DULCE, an evidence-based intervention, can be spread by using QI to improve health care quality, systems integration, and outcomes of families with infants. OBJECTIVES During infancy, the American Academy of Pediatrics Bright Futures fourth edition health supervision guidelines recommend frequent well-child visits (WCVs) in which providers are expected to screen for and address maternal depression, intimate partner violence (IPV), and health-related social needs (HRSN). We spread an evidence-based approach that implements these recommendations (Developmental Understanding and Legal Collaboration for Everyone; DULCE) with 3 aims for 6-month-old infants and their families: 75% receive all WCVs on time, 95% are screened for 7 HRSNs, and 90% of families with concrete supports needs and 75% of families with maternal depression or IPV receive support. METHODS Between January 2017 and July 2018, five DULCE teams (including a community health worker, early childhood system representative, legal partner, clinic administrator, pediatric and behavioral health clinicians) from 3 communities in 2 states participated in a learning collaborative. Teams adapted DULCE using Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles, reported data, and shared learning monthly. Run charts were used to study measures. The main outcome was the percent of infants that received all WCVs on time. RESULTS The percentage of families who completed all WCVs on time increased from 46% to 65%. More than 95% of families were screened for HRSNs, 70% had ≥1 positive screen, and 86% and 71% of those received resource information for concrete supports and maternal depression and IPV, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Quality improvement–supported DULCE expansion increased by 50% the proportion of infants receiving all WCVs on time and reliably identified and addressed families' HRSNs, via integration of existing resources.


This work presents two approaches for computing the number of functional units in the PISH hardware/software codesign system. The proposed methods use Petri net as common formalism for performing quantitative analysis. The use of Petri net permits us to use a specification non-dependent partitioning method. Particularly, the Petri net as an intermediate format allows to analyze properties of the specification and formally compute performance indices which are used in the partitioning process. This paper is devoted to describing those approaches, but an overview of the general hardware/software codesign method is also presented.


Although the INSPIRE Directive provides a roadmap and technical specifications for providing interoperability of spatial information created and held by public bodies across Europe, its relevance to archaeological and built heritage information is unclear. Whilst there is a clear need for access to information about the historic environment by a range of audiences actively engaged in the management of Europe's rich heritage, delivery of relevant services is restricted to a narrow interpretation of the Annex I Protected Sites theme that focuses on statutory designations. This paper explores business reasons for adopting a more expansive interpretation of what information should be considered as and distributed as part of the Protected Sites theme in order to support policies and activities that impact upon the wider historic environment. The paper also considers the range and potential of information created through investigation and recording of the historic environment, often at public expense or interest. The potential for data reuse generating savings, inspiring smarter working practices, and developing sustainable datasets is explored through case studies from Scotland and Ireland and proposals to establish a thematic geo-portal, web services and applications through the EU Culture funded project ArchaeoLandscapes Europe (ArcLand), are discussed.


Experiments were performed on individual nodes of Ranvier from a lizard at 15–16°C, using the method of Nonner (1969). In addition to a leakage current (mean conductance of 19.7 nS), the membrane ionic currents consisted of a Na+ current, completely inhibited by lμmoll−1 external tetrodotoxin, and a K+ current, sensitive to external tetraethylammonium ions and to internal caesium ions. The inactivation time course of the Na+current at 0 mV was well fitted by the sum of two exponential phases, one fast and one slow, with mean time constants of 0.68 and 2.92 ms, respectively. In contrast to observations on amphibian and mammalian preparations, the peak Na+ current showed an almost linear potential dependence at large positive membrane potentials. A mean maximum Na+ conductance of 146.8 nS was calculated. Both the time and potential dependence of the K+ current indicated that it was similar to that found in amphibian nodes of Ranvier. The mean maximum K+ conductance was 51.9 nS. Furthermore, as described in amphibians, three different components of the K+ current (s, f1 and f2) could be separated. We conclude that, under similar experimental conditions, nodal ionic currents are qualitatively and quantitatively similar in lizard and amphibian myelinated nerve fibres, suggesting that the nodal membrane of these two preparations contains similar types of ionic channels. These results strengthen the view that the near absence of nodal K+ channels is a peculiarity of mammalian nerves.


The modern era of psychiatry is predominantly a history of confinement. Individuals suffering from mental disorders were banished to asylums and mental hospitals. During the late twentieth century, however, the Swedish psychiatry was a recurring topic for political debate and the target for numerous reforms. At present it is reorganized around three fundamental principles: participation, normalization and integration. The general question that this doctoral dissertation is concerned with is how the control mechanisms of psychiatry have changed in late modern society. It argues that the new psychiatric sector has shifted focus from the organization around the discipline of individuals to the control of their social environment. The aim is to increase societal participation among those with a mental disorder. To this end the dissertation illustrates how the transformation of modern psychiatry – into a new psychiatry – has created a complex organization around persons with a mental illness.

The findings of the research are presented in four articles based on life stories told by persons with a psychiatric diagnosis. The articles deal with how psychiatry is turned into an organization in which medical knowledge, political reforms and organizational structures are concretized biographically in the life of the individual. One central aspect of the analysis is the adaptation phase that refugees with posttraumatic stress disorder go through. The overall aim of the articles is to understand how a psychiatric diagnosis intervenes in a life story. The first article analyses the absurdities that arise when a person contract a mental disorder. The article shows that these absurdities emerge when institutions influence the course of events in a patient's life. The second article focus upon the adaptation phase that refugees with posttraumatic stress disorder must pass before they are included in a new social context. It is showed that the adaptation phase can be more traumatizing than the actual trauma that has been diagnosed. The third article problematizes the tensions between the autobiography of persons in a marginal position, and their biography as patients positioned on a field structured by psychiatric knowledge. In the fourth article it is discussed how the autobiography created by, what is commonly referred to as marginal experiences, may be used to develop existing theories on the construction of the sick role. A key finding in the four articles is that the discrepancy between the new forms of psychiatry and the patients' life situations, creates a critical element – a borderland – that involves a loss of agency in how the own life is unfolded.


The first American College of Cardiology/European Society of Cardiology task force published recommendations for a universal definition of myocardial infarction (MI) in 2000 based on the measurement of troponin (Tn). Although this rapid and highly sensitive blood test is certainly valuable in the appropriate setting, its widespread use in variety of clinical scenarios may lead to the detection of Tn elevation in absence of thrombotic acute coronary syndrome. In 2007, the joint European Society of Cardiology/American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association/World Heart Federation task force proposed a new definition for acute MI based on detection of Tn and associated clinical evidence. The goal of this article is to review the universal definition of acute MI and to differentiate type 1 MI, type 2 MI, and non–acute coronary syndrome Tn elevations. The prognosis and a clinical approach to this differential diagnosis will be developed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


The objective of this study was to investigate the role of the serine‐threonine kinase mitogen‐activated protein kinase 2 (MK2) in bone homeostasis. Primary bone cell cultures from MK2+/+ and MK2–/– mice were assessed for osteoclast and osteoblast differentiation, bone resorption, and gene expression. Bone architecture of MK2+/+ and MK2–/– mice was investigated by micro–computed tomography and histomorphometry. Ovariectomy was performed in MK2+/+ and MK2–/– mice to assess the role of MK2 in postmenopausal bone loss. Osteoclastogenesis, bone resorption, and osteoclast gene expression were significantly impaired in monocytes from MK2–/– compared to MK2+/+ mice. Mechanistically, loss of MK2 causes impaired DNA binding of c‐fos and nuclear factor of activated T cells cytoplasmic 1 (NFATc1) to tartrate‐resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) and the calcitonin receptor gene promoter. In addition, MK2–/– mice showed an age‐dependent increase in trabecular bone mass and cortical thickness, fewer osteoclasts, and lower markers of bone resorption than MK2+/+ mice. Furthermore, MK2–/– mice were protected from ovariectomy‐induced bone loss. Osteoblastogenesis and bone formation were unchanged in MK2–/– mice, whereas osteoblast expression of osteoprotegerin (OPG) and serum levels of OPG were higher in MK2–/– than in MK2+/+ mice. Loss of MK2 effectively blocks bone resorption and prevents the development of postmenopausal bone loss. Small‐molecule inhibitors of MK2 could thus emerge as highly effective tools to block bone resorption and to treat postmenopausal bone loss. © 2013 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.


The COVID-19 pandemic posed an unprecedented challenge to phonetic research. On-site collection of speech data is difficult, if not impossible. The advancement of technology in mobile devices and online conference platforms offers the opportunity to collect data remotely. This paper aims to answer the question of how reliable speech data collected remotely are based on controlled speech. Seven devices, including smartphones and laptops, were used to record speech simultaneously, locally or on the cloud using ZOOM, both in a sound-attenuated lab and a conference room. Common acoustic measurements were made on these recordings. Local recordings proved to be reliable in duration, but not for recordings made on the cloud. Different devices have comparable performances in F0 and F1. The values acquired by different devices differ a lot for F2 and higher formants, spectral moments, and voice quality measures. These differences can lead to erroneous interpretation of segmental and voice quality contrasts. The recordings made remotely by smartphones and locally using ZOOM can be useful in studying prosody, but should be used with care for segments. Copyright © 2021 ISCA.


Heavy metals concentration is increasingly becoming health concern in the world, particularly on street dust of urban cities with high density traffic. Road dust samples were analyzed for determination of concentrations of the environmentally sensitive elements As, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn in fraction of dust smaller than 100 μm. The dust particles were collected during winter and summer seasons from highways, residential and industrial areas representing different activities across the Nicosia city. The dust samples were measured for their contamination levels and particles size distribution. The assessment of pollution was based on single pollution indices, integrated pollution indices and Pearson moment correlation in order to determine their possible source, spatial distribution and seasonal variations. Single Indices include Contamination Factor (Cf), Index of Geo-accumulation (Igeo) and the integrated indices include degree of contamination (Dc) and Pollution Load Index (PLI). The general pattern of occurrence of heavy metals follows the order of Cr>Zn>Cu>Ni>Pb>Co>As. The highest levels of Cr, Zn and Cu were found in the high traffic density area, and strong positive correlations were found between these metals, implying that automobile exhausts are the dominant source of these metals. Keywords: Heavy metals, pollution indices, particles size distribution, seasonal variation.


By maintaining eye contact in visual communication, such as in video conferencing, the feeling of intimacy can be greatly enhanced. Unfortunately, due to the physical constraints on the arrangement of cameras and monitors, it is not easy to preserve eye contact in video conferencing. Most people have tried to solve this problem using hardware approaches, which usually lead to bulky or expensive solutions. In this paper, we propose a real-time software method for preserving eye contact in video conferencing. For each station involved in video conferencing, we use two pre-calibrated cameras to acquire a stereo view of the local participant. Then, we apply disparity-based view morphing to the acquired stereo view to generate the desired view that preserves eye contact with another participant. Our experiments demonstrate that the eye contact problem can indeed be solved in real-time by using our software approach. This is the first time a software approach has been shown to be practical for preserving eye contact in video conferencing.


This paper explains why seemingly irrational overconfident behavior can persist. Information aggregation is poor in groups in which most individuals herd. By ignoring the herd, the actions of overconfident individuals ("entrepreneurs") convey their private information. However, entrepreneurs make mistakes and thus die more frequently. The socially optimal proportion of entrepreneurs trades off the positive information externality against high attrition rates of entrepreneurs, and depends on the size of the group, on the degree of overconfidence, and on the accuracy of individuals' private information. The stationary distribution trades off the fitness of the group against the fitness of overconfident individuals. On the Evolution of OverconŽ dence


Comment: The case report by Walsh et al. emphasises that the absolute level of serum prolactin is an unreliable indication of the presence of a pituitary tumour. Reduced dopamine delivery to the pituitary because of stalk compression by a large non-secreting chromophobe adenoma or a craniopharyngioma may cause a modest increase in serum prolactin level « 1000 mUlL, or 50 ug/L); in the absence of other physical findings of hormone deficiency, this might be disregarded as being non-pathological. Conversely, as this case clearly shows, combination therapy with drugs that are dopamine agonists (metoclopramide), serotonin agonists (fluoxetine) and opioids (pethidine and codeine) may raise the serum prolactin level above 6000 mUlL (330 ug/L) the level at which prolactinsecreting pituitary tumours are often suspected. An important clue, as the authors point out, is the wide variation in the serum prolactin level over a time course consistent with drug effect, as prolactin-secreting tumours are relatively autonomous and serum levels of prolactin change little with drugs in these patients. Despite many attempts to establish the presence of a prolactin-secreting pituitary tumour by biochemical means, the only sure way is with careful computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging scans. Does this mean that radiology should be used routinely to investigate hyperprolactinaemia? The answer is no, for many reasons apart from expense. Firstly, non-secreting microadenomas up to 1 em long are commonly found coincidentally in the pituitary' and a radiological abnormality may be misleading. Secondly, the distribution of the normal range of serum prolactin level is non-Gaussian, and some normal subjects have serum levels of prolactin which vary widely within and above the "normal range", particularly in the luteal phase.s-' Thirdly, prolactinsecreting microadenomas, even if they are present, do not progress and are usually treated with bromocriptine only. Radiology of the pituitary should be reserved for patients with persistently raised levels of serum prolactin for which there is no obvious physiological or pharmacological cause; who have clinical evidence of extrasellar extension (visual field defect, cranial nerve palsy, etc.); who cannot tolerate or are unresponsive to bromocriptine; or who desire pregnancy, which can cause rapid expansion of a prolactin-secreting macroadenoma. Radiological investigation of hyperprolactinaemic women without amenorrhoea or physical signs of pituitary disease does not often influence management.


Natural immunity parameters (the complement, beta-lysine, lysozyme) were examined in 179 patients with the non-radicular and radicular stages of lumbar osteochondrosis with regard to the disease stage, the patients' age and sex, the efficacy of treatment, and the latter's late results. It was found that the degree of the shifts of the parameters examined depended primarily on the disease stage and the efficacy of the treatment, and to lesser extent on the patients' age and sex. The parameters examined may serve to a certain measure as a objective criterion of the body's general physiological state, and can be used for predicting the disease outcome.


Lucefin C16E and C16R are low-carbon, non-alloy case-hardening steels that are used in the carburized or carbonitrided, and subsequently quench hardened and tempered, condition. These steels are, in general, used for parts requiring a hard wearresistant surface, but with little need for increased mechanical properties in the core. This datasheet provides information on composition, physical properties, hardness, elasticity, and tensile properties. It also includes information on forming, heat treating, machining, and joining. Filing Code: CS-208. Producer or source: Lucefin S.p.A.


This paper employs a three-step analytical framework to examine the prospects of U.S.-China-Taiwan relations under Trump, Xi, and Tsai. By identifying the "first move" by Taiwan (changing national identity and quest for recognition because of democratization), the "second move" by China (more forceful policy), and the "third move" by the U.S. (to restore the "status quo"), this framework has successfully explained this triangular relationship from 1996-2016. However, with the rise of populist leader such as Trump and Xi, either could make the first move, with the other making the second move, new uncertainty is introduced that previous policy may be ill-suited to dealt with. This paper engages on certain policy adjustments.


We propose F-norm of the cross-correlation part of the array covariance matrix as a measure of correlation between the impinging signals and study the performance of different decorrelation methods in the broadband case using this measure. We first show that dimensionality of the composite signal subspace, defined as the number of significant eigenvectors of the source sample covariance matrix, collapses in the presence of multipath and the spatial smoothing recovers this dimensionality. Using an upper bound on the proposed measure, we then study the decorrelation of the broadband signals with spatial smoothing and the effect of spacing and directions of the sources on the rate of decorrelation with progressive smoothing. Next, we introduce a weighted smoothing method based on Toeplitz-block-Toeplitz (TBT) structuring of the data covariance matrix which decorrelates the signals much faster than the spatial smoothing. Computer simulations are included to demonstrate the performance of the two methods. >


Abstract This article furnishes a philosophical background for the current debate about responsibility and culpability for war crimes by referring to ideas from three important just war thinkers: Augustine, Francisco de Vitoria, and Michael Walzer. It combines lessons from these three thinkers with perspectives on current problems in the ethics of war, distinguishes between legal culpability, moral culpability, and moral responsibility, and stresses that even lower-ranking soldiers must in many cases assume moral responsibility for their acts, even though they are part of a military hierarchy and act under orders. The questions addressed in this article are arguably among the hardest and most muddled in military ethics and deserve close philosophical analysis and scrutiny.


For flowering plants, there are multiple drivers of shape change that effect the process of speciation. In the background, species are constrained by their phylogenetic history, i.e. evolutionary changes that were advantageous to their ancestors, might turn out to no longer be beneficial. At the same time, speciation brought about by pollinator pressure is highly dynamic and can happen quickly. In my research, I aimed to bring together multiple layers of influence on floral shape in Pelargonium (Geraniaceae) in order to paint a comprehensive picture of the evolution of floral diversity in this clade. By building upon the extensive knowledge on speciation processes in the South African Greater Cape Floristic Region, we find that speciation in this clade may not be as clear-cut as expected and place Pelargonium in a broader, evolutionary perspective.


Mass spectrometry (MS) promises to be an invaluable tool for functional genomics, by supporting low-cost, high-throughput experiments. However, large-scale MS faces the potential problem of mass degeneracy | indistinguishable masses for multiple biopolymer fragments (e.g. from a limited proteolytic digest). This paper studies the tasks of planning and interpreting MS experiments that use selective isotopic labeling, thereby substantially reducing potential mass degeneracy. Our algorithms support an experimental-computational protocol called Structure-Activity Relation by Mass Spectrometry (SAR by MS), for elucidating the function of protein-DNA and protein-protein complexes. SAR by MS enzymatically cleaves a crosslinked complex and analyzes the resulting mass spectrum for mass peaks of hypothesized fragments. Depending on binding mode, some cleavage sites will be shielded; the absence of anticipated peaks implicates corresponding fragments as either part of the interaction region or inaccessible due to conformational change upon binding. Thus di erent mass spectra provide evidence for di erent structure-activity relations. We address combinatorial and algorithmic questions in the areas of data analysis (constraining binding mode based on mass signature) and experiment planning (determining an isotopic labeling strategy to reduce mass degeneracy and aid data analysis). We explore the computational complexity of these problems, obtaining upper and lower bounds. We report experimental results from implementations of our algorithms.


Continuous ambulatory peritoneal diaglysis (CAPD) represents a new method for treatment of chronic renal failure whereby patients carry two litres of dialysate with them permanently and are freely mobile. Dialysis is only interrupted by exchange of dialysate in approximately 6-hourly intervals. Due to the long presence of the dialysate in the peritoneal cavity clearance values are superior to intermittent peritoneal dialysis for small-molecular substances and reach elimination values of haemofiltration for medium-molecular substances. The main technical requirements consist of a permanent peritoneal dialysis catheter linked to a plastic dialysate bag by way of a connecting tube. In order to avoid frequent change of bag and thus increased risk of peritonitis bags are folded and carried on the body of the patient during the interval. Thereafter the bag is unfolded, filled with used dialysate and exchanged for a new bag. Six patients were thus treated for over 34 patient-months so far. Changes of chemical pathology were readily acceptable. Even though CAPD has several advantages over conventional dialysis as they are mainly founded on the high degree of rehabilitation of patients, risk of peritonitis is still a considerable factor of uncertainty.


The aim of this research is to explore the process linking participative leadership to organizational identification. The study examines the relationship between participative leadership and internal CSR perceptions of employees and also investigates the role that pride in membership plays in the affiliation of CSR perceptions with organizational identification. By studying these relationships, the paper aspires to contemplate new presumed mediators in the association of participative leadership with organizational identification as well as determine a possible novel antecedent of employee CSR perceptions. Empirical evidence is provided from data that was collected through a survey distributed to employees working for small and medium sized enterprises in three countries in the Middle East and North Africa region, particularly the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, and Tunisia. Findings show that participative leadership leads to positive internal CSR perceptions of employees and that these CSR perceptions lead to pride in membership which, in turn, results in organizational identification. Implications of these findings are also discussed.


Background: Migraine is a common neurovascular disorder with typical throbbing and unilateral headaches, causing a considerable healthcare burden on the global economy. This research aims to prepare chitosan-alginate (CS-AL) nanoparticles (NPs) containing Foshousan oil (FSSO) and investigate its potential therapeutic effects on the treatment of migraine. Methods: FSSO-loaded CS-AL NPs were prepared by using the single emulsion solvent evaporation method. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated BV-2 cells and nitroglycerin (NTG)-induced migraine mice were further used to explore anti-migraine activities and potential mechanisms of this botanical drug. Results: FSSO-loaded CS-AL NPs (212.1 ± 5.2 nm, 45.1 ± 6.2 mV) had a well-defined spherical shape with prolonged drug release and good storage within 4 weeks. FSSO and FSSO-loaded CS-AL NPs (5, 10, and 15 μg/mL) showed anti-inflammatory activities in LPS-treated BV-2 cells via reducing the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and nitric oxide (NO), but elevating interleukin-10 (IL-10) expressions. Moreover, FSSO-loaded CS-AL NPs (52 and 104 mg/kg) raised pain thresholds against the hot stimulus and decreased acetic acid-induced writhing frequency and foot-licking duration in NTG-induced migraine mice. Compared with the model group, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and NO levels were downregulated, but 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and endothelin (ET) levels were upregulated along with rebalanced ET/NO ratio, and vasomotor dysfunction was alleviated by promoting cerebral blood flow (CBF) in the FSSO-loaded CS-AL NPs (104 mg/kg) group. Conclusion: FSSO-loaded CS-AL NPs could attenuate migraine via inhibiting neuroinflammation in LPS-stimulated BV-2 cells and regulating vasoactive substances in NTG-induced migraine mice. These findings suggest that the FSS formula may be exploited as new phytotherapy for treating migraine.


This paper proposes a novel coordinated aggregate scheduling (CAS) algorithm that combines both EOF (earliest-deadline-first) scheduling and rate-based fair queueing. CAS uses guaranteed rate (GR) scheduling (Goyal, P et al., 1995) for traffic aggregates at the inter-aggregate level, but employs EDF-like scheduling at the intra-aggregate level. Computation of the deadline D/sub N/ of a packet at an intermediate node N is coordinated between the node N and its upstream nodes, and D/sub N/ is related to the packet's guaranteed rate clock (GRC) value at the flow-aggregation node. CAS provides tighter end-to-end (e2e) delay bounds than the "vanilla" GR aggregate scheduling that relies on FIFO queueing within an aggregate. Our in-depth simulation results demonstrate CAS's superior performance. Moreover, as an aggregate-based work-conserving scheduling algorithm, CAS incurs lower scheduling and state-maintenance overheads at routers than per-flow scheduling. These salient features make CAS very attractive for use in Internet core networks.


The penetration of wind power into global electric power systems is steadily increasing, with the possibility of 30% to 80% of electrical energy coming from wind within the coming decades. At penetrations below 10% of electricity from wind, the impact of this variable resource on power system operations is manageable with historical operating strategies. As this penetration increases, new methods for operating the power system and electricity markets need to be developed. As part of this process, the expected impact of increased wind penetration needs to be better understood and quantified. This paper presents a comprehensive modeling framework, combining optimal power flow with Monte Carlo simulations used to quantify the impact of high levels of wind power generation in the power system. The impact on power system performance is analyzed in terms of generator dispatch patterns, electricity price and its standard deviation, CO2 emissions and amount of wind power spilled. Simulations with 10%, 20% and 30% wind penetration are analyzed for the IEEE 39 bus test system, with input data representing the New England region. Results show that wind power predominantly displaces natural gas fired generation across all scenarios. The inclusion of increasing amounts of wind can result in price spike events, as the system is required to dispatch down expensive demand in order to maintain the energy balance. These events are shown to be mitigated by the inclusion of demand response resources. Benefits include significant reductions in CO2 emissions, up to 75% reductions at 30% wind penetration, as compared to emissions with no wind integration.


The financial instution is delived into, namely bank financial instutions and non-bank financial instutions. One of the non-bank financial instutions is instution in the form of public company (perum). The background of this  research is to know the views and perceptions of the society to the pawnshops of sharia branch of idi rayeuk as well  as  the  factors  that  determine  the  community  to  choose    pawnshops  as  one  source  to  abtain  funds.  The problem in this research is how is the society perception of sharia  pawn system in idi rayeuk and to know what are the  factors that determine  the people prefer anh how sharia pawnshops in running the system and  whether people understand about how the system implemented by pawnshop sharia. In this research descriptive in the form of field  research Descriptive method is a method in examining  the status of  a group of people, an object, a condition, a system  of thought or an event in the present. The  purpose of this descriptive research of sharia pawn system. The results of research  that has been done shows that the community is very supportive of sharia pawnshops,  with  sharia  pawnshops  can  help  the  community    down  in  obtaining  funds  quickly  easil,  greatly assist  the  community  in  its  financial  problems  to  meet  their  needs  but  the  lack  of  socialization  conducted  by pawnshops sharia making people who pawned gold or other goods made ignorance and lack of understanding  of the system  and akad used by sharia pawnshops, this resulted in 100% of respondents experiencing a lack of  understanding of the system, products and contracts implemented by the sharia pawnshops.


In 1968, an International Symposium on the Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy was sponsored by the Public Health Service. If this symposium accomplished nothing else, it produced a text recording the opinions and statistics presented there. It represents an in-depth, single-source reference of current experience with the problems inherent in the description and management of diabetic retinopathy. Initial chapters deal with description and natural history of the effect of diabetes upon the eye. A method for descriptive classification of retinopathy was agreed upon and is outlined. This classification, or some modification of it, will probably be the basis for comparing current and future results in the study of diabetic retinopathy. The bulk of the text is comprised of studies of clinical experience and therapy. These range from methods for total, or subtotal pituitary ablation, to the therapeutic effects of photocoagulation of the retina. Organized as a series of clinical studies, the


Abstract A new species (holotype ♂ in MLP: Argentina, Formosa province, Parque Nacional Río Pilcomayo, Laguna Blanca, marshes next to pond, 25°10′29″S, 58°07′44″W, 74 m a.s.l., 16/17 ii 2008, leg. NvE, RWG) is described, diagnosed and illustrated, and a key, diagnostic illustrations, and distribution maps are provided for the three species of the genus occurring in Argentina. The combination of well defined orange-red dorsal spots on S2-3 in mature specimens, well developed supplementary tooth in pretarsal claws, shape of occipital triangle of female, and of vesica spermalis, genital lobe, posterior hamule, and cercus of male diagnose the new species.


To clarify the relationship between the present status of the Satoyama forest and its multiple social functions in a suburban area, research was conducted in the Matono area, of Shingu Town, Fukuoka. Based on a series surveys, every forest was examined from 4 aspects; forest type (conifer plantation/broadleaved forest), land ownership (common/private), age and management situation, and the database sorted accordingly. We then evaluated the multiple social functions of the forest. The result were as follows; 1. Well-managed forests were few; and depended on forest type, 2. Multiple function uses were fully available only in 7% of total forest area. Especially, conifer plantations were evaluated low for stability of vegetation, amenity, biological diversity, and as a river water-source; suggesting the necessity to improve the forest structure. 3. From an interview with the forest owner, it became apparent that it would be impossible to manage both private and common forests for both their family interests and those of the community. Consequently, it was considered necessary that a linking system be established between the rural community and city dwellers for purposes of conservation to restore a sustainable environment and sane resources utilization.


The financial reporting landscape is continuing to expand with both regulated and voluntary disclosures making their way into various reporting frameworks. This increased attention to disclosures is being pursued by professional bodies, governments, companies and other organisations given the changing demands by stakeholders for sustainability disclosures. The Australian superannuation industry is a compulsory system developed to ensure a comfortable retirement income for members. It is now a trillion-dollar business and therefore, has significant influence on the investment decisions that it makes on behalf of its members. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) are increasingly being used as a signal to the market that an organisation is meeting the demands of stakeholders. The objective of this study is exploratory in nature, investigating the types of SDG disclosures made by the largest superannuation funds in Australia. Data was collected through a content analysis of the annual and/or supplementary reports produced by Australian superannuation funds. The findings suggest that Australian superannuation funds currently disclose a minimal level information in accordance with the SDGs in different reporting formats and the SDGs tends to prevail where superannuation managers believe they can have the most impact. Our results have implications for SDG reporting, policy and management practice. Future research that helps explain how managers choose which SDGs to report would be a useful contribution in the context of superannuation.


In most empirical research on software evolution, analysis of the data is performed with respect to the release sequence number (RSN), rather than the release date. This distinction is important when the intervals between release dates vary widely, as is generally the case with open-source software. A widely cited study on the maintainability of Linux was published in this journal in 2002. The study showed that, whereas the size of the Linux kernel grew linearly with respect to the RSN, the amount of common coupling grew exponentially. In view of the adverse effect of common coupling on maintainability, the conclusion drawn there was that Linux needed to be refactored with minimal common coupling. Here, it is shown that, if the same data are analysed with respect to the release date, the amount of common coupling grows linearly; hence, there is no need to refactor Linux to promote maintainability. The authors also analyse three stable series of Linux releases, and observe that the size and the common coupling grow linearly. The authors conclude that rates of growth should be computed with respect to temporal variables, such as the release date.


Taking critical aim at an emergent cultural demand for family "acceptance" of queer youth and at the trope of parental love offered "no matter what," this essay resists the occlusion of long-standing traditions of queer pedagogy and acculturation in contemporary "pro-LGBT" discourses. Via an analysis of the musical sitcom Glee, the essay tracks how an insistence on parental acceptance displaces the knowledge, experience, and instruction of other gay people, as well as the cultural practices and traditions that have long sustained queer lives. Focusing on the coming out of gay boy Kurt Hummel and the outing of girl-loving cheerleader Santana Lopez, I highlight the aesthetic and discursive strategies that permit young queers to resist the demands associated with parental acceptance or at least manage and survive its inadequacies.


Transposable elements (TEs) constitute the most dynamic and the largest component of large plant genomes: for example, 80% to 90% of the maize genome and the wheat genome may be TEs. De novo TE annotation is therefore a computational challenge, and we investigated, using current tools in the REPET package, new strategies to overcome the difficulties. We tested our methodological developments on the sequence of the chromosome 3B of the hexaploid wheat; this chromosome is ∼1 Gb, one of the "fattest" genomes ever sequenced. We successfully established various strategies for annotating TEs in such a complex dataset. Our analyses show that all of our strategies can overcome the current limitations for de novo TE discovery in large plant genomes. Relative to annotation based on a library of known TEs, our de novo approaches improved genome coverage (from 84% to 90%), and the number of full length annotated copies from 14 830 to 15 905. We also developed two new metrics for qualifying TE annotation: NTE50 involves measuring the number, and LTE50 the smallest sizes of annotations that cover 50% of the genome. NTE50 decreased the number of annotations from 124 868 to 93 633 and LTE50 increased it from 1839 to 2659. This work shows how to obtain comprehensive and high-quality automatic TE annotation for a number of economically and agronomically important species.


Inflation is considered as a leading macroeconomic indicator, which might create substantial distortions in financial statements, future earnings, and overall performance of securities in the financial market. An inflation-hedging ability of an asset offers protection against inflation, which eliminates or at least reduces the uncertainty about the future real returns. Real assets like real estate, timberland, and farmland have been regarded as good inflation hedges, whereas financial assets like common stocks and bonds are considered as perverse hedges against inflation. Using the generalized Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) to account for inflation, this study evaluates the inflation-hedging ability of several real assets. Consistent with the findings of previous studies, this study concludes that private-equity assets offer hedges against inflation to some extent, but stocks are found to be inferior hedges against inflation.


We present legislative , historical and statistical evidence of a substantial upward ratchet in transfers and taxes in the US due to World War II. This finding is explained within a political-economy framework with defense spending responding to a war threat and a median voter in the population who interacts with a ( richer ) agenda setter in Congress in setting redistribution. While the setter managed to cap redistribution before the War , the War itself raised the status quo tax burden and improved tax collection technology , strengthening the bargaining power of the median voter as defense spending receded. This permanently raised the level of redistribution.


Previously we have described a novel multidrug‐resistant cell line, HT29col, which displayed over expression of the multidrug‐resistance protein 1 (MRP1) and an altered sphingolipid composition, including enhanced levels of glucosylceramide (GlcCer; Kok JW, Veldman RJ, Klappe K, Koning H, Filipeanu C, Muller M. Int J Cancer 2000;87:172–8). In our study, long‐term screening revealed that, during colchicine‐induced acquisition of multidrug resistance in a new HT29col cell line, increases in GlcCer occurred concomitantly with upregulation of MRP1 expression. Both MRP1 and GlcCer were found enriched in Lubrol‐insoluble membrane domains. The expression of MRP1 and GlcCer were tightly correlated, as indicated also by a reversal of both at the later stage of colchicine consolidation. Resistance to colchicine was determined by MRP1, while glucosylceramide synthase (GCS) did not contribute: 1) Resistance was fully inhibited by MK571. 2) GCS expression and activity were not upregulated in HT29col cells. 3) Inhibition of GCS did not affect MRP1‐mediated efflux function or sensitivity to colchicine. Instead, overall sphingolipid metabolism was upregulated through an increased rate of ceramide biosynthesis. In conclusion, upregulation of MRP1 occurs in concert with upregulation of GlcCer during multidrug‐resistance acquisition, and both are enriched in rafts. The increased GlcCer pool does not directly modulate MRP1 function and cell survival. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The inspection of steam-generator (SG) tubes in a nuclear power plant (NPP) is a time-consuming, laborious, and hazardous task because of several hard constraints such as a highly radiated working environment, a tight task schedule, and the need for many experienced human inspectors. This paper presents a new distributed intelligent system architecture for automating traditional inspection methods. The proposed architecture adopts three basic technical strategies in order to reduce the complexity of system implementation. The first is the distributed task allocation into four stages: inspection planning (IF), signal acquisition (SA), signal evaluation (SE), and inspection data management (IDM). Consequently, dedicated subsystems for automation of each stage can be designed and implemented separately. The second strategy is the inclusion of several useful artificial intelligence techniques for implementing the subsystems of each stage, such as an expert system for IP and SE and machine vision and remote robot control techniques for SA. The third strategy is the integration of the subsystems using client/server-based distributed computing architecture and a centralized database management concept. Through the use of the proposed architecture, human errors, which can occur during inspection, can be minimized because the element of human intervention has been almost eliminated; however, the productivity of the human inspector can be increased equally. A prototype of the proposed system has been developed and successfully tested over the last six years in domestic NPP's.


1. A virus capable of producing fatal pneumonia in mice has been isolated repeatedly from the lungs of certain apparently healthy mice. Not all mice carry the virus. It was obtained only from mice supplied by three breeders although mice from eight different sources were studied. 2. The virus was avirulent as it occurred in normal mouse lungs and became virulent only after serial mouse lung passage. It was strictly pneumotropic for mice and produced pneumonia when given intranasally but showed no evidence of infection when given by other routes. The virus was non-infectious for ferrets and did not become pathogenic for this species after numerous serial passages. It was also non-pathogenic for rabbits, guinea pigs, rhesus monkeys, voles, deer mice, skunks, wood-chucks, opossums, and Syrian hamsters. 3. All strains of the virus which have been tested have been immunologically identical, as indicated both by cross immunity and cross neutralization tests in mice. 4. The virus was antigenic both in mice and in rabbits and was readily differentiated from viruses of human influenza and of swine influenza by means of either cross immunity or cross neutralization tests. 5. The virus was also neutralized by about 30 per cent of normal human sera tested. 6. The virus was extremely labile, and suspensions prepared in saline or broth became inactivated within a few hours at room temperature. The addition of normal horse serum to the virus suspensions, however, exerted a definite stabilizing effect. 7. Ultrafiltration results indicated that the virus particles have a diameter of about 100 to 150 millimicrons. 8. Evidence is presented which indicates that this virus is different from other viruses which various investigators have found in normal mouse lungs.


The climate and the environment of our planet are always changing and our knowledge of these changes is still in progress. More studies of past climate and environment should be implemented, especially at the present time when the Earth enters a substantial change, e.g. in temperature, sea-level and environment. These changes are believed to be accelerated by recent anthropogenic activities. A better understanding of past climate and environment will facilitate our planning for appropriate strategies of mitigation against and adaption to ongoing climate and environmental change. In this study, climate changes in sea-level, sea surface temperature (SST) and salinity (SSS) since the mid-Holocene, and recent environmental change were reconstructed using fossil and modern corals collected from the Central Vietnamese coast, western South China Sea (SCS). Information on sea-level change on the Vietnamese coast since the mid-Holocene is problematic due to a lack of geochronological data. In this study a high-precision thermal ionisation mass spectrometry (TIMS) U-series technique was used to date the emergent coral reefs on the Central Vietnamese coast. Because coral reefs are considered as a reliable sea-level indicator, the geochronological data are used to constrain the sea-level changes on this coast since the mid-Holocene. The geochronological data suggest three episodes of coral growth for the Central Vietnamese coast: 7395±50 – 5011±16 years BP, 4191±25 – 3122±23 years BP, and 2466±51 – 1695±14 years BP. The first episode accounts for 78% out of 90 dated corals, while each of the two younger episodes accounts for ~10%. The age-elevation data suggest that sea-level was at least +1.74 m at ~7395±50 years BP, reached the maximum highstand of at least +2.5 m ~ 6982 ±40 years BP, then dropped to +1.44 m at ~3122±23 years BP, and to +0.9 m at ~2079 ±29 years BP. The younger corals are distributed seawards, suggesting that the sea-level fell down to the present level after reaching the maximum highstand. The data also show two periods of coral hiatuses (5011±16 – 4191±25 and 3122±23 – 2466±5 years BP), which are intercalated between two episodes of coral growths. Such intercalation suggests oscillating characteristics of the sea-level. The coral hiatuses on the reef flats could be due to the fact that corals during these periods were covered by younger episodes of coral growths, and that during this time the sea-level rose back again or possibly stood still, after falling. The sea-level rise or possibly standstills encouraged the reoccurrence of coral growth on previous substrates that had been exposed to the atmosphere during the falling sea-level. The stability, standstill, or oscillation of the sea-level could be a result of the competing interaction between the uplift of the coast caused by hydro- and geo-isostatic effects following the de-glacial sea-level rise, and younger episodes of sea-level rise contributed by the melt-water discharge in both hemispheres. The second part of this thesis focuses on the use of coral geochemical tracers as climatic proxies for palaeoclimate reconstruction. To accurately reconstruct the climate information recorded in corals, non-climatic factors such as growth rate, terrestrial contamination, coral age (size), and diagenesis, which potentially affect the climatic proxies (Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca, δ13C, and δ18O), were thoroughly assessed. Analysis of correlation with both climatic and non-climatic factors was applied to geochemical data derived from three live corals. The results show that the skeletal extension rate does affect the coral climatic proxies, but it is colony and reef-specific. Chronological correlation suggests terrestrial contamination also contributes to variations of the climatic proxies, and so does the coral age. However, overall it was found that sea surface temperature (SST) plays a dominant role in controlling the variations of climatic proxies, as demonstrated by their significant correlation with instrumental SST and a good agreement of the SST calibrations with those previously published for the north SCS. In addition, the reconstructed SST and seawater δ18O or Δδ18O (calculated by subtracting the thermal components incorporated in coral δ18O) clearly agree with the local and regional climate phenomena, such as the East Asian monsoon (EAM) and El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). This finding demonstrates a high level of confidence in applying corals from the Central Vietnam coast, western SCS to the study of variations in EAM-ENSO activity and other tropical climate systems. Apart from the non-climatic factors discussed above, coral diagenesis is another major factor that undermines the reliability of climate proxies. Bearing this in mind, diagenesis was carefully inspected for six selected fossil corals with ages ranging from 6987±35 to 1748 ±15 years BP, using petrographical analysis and other geochemical indicators: Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca and δ18O. The results show that post-deposition alteration, such as in-filling of secondary aragonite/calcite cements into the voids, dissolution of skeletal elements, and borings, affects variably most of these corals, but is stronger in the two corals with ages of 5410±34 and 6162±31 years BP. These diagenetic processes would make the constructed SSTs either too low or too high, due to the presence of calcite or aragonite cements in the skeletons. Because of this, the two strongly altered corals, together with the locally altered sections from the other corals, were excluded in climatic interpretation. The least altered massive corals (with ages of 6987±35, 4168±16, 3574±35 and 1748 ±15 years BP) allow reconstruction of the history of EAM activity, and its link to the global climate based on the calibrations obtained from the modern live corals. The results show that the EAM has changed significantly since the mid-Holocene. For instance, the East Asian Summer and Winter Monsoons (EASM/EAWM) were both stronger than the present at ~6987±35 years BP, as shown by larger seasonal amplitudes in SST and seawater δ18O, which is interpreted as being caused by a higher Northern Hemisphere insolation and a reduction/shutdown of North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (NAMOC). The EAM was dampened at ~4168±16 years BP, and then strengthened at ~3574±35 years BP and at ~1748±15 years BP. The weakened EAM is correlated in time with the Bond event. This suggests a teleconnection between the low- and high-latitude climates. In contrast to the EAM, the ENSO activity at these time windows (6987±35, 4168±16, 3574±35 and 1748 ±15 years BP) appears to behave in the opposite direction, that is, the strengthened EAM correlates with the weakened ENSO. In addition, changes in EAM intensity also resulted in changing rainy seasons. For example, the rainy season at ~4168±16 years BP started 5-6 months earlier than those at ~6987±35 years BP and in the present, while at ~1748±15 years BP the end of the rainy season occurred suddenly. The third part of this thesis focuses on the use of modern massive corals for marine environmental monitoring. In this study, a live Porites coral colony collected from a fringing reef in Nha Trang Bay, Central Vietnam was used to reconstruct local environmental changes over the last 2 decades. Recent coastal development of Nha Trang city has raised public concern over the increasing level of pollution of the bay, and degradation of the coral reefs. This coral covers a time span beyond the onset of the major coastal development in Nha Trang city, enabling us to assess how recent anthropogenic activities have contributed to pollution and degradation of the reef environment. From this coral, a fourteen-year record of trace element data (REEs and other trace elements) at monthly to fortnightly-resolution was obtained back to 1995, showing that the concentrations of trace elements in the corals increased as soon as the coastal development projects commenced. Road, port, and resort construction, port and river dredging, and dumping activities intensified from the end of 2000, and continued until today. Among these activities, the port and river dredging and dumping projects were the most detrimental to Nha Trang Bay. Our results show that when the dredging and dumping occurred, the concentrations of trace elements in the coral dramatically increased, and reached peaks that are comparable to those measured in Porites corals collected in highly polluted places elsewhere in the world. When dumped into the bay, the dredged material persisted in the water column for nearly a year, as demonstrated by the shale-like patterns of the rare earth elements and the significantly reduced Ce anomaly over such periods. The combination of high turbidity, a less oxygenated environment, and possibly more acidic conditions contributed to the deterioration of the reef. A ban on the dumping of dredged material and other wastes should be put in place to save the Nha Trang coral reefs from these human-induced threats.


This volume collects documentation of the 2019 International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling (ICIDS) Art Exhibition and new scholarly texts from the artists involved. The works collected here explore interactive storytelling through the broad lens of the curated theme: The Expression of Emotion in Humans and Technology.Charles Darwin argued almost 150 years ago, the Universal Nature of Expression; which is to say that, "the young and the old of widely different races, both with man and animals, express the same state of mind by the same movements." As technology, robotics, and artificial intelligence advances, it seems appropriate to ask how we might interpret and understand expressions of emotion from technology. Since 2013, the ICIDS Art Exhibition has been chronicled online, as well as documented in a printed catalogue. In 2017, the ICIDS Art Exhibition expanded its textural scholarship to document the work presented by collecting textual scholarship from the subset of the artist involved. This volume is a collection of documents from the 2019 exhibition, held in connection with the ICIDS conference at Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort, Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah, USA November 19-22, 2019. This extended format provides the artists a space to state their processes, unpack arguments, and show supporting evidence to what is possible in the field of interactive narrative.


The fecal spore enumeration method for confirming Clostridium perfringens as the cause of food poisoning was evaluated using strains implicated in nine outbreaks in the United States. Confirmed spore counts from 66 stool specimens were made on tryptose-sulfite-cycloserine (TSC) without egg yolk and trypticase soy-sheep blood (TSB) agars. Counts from outbreak stools on TSC agar ranged from 2.0 × 104 to 3.5 × 108 (mean ≥ 1.4 × 106/g) as compared with <103 to 5.0 × 105/g (overall mean 9.5 × 103/g) from normal stools. Similar results were obtained with TSB agar. Isolates from seven of the nine outbreaks were nonhemolytic and produced ≥100 ng enterotoxin/ml in spore broth, as measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Spores in stools from six of the outbreaks were heat-resistant and survived heating for 30 to 60 min at 100°C in cooked meat medium. Strains from the three remaining outbreaks were heat-sensitive and survived heating for only 15 min at 100°C. Enterotoxigenic isolates from all but one of the outbreaks were serotyped. In all instances, the predominant strain in specimens from an outbreak was of the same serotype, indicating that it was the causative strain. Reexamination of five specimens from each of three outbreaks after storage at -20°C for 6 months showed only a minimal reduction in the spore counts.


Based on previously neglected manuscript sources this paper illustrates the pioneering journalist Johan Johansson's remarkable esteem of the philosophers Hoijer and Hegel along with his abhorrence of contemporary Romanticists and materialists. It furthermore shows that Johansson was the mystifying target "Herman Redivivus" of Viktor Rydberg's polemics in the daily Goteborgs Handels- och Sjofartstidning in 1858. — Johan Johansson (1792-1860) was the cofounder and editor of the Argus, the most important Swedish journal in the 1820s. The author and politician August Blanche eulogized him as the father of the free press, "publicitetens fader i Sverige".


Reading the Voice: Native American Poetry on the Page. Paul Zolbrod. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1995. This is a book about poetry: about its sacred under-pinnings, its broad presence in everyday life, its necessity to the human community-all of which go largely unnoticed as the printed world and literature move insidiously away from wide public view (preface, vii). With these words Paul Zolbrod opens his thoughtprovoking theoretical study of Native American oral poetry. By basing his observations on experiences gained while participating in the Navajo community and from witnessing numerous recitations of sacred poetry and performances of storytellers, Zolbrod proves that Native American oral poetry is as worthy of recognition as "Europe's print-driven legacy" (2), and he proposes that mainstream America can employ the knowledge gained by examining Native American poetry to recover its own poetic awareness, which is in danger of extinction during our electronic age. In his introductory chapter, Zolbrod expands the definitions of literary terms such as poetry, fiction, and drama; he urges his readers to move poetry off the written page-from school-books, anthologies, and periodicals-to include oral performances and even the "electronic poetry" of film. He also points out some key differences between the Euro-American and Native American cultures, namely that the indigenous cultures of the Americas did not distinguish between the secular and the sacred (12), whereas the Christian religion restricts its definition of sacred texts to the Bible and related hymns (20), and he calls for an expansion of the narrow Judeo-Christian definition of the sacred to include such texts as the American Declaration of Independence or the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson (20). In chapter 2, Zolbrod's case study of four sacred Iroquois texts reveals the deeply poetic nature of the Iroquois Story of Creation, the narrative and thematic unity of the Thank-You Prayer, the intrinsic poetic quality of the Dekanawide Myth, and the poetic surface of the Condolence Ritual. He effectively demonstrates that one should not dismiss these texts as mere myths. In chapters 3 and 4, Zolbrod presents alternative methods for classifying poetic texts according to voice and mode, presenting the categories of lyric poetry and colloquial poetry, the dramatic mode and the narrative mode in a new light, and his references to examples from the former biblical, Greek and Roman cultures as well as from contemporary American popular culture are helpful parallels for those readers who are uninitiated in Native American cultures. …


The aim of this study was to assess the relationships of hepatic triacylglycerol (TAG), plasma glucose, plasma cholesterol, and plasma urea nitrogen (PUN) concentrations with the morphological quality of oocytes obtained from 20 Carora breed lactating cows at days 20 and 35 postpartum in a commercial farm. Oocytes were obtained through the technique of transvaginal ultrasound-guided follicle aspiration. Change in body condition score (0.35 vs. 0.44, P = 0.02) and mean plasma cholesterol (3.59 vs. 4.35 mmol/L, P = 0.01) significantly differed between the 2 periods, whereas mean TAG tended to be higher at day 35 after calving (2.29 vs. 2.54%, fresh basis, P = 0.06) and indicated moderately fatty liver. At day 35 postpartum, both plasma cholesterol and TAG tended to have a positive correlation with oocyte quality (%), at r = 0.44 (P = 0.08) and 0.40 (P = 0.05), respectively, but no associations between glucose or PUN and oocyte recovery traits were found at any time. The percentage of oocytes with high quality was found higher (86.7 vs. 52%, P = 0.04) in those cows with more than 4 oocytes recovered. In conclusion, there was a positive relationship among hepatic TAG, plasma cholesterol, and quality of oocytes in Carora breed lactating cows.


The Bowhead Whale Aerial Survey Project (BWASP) database is a long-term (1979-2013) database on the distribution, relative abundance, and behavior of marine mammals in the northern Bering, northeastern Chukchi, and western Beaufort seas. Data from the BWASP database are analyzed to produce separate detection function models using multiple covariates distance sampling methods for each combination of species (bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus), gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus), and beluga (Delphinapterus leucas)), aircraft (Twin Otter and Aero Commander), and time period (1989-2007 and 2008-2011) in the northeastern Chukchi and western Beaufort seas. The line-transect survey protocols used to collect the data have been remarkably consistent across the years; however, changes in protocol that could affect detection probability are discussed and accounted for in the analyses. Potential covariates evaluated for inclusion in the detection function models included group size, depth of the sea floor at the location of the sighting, Beaufort Sea State, longitude of the sighting, sea ice percentage, and observer effects. Group size variables tended to increase effective strip width (ESW) in the bowhead whale models for Twin Otters, and sea state and sea ice variables decreased ESW for beluga models for Twin Otters. ESW decreased with increasing depths and more westerly longitudes for some bowhead whale and beluga models; this result could be due to spatial heterogeneity in either animal behavior or unmeasured or unmodeled environmental conditions. Beaufort Sea State positively affected ESW for bowhead whale models for Twin Otters in the early years and gray whale models for Aero Commanders; this relationship is difficult to explain.


This study examined whether disruptions in connectivity involving regions critical for learning, planning, and executing movements are relevant to core autism symptoms. Spatially constrained ICA was performed using resting-state fMRI from 419 children (autism spectrum disorder (ASD) = 105; typically developing (TD) = 314) to identify functional motor subdivisions. Comparing the spatial organization of each subdivision between groups, we found voxels that contributed significantly less to the right posterior cerebellar component in children with ASD versus TD (P <0.001). Next, we examined the effect of diagnosis on right posterior cerebellar connectivity with all other motor subdivisions. The model was significant (P = 0.014) revealing that right posterior cerebellar connectivity with bilateral dorsomedial primary motor cortex was, on average, stronger in children with ASD, while right posterior cerebellar connectivity with left-inferior parietal lobule (IPL), bilateral dorsolateral premotor cortex, and supplementary motor area was stronger in TD children (all P ≤0.02). We observed a diagnosis-by-connectivity interaction such that for children with ASD, elevated social-communicative and excessive repetitive-behavior symptom severity were both associated with right posterior cerebellar-left-IPL hypoconnectivity (P ≤0.001). Right posterior cerebellar and left-IPL are strongly implicated in visuomotor processing with dysfunction in this circuit possibly leading to anomalous development of skills, such as motor imitation, that are crucial for effective social-communication. LAY SUMMARY: This study examines whether communication between various brain regions involved in the control of movement are disrupted in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We show communication between the right posterior cerebellum and left IPL, a circuit important for efficient visual-motor integration, is disrupted in children with ASD and associated with the severity of ASD symptoms. These results may explain observations of visual-motor integration impairments in children with ASD that are associated with ASD symptom severity.


Much of late-nineteenth-century American politics was parade and pageant. Voters crowded the polls, and their votes made a real difference on policy. In Party Games, Mark Wahlgren Summers tells the full story and admires much of the political carnival, but he adds a cautionary note about the dark recesses: vote-buying, election-rigging, blackguarding, news suppression, and violence. Summers also points out that hardball politics and third-party challenges helped make the parties more responsive. Ballyhoo did not replace government action. In order to maintain power, major parties not only rigged the system but also gave dissidents part of what they wanted. The persistence of a two-party system, Summers concludes, resulted from its adaptability, as well as its ruthlessness. Even the reform of political abuses was shaped to fit the needs of the real owners of the political system - the politicians themselves.


Background: Computed tomography (CT) is increasingly used in clinical research for single-slice assessment of muscle mass to correlate with clinical outcome and evaluate treatment efficacy. The third lumbar level (L3) is considered as reference for muscle, but chest scans generally do not reach beyond the first lumbar level (L1). This study investigates if pectoralis muscle and L1 are appropriate alternatives for L3. Methods: CT scans of 115 stage IV non-small cell lung cancer patients were analyzed before and during tumor therapy. Skeletal muscle assessed at pectoralis and L1 muscle was compared to L3 at baseline. Furthermore, the prognostic significance of changes in muscle mass determined at different locations was investigated. Results: Pearson's correlation coefficient between skeletal muscle at L3 and L1 was stronger ( r = 0.90, P  0.001) than between L3 and pectoralis muscle ( r = 0.71, P  0.001). Cox regression analysis revealed that L3 (HR 0.943, 95% CI: 0.92–0.97, P  0.001) and L1 muscle loss (HR 0.954, 95% CI: 0.93–0.98, P  0.001) predicted overall survival, whereas pectoralis muscle loss did not. Conclusion: L1 is a better alternative than pectoralis muscle to substitute L3 for analysis of muscle mass from


The advent of thoracoscopic esophagectomy (TSE) has enabled early patient recovery in association with changes in perioperative nutritional support. This article reviews recent changes in the perioperative nutritional support for patients undergoing TSE. TSE associated with a laparoscopic procedure facilitates the recovery of gastrointestinal motility and function while decreasing the incidence of vocal cord paralysis and/or difficulties in swallowing due to accurate mediastinal lymph node dissection. Thus, recent trends in perioperative nutritional support have been early oral feeding and perioperative enteral feeding using a disease-specific polymeric immunoenhancing or immunomodulating enteral formula. Although TSE is associated with less surgical invasiveness, nutritional support still plays an important role in perioperative care to prevent postoperative complications and contribute to the early recovery of nutritional status. Moreover, since TSE is now performed to treat advanced esophageal cancer, patients are frequently malnourished preoperatively and therefore in the group at high risk for postoperative complications. The early start of oral feeding after the evaluation of swallowing function, selecting the appropriate route for enteral nutrition, and sufficient calorie intake during the perioperative period are essential to prevent postoperative pulmonary and/or infectious complications and consequently to improve patient quality of life.


The present research paper has been focused on synthesis of naphthalene based piperazine molecules by adopting appropriate synthetic steps. Purification of intermediates and final titled compounds has been done by recrystallization and also by chromatographic techniques. Characterization of all the synthesized naphthalene derivatives including intermediates by physical and spectral data like IR, Proton NMR and Mass. Biological evaluation of the newly synthesized compounds for their pharmacological activity has been studied and found that the synthesized compounds were active against Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria like Satphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis and Klebsiella pneumonia by adopting standard protocols.


We expand on previous work that treats relaxation physics of low-lying excited states in ideal, single electron, silicon quantum dots in the context of quantum computing. These states are of three types: orbital, valley, and spin. The relaxation times depend sensitively on system parameters such as the dot size and the external magnetic field. Generally, however, orbital relaxation times are short in strained silicon (from a tenth of a microsecond to picoseconds), spin relaxation times are long (microseconds to greater than seconds), while valley relaxation times are expected to lie in between. The focus is on relaxation due to emission or absorption of phonons, but for spin relaxation we also consider competing mechanisms such as charge noise. Where appropriate, comparison is made to reference systems such as quantum dots in III-V materials and silicon donor states. The phonon bottleneck effect is shown to be rather small in the silicon dots of interest. We compare the theoretical predictions to some recent spin relaxation experiments and comment on the possible effects of non-ideal dots.


A bonded composite patch repair of damaged metallic structures has many advantages over traditional welding and bolted patch repair, such as no new stress concentration, design flexibility, high fatigue and corrosion resistance, and low cost. The effectiveness and reliability of a repair are highly reliant on the patch design, bondline properties, and processing and fabrication parameters. To explore an optimal repair within a design space, most of the current modeling and simulations are performed based on a single failure mechanism along the bondline without considering other aging and damage mechanisms in the composite patch and aluminum structures. A Hybrid Structure Evaluation and Fatigue Damage Assessment (HYSEFDA) toolkit based on an Abaqus/Implicit platform has been developed to access the residual strength and fatigue life of a composite patch repaired metallic structure. A mesh independent, phantom-paired element based extended finite element method (XFEM) and a cohesive spring element is employed to describe the discrete cracks in the metallic layer and the adhesive interface between the metal layer and the composite patch, respectively. A virtual crack closure technique (VCCT) approach is adopted to extract the energy release rate at the crack tip and delamination front, which is tracked by a developed geometrical mapping algorithm. In order to capture other damage and aging mechanisms, a continuum damage mechanics (CDM) approach is applied to characterize inter and intra ply damage. In addition, the plasticity induced crack closure effect is also investigated by implementing a plastic hardening model into the HYSEFDA toolkit. The HYSEFDA toolkit is used to evaluate the fatigue life of an aluminum plate repaired by E-Glass epoxy composite patch tested by the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division. Parametric studies are performed to examine the effects of patch damage on the bridging of a fatigue crack in an aluminum plate.


Infective endocarditis by Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteraemia is a common association and carries a high mortality. However, rising Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MICs) for vancomycin amongst MRSA strains is an emerging threat which carries poor prognosis and higher mortality. Here, we report a case of 41-year-old young non-addict gentleman presenting with fever of 3 days duration following recovery from an acute kidney injury necessitating haemodialysis. Systemic examination revealed signs of mitral regurgitation and left sided cerebellar signs. Laboratory investigations revealed anaemia, MRSA bacteraemia and transthoracic echocardiogram showed a mitral valve vegetation. He was diagnosed with MRSA mitral valve endocarditis with acute left cerebellar infarct. He was initially treated with intravenous vancomycin based on MIC at the dose of one gram every twelfth hourly. As the MRSA strain was shown to demonstrate a vancomycin creep phenomemon along with worsening clinical condition of the patient, treatment was changed to intravenous daptomycin at dose of 9mg/kg as per blood culture and sensitivity pattern which was administered for 6 weeks. Following initiation of daptomycin patient became afebrile and vegetations reduced in size and finally disappeared.


We developed the Genome Atlas of Breast Cancer (GABC), a global map of noncoding events in the human genome associated with breast cancer that provides a valuable reference resource for users to investigate the underlying genome abnormalities in breast cancer patients. Although significant progress has been made in breast cancer treatment, its morbidity and recurrence rates in women are still high worldwide. Curation and integration of breast cancer‐related dysregulations from multiple aspects is essential for disease prevention and diagnosis. In this study, we developed the GABC, which contains 10 172 aberrant noncoding events occurring at multiomics levels, including the genome (single nucleotide polymorphism and somatic mutation), transcriptome (long noncoding RNA and microRNA) and epigenome (DNA methylation, enhancer and superenhancer). Each event entry provides descriptions of detailed biological mechanisms specific to the region or element. Users can also check the genome locations and relationships of functional regulators. The GABC provides a flexible and user‐friendly interface for users to search, browse and download data. In addition, the GABC provides an interface to submit newly discovered noncoding events that can be included in the database. Therefore, the GABC aims to constantly enhance our understanding of noncoding genomic events in breast cancer.


This paper presents a tool for automatic generation of transaction level models (TLMs)for MPSoC designs using only C-code and graphical capture. The MPSoC platform is captured as a graphical net-list of components, busses and bridge elements. The application is captured as C processes mapped to the platform components. Once the platform is decided, a set of transaction level communication APIs is automatically generated for each process. After the C code is input, an executable SystemC TLM of the design is automatically generated using our tool. This TLM can be executed using standard SystemC simulators for early functional verification of the design. Although, several TLM styles and standards have been proposed in the past, our approach differs in the fact that the designers do not need to understand the underlying SystemC code or TLM modeling style to verify that their application executes on the selected platform. Moreover, the platform can be easily modified and a new TLM for that platform can be automatically generated. Our experimental results demonstrate that for large industrial applications such as MP3 decoder and H.264, high-speed TLMs can be generated for a wide variety of platforms in a few seconds.


The optimal management of pathologic long bone lesions remains a challenge in orthopedic surgery. The goal of the current study was to investigate the effect of defect depth on the torsional properties of the distal femur. A laterally placed distal metaphyseal cylindrical defect was milled in the cortex of the distal femur in 20 composite models. The proximal extent of the defects was constant. By decreasing the radius of the cylinder that intersected this predefined cord, 4 different radii defining 4 different depths of resection of the distal femur were created for testing: 17%, 33%, 50%, and 67% cortical defects, when normalized to the width of the femur at the level of resection. Each femur was mounted into a hydraulic axial/torsion materials testing machine and each specimen underwent torsional stiffness testing and torsional failure in external rotation. The specimens with less than a 33% cortical loss consistently demonstrated a superiorly oriented spiral fracture pattern, while the specimens with greater than a 50% cortical loss consistently demonstrated an inferiorly oriented transverse fracture pattern. The cortical defects were all statistically (P<.05) less stiff in torsion as the defect grew larger. There was a strong linear correlation between the mean torsional stiffness and cortical defect size (r(2)=0.977). This observation is supported by finite element analysis. The amount of femur remaining is crucial to stability. This biomechanical analysis predicts a critical loss of torsional integrity when a cortical defect approaches 50% of the width of the femur.


Abstract This article responds to and reflects upon the articles in this special issue. Specifically, it deals with the usage of theory in each of the articles, what we might see, as examples of re-descriptive usage in autonomous theorizing. The articles utilize different theories and varying intellectual resources—Foucault and Deleuze (Richard Niesche), Bourdieu (Carmen Mills), Levinas (Sam Sellar) and Butler (Christina Gowlett)—to analyse the topic of the My School website and associated new accountabilities in Australia schooling. This article argues that their usage of the My School website must be seen as a condensation symbol to signify a broader neo-liberal agenda in Australian schooling that has global as well as national elements to it. The fact that the social today is no longer straightforwardly homologous with the nation also challenges 'methodological nationalism' and suggests the pressing need to 'deparochialize' theory in research and reject a reading of Northern theory as universal. The article uses the provocations of these articles to reflect upon the necessity of theory in educational research more generally, and to consider its usage in research with different purposes, while accepting that theory should be endemic in all stages of research. Theory serves a different purpose in research with different goals; quantitative correlational research demands theory to move to explanation, interpretive research requires theory to strengthen interpretation and plausibility, while critical research utilizes theory to uncover the hidden as a step towards emancipation. These articles implicitly suggest alternative forms of accountability and politics, but I argue in conclusion that, additionally, we need a broader politics that will move us towards a non-utopian post neo-liberal social imaginary.


Objective: Evaluate efficacy of CBD added to antiepileptic drug (AED) therapy for the treatment of seizures associated with LGS. Background: Multiple data streams suggest that CBD may be an effective antiepileptic treatment; however, class 1 evidence supporting its use is lacking. Here we present the first controlled trial of CBD in LGS. Design/Methods: Eligible patients were 2–55 years old and had a clinical diagnosis of LGS, ≥2 drop seizures each week during baseline, and documented failures on ≥1 AED. Patients were randomized (1:1) to receive 20 mg/kg/day CBD (oral solution) or matched placebo, for 14 weeks (2-week titration; 12-week dose maintenance). The primary efficacy endpoint was percentage change from baseline in drop seizure frequency (tonic, atonic, and tonic-clonic) over the entire 14-week treatment period for patients on CBD vs placebo. Results: 171 patients were randomized (86 CBD; 85 placebo); 14 CBD and 1 placebo patient withdrew early. Demographic and baseline characteristics were evenly distributed between groups; mean age was 15 years (34% of patients ≥18 years) and median drop seizure frequency was 74/month. Patients had previously taken a median of 6 AEDs, and were taking a median of 3 concomitant AEDs throughout the trial. CBD resulted in a significantly greater median percent reduction in monthly drop seizure frequency, versus placebo (44% vs. 22%; p=0.0135). The treatment difference was established during the first 4 weeks of the maintenance period. 86% of CBD and 69% of placebo patients had adverse events (AEs); the most common were diarrhea, somnolence, pyrexia, decreased appetite, and vomiting. Treatment-related serious AEs were reported in 9 CBD patients and 1 placebo patient. There was 1 death (CBD), considered unrelated to treatment. Conclusions: Results from this trial suggest that CBD add-on therapy for the treatment of drop seizures associated with LGS may be efficacious and generally well-tolerated. (NCT02224690) Study Supported by: GW Research, Ltd Disclosure: Dr. French has received personal compensation for activities with Acorda, Adamas, Alexza, Anavex, Biogen, BioPharm Solutions, Cerecor, Concert Pharmaceuticals, Convance, Eisai, Georgia Regents University, GSK, GW Pharma, Marinus, MonosolRx, Monteris, Nestle-Health Science, Neurelis, Novartis, Ovid Therapeutics Inc., Pfizer, Pfizer-Neusentis, Pronutria, Roivant, Sage, SK Life Sciences, Sunovion, Supernus, Takeda, UCB Inc., Upsher Smith, Xenon Pharmaceuticals, Zogenix, Zynerba as a consultant. Dr. Thiele has received personal compensation for activities with GW Pharma, Zogenix, Eisai Pharmaceuticals, Dravet, Lennox Gastaut and TSC as a consultant or PI. Dr. Thiele has received research support from GW Pharma and Zogenix. Dr. Mazurkiewicz-Beldzin has received personal compensation for activities with UCB and TEVA Pharmaceuticals as an advisory board member. Dr. Benbadis has received personal compensation for activities with Cyberonics, Eisai, Inc., Lundbeck, Sunovion and UCB Pharma. Dr. Benbadis has received personal compensation in an editorial capacity for eMedicine, WebMD, Medscape, and Up-To-Date. Dr. Marsh has received personal compensation for activities with GLC Consultants and SBSE. Dr. Marsh has received research support from GW Pharma and Neuren Pharmacuticals. Dr. Joshi has nothing to disclose. Dr. Roberts has received personal compensation for activities with GW Pharma as an employee. Dr. Taylor has nothing to disclose. Dr. Sommerville has received personal compensation for activities with King Pharmaceuticals as an employee. Dr. Sommerville holds stock and/or stock options in GW, Abbott, Abbvie, Johnson and Johnson, Mylan, and Merck.


European Union legislative decision-making is increasingly shifted into informal secluded arenas. Scholars have explained this trend and analysed its consequences for bargaining success and democratic legitimacy. Yet, we know little about how informalisation affects legislative behaviour in the European Parliament. This article contributes to closing the gap, by theorising and analysing the impact of 'early agreements' on cohesion. Given the reputational, political and transaction costs of failing an early agreement in plenary, we expect political groups to invest heavily in discipline and consensus, and legislators to comply in votes. Using a new dataset, combining Hix et al.'s (2007) roll-call data with original codecision data (1999–2011), we show that informalisation increases cohesion but only for centrist parties. Rapporteurships and votes on 'costly' legislative resolutions also matter, but do not mediate the effect of early agreement.


The agroecological transition implies rethinking the way farmers are supported in their changes in practices. Farmer Field Schools are an effective mechanism in this respect, since they build farmers' capacity to experiment, to produce knowledge and to innovate independently. However, it is essential that these advisory services are correctly implemented, which has implications for the research and development community. A study conducted in sub-Saharan Africa shows that after taking part in Farmer Field Schools, farmers are more likely to make changes on their own farms if they have been involved in the decision-making process for the Farmer Field School. These changes can be highlighted by qualitative assessment methods centred on the contribution to impact. Farmer Field Schools also stand to gain from including women, young people and the poorest farmers, categories that are often excluded from conventional agricultural advisory services, but recognised as drivers of agroecological innovation. Finally, there must be room for the objectives of Farmer Field Schools to evolve over time, in order to adjust to local conditions, whether environmental or socio-economic.


Predicting catalyst selectivity Asymmetric catalysis is widely used in chemical research and manufacturing to access just one of two possible mirror-image products. Nonetheless, the process of tuning catalyst structure to optimize selectivity is still largely empirical. Zahrt et al. present a framework for more efficient, predictive optimization. As a proof of principle, they focused on a known coupling reaction of imines and thiols catalyzed by chiral phosphoric acid compounds. By modeling multiple conformations of more than 800 prospective catalysts, and then training machine-learning algorithms on a subset of experimental results, they achieved highly accurate predictions of enantioselectivities. Science, this issue p. eaau5631 A model encompassing multiple conformations of chiral phosphoric acid catalysts accurately predicts enantioselectivities. INTRODUCTION The development of new synthetic methods in organic chemistry is traditionally accomplished through empirical optimization. Catalyst design, wherein experimentalists attempt to qualitatively identify correlations between catalyst structure and catalyst efficiency, is no exception. However, this approach is plagued by numerous deficiencies, including the lack of mechanistic understanding of a new transformation, the inherent limitations of human cognitive abilities to find patterns in large collections of data, and the lack of quantitative guidelines to aid catalyst identification. Chemoinformatics provides an attractive alternative to empiricism for several reasons: Mechanistic information is not a prerequisite, catalyst structures can be characterized by three-dimensional (3D) descriptors (numerical representations of molecular properties derived from the 3D molecular structure) that quantify the steric and electronic properties of thousands of candidate molecules, and the suitability of a given catalyst candidate can be quantified by comparing its properties with a computationally derived model trained on experimental data. The ability to accurately predict a selective catalyst by using a set of less than optimal data remains a major goal for machine learning with respect to asymmetric catalysis. We report a method to achieve this goal and propose a more efficient alternative to traditional catalyst design. RATIONALE The workflow we have created consists of the following components: (i) construction of an in silico library comprising a large collection of conceivable, synthetically accessible catalysts derived from a particular scaffold; (ii) calculation of relevant chemical descriptors for each scaffold; (iii) selection of a representative subset of the catalysts [this subset is termed the universal training set (UTS) because it is agnostic to reaction or mechanism and thus can be used to optimize any reaction catalyzed by that scaffold]; (iv) collection of the training data; and (v) application of machine learning methods to generate models that predict the enantioselectivity of each member of the in silico library. These models are evaluated with an external test set of catalysts (predicting selectivities of catalysts outside of the training data). The validated models can then be used to select the optimal catalyst for a given reaction. RESULTS To demonstrate the viability of our method, we predicted reaction outcomes with substrate combinations and catalysts different from the training data and simulated a situation in which highly selective reactions had not been achieved. In the first demonstration, a model was constructed by using support vector machines and validated with three different external test sets. The first test set evaluated the ability of the model to predict the selectivity of only reactions forming new products with catalysts from the training set. The model performed well, with a mean absolute deviation (MAD) of 0.161 kcal/mol. Next, the same model was used to predict the selectivity of an external test set of catalysts with substrate combinations from the training set. The performance of the model was still highly accurate, with a MAD of 0.211 kcal/mol. Lastly, reactions forming new products with the external test catalysts were predicted with a MAD of 0.236 kcal/mol. In the second study, no reactions with selectivity above 80% enantiomeric excess were used as training data. Deep feed-forward neural networks accurately reproduced the experimental selectivity data, successfully predicting the most selective reactions. More notably, the general trends in selectivity, on the basis of average catalyst selectivity, were correctly identified. Despite omitting about half of the experimental free energy range from the training data, we could still make accurate predictions in this region of selectivity space. CONCLUSION The capability to predict selective catalysts has the potential to change the way chemists select and optimize chiral catalysts from an empirically guided to a mathematically guided approach. Chemoinformatics-guided optimization protocol. (A) Generation of a large in silico library of catalyst candidates. (B) Calculation of robust chemical descriptors. (C) Selection of a UTS. (D) Acquisition of experimental selectivity data. (E) Application of machine learning to use moderate- to low-selectivity reactions to predict high-selectivity reactions. R, any group; X, O or S; Y, OH, SH, or NHTf; PC, principal component; ΔΔG, mean selectivity. Catalyst design in asymmetric reaction development has traditionally been driven by empiricism, wherein experimentalists attempt to qualitatively recognize structural patterns to improve selectivity. Machine learning algorithms and chemoinformatics can potentially accelerate this process by recognizing otherwise inscrutable patterns in large datasets. Herein we report a computationally guided workflow for chiral catalyst selection using chemoinformatics at every stage of development. Robust molecular descriptors that are agnostic to the catalyst scaffold allow for selection of a universal training set on the basis of steric and electronic properties. This set can be used to train machine learning methods to make highly accurate predictive models over a broad range of selectivity space. Using support vector machines and deep feed-forward neural networks, we demonstrate accurate predictive modeling in the chiral phosphoric acid–catalyzed thiol addition to N-acylimines.


Water shield (Brasenia schreberi J. F. Gmel) is an aquatic plant cultivated in Northern Japan, from which we have isolated polyphenolic compounds including a novel flavonol glycoside, junsainoside A. Recently, dermal fibroblasts have reported to be affected by adipocytokines from subcutaneous adipocytes. Hence, we evaluated the effects of polyphenolic compounds from water shield on fat accumulation, adipocytokine release and adipocytokine-induced fibroblast status. In differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes, ethyl gallate, caffeoyl glucose, hypolaetin 7-O-glucoside, kaempferol and junsainoside A significantly suppressed lipid accumulation at 10 µM. In addition to these constituents, ferulic acid, kaempferol 3-O-(6"-galloyl) glucoside, quercetin 3-O-(6"-galloyl) glucoside, quercetin 3-O-glucoside and gossypetin suppressed the lipid accumulation in human subcutaneous adipocytes. Ethyl gallate and junsainoside A also enhanced adiponectin production from subcutaneous adipocytes without induction of TNF-α release. On the other hand, ethyl gallate and quercetin recovered from TNF- α-induced fibroblast damage. Moreover, ferulic acid, quercetin and kaempferol enhanced the expression of hyaluronan binding protein 2 and hyaluronan synthase 2 in adiponectintreated fibroblasts. These results suggested that water shield contains various types of polyphenolic compounds with anti-adipogenic activity, some of which protect dermal fibroblasts from TNF-α damage and probably enhance hyaluronan production. It is assumed that polyphenols in water shield maybe suppress subcutaneous fat accumulation and maintain dermal fibroblast and hyaluronan-related status.


Every virus shares the same mission, to find a suitable host, subvert the host cells into virus-producing factories, and then spread within and to new hosts. A virus that fails at their mission is eliminated. In pursuit of their mission, viruses can be likened to spies and saboteurs. The mission requires that viruses be able to evade or override the molecular alarms, which are set off by viral structures and activities, the roadblocks and traps within the cell that are set to prevent the production of more viruses, and the innate and immune detection and weapon systems dedicated to restrict the replication and spread of these microbial spies. Viral protein synthesis is both the trigger for establishing and a prominent step in virus replication that is targeted by the major roadblocks set up by the cell to counter the viral mission. Successful viruses have developed specific molecular tools to overcome these and other host defenses. Using the espionage analogy, this review will describe the cellular and systemic protections developed by humans against virus replication and spread and the molecular tools that viruses have developed to override or evade these blocks.


The rate of aerobic Ca2+ transport is limited by the rate of the H+ pump rather than by the Ca2+ carrier. The kinetics of the Ca2+ carrier has therefore been studied by using the K+ diffusion potential as the driving force. The apparent Vmax of the Ca2+ carrier is, at 20 degrees C, about 900 nmol (mg of protein)-1 min-1, more than twice the rate of the H+ pump. The apparent Vmax is depressed by Mg2+ and Li+. This supports the view that the electrolytes act as noncompetitive inhibitors of the Ca2+ carrier. The degree of sigmoidicity of the kinetics of Ca2+ transport increases with the lowering of the temperature and proportionally with the concentration of impermeant electrolytes such as Mg2+ and Li+ but not choline. The effects of temperature and of electrolyte do not support the view that the sigmoidicity is due to modifications of the surface potential. Rather, they suggest that Ca2+ transport occurs through a multisubunit carrier, where cooperative phenomena are the result of ligand-induced conformational changes due to the interaction of several allosteric effectors with the carrier subunits. In contrast with La3+ which acts as a competitive inhibitor, Ruthenium Red affects the kinetics by inducing phenomena both of positive and of negative cooperativity. The Ruthenium Red induced kinetics has been reproduced through curve-fitting procedures by applying the Koshland sequential interaction hypothesis to a four-subunit Ca2+ carrier model.