The PHA-induced and serum levels of IFN-alpha and -gamma, TNF-alpha, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-RA, as well as CD3, CD4, CD8, CD20, CD56 lymphocytic subpopulations and serum IgG, IgM, and IgA were studied in 53 patients with multiple trauma to detect the most informative parameters of laboratory monitoring of the immunodeficiency developing during treatment. The stages of the study corresponded to the phases of development of an immune response: (1) an induction phase (days 1-4); (2) an immunoregulatory phase (days 5-10); (3) an effector phase (days 11-24). The findings suggest that at the early stage of the study, the drastic reduction was revealed in CD3, CD4 T-lymphocytic subpopulations, accompanied by inadequate humoral immunological parameters. By Stage 3 of the study, the majority of these parameters became normal; the serum levels of IgG and IgM remained lower only in patients with a fatal outcome. Throughout all the 3 stages of the study, the serum concentration of IFN-alpha remained in the almost normal ranges; there was no significant elevation in both the serum and induced levels of IL-4 either. The serum content of TNF-alpha in the examinees was significantly higher than the normal levels, by remaining virtually at the same level up to the end of treatment. The elevated serum levels of TNF-alpha were attended by its increased induction in vitro, without reducing up to Stage 3. From Stage 3, only some patients with a fatal outcome were observed to have the reduced induced and spontaneous levels of TNF-alpha. According to the findings, at Stage 1 of the study, the production of IFN-gamma in all patients was much increased, by significantly dropping by the end of treatment (by more than twice), without achieving, however, the normal levels, except the examinees with a fatal outcome, in whom the concentration of IFN-alpha increased or underwent no changes. A relationship was also found between the serum levels of IL-6 and IL-8 and the outcome of the disease: throughout the observation, their concentrations remained invariably high in patients with a fatal outcome whereas in those with a good outcome, there was a uniform decrease in the content of both cytokines by the end of the observation. Thus, the simultaneous increase in the levels of IFN-gamma, IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-alpha and accompanying reductions in CD3, CD4 and serum IgG, IgM are poor prognostic factors and may be used both as additional immunodiagnostic criteria and for immunotherapy monitoring in patients with polytrauma.


When two ferromagnetic layers have a common resonance frequency, the usual spin-pumping broadening may be reduced by dynamic exchange coupling. Utilizing the antiferromagnetic coupling between Co and Gd, we explore the change in ferromagnetic resonance accompanying a spontaneous transition from parallel to antiparallel magnetic alignment of two Co films below the compensation temperature Tcomp. Above Tcomp, the data are consistent with conventional models. However, a rapid doubling of magnetic damping accompanies the realignment, which is reminiscent of resistivity changes in giant magnetoresistance.


As one of the most widely used units in water cooling systems, the closed wet cooling towers (CWCTs) have two typical counter-flow constructions, in which the spray water flows from the top to the bottom, and the moist air and cooling water flow in the opposite direction vertically (parallel) or horizontally (cross), respectively. This study aims to present a simplified calculation method for conveniently and accurately analyzing the thermal performance of the two types of counter-flow CWCTs, viz. the parallel counter-flow CWCT (PCFCWCT) and the cross counter-flow CWCT (CCFCWCT). A simplified cooling capacity model that just includes two characteristic parameters is developed. The Levenberg–Marquardt method is employed to determine the model parameters by curve fitting of experimental data. Based on the proposed model, the predicted outlet temperatures of the process water are compared with the measurements of a PCFCWCT and a CCFCWCT, respectively, reported in the literature. The results indicate that the predicted values agree well with the experimental data in previous studies. The maximum absolute errors in predicting the process water outlet temperatures are 0.20 and 0.24 °C for the PCFCWCT and CCFCWCT, respectively. These results indicate that the simplified method is reliable for performance prediction of counter-flow CWCTs. Although the flow patterns of the two towers are different, the variation trends of thermal performance are similar to each other under various operating conditions. The inlet air wet-bulb temperature, inlet cooling water temperature, air flow rate, and cooling water flow rate are crucial for determining the cooling capacity of a counter-flow CWCT, while the cooling tower effectiveness is mainly determined by the flow rates of air and cooling water. Compared with the CCFCWCT, the PCFCWCT is much more applicable in a large-scale cooling water system, and the superiority would be amplified when the scale of water distribution system increases. Without multiple iterative calculations and extensive experimental data, the simplified method could be used to effectively analyze the thermal performance of counter-flow CWCTs in operation. It is useful for optimization operation of counter-flow CWCTs such that to improve the energy efficiency of the overall cooling water system.


The efficiency with which farmers use available resources is very important in agricultural production. This study examines the resource use efficiency of cassava-based mixed crop farmers in Ogun and Oyo States, Nigeria. Cross-sectional data were collected from 265 cassava-based farmers (150 in Ogun State and 115 in Oyo State) using a multistage sampling technique. Descriptive statistics, production elasticity from Cobb-Douglas production function and marginal analysis of resource utilization were some of the analytical tools used in the study. The mean farm size cultivated in Ogun State was 2.24ha while in Oyo State, it was 1.59ha. There was under-utilization fertilizer in Ogun State and land cultivated in Oyo State. Producers in the two states are inefficient in their use of resources but there exist enough potential to increase cassava output in the areas. This can be actualized by cropping larger hectares of land, regulated usage of higher quantities of fertilizers and the provision of labour saving devices which would help reduce labour requirements and enhance efficiency.


Table tennis is a sufficiently complex motor task for studying complete skill learning systems. It consists of several elementary motions and requires fast movements, accurate control, and online adaptation. To represent the elementary movements needed for robot table tennis, we rely on dynamic systems motor primitives (DMP). While such DMPs have been successfully used for learning a variety of simple motor tasks, they only represent single elementary actions. In order to select and generalize among different striking movements, we present a new approach, called Mixture of Motor Primitives that uses a gating network to activate appropriate motor primitives. The resulting policy enables us to select among the appropriate motor primitives as well as to generalize between them. In order to obtain a fully learned robot table tennis setup, we also address the problem of predicting the necessary context information, i.e., the hitting point in time and space where we want to hit the ball. We show that the resulting setup was capable of playing rudimentary table tennis using an anthropomorphic robot arm.


We study a general preferential attachment and Polya's urn model. At each step a new vertex is introduced, which can be connected to at most one existing vertex. If it is disconnected, it becomes a pioneer vertex. Given that it is not disconnected, it joins an existing pioneer vertex with probability proportional to a function of the degree of that vertex. This function is allowed to be vertex-dependent, and is called the reinforcement function. We prove that there can be at most three phases in this model, depending on the behavior of the reinforcement function. Consider the set whose elements are the vertices with cardinality tending a.s. to infinity. We prove that this set either is empty, or it has exactly one element, or it contains all the pioneer vertices. Moreover, we describe the phase transition in the case where the reinforcement function is the same for all vertices. Our results are general, and in particular we are not assuming monotonicity of the reinforcement function. Finally, consider the regime where exactly one vertex has a degree diverging to infinity. We give a lower bound for the probability that a given vertex ends up being the leading one, i.e. its degree diverges to infinity. Our proofs rely on a generalization of the Rubin construction given for edge-reinforced random walks, and on a Brownian motion embedding.


A 1/6-full-size model of the hull of the British Singapore IIC flying boat was tested in the NACA tank. The results are given in the form of charts and are compared with the results of previous tests made in the NACA tank of a 1/12-full-size model, published in NACA T.N. No. 580, and with the results of tests made in the British R.A.E. tank of another 1/6-full-size model of the same hull. When the data from the tests of the 1/6- and 1/12-full-size models were compared on the basis of Froude's law of comparison, differences were found. This fact supported the belief that the small scale of the model and the use of a model that was too small to suit the equipment of the NACA tank had caused the results of the tests of the 1/12-full-size model to be less reliable than the results of the tests of the 1/6-full-size model. The results of the tests of the two models agreed sufficiently well to show that test of a small model, if made meticulously and with suitable equipment, may give useable results, but that a larger model should be used whenever feasible. The results of the NACA tests of the 1/6-full-size model were found to be in good agreement with the R.A.E. tests of a model of the same size.


The addicted prostitute faces a risk of AIDS from both her sexual practices and intravenous drug use. While the sexual practices of these women have been studied, much less is known about their needle-using practices. We suggest women in the sex industry are more enmeshed in the drug-using scene and occupy a more constricted set of social roles than other women. They will therefore lack the resources and have fewer opportunities to engage in safer behaviors compared to women who support themselves by other means. The analysis is based on 9,055 addicted women not in treatment. Women who trade sex for money and/or drugs are less likely to use new needles on any consistent basis or to clean old needles. They are more likely to share needles with others compared to women who support themselves by other means. Three identifiable patterns of needle-using practices emerge: indiscriminate sharing, monogamous sharing with a sexual partner, and exclusive use of new needles. To reach those engaged in promiscuous sharing, needle-swapping programs must be particularly "user friendly." Where needle-using behaviors reflect an intimate relationship, the spouse/sex partner must be engaged if change is to take place. Finally, policymakers and practitioners should capitalize on the strengths and strategies of those who report they consistently use sterile needles.


Objectives: An imposter identification system allows authenticated user to request for regeneration of password while restricting users who possess imposter properties. Existing system in the literature either allows the users to request for regeneration of password or denies access to the users. So the imposter acceptance and genuine rejection percentage is high in the existing system. Methods: The proposed system improves the performance of imposter identification system by adding three levels of non biometric factors to it. Fuzzy score is calculated on each level and the scores are accumulated with its own weight at last level. Using weighted score the threshold is compared and evaluated to make further decisions. Based on the evaluations made with respect to the threshold, the user will be allowed or denied to regenerate the password. Neural Network is applied to find out the threshold value whereas initially the threshold value is randomly assigned. The neural system works on two modes; one is learning mode in which the developer has to validate the system using training and testing dataset. Findings: With the validation, the threshold value is set to the most accurate value. Secondly, the system works on production mode where the end user uses the system. The proposed system increases the performance of imposter identification algorithm by increasing the rate of genuine user acceptance and imposter rejection. Applications: For all, ID-Password based authentication applications which supports Forget password as a sub module for the authentication module.


Abstract. We apply the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) ozone retrieval algorithm to Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Instrument (IASI) radiances and characterise the uncertainties and information content of the retrieved ozone profiles. This study focuses on mid-latitudes for the year 2008. We validate our results by comparing the IASI ozone profiles to ozone sondes. In the sonde comparisons, we find a negative bias (1–10%) in the IASI profiles in the lower to mid-troposphere and a positive bias (up to 14%) in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere (UTLS) region. For the described cases, the degrees of freedom for signal are on average 3.2, 0.3, 0.8, and 0.9 for the columns 0 km – top of atmosphere, (0–6), (0–11), and (8–16) km, respectively. We find that our biases with respect to sondes and our degrees of freedom for signal for ozone are comparable to previously published results from other IASI ozone algorithms. In addition to evaluating biases, we validate the retrieval errors by comparing predicted errors to the sample covariance matrix of the IASI observations themselves. For the predicted versus empirical error comparison, we find that these errors are consistent and that the measurement noise and the interference of temperature and water vapour on the retrieval together mostly explain the empirically derived random errors. In general, the precision of the IASI ozone profiles is better than 20%.


Objectives: To explore perceived quality and patient satisfaction from a Day Surgery clinical setting of a major Oncological Public Hospital in the Greece.
Methods: It is a prospective study including all patients admitted for breast diseases from January to May of 2015 in the Day Surgery unit of a major Oncology Public hospital in Athens, Greece who were willing to answer specially designed questionnaires on perceived quality of primary care and satisfaction with provided care. The sample consisted of 105 patients with breast disease, aged 46.2 ± 13.1 years. The questionnaires used were Global Scales, the Expectations-Perceived Quality-Satisfaction with Primary Care Services Scale (E-PQ-SCSS), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the 12-Item Short Form Survey (SF-12). All questionnaires are validated in the Greek population. Analysis was performed with the statistical package SPSS v.21.
Results: Most of the cases were benign (74.7%). Overall, 25.7% of the patients underwent the minimally invasive procedure of stereotactic biopsy: 19% Mammotome and 6.7% Breast Lesion Excision System (BLES). Patients were very satisfied from the physicians (82%) and nurses (86.7%) and rated as excellent the quality of services in Day Care Units (DCU) (8.7). Patients with minimally invasive procedures reported significantly greater satisfaction for the time dedicated by the nurses compared to the time dedicated by physicians (4.9 ± 0.2 versus 4.5 ± 0.7). Patients who underwent surgery reported significantly less activity compared to patients with minimally invasive procedures (1.6 ± 0.4 versus 1.9 ± 0.3). Waiting time for admission had as strong negative correlation with satisfaction from the administrators (r=0.775) and therapeutic intervention (r=0.653). For patients with malignancy scheduled admission punctuality was significantly very important compared to patients with benign diseases (4.9 ± 0.3 versus 4.3 ± 0.7).
Conclusion: The quality of services in the Day Surgery setting is very high resulting in its approval by the patients.


Mercury (Hg) pollution is an acknowledged major environmental problem. Considering its extreme toxicity, Hg has recently been included in the top ten list of chemicals of major public health concern according to the World Health Organization. Once released into the environment, it is transformed in aquatic ecosystems by microorganisms into the neurotoxic methylmercury. The hazardous effect is then biomagnified through the trophic/food chain. Diet is considered the main exposure pathway of Hg in humans. Therefore, safety values have been established by food safety authorities in order to protect consumers. Seafood, followed by rice, is the primary source of Hg in the human diet. A variety of analytical methodologies is available for the analysis of Hg and its species in food. This chapter presents recent advances in the determination of Hg in foodstuffs. Special attention is given to innovative Hg (species) extraction and preconcentration systems assisted by nanoparticles. Non-chromatographic approaches, as an alternative to classical chromatographic approaches used for speciation are detailed. The potential and limitations of Hg isotopic analysis in food is also discussed.


The Cretaceous-Cenozoic major lithologic units and structures of the Sierra Madre del Sur are well known. The Laramide orogeny is generally considered as the cause of the contractile structures, but the details about the migration, kinematics, and intensity of deformation are poorly known. Furthermore, the deformation events responsible for the post-Laramide strike-slip and normal faults have not been identified. In this paper, we document the migration of the deformation events that occurred in southern Mexico from Maastrichtian to Miocene time. We identify different groups of structures representing three successive deformation events, based on the geometry, age, and kinematics of tectonic structures. Deformation migrated from west to east. The first event, corresponding to the Laramide orogeny, occurred during Late Cretaceous time in the Guerrero-Morelos Platform and ended in the middle Eocene in the east within the Veracruz basin. The Oaxacan fault system, which bounds the Acatlan-Oaxacan block to the east, records Laramide shortening. From six structural sections, we interpret the juxtaposition of the Oaxacan complex against the mylonite belt of the Sierra de Juarez, with subsequent uplift of the eastern border of the Oaxacan complex and, finally, the gravitational overriding of the sedimentary cover in a radial centripetal arrangement. The second event produced strike-slip faulting during NE-SW horizontal shortening from Eocene to Oligocene time. The third event produced normal and strike-slip faults, indicating NE-SW horizontal extension during Oligocene-Miocene time. Major structures produced during these three deformation events are roughly distributed in an arcuate pattern bounding the block formed by the Acatlan and Oaxacan complexes. Based on this pattern and the relatively less deformed Mesozoic rocks within the Acatlan-Oaxacan block, we interpret that most of the deformation resulted from the impingement of this block on thinner crustal domains adjoining the block.


A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a computer mapping system developed for capturing, storing, querying, analyzing, modifying and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information. GIS is already applied in different parts of tourism business or logistics and it can be used for managing information about a business, a business sector, business activity in a region, country or global.
GIS in economic universities education is a new topic and there are few that offer business programs that include GIS technologies. Business students need geographic information system skills to analyze the geographic elements of business science. This paper focuses on the introduction of a Geographic Information Systems module into a bachelor or master study program of Business Administration. In order to achieve this aim, an extensive literature review was performed for understanding the GIS technologies and applications in business. On the other side, an online questionnaire was used as an instrument for the study. The objective of the survey was to study the possible problems regarding the incorporating GIS in a Business Administration curriculum and find the solutions to them, by studying deeply the opinion of the university teachers.The study was designed to give answers in teacher's familiarization with GIS technology, main obstacles in using GIS in the university and the teachers' opinions on the necessity of GIS within their disciplines. The study came to conclusion that teachers of the economic universities understand the importance of GIS in business administration and they wish to introduce GIS module as a part of program curriculum.


Akara (fried cowpea paste) a popular West African cowpea (Visna unguiculata) product was prepared from cowpea paste stored under refrigeration (4-6°C) and freezer (-18°C) temperatures for 10 and 24 days respectively. Blanched and unblanched paste were stored. Akara from freshly prepared paste was used as control. The sensory properties investigated were colour, taste, texture and aroma. Akara from various paste samples; refrigerator stored paste (RSP); freezer stored paste (FSP) and fresh paste (FP) were rated for the various attributes and the degree of difference from the control by a trained panel. Sensory attributes of RSP akara were majorly rated between good and fair in the first 3 days. Attributes were rated between fair and bad by the 6 and 10 days of storage and were significantly different from FP akara. Sensory attributes of FSP akara were rated between good and fair until the 17 day of storage. Blanching proved beneficial as a pre-storage treatment for the preservation of akara texture in the first 3 days for RSP and for 24 days for FSP. The results showed that the properties of cowpea paste which influence texture and overall sensory quality of akara, were better preserved in frozen storage. The implications of the results on the feasibility of bulk production and storage of cowpea paste for retail as a frozen ingredient are discussed.


Glucose 6-phosphate transport has been well characterized in liver microsomes. The transport is required for the functioning of the glucose-6-phosphatase enzyme that is situated in the lumen of the hepatic endoplasmic reticulum. The genetic deficiency of the glucose 6-phosphate transport activity causes a severe metabolic disease termed type 1b glycogen storage disease. The cDNA encoding a liver transporter for glucose 6-phosphate was cloned and was found to be mutated in patients suffering from glycogen storage disease 1b. While related mRNAs have been described in liver and other tissues, the encoded protein(s) has not been immunologically characterized yet. In the present study, we report (using antibodies against three different peptides of the predicted amino acid sequence) that a major protein encoded by the glucose 6-phosphate transporter gene is expressed in the endoplasmic reticulum membranes of rat and human liver. The protein has an apparent molecular mass of approx. 33 kDa using SDS/PAGE, but several lines of evidence indicate that its real molecular mass is 46 kDa, as expected. The glucose 6-phosphate transporter protein was also immunodetected in kidney microsomes, but not in microsomes derived from human fibrocytes, rat spleen and lung, and a variety of cell lines. Moreover, little or no expression of the glucose 6-phosphate transporter protein was found in liver microsomes obtained from three glycogen storage disease 1b patients, even bearing mutations that do not directly interfere with protein translation, which can be explained by a (proteasome-mediated) degradation of the mutated transporter.


Aim of this paper is to analyse electronic marketplaces from an organisational point of view. The marketplaces are herein considered as a particular form of electronic network and are analysed in the light of transaction cost theory. Besides considering the three classical effects identified by Malone et al. (the communication effect, the electronic integration effect, the electronic mediation effect), the paper, on the ground of empirical evidences, also evaluated a fourth effect defined by Wigand as "the strategic electronic network effect". Analysis two cases the paper describes how ICT affects the market organisation of marketplaces and the relationships among the actors that are involved in this particular electronic networks.


ABSTRACT Through a joint community effort Denmark's Renewable Energy Island Samsø became self-sufficient with renewable energy over a period of 10 years from 1997 to 2007. Today, the story about Samsø's successful energy transition has become a global export and a widely known model of community building, public participation and shared ownership in renewable energy technologies and transition processes. What has allowed the Samsø narrative to travel so widely has been the effective 'transition story' created about the islanders' efforts. This transition story, however, has become fixed with the years and has assumed an ideal-typical character. Meanwhile, the challenges and costs inherent in the complicated socio-material process of transition are underestimated and largely forgotten. While such transition stories are indeed inspiring, the ideal-typical narrative may stand in the way of the development of further local energy transitions, as challenging elements of the process are downplayed to strengthen the narrative power of the story. Ethnographic stories about Samsø complicate the island's transition narrative and add nuance to the Samsø story, highlighting its discrepancies and problematizing the effects of such well-crafted transition narratives. This tendency toward the 'storification' of transition processes is not restricted to Samsø; it is employed as a tactics by environmental organizations operating globally.


Path planning is an essential task for the robot to navigate and control its motion in any environment. The optimal path needs to be rerouted each time a new obstacle appears in front of the robot in the dynamic environment. This research focuses on the MAX-MIN Ant System Algorithm(MMAS) which is an Ant Colony Algorithm derived from Ant System(AS) and is different from it in terms of the pheromone deposition. The effectiveness of this algorithm to obtain a near optimal solution is illustrated by the means of experimental study. Using a greedier search than the Ant System algorithm is one of the specific characteristics of the MMAS, which will be studied in the research. The robot environment model is represented by a grid which has obstacles whose positions change in each map that is used. Local search routines and diversification mechanisms introduced by the previous researchers are used to enhance the performance of the MMAS algorithm. To implement the MMAS algorithm used in our research, the experiments are performed in MATLAB development environment where a simulation program is designed, and the algorithm is implemented in grid maps of sizes starting from the smallest grid 10x10 to the grid of size 400x400. We implemented and analyzed the performance of the algorithm in larger grid environments to understand how it would perform when the search space is too huge; which would enable researchers to use the MMAS algorithm in experiments involving real life environments. In our experiments a new obstacle is added after every iteration of the algorithm which makes it challenging for the robots to find the near optimal path. The performance evaluation of the MMAS algorithm is studied and is also compared to that of the ACO algorithm when implemented in differently sized grid maps.


Ultrasound-targeted microbubble destruction has been utilized to deliver a drug/gene into cells in both in vitro and in vivo studies. This work was performed to investigate the feasibility of gene transfer to human retinal pigment epithelium cell line(ARPE-19) and rat retinal pigment epithelium cell line(RPE-J) by a combinatorial use of recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) and ultrasound (US) or/and microbubbles (MBs) and compare the difference between them. Different doses of serotype 2 rAAV encoding a enhanced green fluorescent protein (rAAV2-EGFP) gene and MBs was administered to ARPE-19 and RPE-J cells under different US conditions. Transfection efficiency and cell viability were assessed by fluorescence microscopy, flow cytometry (FCM) analysis, trypan blue staining. The results indicated that US and MBs could respectively improve rAAV2-mediated gene transfer to RPE-J cells, but neither US nor MBs could do so in ARPE-19 cells. US plus MBs could significantly enhance rAAV2-mediated gene transfer to ARPE-19 cells, however, the same effects were not seen in RPE-J cells. These findings demonstrated it is not always coincident that US, MBs and US plus MBs exert the similar effects on gene transfer in vitro RPE cells. So, it is necessary to choose appropriate RPE cell line for the study of US or/and MBs-mediated rAAV gene transfer in retinal gene therapy.


This short review provides an important perspective on soft tissue manipulation/mobilization (STM) as a powerful and direct form of mechanotherapy, which has significant implications in physical rehabilitation, disease prevention and health promotions. STM, e.g. therapeutic massage, whether administered by hand alone or with a rigid device, is a type of manual therapy frequently used by clinicians worldwide to address common musculoskeletal pain disorders. It is a type of mechanotherapy which applies non-invasive mechanical stimuli to the surface of the body so as to influence molecular, cell and tissue structure and function via mechanotransduction, utimately leading to improved clinical outcomes. A brief overview of mechanotransduction is provided, with a focus on the ECM-integrincytoskeleton pathway, and the impact of STM mechanical stimulus on different tissue types are considered in this article. Ongoing research is suggested to further validate STM as a viable, cost-effective treatment option in an aging population and the clinical relevance of STM is discussed. STM intervention should be approached as a prescription, a targeted and precise form of mechanotherapy in which optimal dose pressures and frequencies are delivered to achieve desired outcomes and advance the field of soft tissue manual therapies.


An entirely new method for measuring dielectric properties of slab type materials is developed by using a novel dielectric waveguide structure originally designed for millimeter-wave integrated circuits. The method entails the measurement of the stop-band of the grating structure created in the dielectric waveguide. Several examples of measurement results are reported.


High level of blood glucose is an indicator for diabetes mellitus (DM) condition. The condition iscaused by low level of insulin secretion or impairement of insulin receptor. The number of DM patientincreases every year. The World Health Organization reported that the number of DM patient in Indonesiawas the 4th highest in the world, after following China, India, and the United States of America, respectively.This study was conducted to analyze the effect of sea cucumber (Holothuria scabra J) on the profile ofantioxidant copper, zinc-superoxide dismutase (Cu, Zn-SOD) in the pancreatic tissues of diabetic rats. Atotal of 25 male white rats (Sprague Dawley) were used in this study. They were divided into five groups;(1) negative control (KN), (2) positive control, diabetic rats (KP), (3) diabetic rats treated with hydrolyzatedprotein of sea cucumber (HDL), (4) diabetic rats treated with concentrated protein of sea cucumber (KST),and (5) diabetic rats treated with isolated protein of sea cucumber (ISL), respectively. Diabetic conditionwas obtained by alloxan injection 110 mg/kg bw. The treatments were done for 28 days. At the end oftreatment period, the rats were sacrificed and pancreatic tissues were collected and fixed in Bouin solution and then processed to paraffin embedding standard method. The tissues were then stained withimmunohistochemical staining techniques using monoclonal antibody of Cu, Zn-SOD. The results showedthat treatment of HDL, KST, and ISL of sea cucumber (Holothuria scabra J) increased the content ofantioxidant Cu, Zn-SOD either in Langerhans islets and acinar cells of pancreatic tissues-diabetic rats.The HDL of sea cucumber treatment gave the best effect in increasing the antioxidant content of Cu, Zn-SOD in pancreatic tissue of diabetic rats.


Arboreal lizards are extremely effective at moving in structurally complex habitats, including surfaces of varying diameter and incline. Chameleons exemplify this by exhibiting a number of morphological specializations for moving in these habitats, including the use of prehensile feet and tail to grasp branches. Despite their unique morphology and behaviour, little is known about how locomotor movements vary between species. In addition, some species, such as the Cape Dwarf Chameleon, Bradypodion pumilum, consist of two morphs that differ in ecology, morphology, and behaviour. The two morphs can be found in either closed canopy woodland habitat or relatively open fynbos habitat. The morph that occupies the woodland habitat tends to be larger and utilizes larger diameter perches. Although their ecological and morphological divergence is established, whether this translates into differences in three-dimensional kinematics of locomotion is not known. Given the potentially strong selective pressures from structurally different habitats, kinematic differences might reveal the functional basis of incipient speciation. We determined that the two morphs diverge significantly in multidimensional kinematic space, and that this occurs for the forelimb and hindlimb independently. These differences outweigh the effects of substrate within each morph, although the differences between morphs were more pronounced on the vertical treatments.


This paper describes an algorithm which can roughly halve the size of the current Internet routing tables. This algorithm is based on the radix trie representation of routing tables, which was firstly used in the BSD Unix distributions. The binary tree representation, which is a simplified case of radix tree, does well at showing the relationships among all routing table entries and provides us a way to build a collapse algorithm based on its internal structure. The binary tree collapse algorithm consists of three techniques, with the first two quite intuitive while the third is a bit more elaborate. All techniques used in this algorithm are discussed and their effects on reducing the size of the routing table are listed and compared.


Miners, like many skilled blue-collar workers, are not traditional learners. They have not generally been successful in classroom-type settings, preferring to learn on the job in a hands-on environment. U.S. miners are required to have annual safety training, but they rarely view this positively. In fact, it has been called "safety jail" by many of them, who regard it as a time to get a little extra sleep. The challenge then, was to find a way to develop effective safety training for these people, particularly in view of the fact that their work is among the most dangerous of all occupations. Miners are born story tellers. They share "nearmiss" stories, stories about master miners they have known, and stories about how things used to be. These stories not only pass along information about what will happen if a miner fails to respect the mining environment, they also instruct listeners in the culture of mining and the values it embraces. Stories, it seems, are a way to get safety messages to miners, especially inexperienced ones, and using older, wiser miners in these stories is an obvious choice. This paper will discuss how the training videos created to get safety messages to miners were developed, how "master miners" and story lines were chosen, and how the resulting videos have been received in the mining industry.


Abstract The psychoactive substance 4-HO-MET (4-hydroxy-N-methyl-N-ethyltryptamine) with psychedelic qualities is one of many legal so-called Internet drugs. The aim of this qualitative study was to establish an understanding of what characterizes its recreational use. Very little is known about the effects of this substance. Twenty-five anonymous Swedish experience reports (from persons aged 18–30 years) from public Internet forums were analyzed using the Empirical Phenomenological Psychological Method. The analysis produced 37 categories that were compiled into nine general themes: (1) motivation, preparation and expectation; (2) initial effects; (3) change of perception; (4) unfiltered awareness and intensified flow of information; (5) lateral cognition; (6) border between subject and object is erased; (7) heaven; (8) hell; and (9) subsiding effects. An understanding of the chronological happenings, called The Process, appeared out of the general structure. Drastic changes in cognitive, emotional and bodily functions were described. The motivation for use seemed to be driven by a strong curiosity. The experiences shifted between "heaven" and "hell," but participants appeared satisfied and ready to repeat the experience. The experiences described show great similarity with classic psychedelic substances as LSD or psilocybin. More research is needed about health hazards or possible therapeutic potentials.


An ontology-based workflow (workflow-ontology) representation method was proposed after analyzing that not only structure information but also semantic information were needed in a workflow model. Workflow-ontology concepts were composed by class and subclass of the workflow. Concepts' properties including their values and characteristics were redefined, and then, workflow-ontology modeling method was put forward based on the ontology expresses and definitions above. With the example of applying in products examined and approved workflows, the corresponding workflow-ontology model (WFO) was built.


Insulinoma is a predominantly benign and rare neuroendocrine tumor. Patients with insulinoma typically present with neurologic symptoms from hypoglycemia, such as confusion, dizziness, and behavioral changes, as well as symptoms from a surge in catecholamine levels, such as palpitations, diaphoresis, and tachycardia. Symptomatic patients usually have glucose levels below 55 mg/dL and are relieved of their symptoms when carbohydrate is administered. The 48-hour test, performed by measuring blood glucose levels of insulin, C peptide, and proinsulin collected every 4-6 hours in fasting patients, accurately confirms the diagnosis of insulinoma in the majority of the patients. Once the diagnosis is confirmed, the next step in management involves identifying the location of the tumor and successfully removing it surgically. In the last two decades, clinicians have moved away from invasive angiography for preoperative localization. A multiphase computed tomography (CT) can be used to localize the lesion and evaluate for metastasis. If CT does not detect the lesion, selective arterial calcium stimulation test is recommended to identify the region of the lesion in the pancreas. Some argue that all preoperative localization techniques are superfluous. The combination of intraoperative ultra - sound and operative palpation has led to a nearly 100% success rate. Recently, in select cases, laparoscopic enucleations and resections of insulinomas have been performed with shorter length of stay and faster recovery time. Despite advances in imaging, a little over 10% of insulinoma patients undergo reexploration for missing lesions. Patients who are not candidates for tumor resections or awaiting surgery have had symptomatic relief from diazoxide and somatostatin analogs among various medical therapies. In patients with metastatic insulinoma, progression- free survival and overall survival are reported from newly approved chemotherapeutic agents. Liver-directed therapies, such as ablation and selective radiation, and cytoreductive surgery have also been performed for symptom control and prolonging survival.


Aim: Chromolaena odorata has been used traditionally for the treatment of various conditions which include skin infections, wounds, ulcers and also used as an antimalarial. The present work investigates the ability of the methanolic extract of the plant to inhibit hydrogen-peroxide induced haemolysis and lipid peroxidation of human erythrocytes. Other in vitro antioxidant and free radical scavenging activities were also investigated.
Materials and Methods: Dried leaves of Chromolaena odorata were pulverized and extracted using absolute methanol. Veinous blood was collected from a healthy individual and erythrocytes isolated. Erythrocyte haemolysis and lipid peroxidation were induced using hydrogen peroxide and subsequently treated with Chromolaena odorata extract. The plant extract was also assessed for its hydrogen peroxide scavenging, hydroxyl radical scavenging and reducing abilities. In all cases, vitamin C was used as the reference compound.
Results: The results show that Chromolaena odorata extract reduced hydrogen peroxide-induced haemolysis and lipid peroxidation when compared to vitamin C. While the IC50 values for the extract were 4.11 mg/mL and 12.95 mg/mL for inhibition of erythrocyte haemolysis and lipid peroxidation respectively, the IC50 values for vitamin C were 1.98 mg/mL and 0.57 mg/mL for haemolysis and lipid peroxidation. The extract also possessed hydrogen peroxide scavenging, hydroxyl radical scavenging and reducing abilities. In most cases, the effects were concentration-dependent and significant among various extracts concentrations (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: The observed responses indicate that the plant possessed immense antioxidant potential which is ascribed to the bioactive phytochemicals. This could be exploited pharmacologically.


Artificial atoms realized by superconducting circuits offer unique opportunities to store and process quantum information with high fidelity. Among them, implementations of circuits that harness intrinsic noise protection have been rapidly developed in recent years. These noise-protected devices constitute a new class of qubits in which the computational states are largely decoupled from local noise channels. The main challenges in engineering such systems are simultaneously guarding against both bit- and phase-flip errors, and also ensuring high-fidelity qubit control. Although partial noise protection is possible in superconducting circuits relying on a single quantum degree of freedom, the promise of complete protection can only be fulfilled by implementing multimode or hybrid circuits. This Perspective reviews the theoretical principles at the heart of these new qubits, describes recent experiments, and highlights the potential of robust encoding of quantum information in superconducting qubits.


The aim of this study is to evaluate all the 58 available NFL cases and compare various predictors for mild traumatic brain injuries using a detailed and extensively validated finite element model of the human head. Global injury measures such as magnitude in angular and translational acceleration, change in angular velocity, head impact power (HIP) and HIC were also investigated with regard to their ability to predict the intracranial pressure and strains associated with injury. The brain material properties were modeled using a hyperelastic and viscoelastic constitutive law. Also, three different stiffness parameters, encompassing a range of published brain tissue properties, were tested. 8 tissue injury predictors were evaluated for 6 different regions, covering the entire cerebrum, as well as for the whole brain. In addition, 10 head kinematics based predictors were evaluated both for correlation with injury as well as with strain and pressure. When evaluating the results, a statistical correlation between strain, strain rate, product of strain and strain rate, Cumulative Strain Damage Measure (CSDM), strain energy density, maximum pressure, magnitude of minimum pressure, as well as von Mises effective stress, with injury was found when looking into specific regions of the brain. However, the maximal pressure in the gray matter showed a higher correlation with injury than other evaluated measures. On the other hand, it was possible, through the reconstruction of a motocross accident, to re-create the injury pattern in the brain of the injured rider using maximal principal strain. It was also found that a simple linear combination of peak change in rotational velocity and HIC showed a high correlation (R=0.98) with the maximum principal strain in the brain, in addition to being a significant predictor of injury. When applying the rotational and translational kinematics separately for one of the cases, it was found that the translational kinematics contribute very little to the intracranial distortional strains while the rotational kinematics contributes insignificantly to the pressure response. This study underlines that the strain based brain tissue injury predictors are very sensitive to the choice of stiffness for the brain tissue.


Abstract Fenestrations in liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSEC) are transcellular nanopores of 50–350 nm diameter that facilitate bidirectional transport of solutes and macromolecules between the bloodstream and the parenchyma of the liver. Liver diseases, ageing, and various substances such as nicotine or ethanol can negatively influence LSECs fenestrations and lead to defenestration. Over the years, the diameter of fenestrations remained the main challenge for imaging of LSEC in vitro. Several microscopy, or rather nanoscopy, approaches have been used to quantify fenestrations in LSEC to assess the effect of drugs and, and toxins in different biological models. All techniques have their limitations, and measurements of the "true" size of fenestrations are hampered because of this. In this study, we approach the comparison of different types of microscopy in a correlative manner. We combine scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with optical nanoscopy methods such as structured illumination microscopy (SIM) or stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy. In addition, we combined atomic force microscopy (AFM) with SEM and STED, all to better understand the previously reported differences between the reports of fenestration dimensions. We conclude that sample dehydration alters fenestration diameters. Finally, we propose the combination of AFM with conventional microscopy that allows for easy super-resolution observation of the cell dynamics with additional chemical information that can be traced back for the whole experiment. Overall, by pairing the various types of imaging techniques that provide topological 2D/3D/label-free/chemical information we get a deeper insight into both limitations and strengths of each type microscopy when applied to fenestration analysis.


Vitamin D is synthesized within skin followed by the peripheral maturation in liver and kidneys. Vitamin D is most essential secosteroid produced its systemic functions via complex with steroid/thyroid nuclear receptor called vitamin D receptor (VDR). The binding of the vitamin D3 to VDR causes conformational changes that permit VDR-RXR heterodimer formation and VDR/ SRC-1 (transcriptional co-activator proteins) interactions. Functional expression and nuclear activation of VDR is necessary to produce its effects upon binding with vitamin D response element (VDRE) on target gene where it causes transcriptional activation resulting in the prevention of breast cancer by inhibiting proliferation, impeding differentiation and stimulating pro-apoptosis. Season, latitude, pigmentation of skin, aging, sunscreen use, obesity, and smoking all affect the production of vitamin D. In case of vitamin D deficiency or VDR gene polymorphisms, vitamin D responses are altered and probably are involved in the risk of breast cancer. Since many epidemiological, observational and interventional studies have been done to illustrate the role of vitamin D and its receptor gene polymorphism in breast cancer development but controversial findings have been observed. Therefore, the role of vitamin D and its receptor gene polymorphisms in development of breast cancer are still a matter of discussion.


In an era of unprecedented technological innovation and evolving user expectations and information seeking behaviour (Leong, 2008; Parry, 2008), a review of emerging public library (PL) digital services is important and timely. We are now an online society, with digital services increasingly common and increasingly preferred (Tonta, 2008). As a trusted source of public information, PLs are in an advantageous position to respond. However, evidence suggests that many PL websites are little more than 'digitised leaflets' or directory listings within parent local authority (LA) websites (Harden, 2007; McMenemy, 2007), and a recent UK report found that while overall visitor numbers to such LA websites increased by 21.7% in 2009, user satisfaction dropped by 18% (Socitm, 2010). An associated issue is how to present digital information to the public 'without confusion, duplication of effort and in a user friendly way' (Atherton, 2002), particularly common services with shared goals such as lifelong learning, community development, and health & wellbeing. Challenges include limited definition of digital services and PL role, the nascent state of digital service design (Williams et al, 2008), and limited empirical evidence of digital collaboration, or broader evaluations of PL Internet services (Aitta, 2007). We believe this to be the first extensive survey of its kind, which comprehensively identifies and reports on emerging PL digital services across a devolved jurisdiction of the UK, encompassing 32 PLs. Extent and range of digital services is identified, including emergent trends, and the role of the PL as either content provider or access provider.


This paper reports on four basic results of tests of the standard gravity equation. First, geography can serve to reflect comparative advantage as well as transportation costs. Second, the effect of distance on bilateral trade is mostly a substitution effect between closer and more distant trade partners rather than a scale effect on total foreign trade. Third, special political relationships, such as free trade agreements and currency union, do not produce any trade diversion in the aggregate, but increase trade with outsiders as well as among the parties to the relationship. Fourth, Rose's surprisingly high estimate of the impact of currency union on trade stems partly from a selection bias, but even following a correction for this bias, the estimate remains high. Géographie, commerce international, et union monétaire


Non-planar surface may cause incorrect transfer of patterns during lithography. In today's IC manufacturing, chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is used for topographical planarization Since polish rates for metals and oxides are different, dummy metal fills in layout is used to minimize post-CMP thickness variability. Existing metal fill solutions target secondary goals minimizing timing and crosstalk impact. They may however reduce yield by increasing probability of failure (POF) due to particulate defects. Layout design solutions that minimize POF and also improve surface planarity via dummy fill insertions have competing requirements for line spacing. In this work, we present a formulation to balance these competing goals and provide a comparative study of greedy (or fixed spacing), variable spacing and LP formulation based fill insertions based on scalability and quality of solution. Finally, we extend the critical area based solution to include SRAF insertion in order to account for optical diffraction in lithography. The key contributions of this paper are i) layout density analysis model, ii) heuristic greedy, variable spacing and LP formulation based fill insertion techniques and iii) characterization and implementation of inter-feature spacing based SRAF insertion. Thus the proposed solution addresses both lithography and particulate related defects. Experimental results based on layout of ISCAS 85 benchmark circuits show that the variable spacing and the LP formulation based fill insertion techniques result in substantially reduced critical area while satisfying the layout density and uniformity criteria.


Marian Robertson Wilson recounts her memories of her father, Leroy Robertson, and of the creation of his masterpiece, the Oratorio from the Book of Mormon. The idea to compose an oratorio based on the Book of Mormon first came to Robertson when Elder Melvin J. Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles casually suggested it to him one day in 1919. After his conversation with Elder Ballard, Robertson dedicated much of his time to studying the Book of Mormon and choosing sections of scripture to use in his compilation. The piece eventually received attention from LDS church leadership and from the renowned Maurice Abravanel. It significantly impacted missionary work, as well as the work of other LDS composers. Title


Rice agriculture is a large anthropogenic source of atmospheric methane (CH4). The reliable estimation of CH4 emissions requires frequent measurements to trace diurnal and seasonal variations. To evaluate the appropriate intervals and optimal time of day to measure CH4 emissions using the manual closed chamber method, this study analysed four datasets of CH4 fluxes in a Japanese irrigated rice paddy measured at 2-hour intervals using the automated closed chamber method. The typical diurnal variation in the CH4 flux was observed after the rice's heading stage, during which the daily time-weighted mean CH4 flux was observed twice, in the 08:00–11:59 and 18:00–21:59 time windows. During the flooded rice-growing period, the CH4 emissions, which were estimated by weekly measurements once per day during the 10:00–11:59 time window, corresponded to 93–106% of the emissions calculated using the automated measurement method. In contrast, no regular measurement strategies produced a satisfactory estimate of the CH4 emissions during the non-flooded rice-growing period because of a sharp increase in the CH4 flux just after the drainage. Consequently, the combination of weekly measurements once per day at approximately 10:00 as local mean time for the flooded rice-growing period and daily measurements once per day during the daytime for 1 week after each drainage event is recommended as a strategy to obtain the estimation with a ±10% error.


ABSTRACT
Collagen is the sole most profuse protein in the animal kingdom. It has been subjected to various studies from time immemorial. Its applications are numerous and have been extracted from various sources such as land animals (mainly bovine and porcine) and birds. Although collagen sources are abundant the outbreak of varied diseases among land animals posed a threat to its utilization in our daily life. Thus a probe for an alternative source began which in turn revealed the immense untapped marine source. The present article deals with a brief description of collagen its characteristics, chemistry, common extraction procedure, application in various fields and sources. A lot of studies have been carried out on various land animals, birds and marine organisms and this review sums up the work performed to date in a concise manner.


Please note that the layout and pagination of this pdf file are not identical to those of the printed CICAD


Four platinum(II) and 4 platinum(IV) complexes with the structures [PtL2Cl2], [PtL2I2], [PtL2Cl4], and [PtL2Cl2(OH)2] (L = 5(6)-non/orchloro-substituted-2-hydroxymethylbenzimidazole ligands as ``non-leaving groups''), respectively, were synthesized and characterized by their elemental analyses, and IR and 1H-NMR spectra. In vitro cytotoxic activities of the platinum(II) and platinum(IV) complexes were tested against the human MCF-7 (breast cancer) and HeLa (cervix cancer) cell lines using the cell culture method. In general, the platinum(II) complexes were more active than the corresponding platinum(IV) complexes. The complexes, which were found to be less active than cisplatin, exhibited cyctotoxicity comparable to carboplatin on the human MCF-7 and HeLa cell lines.


Accumulating evidence indicates that the taste of salt is innately appealing to humans, although responses to salty foods are strongly influenced by environmental factors. Except in instances of severe, prolonged sodium depletion, a sodium-specific appetite has not been documented in humans. Limited data reveal no clear association between early exposure to salt and various hedonic responses to salt later in life, but recent exposure markedly alters a person's preferred salt content of foods. Restricting exposure for 8-12 wk can enhance the appeal of reduced-sodium foods in both normotensive and hypertensive individuals. Although the appeal of the taste of salt is one factor contributing to its intake, the extent to which such a hedonic shift promotes long-term adherence to a reduced-sodium diet has not been determined. There is little evidence supporting a relation between either taste sensitivity or hedonic responses to salt and blood pressure.


Background Lactose intolerance is the most common disorder of intestinal carbohydrate digestion. Probiotic that contains the cor- rect strain in appropriate amount can be used as an alternative dietary for lactose intolerance patients. Objective This study was designed to describe the role of probiotic in relieving lactose intolerance symptoms in children consumed full-cream milk. Methods This study was a clinical trial. Inclusion criteria was chil- dren aged 12-14 years old, had a good nutrition and health status, with positive breath hydrogen test (BHT) result and lactose intoler- ance symptom(s), and their parents gave consent. Forty-two chil- dren were included. All subjects consumed one glass (200 ml) of full-cream milk twice a day for 21 days and recorded intolerance symptoms. Probiotic was added from 8 th to 21 st day in their milk, and responses of treatment were evaluated by scoring system (based on borborigmic, flatulence, abdominal bloating, nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea symptoms). At the end of study they were undergone second BHT examination. Results There were decreasing mean score rates at 7 th day (pre) 13.8 (SD 5.5) compared with 7.5 (SD 3.5) at 14 th day (after) and was statistically significant (P<0.001). Mean score rate at 7 th day (pre) 13.8 (SD 5.5) compared with 21 st day (after) was 0.119 (SD 0.55) and was statistically significant (P<0.001). At the end of study, only 2 subjects showed clinical signs of lactose intolerance. Thirty- six subjects had normal BHT result at 21 st day and was statisti- cally significant (P<0.001). Conclusion Two weeks administration of probiotic could relieve lactose intolerance symptoms in children consumed full-cream milk


ABSTRACT A new chemical treatment method to extract rich cellulosic fibers from date palm agro-residues is developed. The method yielded high-performance natural date palm fibers based on multistep process, which is efficient, sustainable, and unique. The proposed method consists of three steps: dewaxing, acetylation, and mercerization, which are unique in terms of time control and their sequence resulting in optimal properties of extracted fiber. Each step is strictly time-controlled and designed to achieve specific objectives in preparation for the next step. Optimization techniques including design of experiment are used to adjust input parameters so as to obtain optimized output from the treatment method. Two approaches are used for supplying heat during the fiber extraction procedure i.e. conventional heat source and microwave heat source. Experimental characterization of extracted fibers is carried out to determine its mechanical and physical properties. Results showed 32% increase in crystallinity degree of the treated fiber over the untreated one. The new method achieved around five-fold increase in ultimate tensile strength and three-fold increase in elastic modulus. The significant enhancement in properties of treated fibers over untreated counterparts confirms the effectiveness of the new process.


Experiments and field observations indicate that both the gross shaping and the sculpturing of lineation and pit details on wind-eroded surfaces may be accomplished by the impact of particles which have been impelled aerodynamically by interfacial flow or by vorticity. The vorticity operates along lines of positive, negative, and secondary flow over all surfaces of an object. The axis of vorticity is typically normal to or at some high angle to the surface undergoing erosion. Therefore, it is not the so-called roller vortex type which has been postulated by other investigators, for one typical erosion pattern left abundantly by the vortex configuration is a round pit either helically or radically scored. Often such pits occur in chains along the beds of the lineations. A second type of erosion pattern common in channels is parallel transverse lineation, which this writer has seen in development in snow flutes under influence of normal-axis vortices. Such vortices travel singly along lines of flow, pulling particles centripetally into the vortex configurations. In snow flutes, for example, vortices become visible due to suspended snow, and the secondary flow can be delineated. Where general windflow is essentially unidirectional, the erosional result of such vorticity is the creation of cross-lineated, essentially symmetrical grooves.


The financial system of Jamaica has undergone several structural changes in the last decades, moving from a heavy foreign participation to nationalization, and from nationalization to privatization. This document discusses the problems faced by financial institutions and insurance companies in Jamaica and the actions taken by the government to deal with the situation of the financial system. It also evaluates some institutional characteristics of the Jamaican economy, the financial safety network, and the risk management system.


This paper reports the results of botulinum toxin A treatment in 13 children with cerebral palsy. All patients except one exhibited dynamic deformities in one hand or foot and changes in muscle tone of corticospinal and extrapyramidal origin. The primary purpose of the treatment was to improve the impaired skilled movements which resulted from dystonic limb posture and were the most disabling symptoms in the group studied. The study showed that the botulinum toxin treatment produced a significant improvement in functional disability in terms of amelioration of skilled hand movements and foot posture (p < 0.01). The injections took effect a few days after dystonic muscle infiltration, and the mean duration of improvement was 3.1 months (2.0-4.0 months). Side effects were negligible and transient; transitory muscle weakness was the most frequent. Botulinum toxin A provides a safe and effective adjuvant treatment of dystonic skilled movements and gait disorders in children with cerebral palsy.


Histamine H2-receptor antagonists metiamide and cimetidine were used in the treatment of severe peptic ulceration in Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. The ulcerations were completely healed in all four patients after treatment lasting from six weeks to four-and-a-half-months. Two patients developed recurrent ulcer after the treatment had stopped, but responded to a second course. One patient developed hepatitis B during cimetidine treatment and it is possible that the course of the hepatitis was unfavourable affected by cimetidine. But no other side effects were noted nor was there a significant change in basal serum-gastrin concentration or an increase in H+ secretion. Total gastrectomy remains the treatment of choice in Zollinger-Ellison syndrome, but cimetidine should be considered if the patient refuses operation or operation is not feasible because of a poor general state.


Objectives: This paper aims at making an empirical analysis on such factors that play a role of motivator in enhancing the aspect of entrepreneurship among women, with special reference to Thanjavur district. This paper also focuses attention on the challenges faced by women in the pursuit of entrepreneurship. Methods/Analysis: Descriptive research design was used. The primary data was collected from 400 samples from rural and urban areas of Thanjavur district using a structured questionnaire with the help of survey and snow ball sampling method. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and factor analysis. Findings: The result of the motivational factors indicates that financial need motivates women to the highest degree to become entrepreneurs compared to other factors like supplementing the family income, improve the social status, etc. Further, the study has used Rotated component Matrix to factorise the important motivational factors. The result of the Rotated component matrix reveals that the twelve variables were subjected to extraction method and finally the five factors were analysed. The first factor reveals that women have taken up this venture as a pass time activity and continue in the family occupation. Further the study also reveals that they have taken up such entrepreneurial venture to be economically independent and to improve the social status. The result also suggested that unfavourable market conditions and the stringent legal and regulatory conditions have been more challenging than the other problems. Finally the result shows that the women entrepreneurs have faced lot of personal challenges due to lack of information and imbalance between work and family life. Applications/Improvements: Thanjavur district has faced failures in the agricultural sector in the recent past due to failures in monsoon, water scarcity, etc. This has caused large scale unemployment and migration to urban industry creating huge quantum of socio, economic and cultural problems in the district. With mushrooming higher educational institutions in the district coupled with a high female literacy rate of 76.50 per cent (as per 2011 census), the researchers aim to concentrate on women entrepreneurship development, resulting in alternative sources of income for the district.


Where legal systems and market forces enforce contracts inadequately, vertical integration can circumvent these transaction difficulties. But, such environments often also feature highly interventionist government, and even corruption. Vertical integration might then enhance returns to political rent-seeking aimed at securing and extending market power. Thus, where political rent seeking is minimal, vertical integration should add to firm value and economy performance; but where political rent seeking is substantial, firm value might rise as economy performance decays. China offers a suitable background for empirical examination of these issues because her legal and market institutions are generally weak, but nonetheless exhibit substantial province-level variation. Vertical integration is more common where legal institutions are weaker and where regional governments are of lower quality or more interventionist. In such provinces, firms led by insiders with political connections are more likely to be vertically integrated. Vertical integration is negatively associated with firm value if the top corporate insider is politically connected, but weakly positively associated with public share valuations if the politically connected firm is independently audited. Finally, provinces whose vertical integrated firms tend to have politically unconnected CEOs exhibit elevated per capita GDP growth, while provinces whose vertically integrated firms tend to have political insiders as CEOs exhibit depressed per capita GDP growth.


The increasing demand for higher data rates in cellular network results in increasing network density. As a consequence, inter-cell interference is becoming the most serious obstacle towards spectral efficiency. Therefore, considering that radio resources are limited and expensive, new techniques are required for efficient radio resource allocation in next generation cellular networks. In this paper, we propose a pure frequency reuse 1 scheme based on base station scheduling rather than the commonly adopted user scheduling. In particular, we formulate a base station scheduling problem to determine which base stations can be scheduled to simultaneously transmit, without causing excessive interference to any user of any of the scheduled base stations. We show that finding the optimal base station scheduling is NP-hard, and formulate the BASICS (BAse Station Inter-Cell Scheduling) algorithm, a novel heuristic to approximate the optimal solution at low complexity cost. The proposed algorithm is in line with the ABSF (almost blank sub-frame) technique recently standardized at the 3GPP. By means of numerical and packet-level simulations, we prove the effectiveness and superiority of BASICS as compared to the state of the art of inter-cell interference mitigation schemes.


proof. It is relevant to ask what form of contraction was found, whether concentric peripheral contraction, or hemianopia, nasal, temporal, or homonymous, or a scotoma, central or paracentral. How does sinusitis produce this contraction? Miss Ford is silent. The mechanism is indeed obscure. The " hidden oedema " of which she writes is perhaps a clue, but the mystery remains. Miss Ford will, I hope, enlighten us, for without answers to these questions no conclusions can be certain or even safe. We must, I submit, suspend judgment as to whether in these cases the visual fields were indeed affected by sinusitis or whether sinusitis did in fact exist at all.-I am, etc.,


Background: Road traffic accident remains a leading cause of trauma and admissions to the accidents and emergency units of most hospitals. The aim of this study was to determine the pattern and epidemiological characteristics of trauma admissions to the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital. Methods: This was a retrospective review of hospital charts of all patients admitted as a result of RTA injuries between October 2001 and December 2005 and whose records were available and complete. A special data form was used to collect the required information using admission data from the casualty and various hospital wards .Data was subjected to simple statistical analysis. Results: There were 379 cases managed during the study period, 355 of these had complete records and therefore formed the basis of this study. A total of 47.3% were in the third and fourth decades of life, with a mean age of 32 years. The male to female ratio was 2.5:1. The months of July, April and September recorded the highest admissions of RTA, (11.5%, 10.7% and 10.7% respectively).Head injuries, femoral fractures, spinal injuries, and tibia and/or fibular fractures were the most common injuries sustained. Isolated injuries were seen in 79.4% while 20.6 % of the patients had multiple injuries. The mortality rate was 6.8%. Conclusion: Trauma is an established cause of requiring emergency care and hospital admissions and since the cost of trauma care is enormous. Implementation of road safety legislation will be of tremendous help in reducing road traffic injuries.


Hydrogen produced by renewable sources represents an interesting way to reduce the energetic dependence on fossil fuels in the transportation sector. This paper shows a feasibility study for the production, storage and distribution of hydrogen in the western Sicilian context, using three different renewable sources: wind, biomass and sea wave. The objective of this study is the evaluation of the hydrogen demand, needed to replace all diesel supplied buses with electrical buses equipped with fuel cells. An economic analysis is presented with the evaluation of the avoidable greenhouse gas emissions. Four different scenarios correlate the hydrogen demand for urban transport to the renewable energy resources present in the territories and to the modern technologies available for the production of hydrogen. The study focuses on the possibility of tapping into the potential of renewable energies (wind, biomass and sea wave) for the production of hydrogen by electrolysis. The use of hydrogen would reduce significantly the emissions of particulate and greenhouse gases in the urban districts under analysis.


Rationale: The expression of the chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 1 (CXCL1), an inflammatory protein, has been reported to be up-regulated in many human cancers. The mechanisms through which aberrant cellular CXCL1 levels promote specific steps in tumor growth and progression are unknown. Methods: We described the anticancer effects and mechanism of action of HL2401, a monoclonal antibody directed at CXCL1 with in vitro and in vivo data on bladder and prostate cancers. Results: HL2401 inhibited proliferation and invasion of bladder and prostate cells along with disrupting endothelial sprouting in vitro. Furthermore, novel mechanistic investigations revealed that CXCL1 expression stimulated interleukin 6 (IL6) expression and repressed tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 4 (TIMP4). Systemic administration of HL2401 in mice bearing bladder and prostate xenograft tumors retarded tumor growth through the inhibition of cellular proliferation and angiogenesis along with an induction of apoptosis. Our findings reveal a previously undocumented relationship between CXCL1, IL6 and TIMP4 in solid tumor biology. Principal conclusions: Taken together, our results argue that CXCL1 plays an important role in sustaining the growth of bladder and prostate tumors via up-regulation of IL6 and down-regulation of TIMP4. Targeting these critical interactions with a CXCL1 monoclonal antibody offers a novel strategy to therapeutically manage bladder and prostate cancers.


Postprandial hyperglycemia is one of the earliest abnormalities of glucose homeostasis associated with type-2 diabetes and it is markedly exaggerated in diabetic patients with fasting hyperglycemia. An extensive body of data demonstrates a strong association between postprandial glucose levels and cardiovascular risk factors. Our article will focus on the concept of postprandial hyperglycemia, its physiopathology, its role on cardiovascular risk factors and the effects of new devices and a new faster insulin analog on postprandial hyperglycemia.


The heat-treatable, precipitation-hardening, aluminum alloys are of special interest for automobile where high strength and dent resistance are required, and for bumpers, where good strength and shock absorption are needed. In both cases, good formability is also an important requirement. The heat-treatable 6000-series Al-Mg-Si alloys have been the material of choice for automobile. Despite the high strengthening potential of Al-Mg-Si alloys, processing factors such as the artificial aging processes, as well as the duration of artificial aging, can seriously impede the strengthening process. The highest tensile strength of A6082 alloy was obtained when Mg/Si atomic ratio is set to 1.1 due to the biggest volume fraction of intermetallic compound containing Mg and Si. It was to determine how aging process affected the microstructure and mechanical properties of the A6082 alloy as different ratio between Mg and Si.


Purpose. To establish the efficacy of neoadjuvant (NA) Docetaxel (DOC) with anthracycline-based therapy and to determine the toxicity of NA DOC associated with Epirubicin and Cyclophoasfamide in patients with breast cancer.
Patients and methods. Patients with breast cancer treated between January 2013 and December 2013 were taken into account for this study. There were included into the study 48 patients with breast cancer locally advanced, stages IIB, IIIA, IIIB, IIIC, treated in the Department of Medical Oncology I - IOB. None of the patients included were male. There were administered 6 cycles of TEC (Docetaxel 75 mg/m2 day 1, Epirubicin 75 mg/m2 day 1, Cyclophosphamide 500 mg/m2 day 1 at 21 days). Clinical tumor response was assessed at cycle 4. After 6 cycles patients who became operable went through surgical intervention. There were included patients regardless of immunohistochemistry tets - taking into accont that Trastuzumab was not reimbursed for neoadjuvant setting at that time.
Results. 48 patients were enrolled. All patients completed 6 cycles of TEC treatment. At 6 series, 33 patients had surgical interventions. The remaining 15 patients in the study group were as follows: 4 patients - stable disease, 6 patients - partial remission (RECIST> 30%) but have not converted to operability, 4 patients - progressive disease (even after 4 series only one patient had progressive disease), 3 of the patients with stationary disease have had subsequent progression, 1 patient refused surgical intervention. GM-CSF were administered prophylactic; it was done the prophylaxis of mucositis. Adverse reactions more commonly observed were: hematologic toxicity (neutropeniae, anemiae, and trombocitopeniae), hepatic toxicity, digestive toxicity - more frequent of grade 1 or 2, less frequent of grade 3-4. After 24 months, 25 from 48 patients developed local recurrence or distant metastases.
Conclusion. Neoadjuvant therapy type TEC (Docetaxel, Epirubicin, Ciclofosfamid) resulted in substantial improvement in responses to DOC. TEC is a series of chemotherapy relatively well tolerated with RR superior to other neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimes - according to literature, in locally advanced breast cancer cases, such as the study by Kuerer HM, Newman Smith TL et al. "Clinical course of breast cancer patients with pathologic complete axillary lymph node primary tumor and response to doxorubicin based neoadjuvant chemotherapy", J Clin Oncol 1999; 17; 460-469, which showed a pathologic complete response at 20% of the ganglionic cases. Patients with Her 2 positive disease received adjuvant Trastuzumab; neoadjuvant administration of Trastuzumab was not reimbursed, HR positive disease received adjuvant hormonal treatments. Adjuvant radiotherapy was administered to patients according to international guidelines.


As a redundancy resolution method, the conventional extended Jacobian method (EJM) has two problems: One is the algorithmic singularity, and the second is nonexistence of a sufficient condition. Their impact on the inverse kinematic performances are exemplified. To remedy the related problems, we propose the notion of solution characteristics. It is based on an analytic sufficient condition for the EJM. This serves to confirm the right direction of optimization in the EJM and to characterize the algorithmic singularity problem. The above local characterization of an optimal solution by solution characteristics is globally extended by the invariance of the solution characteristics of the EJM. Specifically the characteristic of a solution with the EJM is invariant before crossing an algorithmic singularity. The ideas in this article also have practical implications since the EJM can now be fully analyzed with the theoretical results. To demonstrate its exactness and usefulness, planar three degrees of freedom (DOF) and spatial 4-DOF regional redundant manipulators are analyzed using the proposed solution characteristics.


Students want to know why accounting and auditing are important. The Information Game is a classroom resource that introduces the role of accounting, the value of information, the value of auditing, and the importance of auditor independence in an easy-to-use, fun exercise for the first day of class. Students experience the value of (accounting) information and auditing during the game. The Teaching Notes that accompany this case provide (1) additional commentary on the game, (2) post-game questions, (3) a suggested script, and (4) a summary of concepts, analogies, and takeaways that help students appreciate the importance of accounting and auditing in the global market economy. An anonymous survey of those who have used the Information Game suggests that instructors find the game highly effective and generally easy to use. Instructors tend to occasionally refer back to the game's concepts and takeaways during the remainder of their course.


This paper explores the possibility of presenting additional contextual information as a method of answer presentation Question Answering. In particular the paper discusses the result of employing Bag of Words (BoW) and Bag of Concepts (BoC) models to retrieve contextual information from a Linked Data resource, DBpedia. DBpedia provides structured information on wide variety of entities in the form of triples. We utilize the QALD question sets consisting of a 100 instances in the training set and another 100 in the testing set. The questions are categorized into single entity and multiple entity questions based on the number of entities mentioned in the question. The results show that both BoW (syntactic models) and BoC (semantic models) are not capable enough to select contextual information for answer presentation. The results further reveals that pragmatic aspects, in particular, pragmatic intent and pragmatic inference play a crucial role in contextual information selection in the answer presentation.


This paper investigates consumer preferences for extra-virgin olive oil in Italy. In order to segment the Italian extra-virgin olive oil market, the information obtained from a nationwide survey was analysed by using a randomised parameter logit regression and implementing a cluster analysis on the estimates of consumers' willingness to pay for origin of olives, production method and sensory attributes. Our results show that information on origin, both in terms of the adoption of PDO or PGI certification and labelling of the origin, production method and organoleptic characteristics crucially affect consumer preferences for olive oil. Market segmentation shows there are consumers who are particularly sensitive to origin and organic certification as well as labelling clarity.


A neurobiological theory of meaning in perception. ABSTRACT Information transfer and integration among functionally distinct areas of cerebral cortex of oscillatory activity requires some degree of phase synchrony of the trains of action potentials that carry the information prior to the integration. However, propagation delays are obligatory. Delays vary with the lengths and conduction velocities of the axons carrying the information, causing phase dispersion. In order to determine how synchrony is achieved despite dispersion, we recorded EEG signals from multiple electrode arrays on five cortical areas in cats and rabbits, that had been trained to discriminate visual or auditory conditioned stimuli. Analysis by time-lagged correlation, multiple correlation and PCA, showed that maximal correlation was at zero lag and averaged .7, indicating that 50% of the power in the gamma range among the five areas was at zero lag irrespective of phase or frequency. There were no stimulus-related episodes of transiently increased phase locking among the areas, nor EEG "bursts" of transiently increased amplitude above the sustained level of synchrony. Three operations were identified to account for the sustained correlation. Cortices broadcast their outputs over divergent-convergent axonal pathways that performed spatial ensemble averaging; synaptic interactions between excitatory and inhibitory neurons in cortex operated as band pass filters for gamma; and signal coarse-graining by pulse frequency modulation at trigger zones enhanced correlation. The conclusion is that these three operations enable continuous linkage of multiple cortical areas by activity in the gamma range, providing the basis for coordinated cortical output to other parts of the brain, despite varying axonal conduction delays, something like the back plane of a main frame computer.


ing values of kt. Incidentally, Mann has not emphasised the basically important fact about kf values, which is that with increasing size of specimen k, tends to equal kt, and that the only safe law for design purposes is to assume kf=kt. Another point on which students may be misled is the application of kt to fluctuating stress problems. Under elastic conditions kt must be applied to both alternating and mean stress, and k, must be calculated on the basis of a constant stress ratio—that is if the relationship between kt and kf is to have any meaning. The matter is made perfectly clear in Gunn's construction (Fig. 33), which also includes allowance for yielding and which Mann reproduces, apparently without realising its full significance. Again, in this diagram, Mann's explanation of the horizontal line ". . . as a consequence of strain hardening no change occurs in the alternating stress"—is wrong. The simple Gunn construction assumes zero strain hardening— and the horizontal line is entirely due to the limitation of the maximum stress of the cycle to the yield of the material at the root of the notch, the increasing mean stress of the test piece as a hole being carried by the remainder of the cross section away from the notch. Finally, the title "Fatigue of Materials" is misleading. Anyone hoping for information on anything other than metals will be sadly disappointed. There are only occasional remarks on non-metallic materials interspersed in the general text.—G. FORREST.


Abstract

Title: Should Cost Reviews and Supply Chain Integration: A Case Study at ASSA ABLOY Entrance Systems

Author: Andrew Cardinali

Supervisors: Henrik Wallstrom - Ph. D., Candidate
Packaging Logistics, Department of Design Sciences
Faculty of Engineering LTH, Lund University

Mats Johnsson - Ph.D., Associate Professor
Packaging Logistics, Department of Design Sciences
Faculty of Engineering LTH, Lund University

Klas Hagelin - VA/VE Manager
ASSA ABLOY Entrance Systems

Problem Discussion: Competition in the global economy has lead companies to seek different ways to remain competitive and profitable. Growth though mergers and acquisitions and global sourcing are alternatives available to organizations to promote growth and reduce costs. The case study organization has chosen both methods as part of their business strategy. In addition the firm has recently implemented a strategic cost management program known as should-cost. This cost reduction method has received little attention in academic studies in general, and specifically, in regards to its relationship with the current concepts of supply chain integration. Furthermore it is considered whether this cost reduction program, in addition to its primary purpose as a cost savings tool, could promote integration and if so can the insights gained from the study be used to improve the should-cost program to further develop the integration process?

Purpose: An exploration of the relationship between the strategic cost management program, known as should-cost, and supply chain integration is one aim of this study. Achieving this goal helps fill a gap in the relevant academic literature. An additional goal is to demonstrate how should-cost can promote integration within a firm. The final aspiration of this study is to use the results of the study to further develop should-cost not only as a strategic cost reduction method but also as an aid to integration.

Method and Limits: This is an exploratory study and common with this type of research the case study method was chosen. Given the deductive nature of the paper a review of the relevant literature was the starting point of the project. From there data was gathered from multiple sources at the subject firm. The primary sources of data were interviews, documents and archival artifacts, and participant observation. This data was then analyzed in order to explore the issues raised in the problem discussion. The main limitation of this study is that interviews were primarily conducted with management personnel and not the purchasing staff.

Conclusion: Should-cost was found to aid internal integration. In particular, by developing the knowledge and skills of the purchasing personal it was found to increase functional coordination and improve communication between functional groups. Additionally, by raising the knowledge and skills of the purchasing staff, should-cost promotes integration by raising the strategic value of the purchasing function. Although not a stated purpose of this study, should-cost, by revealing potential suppliers for improved relations via supplier development, aids external integration


There is rising scepticism about the potential positive environmental impacts of first generation biofuels. Growing biofuels crops could induce diversion of other crops dedicated to food and feed needs. The relocation of production could increase deforestation and bring significant new volumes of carbon into the atmosphere. In this paper, we develop a methodology for assessing indirect land use effects related to biofuels policies in a Computable General Equilibrium framework. We rely on the trade policy model MIRAGE and on the GTAP 7 database, both of which have been modified and improved for this purpose. The model explicitly represents the role of different types of biofuel feedstock crops, energy demand, and carbon emissions. Land use changes are represented at the level of Agro-Ecological Zones in a dynamic framework using land substitution with nesting of Constant Elasticity of Transformation functions and a land supply module taking into account the effects of economic land expansion. In this integrated global approach, we capture the environmental cost of different land conversion due to biofuels in the carbon budget, taking into account both direct and indirect CO2 emissions related to land use change. We apply this methodology in looking at the impacts of biofuel (ethanol) policies for transportation in the United States and in the European Union with and without ethanol trade liberalization. We find that emissions released because of ethanol programs significantly worsen the total carbon balance of biofuel policies. Ethanol trade liberalisation benefits are ambiguous and depend highly on the parameters governing land use change, in Brazil in particular. We conclude by pointing out the critical aspects that have to be refined in order to improve our understanding of the environmental implications of biofuels development.


Periodontal disease is a major cause of tooth loss, therefore a more recent approach such as thermosensitive gel is loaded with antimicrobial drugs to be delivered locally to the periodontal pocket. The effect of ZnO on thermosensitive gel properties including gelation-gel melting temperature, rheology, syringeability, and the release behavior of antimicrobial drug such as doxycycline hyclate were investigated. The increased amount of ZnO apparently decreased the gelation temperature of the Lutrol® F127 system. Syringeability of the doxycycline hyclate-Lutrol® F127 systems were increased with the increased amount of ZnO. System comprising zinc oxide could prolong the release of doxycycline hyclate from Lutrol F127 systems and could be delivered from a syringe through a needle for utilizing in periodontitis therapy at the periodontal pocket.


ABSTRACT In this article a bottom-up methodology based on in-port ships activity has been applied to calculate exhaust pollutant values (NOx, SO2, and PM2.5) during moving/maneuvering and while hoteling for international cruise ship journeys to and from 18 ports of Greece during 2013. The estimated emissions were analyzed in terms of gas species, seasonality, and activity. In terms of the total in-port inventory for cruise shipping, NOx is dominant (2487.9 tons), followed by SO2 and PM2.5 (995.3 and 121.3 tons respectively), while the total emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) were 124,767.8 tons CO2-eq (for CO2, N2O, and CH4). Emissions during hoteling corresponded to 89.2% of total, and significantly outweighed those produced during the vessels' maneuvering activities (10.8% of total). Seasonality was found to play a major role, as summer emissions and associated impacts are more profound. In almost all major ports, an extension of the tourism season to October and November has been observed, leading to increased autumn emissions. The estimated inventory indicates the necessity of measures for careful control over the emissions produced by cruise ships in port cities through effective environmental policy making.


The illness attack rate and annual morbidity caused by infection with influenza is high in schoolchildren. Because schoolchildren are 1 of the most important sources of community-wide transmission of influenza, vaccinating them could have a major effect on reducing morbidity and mortality in older adults. Stochastic modeling shows that a vaccination rate as low as 20% in schoolchildren reduces overall mortality in adults aged ≥64 years more effectively than a vaccination rate of 90% for older adults. Additional modeling shows that vaccinating schoolchildren against influenza is optimal for reducing morbidity and mortality caused by influenza in the overall population. Although supported by simulated models, the benefits of mass vaccination need to be confirmed in a real-world setting. The best way to demonstrate the effectiveness of mass vaccination of schoolchildren is to implement the process in several localities in several states by using properly designed studies that incorporate accurate viral surveillance with at least 10 pairs of intervention and comparison populations. Pediatrics 2012;129:S63–S67


Purpose – Through consultation with people living with dementia and carers, this paper aims to identify skills that patients and carers feel need to be developed in the workforce. This work is part of a project to develop competencies for the West Midlands dementia workforce.Design/methodology/approach – People living with a dementia and carers were contacted through cafes, a carers' group and memory group, and two people contributed interviews to the analysis. All materials were analysed qualitatively using thematic analysis.Findings – Feedback was received from 69 individuals. In total, six major themes were identified: knowledge about dementia, person centred care, communication, relationships, support and helping people engage in activities.Originality/value – It is argued that people living with dementia and carers bring unique and valuable perspectives to an analysis of the skills of the dementia workforce, which grounds the required skills in the relationship between the worker and the person and f...


1. [4-(14)C]Progesterone was administered intravenously to anaesthetized male and female New Zealand White rabbits as a single injection or as a 45-60min. infusion. 2. After a single dose about 60% of the radioactivity was recovered in 6hr., and twice as much radioactivity was present in bile as in urine. After infusion total recovery of radioactivity was only about 40% in 6hr., but the relative proportions of metabolites in bile and urine were about the same as after a single dose. 3. Bile and urine samples were hydrolysed successively by beta-glucuronidase, cold acid and hot acid. 4. In bile the major proportion of metabolites appeared in the glucuronide fraction; in urine beta-glucuronidase hydrolysis yielded the greatest amounts of ether-extractable radioactivity, but the greatest proportion of radioactivity could not be extracted by ether from an alkaline solution of the hydrolysed urine. 5. There was no apparent difference in the quantity or distribution of metabolites excreted by male and female animals.


Abstract The role of formal education in the reproduction of inequalities is well documented. Less clear is how this lens can be applied to a study of post-conflict state-building. The present study pairs policy analysis with student-centred ethnographic fieldwork to examine education policy in Rwanda. Since the end of the genocide, the government has staked its claim to legitimacy in delivering inclusive development. Its basic education policy is an entitlement programme with broad public support and designed to allow all children to attend primary and secondary school. Students found themselves caught up in a web of contradictions with important symbolic and material dimensions. They went to schools designed to improve access for the poor. But they were also poor schools, lacking in quality and associated with failure. The country's switch from French to English was bound up in alliances of domestic power that further undermined effective teaching and learning. The basic education policy intended to highlight the government's commitment to deliver development to all. But in absence of a sustained and effective strategy to improve quality, young people felt excluded from meaningful engagement in the education system. Whether the basic education policy constitutes inclusive development is therefore debatable.


These effects were studied in 52 patients with degrees III-IV diabetic angiopathies of the lower limbs. Microcirculation parameters were found changed in this patient population, this leading to disorders of the oxygen budget and development of metabolic acidosis. Development of destructive changes in the limb evidences failure of the compensatory adaptive mechanisms of microcirculation. Addition of hyperbaric oxygenation to multiple-modality treatment of patients with diabetic angiopathies was conducive to improvement of the blood rheology, of tissue saturation with oxygen, and to essential reduction of metabolic acidosis. The detected microcirculation disorders necessitate addition to the therapeutic complex of the drugs improving the biophysical characteristics of the blood.