Bennis (1989) would probably appreciate the irony in Clemens' comment. He once remarked that "To an extent, leadership is like beauty: It is hard to define, but you know it when you see it." (p.1) Both statements strike to the heart of the leadership/administration dichotomy and to the dilemma of those who prepare leaders for the changing demands and cultural norms of the new millennium. Although the primary target of many educational reformers is the public schools, their message echoes loudly in the hallowed halls of academe as well. If leadership is vital to the schools, preparation of those leaders is very serious business indeed, and graduate programs must move beyond the training of efficient managers, to the preparation of visionary, moral, and transformational leaders. Educators developing new programs and those revisiting existing ones are morally obligated to carefully investigate the knowledge base(es) on which they will build their curriculum and delivery systems rather than overlaying behavioral/structural models with post-structural or post-modern ones. They can start with fresh assumptions about the nature of leadership, drawing from English, Senge, Sergiovanni, Hodgkinson, Bennis and a host of other contemporaries. This will be a formidable task since there is shifting consensus on what constitutes leadership, and whether it can even be "taught." Research and experience have taught us much in recent years about child development, learning theory, classroom management, effective teaching, motivation and discipline, and the appropriate use of instructional technology. Effective schools research has built upon this to suggest new roles for school leaders and new models to prepare them. With over 15,000 school districts in this country we have a large numbers of successful programs to study and emulate. And yet there appears to be a reluctance to move beyond the scientific methods of the past, the traditional models that have been in place for decades. One colleague has described it as "institutional inertia." Perhaps, a brief examination of this fledgling field we call educational administration, and more recently educational leadership, might shed some light on this phenomenon. While leadership is at least as old as man, the term didn't appear in the literature on school administration until well after the turn of the 20th century (English, 1994). Educational administration began as an offspring Of scientific management and its early adherents were fervently entrenched in the doctrine of efficiency, leading to what English (1994) calls "scientism." Later came the behaviorists, then the organizational sociologists, neither of which has provided the predictive power to solve the myriad problems facing 21st century educators. An increasing number of investigators believe that too many administrators see themselves as continuing the legacy of efficiency through systems theory and, now, total quality management. Over the course of the late twentieth century, our understanding of leadership has changed rather dramatically as we have recognized that what leaders do is determined, in large part, by the nature of those being led and the culture of the organizations in which they work. Additionally, as systems theory suggests, those organizations are influenced by and, in turn, influence the greater culture of which they are a part. The European and Asian concepts of communities bound by bludt and bot, the familial ties and bloodlines of generations, is not a part of the American culture. Two hundred years of immigration, economic mobility, a unique political environment, a decentralized educational system, and America's sheer geographic size have resulted in a diversity of cultural values unmatched anywhere in the world. That diversity coupled with our absolute commitment to compulsory education to further the commonweal and a constitution that leaves education to the fifty states poses an enormous challenge to educational leaders. …


Toward a new understanding of the functional gastrointestinal disorders For centuries, physicians and historians have recognized that it is common for maladies to aZict the intestinal tract, producing symptoms of pain, nausea, vomiting, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, diYcult passage of food or feces, or any combination. When these symptoms are experienced as severe, or when they impact on daily life, those aZicted often attribute the symptoms to an illness and seek medical care. Traditionally, the physicians caring for these patients will search for inflammatory, infectious, neoplastic, and other structural abnormalities to make a specific diagnosis and oVer specific treatment. Yet as has been common in medical practice, when no structural etiology is found, the patient is diagnosed as having "functional" symptoms and is treated symptomatically. Until recently, the limited scientific knowledge about the pathophysiology of these symptoms, and the need to diagnose by excluding "organic" disease, has led physicians to feel uncertain about the legitimacy of these symptoms as bona fide disorders. Some have felt insecure in their ability to manage patients with these conditions, and might even avoid caring for patients with these complaints. But over the past two decades, two important processes have occurred to legitimize these conditions, and to increase attention toward the research and clinical care of patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGID). The first has been a shift in conceptualizing these disorders from a disease-based, reductionistic model, where the eVort is directed toward identifying a single underlying biological etiology, to a more integrated, biopsychosocial model of illness. 5 The latter model allows for symptoms to be understood as physiologically multidetermined (e.g., altered motility, enhanced visceral sensitivity, brain–gut dysregulation) and as modifiable by sociocultural and psychosocial influences. The second change has been the remarkable growth in investigative techniques that support this newer conceptualization of brain–gut interactions: improved motility assessment, the development of the barostat, imaging of the brain (positron emission tomography (PET), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)), standardized psychological diagnostic instruments, and the molecular investigation of brain–gut peptides. As a result, over the past two decades, there has been a 10-fold increment in Medline citations about irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a much larger number of symposia and presentations at national and international meetings about the FGIDs, and increased eVort by pharmaceutical companies to identify and test receptoractive agents to treat these disorders. These developments built support for an international eVort to characterize and classify the FGIDs by investigators and clinicians, pharmaceutical regulatory organizations, pharmaceutical companies, and federal research agencies. The Multinational Working Teams to Develop Diagnostic Criteria for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders (Rome Committees) began in the mid 1980s as a series of committees that developed consensus criteria for over 20 FGIDs and published them in several documents in Gastroenterology International. These documents were eventually updated and compiled into a book as the Rome criteria. In this supplement, we present the second major eVort of the Rome committees: the update of our growing knowledge of the FGIDs over the past five years. We include five articles that detail the FGIDs based on anatomic region, (esophageal, gastroduodenal, bowel, biliary, anorectal), and a separate article on pediatric FGIDs. We also present several articles summarizing current knowledge on the physiologic (motility/sensation), basic science (brain–gut), and psychosocial aspects of the FGIDs, and provide recommendations for the design of treatment trials for these disorders. In addition, we include the revised (Rome II) diagnostic criteria for the FGIDs developed by consensus of experts and based on existing evidence. Finally, as we enter the new millennium, we offer recommendations for future studies that will help advance this growing field. In this introductory article, I will review the rationale and limitations of a symptom-based diagnostic (Rome II) classification system, discuss the process through which the criteria and consensus information were developed, and briefly summarize the pathophysiological knowledge that is evolving about the FGIDs. More detailed information is provided in the other articles written by the 10 committees.


Despite the frequency of fauna translocations as a technique to improve the conservation status of threatened species, new populations frequently fail to establish. Translocations often lack experimental manipulation to determine 'best practice' methods to improve success. One poorly understood element of translocation science is the impact of parasites and disease-‐causing pathogens on the animals moved and the ecosystem they are moved into. Of 58 published Australian translocations in the last 40 years, only 20 (35%) employed any level of parasite management, despite potential contribution of disease to initial fauna declines.

I closely investigated a translocation of boodies (Bettongia lesueur) from Barrow Island and Dryandra to Lorna Glen, and 'island dwarf' golden bandicoots (Isoodon auratus) from Barrow Island to Lorna Glen and Hermite Island. Bandicoots born into the new populations showed an increased skeletal size and body mass (males) and reproductive output in the number and average size of young (females). These changes occurred within 18 months of release, suggesting that responses were due to phenotypic plasticity, rather than selective pressure occurring over many generations. I conclude that the small size of bandicoots on Barrow Island is a response to resource limitation, rather than true island dwarfism.

 I determined the impact on parasite load and survivorship of translocated animals by treating half the population with a topical antiparasitic. Despite frequent trapping (six-‐ weekly) and very high recapture rate (64–99%), repeated dosage did not significantly impact ectoparasite or haemoparasite infection, or survival of the marsupials. I observed transmission of parasites between animals of different origin and to offspring, and a decline in species diversity present in the translocated population due to the failure of some species to persist.

This thesis identified knowledge gaps in the translocation literature and addressed some key concepts of species ecology, population dynamics and parasitology via post-translocation monitoring.


Current video compression algorithms are increasingly complicated and difficult to analyze and profile. Design tools and system level languages often prove to be inefficient and incapable of providing complexity analysis as a first step directed toward at the implementation of video compression algorithms. This paper proposes framework that will help to develop a methodology that facilitates the derivation of analytical dataflow models. The framework proposes dataflow models for quantifying the underlying algorithm's memory complexity, related timing considerations, and verification of the correctness of the video compression algorithm.


Automatic transcription of meetings requires handling of overlapped speech, which calls for continuous speech separation (CSS) systems. The uPIT criterion was proposed for utterance-level separation with neural networks and introduces the constraint that the total number of speakers must not exceed the number of output channels. When processing meeting-like data in a segment-wise manner, i.e., by separating overlapping segments independently and stitching adjacent segments to continuous output streams, this constraint has to be fulfilled for any segment. In this contribution, we show that this constraint can be significantly relaxed. We propose a novel graph-based PIT criterion, which casts the assignment of utterances to output channels in a graph coloring problem. It only requires that the number of concurrently active speakers must not exceed the number of output channels. As a consequence, the system can process an arbitrary number of speakers and arbitrarily long segments and thus can handle more diverse scenarios. Further, the stitching algorithm for obtaining a consistent output order in neighboring segments is of less importance and can even be eliminated completely, not the least reducing the computational effort. Experiments on meeting-style WSJ data show improvements in recognition performance over using the uPIT criterion.


This paper is concerned with speed control of hydraulic press system. First, the mathematical model of hydraulic press is derived from its physical characteristics. Then, based on this model, the so-called back-stepping approach is used to design a speed controller. Moreover, in order to overcome the unknown deformation resistance and some other resistance, an adaptive control scheme is introduced to this controller. Finally, a real hydraulic press model is used to validate the proposed method. Simulation results show that the adaptive controller deals with the nonlinearity effectively, and the tracking performance of the system is good.


Authored on behalf of the Sigma Theta Tau International 2005-2007 Research and Scholarship Advisory Committee: Laura Cullen, RN, MA, APN, Evidence-Based Practice Coordinator, Research, Quality and Outcomes Management, Department of Nursing Services and Patient Care, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, Iowa. Alba DiCenso, RN, PhD, CHSRF/CIHR Chair in Advanced Practice Nursing, Director of the CHSRF/CIHR Ontario Training Centre in Health Services and Policy Research, McMaster University School of Nursing, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Rhonda Griffiths, RN, Cm, BEd Nursing, MSc(Hons), PhD, Professor of Nursing, University of Western Sydney, Director of the South West Sydney Centre for Applied Nursing Research (CANR), Director of the NSW Centre for Evidence Based Health Care (The Joanna Briggs Institute), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Brendan McCormack, RGN, DPhil(Oxon.), BSc(Hons.), PGCEA, RMN, DPN Coordinator, Director of Nursing Research and Practice Development, Royal Group of Hospitals, Belfast and University of Ulster at Jordanstown, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia Belfast, Northern Ireland. Jo Rycroft-Malone, RN, PhD, MSc, BSc(Hons), Wales Reader in Health Services Research; Centre for Health-Related Research; School for Healthcare Sciences; College of Health & Behavioural Sciences; University of Wales, Bangor, Wales.


In this study we analyse the primary energy implications of thermal envelope designs and construction systems, for a 4-storey apartment building, including the full lifecycle phases and the entire energy chains. We maintain the architectural design of the reference building, and alter the thermal properties of the envelope components and include heat recovery of ventilation air to achieve buildings with thermal properties similar to three existing passive houses in Sweden. We also vary the building frame material from the reference wood case to reinforced concrete, and vary the heat supply system between district heating and electric resistance heating. We follow the lifecycle of the buildings and analyse and compare their lifecycle primary energy use, considering the production, operation and end-of-life energy uses. The results show that the lifecycle primary energy use of a passive house building is substantially lower when it is heated with district heating instead of electricity. A passive house with...


Long-term follow-up of randomised trials and observational studies provide the best evidence presently available to assess long-term effects of nutrition, and such studies are an important component in determining optimal infant feeding practices. Attrition is, however, an almost inevitable occurrence with increasing age at follow-up. There is a common assumption that studies with <80% follow-up rates are invalid or flawed, and this criticism seems to be more frequently applied to follow-up studies involving randomised trials than observational studies. In this article, we explore the basis and evidence for this "80% rule" and discuss the need for greater consensus and clear guidelines for analysing and reporting results in this specific situation.


OBSERVERS OF AMERICAN REGIONALISM HAVE LONG KNOWN THAT THE South has suffered from high, often astronomically high, levels of violence. Late-eighteenth-century travelers marveled at the eye-gouging and nose-biting rituals at the core of rough-and-tumble fighting in the region, and reports of dueling and lynching became stock elements of nineteenth-century guidebooks and travel accounts. (1) In his 1880 book, Homicide, North and South, the Charleston journalist Horace V. Redfield provided perhaps the first quantitative analysis of this phenomenon, noting, for example, that in 1878 South Carolina had "more homicides than in the eight States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Michigan, and Minnesota." (2) An 1896 observer concluded "that in no other part of this country, as long settled as the South has been, are murders so frequent or human life so cheap." (3) Early-twentieth-century statisticians such as Frederick L. Hoffman, sociologists such as H. C. Brearley, and psychologists such as John Dollard documented a similar trend in violent behavior. (4) Late-twentieth-century historians, including Sheldon Hackney, Bertram Wyatt-Brown, Edward L. Ayers, and Gilles Vandal, also examined the high levels of violence in the region. (5) Recent studies by criminologists, sociologists, and social psychologists have established that this tradition of violence lives, for southerners continue to kill and to be killed at rates far above the national mean, though the regional gap narrowed over the course of the twentieth century. (6) During the final quarter of the twentieth century, the South's homicide rate was nearly double that of the Northeast, down from more than quadruple the northeastern rate during the early decades of the century. (7) In 2005, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report, the southern homicide rate remained 50 percent higher than the northeastern rate and nearly 20 percent higher than the national homicide rate. (8) There is less certainty about the sources or causes of these persistent regional differences in violent behavior. Much of the historical literature on the topic focuses on either race relations or the southern ethic of honor as the great wellspring for southern bloodletting, though some scholars have also emphasized the role of legal institutions. (9) The scholarship on the history of southern violence has typically focused exclusively on the South and thus has stopped short of developing comparative perspectives. To be sure, scholars from a broad range of disciplines, writing about the past as well as the present, have demonstrated that rates of violence have been consistently higher in the South. But in the absence of comparative research, it is not clear whether the character, forms, and sparks for southern violence have been as distinctive as the level of violence. At least in part, methodological challenges account for the dearth of studies that offer direct regional comparisons of violence. Even the relatively straightforward task of calculating homicide rates is difficult and tedious. Rarely is a historian fortunate enough to unearth comparable sets of records for places separated by hundreds of miles, having different institutional structures, and embracing distinctive legal sensibilities. As a consequence, gaps in extant sources and differences in legal standards between the regions make direct, quantitative comparisons difficult. Moreover, these methodological problems have discouraged scholars from disaggregating rates of lethal violence. In other words, few of the historians, criminologists, and sociologists who have analyzed southern violence have compared the nature or component parts of violence in different regions. Simply put, have northerners and southerners killed in different ways and for different reasons? Lynching represents one obvious form of region-based homicide, and while such violence is enormously revealing about race relations and broader regional culture, these murders constituted only a tiny proportion of homicides and fail to account for the huge and persistent gap in rates of lethal violence. …


Using a high‐stakes field experiment conducted with a financial brokerage, we implement a novel design to separately identify two channels of social influence in financial decisions, both widely studied theoretically. When someone purchases an asset, his peers may also want to purchase it, both because they learn from his choice ("social learning") and because his possession of the asset directly affects others' utility of owning the same asset ("social utility"). We randomize whether one member of a peer pair who chose to purchase an asset has that choice implemented, thus randomizing his ability to possess the asset. Then, we randomize whether the second member of the pair: (i) receives no information about the first member, or (ii) is informed of the first member's desire to purchase the asset and the result of the randomization that determined possession. This allows us to estimate the effects of learning plus possession, and learning alone, relative to a (no information) control group. We find that both social learning and social utility channels have statistically and economically significant effects on investment decisions. Evidence from a follow‐up survey reveals that social learning effects are greatest when the first (second) investor is financially sophisticated (financially unsophisticated); investors report updating their beliefs about asset quality after learning about their peer's revealed preference; and, they report motivations consistent with "keeping up with the Joneses" when learning about their peer's possession of the asset. These results can help shed light on the mechanisms underlying herding behavior in financial markets and peer effects in consumption and investment decisions.


Software organizations evolve and maintain software solutions with more than a single development project. The delta specifications and artifacts that result from each project make reuse difficult and challenge a company's ability to innovate. Software product management is a growing discipline for understanding how to productize and align software with company strategy, how to evolve software, and how to coordinate product stakeholders. With product focus, in addition to project focus, planning accuracy can be improved, time-to-market reduced, product quality enhanced, and economic success sustained. This chapter provides an overview on software product management and discusses what today is known about this discipline.


Objectives—Cochlear implantation has been suggested to be associated with an air-bone gap, possibly secondary to increased middle- and inner-ear stiffness. To explore the effect of possible changes in mechanics due to cochlear implantation, we measured wideband tympanometry (WBT) in individuals with normal hearing and individuals with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss who underwent unilateral or bilateral cochlear implantation. Our goal was to characterize differences in WBT patterns associated with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss and with cochlear implantation. Design—The study participants were 24 individuals with normal hearing (48 ears) and 17 with cochlear implants, of which 15 were unilaterally implanted and two were implanted bilaterally. All the participants had normal otoscopy. In the implanted group, inner-ear anatomy was normal according to preoperative imaging. All participants underwent pure-tone audiometric assessment, standard tympanometry (226 Hz probe tone), and WBT to a click stimulus (analyzed from 226 to 8000 Hz). WBT was recorded at ambient and peak pressures. To elucidate the effect of sensorineural hearing loss on WBT, we compared normal-hearing ears with impaired non-implanted ears. The impact of cochlear implantation was assessed by comparing the WBT of the implanted and non-implanted ears of the same participants. Moreover, the effect of the ear (right vs. left) and test–retest reproducibility were evaluated. Results—WBT results for right and left ears showed no statistically significant differences in the normal hearing participants. There were no statistical differences shown between repeated measurements of WBT with removal and re-insertion of the probe in any of the groups—the normal ears, the implanted ears, and the non-implanted ears with hearing impairment. Peak compensated admittance (Ytm) in standard tympanometry was normal in 32 out of 34 (94%) ears with sensorineural hearing loss, with one CI user having bilateral negative middle-ear pressure. Compared to normal-hearing ears, ears with severe to profound SNHL, with or without cochlear implantation, showed a significant decrease in absorbance at high frequencies (4000–5000 Hz). Implanted ears, compared both to normal-hearing and contralateral-non-implanted ears, showed a significant decrease in absorbance at low frequencies (400–800 Hz) and an increase in absorbance around 1600 Hz. Conclusions—WBT analysis revealed that the implanted ears showed a significant decrease in absorbance at low frequencies (400–800 Hz) and an increase at 1600 Hz. This finding is likely a result of an increased stiffness due to the implantation surgery and the presence of the implant in the inner ear. In contrast, the specific decrease in absorbance around 4000–5000 Hz in the implanted and non-implanted ears compared to the normal ears is likely either due to aging or the impact of the severe-to-profound SNHL on the input impedance of the cochlea. The structural and functional changes of both the conductive system and the cochlea associated with aging and SNHL may change the wideband acoustic immittance of the ear and these alterations might be correlated with the hearing loss severity. Additional research is needed to determine how much hearing loss and age influence wideband acoustic immittance of the ear.


Introduction Marie Curie recognises the contribution that carers make to the support and wellbeing of those diagnosed with terminal illness.1Their 2012 report highlighted a lack of support for carers as well as the associated negative social and economic impact of caring for a dying relative. The Carers UK Report, 20142 found that nearly 6000 people become carers every day, with £1.1 billion of Carers' Allowance going unclaimed each year. Aims The understanding and appreciation of challenges faced by carers led to the establishment of a dedicated Carers' Clinic at Marie Curie Hospice, Hampstead, London in April 2016. The aim was to support carers, with the focus on answering their questions and addressing their concerns. Methods The model was social worker and nurse-led. A modified version of the Carers Support Needs Assessment Tool (CSNAT) was used as the basis for the consultation3 and a questionnaire evaluation was completed following the clinic appointment. Results Between April 2016 and March 2017 there were 31 consultations with 23 evaluations completed. Both quantitative and qualitative data was captured. 83% of respondents said that the clinic met their needs. Many carers requested follow-up sessions. The key themes identified were around financial advice, carers' health needs and support with managing their relatives' illness. Conclusion The Carers Clinic is now established in the hospice. Further developments include the establishment of a new service enabling carers to be referred for six sessions of pre-bereavement support, as well as a plan to implement an 8 week mindfulness programme. References . Marie Curie (2012) Committed to Carers; Supporting Carers of People at the End of Life, Marie Curie. pp.4-5, 7-8, 11–12 . Carers UK (2014) Need to know; Transitions in and out of Caring: The Information Challenge. Carers UK. pp.4. . Ewing, G & Grande, G. (2013) Development of a Carer Support Needs Assessment Tool (CSNAT ) for End-of-Life Care Practice at Home: A Qualitative Study. Palliative Medicine; 27 (3) pp.244–256.


In this paper, the design of the fixed-structure robust controllers satisfying multiple H∞ performance criteria is formulated as a non-convex multidimensional constrained optimization problem. An effective differential evolution with level comparison (DELC) is proposed, which applies differential evolution for global searching and employs level comparison for constraint handling. The DELC is general and can be easily and directly applied to many kinds of reduced-order/fixed-structure controller synthesis problems without any conservative assumption about the objective function. Numerical simulations are carried out based on some typical problems, and the comparisons with existing methods demonstrate the effectiveness, efficiency, and robustness of the proposed DELC algorithm.


Researchers and practitioners have addressed many variants of facility locations problems. Each location problem can be substantially different from each other depending on the objectives and/or constraints considered. In this paper, the bi-objective obnoxious p-median problem (Bi-OpM) is addressed given the huge interest to locate facilities such as waste or hazardous disposal facilities, nuclear power or chemical plants and noisy or polluting services, among others. The Bi-OpM aims to locate p facilities maximizing two different objectives: the distance between each customer and their nearest facility center and the dispersion among facilities. To address the Bi-OpM problem a Multi-objective Parallel Variable Neighborhood Search approach (Mo-PVNS) is implemented. Computational results indicate the superiority of the Mo-PVNS compared to the state-of-art algorithms.


Palliative radiation oncology is a new or foreign concept for many who deal with or are involved in the management of advanced cancer. This paper equips patients, medical students, residents, and physicians to understand the fundamentals of palliative radiation oncology. Given the growing burden of cancer and healthcare delivery challenges for patients nearing the end of life, it is important to understand the mechanism and implications of palliative radiation therapy, as well as the challenges in treatment. Advantages of treatment are carefully weighed with limitations and cost considerations, prognostic awareness, and adherence to goals of care. While treatment with palliative radiation may offer high potential value in certain scenarios, ultimately it is the role of the palliative radiation oncologist to decide when and when not to treat. Recent health system changes towards value-based care may promote a growing role for palliative radiation oncology in advanced cancer cases.


Reports about runaway jury awards have become so common that it is widely accepted that the U.S. jury system needs to be "fixed". Proposals to limit the right to a jury trial and increase judicial discretion over awards implicitly assume that judges decide cases differently than juries. We show that there are large differences in mean awards and win rates across juries and judges. But if the types of cases coming before juries are different from those coming before judges, mean award and win rates may differ even if judges and juries would make the same decisions when faced with the same cases. We find that most of the difference in judge and jury mean awards can be explained by differences in the sample of cases coming before judges and juries. On some dimensions, however, there remain robust and suggestive differences between judges and juries. Copyright 2000 by Oxford University Press.


We revisit potential impacts of nuclear burning on the onset of the neutrino-driven explosions of core-collapse supernovae. By changing the neutrino luminosity and its decay time to obtain parametric explosions in one- and two-dimensional (1D and 2D, respectively) models with or without a 13 isotope α network, we study how the inclusion of nuclear burning could affect the postbounce dynamics for 4 progenitor models; 3 for 15.0 M☉ stars and 1 for an 11.2 M☉ star. We find that the energy supply due to the nuclear burning of infalling material behind the shock can energize the shock expansion, especially for models that produce only marginal explosions in the absence of nuclear burning. These models are energized by nuclear energy deposition when the shock front passes through the silicon-rich layer and/or later as it touches the oxygen-rich layer. Depending on the neutrino luminosity and its decay time, the diagnostic energy of the explosion increases up to a few times 1050 erg for models with nuclear burning compared to the corresponding models without. We point out that these features are most remarkable for the Limongi–Chieffi progenitor in both 1D and 2D because the progenitor model possesses a massive oxygen layer, with an inner-edge radius that is smallest among the employed progenitors, which means that the shock can touch the rich fuel on a shorter timescale after bounce. The energy difference is generally smaller (∼0.1–0.2 × 1051 erg) in 2D than in 1D (at most ∼0.6 × 1051 erg). This is because neutrino-driven convection and the shock instability in 2D models enhance the neutrino heating efficiency, which makes the contribution of nuclear burning relatively smaller compared to 1D models. Considering uncertainties in progenitor models, our results indicate that nuclear burning should remain one of the important ingredients to foster the onset of neutrino-driven explosions.


The aim of this work was to evaluate if rivers could be used for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance. Five sampling points from three rivers (AR-1 and AR-2 in Arenales River, MR-1 and MR-2 in Mojotoro River, and CR in La Caldera River) from Salta (Argentina), two of them receiving discharges from wastewater plants (WWTP), were monitored from July to December 2020. Fifteen water samples from each point (75 in total) were collected and characterized physicochemically and microbiologically and SARS-CoV-2 was quanti fi ed by RT-qPCR. Also, two targets linked to human contributions,humanpolyomavirus(HPyV)andRNaseP,werequanti fi edandusedtonormalizeSARS-CoV-2concen-tration, which was compared to reported COVID-19 cases. Statistical analyses allowed us to verify the correlation be- tweenSARS-CoV-2andtheconcentrationoffecalindicatorbacteria(FIB),aswellasto fi ndsimilaritiesanddifferences between sampling points. La Caldera River showed the best water quality; FIBs were within acceptable limits for rec- reational activities. Mojotoro River's water quality was not affected by the northern WWTP of the city. Instead, Arenales River presented the poorest water quality; at AR-2 was negatively affected by the discharges of the southern WWTP, which contributedtosigni fi cant increase of fecal contamination. SARS-CoV-2was foundinabout halfof samples in low concentrations in La Caldera and Mojotoro Rivers, while it was high and persistent in Arenales River. No human tracers were detected in CR, only HPyV was found in MR-1, MR-2 and AR-1, and both were quanti fi ed in AR-2. The experimental and normalized viral concentrations strongly correlated with reported COVID-19 cases; thus, Arenales River at AR-2 re fl ected the epidemiological situation of the city. This is the fi rst study showing the for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance to support health authorities.


The electron microscopic study of the interaction of R. akari, strain CK, with the monolayer culture of L-cells was made 4 days after inoculation. Rickettsiae multiplied by transverse binary fission immediately in the cytoplasm of the cells and left the cells by gemmation, surrounded with plasmolemma and a fragment of the host cytoplasm. Alongside with multiplying rickettsiae, spheroplast-like rickettsiae and rickettsiae at the stage of destruction were regularly observed in phagolysosomes. The authors suggest that the normal interaction of rickettsiae with the host cell may be realized by three following routes (1) reproduction, (2) destruction in phagolysosomes and (3) formation of altered (anomalous) forms. The ability of the vegetative forms of rickettsiae and chlamydiae to yield spheroplast-like forms (the initial phase of bacterial L-transformation) indicates that these organisms are similar to bacteria and cannot be themselves regarded as L-forms.


Some new Schiff base metal complexes of Cr(III), Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II) derived from 5- bromosalicylidene-2-amino-5-methylthiazole (HL1) and 2-hydroxy-1-naphthylidene-2-amino- 5-nitrothiazole (HL2) have been synthesized by conventional as well as microwave methods. These compounds have been characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, FAB-mass, molar conductance, electronic spectra, 1H-NMR, ESR, magnetic susceptibility, thermal, cyclic voltammetry, electrical conductivity and XRD analysis. The complexes exhibit coordination number 4 or 6. The complexes are coloured and stable in air. Analytical data revealed that all the complexes exhibited 1:2 (metal: ligand) ratio. IR data shows that the ligand coordinates with the metal ions in a bidentate manner through the phenolic oxygen and azomethine nitrogen. FAB-mass and thermal data show degradation pattern of the complexes. The thermal behavior of metal complexes shows that the hydrated complexes lose water molecules of hydration in the first step; followed by decomposition of ligand molecules in the subsequent steps. The Schiff base and metal complexes show a good activity against the Gram-positive bacteria; Staphylococcus aureus and Gram-negative bacteria; Escherichia coli and fungi Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans. The antimicrobial results also indicate that the metal complexes are better antimicrobial agents as compared to the Schiff bases.


Obesity occurs when Body Mass Index (BMI) of an individual is above 30.0 with several effects on hematological indices and procoagulants hence, this study aims to evaluate correlation of BMI with hematological indices and procoagulants among people with obesity. This was a cross sectional and descriptive study carried out at Central Hospital, Sapele, General Hospital, Oghara and Biomed Diagnostic Centre, Sapele in Southern Nigeria. 415 subjects with age between 18 and 65years were enrolled for this study including 312 obese experimental subjects (comprising of 111males and 201females) and 103 non-obese normal control subjects (comprising 40males and 63females). 5.0mls of venous blood was collected from all subjects into EDTA container for Full Blood Count determination using Sysmex XN330 automated hematology analyzer and plasma procoagulant level was determined using ELISA method. Data analysis was done using Microsoft Excel 2010 and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS) version 21.0 software. The collated results were expressed as mean and standard deviation. BMI had a significant correlation with NLR at P<0.05 while PLR, MPV, PDW and Platocrit had no significant correlation with BMI. Correlation matrix of the relationship between BMI and procoagulant parameters reveals that, BMI had significant correlation with TF, sVCAM, and vWFAg at P<0.05. While, FG, tPA and PAI had no significant correlation with BMI at P<0.05. BMI had significant correlation with NLR, TF, sVCAM, and vWFAg while PLR, MPV, PDW, Platocrit, FG, tPA and PAI had no significant correlation with BMI among people with obesity.

 Key words: Body mass index (BMI), hematology indices, procoagulants, Sapele, Nigeria.


This paper deals with age and educational dimensions of the labour supply in Russia and explores two time periods: from 2000 to 2015 (retrospective), and the next 15 years (prospective). For our analysis we exploit the micro-census (2015) data and all LFS waves covering the retrospective period. Combining demographic projections with expected employment rates and data on educational achievement we forecast the employment composition up to 2030. If recent past changes in both age and education have contributed to economic growth, their effect is likely to be negative in the next 15 years. These two dimensions are directly associated with such challenges as ageing and over-education of the labour force. Russia is not unique here, but it is more exposed to both dimensions than are many other countries due to its demographic and educational developments. The paper concludes with several tentative policies that could ease, although not cure, the problem.


Objectives: Cutaneous community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CAMRSA) has been identified in otherwise healthy individuals either with or without methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA)-associated risk factors who participate in athletic activities. The purpose of this study was to describe the clinical features of CAMRSA skin infection that occurred in university student athletes, evaluate the potential mechanisms for the transmission of MRSA infection of the skin in participants of athletic activities, and review the measures for preventing the spread of cutaneous CAMRSA infection in athletes. Methods: A retrospective chart review of the student athletes from the University of Houston whose skin lesions were evaluated at the Health Center and grew MRSA was performed. The clinical characteristics and the postulated mechanisms of cutaneous MRSA infection in the athletes were compared with those previously published in reports of CAMRSA skin infection outbreaks in other sports participants. Results: Cutaneous CAMRSA infection occurred in seven student athletes (four women and three men) who were either weight lifters (three students) or members of a varsity sports team: volleyball (two women), basketball (one woman), and football (one man). The MRSA skin infection presented as solitary or multiple, tender, erythematous, fluctuant abscesses with surrounding cellulitis. The lesions were most frequently located in the axillary region (three weight lifters), on the buttocks (two women), or on the thighs (two women). The drainage from all of the skin lesions grew MRSA, which was susceptible to clindamycin, gentamicin, rifampin, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, and vancomycin; five of the isolates were also susceptible to ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin. All of the bacterial strains were resistant to erythromycin, oxacillin, and penicillin. The cutaneous MRSA infections persisted or worsened in the six athletes who were empirically treated for methicillin-sensitive S. aureus at their initial visit. Complete resolution of the skin infection occurred after the abscesses had been drained and the athlete had been treated with systemic antimicrobial therapy for which the bacterial strain was susceptible. Conclusions: Cutaneous CAMRSA infection typically presents as an abscess, with or without surrounding cellulitis, in otherwise healthy participants of athletic activities who have or do not have MRSA-associated risk factors. Athletes who have MRSA skin infections include weight lifters and team members from competitive sports such as basketball, fencing, football, rugby, volleyball, and wrestling. Bacterial culture of suspected infectious skin lesions should be performed to establish the diagnosis of cutaneous MRSA infection and to determine the antibiotic susceptibility of the bacterial isolate. Treatment of cutaneous MRSA infection involves drainage of the abscess (either spontaneously or after incision) and appropriate systemic antimicrobial therapy. Direct skin-to-skin physical contact with infectious lesions or drainage, skin damage that facilitates the entry of bacteria, and sharing of infected equipment, clothing, or personal items may result in the acquisition and transmission of MRSA infection in participants of athletic activities. Earlier detection and topical treatment of the athlete's skin wounds by their coaches, avoidance of contact with other participants' cutaneous lesions and their drainage, and good personal hygiene are measures that can potentially prevent the spread of cutaneous MRSA infection in participants of athletic activities.


This paper illustrates the use of mixture of experts (ME) network structure to guide model selection for classification of electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. Expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm was used for training the ME so that the learning process is decoupled in a manner that fits well with the modular structure. The EEG signals were decomposed into time-frequency representations using discrete wavelet transform and statistical features were calculated to depict their distribution. The ME network structure was implemented for classification of the EEG signals using the statistical features as inputs. Three types of EEG signals (EEG signals recorded from healthy volunteers with eyes open, epilepsy patients in the epileptogenic zone during a seizure-free interval, and epilepsy patients during epileptic seizures) were classified with the accuracy of 93.17% by the ME network structure. The ME network structure achieved accuracy rates which were higher than that of the stand-alone neural network models


Despite the growing popularity of women's rugby union over the past decade, little attention has been given to understanding the physical and technical demands specific to the sport. The aim of the study was to determine the match demands players are required to achieve during an elite level season and to identify if positional differences exist. Global positioning system (GPS) data were collected from one English Women's Premiership rugby union team over the course of the 2016/17 season. A total of 24 players in 8 games wore Catapult Minimax S4 units and data was obtained from players who had completed >60 min per game (total player games = 78). Players were classified according to specific position groups (front, second, back row, scrum half, inside and outside backs). Total and relative distances were calculated at the following movement intensities; 0–6 km/h (walking), 6.1–12 km/h (jogging), 12.1−14 km/h (slow running), 14.1−16 km/h (medium running), 16.1−18 km/h (fast running), >18.1 km/h (sprinting). Maximum velocity and player loads were calculated as an indication of overall player workload. Comparisons of mean values were made between playing positions with statistical significance determined using an independent measures ANOVA in SPSS v23. Mean total match distance was greatest for the second row (5185 m ± 1570) and least for the outside backs (3778 m ± 1281), with similar patterns for relative distances, although no position was significantly different from any other. Outside and inside backs covered a significantly greater distance at fast running (129 m ± 88; 138 m ± 100) and sprinting (90 m ± 103; 76 m ± 88) speeds, whereas the second row and scrum half covered significantly greater distances walking (2356 m ± 667; 2477 m ± 380) and jogging (1798 m ± 530; 1716 m ± 459) and the front row spent the greatest overall distance walking (2488 m ± 629). Outside backs produced a significantly greater maximum velocity than all other positions (24.4 km/h ± 1.95), inside backs were significantly faster than the forwards and scrum half (22.9 km/h ± 2.28), with the front row having the slowest maximum velocity (20.3 km/h ± 2.3). Mean player load was highest in the scrum half (559AU ± 101) and second row (531AU ± 140) and these were significantly higher than the outside backs. These findings indicate the demands placed on elite female rugby players are position specific and are different from male counterparts. These demands should be taken into account when setting training drills and match strategies.


Abstract : Ultraviolet laser light can be used to initiate low-temperature chemical processing of surfaces by reactions which are similar in many respects to those active in plasma techniques. Such processing has been under investigation over the last several years. A series of new techniques have been developed for thin-film deposition, for etching, and for doping of semiconductors by processes based on photolytic reactions at a gas-solid interface. Gas-phase and surface chemical reactions are controlled by a UV laser, while the temperature of the surface is independently controlled and can typically remain near room temperature. Experiments on UV excimer laser deposition of similar materials suggest that the same approach may be useful for rapid deposition of hard carbon films. In this summary we will review this new technology.


Monodisperse spherical titania particles of variable sizes are produced in a sol-gel synthesis from Ti(EtO)4 in ethanol with addition of a salt or a polymer solution. The influence of different salt ions or polymer molecules on the size and the size distribution of the final particles was investigated. The amorphous hydrous titania particles were characterized by electron microscopy, thermogravimetry, 1H-MAS NMR, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and electrophoresis. Nitrogen absorption measurements revealed that the addition of polymers yields hollow and porous titania colloids.


We have investigated the potential automatic use of an onset picker based on autoregressive likelihood estimation. Both a single component version and a three component version of this method have been tested on data from events located in the Khibiny Massif of the Kola peninsula, recorded at the Apatity array, the Apatity three component station and the ARCESS array. Using this method, we have been able to estimate onset times to an accuracy (standard deviation) of about 0.05 s for P-phases and 0.15 0.20 s for S phases. These accuracies are as good as for analyst picks, and are considerably better than the accuracies of the current onset procedure used for processing of regional array data at NORSAR. In another application, we have developed a generic procedure to reestimate the onsets of all types of first arriving P phases. By again applying the autoregressive likelihood technique, we have obtained automatic onset times of a quality such that 70% of the automatic picks are within 0.1 s of the best manual pick. For the onset time procedure currently used at NORSAR, the corresponding number is 28%. Clearly, automatic reestimation of first arriving P onsets using the autoregressive likelihood technique has the potential of significantly reducing the retiming efforts of the analyst.


The integration of experimental data into genome-scale metabolic models can greatly improve flux predictions. This is achieved by restricting predictions to a more realistic context-specific domain, like a particular cell or tissue type. Several computational approaches to integrate data have been proposed—generally obtaining context-specific (sub)models or flux distributions. However, these approaches may lead to a multitude of equally valid but potentially different models or flux distributions, due to possible alternative optima in the underlying optimization problems. Although this issue introduces ambiguity in context-specific predictions, it has not been generally recognized, especially in the case of model reconstructions. In this study, we analyze the impact of alternative optima in four state-of-the-art context-specific data integration approaches, providing both flux distributions and/or metabolic models. To this end, we present three computational methods and apply them to two particular case studies: leaf-specific predictions from the integration of gene expression data in a metabolic model of Arabidopsis thaliana, and liver-specific reconstructions derived from a human model with various experimental data sources. The application of these methods allows us to obtain the following results: (i) we sample the space of alternative flux distributions in the leaf- and the liver-specific case and quantify the ambiguity of the predictions. In addition, we show how the inclusion of ℓ1-regularization during data integration reduces the ambiguity in both cases. (ii) We generate sets of alternative leaf- and liver-specific models that are optimal to each one of the evaluated model reconstruction approaches. We demonstrate that alternative models of the same context contain a marked fraction of disparate reactions. Further, we show that a careful balance between model sparsity and metabolic functionality helps in reducing the discrepancies between alternative models. Finally, our findings indicate that alternative optima must be taken into account for rendering the context-specific metabolic model predictions less ambiguous.


Abstract Background Many studies have investigated the role of the microbiome in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but few have focused on surgery specifically or its consequences on the metabolome that may differ by surgery type and require longitudinal sampling. Our objective was to characterize and contrast microbiome and metabolome changes after different surgeries for IBD, including ileocolonic resection and colectomy. Methods The UC San Diego IBD Biobank was used to prospectively collect 332 stool samples from 129 subjects (50 ulcerative colitis; 79 Crohn's disease). Of these, 21 with Crohn's disease had ileocolonic resections, and 17 had colectomies. We used shotgun metagenomics and untargeted liquid chromatography followed by tandem mass spectrometry metabolomics to characterize the microbiomes and metabolomes of these patients up to 24 months after the initial sampling. Results The species diversity and metabolite diversity both differed significantly among groups (species diversity: Mann-Whitney U test P value = 7.8e-17; metabolomics, P-value = 0.0043). Escherichia coli in particular expanded dramatically in relative abundance in subjects undergoing surgery. The species profile was better able to classify subjects according to surgery status than the metabolite profile (average precision 0.80 vs 0.68). Conclusions Intestinal surgeries seem to reduce the diversity of the gut microbiome and metabolome in IBD patients, and these changes may persist. Surgery also further destabilizes the microbiome (but not the metabolome) over time, even relative to the previously established instability in the microbiome of IBD patients. These long-term effects and their consequences for health outcomes need to be studied in prospective longitudinal trials linked to microbiome-involved phenotypes.


Cardiovascular complications are consistently observed in diabetic patients across all age groups. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of aqueous extract of the fruit pulp of Hylocereus undatus (DFE) on aortic stiffness and oxidative stress in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes in rats. Twenty-four male, Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized into four groups: I (control), II (diabetic), III (DFE, 250 mg/kg) and IV (DFE 500 mg/kg). Diabetes was induced in groups II, III and IV by intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of STZ (40 mg/kg). After confirmation of diabetes, group III and IV received DFE for 5 weeks. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) was used as a marker of aortic stiffness and was determined at the end of 5 weeks. DFE significantly decreased (P < 0.05) the fasting blood glucose levels in diabetic rats, but not to normal levels. Systolic blood pressure, pulse pressure and PWV were significantly increased (P < 0.05) in diabetic rats at the end of 5 weeks in comparison with control group. DFE treatment significantly decreased (P < 0.05) these elevations. Oxidative damage was observed in group II after 5 weeks. Plasma malondialdehyde levels significantly decreased (P < 0.05), while superoxide dismutase and total antioxidant capacity significantly increased (P < 0.05) with DFE treatment in comparison with group II. These data demonstrate that DFE treatment was effective in controlling oxidative damage and decreasing the aortic stiffness measured by PWV in STZ-induced diabetes in rats.


Bovine colostrum characterized by its high level of bioactive peptides plays a significant role in curing plethora of diseases in human. In the present study, bovine colostrum was collected within 24-36hours after parturition, pooled and stored at -20 0C and the samples were analysed for total solids, fat, lactose, protein, ash, IgA, IgG, TGFβ1, TGFβ2, IGF1 and IGF2. Pooled samples were thawed and conditions for freeze drying were standardized. Physico-chemical attributes of freeze dried bovine colostrum powder was studied and microstructure of powder particles was observed with scanning electron microscope. Such powder can be used in formulating different food products like infant formula, fermented dairy products, sports drink and dietary supplements.


Background Physical frailty (PF) and sarcopenia are predictors of negative health outcomes such as falls, disability, hospitalization, and death. Some systematic reviews (SRs) have been published on different nonpharmacological treatments of frailty and sarcopenia using heterogeneous definitions of them. Objective To critically appraise the evidence from SRs of the primary studies on nonpharmacological interventions to treat PF (defined by Fried's frailty phenotype) and sarcopenia (defined by the EWGSOP) in older patients. Design Overview of SRs and meta-analysis of comparative studies. Data sources PubMed, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, EMBASE, and CINAHL were searched in October 2015. Eligibility criteria for selecting studies SRs that included at least one comparative study evaluating any nonpharmacological intervention to treat PF or sarcopenia in older patients in any health care setting. Any primary study described in these SRs with experimental design was included. Data extraction and management Two reviewers independently screened titles, abstracts, and full-texts of articles. Quality assessment was carried out by using criteria from the Cochrane Collaboration and the GRADE working group. Results Ten SRs with 5 primary studies satisfied the inclusion criteria. The most frequent interventions in the included studies were physical exercise (4) and nutritional supplementation (2). Muscle strength (MS; except for one study in a frail population) and physical performance (PP; except for another study in a frail population) improved with exercise and amino acid supplementation in frail and sarcopenic old adults. Falls and activities of daily living were assessed in two studies with opposite results. The overall quality of the evidence was low. Conclusion This overview of SRs highlights the importance of exercise interventions with or without nutritional supplementation to improve the PP in community-dwelling patients aged >65 years with PF and sarcopenia. MS improved with multidisciplinary treatment and exercise interventions in this population.


For more than 50 years a consensus has existed that infective endocarditis (IE) is, to some extent, a preventable disease. Central to the prevention strategy has been the use of prophylactic antibiotic therapy for patients with predisposing cardiac conditions (PCCs) undergoing diagnostic and therapeutic procedures that are known to cause bacteraemia with common infecting organisms—in particular, oral streptococci and enterococci. Beyond this generic approach, expert opinion has differed over which PCCs are associated with a sufficiently high predisposition to, and which procedures expose patients to a sufficiently high risk of, developing IE to justify antibiotic cover—but the underlying principle of suppressing the bacteraemia associated with a wide range of diagnostic and interventional procedures has rarely been challenged. During recent years, however, there has been a departure from the consensus, based mainly on recognition that bacteraemia of intensity comparable to, and cumulatively far greater than, that from occasional dental procedures occurs during everyday life.

In 2006 a working group of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC) concluded that prophylactic treatment should be prescribed only for patients at particularly high risk either of developing endocarditis or of an adverse outcome should it occur. The following year the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology (AHA/ACC) made similar recommendations but specified prophylaxis for only a limited list of dental procedures, and withdrew advice to cover gastrointestinal and urogenital interventions.

In response to the controversy provoked by the BSAC recommendations, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) was invited to re-examine the evidence and to develop a guideline for adoption by the National Health Service in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Contrary to the expectations of many cardiologists, NICE proposed a still more radical departure from existing practice by concluding that prophylactic antibiotic treatment should not be utilised for any at-risk patient …


In the clinical field, 3D Printing producing is a progressive innovation for various applications, specifically on account of its capacity to customize. From bioprinting to the making of clinical items, for example, inserts, prostheses, or orthoses, it is having a significant effect. Given that there are many energizing activities and organizations in every one of these territories today we will present to you a positioning of the best 3D printed orthoses. Dissimilar to prostheses that supplant a non-existent piece of the body, orthoses are clinical gadgets that are made to settle, soothe, immobilize, control, or right a piece of the body. Since every patient is unique, 3D printing is especially appropriate for these kinds of items and gadgets. Requiring an orthotic or prosthetic item likely methods a work concentrated, tedious, and chaotic procedure. For makers, creating great fitting orthotic and prosthetic gadgets is costly and requires profoundly gifted staff. Patients can anticipate that to a lesser degree a hold up should get their gadget, fewer fittings, and improved sturdiness. Developing a comfortable, properly fitting prosthesis is not just a science, it is also an art. 3D printing has the power to take today's bespoke, artisanal manufacturing process and transform it into a highly repeatable and consistent process, which ultimately results in more effective clinics and better patient outcomes.


Whispering gallery modes (WGMs) in circularly symmetric optical microresonators exhibit integer quantized angular momentum numbers due to the boundary condition imposed by the geometry. Here, we show that incorporating a photonic crystal pattern in an integrated microring can result in WGMs with fractional optical angular momentum. By choosing the photonic crystal periodicity to open a photonic band gap with a band-edge momentum lying between that of two WGMs of the unperturbed ring, we observe hybridized WGMs with half-integer quantized angular momentum numbers (m∈Z+1/2). Moreover, we show that these modes with fractional angular momenta exhibit high optical quality factors with good cavity-waveguide coupling and an order of magnitude reduced group velocity. Additionally, by introducing multiple artificial defects, multiple modes can be localized to small volumes within the ring, while the relative orientation of the delocalized band-edge states can be well controlled. Our Letter unveils the renormalization of WGMs by the photonic crystal, demonstrating novel fractional angular momentum states and nontrivial multimode orientation control arising from continuous rotational symmetry breaking. The findings are expected to be useful for sensing and metrology, nonlinear optics, and cavity quantum electrodynamics.


Psoralea corylifolia Linn. (P. corylifolia) is an important medicinal plant with thousands of years of clinical application. It has been widely used in many traditional Chinese medicine formulas for the treatment of various diseases such as leucoderma and other skin diseases, cardiovascular diseases, nephritis, osteoporosis, and cancer. Phytochemical studies indicated that coumarins, flavonoids, and meroterpenes are the main components of P. corylifolia, and most of these components are present in the seeds or fruits. The extracts and active components of P. corylifolia demonstrated multiple biological activities, including estrogenic, antitumor, anti-oxidant, antimicrobial, antidepressant, anti-inflammatory, osteoblastic, and hepatoprotective activities. This paper systematically summarized literatures on the chemical constituents and biological activities of P. corylifolia, which provided useful information for the further research and development toward this potent medicinal plant.


Breast cancer is very common cancer worldwide. Estrogen is one of the most important steroid hormones which play an important role in breast cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate frequency distribution of ER-α gene SNPs in breast cancer patients and controls to find out any association with breast cancer risk. In the present study, two hundred breast cancer patients and one hundred age matched controls were taken to study breast cancer risk factors. The odd ratio (ORs) at 95% confidence interval (CIs) was computed to study significance of risk factor on menopausal status. Contribution of ESR1 gene in breast cancer was examined that allele frequency showed non-significant difference among patients and control group for rs138724640 and rs373404617 (p=0.4015 and p=0.8422 respectively). Odd ratio analysis showed that SNP rs2234693 and rs9340799 located on intron 1 were associated with breast cancer (p=0.0111, 0.025 respectively). SNP rs2077647 located on exon 3 showed only borderline significance (p=0.0777). C allele was found to be more prevalent in both patients and control group of rs138724640 and rs2234693. 'A' allele was more prevalent in breast cancer patients and controls of rs9340799 and in controls of rs373404617. The frequency of G allele was found to be more in breast cancer patients of rs373404617. In cases of SNP rs2077647, T allele was more frequent in both breast cancer patients and control group. Present study results suggest the difference of genotype distribution of ESR1 SNPs between breast cancer patients and controls; hence establish the association with breast cancer risk. Further validation studies are required on additional ESR1 SNPs to study the breast cancer risk using larger cohort.


This report describes tests conducted at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory on an "air-inducting" exhaust manifold for aircraft engines. The exhaust gases from each cylinder port are discharged into the throat of an exhaust pipe which has a frontal bellmouth. Cooling air is drawn into the pipe, where it surrounds and mixes with the exhaust gases. Temperatures of the manifold shell and of the exhaust gases were obtained in flight for both a conventional manifold and the air-inducting manifold. The air-inducting manifold was installed on an engine which was placed on a test stand. Different fuels were sprayed on and into the manifold to determine whether the use of this manifold reduced the fire hazard. The flight tests showed reductions in manifold temperatures of several hundred degrees, to values below the ignition point of aviation gasoline. On the test stand when the engine was run at idling speeds fuels sprayed into the manifold ignited. It is believed that at low engine speeds the fuel remained in the manifold long enough to become thoroughly heated, and was then ignited by the exhaust gas which had not mixed with cooling air. The use of the air-inducting exhaust manifold must reduce the fire hazard by virtue of its lower operating temperature, but it is not a completely satisfactory solution of the problem.


Difference in soil qualities has been noticeable in many soils due to anthropogenic sources, especially of automobile battery wastes. This study examines the effects of automobile battery wastes on the physicochemical properties of the soil. Soil samples for this study were collected in triplicates from three battery chargers' workshops: Adolor, Edaiken and Uwelu in Benin City, Edo State at 0-15cm depth, in the months of August, September and October. The soil physicochemical parameters analyzed indicate variations of values in the contaminated soil over uncontaminated soil (control). Among the parameters examined, conductivity was significantly (P<0.01) higher in the contaminated soil (59.3- 184mho/cm) than in the uncontaminated soil. Notably, a more acidic pH value of 3.7-4.5 was also recorded beyond standard limits of 6.5~8.5. Meanwhile phosphorus was relatively high (1.95-3.35) and nitrogen (0.08-0.15) was low as against the control value of 2.71 and 0.18 respectively. Heavy metals such as Lead (Pb), Zinc (Zn), Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr) and Copper (Cu) were present in different concentrations in contaminated soil sample which ranges from far above acceptable standard limit between (0.288-0.875, 0.757- 1.342, 0.108-0.279, 0.718-1.062 and 0.272-0.518 mg/kg) compared to their values in the control soil sample having 0.003, 0.125, 0, 0 and 0.063 mg/kg respectively. Battery wastes were found to be significant sources of Cadmium and Chromium, as none of both was detected in the control soil sample. The daily activities of auto-mechanic battery workshops have negative impacts on soil physicochemical properties. Note, the soil in mechanic battery workshops needs urgent cleanup to minimize contamination of ecological materials and public health implication. This work will prove valuable in providing baseline information for further soil quality monitoring studies in study area KEYWORDS : Physicochemical, Heavy metals, Battery wastes, Contaminated and uncontaminated soil.


In 1841, the sailing ship the William Brown , which was carrying 65 Scottish and Irish emigrants who were searching for a new life in the United States, hit an iceberg and sank. The ship had just two lifeboats, and only half the passengers managed to get a place on board. These survivors were to face another danger, however. The next night, the passengers of one lifeboat, worried that their vessel was in danger of being submerged, quietly pushed 16 of their number overboard. This chilling story has become a paradigm case for "lifeboat ethics," which tackles the question of whom medicine should save when resources are scarce.

But, Thieves of Virtue: When Bioethics Stole Medicine by Tom Koch, questions the assumptions that underlie lifeboat ethics, and, indeed, much of modern medical ethics. …


Objective : The aims of our prospective observational study were to evaluate the (1) reliability of clinical signs in the early detection of diaphragm palsy (DP); (2) reliability of ultrasonography using echo machine as a bedside tool for the diagnosis of DP; and (3) does early diaphragm plication result in the improved outcome? We also sought to determine the incidence and predominant risk factors for DP and diaphragm plication at our center. Materials and Methods : This prospective observational study included patients with suspected DP from January 2015 to December 2018. Patients with suspected DP were initially evaluated by bedside ultrasonography using echo machine and confirmed by fluoroscopy. Diaphragm plication was considered for patients having respiratory distress, difficult weaning, or failed extubation attempt without any obvious cardiac or pulmonary etiology. Patients were followed for 3 months after discharge to assess diaphragm function. Results: A total of 87 patients were suspected of DP based on clinical signs. DP was diagnosed in 61 patients on fluoroscopy. The median time from index operation to diagnosis was 10 (1–59) days. Diaphragm plication was done among 52 patients and not done in nine patients. Bedside ultrasonography using echo machine was 96.7% sensitive and 96.15% specific in diagnosing DP. Early plication (<14 days) significantly reduced the need for nasal continuous positive airway pressure (65% vs. 96%, P = 0.02), duration of mechanical ventilation (12 vs. 25 days, P = 0.018), intensive care unit (ICU) stay (25 days vs. 39 days, P = 0.019), and hospital stay (30 days vs. 46 days, P = 0.036). Conclusion : Hoover's sign and raised hemidiaphragm on chest X-ray are the most specific clinical signs to suspect unilateral DP. Bedside ultrasonography using an echo machine is a good diagnostic investigation comparable to fluoroscopy. Early plication facilitates weaning from the ventilator and thereby decreases the ICU stay and hospital stay.


) Abstract: Embedded within Peirce's complete body of work is a "design for thinking" that provides a sturdy foundation for the development of three important learning capabilities. These capabilities are 1) the ability to identify, compare, and contrast qualities, 2) the ability to perform analyses, and 3) the ability to appropriately interpret the meaning of signs. Once teachers learn to develop their own intellectual potential by expanding these capabilities within themselves, they will be able to begin bringing about the development of these capabilities in their students. These three fundamental learning capabilities (qualification, analysis, and interpretation), once identified, developed, and applied to the mastery of educational skills and subject matter form the foundation of a common-sense approach to educational reform. Peirce asserts that "right reasonings" must be informed by ethical considerations, which in turn have been informed by the highest of aesthetic impulses. From this, we can extrapolate the importance that an educational model based upon Peirce's philosophy must place upon aesthetic and ethical considerations, as well as logical ones. Once fully understood, the philosophy of education embedded within Peirce's epistemology can revolutionize American educational practices.


Soil and land-management interactions in Australian native-forest regrowth remain a major source of uncertainty in the context of the global carbon economy. We sampled soil total organic C (TOC) and soil total N (TN) stocks at 45 sites within the Brigalow ecological community of the Brigalow Belt bioregion, Queensland, Australia. The sites were matched as triplets representing three land uses, specifically: uncleared native brigalow forest ('Remnant'); grassland pasture ('Pasture'), derived by clearing native vegetation and maintained as pasture for a minimum of 10 years, and; regrowing native brigalow forest ('Regrowth', stand ages ranging from 10 to 58 years) that had developed spontaneously after past vegetation clearing for pasture establishment. Soil TOC fractions and natural abundance of soil C and N isotopes were examined to obtain insight into C and N dynamics. An updated above- and belowground carbon budget for the bioregions was generated. Average soil TOC stocks at 0–0.3-m depth ranged from 19 to 79 Mg ha–1 and soil TN stocks from 1.8 to 7.1 Mg ha–1 (2.5th and 97.5th percentiles, respectively). A trend in stocks was apparent with land use: Remnant > Regrowth ~ Pasture sites. Soil δ13C ranged from –14 to –27‰, and soil δ15N ranged from 4‰ to 17‰, in general reflecting the difference between Pasture (C4-dominated) land use and N2-fixing (C3-dominated) Remnant and Regrowth. Mid-infrared spectroscopy predicted C fractions as a percentage of soil TOC stock, which ranged from 5% to 60% (particulate), 20–80% (humus) and 9–30% (resistant/inert). The geo-referenced soil and management information we collected is important for the calibration of C models, for the estimation of national C accounts, and to inform policy developments in relation to land-resource management undertaken within the Brigalow Belt bioregions of Australia.


Prebiotic synthesis of short length macromolecules from precursor molecules results in a dynamic of spontaneous creation, which allows for growth from zero density. At this prereplicator stage in the evolution of life there is no life history, since the birth and death processes are intimately coupled through the physical chemistry of a single reaction. With the emergence of nonenzymatic, template-directed replication, the birth and death processes could diverge for the first time, since selection could act differently on the birth and death rates of the replicating molecule. Thus, with replication, natural selection and life-history evolution began. The genotype, or nucleotide sequence, of the replicating molecule gave rise to several phenotypic properties, the most important of which was its three-dimensional structure which in turn affected the birth and death processes. However, at this stage of nonenzymatic template replication, the phenotype was the physical structure of the genotype, nothing more: For the divergence of the phenotype from the genotype it was necessary for the replicator to produce a protein. It is shown here that the evolution of enzyme production is facilitated by the existence of population structure in the distribution of the macromolecules associated with replication. Initially, this structure was created passively by the localization of the macromolecules in rock crevices, suspended water droplets, etc. Ultimately, the replicator along with its proteins were localized in a protocellular structure and this became the first organism. Thus, initially, the organism was one extreme of the population structure of the macromolecules associated with life. The organism was the culmination of the encapsulation phase of evolution which proceeded through initial phases of passive localization.


Activity detection is one of the attractive computer vision tasks to exploit the video streams captured by widely installed cameras. Although achieving impressive performance, conventional activity detection algorithms are usually designed under certain constraints, such as using trimmed and/or object-centered video clips as inputs. Therefore, they failed to deal with the multi-scale multi-instance cases in real-world unconstrained video streams, which are untrimmed and have large field-of-views. Real-time requirements for streaming analysis also mark brute force expansion of them unfeasible. To overcome these issues, we propose Argus++, a robust real-time activity detection system for analyzing unconstrained video streams. The design of Argus++ introduces overlapping spatio-temporal cubes as an intermediate concept of activity proposals to ensure coverage and completeness of activity detection through over-sampling. The overall system is optimized for real-time processing on standalone consumer-level hardware. Extensive experiments on different surveillance and driving scenarios demonstrated its superior performance in a series of activity detection benchmarks, including CVPR ActivityNet ActEV 2021, NIST ActEV SDL UF/KF, TRECVID ActEV 2020/2021, and ICCV ROAD 2021.


The apparent viscosity model of the semi-solid A356 aluminum alloy, based on fitting of experimental data obtained by the Couette type viscometer, was developed in the paper. The commercial package CastSoft6.0 coupled with the model was used to simulate the mould filling of the semi-solid A356 aluminum alloy in the key-shaped component with iron cores. The simulation results showed that the position of the iron cores has an important effect on the filling of the semisolid slurry, and it is easy to obtain the completely filled key-shaped component when the iron cores were near to the inlet. The filling tests verified that the simulation results have good agreement with the experimental results. The fitting results indicated that the developed apparent viscosity model is practical and feasible and it can be used to simulate the mould filling process of the semisolid A356 aluminum alloy slurry. Also the parameters were optimized and the optimum parameters are as follows: the inject pressure is more than 15MPa, the inlet velocity is more than 1.73m/s and the forming temperature is over 585 °C.


: The somato-psychic development in puberty should not be described isolated. It has to be brought in connexion with childhood on the one side and the age of the young adults on the other side. Puberty and adolescence generally are not used as synonyms. They accord with two different stages of development, succeeding one another between childhood and adulthood. They take a different, either harmonious or synchronous course. An asynchronism is often partial cause for a puberal crisis. Besides, one has to consider phenomenons like retardation or acceleration of development. These special kinds of development are illustrated by examples with two retarded adolescents. On the end, the author takes briefly up some therapeutical possibilities.


Indigenous bacteria and fungi were isolated from soil obtained from a metal scrap dumpsite in Ibadan, Nigeria. Soil sample analyses showed presence of calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, manganese and copper. A selective isolation of microorganisms was done using heavy metal constituted growth media at concentration of 25 mg/L. Lactobacillus casei was isolated from cadmium and lead composed growth media, Corynebacterium xerosis and Corynebacterium kutsceri from nickel composed growth media. Aspergillus niger and Histoplasma capsulatum were isolated from growth media composed of nickel and lead respectively at a 25 mg/L concentration. Growths were observed for all isolates at 50mg/L, 100mg/L and 400mg/L composed growth media. A 7 day bio-treatment process with isolates for uptake of heavy metals from growth media solution at 50 mg/L concentration of heavy metal was done. Histoplasma capsulatum, Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus niger reduced the heavy metal concentrations in lead, nickel and cadmium to 6, 18.12 and 12.45 mg/L respectively. Lactobacillus casei, and C. xerosis reduced the heavy metal concentration of cadmium, lead and nickel to 13.55, 33, 25, 22.38, 15.45 and 29.11 mg/L respectively. These microorganisms reduced the initial concentration of heavy metals and could thus be used for bioremediation processes.

 Key words: Bioremediation, biotreatment, bacteria, fungi.


BACKGROUND AND AIM
This study aims to assess differences in antibiotic prescribing and incidence of Upper Respiratory Tract Infections (URTIs) between 1987 and 2001, before (1987) and after (2001) publication of Dutch guidelines on URTIs. DESIGN, SETTING AND METHOD: Data were collected in two national surveys: 96 general practices (n=344,449 patients) in 1987 and 90 general practices (n=358,008 patients) in 2001. Outcome measures were: (1) antibiotic prescribing rates for acute otitis media (AOM), common cold, sinusitis and acute tonsillitis; (2) number of antibiotic prescriptions per 1000 patients per year; (3) incidence rates per 1000 patients per year.

RESULTS
Antibiotic prescribing rates in AOM and common cold were increased in 2001 compared to 1987 (from 27% to 48%; from 17% to 23%, respectively), while the rates for sinusitis and acute tonsillitis were about the same (72% and 70%; 74% and 72%, respectively). Except for AOM, the number of antibiotic prescriptions per 1000 patients decreased by 30% to 50%. As incidence rates of common cold, tonsillitis and sinusitis decreased, the decline in the total volume of antibiotic prescriptions per 1000 patients for these three categories has mainly to be attributed to a fall of incidence rates.

CONCLUSION
Antibiotic prescribing rates for URTIs have not declined between 1987 and 2001, but the volumes for common cold, sinusitis and tonsillitis have fallen down mainly attributable to declined incidences, which have probably been caused by a reduced inclination of patients to present respiratory illness to their GP. Prescribing antibiotics for AOM has increased.


As the dietary supplements industry is registering steady and rapid growth, consumers are demanding quality supplements. Consumer perception of the quality of oral solid dosage forms is changing. Good quality is associated with the ability to disintegrate and dissolve. Performance characteristics of oral solid dosage forms in public standards will address the in vitro dissolution requirements, which will be presented as they relate to multivitamin-mineral combination products.


Background: Regulation and standardization of African traditional medicines (ATM) prescribed by traditional healers in South Africa is still far from being implemented. This is despite the fact that more people are using ATM products than ever. In an effort to demonstrate that collaboration with traditional health practitioners (THPs) can yield standardized TM products, this study aimed to evaluate the immunomodulatory effects of an herbal immune booster formulated by traditional healers from the Vaal Region, South Africa. Materials and Methods: Using normal and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulated human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) models, doses of the immune booster ranging from 1000 to 10 μg/mL were evaluated for their cytotoxicity, inflammatory cytokines and chemokines secretion, nitric oxide (NO) secretion, malondialdehyde (MDA) assay, and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. Results: The immune booster induced a dose dependent cytotoxic effect on both normal and LPS stimulated PBMCs with higher doses showing cytotoxicity while lower dose from 100μg/mL did not show any cytotoxicity. When re-dissolved in aqueous PBS immune booster doses up to 100 μg/mL showed better DPPH radical inhibition (41%) than ascorbic acid at 40μg/mL (33%). The immune booster also decreased lipid peroxides significantly (p< 0.05) and this was comparable to ascorbic acid. There was also a significant (p< 0.05) increase in nitrite (NO) after treatment of LPS stimulated PBMCs with immune booster doses when compared to untreated samples. The immune booster stimulated inflammatory cytokines secretion in normal PBMCs (IL 1α, IL 1β, IL 6, IL 10 and TNFα while showing a decrease in IFNγ at the higher dose) while in LPS stimulated PBMCs some cytokines were decreased (IL 1α, IL 17α and at lower doses IL 10 and TNFα) and others were increased (IFNγ, TNFα and GM-CSF) depending on the dose used. In both normal and LPS stimulated PBMCs the immune booster significantly (p< 0.05) increased (MIP 1α) while causing significant (p< 0.05) decreases in IP 10 (high dose), I-TAC and MIG secretion. Conclusions: This immune booster showed potential immunostimulatory effects by increasing nitric oxide, inflammatory cytokines and chemokines secretion in both normal and LPS stimulated PBMCs. This TM also showed promising antioxidant potential in the MDA and DPPH assays. Further in vitro and animal studies are warranted.


Abstract Making sense of the world requires distinguishing temporal patterns and sequences lasting hundreds of milliseconds or more. How cortical circuits integrate over time to represent specific sensory sequences remains elusive. Here we assessed whether neurons in the barrel cortex (BC) integrate information about temporal patterns of whisker movements. We performed cell‐attached recordings in anesthetized mice while delivering whisker deflections at variable intervals and compared the information carried by neurons about the latest interstimulus interval (reflecting sensitivity to instantaneous frequency) and earlier intervals (reflecting integration over timescales up to several hundred milliseconds). Neurons carried more information about the latest interval than earlier ones. The amount of temporal integration varied with neuronal responsiveness and with the cortical depth of the recording site, that is, with laminar location. A subset of neurons in the upper layers displayed the strongest integration. Highly responsive neurons in the deeper layers encoded the latest interval but integrated particularly weakly. Under these conditions, BC neurons act primarily as encoders of current stimulation parameters; however, our results suggest that temporal integration over hundreds of milliseconds can emerge in some neurons within BC.


The length of the debate regarding a new business idea and resource allocation between Ritu Jhajharia, Vinay Chaurasia and Sandeep Poonia on an evening in March 2016, was enough to make the piping hot pasta go cold. After much deliberation, The Rolling Circle, a Mumbai-based marketing firm concentrated on the digital marketing business arena was born with plans of potentially viable business strategies, blueprints of employee and other key resources' allocations, strategies for client procurement and vesting of some amount of investment money in initial pitches. Yet, in the last two plus years, the company has procured 40 plus clients and are looking to finish their account books with Rs. 1 crore revenue in their banks by 2018. Despite initial financial crunch, the company continued to get businesses. One day in February 2018, the resignation of co-founder Vinay Chaurasia was a blow to the foundation of the company. While clocking their best business so far and continuously growing since its inception, The Rolling Circle is now faced with one of the biggest dilemmas in the company lifecycle: in their line of business, there is neither a constant flow of clients nor a stability in terms of the employees working in the organisation; the founding team is grappling with the glaring strategic question of whether they should recruit high-profile employees in the organisation first and then continue onboarding premium clients, or they should first sign with premium clients and then look out for high-profile employees to serve those clients? Who will wait: the client or the employees?


Suspensions of influenza virions (MRC-11, X-7, and A/PR8/34 strains) were treated with a mixture of glycosidases including alpha-D-mannosidase, alpha-L-fucosidase, beta-D-galactosidase, and beta-D-N--acetylglucosaminidase for the study of the influence of carbohydrate part of influenza virus surface glycoproteins on the hemagglutinating and neuraminidase activity. The availability of oligosaccharide chains for the effect of glycosidases was found to change in relation to the functional status of the glycoprotein molecule. When carbohydrate residues were cleaved from neuraminidase in virus particle, its enzymatic activity did not change, whereas the hemagglutinating activity of virions after treatment with glycosidases decreased more than 50-fold.


In this paper we study price competition between firms when some consumers attempt tobargain while others buy at the public list or posted prices. Even though bargainers succeed innegotiating discounts off the list prices, their presence dampens competitive pressure in the marketby reducing the incentive to undercut a rival's list price, thus raising all prices and increasingprofits. Welfare falls because of the uncertainty in the bargaining process, which generates somemisallocation of products to consumers. We also find that the bargainers facilitate collusion byreducing the market share that can be gained from a deviation.


The gambler's fallacy [Rabin, M. 2002. Inference by believers in the law of small numbers. Quart. J. Econom.117(3) 775--816] predicts that trends bias investor expectations. Consistent with this prediction, we find that investors underreact to streaks of consecutive earnings surprises with the same sign. When the most recent earnings surprise extends a streak, post-earnings-announcement drift is strong and significant. In contrast, the drift is negligible following the termination of a streak. Indeed, streaks explain about half of the post-earnings-announcement drift in our sample. Our results are robust to more general definitions of trends than streaks and a battery of control variables including the magnitude of earnings surprises and their autocorrelation. Overall, post-earnings-announcement drift has a significant time-series component that is consistent with the gambler's fallacy.

This paper was accepted by Wei Xiong, finance.


We investigate the Kerr nonlinearity of a V-type three-level atomic system where the upper two states decay outside to another state and hence spontaneous generated coherence may exist. It is shown that dark state and hence perfect transparency present under certain conditions. Meanwhile, the Kerr nonlinearity can be controlled by manipulation of the decay rates and the splitting of the two excited states. Therefore, enhanced Kerr nonlinearity without absorption can be obtained under proper parameters.


Objective
In this study, we evaluated the association of polypharmacy and nutritional status among independently-living elderly persons attending the outpatient clinics at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC).

Method
Participants were recruited at the outpatient pharmacy at EWMSC. Face-to-face interviews were conducted using a questionnaire consisting of sociodemographic, health and nutritional status items. Anthropometry was taken using standard procedures. Participants gave oral and written consent prior to enrolment in the study. Participation was voluntary. The study wasapproved by the Ethics Committee, EWMSC.

Results
One hundred and three persons - polypharmacy (≥ 6 medications) = 57; non-polypharmacy (< 6 medications) = 46 persons) - participated in the study. There was no significant difference in the age, gender, weight, height, body mass index (BMI), mid-arm circumference, calf circumference, highest educational level achieved and marital status between the groups. The number of medications prescribed was significantly positively associated with the number of ailments (r = 0.56; p < 0.001) and the risk of malnutrition (r = 0.30; p = 0.006). Persons with polypharmacy were significantly more likely than their non-polypharmacy counterparts to be at increased risk for malnutrition (OR = 3.94, 95% CI: 1.52, 10.13; p = 0.004). This finding remained highly significant after simultaneous adjustment for age, gender, ethnicity, highest educational level achieved, marital status and number of diseases (p = 0.03).

Conclusion
Among participants, polypharmacy and number of ailments were positively associated with an increased risk of malnutrition. Nonetheless, the mechanisms underlying these associations remain unclear.


Our "intuitions" are simply opinions: our philosophical theories are the same. Some are commonsensical, some are sophisticated; some are particular; some general; some are more firmly held, some less. But they are all opinions, and a reasonable goal for a philosopher is to bring them into equilibrium. Our common task it to find out what equilibria there are that can withstand examination, but it remains for each of us to come to rest at one or another of them... Once the menu of well-worked out theories is before us, philosophy is a matter of opinion. Is that to say that there is no truth to be had? Or that the truth is of our own making, and different ones of us can make it differently? Not at all! If you say flatly that there is no god, and I say that there are countless gods but none of them are our worldmates, then it may be that neither of us is making any mistake of method. We may each be bringing our opinions to equilibrium in the most careful possible way, taking account of all the arguments, distinctions, and counterexamples. But one of us, at least, is making a mistake of fact. Which one is wrong depends on what there is (1983: x-xi).


Presently the world is experiencing a pandemic of a global magnitude never before witnessed and recorded by human civilization. No one is excluded from this disease and the most vulnerable are the very young and/the very old in our population. It is the most highly communicable and severe viral infection and most of our reproductive age population show practically no signs or symptoms of infection unless they are tested positive using the PCR method or arrive at the hospital in acute respiratory distress.(1) The infection spreads mostly in: 1) closed environment with poor ventilation such as clubs, cafe, restaurants, meeting rooms; 2) among crowds of people such as in public stations, malls, religious gatherings, and cinemas as well as; 3) within close contact with people usually friends, family or co-workers who form the cluster most likely to be infected with the virus.(2)


The last 10 years have seen significant advances in the understanding of the pathophysiology and treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). This has included new insights into the genetics, cell-signalling pathways and pathological changes seen in the small pulmonary arteries as well as the introduction of new treatments which have improved prognosis. The classification of pulmonary hypertension (PH) has also been changed several times, most recently in 2003. It now divides forms of PH into 5 broad groups according to their pathophysiology and response to treatment. This review focuses primarily on the advances that have been made in the comprehension and treatment of Group 1 (PAH); however reference is also made to other groups within the classification. Pharmacologic treatment now includes calcium-channel blockers, endothelin antagonists, prostanoids, phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors, anticoagulants and diuretics. There are 2 recent sets of guidelines directing treatment, one published by the American College of Chest Physicians in 2007 and the most recent published by the National Pulmonary Hypertension Centres of the UK and Ireland in 2008. The recent advances in understanding of the underlying cellular mechanisms have also opened the doorway to new potential therapies such as stem cell transplantation and the targeting of platelet-derived factors and apoptosis.


We apply electrical impedance tomography to detect and localize brain impedance changes associated with stroke. Forward solutions are computed using the finite-element method in two dimensions. We assume that baseline conductivity values are known for the major head tissues, and focus on changes in the brain compartment only. We use singular-value decomposition (SVD) to show that different impedance measurement patterns, which are theoretically equivalent by the reciprocity theorem, have different sensitivities to the brain compartment in the presence of measurement noise. The inverse problem is solved in part by standard means, using iterated SVD, and regularizing by truncation. To improve regularization we introduce a weighting scheme which normalizes the sensitivity matrix for voxels at different depths. This increases the number of linearly independent components which contribute to the solution, and forces the different measurement patterns to have similar sensitivity. When applied to stroke, this weighted regularization improves image quality overall.