This paper investigates the effectiveness of the new Council Regulation (EC) 1/2003 which replaces the mandatory notification and authorization system by a legal exception system. Effectiveness is operationalized via the two subcriteria compliance to Art. 81 EC Treaty and the probabilities of type I and type II errors committed by the European Commission. We identify four different types of Perfect Bayesian Nash Equilibria: fullcompliance, zero-compliance, positive-compliance and full-deterrence. We show that the Commission can, in principle, hit the full-compliance equilibrium, where the cartelizing firms fully obey the requirements of Art 81(3) EC Treaty and both error probabilities are zero.


Diminishing Returns: An Anthropological Study of Iraqis in the UK Zainab Saleh This dissertation is an ethnographic study of the Iraqi diasporic community in the UK. It is based on two years of fieldwork research I conducted there between 2006-2008. I approach the formation of the diasporic community in light of utopian visions of a past colored by colonial struggle and high national aspirations, and in light of subsequent political developments that resulted in oppression, exile, and even occupation after 2003. I read the displacement of Iraqis as an example of the failure of the postcolonial state, represented by the emergence of the Baath regime in the 1960s and Saddam Hussein's rise to power in 1979. Throughout, I examine the heightened salience of sectarianism among Iraqis in exile and in Iraq since the 1990s. Instead of understanding sectarianism as a return to traditional loyalties, I argue that it is deeply linked to the issue of power and identity politics, which the Iraqi opposition to Saddam Hussein's regime in the UK employed while in exile and institutionalized after the fall of the regime in 2003 with the support of the US Administration. This dissertation is, also, an ethnographic study of Iraq, and aims to make up for the dearth in anthropological studies on Iraq during the last four decades. In addition to questions related to exile and life in the UK, I seek to tease out accounts about Iraq, and about life in Iraq under Saddam Hussein's regime. The great majority of Iraqis fled Iraq because of Saddam Hussein's brutal oppression, and they all had family members who were killed, tortured or disappeared. With their hopes of return to Iraq shattered after the 2003 US occupation, these Iraqis have been reliving these tragedies every single day in the UK. This is the reality that travels with, and defines, them. Through the use of life history methodologies with Iraqi exiles from different socioeconomic backgrounds, I document the different social and political scenes prior to and after the late 1970s; the persecution suffered under Saddam Hussein's regime since the late 1970s; the journey to and life in exile in London; relationships among members of the diasporic Iraqi community therein; and the ways in which those in exile reconfigure the past in relation to the present developments.


The western Tombolo of the Giens peninsula in southern France, known as Almanarre beach, is subject to coastal erosion. We are trying to use computer simulation in order to propose solutions to stop this erosion. Our aim was first to determine the main factors for this erosion and successfully apply a coupled hydro- sedimentological numerical model based on observations and measurements that have been performed on the site for decades. We have gathered all available information and data about waves, winds, currents, tides, bathymetry, coastal line, and sediments concerning the site. These have been divided into two sets: one devoted to calibrating a numerical model using Mike 21 software, the other to serve as a reference in order to numerically compare the present situation to what it could be if we implemented different types of underwater constructions. This paper presents the first part of the study: selecting and melting different sources into a coherent data basis, identifying the main erosion factors, and calibrating the coupled software model against the selected reference period. Our results bring calibration of the numerical model with good fitting coefficients. They also show that the winter South-Western storm events conjugated to depressive weather conditions constitute a major factor of erosion, mainly due to wave impact in the northern part of the Almanarre beach. Together, current and wind impact is shown negligible. Keywords—Almanarre beach, coastal erosion, hydro- sedimentological, numerical model.


This thesis was motivated by the observation that both music and Christian hymns can move people deeply, and sought to discover why this should be so. Its aim was to examine the relationship between hymns and Christian spirituality, with a view to establishing the worth of hymns both within the Christian liturgy and as a potential tool for pastoral ministry.

The paper begins by comparing the use of music in the secular world with that in the Christian church. Thereafter, it traces music back to its earliest roots; considers its origin and purpose, and looks at its use in biblical times. Drawing extensively on psychology, it moves on to explore what is known today about the effect of music on humanity; before the passage and purpose of hymnody within Christian worship is investigated. The primary methodology of the research is a field study, undertaken within The Anglican Church of Australia, which considers the nature and effect of well-loved hymns on Christian men and women aged sixty years and over.

Those taking part in the study were affected profoundly by the hymns they selected to sing. Analysis of the results allowed certain observations to be made about the effect of hymns on those within the study-demographic: observations that then were integrated with relevant theoretical models of Christian spirituality. The findings suggest that there is, indeed, a relationship between hymns and Christian spirituality, and one which might be described as symbiotic. The implications of this for both the church and pastoral carer are discussed.

Though the focus of the study was narrowed to a specific demographic, it is hoped that the exploratory component of the paper, together with general implications that may be drawn from the findings, will make the research of help and relevance beyond the study boundaries.


The paper describes the process of risk analysis in a food safety perspective. The steps of risk analysis defined as a process consisting of three interconnected components (risk assessment, risk management, and risk communication) are analysed. The different components of the risk assessment, risk management and risk communication are further described.


We present the argument that video footage of real scenes can be used as input examples from which novel three-dimensional scenes can be created. We argue that the parameters used by traditional animation techniques based on the underlying physical properties of the water, do not intuitively relate to the resulting visual appearance. We will present a novel approach which allows a range of video examples to be used as a set of visual parameters to design the visible behaviour of a water animation directly. Our work begins with a method for reconstructing the perceived water surface geometry from video footage of natural scenes, captured with only a single static camera. We show that this has not been accomplished before, because previous approaches use sophisticated capturing systems which are limited to a laboratory environment. We will also present an approach for reconstructing the water surface velocities which are consistent with the reconstructed geometry. We then present a method of using these water surface reconstructions as building blocks which can be seamlessly combined to create novel water surface animations. We are also able to extract foam textures from the videos, which can be applied to the water surfaces to enhance their visual appearance. The surfaces we produce can be shaped and curved to fit within a user's three-dimensional scene, and the movement of external objects can be driven by the velocity fields. We present a range of results which show that our method can plausibly emulate a wide range of real-world scenes, different from those from which the water characteristics were captured. As the animations we create are fully three-dimensional, they can be rendered from any viewpoint, in any rendering style.


The properties of CdTe thin films deposited by metal-organic vapour deposition (MOCVD) on Mo-coated glass substrates are studied with particular interest in the effect of Na. It is shown that for radio frequency sputtered Mo layers on soda-lime glass substrates the Na content in the metal layer is regulated by the deposition pressure of the Mo layer itself due to increased porosity of the metal layer. Na diffusion from the glass into the CdTe layer results in grain enlargements to such extend that film continuity is broken following CdCl2 treatment for both low and high Na content. When Na is added post-Mo deposition on quartz substrates, the growth of large faceted grains is observed in the as-deposited stage, increasing by an order of magnitude compared with Na-free layers. However, following the CdCl2 activation step the average grain size is reduced but still observed to be larger than in the Na-free case. The CdTe crystal structure is analysed for the different sample combinations and initial device data suggest a small improvement in open circuit voltage when Na is present.


In recent years, the increasing number of interactive films being released, has highlighted the need for further development of methods and criteria that can guide the earlier stages of development, such as the scriptwriting process. Following the framework of interactive storytelling as a spectrum, it is acknowledged that writing a script for an interactive narrative that involves branching path options for navigating through the story, or multiple endings, is becoming more common and presents its own challenges. In this context, this paper examines established criteria used for assessing narrative quality and examines currently available software for interactive scriptwriting, identifying their affordances and limitations. Accordingly, we present Scapegoat, a short interactive crime drama, based on the model of British homicide investigations, and with the objective to investigate in practice the application of the criteria for narrative quality, together with the processes and elements of scriptwriting that can lead to a strong engaging story. We propose an approach that can efficiently incorporate crucial information of the interaction design, it can be effectively communicated to the crew and cast and used throughout the production lifecycle of the film. We highlight the crucial role of the on-set script supervisor for ensuring the interaction design is not compromised, and continuity is retained. We also discuss recommendations for further developments, including the importance of engaging the crew and cast early in the development process, together with future work into the requirements of interactive commissioners for television and film, and the need for standarisation in the industry.


Information on all leisure media provided by OSU-CHS Medical Library. All DVDs/Blu-ray are 7-Day checkout. See circulation desk for more info.


Aberrant expression of the double homeobox 4 (DUX4) gene in skeletal muscle causes muscle deterioration and weakness in Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy (FSHD). Since the presence of a permissive pLAM1 polyadenylation signal is essential for stabilization of DUX4 mRNA and translation of DUX4 protein, disrupting the function of this structure can prevent expression of DUX4. We and others have shown promising results using antisense approaches to reduce DUX4 expression in vitro and in vivo following local intramuscular administration. Our group has developed further the antisense chemistries, and demonstrate here enhanced in vitro antisense efficacy. The optimal chemistry was conjugated to a cell-penetrating moiety, and for the first time in FSHD research has been systemically administered into a double-transgenic mouse model of FSHD. After four weekly treatments, mRNA quantities of DUX4 and target genes were reduced by 50% that led to a 5% increase in muscle mass, a 52% improvement in in situ muscle strength, and reduction of muscle fibrosis by 17%. Systemic DUX4 inhibition also improved the locomotor activity significantly and reduced the fatigue level by 22%. Our data overall demonstrate that the optimized antisense approach can contribute to future development of a therapeutic strategy for FSHD.


Astacin (EC 188.8.131.52) from the freshwater crayfish (Astacus astacus) is a prototype for the metzincin superfamily and for the astacin family of zinc peptidases, enzymes which are involved in hatching processes, embryonic patterning and tissue remodelling. Here we report on the cloning and overexpression in Escherichia coli of an astacin cDNA which was reverse-transcribed from crayfish midgut-gland mRNA. A cDNA construct based on this clone was generated which comprised the nucleotide sequence encoding mature astacin devoid of the signal and propeptide. This construct was cloned into the pET3a vector and used to transform E. coli BL21(DE3) cells. Recombinant astacin was purified from inclusion bodies and dissolved under reducing conditions. For folding, the protein was diluted into neutral buffer containing l-arginine, GSH and EDTA. Eventually, Zn(2+) was added by dialysis and the fraction of active enzyme was affinity-purified on immobilized Pro-Leu-Gly hydroxamate. As shown by superimposition of the corresponding three-dimensional structures, this inhibitor binds to a region of the active-site cleft that is conserved in most metzincins. Therefore this principle behind this affinity technique, originally introduced for fibroblast collagenase by Moore and Spilburg [Biochemistry (1986) 25, 5189-5195], is applicable throughout the metzincin superfamily of metalloproteases, despite their otherwise differing cleavage specificities. Recombinant astacin is active on gelatine zymograms and in a quenched fluorescence assay, yielding kinetic parameters comparable with those of wild-type astacin purified from crayfish stomach.


The study was carried out in Mareba Sector of Bugesera District, Eastern Rwanda with the aim of initiating VSLAs for youth economic empowerment. Community needs assessment took one month and Focused Group Discussion method was used to ensure community and other stakeholders' participation. Primary and secondary data were gathered and helped to realize the specific objectives and answer the three research questions. The CNA findings and the needs pair wise ranking as well as the reviewed literatures revealed that effective entrepreneurship and business development is considered as one of the key strategies for creation of off-farm jobs and initiating VSLAs for youth was found to undoubtedly boost their economic empowerment in a sustainable perspective. The implementation of project was carried out following five objectives including VSLAs starting up, VSALs groups formation, starting saving and loans disbursement, entrepreneurship skills development and linking successful VSLAs groups to formal Financial Institutions. Initially, 157 shares were purchased at 39,250RWF, saving and social fund contribution included. One share was purchased at 200 RWF for saving and 50 RWF for social fund. After training members on VSLAs scheme, they started to apply for loans so as to start investing in agriculture, bee keeping, MTN and TIGO cash, petty business, etc. Up to the end of November 2016, at the midway evaluation a total of 1,884 shares were purchased at 471000 RWF, saving and social fund contribution included and a total of 132,000 RWF of loans were requested and provided. At all stages of the project, institutional, financial as well as political sustainability was ensured so that this project would maintain functioning, supported by its own resources, even when the external sources of funding have ended.


OBJECTIVE: To quantify the distance of the dissection plane from the cervicovaginal junction to the anterior peritoneal reflection for vaginal hysterectomy. METHODS: This is a descriptive study examining the dissection plane for anterior colpotomy in 22 surgical patients undergoing vaginal hysterectomy and in nine cadaver specimens. Intraoperatively, the distance from the vaginal incision to the anterior peritoneal reflection was measured on the uterus after removal. In nine of these patients, this distance was also measured before anterior peritoneal incision. Embalmed cadavers with intact pelvic viscera were dissected and the distance of the same dissection plane was measured. RESULTS: Median (interquartile range) surgical patient age was 51.5 (42–63) years and the main surgical indications were abnormal uterine bleeding and pelvic organ prolapse. In these patients, the median (interquartile range) distance from cervicovaginal incision to anterior peritoneal reflection was 3.4 (2.6–3.7) cm. In cadavers, the median (interquartile range) age was 81 (72–86) years with a measured distance of 2.7 (2.4–2.9) cm. CONCLUSION: When performing a vaginal hysterectomy, surgeons can expect a median (range) dissection distance of 3.4 (1.8–4.6) cm from initial incision to the peritoneal reflection for anterior colpotomy.


Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) is precise and efficient in positioning and navigation in so many fields of military and civilian affairs. However, the GNSS signal is commonly kept out and interfered inside the buildings and the area dense with people, so the GNSS positioning possibility is low and the capability is bad. Digital television terrestrial broadcasting signal is powerful in sending power, low in frequency and wide in base bandwidth, so it is good, real time, and absolute entire to cover the metropolis including many streets and buildings where GNSS signal is not reachable. Considering these characteristics of digital television terrestrial broadcasting signal, the results is good that positioning the receiver location combined with GNSS and digital television terrestrial broadcasting signal. In this paper the signal structure is analyzed which is regulated by the national standard of People's Republic of China GB20600-2006. The method of measuring the time delay of signal broadcasting is presented. The system time synchronization is finished when the number of satellite is satisfied to position the receiver in its scope. Then, the positioning combined with GNSS and digital television signal is achieved. At last practice measured data in Xi'an is analyzed and the conclusion is given.


Wood-based materials are well-known sources for formaldehyde emission in the indoor environment. Different testing standards lead to different emission values for the materials. Such standards are compared in this study. Besides scenarios with varying loading factors, air exchange rates and climatic conditions were investigated to evaluate the formaldehyde emission potential of different building products.
Under realistic indoor conditions used for the emission chamber tests, exceeding of formaldehyde indoor guide values were obtained. Results showed the need for improvement of wood-based materials with lower formaldehyde emissions and the adaption of testing parameters closer to realistic conditions.


: A 56-year-old woman had missing teeth, severe bone loss with mobile teeth, an anterior crossbite, collapsed arches, and maxillary midline deviation. She was stabilized periodontally, then a dental implant was placed for anchorage. After selected teeth were extracted, full orthodontic treatment was initiated, and restorative treatment was provided with the implant as an abutment.


This study relaxes the assumption of perfect and costless policy enforcement found in traditional agricultural policy analysis and introduces enforcement costs and cheating into the economic analysis of output subsidies. Policy design and implementation is modeled in this paper as a sequential game between the regulator who decides on the level of intervention, an enforcement agency that determines the level of policy enforcement, and the farmer who makes the production and cheating decisions. Analytical results show that farmer compliance is not the natural outcome of self-interest and complete deterrence of cheating is not economically efficient. The analysis also shows that enforcement costs and cheating change the welfare effects of output subsidies, the efficiency of the policy instrument in redistributing income, the level of government intervention that transfers a given surplus to agricultural producers, the socially optimal income redistribution, and the social welfare from intervention. ©2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.


In this study, two series of superconductor compounds with starting composition T10.9Bi0.1Sr2-xCexCa0.9Y0.1Cu1.99Fe0.01O7-o (x = 0—0.20) and T10.9Bi0.1Sr1.8Yb0.2Ca1.xCdxCu1.99Fe0.01O7-o (x - 0-0.4) ceramics were prepared using the conventional solid state
synthesis method to elucidate their physical properties. For Ce-substituted of T10.9Bi0.1Sr2-xCexCa0.9Y0.1Cu1.99Fe0.01O7-o (x = 0—0.20) samples, the zero critical temperature, Tczero increased from 65.4 K (x = 0.05) to 71.0 K (x = 0.10), but slightly
decreased for x > 0.10 indicating the optimum value of average copper valence was achieved at x = 0.10. Excess conductivity analysis using the Aslamazov Larkin, AL and Lawrence-Doniach, LD models revealed two dimensional, 2D to threedimensional,
3D transition of superconducting fluctuation behavior, SFB with the highest transition temperature, T2D-3D at x = 0.10. FTIR analysis in conjunction with XRD results showed softening of FeO2/CuO2 planar oxygen mode which is suggested
to be related to possible increase of interplane coupling, J and this is supported by computed results based on the LD model. The enhanced J increases superconducting coherence length along c-axis, ^c(0), and hence lowers anisotropy, y resulting in
enhanced superconducting properties. For T10.9Bi0.1Sr1.8Yb0.2Ca1.xCdxCu1.99Fe0.01O7-o (x - 0-0.4) ceramics, substitution of Cd caused Tc zero increasing from 40.0 K (x = 0) to 76.4 K (x = 0.3) before decreasing to 74.8 K (x = 0.4) with increasing Cd2+ contents. FTIR analysis in conjunction with XRD results indicates improved J that is evidenced in the form of decreased c-axis length and softening of the apical oxygen
mode with Cd concentration. Excess conductivity analyses showed cross-over between 2D to 3D SFB transition for all the samples (x = 0.1-0.4) with the highest T2D-3D was observed at x = 0.3. Similar calculation revealed longest value of §c(0) and
the highest J at x = 0.3. Ultrasonic velocity measurements was performed on longitudinal and shear velocities at 9 MHz in temperature ranges of 80-280 K and 80-220 K, respectively, for T10.9Bi0.1Sr1.8Yb0.2Ca1.xCdxCu1.99Fe0.01O7-o (x - 0-0.4) and
T10.9Bi0.1Sr2-xCexCa0.9Y0.1Cu1.99Fe0.01O7-o (x = 0-0.20) ceramics to study the influence of Cd and Ce substitutions on elastic properties and elastic anomaly. For the former series, ultrasonic velocity measurements at 80 K showed a non-linear increase in both absolute longitudinal and shear velocities as well as elastic moduli with Cd substitution with the largest increase observed for the x = 0.3 sample. Temperature dependant longitudinal modulus showed elastic anomaly characterized by a step-like slope change at around 230 K for x = 0 & x = 0.3 and at around 250 K for x = 0.4 with the x = 0.3 sample showing the sharpest slope change. For T1.09Bi0.1Sr2-xCexCa0.9Y0.1Cu1.9 9Fe0.01O7.g series, Ce was observed to influence elastic moduli at 80K which showed the largest value obtained at x = 0.10. A longitudinal velocity anomaly was observed at around 260 K for the unsubstituted sample (x = 0). Ce substitution caused the temperature of the elastic anomaly to shift to 250 K (x = 0.1)
and 262 K (x = 0.2). The existence of the step-like elastic anomaly was suggested to be due to oxygen ordering taking place in Tl-0 planes. The analysis of the elastic behavior in the vicinity of the elastic anomalies using Landau free-energy model for
both T10.9Bi0.1Sr1.8Yb0.2Ca1.xCdxCu1.99Fe0.01O7-o (x - 0-0.4) and T10.9Bi0.1Sr2-xCexCa0.9Y0.1Cu1.99Fe0.01O7-o (x = 0-0.20) series suggests that the anomaly is due to a phase transition which involves oxygen ordering.


Global incidents of major natural catastrophes are becoming increasingly common in recent years. Seismological research has shown earthquake-prone Japan to be at particular risk from not only inland earthquakes, but also from repeat incidents of major earthquakes such as the Tokai, Tonankai, and Nankai earthquakes. In such an eventuality, earthquake insurance is expected to play a part in ex-post recovery efforts from the damage caused by these earthquakes, with the Japanese government developing special support programs. The previously low penetration rate of earthquake insurance in Japan, however, meant that it did not play a significant role in recovery efforts following the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. Despite recent progress in improving the system and an increasing awareness of the risks from earthquakes, the penetration rate of earthquake insurance in Japan remains at approximately 20%. In this study we discuss the current state and issues of earthquake insurance in Japan.


Quantitative microbiological risk assessment was used to quantify the risk associated with the exposure to Legionella pneumophila in a whirlpool. Conceptually, air bubbles ascend to the surface, intercepting Legionella from the traversed water. At the surface the bubble bursts into dominantly noninhalable jet drops and inhalable film drops. Assuming that film drops carry half of the intercepted Legionella, a total of four (95% interval: 1–9) and 4.5×104 (4.4×104 – 4.7×104) cfu/min were estimated to be aerosolized for concentrations of 1 and 1,000 legionellas per liter, respectively. Using a dose‐response model for guinea pigs to represent humans, infection risks for active whirlpool use with 100 cfu/L water for 15 minutes were 0.29 (∼0.11–0.48) for susceptible males and 0.22 (∼0.06–0.42) for susceptible females. A L. pneumophila concentration of ≥1,000 cfu/L water was estimated to nearly always cause an infection (mean: 0.95; 95% interval: 0.9–∼1). Estimated infection risks were time‐dependent, ranging from 0.02 (0–0.11) for 1‐minute exposures to 0.93 (0.86–0.97) for 2‐hour exposures when the L. pneumophila concentration was 100 cfu/L water. Pool water in Dutch bathing establishments should contain <100 cfu Legionella/L water. This study suggests that stricter provisions might be required to assure adequate public health protection.


We provide a theory of pricing for emerging asset classes, like emerging markets, that are not yet mature enough to be attractive to the general public. Our model provides an explanation for the volatile access of emerging economies to international financial markets and for several stylized facts we identify in the data during the 1990's. We present a general equilibrium model with incomplete markets and endogenous collateral and an extension encompassing adverse selection. We show that contagion, flight to liquidity and issuance rationing can occur in equilibrium during what we call global anxious times.


Among parametric methods for speech enhancement, one consists in combining an autoregressive model for speech and a Kalman filter. This filtering is optimal in the H/sub 2/ sense providing the initial state vector, the input and the observation vectors in the state space representation of the system are independent, white and Gaussian. However, these assumptions do not necessarily hold when processing speech. In this paper, we propose to investigate an alternative approach, which is based on H/sub /spl infin// filtering and hence does not depend on these restrictive assumptions. In that setting, the purpose is to minimize the worst possible effects of the noises and system uncertainties on the estimation error. A comparative study between Kalman and H/sub /spl infin// filtering is carried out, when the additive colored noise can be modeled by a moving average (MA) process.


The goal of producing architecture-independent parallel programs is complicated by the competing need for high performance. The ZPL programming language achieves both goals by building upon an abstract parallel machine and by providing programming constructs that allow the programmer to "see" this underlying machine. This paper describes ZPL and provides a comprehensive evaluation of the language with respect to its goals of performance, portability, and programming convenience. In particular, we describe ZPt's machine-independent performance model, describe the programming benefits of ZPL's region-based constructs, summarize the compilation benefits of the language's high-level semantics, and summarize empirical evidence that ZPL has achieved both high performance and portability on diverse machines such as the IBM SP-2, Cray T3E, and SGI Power Challenge.


To understand the importance of informal social interactions for invention, I examine a massive and involuntary disruption of informal social networks from U.S. history: alcohol prohibition. The enactment of state-level prohibition laws differentially treated counties depending on whether those counties were wet or dry prior to prohibition. After the imposition of state-level prohibition, previously wet counties had 8-18% fewer patents per year relative to consistently dry counties. The effect was largest in the first three years after the imposition of prohibition and rebounds thereafter. The effect was smaller for groups that were less likely to frequent saloons, namely women and particular ethnic groups. Next, I use the imposition of prohibition to show that the social network exhibited path dependence in the sense that as individuals rebuilt their networks following prohibition, they connected with new individuals and patented in new technology classes. Thus, while prohibition had only a temporary effect on the rate of invention, it had a lasting effect on the direction of inventive activity. Additionally, I exploit the imposition of prohibition to show that networks increase invention by exposing individuals to others' ideas in addition to simply facilitating collaboration and that informal and formal interactions are complements in the invention production function.


Phytotherapy--using vegetable based drug preparations--was the primary method of disease treatment until the middle of the 19th century. Gradually chemicals and drugs were produced only from and based on the active ingredients of these plants. The International Centre of Commerce reports that medicinal plants are still vitally important in the preparation of pharmaceutical products. The proportion of medicinal plants used in the preparation of pharmaceutical products is about 1/3 that of synthetic chemicals. Raw materials for import by pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries have increased form $52.9 million in 1967 to $71.2 million in 1971 with increases averaging 7% annually. Annual quantities of some plants used in preparations are: 3000 tons of aloes; 10000 tons of artichoke leaves; 5000 tons of quinquina bark; 5000 tons of senna pods; 1000 tons of digitalis leaves; 1000 tons of belladonna henbane and datura leaves. An important distinction exists between medicinal plants and vegetable drugs. Medicinal plants contain one or more endogenous substances which can be used directly for medicinal purposes or in semisynthesis of preparations. Vegetable drug refers only to the part of the plant used directly in the preparation of medicines. The pure molecules in medicinal plants can be used in the synthesis of pharmaceutical products notably steroids which are used to produce progestational substances and oral contraceptives. Medicina plants can also aid research for development of artificial mutations of the molecules to produce new drugs an example of which is cocaine from which synthetic local pain killers are derived. Some medicinal plants can be used as vegetable drugs for phytotherapy either on their own or to supplement chemotherapy. Vegetable drugs are especially useful for psychosomatic complaints various cardiovascular diseases digestive troubles liver and gallbladder disorders and antiseptics both internal and external. Continued research and devleopment on the use of medicinal plants in developing countries will enrich the present range of medicines or provide a basis for further chemical and pharmacological research.


GAs Stripping Phenomena in galaxies with MUSE (GASP) is a program aimed at studying gas removal processes in nearby galaxies in different environments. We present the study of four galaxies that are part of the same group (z= 0.06359) and highlight the multitude of mechanisms affecting the spatially resolved properties of the group members. One galaxy is passive and shows a regular stellar kinematics. The analysis of its star formation history indicates that the quenching process lasted for a few Gyr and that the star formation declined throughout the disk in a similar way, consistent with strangulation. Another galaxy is characterised by a two-component stellar disk with an extended gas disk that formed a few 10^8 yr ago, most likely as a consequence of gas accretion. The third member is a spiral galaxy at the edges of the group, but embedded in a filament. We hypothesise that the compression exerted by the sparse intergalactic medium on the dense circumgalactic gas switches on star formation in a number of clouds surrounding the galaxy ("cosmic web enhancement"). Alternatively, also ram pressure stripping might be effective. Finally, the fourth galaxy is a spiral with a truncated ionised gas disk and an undisturbed stellar kinematics. An analytical model of the galaxy's restoring pressure, and its location and velocity within the cluster, suggest ram pressure is the most likely physical mechanism in action. This is the first optical evidence for stripping in groups.


Powder was fed to improving or increasing rubber performance in rubber production. Due to the variety of powder, different feeding quantity and material liquidity and high precision needed, often choose screw conveyor to convey and weigh all kinds of powder. This paper mainly introduce the structure of the screw conveyor for rubber production, analyses the impact of the main parameters of screw conveyor on its performance and conveying capacity. A method of chosen and confirmed the mainly design parameters of screw conveyor was illustrated, and introduced the helical blade and screw shaft of the screw conveyor processing method combining with actual production.


Controversy surrounds the role of the ocean in interhemispheric transport of carbon. On one hand, observations in the atmosphere and in the ocean both seem to imply that the preindustrial ocean transported up to 1 Pg C yr−1 from the Northern to the Southern Hemisphere. On the other hand, three dimensional (3‐D) ocean models suggest that global interhemispheric transport of carbon is near zero. However, in this debate, there has been a general neglect of the river carbon loop. The river carbon loop includes (1) uptake of atmospheric carbon due to inorganic and organic erosion on land, (2) transport of carbon by rivers, (3) subsequent transport of riverine carbon by the ocean, and (4) loss of riverine carbon back to the atmosphere by air‐sea gas exchange. Although carbon fluxes from rivers are small compared to natural fluxes, they have the potential to contribute substantially to the net air‐sea fluxes of CO2. For insight into this dilemma, we coupled carbon fluxes from a global model of continental erosion to a 3‐D global carbon‐cycle model of the ocean. With rivers, total southward interhemispheric transport by the ocean increases from 0.1 to 0.35±0.08 Pg C yr−1, in agreement with oceanographic observations. Resulting air‐sea fluxes of riverine carbon and uptake of CO2 by land erosion were installed as boundary conditions in a 3‐D atmospheric model. The assymetry in these fluxes drives a preindustrial atmospheric gradient of CO2 at the surface of −0.6±0.1 μatm for the North Pole minus the South Pole and longitudinal variations that exceed 0.5 μatm. Conversely, the gradient for Mauna Loa minus South Pole is only −0.2±0.1 μatm, much less than the −0.8 μatm gradient extrapolated linearly from historical atmospheric CO2 measurements from the same two sites. The difference may be explained by the role of the terrestrial biosphere. Regardless, the river loop produces large gradients both meridionally and zonally. Accounting for the river carbon loop changes current estimates of the regional distribution of sources and sinks of CO2, particularly concerning partitioning between natural and anthropogenic processes.


Abstract : The U.S. Army has seen its missions grow in number and intensity in recent years with the global war on terrorism and the invasion and occupation of Iraq. The resulting levels of stress that have been placed on the Army's active and reserve components have generated public debate about whether the Army's present organization is adequate for the roles that the service is playing now and will play in the foreseeable future. At the same time, the Army has begun an extensive restructuring effort, called modularity, that is designed to significantly alter how the service is organized and how it operates in the field. This Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study - prepared at the request of the House Committee on Armed Services - examines the Army's capability to fight wars, sustain long deployments, and deploy rapidly to overseas operations, as well as its dependence on personnel and units in the reserve component. This study also analyzes eight options for restructuring the Army, each of which would either increase the Army's ability to perform some types of missions or decrease its reliance on the reserve component. The options offer a broad overview of the general types of policy choices and trade-offs that decisionmakers will face when considering the size, structure, and capability of any plan for reorganizing the Army. In keeping with CBO's mandate to provide impartial analysis, this study makes no recommendations.


Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a connective tissue disease with an unknown etiology. Clinically, it is characterized by localized or diffuse skin thickening and fibrosis. The pathogenesis of SSc includes microvascular injury, autoimmune-mediated inflammation, and fibroblast activation. These processes interact and contribute to the diverse clinicopathology and presentation of SSc. Given the limited effectiveness and substantial side effects of traditional treatments, the treatment strategy for SSc has several disadvantages. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are expected to serve as effective treatment options owing to their significant immunomodulatory, antifibrotic, and pro-angiogenic effects. Exosomes, secreted by MSCs via paracrine signaling, mirror the effect of MSCs as well as offer the benefit of targeted delivery, minimal immunogenicity, robust reparability, good safety and stability, and easy storage and transport. This enables them to circumvent the limitations of the MSCs. When using exosomes, it is crucial to consider preparation methods, quality standards, and suitable drug delivery systems, among other technical issues. Therefore, this review aims to summarize the latest research progress on MSCs and exosomes in SSc, offering novel ideas for treating SSc.


CRH stimulates both the synthesis and release of ACTH and other derivatives of POMC by the adenohypophysis. It is uncertain, however, whether it also causes proliferation of corticotrophs. Patients with CRH-producing tumors develop Cushing's syndrome, and some have been reported to have pituitary corticotroph hyperplasia. We now report an animal model that accurately reproduces the human disorder of ectopic production of CRH by a neoplasm. Prolonged CRH secretion by a transplanted medullary thyroid carcinoma cell line stably transfected with a CRH cDNA under transcriptional control of a cytomegalovirus promoter resulted in corticotroph hyperplasia and hypertrophy; the percentage of ACTH-containing cells in animals bearing W2CRH tumors was increased at 9.8 +/- 0.5% (controls, 6.2 +/- 0.3%; W2 implanted tumors, 7.7 +/- 0.4%). Occasional mitotic figures were identified, and the cells were larger, with abundant cytoplasm but generally less intense immunohistochemical staining for ACTH due to relative degranulation compared to controls. Melanotrophs of the intermediate lobe were also increased in number and were larger, with abundant cytoplasm. No corticotroph adenomas were found. Our experiment accurately reproduces the gradually increasing CRH levels in the general circulation produced by a growing tumor, as found in the human ectopic CRH syndrome, and confirms that long term exposure to CRH excess, as produced by a tumor, results in an increased number of corticotrophs in the adenohypophysis.


This paper investigates the grammar and usage of one in Singapore English, which exhibits the influence of both Chinese and English, the two dominant languages in the multilingual ecology of Singapore English, as well as the influence of relevant linguistic universals. The grammar of one is essentially the grammar of Chinese de filtered through the morphosyntax of English one. The corpus data show that some one forms which are judged acceptable by native-speaker informants have nevertheless low frequency of use. I argue that usage plays an important role in the success of contact-induced grammatical innovation, and propose an exemplar-based model of relexification that provides a satisfactory explanation of the grammatical properties and usage patterns of one in Singapore English.


The contemporary world has been facing legal or illegal migrancy, based on social, economic, political, and religious determination. The number of migrants is growing every day. Mostly they are moving from the East to the West or Europe. Movement is not only physical activity, but it is displacement of culture, traditions and customs from one ethnical space to another one. During migration people take with them part of the total culture. On the new soil they encounter new reality, which could be the reason of dual existence, dissatisfaction. Our research addresses issue of migration of Turkish Georgians in 1960s, from Turkey (Village Hayriye) to Germany (Bergneustadt). Three different cultural elements: - Georgian, Turkish and German, influence their mode of life and affect everyday perception of reality. During the Russo-Turkish War in 1877-78, Achara and other historical provinces of Georgia were attached to the Russian Empire. One part of the Georgian population came under Russian rule; the other part emigrated as "Muhajirs" to Ottoman Turkey. As a result of living in culturally different countries (Russia, Ottoman Empire), the life ways of the Georgian Muslim communities began to diverge. In 1960s due to high levels of unemployment in Turkey and the need for inexpensive labour in the expanding economies of Europe, Turkey concluded bilateral agreement to supply workers to Germany. Approximately one million Turks crossed the border up to 1974, hoping to get rich fast. Twofold Muhajirs at the crossroads of three cultures, without (home) land, the real and permanent one, strangers in foreign and "native" land, torn apart by two sorts of memories, try to make a new beginning, to fit in with new "motherland" (Germany) and at this time to maintain ethnic culture, space and identity.


Precise estimation of integrated quarticity is highly important, while this value provides inference about integrated volatility and is a valuable ingredient of jump hypothesis test statistics. Estimation of integrated quarticity based on high frequency data created additional challenges, which led to development of new measures, robust to jumps and microstructure noise. Different combinations of Multipower Volatility Estimators, Nearest Neighbor Truncation Estimators and Robust Neighborhood Truncation Estimators are analyzed in detail. After their application to real market data, each of the estimators is assessed via set of conducted simulation models. Special attention is paid to the Robust Neighborhood Truncation Estimators which operate on lower order statistics log-returns, while they were prematurely left out of analysis in previous works. Performed simulations as well as empirical calculations proved additional efficiency and jump robustness of these estimators.


: It was shown in the passive hemagglutination test (PHAT) with a type-specific somatic antigen on 147 carriers of toxigenic diphtheria bacilli that the PHAT titres of 1/80 and over were determined in 64% of bacteria. In the process of carrier state of toxigenic bacteria antimicrobial antibodies were detected in 79% of the children; after the release from the carrier state, the percentage was from 57 to 26, depending on the time lapse after it. Among the carriers of nontoxigenic diphtheria bacilli the PHAT titre of 1/80 and over was established in up to 20% of children, and only in those which were in the focus of toxigenic bacilli carriers. The applied test could be used for epidemiological purpose to determine the spread of the carrier state of toxigenic bacteria in a collective body.


PURPOSE
There is growing interest in the role of local therapies, including external beam radiotherapy (RT), for men with metastatic prostate cancer (mPCa). We used the National Cancer Database (NCDB) to evaluate the overall survival (OS) of men with mPCa treated with androgen deprivation (ADT) with and without prostate RT.

METHODS
The NCDB was queried for men with newly diagnosed mPCa, all treated with ADT, with complete datasets for RT, surgery, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level, Gleason score, and Charlson-Deyo comorbidity score. OS was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method, log-rank test, Cox proportional hazards models, and propensity score-matched analyses.

RESULTS
From 2004 to 2012, 6,382 men with mPCa were identified, including 538 (8.4%) receiving prostate RT. At a median follow-up of 5.1 years, the addition of prostate RT to ADT was associated with improved OS on univariate (P < .001) and multivariate analysis (hazard ratio, 0.624; 95% CI, 0.551 to 0.706; P < .001) adjusted for age, year, race, comorbidity score, PSA level, Gleason score, T stage, N stage, chemotherapy administration, treating facility, and insurance status. Propensity score analysis with matched baseline characteristics demonstrated superior median (55 v 37 months) and 5-year OS (49% v 33%) with prostate RT plus ADT compared with ADT alone (P < .001). Landmark analyses limited to long-term survivors of ≥1, ≥3, and ≥5 years demonstrated improved OS with prostate RT in all subsets (all P < .05). Secondary analyses comparing the survival outcomes for patients treated with therapeutic dose RT plus ADT versus prostatectomy plus ADT during the same time interval demonstrated no significant differences in OS, whereas both therapies were superior to ADT alone.

CONCLUSION
In this large contemporary analysis, men with mPCa receiving prostate RT and ADT lived substantially longer than men treated with ADT alone. Prospective trials evaluating local therapies for mPCa are warranted.


An increase in the number of novel fortified kefir-based beverages was observed in the last decades. Vegetables were often proposed as convenient resources of bioactive molecules able to improve nutraceutical benefits of these drinks and/or to confer them new significant features. These findings have been well accepted by the consumers, which generally reserve an important role to the quality of the assumed food and beverages. Specifically, functional fermented milk-based drinks enriched with vegetable extracts display significant biological properties, due to the presence of bioactive compounds exhibiting antimicrobial and antioxidant features. In addition, agro-industrial wastes have been also proposed as innovative resources of secondary metabolites to enrich kefir-based products. Eco-friendly extraction techniques were generally exploited to achieve the isolation of biomolecules and reducing, at the same time, economic and environmental loads. To this regard, this review deeply investigates the main findings to improve kefir bioactive properties by functional enrichment with plant and agro-food waste extracts. The nutraceutical characteristics related to the consumers' health benefits, as well as their effects on the sensorial, chemical, and microbiological properties of the products were evaluated.


We present the discovery of seven ultracool brown dwarfs identified with the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). Near-infrared spectroscopy reveals deep absorption bands of H2O and CH4 that indicate all seven of the brown dwarfs have spectral types later than UGPS J072227.51−054031.2, the latest-type T dwarf currently known. The spectrum of WISEP J182831.08+265037.8 is distinct in that the heights of the J- and H-band peaks are approximately equal in units of fλ, so we identify it as the archetypal member of the Y spectral class. The spectra of at least two of the other brown dwarfs exhibit absorption on the blue wing of the H-band peak that we tentatively ascribe to NH3. These spectral morphological changes provide a clear transition between the T dwarfs and the Y dwarfs. In order to produce a smooth near-infrared spectral sequence across the T/Y dwarf transition, we have reclassified UGPS 0722−05 as the T9 spectral standard and tentatively assign WISEP J173835.52+273258.9 as the Y0 spectral standard. In total, six of the seven new brown dwarfs are classified as Y dwarfs: four are classified as Y0, one is classified as Y0 (pec?), and WISEP J1828+2650 is classified as >Y0. We have also compared the spectra to the model atmospheres of Marley and Saumon and infer that the brown dwarfs have effective temperatures ranging from 300 K to 500 K, making them the coldest spectroscopically confirmed brown dwarfs known to date.


Cinnamic acids were selected as lead compounds of antiinflammatory and anticancer agents through the investigation of their biological properties. Their esters and related styryl ketones were also studied. A total of nineteen compounds, fifteen of them not reported previously, were synthesized and found to be of considerable pharmacological interest. In preliminary biological tests, compounds IA, IB, IC, II2C and II5C showed significant inhibiting effect on croton oil induced mouse ear edema, IB, II5A, II5C and IIID exhibited good activity on HL-60 human cancer cells in vitro. It is well worth noticing that compounds IB and II5C exhibited excellent antiinflammatory action as well as anticancer activity.


This dissertation is a history of an Indian Buddhist biographical collection--the Wish-Fulfilling Vine --in the cultural imagination and discourse of Tibet during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Wish-Fulfilling Vine of Bodhisattva Avadanas (Skt. Bodhisattvavadanakalpalata, Tb. Byang chub sems dpa'i rtogs pa brjod pa dpag bsam gyi 'khri shing) by Kshemendra is an eleventh-century Sanskrit anthology of stories about the previous existences of the Buddha and his disciples, along with events from the Buddha's final life. Translated into Tibetan and incorporated into the Tibetan Buddhist canon, by the seventeenth century the Vine occupied a place of high prestige in Tibet. I argue that adaptations of the Vine --condensed literary digests, paintings, and woodcuts--constitute sophisticated forms of commentary that reveal the ingenuity and concerns of their producers. In addition to didactic and iconic functions in Buddhist practice, cultural productions of the Vine served as sites of discourse about knowledge, authority, ideal Buddhist exemplars, and authentic Indic origins. With prominent monastic intellectuals and rulers as producers and patrons of its editions and adaptations, the Vine offers perspectives into the elite culture of Tibet, in its monastic and courtly aspects. Each chapter is organized around a prominent figure who designed, sponsored, or otherwise promoted cultural productions of the Wish-Fulfilling Vine . In Chapter One I trace how the Fifth Dalai Lama and his court popularized the Vine through public instruction, paintings, and literary activities. These conspicuously cultured displays promoted renewed interest in Sanskrit and the Indic origins of Buddhism, while contributing to broader projects of knowledge production and state-building. In Chapter Two I demonstrate how the lay Pho lha dynasty appropriated the Vine , sponsoring two large-scale multimedia productions while developing models for lay kingship and patronage. In Chapter Three I argue that Si tu Pan chen, an influential monk of Sde dge in eastern Tibet, articulated his vision of the ideal monastic through the design of Vine paintings and other literary and visual productions on the Buddha's life. In Chapter Four I study Zhu chen, court chaplain of Sde dge, and his work on the Vine as commentaries on cultural production.


Photocatalytic H2O2 production has gained increasing attention as a sustainable and eco-friendly method to replace conventional anthraquinone-based and electrochemical production processes. In this work, we report a novel molten salt-assisted microwave process to synthesize g-C3N4 coated CuO nanorod heterojunction photocatalysts with outstanding H2O2 production ability. XRD, UV-Vis, N2 adsorption, SEM, TEM, XPS, EIS and PL were used to characterize the obtained catalysts. CN@CuO(4) with the largest heterojunction area displays the highest photocatalytic H2O2 production ability of 6.9 mmol L−1, which is 7.4 and 16.4 times higher than that of individual g-C3N4 and CuO. A "two channel pathway" is proposed for this reaction system which causes the remarkably promoted H2O2 production ability. In addition, compared with a traditional polycondensation method, the catalyst prepared via a molten salt-assisted microwave process exhibits a larger heterojunction area and more effective separation rate, causing higher photocatalytic H2O2 production ability and stability.


Currently, there is demand for the utilisation of woven composites in aerospace and industrial applications, mostly due to their superior strength-to-weight ratio and thermal properties, as opposed to conventional materials. However, the mechanical behaviour of woven composites is not on par with traditional materials. The central objective of this study is to develop an understanding of three-dimensional woven composites through the improvement of accurate numerical models that are also validated with experimental results. Five specimens were fabricated using American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM D3039) guidelines to study the mechanical performance of carbon/epoxy. The experimental tensile tests results and the finite element analysis outcomes for the carbon/epoxy composite agree with each other, with 5.05 percentages of error, which validates the numerical results. KeywordsComposite Materials; Matrix Composite; Numerical Simulation


Introduction Adequately addressing the needs of patients at the end of life and their relatives is pivotal in preventing unnecessary suffering and optimising their quality of life. The purpose of the iLIVE study is to contribute to high-quality personalised care at the end of life in different countries and cultures, by investigating the experiences, concerns, preferences and use of care of terminally ill patients and their families. Methods and analysis The iLIVE study is an international cohort study in which patients with an estimated life expectancy of 6 months or less are followed up until they die. In total, 2200 patients will be included in 11 countries, that is, 200 per country. In addition, one relative per patient is invited to participate. All participants will be asked to fill in a questionnaire, at baseline and after 4 weeks. If a patient dies within 6 months of follow-up, the relative will be asked to fill in a post-bereavement questionnaire. Healthcare use in the last week of life will be evaluated as well; healthcare staff who attended the patient will be asked to fill in a brief questionnaire to evaluate the care that was provided. Qualitative interviews will be conducted with patients, relatives and healthcare professionals in all countries to gain more in-depth insights. Ethics and dissemination The cohort study has been approved by ethics committees and the institutional review boards (IRBs) of participating institutes in all countries. Results will be disseminated through the project website, publications in scientific journals and at conferences. Within the project, there will be a working group focusing on enhancing the engagement of the community at large with the reality of death and dying. Trial registration number NCT04271085.


An effective solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer is the key to the stable operation of lithium-ion batteries by minimizing the loss of lithium and decomposition of the electrolyte. Sulfur-containing additives can facilitate the formation of SEI layers and the effect of two sulfur-containing additives was investigated in this work. The growth of the SEI layer on a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite substrate during a cyclic voltammetry scan was monitored in situ using an atomic force microscope for imaging and an electrochemical workstation for controlling the potential of the electrode simultaneously. Both the ethylene sulfite (ES) additive and prop-1-ene-1,3-sultone (PES) additive can promote the formation of an SEI layer at higher potentials. The ES additive started to form an SEI at a higher voltage than the PES additive and the surface of the SEI layer appeared to be smoother. The effect of the additives was further evaluated in coin cells and the ES additive was found to enable superior stability of the cell in comparison to the PES additive and the neat electrolyte. Examination of the multi-cycled graphite electrode showed that the SEI layer formed with the ES additive was thicker and denser with low resistance for Li-ion conduction, which explains the high performance of the coin cell.


Inspired by the observation that humans are able to process videos efficiently by only paying attention where and when it is needed, we propose an interpretable and easy plug-in spatial-temporal attention mechanism for video action recognition. For spatial attention, we learn a saliency mask to allow the model to focus on the most salient parts of the feature maps. For temporal attention, we employ a convolutional LSTM based attention mechanism to identify the most relevant frames from an input video. Further, we propose a set of regularizers to ensure that our attention mechanism attends to coherent regions in space and time. Our model not only improves video action recognition accuracy, but also localizes discriminative regions both spatially and temporally, despite being trained in a weakly-supervised manner with only classification labels (no bounding box labels or time frame temporal labels). We evaluate our approach on several public video action recognition datasets with ablation studies. Furthermore, we quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate our model's ability to localize discriminative regions spatially and critical frames temporally. Experimental results demonstrate the efficacy of our approach, showing superior or comparable accuracy with the state-of-the-art methods while increasing model interpretability.


The harrowing "shaving-time" scene of Melville's riveting 1855 novella, "Benito Cereno," is, like the rest of the story, told from the point of view of Amasa Delano, commander of a large vessel harbored off the coast of Chile. Heading out in a whaleboat to offer assistance to a meandering, flagless ship, neither the "singularly undistrustful" Delano nor the reader yet realizes that nearly all the ship's Spanish officers have been killed in a slave uprising, save Captain Benito Cereno. Delano (and reader) thus remain unaware that the remaining seamen and Cereno are simply performing the roles that they possessed prior to the rebellion, at the direction of Cereno's former body servant, Babo. In the pivotal scene, which did not appear in Delano's original 1817 narrative on which Melville based his story, Babo shaves Cereno. Delano prattles on cluelessly about Babo's "peculiar" suitability to the task, even as Melville's methodical description of the freshly stropped blade scraping slowly over Cereno's upturned throat intensifies the story's foreboding mood. Elaborate explanation of "the mode of shaving" favored by Spaniards in the Americas and Babo's skill with the razor both reveal the layers of everyday, intimate violence to which enslaved "valets and hairdressers" were subject: a lifetime of forced bodily labor. The recycling and repurposing of the "shaving scene" as the opening vignette of the revelatory season one finale of the 2016 HBO drama, Westworld, highlights the broader resonances between Melville's nuanced critique of racial slavery and showrunner Lisa Joy's exploration of the brutality to which Westworld's android "hosts" are daily subject-hosts who were designed to enable wealthy tourists to live out their most violent fantasies. Based in part of a book-length study of the politics of hair removal, this paper emphasizes the specific potency of Joy's decision to open her explosive finale with a shaving scene redolent of complex themes of vulnerability, exploitation, and racialized, sexualized labor.


Organotin(IV) chemistry, with particular emphasis on
solid-state structure and applications of ^ ^ m Sn MBssbauer
spectroscopy to structural characterisation, is briefly
reviewed. The relevance of structure to the biocidal
properties of organotin compounds is also discussed.

The results of variable-temperature 119m Sn MBssbauer
spectroscopic (v.t.M.s.) studies of a range of phenyl- and
cyclohexyl-tin compounds are reported and analysed. This
technique provides a measure of the vibrational freedom of
the tin atoms in a lattice and the results are interpreted
in terms of the potential of the technique for distinguishing between monomeric and polymeric lattices and between the different three-dimensional conformations of the polymer chains observed in organotin chemistry.

The solid-state structures of the pair of carboxylates
triphenyltin acetate and triphenyltin formate have been
determined by X-ray diffraction. In both compounds the
carboxylates act as bridging groups to form infinite onedimensional polymeric chains with trans-O^SnPh^ geometry at tin. However, in triphenyltin acetate, the carboxylate
group, as well as coordinating intermolecularly, also
weakly chelates intramolecularly to give a six-coordinate
tin atom - an unusual coordination number for a triorganotin
compound. The polymeric chains are helical for both compounds, but a detailed consideration of their structures explains the observed significant difference in the v.t.M.s. behaviour of the two compounds.

The crystal and molecular structure of dicyclohexylt in
dichloride has been solved by X-ray diffraction. The chlorine atoms act as bridging groups linking the molecules intoaone -dimensionalpolymer, the local geometryattin being a severely distortedtrans -R^SnX^ octahedron. The structure substantiates aninitial prediction mode on the basis of the variable- temperature MBssbauer study of cyclohexyltins.

On the basis of v.t.M.s. and other spectroscopic data
structuralin ferences are drawn for a number of crystallographically unconfirmed phenyl- and cyclohexyl- t in compounds. It is a lsosuggested that for tricy clohexylt in compounds linear polymers rather than the more commonly observed zigzagor helical polymers a refavoured because of the steric bulk of the cyclohexyl groups.

A preliminary v.t.M.s. study of tin -phthalocyanine
complexes in dicates that this technique can distinguish
between a monomeric lattice and one in which the complexes
are linked by strong covalent bonds. It may thus be a
useful tool in the study of electroactive materials based
on metalloph thalocyanine species.


Objective: A field research on the prevalence of self-esteem among discharged patients from acute mental health wards was performed, including its socio-demographic correlates and the association with internalized stigma and user satisfaction.

Method: Discharged patients from psychiatric acute units were recruited (N=311). Participants were asked to complete questionnaires including the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness (ISMI) scale and the Satispsy-22-E.

Results: Length of stay over 30 days (OR=0.422, p<0.01), voluntary admission (OR=0.295, p<0.0001), diagnosis of bipolar disorder (OR=3.926, p<0.01) and diagnosis of schizophrenia (OR=2.333, p-value<0.05) were significantly associated to preserved self-esteem. Subjects with higher self-esteem reported lower internalised stigma.

Conclusion: The combination of stigma and low self-esteem usually leads to a lack of illness insight and, consequently, to a poorer psychological and pharmacological treatment adherence. Therefore, these factors might lead to worse outcomes. Stigma and self-esteem should be targeted as early goals when developing treatment plan regardless the patient's diagnosis.


In the high speed precision machine tools, the thermal deformation of spindle had an important influence in machining accuracy. The data of thermal deformation of spindle was got through measuring test rod in the experiment. However, the system error existing of test rod in running and heat imported led to the difference between the measured values and the actual values. The paper has discussed the deformation of test rod caused by centrifugal force in high speed, Non-uniform thermal field in a stable state, and gravity and the variational elastic modulus. Through analyzing those factors, the main ones and neglectable ones could be confirmed, which laid the theoretical foundation in order to eliminate the interference factors in the measurement values.


Background: Fetal growth is highly socially patterned and is related to health across the life course, but how the social patterns of fetal growth change over time remains understudied. The time trends in maternal social disadvantage in relation to fetal growth were examined in the context of a universal welfare state under changing macroeconomic conditions over a 24-year period. Methods: All births in Denmark from 1981 to 2004 were included, and the association between maternal social disadvantage and birthweight was examined for gestational age z-scores over time using linear regression. Results: All measures of social disadvantage were associated with decreased fetal growth (p<0.001), but with considerable differences in the magnitude of the associations. The association was strongest for non-Western ethnicity (−0.28 z-score), low education (−0.19), teenage motherhood (−0.14), single motherhood (−0.13) and poverty (−0.12) and weakest for unemployment (−0.04). The deficit in fetal growth increased over time for all associations except for unemployment. Also, the measures of social adversity increasingly clustered within individuals over time. Conclusion: Maternal social disadvantage is associated with decreased fetal growth in a welfare state. Social disadvantage is increasingly clustered so that fewer pregnancies are exposed, but those exposed suffer a greater disadvantage in fetal growth. The economic upturn in the last decade did not appear to weaken the association between maternal social disadvantage and decreased fetal growth.


While Moro resistance to Spanish rule is well known, the struggles waged by the other tribes in Mindanao hardly get noticed in our historiography. But the Spanish advance from northern Mindanao to southeastern Mindanao is a history of resistance and rebellions. There might have been periods of accommodation, but the east coast of Mindanao down to Davao remained volatile until the last days of Spanish rule. The culture of resistance was deeply ingrained among the various tribes. In the early and middle 1600s, the Calagans of the east coast and Datu Dabaw in upper Agusan fought Spanish penetration in the area. The Spaniards could only advance with great difficulty, managing to conquer Davao Gulf only in 1848. Even then, their rule was marked by many rebellions. As the Revolution swept Luzon in 1898, Mindanao was convulsed by mutinies, with the Filipino soldiers finally turning their guns on their hated masters. These various strands of struggles show the pluralist nature of Mindanao consciousness, a matter still very evident today.


Background—Myocardial late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) on contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (CE-MRI) of patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) has been suggested to represent intramyocardial fibrosis and, as such, an adverse prognostic risk factor. We evaluated the characteristics of LGE on CE-MRI and explored whether LGE among patients with HCM was associated with genetic testing, severe symptoms, ventricular arrhythmias, or sudden cardiac death (SCD). Methods and Results—Four hundred twenty-four patients with HCM (age=55±16 years [range 2 to 90], 41% females), without a history of septal ablation/myectomy, underwent CE-MRI (GE 1.5 Tesla). We evaluated the relation between LGE and HCM genes status, severity of symptoms, and the degree of ventricular ectopy on Holter ECG. Subsequent SCD and appropriate implanted cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) therapies were recorded during a mean follow-up of 43±14 months (range 16 to 94). Two hundred thirty-nine patients (56%) had LGE on CE-MRI, ranging from 0.4% to 65% of the left ventricle. Gene-positive patients were more likely to have LGE (P<0.001). The frequencies of New York Heart Association class ≥3 dyspnea and angina class ≥3 were similar in patients with and without LGE (125 of 239 [52%] versus 94 of 185 [51%] and 24 of 239 [10%] versus 18 of 185 [10%], respectively, P=NS). LGE-positive patients were more likely to have episodes of nonsustained ventricular tachycardia (34 of 126 [27%] versus 8 of 94 [8.5%], P<0.001), had more episodes of nonsustained ventricular tachycardia per patient (4.5±12 versus 1.1±0.3, P=0.04), and had higher frequency of ventricular extrasystoles/24 hours (700±2080 versus 103±460, P=0.003). During follow-up, SCD occurred in 4 patients, and additional 4 patients received appropriate ICD discharges. All 8 patients were LGE positive (event rate of 0.94%/y, P=0.01 versus LGE negative). Two additional heart failure-related deaths were recorded among LGE-positive patients. Univariate associates of SCD or appropriate ICD discharge were positive LGE (P=0.002) and presence of nonsustained ventricular tachycardia (P=0.04). The association of LGE with events remained significant after controlling for other risk factors. Conclusions—In patients with HCM, presence of LGE on CE-MRI was common and more prevalent among gene-positive patients. LGE was not associated with severe symptoms. However, LGE was strongly associated with surrogates of arrhythmia and remained a significant associate of subsequent SCD and/or ICD discharge after controlling for other variables. If replicated, LGE may be considered an important risk factor for sudden death in patients with HCM.


Fire spread on forested landscapes depends on vegetation conditions across the landscape that affect the fire arrival probability and forest stand value. Landowners can control some forest characteristics that facilitate fire spread, and when a single landowner controls the entire landscape, a rational landowner accounts for spatial interactions when making management decisions. With multiple landowners, management activity by one may impact outcomes for the others. Various liability regulations have been proposed, and some enacted, to make landowners account for these impacts by changing the incentives they face. In this paper, the effects of two different types of liability regulations are examined – strict liability and negligence standards. We incorporate spatial information into a model of land manager decision-making about the timing and spatial location of timber harvest and fuel treatment. The problem is formulated as a dynamic game and solved via multi-agent approximate dynamic programming. We found that, in some cases, liability regulation can increase expected land values for individual land ownerships and for the landscape as a whole. But in other cases, it may create perverse incentives that reduce expected land value. We also showed that regulations may increase risk for individual landowners by increasing the variability of potential outcomes.


These experiments evaluate the role of the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) nuclear antigen leader protein (EBNA-LP) in B-lymphocyte growth transformation by using a recombinant EBV molecular genetic approach. Recombinant viruses encoding for a mutant EBNA-LP lacking the carboxy-terminal 45 amino acids were markedly impaired in their ability to transform primary B lymphocytes compared with EBNA-LP wild-type but otherwise isogenic recombinant viruses. This impairment was particularly evident when primary B lymphocytes were infected under conditions of limiting virus dilution. The impairment could be partially corrected by growth of the infected lymphocytes with fibroblast feeder layers or by cocultivation of primary B lymphocytes with relatively highly permissive mutant virus-infected cells. One of the five mutant recombinants recovered by growth of infected cells on fibroblast feeder cultures was a partial revertant which had a normal transforming phenotype. Several lymphoblastoid cell lines infected with the EBNA-LP mutant recombinant viruses had a high percentage of cells with bright cytoplasmic immunoglobulin staining, as is characteristic of cells undergoing plasmacytoid differentiation. Expression of the other EBV latent or lytic proteins and viral replication were not affected by the EBNA-LP mutations. Thus, the EBNA-LP mutant phenotype is not mediated by an effect on expression of another EBV gene. These data are most compatible with the hypothesis that EBNA-LP affects expression of a B-lymphocyte gene which is a mediator of cell growth or differentiation.


Protected areas work in complex environments in which they have to liaise with governments, scientific and civil society organizations, volunteers, local stakeholders, visitors, and funders. This requires next to thematic expertise on conservation, among others legal, management, financial, administrative and communications skills and capacities. Especially the smaller protected areas struggle to efficiently operate in all these specialized fields and often lack enough in-house capacity and resources. This chapter highlights the lessons learned and evolvement of various forms of partnerships in different countries on different continents (collaborative arrangement in Laos and different formal and informal arrangements in the Western Balkans). Core to the success is to build sufficient capacity within the protected area management authorities so they understand the priorities and the resources needed to fund, manage and implement these priorities. Specialized skills and capacities needed for effective protected area management are limited in most countries and it is inefficient and too expensive to build this capacity in-house. Having a clear vision on what needs to be done and building a strong cooperation between partners through effective communication is the key to success to come to more effective protected area management either on a national, regional or transboundary level.


Abstract This article deals with the important issue concerning that small towns and villages play an important role in the development of many European regions, not only from the point of view of agricultural function, but also due to the preservation of identity and heritage as well as social relations and management of spatial structures. On the other hand, in small towns and villages, there are growing problems related to the migration of people to big cities, leaving farms and villages. Progressive unemployment is observed, especially in peripheral areas. The research question is: what are the similarities and differences of social and spatial relations between small towns and surrounding villages in the selected countries? The article aims to present the interface between social and spatial relationships in small towns and surrounding villages in the context of analyzing the potential of rural areas and models for their development. Authors compared the specificity of small towns and villages of selected regions of Poland, Lithuania, and Slovakia. The following methods were used in the research: analysis and synthesis of literature and documents (legal and strategic), descriptive method, secondary data analysis, comparative method, visual data representation, case study.


Traditionally, the Norwegian education system has been built on equality and democracy as core values, but the disappointing results in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) introduced the perception of a "crisis in education" and increased the occurrence of national reform initiatives. New assessment policies with an emphasis on performance measurement and emerging accountability practices have characterized the transition processes over the last decade. With increasing focus on monitoring based on performance indicators, there is a risk that the purpose of promoting democracy in schools will be downplayed by instrumental and managerial regulations. However, the Norwegian school reform of curriculum renewal in 2020 also highlights democracy and participation as separate interdisciplinary themes and includes a concrete elaboration of this topic, which strongly emphasizes that schools should promote democratic values and attitudes as a counterweight to prejudice and discrimination. To obtain more knowledge about how school professionals deal with possible tensions and dilemmas in their work with the contemporary reform, it is important to unpack the interplay between managerial accountability based on performance indicators and identify how educators legitimize their work on promoting democracy in schools. To capture the dynamic nature of educational leadership and the daily subtle negotiation, a micropolitical perspective and theory on democratic agency were used to analyze theoretical and empirical material from two larger studies focusing on certain aspects of school reforms in Norwegian lower secondary schools. The findings suggest that educational professionals respond to the policy of inclusion through negotiating and translating tensions between equalizing students' life chances and being subjected to collective monitoring and control. The findings also illuminate stories characterized by a predominantly individualistic interpretation of the democratic purpose of education and the challenges and opportunities involved in balancing academic achievement with students' well-being.


Nowadays, plastic surgery plays an important role in the surgical treatment of morbid obesity, and it is used to restore optimal body contour in a large number of patients with massive weight loss. The outcome of surgery may affect the patient's psychological behavior, and a multispecialty approach should be adopted, before and after the gastric bypass, to better educate and prepare patients for the dramatic changes they will experience in their body image. The increase in bariatric surgery has also resulted in a greater demand for plastic surgery. In addition to the multispecialty services, patients are seeking out private practice surgeons who will need to recognize and manage the psychological aspects of candidates who undergo body reshaping. This paper reviews the literature on the complex psychological environment of obese patients, emphasizing the identification and management of psychological disorders, and providing plastic surgeons with tools for safer planning and superior outcomes in body contouring after massive weight loss.


Background—Patients with heart failure have high levels of central sympathetic outflow and also have a high prevalence of sleep-related breathing disorders, predominantly central sleep apnea. The options for treating central sleep apnea in heart failure are limited and include theophylline. Whether theophylline alters sympathetic activity in heart failure patients is not known. Methods and Results—Using a single-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled study design, we investigated the sympathetic, hemodynamic, neurohumoral, and ventilatory effects of theophylline in patients with congestive heart failure compared with healthy control subjects closely matched for age, sex, and body mass index. Theophylline increased muscle sympathetic nerve activity and lowered transcutaneous CO2 in the control subjects but only lowered transcutaneous CO2 in the heart failure patients. Theophylline nearly doubled plasma renin concentration in both the healthy subjects (P<0.01) and the heart failure patients (P<0.02). Conclusions—Our study shows that in heart failure patients, there are differential effects of theophylline: in contrast to healthy subjects, theophylline does not increase sympathetic activity in heart failure, whereas increases in plasma renin and ventilation are still evident. These novel findings may have important implications for understanding the potential harmful and beneficial effects of theophylline and related substances in heart failure patients.


OBJECTIVE
This study was done to evaluate the pediatric undifferentiated small round cell tumors with immunohistochemical staining.

SETTING
The present study included consecutive cases of small round cell tumors which were diagnosed in children (< 15 years) in the section of Histopathology at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi during the period of two years.

METHODS
The group of undifferentiated small round cell tumors were evaluated immunohistochemically by using a panel of antibodies on sections from routinely processed, formalin fixed, paraffin embedded tissue blocks.

RESULTS
The category of undifferentiated small round cell tumors included rhabdomyosarcoma (23.2%), primitive neuroectodermal tumor (17.9%), non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (16.1%), neuroblastoma (14.2%), Ewing's sarcoma (10.7%) in order of frequency. Osteosarcoma (Small cell variant), retinoblastoma and medulloblastoma comprised 1.8% each. In seven cases (12.5%), the immunohistochemical analysis was inconclusive.

CONCLUSION
Immunohistochemistry is a very valuable diagnostic tool which helps in distinguishing the undifferentiated tumors especially small round cell tumors. The immunohistochemical staining needs to be performed routinely for undifferentiated tumors in diagnostic histopathology.


Abstract
 In this paper, we show morphological features of two marine planktonic diatoms that are phylogenetically related, as suggested by molecular studies: Bellerochea malleus and Helicotheca tamesis. In order to study Bellerochea malleus specimens of the species were isolated from samples collected from marginal coral reefs located in the southern portion of Puerto Rico and cultured in the laboratory. Specimens of the species Helicotheca tamesis were isolated from net phytoplankton samples collected from the tropical Mexican Pacific and also cultured in the laboratory. The two species were examined by means of light and scanning electron microscopy. The morphology of Bellerochea malleus agrees well with previous reports: cells arranged in relatively long chains, united by the horn-shaped apical elevations, elliptical valves (not triangular) with depressed valve face bearing an eccentric annulus, from which numerous costae radiate, formation of costate ocelli, and one eccentric or marginal protruded and tubular rimoportula per valve. Helicotheca tamesis also shows the typical morphological features of this species: cells are solitary or form long and distinctly twisted chains, with no apparent apertures between sibling valves, valves are linear to elliptical, weakly silicified and flat. Furthermore, we found one conspicuous and protruded rimoportula per valve, located eccentrically or marginally (not central as previously described), consisting of an elliptic tubular structure. The cingulum is composed of numerous half-bands and segmented copulae. This study compares the morphology of these two species, with a special emphasis on the structure of the rimoportulae. Bellerochea / Diatoms / Helicotheca / Morphology / Phytoplankton / Rimoportulae


The binding of low-density lipoproteins (LDL) as well as LDL modified by cyclohexanedione (CHD-LDL) to gel-filtered platelets (GFP) and its effect on platelet function were studied in normal and in homozygous familial hypercholesterolaemic (HFH) subjects. Only normal-derived LDL could significantly compete with normal 125I-labelled LDL for binding to normal platelets. When GFP from normal subjects were incubated with normal LDL at concentrations of 25-200 micrograms of protein/ml, platelet aggregation in the presence of thrombin (0.5 i.u./ml) was increased by 65-186%. CHD-LDL, at similar concentrations, caused the opposite effect and decreased platelet aggregation by 26-47%. Both LDL and CHD-LDL (100 micrograms/ml) from HFH patients, when incubated with normal GFP, caused a significant reduction in platelet aggregation (33 and 50% respectively). When HFH-derived platelets were used, both patient LDL and CHD-LDL (but not the normal lipoprotein) could markedly compete with the patient 125I-labelled LDL for binding to the platelets. LDL and CHD-LDL (100 micrograms/ml) from normal subjects decreased aggregation of HFH-platelets by 52 and 85% respectively, while corresponding concentrations of LDL derived from HFH subjects (HFH-LDL) and CHD-LDL derived from HFH subjects (CHD-HFH-LDL) increased platelet aggregation by 165 and 65% respectively. The present results support the following conclusions: platelet activation by LDL in normal subjects is through the arginine-rich apoprotein-binding site; more than one binding site for LDL exists on platelets; under certain circumstances, LDL binding can cause a reduction in platelet activity; specificity for LDL binding to the platelets resides in different regions of the lipoprotein in HFH and in normal subjects. We have thus suggested a model for LDL-platelet interaction in normal and in HFH subjects.


A thermoplastic elastomer of EPDM/HPVC with excellent properties was prepared by dynamic vulcanization. The effects of the rubber/plastics ratio, the content of plasticizer and vulcanizing agent on the mechanical properties of EPDM/HPVC were investigated in detail. Results indicate when the mass ratio of EPDM/HPVC was 30/70, CPE was 9 phr, sulfur was 0.4 phr, EPDM/HPVC had an excellent mechanical property and aging resistance. EPDM/HPVC prepared by dynamic vulcanization had a typical sea-island two phase structure in which smaller EPDM particle dispersed uniformly in the continuous phase of HPVC.


The article is devoted to the relevant problem, i.e. the evaluation of the investment attractiveness of renewable natural resources in the underdeveloped Northern and Arctic territories. Economic interaction arising from the development of natural resource potential is the subject-matter of the study. The development of the methodological tools for the assessment of investment attractiveness for business and authorities is the purpose of the study. For the zoning of territories at the pre-investment project stage typical landscapes were selected and assessed by each type of renewable natural resources. On the basis of the analysis of the existing approaches to the zoning of natural resources, three types of landscapes were defined: the investment-attractive ones, the investment-attractive ones with some restrictions and the investment unattractive ones. During the study, the following hypothesis was confirmed: the selection of the most valuable natural resources increases the opportunities of their development. The investment attractiveness is determined by the advantages of geographical location, development of regional infrastructure, natural potential which is considered as a priority investment target. The need for the valuation of the natural resource potential of landscape areas within the boundaries of the assessed area is justified. The limitations are the low level of infrastructure development, insufficient resistance of landscapes to anthropogenic influence, the export of raw materials for recycling from the territories. The list of conditions that demand the introduction of correction factors to the cost parameters of the natural resource potential of landscape areas is justified. The main results of the research are presented in the form of the landscape zoning of the territory and as the developed methodological tools for assessing the investment attractiveness. The testing is conducted on the example of the Berezovsky municipal district of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug — Yugra.


A 59-year-old woman and a 41-year-old man were both brought to the Cardiac Emergency Clinic with circulatory arrest on the basis of pulseless electrical activity. The first patient had had no prodromal symptoms and the second patient had visited his general practitioner 2 weeks earlier because of pain in the head and neck. In both patients, electrocardiography and echocardiography suggested acute myocardial infarction. However, both patients proved to be suffering from a subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) and both died. One-third of the patients with SAH are comatose at presentation. Cardiac manifestations such as ECG-abnormalities, cardiac arrhythmias, cardiopulmonary arrest, elevated troponin values, and signs of left ventricular dysfunction are common. These findings can be misleading and may have catastrophic consequences if anticoagulant therapy is initiated because of presumed myocardial infarction. Low-threshold CT-scanning of the brain is therefore advised for patients who remain comatose after resuscitation for cardiac arrest in the presence of an atypical anamnesis.


This study investigated how individuals in the community 1 to 5 years after spinal cord injury characterized their occupational and social participation, life satisfaction, and aspects of their occupational therapy that influenced their participation. Semi-structured, open-ended interviews were conducted with 11 individuals referred by occupational therapists who specialize in spinal cord injury rehabilitation and/or are regarded as practicing from an occupation-based perspective. Narrative analysis of data revealed that the participants went through an adaptive process, using many strategies to adjust their attitudes about disability, manage identity, participate in the community, and belong socially. Several approaches were used by therapists to promote the individuals' participation in occupations and social life.


The LEADER program is extremely complex, therefore adequate program leading is vital. On the evidence of the half-time evaluation report, serious shortcomings have been observed. The evaluation work has also been carried out in an unorganized way by the Local Action Teams, hereinafter called 'HACS'. There was hardly a precedent for cooperation; national networks did not play an important role. Self assessment has rarely been followed by correction steps. The upward approach was taken into account while selecting HACS and carrying out the program's other stages, although in most parts of the region (for instance in Portugal and Greece) hidden possibilities were not fully put to account. The hitch in the upward approach might have been caused by the lack of downward support. It must be considered to be a negative fact that in consequence of the exclusion of the country towns, the maximum resident threshold (100,000) by local action teams has prevented the establishment of contiguous LEADER area. Although deviation was permitted, the mentioned threshold has been criticized several times because it limits the implementation of sale initiatives in some well developed parts of the country. As for the effect on broadening the knowledge of cooperation and network building, there are numerous signs in some countries like Ireland, Finland and Austria, that the LEADER approach, forwarding the information to other interested country parties, facilitates integrated country development. For my further analysis my plan is to gather information about certain stages of the LEADER and the temporary work of the local action teams from various countries. I would like to find the most optimal index for each action team respectively their support and their achieved work.


The change in serum laminin (LN) level and its clinical significance in epithelial ovarian tumor were investigated. The LN levels in serum and ascites samples from 69 patients with epithelial ovarian tumor and 42 cases as control group before and after operation were analyzed by radioimmunoassay. The results showed that the serum LN levels in the patients with malignant tumors (157.85 +/- 14.37 ng/ml) were significantly higher than that in the control group (125.14 +/- 7.03 ng/ml) and in the patients with benign tumors (128.36 +/- 8.75 ng/ml) (both P < 0.01) before operation. The serum LN levels in the malignant group were decreased significantly after operation as compared with those before operation (P < 0.05). The serum LN levels in low-differentiated tumors was higher than those in moderate-differentiated tumors and high-differentiated tumors (P < 0.05). The LN levels in ascites (172.94 +/- 15.26 ng/ml) was significantly higher than in serum (161.34 +/- 6.59 ng/ml) (P < 0.05) in malignant tumors. The serum LN levels in the patients with lymph node metastasis (165.41 +/- 19.91 ng/ml) was obviously higher than those without lymph node metastasis (152.35 +/- 10.34 ng/ml) (P < 0.05). It was concluded that LN levels in serum and acistis were remarkably increased in malignant epithelial ovarian tumors, suggesting that LN might be one of important diameters reflecting tumor biological characteristics.


The objective of the present work was the one to characterize the market of farming insumos of the milk chain of cow in the state of Hidalgo with the purpose of identifying critical necks of bottle or factors that affect their development of the productive chain. The analysis of productive chains and sampling of proportions of Maxima variance was used. To the channels and agents of commercialization were described, as well as the markets of the inputs, identifying themselves that the supplying participate national and transnational companies actively. The balanced foods that are sold are of national origin, the forages are of crazy origin and the veterinary products and reproductive nationals and of companies and laboratories of the foreigner. One concludes that the necks critical factors are related to the nutritional sources (forage and grains), as well as the technical attendance, in addition to the structures of markets some inputs, for example monopolistic competition and oligopoly.


Established cell lines (TB-6c and TB-M) obtained by continuous culture of epithelial cells from toad Bufo marinus urinary bladder, which, in culture, maintained a high degree of functional differentiation, exhibited a significant number of high-affinity (KA = 1-2 X 10(10) M-1) binding sites detected both with radioiodinated (125I) ovine prolactin (oPRL) and human growth hormone (hGH). Binding capacity was higher in the case of TB-6c cells (7,573 +/- 581 sites/cell) than with the TB-M cells (1,160 +/- 87). Similarly, binding sites for oPRL were characterized on Xenopus laevis kidney-derived cell line A6. With oPRL used both as tracer and standard, significant cross-reaction was observed with hGH, less with human or rat prolactin (PRL), and none with human chorionic somatomammotropin, bovine growth hormone, and rat luteinizing hormone or follicle-stimulating hormones. B. marinus pituitary extracts completely displaced the binding of 125I-oPRL to toad bladder binding sites. This finding of specific sites for PRL on amphibian bladder and kidney cells confirms that PRL exerts specific biological actions for the control of electrolyte and water metabolism in the amphibians.


Polystyrene/clay nanocomposite with organically modified montmorillonite was synthesized via emulsion polymerization. Organic styrene monomer was first intercalated into intergalley of the clay hosts, followed by a typical emulsion polymerization with surfactant and initiator. To investigate the effect of clay loading, we also prepared PS/clay nanocomposites with different clay contents. Wide angle X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that the emulsion polymerization of PS in the presence of clay produces partially exfoliated and intercalated nanocomposites. In order to study their rheological properties, the melt pallets of composite materials were prepared and measured via a rotational rheometer with a parallel plate geometry.


Tentorial dural arteriovenous fistulae are rare intracranial fistulae, in which the fistula pocket is present within the leaves of tentorium cerebelli. These tentorial fistulae can be rarely present near the galenic complex, where they can engorge the deep venous system and cause symptoms of venous hypertension. We present an interesting case of endovascular treatment of a galenic tentorial dural arteriovenous fistula in a patient with headaches and imbalance. The fistula was accessed through the artery of Davidoff and Schecter from the posterior cerebral artery supplying the fistula. The fistula was completely embolized using Onyx and with preservation of vein of Galen. The video can be found here: http://youtu.be/igX2X5tfvrg .


A CMOS analog signal processor which is as programmable as a digital one is discussed. This processor does not use known switched-capacitor techniques, nor does it contain any selectable capacitor (or resistor) arrays. Instead, it operates on a pulsewidth control principle in which the value of each branch gain is determined by the duty cycle of a single digitally controlled analog transmission gate. A 4-/spl mu/m single-poly CMOS test IC containing all the critical analog functions was designed to demonstrate this principle at sampling frequencies up to 100 kHz. All of the processors described allow individual programming of each transfer function coefficient; one also features programmable topology, and another is capable of simultaneous multiple-signal multiple-transfer-function processing. A typical integrated fully programmable biquad shows 80-dB dynamic range.