Nickel (Ni) has been shown to be one of the most frequent metal allergens. We have already reported a murine metal allergy model with pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) as adjuvants. Interleukin (IL)-1β plays a critical role in our mouse model. Because nonimmune cells, including fibroblasts, play important roles in local allergic inflammation, we investigated whether Ni induces inflammatory responses in mouse dermal fibroblasts (MDF). We also analyzed the synergistic effects between Ni, PAMPs, and IL-1β. MDF stimulated with Ni produced a significantly higher amount of nitric oxide (NO) in a dose-dependent manner. NO production was augmented by costimulation with IL-1β but not with PAMPs. On the other hand, IL-1β or PAMPs induced a significantly higher amount of IL-6 production by MDF, but no augmentation was detected in the presence of Ni. A specific inhibitor for inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) inhibited Ni-induced NO production. iNOS mRNA expression was significantly higher in MDF stimulated with Ni, IL-1β, or both. A specific inhibitor for hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-2α, but not HIF-1α, inhibited NO production. Another frequent metal allergen, cobalt, also induced iNOS expression and NO production by MDF via the HIF-2α-dependent pathway. The inhibitor for iNOS augmented ear swelling in Ni allergy mouse model. On the other hand, HIF-2α inhibitor attenuates allergic inflammation. These results indicate that metal allergens induce NO production in MDF via the HIF-2α-dependent pathway and IL-1β augments NO production, which suggests that the NO induced by metal allergens plays a pathological role in metal allergies.


After the collapse of USSR, the Cold War ended up with the triumph of democracy. Liberal democracy has spread from West Europe and North America towards a much wider range of area. The celebration of democracy seems to signal the coming of a new bright era of human history. Fukuyama (1992: xi) even optimistically argued that democratic liberalism may become 'the end point of mankind's ideological evolution' and the 'final form of human government' in his book the end of history and the last man.


Aluminum nitride (AlN) possesses superior thermal and electrical properties and is an ideal candidate for high-temperature, as well as for packaging and optoelectronic applications. Aluminum based composites reinforced with AlN have been manufactured via an in situ gas-assisted process, where a nitrogen-bearing gas is injected in the molten aluminum at 1273-1323 K. The process is carried out in an inert atmosphere in order to avoid oxygen contamination. Addition of Mg lowered the oxygen content in the melt by forming MgO and thus favoring the nitridation reaction. Particle size formed in the matrix varied from 1- 3 μm to sub-micron scale depending on the gas injection time. Longer bubbling times give rise to improved reinforcement dispersion. Addition of Si is detrimental for the synthesis of AlN; Mg2Si phase precipitates, replacing the formation of MgO and hindering the nitridation reaction. The challenges of controlling the kinetics are discussed.


Background: Stress has been considered a triggering factor for multiple sclerosis (MS) since the description of the disease by Jean-Martin Charcot. Until our times, many published studies have supported that both MS onset and relapse could be predisposed by psychological stress. This review aims to synthesize existing knowledge of the relationship between psychological stress and MS onset and relapse, focusing mainly on the quality of observational studies. Methods: We hand-searched MEDLINE with the terms 'stress and multiple sclerosis', using English language restrictions, from January 1980 to November 2010. We included only observational longitudinal studies. The Newcastle-Ottawa scale proposed by the Cochrane Collaboration was used for assessing the quality of the observational studies. Results: Seventeen publications were analyzed, 5 for MS onset (1 cohort and 4 case-control studies) and 12 for MS relapse (9 cohort and 3 case-control studies). We found a marked heterogeneity in stress measurement that mostly targeted the environmental approach to stress. Only 2 publications used radiological criteria for MS relapse. Quality issues were identified mainly for comparability, meaning that studies failed to control adequately for various triggering and psychosocial factors in the stress-MS relationship. Also, selection and blinding problems were identified in most case-control studies. All studies, with only 2 exceptions, resulted in favor of the stress-MS relationship, but due to marked stress measurement heterogeneity, no secure conclusions could be drawn. Conclusions: Future studies should incorporate a multidisciplinary approach to stress measurement and radiological criteria for MS. We further encourage researchers to test the effect of early life stress and stress management techniques on the clinical course of the disease.


Despite concerted efforts made by United Nations and other health agencies to reduce Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) through Skilled Birth Attendants (SBAs) and use of healthcare facilities, report reveals that Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) still have a place in maternal healthcare in developing countries. This paper examines causes, treatment and consequences of Post-Partum Haemorrhage (PPH) from TBAs' perspectives in Osun State, Southwestern Nigeria. The study adopted qualitative method of data collection (In-depth Interview and Focus Group Discussion). Results show some similar (Tone, Trauma, Tissue and Thrombin) as obtained from medical literature and some divergent causes of PPH which includes: consumption of Potassium, intoxicants, dairy product, junks and iron tablets at advanced stage of pregnancy. This implies that substance/food consumption has implication on maternal health. TBAs' treatment techniques for PPH include: use of powdery substances, concoctions, herbs and roots, and sometimes use of animal parts. Consequences of PPH include: organ failure, respiratory disorder, infection, fever, vomiting, anaemia and loss of fertility. WHO has revealed that misoprostol is effective in treating PPH in home delivery in developing countries. Reducing MMR due to PPH and achieving development in health sector in Nigeria therefore, requires training Nigeria TBAs on the proper administration of misoprostol.


In normal MPPT controlling methods, all the PV panels are connected to single MPPT to produce maximum output. If any fault occurs in the PV Panel or less irradiance in some part of the panel (partially shaded PV system) also leads to reduction in power generation. In the proposed system the efficiency is increased for partially shaded PV system by using "distributed" MPPT (DMPPT) technique. In this method each panel is connected separately to separate MPPT. Each MPPT is connected to the Buck-Boost converter to compensate the voltage variation in the different PV panel. Finally all the MPPT's are connected in parallel which increases the power production and efficiency.


Background In Milton Keynes half of people die in hospital. It is not known how many patients and their families have the opportunity to discuss end-of-life care in hospital. Methods Review of the electronic medical records of all those that died in Milton Keynes Hospital during November 2012. Findings Of the 67 records analysed cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or left ventricular failure was the primary or secondary cause of death in 62% (n=42). 31% of patients (n=21) were seen by the palliative care team. Patients seen by palliative care were significantly more likely to have a signed Do Not Attempt Resuscitation form (95%; n=20 vs 78%; n=36; p=0.004), a discussion about end-of-life treatment (n=4; 19% vs. n=2; 4%; p=0.003), and more likely to state their preferred place of death (n=7; 33% vs. n=2; 4%; p=0.001). End-of-life issues were often discussed with the family rather than the patient themselves. End-of-life was discussed with the families of patients seen by palliative care in 90% of cases (n=19) compared to 54% (n= 25) of those not seen by palliative care. Conclusions The end-of-life wishes were not discussed in all patients.All aspects of end of life care were significantly more likely to be discussed with patients or families who had been seen by the palliative care team. End-of- life care decisions were discussed with the patient's family more often than the patient themselves. Often patients were too unwell during their last illness to meaningfully participate in end of life discussions. The AMBER initiative, soon to be piloted in Milton Keynes, promotes early identification of patients at risk of dying within 2–3 months and initiates end-of life care discussions with them. This and improved communication between primary and secondary care about a patient's end-of- life preferences should improve future care.


Traffic matrix is of great help in many network applications. However, it is
 very difficult to estimate the traffic matrix for a large-scale network. This
 is because the estimation problem from limited link measurements is highly
 underconstrained. We propose a simple probability model for a large-scale
 practical network. The probability model is then generalized to a general
 model by including random traffic data. Traffic matrix estimation is then
 conducted under these two models by two minimization methods. It is shown
 that the Normalized Root Mean Square Errors of these estimates under our
 model assumption are very small. For a large-scale network, the traffic
 matrix estimation methods also perform well. The comparison of two
 minimization methods shown in the simulation results complies with the
 analysis.


An optimized design of a MEMS-based phase shifter cell based on an equivalent circuit model is presented. The optimization is performed by controlling five key design parameters of the unit cell which are: the number of MEMS switches, their state (ON/OFF), their appropriate location inside the slot, their ON/OFF capacitances and whether they should be used singly or in a pair. By controlling and regulating these parameters through the equivalent electrical circuit, the design of the phase shifter cell can be optimized. This optimization process results in phase shifter configurations that permit a 360° phase range along with the required number of linearly distributed phase states. Minimization of power losses within the unit cell is the main issue addressed in this article.


Implant surfaces should ideally be designed to promote the attachment of target tissue cells; at the same time, they should prevent bacterial adhesion, achievable through modification strategies comprising three lines of defense. As the first criterion, selective adhesion can be realized by means of non-adhesive coatings that can be functionalized with small peptides, thereby supporting osteogenic cell attachment for implants in bone contact but not bacterial adhesion. The second line of defense, defined by bacterial survival, quorum sensing and biofilm formation, can be addressed by various antimicrobial substances that can be leaching or non-leaching. The possibility of a third line of defense, the disruption of an established biofilm, is just emerging. Since microorganisms are quite ''ingenious'' at finding ways to overcome a certain line of defense, the most promising solution might be a combination of all these antibacterial strategies. Coating systems that allow such different approaches to be combined are scarce. However, ultrathin multifunctional NCO-sP(EO-stat-PO)-based layers may represent a promising platform for such an integrated approach.


This study assessed interactions between ground water and surface water in the lower Virgin River, Arizona and Nevada, using stable isotopes and major ions as environmental tracers. The study reach starts at the Virgin River Gorge in Arizona and terminates at Lake Mead in Nevada, 80 km downstream. Discharge data showed that major sources of water for the lower Virgin River were discharge from the upper Virgin River and the Littlefield Springs, with minor amounts from Beaver Dam Wash, a perennial tributary. No strong evidence was found for ground-water seepage into the channel. In general, dissolved solids concentrations increased downstream because of water loss due to evapotranspiration. From the environmental tracer results, three general water types were identified: (1) local water including springs and streams in surrounding mountains, surface water from Beaver Dam Wash, and ground water from the Beaver Dam Wash floodplain aquifer; (2) Virgin River water consisting of surface water from the Virgin River, ground water from the Virgin River floodplain, and flow from the Littlefield springs; and (3) ground water from deep aquifers underlying the floodplain aquifers. The local water is the most isotopically enriched (SD values between -91 and -70%o) and has the lowest dissolved solids concentrations of all the waters sampled. Deep ground water is the most isotopically depleted of the waters with 6D values ranging from -106 to -99%o. Virgin River water is isotopically intermediate (5D from -97 to -87%o) but has the highest dissolved solids of all waters sampled.


The PhD thesis herein presented deal with the synthesis, characterization and catalytic application of new ruthenium transition metal complexes which exhibit unprecedented combination of ligands: cyclopentadienones and N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC). In the first year of the PhD work it was developed a straightforward and efficient synthetic route to novel Ru N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) complexes by transmetallation of non-bulky imidazolylidene silver complexes to ruthenium dicarbonyl tetraarylcyclopentadienone. The same procedure with sterically demanding NHC resulted in the formation of unprecedented heterobimetallic Ru-Ag(NHC) complexes. During the second year six months (from March to September 2014) have been spent at the UCD School of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, University College of Dublin, under the supervision of Professor Martin Albrecht investigating the steric and electronic tunability of the catalyst precursors by replacing imidazolylidenes with triazolylidenes. Triazolylidenes are stronger donors than imidazolylidenes, and hence they further activate the ruthenium(0) oxidation state in dicarbonyl tetraarylcyclopentadienone Ru (NHC) complexes, which resulted to be beneficial in catalytic applications. During the second and third year the novel classes of ruthenium complexes were successfully employed as catalyst precursors in the transfer hydrogenation of ketones and aldehydes using iPrOH as hydrogen source. Fine tuning of several molecular parameters and reaction conditions allowed to improve catalytic performances. Furthermore, the catalysts were employed for the oxidation of alcohol with promising results. Heterogenization of the catalyst on polypropylene imine dendrimers has been also developed, moreover ionic ruthenium complexes have been also exploited as potential catalyst in ionic liquids. Greener synthetic conditions have been found both for the synthesis of ruthenium complexes under microwave irradiation and for the acid catalysed transformation of the bio-based bis-hydroxymethylfuran. Preliminary electrochemical measurements have been carried out on a triazolylidene Ru(0) complex. Its redox behaviour could be exploited in the development of electrocatalysis.


This article responds to Professor Paul McDaniel's Formulary Taxation in the North American Free Trade Zone. In his article, Professor Paul McDaniel addresses whether the NAFTA countries should adopt a system of formulary apportionment taxation. My commentary serves to highlight, with an emphasis on the state tax experience, the unnecessary restrictions imposed on Professor McDaniel's proposal, the issues inherent in any formulary system, and the NAFTA-specific problems that could arise.Professor McDaniel adopted two unnecessary constraints in his proposal. The first, the "water's edge" constraint, which applies formulary apportionment only to income sourced within NAFTA countries and uses only NAFTA factors in the apportionment formula. He defends this water's edge approach on the grounds that it may be both a requirement of existing tax treaties and a necessary concession to foreign countries that may resist worldwide unitary measures, though no case law exists to support the former; the latter is a political judgment call. A water's edge approach would require source rules and arm's length pricing rules to determine NAFTA sourced income. Sourcing in general is incompatible with a formulary system, and to do so negates one of the inherent benefits of formulary apportionment: eliminating the need to monitor transfer prices. Second, Professor McDaniel's emphasis on the existence of a unitary business presumably borrows that concept from U.S. Supreme Court cases dealing with state taxation of multistate income. He does not define a unitary business or defend its use. In the state context, the Due Process and Commerce Clauses require the existence of a unitary business in the context of formulary apportionment. There is no similar concept in the federal system and no need to incorporate the concept should NAFTA adopt formulary apportionment. There are technical issues in any system of formulary apportionment, three of which are particularly relevant here. First, states are permitted to impose combined reporting requirements only on members of a unitary business. These combined reports require the in-state business to consolidate its income and factors with the income and factors of its unitary subsidiaries, regardless of whether or not those subsidiaries have any direct nexus with the taxing state. Combined reporting essentially treats out-of-state unitary subsidiaries as branches or divisions. Contrary to Professor McDaniel, a NAFTA approach should be free of the state condition that the members of the combined report be part of a unitary business. The only constraint on what entities should be included in the combined group is the threshold matter of a minimum ownership requirement.Combined reporting must resolve the level of stock ownership of entities that must be included in a combined report. There are two common thresholds: a minimum 50% ownership test, or a "more than 50%" ownership test. The latter is more subject to manipulation by taxpayers seeking to avoid a combined report. These taxpayers can reduce their level of ownership to 50% while still maintaining control over the subsidiary. Fifty-fifty joint ventures would not be subject to combined reporting under a "more than 50% test Designing an effective apportionment formula will likely be a complicated objective. The state experience suggests that the traditional three-factor formula composed of sales, property, and payroll is inefficient for activities that don't constitute traditional manufacturing or merchandising. The state response has been the adoption of specific formulas particularly tailored to individual activities, though this solution necessitates the correct characterization of the taxed activity and an emphasis on arm's length transactions between related businesses subject to different formulas. Any apportionment formula must be built on the principles of administrative simplicity, neutrality, economic nexus, inclination to tax, and sovereign control of tax. A final issue is that of nexus, that is, the application of jurisdictional threshold rules. Professor McDaniel supports the traditional permanent establishment approach, but under this approach the use of receipts in an apportionment formula could assign income to countries without the jurisdiction to tax it. A preferred approach might be a threshold based on a predetermined amount of gross receipts, regardless of a significant physical presence. As long as the NAFTA countries maintain their dissimilar tax codes, formulary apportionment applied in a NAFTA context has the unique effect of substituting treaty shopping for "rule shopping." Mexico, for example, lacks provisions equivalent to the U.S. subpart F treatment of controlled foreign corporations. A U.S. parent could merge with its Mexican subsidiary to form a Mexican entity, avoiding subpart F. Ideally, the NAFTA countries would adopt uniform or equivalent provisions in their tax codes to avoid this kind of rule shopping, while also ensuring their revenue administrations are highly competent to avoid potential administration shopping.Finally, Professor McDaniel suggests that dividends paid between two NAFTA corporations that are not part of the same combined report should be excluded from taxation, treating the distribution as though it occurred between two entities in the same combined report. While I question the logic of a 100% exemption, it is clear that transitional and tracing rules would be required to decide the order in which profits from the pre- and post-formulary regimes are considered to be distributed.


This study aimed to prepare, characterise and test the performance of heterogeneous catalysts in the conversion of biomass-derived molecules including deoxygenation of propionic acid in the gas phase and the Prins condensation of β-pinene with paraformaldehyde in the liquid phase. The surface area and porosity of catalysts were characterised by BET, water content and thermal stability by TGA, crystallinity by XRD and composition by ICP. The acidity of oxide catalysts was characterised using NH3 adsorption calorimetry and FTIR of adsorbed pyridine.
High purity amorphous silicas and crystalline silicalite (MFI structure) were found to be active catalysts of the deoxygenation of propionic acid. Silicalite was prepared by the hydrothermal method. Silica and silicalite were treated with aqueous acidic (HCl) and basic (NH3+NH4NO3 (aq) or NH3 (aq)) solutions in a Teflon-lined autoclave. The reaction was carried out in a fixed-bed continuous flow reactor in the gas phase at 400-500 °C. A preliminary blank reaction showed a small contribution of homogeneous catalysis at 500 °C, with 12% of propionic acid converted to form 3-pentanone. The chemical treatment did not affect silica activity; it showed only 85% selectivity with 39% conversion at 500 °C. HZSM-S zeolite (Si/Al = 180) possessing strong acid sites showed low catalytic activity at 400-500 °C and the main product was ethane. Silicalite had higher activity and selectivity of 3-pentanone than silica. Acidic treatment had little effect on catalyst activity, whereas basic treated silicalite was the most active catalyst in the deoxygenation of propionic acid at 500 °C, because silanol nests formed on the silicalite surface, acting as catalytically active sites for the reaction. Catalyst activity increased with increasing reaction temperature from 400-500 °C. Silicalite performance was stable for at least 28 h time on stream at 500 °C, with 84-92% of 3 pentanone selectivity at 93-80% conversion of acid. Bulk Zn(II)-Cr(III) mixed oxides with a Zn/Cr atomic ratio of 1:1 – 20:1 were found to be active catalysts for the gas-phase ketonisation of carboxylic acids (acetic and propionic) to form acetone and 3-pentanone, respectively, at 300 – 400 oC and ambient pressure. Zn-Cr (10:1) oxide showed the best performance, significantly exceeding that of the parent oxides ZnO and Cr2O3. The catalytic activity was further enhanced by supporting Zn-Cr (10:1) oxide on TiO2 and γ-Al2O3. With 20%Zn-Cr/Al2O3, ketonisation of propionic acid occurred with 97% selectivity to 3-pentanone at 99% conversion at 380 oC, without catalyst deactivation observed during at least 24 h time on stream. Zn-Cr oxides were characterised by BET, XRD, DRIFTS of pyridine and acetic acid adsorption and microcalorimetry of ammonia adsorption. From DRIFTS, carboxylic acid adsorbed dissociatively on Zn-Cr oxide to form a surface metal carboxylate in bidentate bridging bonding mode. A mechanism for ketonisation of carboxylic acids via -ketoacid intermediate route was proposed. Metal oxides such as Nb2O5, Cr2O3, and especially a Zn(II)-Cr(III) mixed oxide were demonstrated to be highly active and recyclable heterogeneous catalysts for Prins condensation, which provides a clean, high-yielding route for the synthesis of nopol through the condensation of biorenewable β-pinene with paraformaldehyde. Zn-Cr mixed oxide with an optimum Zn/Cr atomic ratio of 1:6 gave 100% nopol selectivity at 97% β-pinene conversion, with the catalyst easily recovered and recycled. The acid properties of Nb2O5 and Zn-Cr mixed oxide were characterized by the diffuse reflectance IR Fourier transform spectroscopy of adsorbed pyridine and ammonia adsorption microcalorimetry. An appropriate combination of acid– base properties of Zn-Cr mixed oxide is believed to be responsible for its efficiency.


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Tolerances on line-profiles are used to control cross-sectional shapes of parts, even mildly twisted ones such as those on turbine or compressor blades. Such tolerances limit geometric manufacturing variations to a specified two-dimensional tolerance-zone, i.e. an area, the boundaries to which are curves parallel to the true profile. The single profile tolerance may be used to control position, orientation, and form of the profile.For purposes of automating the assignment of tolerances during design, a math model, called the Tolerance-Map (T-Map), has been produced for most of the tolerance classes that are used by designers. Each T-Map is a hypothetical point-space that represents the geometric variations of a feature in its tolerance-zone. Of the six tolerance classes defined in the ASME/ANSI/ISO Standards, only one attempt has been made at modeling line-profiles [1], and the method used is a kinematic description, based largely on intuition, of the allowable displacements of the middle-sized profile within its tolerance-zone. The result presented is a 4-D double pyramid having a 3-D shape for the common base. Allowable small changes in size represent the fourth dimension in the altitude-direction of the pyramids. However, that work is limited to square, rectangular, and right-triangular profile shapes for which the 3-D transverse sections (called hypersections) of the 4-D T-Map are all geometrically similar to the base because the boundaries are doubly traced. For more generally shaped profiles, [2] the hypersections are not geometrically similar to the base.The objective of this paper is to expand the kinematic description of a profile in its tolerance-zone to include the changing constraints that take place as size is incremented or decremented within the allowable tolerance-range. It provides validation of a different method that is described in a companion paper [3].Copyright © 2013 by ASME


INTRODUCTION
This study examined three theoretical models of the relationship between depressive symptoms and somatic complaints among Bedouin Arab and Jewish college/university students in Israel. The functional model suggests that somatic complaints may precede depressive symptoms; the affect-dysregulation model suggests that depressive symptoms may precede somatic complaints; and the sociocultural model suggests that depressive symptoms are strongly linked to somatic complaints mainly in Western cultural contexts.

METHOD
One hundred and ninety individuals participated in the study, including 89 Bedouin Arab students and 101 Jewish students. Two assessment waves, one year apart, were employed. Participants completed measures regarding depression, somatic complaints and demographics.

RESULTS
Bedouin Arabs reported higher levels of both depression (Time 1 and Time 2) and somatization (only Time 1) as compared to Jewish students. A multiple-group, cross-lagged SEM analysis provided support for the functional model among the Bedouin Arab and Jewish student: Somatic complaints prospectively predicted depression in both groups. However, support for the affect-dysregulation model was found only among the Bedouin Arab students, among whom depression prospectively predicted somatic complaints.

CONCLUSIONS
This study highlights cultural/ethnic similarities concerning the functional model and the cross-sectional associations between depression and somatization. However, these findings also underscore ethnic differences concerning the affect-dysregulation model.


Financial regulators are challenged to respond to the innovation opportunities presented by financial technology (fintech). Current rules are not necessarily sufficient or effective to adequately regulate new business models and new products relating to innovations such as crypto assets or digital financial services. Regulators that fail to respond in a timely manner may drive innovation offshore and deprive their markets and consumers of appropriate, new services. To respond to new financial innovation, regulators have been establishing innovation hubs and regulatory sandboxes. Innovation hubs enable them to engage innovators more effectively. Sandboxes allow the products to be tested in a controlled environment and enable regulators to consider whether existing laws are appropriate to regulate such products and, if not, what measures may be required. Sandboxes are however resource intensive and they hold a number of risks. Financial regulators are, of course, not alone in having to address the regulatory challenges of innovation. This article therefore also considers other non-financial regulatory experiences of innovative products and services, namely automated vehicles; emissions trading in China; and Uber and its clones, to consider whether those experiences hold lessons for financial regulators.


The relations between bulb length and the refractive power of the cornea were investigated in 3358 eyes of nonselected patients. There was a negative correlation between corneal refraction and bulb length in the range 19 to 29 mm. However, the data do not support the recently advanced hypothesis that corneal curvature and bulb length are regulated by means of optimal retinal contrast. The mean bulb length in males was 23.83 mm, in females 23.25 mm.


Oocyte retrieval is a procedure where sedation is recommended. This paper presents the process of setting up a new, non‐anaesthetist delivered service in our institution, the development of safety systems and the audit data we have used to assure quality, effectiveness and safety. Logbook data were collected for 4342 cases, with detailed audit data collected for 260 cases. Safety is acceptable with a respiratory adverse incident rate of 0.5/1000 (95% CI 0.1–1.6/1000 cases). Unplanned, direct anaesthetic assistance was required in 3.5/1000 cases (95% CI 1.7–5.3/1000 cases). Anaesthetic advice was required in 7.5% cases (95% CI 4.2–10.7%) at the inception of the service, but rarely once established: 0.6% (95% CI 0.2–1.0%). Nearly all patients (99%) would have the same sedation method again, no patients required admission, and patients' co‐operation was judged by the operating surgeon as very good or good in 91% of cases.


This research investigates the link between riparian zone management and water quality in the Tifton uplands region of the Georgia coastal plain. This area was once part of a vast coastal plain pine forest which was logged extensively between 1900 and 1920, and transformed into an area dominated by agriculture. Today, this area is one of Georgia's most productive agricultural regions, and is composed of a mosaic of cropland, pasture and silvicultural areas. The areas of native vegetation that have become reestablished along the intermittent streams that drain this region appear to play an important role in maintaining regional water quality, and their protection has recently been included in a list of best management practices distributed by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service. However, these guidelines are only voluntary, and economic incentives still exist for certain destructive farming practices such as installing drain tile, converting riparian buffers to wet pasture, and clear cutting riparian buffers to allow center pivot irrigation systems to pass unimpeded. As part of a plan to better understand the role of riparian buffers in an agricultural region, 12 second order tributaries under three different management regimes were sampled biweekly for turbidity and nutrients, and monthly for invertebrates. Results from this research indicate that maintaining a riparian buffer between streams and upland agriculture can significantly lower NO,-N, PO4-P, and turbidity levels within these streams. The aquatic invertebrate community also differs markedly in areas with and without riparian vegetation. A relatively diverse assemblage of aquatic invertebrates dominated by shredding insects and crustaceans were found in streams with an intact riparian zone, while less diverse assemblages of filtering taxa dominated streams with no riparian buffer.


The first total synthesis of gambierol, a marine polycyclic ether toxin, has been achieved. Highly efficient synthesis of the ABC and EFGH ring fragments allowed us to prepare those two advanced intermediates in multi-gram quantities. The key feature of the present total synthesis is the B-alkyl Suzuki-Miyaura coupling tactics, which culminated in the union of the advanced intermediates and convergent synthesis of the octacyclic polyether core. Introduction of the sensitive triene side chain via Pd (PPh3) 4/CuCl/LiCl-promoted Stille coupling was conducted at the final step of the synthesis. The present total synthesis supplied useful quantities of gambierol and its structural analogues for detailed biological studies: an interesting observation was gained through pathological studies. Also, preliminary structure-activity relationship studies revealed that the functionalities present in the H ring and unsaturated side chain are crucial for potent toxicity against mice.


In this paper, a step-by-step approach of planning, designing and optimization of an unceasing single-phase grid-connected photovoltaic power plant based on real world conditions is shown. The power plant design is for a system that works continuously for all 24 hours in order to deliver continuous supply to the grid. This is due to compensate the usage throughout the day. The location of the real world climate condition chosen from is School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, UniversitiSains Malaysia, NibongTebal, Pulau Pinang. The content includes the interpretation and tabulation of the power demand and environmental factors to develop proper technical approach to power sizing for generation based on data derived from a weather station at research location, choice of control method for the control module which includes implementing the Multiple Power Point Tracking (MPPT) technique through the power converters and also a system with very little power losses as it is delivered to the grid. The design is then proven by simulation using MATLAB/Simulink software.


Communication protocols can be modeled as finite state machines, a formalism commonly used in digital circuit design. Sophisticated and efficient simulation techniques have been developed to help integrated circuit designers. In this paper, we propose an approach to the analysis of communication protocols and, in general, of entire computer networks based on VHDL modeling and simulation.


In the very small space offered by the restricted number of pages, this paper presents some of the most challenging full-field metrological family of techniques and reviews their evolution from the analogical, high resolution optical approach towards the emerging real-time, digital approach. The developments affect all hybrid, experimental-numerical measurement techniques using coherent light. They are useful to different scientific and industrial fields, ranging from microbiology and electronic packaging to material properties identification, non-destructive testing, vibroacoustics and identification of noise sources for a reduction of noise pollution. The paper presents the experience of the Photomechanics laboratory of INSA Rouen in these fields


IGF-I signaling is involved in tumor progression and drug resistance and many anti-IGF-IR therapeutic agents are currently in clinical trials. Moreover, growing evidence also suggests that insulin signaling may play an important role in cancer development and progression. However, little is known regarding similarities and difference in IGF-I and insulin signaling in cancer, and there are currently no biomarkers to predict patient response to IGF targeted therapy. To gain a better understanding of these signaling pathways in human breast cancer, we measured the levels of insulin receptor (IR) and IGF-IR, and the activity of insulin and IGF-I, in a large panel of human breast cancer cell lines. Comparative gene expression analysis was performed using publicly available gene expression data and IR and IGF-IR mRNA levels in 17 breast cancer cell lines were measured by Q-RT-PCR. IGF-IR and IR levels were found to be highly variable in breast cancer cell lines. MCF7 and MDA-MB-134 have high levels of IGF-IR expression and MDA-MB-468 and ZR-75-1 have high levels of IR expression, relative to other breast cancer cell lines. Reverse phase protein array (RPPA) analysis using 134 different antibodies was performed on MCF7 cells stimulated with increasing doses of insulin or IGF-I. One Way ANOVA was performed to identify proteins affected by insulin and/or IGF stimulation. Maximal response to insulin and IGF-I stimulation was observed at a 10nM concentration of both ligands. Therefore, we further performed RPPA on 21 breast cancer cell lines treated with 10nM of insulin and IGF-I for 6 time points (5min, 10min, 30 min, 6hrs, 24hrs, and 48hrs). Spearman rank correlation was performed on IR and IGF-IR protein levels to mRNA levels from Q-RT-PCR. There was a significant correlation between IGF-IR protein and mRNA levels (r=0.559, p=0.024), but not between IR protein and mRNA levels. Principle component analysis showed that MCF7, MDA-MB-134, T47D and ZR-75-1 are insulin and IGF-I responsive. Results from ANOVA with contrast in MCF7 cells showed that insulin and IGF-I affected similar set of proteins at 10 minute and 24 hours time points, however, there were several proteins affected only by IGF-I or insulin stimulation. For example, phospho-estrogen receptor (p-ER) was found to be increased by 10 minutes IGF-I stimulation, but not by insulin stimulation. Beta-catenin and c-Myc were significantly suppressed by IGF stimulation while PARP was significantly suppressed by insulin stimulation at the 24 hour time point. Moreover, IGF affected twice the number of proteins compared to insulin at the 48 hour time point. For instance, Bcl2 and SMAD3 were suppressed and Raf and FOXO3a were increased by IGF stimulation after 48 hours of stimulation. Further statistical and system biology analysis of the temporal activation of signaling by IGF-I and insulin in the 21 cell lines is ongoing and will be presented. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4133.


Semi-supervised learning is one of the important topics in machine learning, concerning with pattern classification where only a small subset of data is labeled. In this paper, a new network-based (or graph-based) semi-supervised classification model is proposed. It employs a combined random-greedy walk of particles, with competition and cooperation mechanisms, to propagate class labels to the whole network. Due to the competition mechanism, the proposed model has a local label spreading fashion, i.e., each particle only visits a portion of nodes potentially belonging to it, while it is not allowed to visit those nodes definitely occupied by particles of other classes. In this way, a "divide-and-conquer" effect is naturally embedded in the model. As a result, the proposed model can achieve a good classification rate while exhibiting low computational complexity order in comparison to other network-based semi-supervised algorithms. Computer simulations carried out for synthetic and real-world data sets provide a numeric quantification of the performance of the method.


In this article we focus on multiprocessor system-on-chip (MPSoC) architectures for human heart electrocardiogram (ECG) real time analysis as a hardware/software (HW/SW) platform offering an advance relative to state-of-the-art solutions. This is a relevant biomedical application with good potential market, since heart diseases are responsible for the largest number of yearly deaths. Hence, it is a good target for an application-specific system-on-chip (SoC) and HW/SW codesign. We investigate a symmetric multiprocessor architecture based on STMicroelectronics VLIW DSPs that process in real time 12-lead ECG signals. This architecture improves upon state-of-the-art SoC designs for ECG analysis in its ability to analyze the full 12 leads in real time, even with high sampling frequencies, and its ability to detect heart malfunction for the whole ECG signal interval. We explore the design space by considering a number of hardware and software architectural options. Comparing our design with present-day solutions from an SoC and application point-of-view shows that our platform can be used in real time and without failures.


It has been recently shown that supervised machine learning (ML) algorithms can accurately and efficiently predict long-time population dynamics of dissipative quantum systems given only short-time population dynamics. In the present article we benchmarked 22 ML models on their ability to predict long-time dynamics of a two-level quantum system linearly coupled to harmonic bath. The models include uni- and bidirectional recurrent, convolutional, and fully-connected feedforward artificial neural networks (ANNs) and kernel ridge regression (KRR) with linear and most commonly used nonlinear kernels. Our results suggest that KRR with nonlinear kernels can serve as inexpensive yet accurate way to simulate long-time dynamics in cases where the constant length of input trajectories is appropriate. Convolutional gated recurrent unit model is found to be the most efficient ANN model.


Abstract. We applied Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) Tellus products in combination with Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) simulations and data from reports, to analyze variations in terrestrial water storage (TWS) in China as a whole and eight of its basins from 2003 to 2013. Amplitudes of TWS were well restored after scaling, and showed good correlations with those estimated from models at the basin scale. TWS generally followed variations in annual precipitation; it decreased linearly in the Huai River basin (−0.56 cm yr−1) and increased with fluctuations in the Changjiang River basin (0.35 cm yr−1), Zhujiang basin (0.55 cm yr−1) and southeast rivers basin (0.70 cm yr−1). In the Hai River basin and Yellow River basin, groundwater exploitation may have altered TWS's response to climate, and TWS kept decreasing until 2012. Changes in soil moisture storage contributed over 50 % of variance in TWS in most basins. Precipitation and runoff showed a large impact on TWS, with more explained TWS in the south than in the north. North China and southwest rivers region exhibited long-term TWS depletions. TWS has increased significantly over recent decades in the middle and lower reaches of Changjiang River, southeastern coastal areas, as well as the Hoh Xil, and the headstream region of the Yellow River in the Tibetan Plateau. The findings in this study could be helpful to climate change impact research and disaster mitigation planning.


The objective of this project was to provide a robust fallout analysis and planning tool for the National Technical Nuclear Forensics interagency ground sample collection team. Their application called for a fast-running, portable mission-planning tool for use in response to emerging improvised nuclear device (IND) post-detonation situations. The project met those goals by research and development of models to predict the physical, chemical, and radiological properties of fallout debris. ORNL has developed new graphical user interfaces for two existing codes, the Oak Ridge Isotope Generation (ORIGEN) code and the Defense Land Fallout Interpretive Code (DELFIC). ORIGEN is a validated, radionuclide production and decay code that has been implemented into the Fallout Analysis Tool to predict the fallout source term nuclide inventory after the detonation of an IND. DELFIC is a validated, physics-based, research reference fallout prediction software package. It has been implemented into the Fallout Planning Tool and is used to predict the fractionated isotope concentrations in fallout, particle sizes, fractionation ratios, dose rate, and integrated dose over the planned collection routes - information vital to ensure quality samples for nuclear forensic analysis while predicting dose to the sample collectors. DELFIC contains a particle activity module, which models the radiochemicalmore » fractionation of the elements in a cooling fireball as they condense into and onto particles to predict the fractionated activity size distribution for a given scenario. This provides the most detailed physics-based characterization of the fallout source term phenomenology available in an operational fallout model.« less


Abstract:Beginning with Leonora Barry of the Knights of Labor, women in the labor movement have envisioned class action as a means of overcoming sexual harassment. Drawing upon Brooke Meredith Beloso's emphasis on the "class constitution of gender and sexuality" and "gendered and sexual constitution of class," this essay considers four historical phases—the Gilded Age, the Progressive Era, the Great Depression and Second World War, and the present era since the 1970s—to maintain the value of class as an analytic category in understanding sexual harassment and resistance to it in the history of American capitalism. Attentive to gender and race, it contests perspectives that erase or subordinate class while in turn seeking to situate class within a full-spectrum intersectionality. Bringing class back in reveals sexual harassment to be one form of the enactment of class, not merely gender. Although sexual harassment can in no way be reduced to class, class shapes sexual harassment and sexual harassment shapes class.


Increasing mobilities and an ever greater amount of technologies that support creativity have led to the emergence of a so-called Creative Class in our postmodern society. Creative Class members have distinctive experiences that blur the boundaries between everyday and touristic life. These experiences challenge conventional typologies of the tourist experience and have tremendous implications for tourism research and practice. In this article we discuss first what the Creative Class is, what experiences it has, and how it uses emerging technologies to create, mediate, and reconstruct these experiences. A special emphasis is placed on the relationship the Creative Class has with technology, in particular consumer-generated media. The discussion draws on literature from different fields, stressing the need for an interdisciplinary perspective to analyze and understand the phenomenon. Next, the article proposes that there is indeed an emergence of a creative tourist class with distinct tourism experiences. We then argue that these insights call for a new conceptualization of tourism experiences in general. A tourism experience sphere is presented and described that seeks to overcome some of the limitations of our current conceptualization and understanding of tourists' experiences. The sphere represents a multidimensional space enabling combinations of experience aspects and dimensions (these are illustrative items and not meant to be an exhaustive categorization). The article closes with an agenda for future research regarding tourism experiences, creative tourists, tourism product development, and tourism marketing.


The use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to enhance radar signal processing is discussed. Knowledge-based trackers, a knowledge-based target identification system, and an expert system for operating and controlling the modes and parameters of an advanced multifunction surveillance system are presented. In the case of the track detector, a low threshold criterion is set for the incoming signal, which consequently allows a high probability of false alarm. Through use of a knowledge base and constraints on the target dynamics, realistic trajectories are sorted out to establish a declaration/detection for a track. For identification, a variety of signal features depicting different targets are matched with features derived from the received signal. A target is identified when the received signal is found to contain that set of features which is unique to a feature set in the knowledge base. A radar operator expert system assesses radar scenario situations and responds by controlling the parameters, modes and resources to optimize the overall performance and mission.<<ETX>>


Measurements of intrinsic alignments of galaxy shapes with the large-scale density field, and the inferred intrinsic alignments model parameters, are sensitive to the shape measurement methods used. In this paper we measure the intrinsic alignments of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-III (SDSS-III) Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) LOWZ galaxies using three different shape measurement methods (re-Gaussianization, isophotal, and de Vaucouleurs), identifying a variation in the inferred intrinsic alignments amplitude at the 40% level between these methods, independent of the galaxy luminosity or other properties. We also carry out a suite of systematics tests on the shapes and their two-point correlation functions, identifying a pronounced contribution from additive PSF systematics in the de Vaucouleurs shapes. Since different methods measure galaxy shapes at different effective radii, the trends we identify in the intrinsic alignments amplitude are consistent with the interpretation that the outer regions of galaxy shapes are more responsive to tidal fields, resulting in isophote twisting and stronger alignments for isophotal shapes. We observe environment dependence of ellipticity, with brightest galaxies in groups being rounder on average compared to satellite and field galaxies. We also study the anisotropy in intrinsic alignments measurements introduced by projected shapes, finding effects consistent with predictions of the nonlinear alignment model and hydrodynamic simulations. The large variations seen using the different shape measurement methods have important implications for intrinsic alignments forecasting and mitigation with future surveys.


In text documents data mining techniques have been proposed for mining useful patterns. But there are some questions, how to effectively use and update discovered patterns is still an open research issue, especially in the text mining. So most existing text mining methods adopted term-based approaches but they all suffer from the problems of polysemy and synonymy. Polysemy is the word which giving the multiple meaning of word and synonymy is the word which giving the similar meaning of word. After some years, people have been adopted pattern based approaches should perform better than the term-based approaches. This paper with proposed system implements innovative and effective pattern discovery technique which includes the processes of pattern deploying and pattern evolving, to improve the effectiveness of using and updating discovered patterns for finding relevant and interesting information with effective patterns as per the users requirements. In this paper user also getting the meaningful information without misinterpretation problem.


In this paper, the silicone rubber composed of carbon fibers was prepared. The influence of different concentration of carbon fibers on the conductivity, electromagnetic shielding interference effectiveness property of the silicone rubber was discussed from the point of view of condition of carbon fiber and silicone rubber. The results showed that there existed the extreme conductivity and shielding effectiveness (SE) across the tested frequency range from 2.6 GHz to 3.95 GHz of silicone rubber composites filled with carbon fibers. When the content of the carbon fibbers was 50 parts per hundred of rubber (phr), the SE values of composites were typically above 63 dB and close to the extremum. The compact packing structure of carbon fibers does not play an important role in improved the conductivity of composite. The SE of the composite depends on the conductivity of composite.


Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are proteins which lack a well-defined three- dimensional structure. The abundance and functional significance of IDPs has been recognized only recently. Due to their properties, IDPs play an important role in cellular functions. They serve as flexible inter-protein linkers, and participate in molecular recognition, molecular assembly, cellular signaling and regulation, or protein modification. Thus, genetically encoded alterations of IDPs are involved in many diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, amyloidosis, or neurodegeneration. Therefore the study and characterization of the conformational dynamics of IDPs are important to better understand the underlying mechanisms which lead to various pathologies.
FG repeats, rich in phenylalanine (F) and glycine (G), are one particular type of IDPs. FG repeats are located in the central channel of the nuclear pore complex (NPC), and they control the molecular transport between the nucleus and the cytoplasm. The way how FG repeats form or/and function as highly selective barriers in NPCs is not clear. In this thesis, the conformational dynamics of one FG repeats, Nsp1, is investigated by photo-induced electron-transfer fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (PET-FCS) and molecular dynamics simulation (MD simulation). Combination of PET-FCS and MD simulation offers a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between functional mechanism and conformational dynamics of IDPs.
The results from PET-FCS measurements indicate that the N-terminus of Nsp1 tends to be more flexible than the C-terminus. Furthermore, short Nsp1 fragments (up to 50 amino acids) at low concentration (100 μM) do not tend to aggregate under physiological condition. These data indicate that the interaction between short FG repeats is not strong enough to solely generate the barrier. Interaction between long FG repeats or between many different kinds of FG repeats may also make a distinct contribution to the highly selective barrier of the NPC. To support MD simulations, hydrodynamic radii of various IDPs, FG repeats, GS repeats, Prothymosin alpha, and Integrase were measured by dual-focus fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (2fFCS). The data showed that the conformations obtained by the force field CHARMM 22* and a charm-modified TIP3P water model agrees best with the experimental data. These results are important for further force field developments of MD simulation for IDPs in the future.


Multi-Threshold CMOS (MTCMOS) circuits combine high performance during active mode with low leakage during sleep, but have a fundamental difficulty when trying to keep the state during sleep mode. We propose several novel master-slave MTCMOS flip-flops which use an outer feedback connection in order to maintain state. These MTCMOS with Outer Feedback (MTOF) flip-flops are fast since they use only low threshold transistors on the forward (critical) path and minimum extra load. The area overhead is low since the outer feedback is simple and transistors not on the critical path can have high threshold and be reused for maintaining the state during sleep. A 100nm predictive technology with power supply ranging from 0.8V to 1.2V is used for verifying the circuits performance through simulation.


To successfully infect a plant, pathogens must overcome three layers of defense: (1) preformed physical barriers; (2) a cell-surface-based surveillance system that detects conserved pathogen molecules and (3) an intracellular surveillance system that detects effector proteins injected into host cells. Bacterial plant pathogens overcome the first layer either by invading through natural openings and wounds, and/or by secreting hydrolytic enzymes that break down surface layers. Bacteria typically overcome the second layer by injecting effectors that interfere with defense signaling. Bacteria overcome the third layer either by modifying or eliminating existing effectors, or by evolving new effectors that suppress defense activation.

Keywords:

bacterial pathogens;
disease resistance;
effector proteins;
type three secretion system;
plants


Jean-Paul Brodeur's last book, The Policing Web1was initially entitled "A Treatise on Policing." The Concise Oxford English Dictionary (9th ed.) defines treatise as a "written work dealing formally and systematically with a subject." The Policing Web is undoubtedly a treatise and a very significant one at that. It is a tour de force that will undoubtedly become for decades a crucial reference work and a definitive text on policing, for scholars, policy analysts, and senior police practitioners. A central feature of this work, and one that sets it apart from other texts on policing published in English, is that it systematically avoids the Anglo-American centrism that has characterized so much of this literature. This is a significant, and much needed, achievement. This book is quintessentially "Brodeur." It is thorough, it is critical, it is deeply rooted in philosophy, it is exceptionally well researched, and it is written in a recognizably "Brodeur style" – a style that is authoritative and that does not "suffer fools gladly." Particularly appealing is the fact that it is refreshingly personal – it is full of insights from his research and writing – while at the same time it is utterly scholarly.


We consider an extension of logic programs, called ω-programs, that can be used to define predicates over infinite lists. ω-programs allow us to specify properties of the infinite behavior of reactive systems and, in general, properties of infinite sequences of events. The semantics of ω-programs is an extension of the perfect model semantics. We present variants of the familiar unfold/fold rules which can be used for transforming ω-programs. We show that these new rules are correct, that is, their application preserves the perfect model semantics. Then we outline a general methodology based on program transformation for verifying properties of ω-programs. We demonstrate the power of our transformation-based verification methodology by proving some properties of Büchi automata and ω-regular languages.


This paper presents Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR) based on bidirectional full-bridge dc-dc converter to compensate severe voltage sag/swell problems in medium voltage system. Voltage swell causes the continuous rise at dc-link voltage of DVR which may damage the dc-link capacitors and solid-state devices, and increase the power losses. Unidirectional dc-dc converters based DVRs do not allow power flow from dc link of inverter to battery. This condition may damage the dc-link capacitors and solid-state devices, and increase the power losses. The main contribution of this study is that bidirectional dc-dc converter permits the DVR to prevent voltage rise at DC link capacitor under severe voltage swell conditions. In this topology, power can flow both from battery to multilevel inverter and vice versa. For this propose, a control algorithm based on Proportional-Integrator (PI) control is developed for bidirectional dc-dc converter. This algorithm can keep the DC link voltage constant during voltage sag/swell. The performance results of proposed topology and control method is verified with PSCAD/EMDTC.


Creationist opposition to evolution is a major impediment to advancing science
education in the US and a growing problem in the UK. Novel education approaches
could be instrumental in stemming this opposition. Rapper Baba Brinkman's live
show "Rap Guide to Evolution" is one such effort, as it combines hip hop, science,
and comedy. To investigate this, pre- and post-performance tests and a one-month
follow-up using the Evolutionary Attitudes and Literacy Survey were administered to
92 UK students in conjunction with a "Rap Guide to Evolution" performance. Study
compliance was poor, with only five participants completing all three surveys and
low posttest reliability. Nonetheless, significant improvement from pretest to
retention was detected in evolution exposure, though there was also a decrease in
evolutionary knowledge. Regression analysis controlling for gender, current religion,
openness to experience, and creationist reasoning also indicated a borderline
significant decrease in evolution misconceptions and that the decrease in
evolutionary knowledge was predicted mainly by current religion. Though results
were mixed, this study is the first of its kind in testing the influence of informal
education on evolutionary knowledge and attitudes. Future research will utilize
more rigorous protocols and investigate variation in cultural models of resistance to
evolution.


Vandhyatva (infertility) is failure to conceive or give birth or experiencing Garbha Strava or Garbha pata (repeated abortion). Disturbed lifestyle, usage of contraceptives, stress, genetic problems, alcohol consumption and smoking addiction increases such cases day by day. Nowadays fallopian tube blockage has become one of the burning issues of female infertility. According to Ayurveda, successful conception depends upon Ritu, Kshetra, Ambu and Beeja. Beejagrahana is unable due to tubal blockage (Sanga Srotodusti of Arthavavaha) leads to failure of conception. Panchakarma plays an important role in treating female infertility and Uttara Basti is one of the best (Panchkarma therapy for the infertility treatment in Ayurveda.) It detoxifies the uterine cavity and fallopian tubes, which clear the Srothoavarodha. Uttarbasti along with internal medication helps in Vata Dosha saman and remove the Sanga srotodusti. A diagnosed case of infertility due to bilateral tubal blockage, visited our clinic for treatment of tubal blockage and consequent infertility. Here is the case presentation of successful treatment with Ayurveda medicines and Uttara basti.


Today, young girls in many nations of the world may decide on a career in law in the same matter-of-fact manner as their grandmothers decided to become a teacher, social worker, nurse, or librarian. Sociologists Cynthia Fuchs Epstein and Abigail Kolker remind us that today we also take for granted that women may sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, serve as Secretary of State, or hold leadership positions in some of the most powerful law firms in the country — and even in the world. Rereading Epstein's Women in Law, published in 1981, reminds us, however, that what we today take for granted in fact represents a revolution in the gender composition of law (and other professions) in what is actually a remarkably short span of time. During the first wave of the Women's Movement, which coincided with the Progressive Era in the United States, a few pioneering women battled for the opportunity to be admitted to the practice of law; the challenges were many and the proportion of women who joined the ranks of legal practice remained miniscule through the early 1960s. In the wake of the Civil Rights Movement and the second wave of the U.S. Women's Movement in the 1960s that picture began to change. Today, the gender composition of legal education hovers at parity across the hierarchy of U.S. law schools; women represent about 32 percent of practitioners in the United States, though "the United States lags far behind many other countries." The articles in this IJGLS issue both shed light on the feminization of legal practice from a global perspective and provide snapshots of how feminization unfolds in various nations, often highlighting the challenges that remain to be addressed.


Historical thematic cartography devoted to confessional or, in yet broader terms, religious problematic enjoys a stable status in Poland. Religious issues have usually been treated in a two-fold way: 1. as the major subject of historical cartography, 2. as a component of historical cartography concerned with socio-cultural or historical-political problematic. The former embraces the tradition of the Centre for Research on (earlier Institute of ) Historical Geography of the Church in Poland (Catholic University of Lublin), whereas the latter – the works of the Historical Atlas of Poland (Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences). Even though the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was a multi-religious and multi-confessional country (including both Christian and non-Christian faiths), the majority of hitherto cartographic studies was predominantly preoccupied with institutions, peoples and religious practices of the Latin Church, which enjoyed a preferential systemic and socio-economic status in the Commonwealth. For decades, Polish historical cartography focused on the reconstruction of territorial structures and multi-level administrative divisions. The meticulousness and methodology of these approaches varied greatly, ranging from small-scale schematic maps of dioceses, to very detailed inventory maps of parochial borders (the "Historical Atlas of Poland" series). Its thematic development Polish cartography of confessions owes to professor Jerzy Kloczowski who made the geographical- historical method one of the pillars of studies into socio-religious history, strongly influenced by the French "Annales" school. The Centre for Research on Historical Geography of the Church in Poland at the Catholic University of Lublin is the only scientific institution in Poland whose research profile and methodology focus on geography and historical cartography of religions and confessions. The vast cartographic material collected over many decades forestalled a full development of cartographic research methodology and the subsequent evolution from cartographic presentation to analysis and interpretation, which had been advocated by Kloczowski already in the 1960s. The introduction of innovative technological devices to geographical-historical research, specifically databases and systems of spatial information, have opened anew the discussion on the opportunities for integrating data with methods of their analysis. Through its connection to other layers of the landscape of the past historical geography of confessions and religions is now becoming a crucial element of spatial history. Importantly, its inclusive and interdisciplinary character tallies well with the programme formulated by Le Bras and Kloczowski, within the framework of which institutions, peoples and religious practices should be presented alongside other elements of social, economic and cultural life. Only this may facilitate a proper assessment and description (both quantitative and qualitative) of religious practices, helping to properly interpret factors which have influenced the development of religious institutions and practices.


The sociology of sport has a history of academic marginalisation: for being a sociological study of an activity prioritised for its physical, rather than socio-cultural attributes; and for being a study of an area of life associated with 'leisure' and perceived by many to lack real social significance. In the early years, the fledgling discipline of sport studies/sport science sought legitimacy by adopting the methods and theories of the positivist and physical sciences – initially overlooking the historical, social, economic and political features of sporting cultures. It is only relatively recently that the sociology of sport slowly emerged as an area deemed worthy of serious scholarly attention.


It is widely acknowledged that there is considerable international pressure for international 'best practices' to be adopted via national legislation. This would occur either by means of model laws or through the passing of country specific legislation that closely replicates foreign legal formats, administrative rules, and or regulation. These attempts to spread the implementation of 'best practices' have gained importance in the international debate due to the liberalization of international capital flows. The oversight, country reports, and technical assistance carried out by international organizations along with the growing internationalization of investors have also contributed to this growing pressure. In this respect, due to the constant evolution of transactions and the end objective of making sure that capital markets are developed with just rules, structures, and methods, this article looks to analyze the adoption of standardized models of capital market regulation. Furthermore it looks to examine the motivation and interest of states and other 'stakeholders' at the international level.


The Companion to Development Studies is an essential one-stop reference for anyone with an interest in development studies. The editors of this new volume have brought together an impressive range of international experts in the field to present an interdisciplinary and comprehensive overview of contemporary development studies.With more than 100 chapters dealing with both theory and practice, the Companion is an accessible guide for students and a direct route into the key issues of development studies. Divided into ten sections covering all the important areas of the field, including gender, violence and insecurity,environment, and agents of development, this timely new text provides easy-to-use summaries of all the major issues encountered in this fast-changing area.


The 21st century Muslim world faces the crises of reciprocal extremism and radicalisation entertained by minorities in our midst and rooted in the Middle Eastern mindset of Zionism and Arab nationalism. Its outward manifestations are: (a) continuous bloodshed in the Muslim lands, and (b) deepening Muslim disunity. This article examines the Qurānic concept of wasac as an inward alternative of the mindset of extremism and a means of deradicalisation. Al-wasaṭiyyah is discussed within the framework of the Islamic epistemology of gradual sustenance as a method of its implementation. The article critically examines the term "al-wasaṭiyyah," traces the Qurānic injunctions that make up its framework and applies its values to the 21st century "crises."


Hiding in Plain Sight: Eluding the Nazis in Occupied France is an unusual memoir about the childhood and young adulthood of Sarah Lew Miller. Born in a large Orthodox Jewish family in Dereczyn, Poland, Sarah's family moved to Paris in 1937 to escape poverty and anti-Semitism. The German occupation of France just three years later threatened her family's existence with repressive anti-Jewish laws and massive deportations of Jews to death camps. With the help of Christian neighbors, they evaded arrest for several years in Paris by living undercover beginning in July 1942. After Sarah's mother was arrested and then rescued, Sarah's parents went into deep hiding, while their eight children found refuge in rural villages scattered around France. Through the help of a French Resistance organization, the Sixieme, Sarah escaped to Switzerland in May1944 and her entire family reunited in 1945 in Paris after the war ended. This personal and historical account of an era conveys the day-to-day life of a teenage girl living in Nazi-occupied France with the ever-present threat of death. Despite her loneliness, hardships and the derailment of her childhood dreams, she kept her strong family ties and maintained her faith in humanity. This memoir attests to qualities of courage, resilience and hope recalling Anne Frank, and the author's harrowing escapes read much like an adventure novel.


Abstract The design of an automated radiometer traversing system used to measure nocturnal longwave surface radiative budgets in a model urban canyon is described. The system allows two net radiometers to be traversed around the perimeter of a canyon cross section in order to resolve the spatial distribution of net radiation without necessitating extensive arrays of instruments. The system has been used to study the temporal and spatial variations of radiation and near surface air temperature within a model urban canyon and to validate a numerical canyon radiation model. Considerations affecting the placement of the sensors with respect to the canyon surfaces are detailed. The traversing speed is determined using an analysis of sensor response to anticipated spatial changes in radiation across canyon surfaces. Test results confirm the design parameters.


The classical data ow approach to determine the set of variables that are live at some point in a program entails using an iterative algorithm across the entire program usually with costly bit vector data structures Methods based on sparse evaluation graphs exist but these are solved on a per variable basis and are also iterative Inspired by our group s interest in sparse representations of use def and def use reference chains we are investigating still another approach In this paper we present an algorithm for determining liveness of variables based on upwards exposed use information at control ow branch points analogous to the collection of reaching def inition information in the popular Static Single Assignment form We demonstrate the use of our technique with two applications building interference graphs and eliminating dead code and show that this new reference chain approach has important advantages over previous methods


We report our latest results on charmonium suppression as measured at the CERN-SPS in Pb-Pb interactions at an incident beam momentum of 158 GeV/c per nucleon. Preliminary results obtained from the most recent sample of data collected in year 2000 under improved experimental conditions are compared with published results. For the most peripheral Pb-Pb collisions, J/ψ suppression agrees with the normal absorption measured from interactions of lighter nuclei while a steady increasing abnormal supression is observed with increasing centrality.


The Amsterwarm project investigates the urban heat island of Amsterdam, the vulnerability of its population, the energy efficiency of its buildings and landuse. A novel mapping approach provides insights into the questions of what causes the urban heat island and who will be affected by it. Landuse does affect the surface temperature. The difference between the areas in the city with the least and the greatest impervious surface coverage accounts for an average land surface temperature difference of 11.6℃ per hectare. The study demonstrates furthermore that the vulnerability of people and buildings to the urban heat island effect is a local condition in which the energy efficiency of buildings, quality of life and demographic factors should all be considered in an approach that is sensitive to place. Practical application: The typological maps will allow local authorities to prioritise adaptive actions in urban planning in response to the urban heat island, an emerging climate-related challenge that has a significant impact on the comfort and health of its citizens and on the (future) energy use required for cooling buildings. Raising the albedo in those areas of the city that are dominated by impervious surface cover seems an effective adaptation strategy, suitable to a city such as Amsterdam that no longer builds on green field sites but only builds as possible within the envelope of the existing city. Improving the quality of life in neighbourhoods and the energy efficiency/climate proofing of the building stock could also be prioritised in the identified neighbourhoods.


This study examines three applications of control charts used for monitoring syndromic data with different characteristics. The first part develops a seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) based surveillance chart, and compares it with the CDC Early Aberration Reporting System (EARS) W2c method using both authentic and simulated data. After successfully removing the long-term trend and the seasonality involved in syndromic data, the performance of the SARIMA approach is shown to be better than the performance of the EARS method in terms of two key surveillance characteristics, the false alarm rate and the average time to detect the outbreaks. In the second part, we propose a generalized likelihood ratio (GLR) control chart to detect a wide range of shifts in the mean of Poisson distributed biosurveillance data. The application of a sign function on the original GLR chart statistics leads to downwardsided, upward-sided, and two-sided GLR chart statistics in an unified framework. To facilitate the use of such charts in practice, we provide detailed guidance on developing and implementing the GLR chart. Under the steady-state framework, this study indicates that the overall GLR chart performance in detecting a range of shifts of interest is superior to the performance of traditional control charts including the EARS method, Shewhart charts, EWMA charts, and CUSUM charts. There is often an excessive number of zeros involved in health care related data. Zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) models are more appropriate than Poisson models to describe such data. The last part of the dissertation considers the GLR chart for ZIP data under a research framework similar to the second part. Because small sample sizes may influence the estimation of ZIP parameters, the efficiency of MLEs is investigated in depth, followed by suggestions for improvement. Numerical approaches to solving for the MLEs are discussed as well. Statistics for a set of GLR charts are derived, followed by modifications changing them from two-sided statistics to one-sided statistics. Although not a complete study of GLR charts for ZIP processes, due to limited time and resources, suggestions for future work are proposed at the end of this dissertation.


On March 1, 2019, the Transformative Arts Network at the University of California, Santa Barbara, held a two-day "Art, Activism, and Imagination" symposium. One memorable and infinitely generative part of the symposium came at the start of the second session, which was dedicated to the collaborative work between artists affiliated with the Alliance for California Traditional Arts and the Building Healthy Communities project in Boyle Heights in East Los Angeles. Altar makers Ofelia Esparza (a National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellow) and her daughter Rosanna Esparza Ahrens (graphic designer and cofounder of the artist collective Tonalli Studio—A Place of Creative Wellness) began the afternoon with an instructional session on "how to arrive" followed by a presentation about their work as altaristas.
As participants gathered on a verdant lawn next to a peaceful lagoon near the ocean, the altar makers burned sage and spoke about our obligations at a meeting convened on unceded Indigenous land. Rosanna outlined the four-part process that has guided the process of making altars. This consists of (1) arriving with full awareness of ourselves, our ancestors, and the powers of the natural world; (2) connecting fully with the natural and human world; (3) making agreements for collective conduct; and (4) affirming the possibilities produced by our collective practice. This process guided all the subsequent deliberations of the symposium and has informed much of the subsequent work that has emanated from it. One reason for its impact and influence stems from the extraordinary presentation about altar making that Ofelia and Rosanna presented, which enacted the ideals that the four parts of "learning to arrive" envision. With their permission, we reprint here a transcript of part of their inspiring and enlightening presentation.


Kawasaki disease is an acute vasculitic illness of childhood associated with significant morbidity and mortality. A cellular based enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to demonstrate the presence of antiendothelial cell antibodies in sera from children with Kawasaki disease. Twenty one of 32 patients with Kawasaki disease had raised IgM antibody titres and four had raised IgG antiendothelial antibody titres. There was a significant difference in the IgM antiendothelial cell antibody titres when comparing the patients with normals and febrile controls. The antibody titre paralleled the disease activity in patients studied serially. There was no relative increase in binding of antiendothelial cell antibodies after cytokine stimulation. These findings may be of importance in further research into the understanding of mechanisms involved in this and other forms of vasculitis in man.


This paper, based on a presentation to the UK Association of Chief Children's Nurses, is the author's personal reflection on the nature and future of children's nursing research. Key constitutive elements of this concept are considered to arrive at the conclusion that children's nursing research is research undertaken by children's nurses into questions of relevance to children's nursing practice and services, or wider issues in which children's nursing has a vital role. Three possible futures are presented, of which only the last is positive and desirable: development in line with the reality of practice and population needs. An integrated approach is necessary, with responsibilities both for those in positions of authority in the service and for researchers themselves. In particular, this partnership is essential for children's nursing to evidence the impact of research and for children and young people to reap the greatest benefit from evidence-based practice.


The existence of vertical wind shear in the atmosphere close to the ground requires that wind resource assessment and prediction with numerical weather prediction (NWP) models use wind forecasts at levels within the full rotor span of modern large wind turbines. The performance of NWP models regarding wind energy at these levels partly depends on the formulation and implementation of planetary boundary layer (PBL) parameterizations in these models. This study evaluates wind speeds and vertical wind shears simulated by the Weather Research and Forecasting model using seven sets of simulations with different PBL parameterizations at one coastal site over western Denmark. The evaluation focuses on determining which PBL parameterization performs best for wind energy forecasting, and presenting a validation methodology that takes into account wind speed at different heights.

Winds speeds at heights ranging from 10 to 160 m, wind shears, temperatures and surface turbulent fluxes from seven sets of hindcasts are evaluated against observations at Hovsore, Denmark. The ability of these hindcast sets to simulate mean wind speeds, wind shear, and their time variability strongly depends on atmospheric static stability. Wind speed hindcasts using the Yonsei University PBL scheme compared best with observations during unstable atmospheric conditions, whereas the Asymmetric Convective Model version 2 PBL scheme did so during near-stable and neutral conditions, and the Mellor–Yamada–Janjic PBL scheme prevailed during stable and very stable conditions. The evaluation of the simulated wind speed errors and how these vary with height clearly indicates that for wind power forecasting and wind resource assessment, validation against 10 m wind speeds alone is not sufficient. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This study evaluates the methanolic crude extract of Datura metel L. seeds (family Solanacease) as a potential oral anaesthetic in dogs. Following the oral acute toxicity study to determine the median lethal dose (LD ) of the extract in twelve (12) mice, the extract was relatively safe since when administered at the highest 50 dose (5,000 mg/kg) no sign of toxicity and no death was recorded. In the in vivo sedative and anaesthetic study of the effect of Datura metel L in this work, the observed pharmacological effect of the extract administered orally to five (5) dogs separately at a dose rate of 0.6, 1.2, 1.5, 2 and 2.4 g/kg respectively during establishment of a suitable pilot oral anaesthetic doses, showed a graded dose response relationship. The extract at an oral dose of 2.4 g/kg induced surgical anaesthesia in dogs with increased heart and respiratory rates (107 to 205 bpm and 36.33 to 41.33 cpm) respectively, normal rectal temperature (37.83 °C), adequate tissue perfusion, good muscle relaxation but poor analgesia, loss of anal sphincter tone and loss of pupillary reflex. The dogs recovered without any complications. This study has shown that the seed extract of Datura metel L. is relatively safe, induced sleep similar to that of thiopentone sodium anaesthesia with good anaesthetic indices at the oral dose rate of 2.4 g/kg in dogs.


The steroid hormones estrone (E(1)), 17beta-estradiol (E(2)), estriol (E(3)), 17alpha-ethinylestradiol (EE(2)), and their conjugated forms were surveyed throughout an advanced sewage treatment plant (STP). The estrogen concentrations in water and sludge samples, collected in October 2004 and April 2005, were determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Simultaneously, the estrogenic activity was quantified using estrogen-responsive reporter cell lines (MELN) to investigate the behavior of overall estrogenic compounds. The estrogen concentrations in the inlet ranged from 200 to 500 ng/L, with the contribution of conjugated forms being higher than 50%. The major estrogens in influent were E(1) and E(3). The estrogenic activity was between 25 and 130 ng/L of E(2) equivalents (EEQs). Estrogen concentrations and estrogenicity measured in the inlet and in primary treated sewage were similar, showing a weak impact of primary treatment on hormone removal. In contrast, both estrogen concentration and estrogenicity decreased during biological treatment, with high removal efficiencies (>90%). Estrone, E(2), and EE(2) persisted in the treated water below 10 ng/L, whereas the estrogenicity was lower than 5 ng/L of EEQs. Estrogen mass flux in the effluent and sludge represented less than 2 and 4%, respectively, of the inlet. Consequently, the fraction of estrogens sorbed into the sludge was very small, and biodegradation was the main vehicle for estrogen elimination. This dual approach, comparing chemical and biological analysis, allowed us to confirm that most of the estrogenic activity occurring in this STP, which receives mainly domestic sewage, resulted from sex hormones.


This special issue is focused on the geology and mineral deposits in the Mesoproterozoic St. Francois Mountains terrane of southeast Missouri, United States, and in the Paleoproterozoic Great Bear magmatic zone of Northwest Territories, Canada. Contributions in this special issue emphasize iron oxide-apatite (IOA) ± rare earth element (REE) and iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) and affiliated deposits (e.g., Hitzman, 2000; Barton, 2014). The volume includes results of studies by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), derived from research done for the USGS Mineral Resources Program, and from GSC research completed under auspices of the Geomapping for Energy and Minerals and Targeted Geoscience Initiative programs. These studies took advantage of extensive historic drilling at and near IOA and IOCG deposits in Missouri, and of exceptional field exposures in the Great Bear magmatic zone. Collectively, results of this cumulative body of work provide new insights into the geological, geochemical, geophysical, and temporal characteristics of IOA ± REE, IOCG, and affiliated deposits, leading to enhanced understanding of diverse magmatic-hydrothermal systems, and refining of genetic models and exploration strategies for such deposits, within these terranes and elsewhere in the world.

Both North American terranes contain iron oxide-alkali alteration zones that formed during predominantly I-type, calc-alkaline (including S-type and shoshonitic in the Great Bear zone) volcano-plutonic magmatism. Later magmatism in both terranes was mainly of A-type affinity. Locally, the IOA deposits are spatially associated with high REE concentrations. The IOCG and affiliated deposits include Co- and Birich variants. Skarns, polymetallic veins, and albitite-hosted U deposits are also present within the footprints of the regional iron oxide-alkali alteration systems. Mineralization occurred contemporaneously with mafic to felsic volcanism and local volcanogenic sedimentation, including within or marginal to large ash-flow calderas. Proterozoic rocks in both the St. Francois Mountains terrane and the Great …


Design formulations for calculation of bond strength in structural concrete members usually include a number of parameters such as the stress acting in the reinforcement, the concrete cover and the diameter of the reinforcing bars. These parameters are actually necessary to account for geometric, strain and size effect that govern many bond issues and that have been experimentally verified. Unfortunately, most design approaches are still based on empirical formulas that do not lead to a clear understanding why the different phenomena have to be taken into account. In this paper, a mechanical explanation of such effects is presented with reference to the various potential bond failure modes. Analogies to other related problems (such as spalling of concrete cover in arch-shaped members) are finally discussed.


Techniques of the radical surgical treatment of tuberculosis of the shoulder joint with partial of subtotal osteochondral alloplasty are discussed, which was used in surgical treatment of 22 patients between the ages of 29 and 58 years. All patients had active tuberculous omarthritis that was accompanied in 9 cases by partial and in 13 by subtotal destruction of the humeral head. The results of treatment were followed up in 21 patients in terms varying from several months to 6 years. The tuberculous process alleviated in all patients with reconstruction of the destructed head anatomical structure and shoulder joint mobility was restored.


In Reply. — We welcome the opportu- nity to clarify the issues raised by Miller et al. Several questions were raised about the possible influence of other demographic features on neuropsychological test performance. All participants in our study were fluent English speakers, as demonstrated by their ability to fully comprehend informed consent; participate effectively in extensive psychiatric, psychosocial, and psychosexual interviews; and undergo neuropsychological testing. We still were concerned about the distribution of subjects for whom English was not a first language and described it fully in the article. This variable was used as a main effect in multivariate analysis of variance and regression analyses. Despite small numbers and reduced power, significant first language effects were noted. The comparability of measurement error is an issue that is not specific to language and can be questioned in any analysis. We believe that the treatment of the language issue was sufficient in the


Summary PsaF is a nuclear encoded gene for the subunit III of photosystem I. It is located at the lumenal side of the thylakoid membrane and interacts with plastocyanin. Starting from a low-level expression in the cotyledons of etiolated seedlings the gene is upregulated by light. Light can be replaced by Ca 2+ or phosphoinositides like phorbol myristate acetate, an analogue of diacylglycerol. We tested the effects of these components on PsaF promoter-driven gene expression in roots and found that the PsaF promoter includes a positive regulatory region [-220/-179] activated by cytokinin and a negative regulatory region [-687/-221] activated by abscisic acid. In addition, the promoter is activated by Ca 2+ , mastoparan and phorbol myristate acetate which suggests a role for phospholipases and protein kinase C in PsaF gene expression.


Background: Multi drug resistance HIV has emerged rendering the current conventional treatment of HIV ineffective. There is a need for new treatment regime which is cheap, effective and not prone to resistance development by HIV. Methods: In randomized clinical study of 68 HIV positive children 3 – 15 years to asses the efficacy of yeast selenium in HIV/AIDS patients, 50µ yeast selenium was administered to 34 children while in matched control of 34 were put on placebo. Blood samples of the both groups which were taken every 3 months intervals up to 6 months, were analyzed by ELISA for CD4T cells, the data was analyzed by SPSS version 16. Results: No significant difference in age { χ 2 (1, 62) =0.03, p =0.853}, cause of morbidity between test and controls {χ 2 ( 1, 65) = 5.87, p= 0.015} and on condition of foster parents {χ 2 ( 1,63) = 5.57, p= 0.0172} was observered. Children on selenium showed progressive improvement of WAZ and significant difference at six months{F (5,12) = =5.758, P=0.006}, and weight gain of up to2.5kilograms in six months, and significant CD4 T cell count increase t = -2.943,p 0.05. CD4 T cell count increased among all age groups on test 3-5years (+ 267.1),5-8 years( +200.3) 9-15 years (+71.2) cells/mm 3 and in matched controls a decrease 3-5 years(-71),5-8 years (-125) and 9-13years(-10.1)cells/mm 3 . No significant difference in CD4 T cell count between girls {F (2, 32) = 1.531 p= 0.232} and between boys {F (2, 49) = 1.040, p= 0.361} on test and between boys and girls {F (5, 81) = 1.379, p= 0.241} on control was observed. Conclusion: From this study it can be concluded that administration of yeast Selenium led to slowing the progress of HIV 1 in children from WHO clinical stage I by improving CD4 T cell count and hence the immunity.


Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection often causes long-term persistent hepatitis, which eventually leads to liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. HCV-encoded NS3/4A protease plays an important role in HCV immune evasion by cleaving key adapter proteins VISA and TRIF of the RIG-I-like receptors and Toll-like receptors mediated interferon (IFN) induction pathways. To further understand the roles of NS3/4A in HCV life cycle, we identified DDB1 as a cellular substrate of NS3/4A protease by biochemical purification and mass spectrometry analysis. NS3/4A interacted with DDB1 and cleaved DDB1 in HCVinfected cells. Mutagenesis indicated that NS3/4A cleaved DDB1 at the residue of C378. Overexpression of DDB1 potentiated HCV replication, whereas knockdown of DDB1 dramatically inhibited HCV replication. Furthermore, our data indicated that the cleavage of DDB1 by NS3/4A protease was required for HCV replication. Our findings suggest that DDB1 is a cellular substrate of NS3/4A required for HCV replication and provide new insight into the interaction between HCV and host cells. & 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


Detecting rare objects from a few examples is an emerging problem. Prior works show meta-learning is a promising approach. But, fine-tuning techniques have drawn scant attention. We find that fine-tuning only the last layer of existing detectors on rare classes is crucial to the few-shot object detection task. Such a simple approach outperforms the meta-learning methods by roughly 2~20 points on current benchmarks and sometimes even doubles the accuracy of the prior methods. However, the high variance in the few samples often leads to the unreliability of existing benchmarks. We revise the evaluation protocols by sampling multiple groups of training examples to obtain stable comparisons and build new benchmarks based on three datasets: PASCAL VOC, COCO and LVIS. Again, our fine-tuning approach establishes a new state of the art on the revised benchmarks. The code as well as the pretrained models are available at this https URL.


with the child. Such emotional-nutritionial situations may be prevented, buit considerable insight on the part of the mother is required. Temporarily, complete separation of the child froni the familv group may be necessary and is usually quickly effective in developing in the child more useful modes of behaviouir. C. S. R. PROGNOSIS AND TREATMENT. [76] Therapeutic mechanism of malaria treatment of general paralysis: observations on a case.-GoECKEAI,AN. Amer. Jour. Med. Sci., 1928, clxxv, 261. THE author records a case -which was diagnosed clinically and serologically as general paralysis. There was no evidence of previous cutaneous lesion. The woman was treated w-ith malaria, but had no further antispecific treatment after this. Five months later she developed tvpical nodulo-ulcerative s,philides on the right buttock and left thigh. He points out that it has beeni generallv held that neurosyphilides are evidence of an allergic conditioin of the tissues and indicate partial immunity. Cases which show them ruin a benigin course if thev develop neurosyphilis later. He suggests that the appearance of a syphilide in his case, five months after malaria treatmenit. points to the conclusion that malaria treatment helps to re-establish an inmmunity in which the skin takes an important part. The gradual improvement in the spinial fluid also suipports the conception that malaria produces a tissuie reactioin ratlher than a direct spirochaeticidal effect. P. W. 177] Note on the treatment of general paralysis by apyrexial malaria.F. H. STEWART. Jouir. of M1ent. Sci., 1928, lxxiv, 276. IN the couirse of experimental w-ork, it was decided to try the effect of two short courses of malaria, stopping the attacks bv quinine in doses of 30 gr. dailv as soon as the first rigor as w-as convenient. The advantages claimed for this method of treatment are (1) reduction of mortalitv and of suffering for the patient (2) mental and bodilv re-education can be begun a few days after the first attack (3) antisyphilitic treatment by trvparsamide or salvarsan can be combined -with the malarial treatment more readily; (4) great reduction in anxiety and labour for the physician and nursing staff ; (5) the treatment is placed within the reach of the general practitioner since s-hielded nursing in hospital is no longer necessary.