasingly pressing for both homeland security and offensive military tactics. Since taking office, Obama has taken unprecedented steps to develop a coherent United States policy on the issues surrounding cyberspace, particularly those relating to defense. The Obama administration was the first to appoint a Director of Cybersecurity and has released several publications detailing its cyberstrategy, starting with the Cyberspace Policy Review and the International Strategy for Cyberspace, in the first years of Obama's presidency. Published in July 2011, the Department of Defense Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace, as the title implies, outlined how the Pentagon, which is in charge of all military domains, would approach cybersecurity issues. The Obama administration has also pushed Congress to draft and pass comprehensive cybersecurity legislation, a move which has received bipartisan support. One factor that greatly complicates the issue of cyberdefense, however, is the fact that cyber attacks are not solely made against the government or other public networks, but rather against private companies. There is debate amongst experts about how much the government should be involved in ensuring private companies are adequately protected against cyber attacks. The United States is also an active participant in international conversations about cybersecurity, where there is much less consensus about appropriate rules and norms. Broadly speaking, there are two different approaches to cybersecurity that countries tend to take. The first, which is exemplified by the policies of die United States and the United Kingdom, want to be able to crack down on cybercrime without inhibiting the free flow of information between and within countries. The second, primarily promoted by Russia and China, is concerned with limiting the flow of information across borders. Russian and Chinese leaders are concerned that free information could make their societies less stable. While the Obama administration has stated that it would support die creation of an international treaty on cyberspace, it seems unlikely that agreement could be reached on any such treaty in the near future, given the divergent views on the most pressing issues of cyberspace. …


The study evaluates the influence of credit policies on institutional lending behaviour of farmers in Cross River State. It also ascertains the relationship between credit and agricultural development. Using econometric methods, results reveal that credit quota and portfolio lending devices and pursuit of cheap interest rate polices has negative effect on credit supply while policies associated with plough back of rural savings mobilization and availability of guarantee were marginally effective. Results also show that farmers demand for credit was influenced mainly by the availability of credit subsidies and availability of guarantees. Also, the study showed that a positive but inelastic relationship exist between credit and agricultural output. Finally, it was revealed that some factors which militate against the effectiveness of agricultural credit polices include lack of viable technologies, defective production environments and wrong perception of the roles of credit in development. An agenda for credit policy reforms stressed the need to evolve and adopt policies, which foster desirable financial technologies, which serve both the interest of institutional borrowers and lenders. Keywords : Agricultural Productivity, Credit policies, Agricultural development, Monetary policies and Cross River State Global Journal of Agricultural Sciences Vol. 7 (1) 2008: pp. 1-6


of 2095 lactation records of Holstein Friesian cattle kept at Dalla Farm in Egypt during the period from 1988 to 1992 were used in this study. Those data were used to estimate variances from direct and maternal genetic effects. The data was analyzed by using Multiple Traits Derivative Free Restricted Maximum Likelihood (MTDFREML) according to BOLDMAN et al. (1995) using repeatability Animal Model. Two models were used: Model 1 includes month of calving, year of calving, parity as fixed effects, days open and days dry as covariates and direct genetic, maternal genetic, covariance between direct and maternal genetic, permanent environmental and residual as random effects; Model 2 is similar to Model 1, but excluding additive maternal and covariance between additive direct and maternal effects. Estimates of heritability for 305 day milk yield (305 dMY) were 0.22 and 0.23, for Model 1 and Model 2, respectively. Heritability estimates for age at first calving (AFC) were 0.77 and 0.82 for Model 1 and model 2, respectively. The removal of additive maternal genetic effects and covariance between direct and maternal genetic effects from the model increased estimates for heritability of additive genetic effects by 0.01 and 0.05 for 305 dMY and AFC, respectively. Then, the additive maternal genetic effect and covariance between direct and maternal genetic effects do not seem to make important contributions to the phenotypic variance for milk yield and age at first calving, and these effects are probably not important for genetic evaluations.


Topical application of ozone has been used in management of gingivitis and periodontitis with no reliable data obtained regarding its direct effect on the periodontal tissues in diabetic rats. Blood glucose level measurements were done before and after ozone application. Cementum thickness measurements showed no significant difference in the diabetic groups before and after ozone application. The number of bone cells was also measured showing a significant increase in number as compared with the controls in some of the groups, followed by decrease in number of bone cells with prolonged ozone application. The same results were obtained after counting the number of fibroblasts. The histopathological examination of the samples revealed presence of some structural alterations with prolonged use of ozone. DNA content was measured using the image analysis system showing different degrees of abnormalities denoting the presence of pathological changes.


Domestic violence is a serious problem affecting women in Canada. Immigrant women in particular may be more vulnerable to abuse and face more barriers in seeking help. This paper will examine the experiences of abused immigrant woman through a critical review of the literature. Domestic abuse does not operate in a vacuum; it is shaped and compounded by other interlinking forms of oppression. In particular, gendered immigration policies and reduced access to social services exacerbate experiences of violence. Responses to violence against immigrant women thus must be holistic and long term, challenging societal inequalities and underlying structures of power.


Previous works on the kinetics of martensitic transformation in shape memory materials through Landau theory and the application of the phase field theory to study phase transformations in alloys are briefly reviewed. Based on field model to improper martensitic transformation proposed by Wang and Khachaturyan in 1997, a simpler model is suggested. Using this model, the motion speed and shape of parent/martensite and martensite-martensite interface are quantitatively described, which are important factors to be considered in design of smart device using shape memory materials as a main element.


BIOSCREEN is used extensively for screening‐level evaluation of the transport of dissolved contaminants in ground water. The code has an effective graphical user interface that makes it ideal for use in both professional practice and as a teaching aid. BIOSCREEN implements the approximate transport solution of Domenico (1987) . This note describes an enhanced version of the program, BIOSCREEN‐AT, which supplements the Domenico solution with an exact analytical solution. The exact analytical solution has been integrated seamlessly within the BIOSCREEN interface and provides a simple and direct way to calculate an exact solution to the transport equation and, if desired, to assess the significance of the errors introduced by the Domenico (1987) solution for site‐specific applications. The modified version of BIOSCREEN is designated BIOSCREEN‐AT and can be downloaded free of charge from http://www.sspa.com/./software/BIOSCREEN.htm.


The risks associated to uranium mining and milling wastes require the radiological surveillance of the areas with these residues and the assessment of the radiation risk to the populations living in the region. This radiological surveillance is based on an environmental monitoring programme implemented by ITN. Annually, soils, water, and plants including horticulture products from the uranium mine areas are sampled and analyzed for radioactivity. As part of this programme, analyses of soils, irrigation waters, agriculture products (lettuce), green pasture, and cheese were performed in samples collected in the area of the old Urgeiriça uranium mine and milling facilities near Viseu, Centre-North of Portugal, in order to assess the transfer of uranium series radionuclides to man. In the Urgeiriça area, some soils and vegetables display radionuclide concentrations higher than in reference areas 226Ra was the radionuclide more concentrated by vegetables. Through ingestion of these products 226Ra may be the main contributor to the increment of radiation dose received by local population. The solutions implemented for environmental remediation of tailings piles and mining waste dumps in Urgeiriça and in other old uranium mine sites, with time are expected to render safe these areas and to allow the release of old mining concession areas for other uses by the public without radiation risks.


The European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) was the first mammal in which embryonic diapause has been described. While diapause is characterized by a complete developmental arrest in some species, roe deer blastocysts show a very slow, yet continuous growth. To date, it is neither known whether this growth is accompanied by developmental progression nor whether it is uniform in both, the trophectoderm (TE) and the inner cell mass (ICM). We collected roe deer blastocysts during the regular hunting season from September 2018 to January 2019, and quantified the fraction of cells expressing the proliferation marker Ki67 by immunofluorescence and light-sheet microscopy. We found that the cell number increased from around 300 cells in September to over 20'000 cells per blastocyst in December before elongation occured. Concurrently, we observed considerable morphological changes, i.e. cavity formation and transition to a disk-like shape of the inner cell mass. During diapause, less than 10% of all cells displayed positive Ki67 staining. Strikingly, the relative increase in cell number was lower in the ICM compared to the TE, whereas the fraction of Ki67 positive cells appeared to be lower in the TE than in the ICM. Our findings thus confirm that roe deer blastocysts display developmental progression in the course of diapause. We hypothesize that while the overall duration of the cell cycle is longer in the ICM than in the TE, the fractional distribution of cell cycle phases differs, with TE cells having a longer G1 phase than cells of the ICM.


Mycelial- or spherule-phase derivatives of Coccidioides immitis caused a decrease in vitro of total hemolytic complement in serum from a nonsensitized person. Activation involved both classic and alternative pathways as shown by deprssion of hemolytic C4 and by generation of products of activation of components C3, C4, and factor B. In addition, functional complement activity or immunoreactive levels of complement components or both were measured in 23 patients with self-limited or disseminated coccidioidomycosis. Low total hemolytic complement was found in nine, usually during the early phase of primary illness, and was transient. Hemolytic C4 was low, and the effect of inulin to decrease complement levels was blunted, suggested both classic and alternative pathways may be deficient. However, associated depression of immunoreactive levels of components assayed (C3, C4, C5, factor B, and properdin) was not consistently found. This disparity raises the possibility of enhanced in vitro inactivation analogous to activation by immune complexes.


Orthotopic neobladder reconstruction is becoming an increasingly common urinary diversion following cystectomy for bladder cancer. This is in recognition of the potential benefits of neobladder surgery over creation of an ileal conduit related to quality of life (QoL), such as avoiding the need to form a stoma with its cosmetic, psychological and other potential complications. The PubMed database was searched using relevant search terms for articles published electronically between January 1994 and April 2014. Full-text articles in English or with English translation were assessed for relevance to the topic before being included in the review. Patients with neobladders have comparable or better post-operative sexual function than those with ileal conduits. They also have comparable QoL to those with ileal conduits. Orthotopic neobladder is a good alternative to ileal conduit in suitable patients who do not want a stoma and are motivated to comply with neobladder training. However, the selection of a neobladder as the urinary diversion of choice requires that patients have good renal and liver functions and are likely to be compliant with neobladder training. With benefits also come potential risks of neobladder formation. These include electrolyte abnormalities and nocturnal incontinence. This short review highlights current aspects of neobladder formation and its potential advantages.


Background Oil-based contrast has been shown to have a fertility-enhancing effect during hysterosalpingography (HSG) but is not yet used during transvaginal hydro laparoscopy (THL). Objective To asses if additional tubal flushing with oil-based contrast during THL is feasible. Materials and Methods Case report with video assessment. A healthy 29-year-old woman with primary unexplained subfertility, underwent a THL under local anaesthesia. First, chromopertubation was performed by methylene blue. Afterwards, tubal flushing with 3mL oil-based contrast (Lipiodol® UltraFluid, Guerbet) was performed. Main outcome measures In this case report we evaluated the feasibility of additional tubal flushing with oil- based contrast during THL, in terms of; the visibility of the oil-based contrast at the tubal fimbriae, the pain and acceptability scores. Results Both fallopian tubes were patent to methylene-blue as well as to oil-based contrast. Interestingly, the oil-based contrast came out of the fallopian tube in the form of free droplets with strong internal bonding. Furthermore, some residue of the droplets was visible on the surface of the peritoneal wall in the form of oily micro-droplets. Conclusions We present the first sub-fertile woman, in which additional tubal flushing with oil-based contrast during THL was performed. It is likely, that the residue of oily micro-droplets is also present inside the fallopian tube, where it may enhance the cilia movement by introducing lubrication. These lubricating characteristics of the oil-based contrast may be important for its fertility-enhancing effect. More research is necessary to confirm this hypothesis and the feasibility of tubal flushing with oil-based contrast during THL in more women.