UNLABELLED
Trans-2-hexenal, a volatile aldehyde, is produced by soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr) and other plants via the lipoxygenase pathway. In vitro tests showed it significantly (P < 0.001) reduced Aspergillus flavus germinating conidial viability at 10 μM, with approximately 95% viability reduction observed at 20 μM. The viability of nongerminated conidia was not reduced. To test the effectiveness of this volatile to prevent fungal growth in stored corn, trans-2-hexenal was pumped intermittently into glass jars containing corn. Experiments were performed to determine the ability of 2 different pump cycle time-courses to prevent A. flavus growth on sterile corn (23% moisture). Intermittently (30-min pumping period) over 7 d, this volatile was pumped through 350 g of corn kernels inoculated with 1 mL of 3 × 10⁴ conidia of A. flavus. Controls consisted of (1) sterile corn, (2) corn inoculated with A. flavus with no pumped air, and (3) corn inoculated with A. flavus with intermittently pumped air. Aflatoxin B₁ (AFB₁), viability counts, and aldehyde concentration in the headspace were performed in each experiment. To determine whether an increased time period between volatile pumping would prevent A. flavus growth, a 2nd series of experiments were performed that were similar to the 1st series except that trans-2-hexenal (only) was pumped for a 30-min period every 12 h. Experiments were performed 3 times for each time course. Both experiments showed that intermittent pumping of volatile trans-2-hexenal significantly (P < 0.001) prevented A. flavus growth and aflatoxin B₁ production over a 7-d period.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION
Results from this study indicate that intermittent pumping of volatile trans-2-hexenal could be used to protect stored corn from A. flavus growth and aflatoxin contamination.


Background: The frequency of Caesarean section increased from 5% to 15% across the world. According to statistics, it is highest in the U.S. or around 24%, and then in Canada about 20%, in Denmark about 13%, 10% in England, and it is lowest in Japan 7%. Post-cesarean section women experience pain due to operative trauma. Individual variability of postoperative pain is influenced by multiple factors, including sensitivity to pain, psychological factors, age, and genetics. Cesarean delivery patients have even more compelling reasons to achieve optimal postoperative pain relief than other surgical patients, but they also present unique challenges. Post cesarean delivery patients are at a higher risk for thromboembolic events, which may also be precipitated by immobility from inadequate pain control or excessive sedation from opioids.
Objectives: This research aimed to describe pain intensity among women with post-cesarean Section.
Methods: This research conducted at an obstetric ward in Hasan Sadikin Hospital, Bandung, West Java, Indonesia with 60 women with postcesarean section. Instrument used Visual Rating Scale (VAS) for pain measurement. A descriptive Study with Mean±SD for univariate analysis
Result: Pain intensity among women with post-caesarian section were mild pain level with mean of pain level was 2.8. Women with mild pain level as much as 81,6%.
Conclusions: As a nurse, can be considered as a nonpharmacological intervention to reduce the pain of cesarean section effectively and to decrease the number of medications and their side effects.


In the industrial area, the ability of producing precise manufacturing components is necessary to obtain high quality product. In order to achieve high quality product, researcher around the world are trying to conduct many researches for example in the forming area, especially in cold working. High quality manufacturing product will affect in the high benefit in manufacturing industry. In this research, cold working processes are performed by pressed rolling on the workpiece surface. In order to conduct pressed rolling, the parameter of rolling depth and rolling duration were determined. After rolling processes were conducted, then the surface roughness testing, hardness testing and micro structure testing were performed in order to determine the effect of rolling to the workpiece's surface. The surface roughness test shows that by cold working processes, the surface roughness is decreasing from Ra 1.18 to 0.76 µm. However, the hardness is increasing from 220 to 285 HV. The hardness is increasing due to grain refinement on the surface after cold working by pressed rolling.


Bias resulting from model misspecification is a concern when predicting insurance claims. Indeed, this bias puts the insurer at risk of making invalid or unreliable predictions. A method that could provide provably valid predictions uniformly across a large class of possible distributions would effectively eliminate the risk of model misspecification bias. Conformal prediction is one such method that can meet this need, and here we tailor that approach to the typical insurance application and show that the predictions are not only valid but also efficient across a wide range of settings.


New block-based blind equalization algorithms are introduced based upon the cost function underlying the recently proposed soft constraint satisfaction blind equalization algorithm. The derivation of these algorithms is based on mapping the original constrained optimization problem in C/sup N/ into a much simpler optimization problem in R/sup 2/. Versions of the new algorithms are also developed for fractionally-spaced equalizers. Simulations on a baud-spaced and a fractionally-spaced channel support the potential of the resulting block-based techniques.


The purpose of this paper is to know the experience of health professionals in situations of perinatal death and grief and to describe their action strategies in the management of perinatal loss. A qualitative study with a phenomenological approach was carried out through interviews conducted with 19 professionals. Three thematic categories were identified: Healthcare practice, feelings aroused by perinatal loss and meaning and beliefs about perinatal loss and grief. The results revealed that the lack of knowledge and skills to deal with perinatal loss are identified as the main reason behind unsuitable attitudes that are usually adopted in these situations. This generates anxiety, helplessness and frustration that compromise professional competency. The conclusion reached is that the promotion of training programs to acquire knowledge, skills and abilities in management of perinatal bereavement and the development of a clinical practice guideline for perinatal loss are necessary.


Summary To test whether cytokine gene therapy can be applied to an immunologically privileged site, such as the brain, we investigated antitumor immunity in the brain induced by cytokine-secreting glioma cells. Three cytokine genes, interleukin-2 (IL-2), interleukin-4 (IL-4), and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) were transduced into a rat C6 glioma cell line via a retroviral vector, S2. Rats intracerebrally (IC) implanted with the C6 cells genetically engineered to secrete the cytokines, especially GM-CSF, manifested significantly higher survival rates than those with C6 cells or with C6 cells bearing the control vector (p < 0.002). In vivo, C6 tumors bearing the cytokine genes grew more slowly than wild-type tumors at any time point, and eventually diminished within 6 weeks after tumor cell implantation. Histopathological and immunohistochemical studies revealed that different cytokines induced diverse immune reactions. In the IL-2 group, CD4+ and CD8+ T cells dominated from day 3 to week 4, but disappeared at week 6. Some granulocytes were noted between weeks 2 and 4. In the IL-4 group, eosinophils were noted from day 3 to week 4, and CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, as well as macrophages at week 2. At week 6, only residual levels of macrophages and CD8+ T cells remained. In the GM-CSF group, granulocytes appeared as early as day 1 post-IC tumor implantation, and macrophages at day 2. CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were found from day 3 to week 4. At week 6, only residual CD4+ T cells and macrophages remained. Long-lasting antitumor immunity was confirmed in all groups by rechallenging surviving rats with wild-type C6 cells in the brain 100 days after implanting cytokine gene-bearing C6 cells. In vivo depletion of GM-CSF by anti-GM-CSF antibody further confirmed that the immune reaction induced by GM-CSF-secreting tumor cells were mainly from the action of GM-CSF, rather than the immunogenicity of C6 cells.


The course of the subscapular artery was studied in 20 rabbits. Its course was constant, giving two branches to the latissimus dorsi muscle after which the vessel sent a branch (S1) that perforated the panniculus carnosus to supply a large territory of skin. In a separate experiment, the contribution of the S1 branch to the viability of the rabbit latissimus dorsi musculocutaneous flap was evaluated. From this experiment it can be concluded that, first, it is possible in a rabbit to elevate a large skin flap based solely on a muscle perforator (S1), which survives completely. Second, in the rabbit latissimus dorsi musculocutaneous flap, S1 is the major blood supply to the skin component. Damage to it severely diminishes skin flap survival, even if the vascular supply to the underlying muscle is completely intact.


We used mice deficient in γ‐glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) to analyze the effects of GGT deficiency and altered thiol levels on gene expression in liver. GGT‐deficient mice have markedly reduced levels of glutathione (GSH), cysteine, methionine, and cysteinylglycine in liver. Steady‐state RNA levels of the catalytic subunit of γ‐glutamylcysteine synthetase (γ‐GCS), the rate‐limiting enzyme in GSH synthesis, are elevated 4‐fold in these mice, while those for glutathione synthetase (GSH syn) are elevated 2‐fold. RNA levels of cystathionase (cystathionine γ‐lyase), a key enzyme in the synthesis of cysteine from methionine, are elevated ∼3.5‐fold. In contrast, levels of RNA coding for multidrug resistance protein 2 (MRP2), which transports GSH into bile, are half wild‐type values. We found no change in RNA levels of enzymes related to oxidative injury (CuZn and Mn superoxide dismutases [SOD], catalase, and glutathione peroxidase). Similarly, RNA levels of glutathione reductase and ribonucleotide reductase were unchanged. Furthermore, in contrast to previous in vitro results, methyl methanesulfonate did not induce stress‐activated signal transduction as measured by c‐jun phosphorylation in livers of GGT‐deficient mice, despite further depletion of GSH by buthionine sulfoximine. Our findings indicate that GGT deficiency itself and/or altered thiol levels regulate expression of genes involved in GSH metabolism, but have no effect on the expression of other antioxidant genes.


This paper demonstrates the ability of the Smart Spring to suppress helicopter blade vibration through numerical simulation and experimental investigation. Mechanical shaker tests on a Bell-212 helicopter blade section verified the impedance control properties and the ability to suppress blade vibration using the Smart Spring proof-of-concept hardware. More importantly, the tests conducted in a wind tunnel proved the performance of the Smart Spring under highly varying unsteady excitation conditions. These tests confirmed that the Smart Spring system is able to actively suppress helicopter vibration through adaptive control of blade impedance properties.


A construction of various immersed Klein bottles that belong to different regular homotopy classes, and which thus cannot be smoothly transformed into one another, is introduced. It is shown how these shapes can be partitioned into two Mobius bands and how the twistedness of these bands defines the homotopy type. Some wild and artistic variants of Klein bottles are presented for their aesthetic appeal and to serve as study objects for analysis.


Women with normal gestation and with gestosis and diabetes and newborns exposed to chronic intrauterine hypoxia were examined in order to elucidate the diagnostic value of measuring the content of low- and medium-weight molecules (MWM) in the urine in some obstetrical and gynecological abnormalities. Urinary content of MWM was increased at late terms of pregnancy (25-40 weeks). In first-degree nephropathy and type I diabetes without vascular complications the content of MWM in the urine did not change. A drop of MWM level was observed in second-third-degree nephropathy and proteinuria, which can be attributed to impaired function of the kidneys. In healthy newborns no differences in MWM content were detected during the first day of life, but in newborns exposed to chronic intrauterine hypoxia MWM level was increased. Hence, measurement of MWM level in the urine can have prognostic significance in diseases involving gestosis and fetal hypoxia.


This interdisciplinary research critically investigated the design qualities of multisensory
stimulation offered in homes caring for residents with dementia. The
aesthetic and functional qualities currently provided such as material, colour,
imagery, spatial set-up, usability, and accessibility were examined and reasons
and criteria for success and failure of existing multisensory environment (MSE)
facilities established. 16 care homes with some type of MSE participated in a
study. Data were collected through structured interviews with 32 care home staff
(managers, activity co-ordinators, care staff) familiar with the MSE and observations
were made of the point of view of the person with dementia. Design
recommendations have been developed and presented in a guide book accessible
online. The guide gives advice on best practice of providing multisensory
stimulation and how to design a MSE suitable and appropriate for people with
dementia.


We present a new code for astrophysical magnetohydrodynamics specifically designed and optimized for high performance and scaling on modern and future supercomputers. We describe a novel hybrid OpenMP/MPI programming model that emerged from a collaboration between Cray, Inc. and the University of Minnesota. This design utilizes MPI-RMA optimized for thread scaling, which allows the code to run extremely efficiently at very high thread counts ideal for the latest generation of multi-core and many-core architectures. Such performance characteristics are needed in the era of "exascale" computing. We describe and demonstrate our high-performance design in detail with the intent that it may be used as a model for other, future astrophysical codes intended for applications demanding exceptional performance.


EDITOR,-We read with interest the report by Richardson and Schulenburg' describing a patient with congenital mydriasis, and would like to contribute such another case to the literature. In June 1992, a 4-year-old boy who had suffered photophobia in the left eye since infancy was referred to our hospital. His medical and family histories were unremarkable. Visual acuity was 20/20 right eye and 20/25 left eye. Ocular motility was normal. Both pupils were round, but the pupillary diameters were 3-5 mm right eye and 75 mm left eye in a lighted room. The right pupil reacted briskly to light and accommodation, whereas the left pupil reacted to neither stimulus as confirmed by infrared pupillography. The other ophthalmic, neurological, and general examinations were all normal. Additional tests, including a head computed tomography scan, were normal. On pharmacological testing with 1% pilocarpine, the right pupillary diameter decreased from 3-5 to 2-5 mm, but the left diameter did not change. With 1% cyclopentolate the right pupillary diameter increased from 3-5 to 6-5 mm, and the left diameter increased from 7-5 to 8-5 mm. The refractive values increased from + 1-25 to +2-5 D in the right eye, and from +1-75 to +3-00 D in the left; but, after pretreatment with a topical prostaglandin inhibitor (indomethacin), the left pupillary diameter did not increase owing to cyclopentolate. Infrared video transillumination in the sphincter zone showed no distinctive difference between the


Metaphor is highly frequent in language, which makes its computational processing indispensable for real-world NLP applications addressing semantic tasks. Previous approaches to metaphor modeling rely on task-specific hand-coded knowledge and operate on a limited domain or a subset of phenomena. We present the first integrated open-domain statistical model of metaphor processing in unrestricted text. Our method first identifies metaphorical expressions in running text and then paraphrases them with their literal paraphrases. Such a text-to-text model of metaphor interpretation is compatible with other NLP applications that can benefit from metaphor resolution. Our approach is minimally supervised, relies on the state-of-the-art parsing and lexical acquisition technologies (distributional clustering and selectional preference induction), and operates with a high accuracy.


In the field of forestry, the output of forest growth models provide a wealth of detailed information that can often be difficult to analyze and perceive due to presentation either as plain text summary tables or static stand visualizations. This thesis describes the design and implementation of a cross-platform computer application for dynamic and interactive forest stand visualization, titled Sylview. Sylview allows users to visualize many aspects of forest stands from overall stand makeup to wood quality characteristics of individual trees. From these visualizations the user can infer the effects of different stand management practices. A primary focus in the design of the Sylview is usability. Sylview features a simple, interactive interface and intuitive visualizations focusing on legibility. As part of the development of Sylview a new data structure was designed for the efficient retrieval of required data, which will also be applied to future growth model development.


The prevailing lifestyle pattern in western society results in humans spending the majority of non-sleeping hours in the postprandial state. Given that impaired postprandial metabolism may have adverse consequences for health, interventions that positively influence the postprandial milieu are pertinent considering the global rise in prevalence of chronic metabolic disorders. The aim of this thesis was to investigate whether consumption of whey protein, which has reported beneficial properties relevant to metabolic health, could impact favourably upon acute and second-meal postprandial metabolic and appetite responses. More specifically, a series of studies was designed to establish the conditions under which a rationale for whey protein supplementation may be strongest, through investigation of co-ingestion with other macronutrients, timing of supplementation and interactions with low-moderate intensity exercise.

Study one revealed that consuming whey (20 g) alongside a high-carbohydrate or high-fat breakfast significantly augmented the plasma insulin response to that meal in physically active, normal-weight males, without significantly affecting postprandial glycaemia, lipaemia or subjective appetite. Whey protein consumption at breakfast did not affect second meal responses or 24-hour glycaemia when co-ingested with either macronutrient. Study two compared the effects of the same dose of protein administered before, during or after a mixed-macronutrient breakfast in centrally-obese males. Consuming whey as a preload 15 minutes prior to breakfast significantly reduced postprandial glycaemia compared to consuming it afterwards or not at all, with evidence indicating that insulin-independent mechanisms may be responsible. Again, prior whey consumption, irrespective of timing, did not influence glycaemic, insulinaemic or appetite profiles following a standard lunch meal. The final study investigated the effects of a post-exercise whey protein preload on postprandial metabolism and appetite in physically inactive, centrally-obese males. Postprandial glycaemia was moderately impaired following brisk walking exercise without supplemental protein, however this effect was negated when exercise was followed by a whey preload, with a reduced peak glycaemic excursion observed compared to other conditions. Ad libitum energy intake, assessed at lunch, did not differ between conditions.

This thesis has shown that whey protein supplementation at breakfast may acutely influence postprandial glycaemia in centrally-obese individuals, however this beneficial effect is not carried over to subsequent meal occasions. Timing of protein intake appears to be important, and this effect is not diminished by prior walking exercise in previously sedentary individuals. Further studies to investigate the effects of whey protein supplementation at multiple meals are required to determine whether this may be a worthwhile strategy to prevent day-long elevated glycaemic exposure.


The Department devotes a large proportion of its resources to research in economics and to the training of advanced students in research. The research and training activities are organized on a continuing basis in research groups. Each research group consists of one or more faculty members and a few advanced students working together on closely related individual and group research endeavors. Student members both receive individual instruction and participate in the research seminars and staff meetings of the group.


"Medieval" or "Middle Ages" generally refers to the history of Europe from roughly the mid-fifth century to the end of the fifteenth century (450-1500).


Introduction In early October 2015, the health facility in Mahama, a refugee camp for Burundians, began to record an increase in the incidence of a disease characterized by fever, chills and abdominal pain. The investigation of the outbreak confirmed Salmonella Typhi as the cause. A case-control study was conducted to identify risk factors for the disease. Methods A retrospective matched case-control study was conducted between January and February 2016. Data were obtained through a survey of matched cases and controls, based on an epidemiological case definition and environmental assessment. Odd ratios were calculated to determine the risk factors associated with typhoid fever. Results Overall, 260 cases and 770 controls were enrolled in the study. Findings from the multivariable logistic regression identified that having a family member who had been infected with S. Typhi in the last 3 months (OR 2.7; p < 0.001), poor awareness of typhoid fever (OR 1.6; p = 0.011), inconsistent hand washing after use of the latrine (OR 1.8; p = 0.003), eating food prepared at home (OR 2.8; p < 0.001) or at community market (OR 11.4; p = 0.005) were risk factors for typhoid fever transmission. Environmental assessments established the local sorghum beer and yoghurt were contaminated with yeast, aerobic flora, coliforms or Staphylococcus. Conclusion These findings highlight the need of reinforcement of hygiene promotion, food safety regulations, hygiene education for beverage and food handlers in community market and intensification of environmental interventions to break the transmission of S.Typhi in Mahama.


Health and health promotion have become salient topics in American society in the 1980's. Still there is little consensus on what is meant by the term "health promotion," in what ways children and adolescents should be a targeted group, or whether such activities are appropriate for schools. This paper proposes a concept of health promotion as an intervention modality, based on a clarification of the notion of health and the efforts needed to foster improved health. The relevance of health promotion efforts to the school setting is argued from three perspectives. Three levels of analysis for conceptualizing school health promotion programs are then proposed and involve the school environment, student personality characteristics, and student behavior. The question of accomplishing changes in health-related behavior through the schools is addressed through changes that are accomplished at each of these three levels. The exploration of this change process through particular theoretical attributes at each of these levels forms the basis for designing and evaluating strategies for effective school health promotion programs. Finally, the relationship between the school and the extra-school environment is proposed as a final area for research in school health promotion.


Scientists searching for extraterrestrial life forms have recently begun to focus their attention on a group of icy bodies in the outer solar system. These satellites, particularly Europa, Enceladus, Titan and Triton, are thought to contain both organic molecules and liquid water, and, unlike the organic-rich comets and meteorites of the inner solar system, may also have suitable energy sources for simple organic chemistry to proceed. Key energy sources on the icy satellites include radioactive heating and tidal energy production driven by the interaction of the satellites with the gravitational fields of nearby bodies. Although the amount of energy generated by each of these processes is as yet unknown, modelling exercises have suggested that either may be sufficient to melt substantial parts of the satellites' interiors and provide a sub-surface ocean suitable for extraterrestrial life to develop. Understanding energy sources on icy satellites, therefore, is important for astrobiology, as well as potentially contributing to our understanding of the geomorphology and surface evolution of those bodies. This article investigates the key energy sources on the active satellites of the outer solar system, and assesses their potential for supporting life.


An optical topological transition is defined as the change in the photonic isofrequency surface around epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) frequencies which can considerably change the spontaneous emission of a quantum emitter placed near a metamaterial slab. Here, we show that due to the strong Kerr nonlinearity at ENZ frequencies, a high power pulse can induce a sudden transition in the topology of the iso-frequency dispersion curve, leading to a significant change in the transmission of propagating as well as evanescent waves through the metamaterial slab. This evanescent wave switch effect allows for the control of spontaneous emission through modulation of the Purcell effect. We develop a theory of the enhanced nonlinear response of ENZ media to s and p polarized inputs and show that this nonlinear effect is stronger for p polarization and is almost independent of the incident angle. We perform finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations to demonstrate the transient response of the metamaterial slab to an ultrafast pulse and fast switching of the Purcell effect at the sub-picosecond scale. The Purcell factor changes at ENZ by almost a factor of three which is an order of magnitude stronger than that away from ENZ. We also show that due to the inhomogeneous spatial field distribution inside the multilayer metal-dielectric super-lattice, a unique spatial topological transition metamaterial can be achieved by the control pulse induced nonlinearity. Our work can lead to ultra-fast control of quantum phenomena in ENZ metamaterials.


Education budget limitations in the province of Quebec have led to a narrowed focus on math and the hard sciences in public schools at the expense of physical education programmes, reducing the amount of exercise time set aside for youth. This reduction is reflected in the amount of time allocated to physical education in schools and the growing youth inactivity that will eventually lead to youth obesity and an expensive health care problem. This thesis examined ways in which available technology--specifically a blended learning approach involving multimedia and classic physical education class--can be employed to increase student time on task by reducing demonstration and instruction time by the teacher during class time. It examined criticisms and studies of blended learning and used these to determine a proper mix of technology and classic instruction that would best make use of available time. Badminton was the sport selected during this six-week study. One hundred students were separated into two control groups and two experiment groups and completed a junior level badminton course. The control groups were under a regular structured badminton class, while the experimental groups utilized a badminton website specially created to augment the regular classroom instruction. At the end of the study the students underwent a badminton performance and knowledge test in order to evaluate whether or not significant differences existed between groups. The results indicated that a blended online learning approach to badminton was more effective than the traditional method of teaching badminton. The experimental groups as a whole out performed the control groups in both written and practical tests, with a total mean score of 24.72, compared to 20.66.


Metabolic syndrome is defined by a constellation of interconnected physiological, biochemical, clinical, and metabolic factors that directly increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and all-cause mortality. Recently, studies demonstrated that elevated high-sensitivity C-reactive protein concentration has emerged as an independent predictor of cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was evaluating of association between components of metabolic syndrome and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein in patients with metabolic syndrome compared with healthy persons. In a cross sectional case control study, 150 patients with metabolic syndrome compared with 150 healthy persons enrolled. Body mass index, waist circumference, fasting blood glucose, blood pressure, lipids, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein were measured. Metabolic syndrome was defined by According to guidelines from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the American Heart Association. In this study, mean ± SD high-sensitivity C-reactive protein concentration in metabolic syndrome and in healthy persons were 2.44 ± 0.16 mg/dl and 1.69 ± 0.31mg/dl respectively so that there was significant difference between two groups (p=0.02). Sensitivity of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein in metabolic syndrome was 68% and other metabolic components were waist circumference 93%, blood pressure 98%, TG 81%, fasting blood glucose 98% and high density lipoprotein 21%. Sensitivity of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein in comparison with other components was significant. There was a significant close relationship between high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and metabolic syndrome components. This observation may in part account for the association of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein with markers of the metabolic syndrome. These data suggest that measurement of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein with other metabolic components have clinically important prognostic information and strong predictor of metabolic syndrome.


Aims—Strong thyroglobulin immunoreactivity within sinus histiocytes in a lymph node draining a papillary thyroid carcinoma was observed in a recent case. This prompted the investigation of whether thyroglobulin immunoreactivity is common in regional lymph nodes in cases of thyroid malignancy. Methods—Eighty seven lymph nodes were studied from 21 cases of thyroid malignancy. These comprised papillary carcinoma (n = 12), follicular carcinoma (n = 4), medullary carcinoma (n = 3), and one case each of squamous and anaplastic carcinoma. Eleven cervical lymph nodes from patients with no evidence of thyroid disease were included as controls. Sections were stained with a monoclonal antibody against thyroglobulin. Results—In the cases of thyroid malignancy, 32 of 87 lymph nodes showed positive staining for thyroglobulin of histiocytes within the subcapsular and medullary sinuses. In an additional four cases, there was positive staining of lymph within lymphatic channels. Positivity was present in at least one node in 15 of 21 cases. There was no positivity in the control cases. There was no correlation between the size of the primary tumour and the presence of thyroglobulin positivity. Conclusions—Positive staining with antithyroglobulin occurs not uncommonly in sinus histiocytes in lymph nodes draining thyroid tumours. This positivity could be the result of the destruction of normal thyroid follicles, with the release of thyroglobulin, which is taken up by histiocytes, which subsequently drain to local lymph nodes. Pathologists should be aware of this phenomenon and should be careful not to interpret this as metastatic tumour.


found when he began to investigate the significance of delay; but he has certainly made a profound study of the subject and written a most instructive and helpful book. The problem is a difficult one because of the number of variable factors-the site of the tumour, the organs affected, the characteristics of the tumour and of the host and of the environment. Dr. Sutherland has not evaded these difficulties: he has faced them squarely one by one. And at the end of each chapter is a long summary and an even longer list of references. The book itself might be summarized by the last sentence but one in the last chapter, which reads as follows: "Although our knowledge of the causes of delay is far from complete, we know enough to. at least reduce delay and thus to save or prolong lives that at present are unnecessarily or prematurely lost. We shall be culpably negligent if we fail to act." CUTHBERT DUKES.


In Intelligent Transport Systems, Cooperative Collision Avoidance (CCA) by active communication systems is increasingly drawing more attention in the research community. Particularly, in order to minimize the number of situations where high speeds can lead to severe consequences in case of accident. When two or more vehicles are involved in such events, it is necessary to reach a common agreement very quickly that can serve all of them to minimize the risk of collision, and whenever it is unavoidable, to reduce its impact on the occupants. Depending on the vehicle-to-vehicle distances, the relative speeds and other factors such as the position and inertia of each car at the instant of triggering the evasive maneuver, different situations can eventually occur. Actually, the sensitivity of vehicular maneuvers under these circumstances is very high, thus being important to analyze the impact on performance of the given safety application. In this paper, we conduct a brief sensitivity study of a CCA application that involves several vehicles that have to avoid the collision against an obstacle on the road, while circulating at very high speeds. Results show how significant it is for the safety control the accuracy in the measurements and the fast common response to the incidence.


Having close proximity to world's most productive tuna fishing grounds and with limited formal employment choices, most Pacific Islands countries see the labour intensive nature of tuna fishing and processing as extremely important means to support their economic development. Whether this economic development is equitable and fair and benefits both men and women equally or whether it creates greater disparity has always been a concern. Many Pacific Island countries are a party to several international agreements and have formulated national policies to support the advancement of women and to eliminate gender discrimination. Have these addressed women's concerns in the tuna industry or supported labour and fisheries policies to be more sensitive to their needs?
Using Fiji as a case study, employment in the tuna industry is investigated with emphasis on identifying problems and prospects for women and where policy intervention might be most effective given that several studies have raised concerns about employment conditions and inequitable policies. The paper points out that there are other external factors that have a strong bearing on the productivity and profitability of the industry which in turn directly impact on employment opportunities that become available to women. Understanding these factors can provide a more balanced and realistic approach to address gender issues in the tuna industry. The study argues that gender policies for the tuna industry must be aligned within this broader context in order to effectively address women's vulnerabilities, concerns and aspirations, otherwise they may be ineffective and may in turn disadvantage women further.


The effect of acute intravenous dopamine (DA) administration at three sequential (but randomized) infusion rates was studied in eight young male volunteers. DA was infused at 2.5, 5, and 10 micrograms.kg-1.min-1. O2 consumption (VO2) and CO2 production (VCO2) were measured continuously by means of a computerized indirect calorimeter (blood system). In response to the 5- and 10-micrograms.kg-1.min-1 DA infusion rates, a significant increase (P less than 0.01) in VO2 corresponding to a 6% (range, 3-10) and 15% (range, 12-23) increase, respectively, of preinfusion values was observed. In contrast, at the low dose (2.5 micrograms.kg-1.min-1), DA induced no significant change in VO2. Cardiac output (Qc) increased significantly after the three DA administration rates [19% (range, 0-42), 34% (range, 17-71), and 25% (range, -3 to +47)] for the doses 2.5, 5, and 10 micrograms.-kg-1.min-1, respectively. The increase in O2 delivery (QO2) outweighed VO2 at all administration rates despite the relative drop in QO2 at the maximal DA administration rate. These results indicate that in humans DA improves net O2 supply to tissues proportionally more than it increases VO2 at all doses used in the present study.


The problem of error-control in random linear network coding is considered. A ldquononcoherentrdquo or ldquochannel obliviousrdquo model is assumed where neither transmitter nor receiver is assumed to have knowledge of the channel transfer characteristic. Motivated by the property that linear network coding is vector-space preserving, information transmission is modeled as the injection into the network of a basis for a vector space V and the collection by the receiver of a basis for a vector space U. A metric on the projective geometry associated with the packet space is introduced, and it is shown that a minimum-distance decoder for this metric achieves correct decoding if the dimension of the space V capU is sufficiently large. If the dimension of each codeword is restricted to a fixed integer, the code forms a subset of a finite-field Grassmannian, or, equivalently, a subset of the vertices of the corresponding Grassmann graph. Sphere-packing and sphere-covering bounds as well as a generalization of the singleton bound are provided for such codes. Finally, a Reed-Solomon-like code construction, related to Gabidulin's construction of maximum rank-distance codes, is described and a Sudan-style ldquolist-1rdquo minimum-distance decoding algorithm is provided.


SUMMARY: Recent observations are considered to provide further evidence for an abnormality involving motoneurones in DMD. The dystrophic process appears to take place in two stages of which the first occurs during early embryonic life. This stage is thought to involve faulty inductive actions of the neural tube upon mesoderm and upon itself. The neural consequences vary among individuals and are manifested as mental retardation, EEG abnormalities and losses of functioning motor units. While the first two abnormalities are non-progressive, a further loss of motor units, associated with striking reductions in the numbers of excitable muscle fibers, takes place in trunk and large limb muscles at 9-12 years. The latter process, the cause of which is uncertain, constitutes the second stage of DMD.


Independent component analysis separates latent sources from a linear mixture by assuming sources are statistically independent. In real world applications, hidden sources are usually non-Gaussian and have dependence among samples. In such case, both attributes should be considered jointly to obtain a successful separation. To capture sample dependence, a latent source is sometimes modeled by autoregressive or moving average models with an independent and identically distributed error or residual. However, these models are limited by assuming only linear dependence among a source's samples. This paper proposes a new blind source separation algorithm based on an autoregressive-autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (AR-ARCH) model, which captures linear correlations, non-Gaussianity, and squared residuals' dependence. The AR part of the AR-ARCH model captures the correlation among samples. The ARCH part of the model captures the non-Gaussianity and nonlinear dependence among samples. The ARCH model also assumes the time-varying conditional variances for sources. We derive the Cramér Rao lower bound (CRLB) for the mixing matrix based on the AR-ARCH model. We perform simulations on both synthetic and real data. The results show that the proposed method outperforms the baseline algorithms especially for a small number of samples and approaches the CRLB.


We consider the vehicle routing problem with resource constraints motivated by a home health care application. We propose a branch and price algorithm to solve the problem. In our problem, we consider different types of patients that require a nurse or a health aid or both. The patients can be serviced by the appropriate vehicles that may carry a nurse, or a health aid or both. The number of nurses and health aids are limited. We also need to satisfy time window constraints for each patient. We try to find feasible routes to minimize the total distance travelled. Our proposed branch and price scheme utilizes a label correcting algorithm with ng-relaxation and a heuristic pricing method. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm on random problem instances that we have generated based on Solomon instances upto 100 patients.


Background The standard approach for evaluating the effects of population-level substance use prevention efforts on youth and young adult perceptions and behaviors has been to compare outcomes across states using national surveillance data. Novel surveillance methods that follow individuals over shorter time intervals and capture awareness of substance use prevention policy and communication efforts may provide a stronger basis for their evaluation than annual cross-sectional studies. Objective This study aimed to identify a combination of strategies to recruit a sample of youth and young adults sufficiently representative of the Vermont population and determine how best to retain a web-based panel of youth and young adults over a 6-month period. Methods Eligible participants were Vermont residents aged 12 to 25 years who were willing to complete three 10 to 15-minute web-based surveys over a 6-month period. Recruitment was conducted via the following three main mechanisms: (1) web-based recruitment (paid and unpaid), (2) community-based recruitment through partners, and (3) participant referrals via a personalized link. Upon completion of the baseline survey, participants were randomly assigned to one of the following three retention incentive conditions: (1) guaranteed incentive (US $10), (2) lottery incentive (US $50 weekly lottery drawing), and (3) preferred method (guaranteed or lottery). Analyses examined cost per survey start by recruitment source, distribution of demographic characteristics across incentive conditions, and retention by study condition at 3-month and 6-month follow-ups. Results Over a 10-week period in 2019, we recruited 480 eligible youth (aged 12-17 years) and 1037 eligible young adults (aged 18-25 years) to the Policy and Communication Evaluation (PACE) Vermont Study. Facebook and Instagram advertising produced the greatest number of survey starts (n=2013), followed by posts to a state-wide web-based neighborhood forum (n=822) and Google advertisements (n=749). Retention was 78.11% (1185/1517) at 3 months and 72.18% (1095/1517) at 6 months. Retention was equivalent across all incentive study conditions at both waves, despite a strong stated preference among study participants for the guaranteed payment at baseline. Youth had greater retention than young adults at both waves (wave 2: 395/480, 82.3% vs 790/1037, 76.18%; wave 3: 366/480, 76.3% vs 729/1037, 70.30%). Substance use prevalence in this cohort was similar to national and state-level surveillance estimates for young adults, but was lower than state-level surveillance estimates for youth. Most participants retained at wave 3 provided positive qualitative feedback on their experience. Conclusions Our study supports the feasibility of recruiting a web-based cohort of youth and young adults with representation across an entire state to evaluate substance use prevention efforts. Findings suggest that a guaranteed payment immediately upon survey completion coupled with a bonus for completing all survey waves and weekly survey reminders may facilitate retention in a cohort of youth and young adults.


This paper describes a web-based system that integrates knowledge management and decision-making features to enable short-term communities of practice develop manufacturing strategy. The system is based on a well-defined model of the problem domain, which builds on organizational activities and resources and their association with the main strategic objectives of the manufacturing function (i.e., cost, flexibility, dependability, speed and quality). Managers involved in the strategy development process may assert their positions towards the issue under consideration, while they may also argue in favor or against positions set by their peers. By stimulating knowledge elicitation, the system captures the informal organizational memory and rationale, and builds a well-structured knowledge graph. In addition, exploiting reasoning mechanisms triggered each time a user inserts a new piece of knowledge in the graph, the system is able to recommend a solution at each dialogue instance. The overall framework proposed in this paper can be used for distributed, asynchronous collaboration for strategy formulation, allowing users to surpass the requirements of being in the same place and working at the same time.


This study applies Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to netcage fish-farming. The UAV can fly thru cages along a predefined route. At each cage, the UAV can automatically drop sensors to collect the environment data around the cage. However, low cost commercial or assembled drone might not have precise Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). Also, there are many uncertain factors cause Global Positional System (GPS) instability, like weather, location...etc. The main idea of this study is using GPS to guide the drone to approximated location of each cage. Then, apply image recognition to obtain the net-cage and UAV relative position. After that, the drone can utilize this information to adjust its position to the desired target. In this study we use fully assembled drone that is controlled by the Pixhawk, and the main processing platform is the Raspberry Pi3.


A laboratory class was designed for the study of the ecology of amylolytic bacteria in soil, although other sources may be equally suitable for this purpose. Groups of three students carried out the following: (a) preparation and sterilization of medium and plates, (b) collection and preparation of soil samples, spreading the samples on the plates, (c) incubation of the plates at 37 degrees C overnight, a further 1 h incubation at 60 degrees C to observe amylolytic activity due to thermophilic bacteria, and (d) interpretation and discussion of the results. These tasks are accomplished in two periods of 4h on consecutive days. No sophisticated instruments are required for these experiments, which can be carried out in three classes of 4h each. On the first day the students prepare culture media, buffers and reagents, as well as collect and grow soil samples. The second day is spent for both taxonomic identification of colonies and the HAI determination.


Nanocrystalline thin films of nickel oxide (NiO) have been deposited on glass substrates in polyvinylpyrrolidon (PVP) matrix solution by chemical bath deposition technique. The films have been annealed at 373 K–573 K and changes in their optical properties have been studied. Investigation reveals that the optical properties of the films have been irregularly influenced by heat treatment. They show varied transmittance for different annealing temperatures making them useful for applications in optoelectronic devices. The structural property of the films has been obtained by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), while the elemental composition has been deduced from Rutherford back scattering spectroscopy (RBS). XRD analyses of the film annealed at 375 K show that the films are crystallized and have rhombohedral structure. The crystallite size of the film has been determined and found to be 89.90 nm. The films band gaps range from 2.30 eV – 2.95 eV, which are lower than that of their solid materials. This however makes them useful for antireflection coatings and other applications.


Although children have been considered central to family law for some time, the discussion of children's rights is still controversial and the methodology for advocating on behalf of children contested. Modern accounts of how to best uphold the interests of children are based on one of three models. Parents are either designated the fiduciaries best positioned to protect the interests of children, or the state is deemed responsible for intervening to protect the rights of children, or theorists and lawmakers look to decipher children's own voices and perspectives in order to develop child-centered advocacy. These three perspectives often stand in opposition to each other and result in children's rights being articulated in the midst of struggle and dissonance. The best interests standard most often relied upon to protect children's interests is amorphous and subject to internal conflict and manipulation. Moreover, it is based on competing interests and factors and subject to differing perspectives based on the three models for how to best protect children. In this Article, I argue that none of the three models do enough to advance children's advocacy. Instead, I argue for a children's rights perspective that focuses on what children need most — relationships. Leaning on empirical and psychological studies, I argue that these relationships bring children to maturity, provide them with the care upon which they depend, and provide the context through which their rights should be viewed. In order to keep relationships central to the legal treatment of children, I advocate for the theoretical shift from an individualist account of rights to a relational account of rights and interests of children. In advancing this relational approach, I propose three guiding principles to reshape family law in a manner that focuses on supporting children's relationships. First, I argue that while family law currently serves children only upon the breakdown of care relationships, in reality, relationships need ongoing support much earlier. Social welfare programs as well as emotional, educational, and financial support should be directed at supporting relationships, particularly at-risk relationships, to prevent crises. Second, I describe how children have a variety of relationships upon which they depend. A variety of significant relationships should be recognized to coexist alongside each other in a differentiated manner that considers the relative harm and benefits from relationships and their disruption. Third, I argue that effectuating children's civil rights and the propriety of state interference with parental discretion needs to be examined within the context of ongoing relationships. When state interference with parents to protect the rights of children harms significant care relationships, the state must tread cautiously. However, when significant care relationships are not threatened, the civil rights of individual children can be more readily realized.


BACKGROUND
There are few studies of pregnancy and delivery in patients with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). The purpose of this study was to investigate maternal and fetal outcome in these patients.

METHODS AND RESULTS
Six pregnant women with an ICD were retrospectively reviewed. All women underwent implantation of an ICD before pregnancy and delivered at the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center. The mean age at pregnancy and the mean follow-up period after ICD implantation were 28±3 years old and 5±3 years, respectively. There was no device-related complication during pregnancy. In 4 women, the number of tachyarrhythmias such as non-sustained ventricular tachycardia increased after the end of the second trimester of pregnancy and anti-arrhythmic medications were gradually increased. No patient received discharges or shocks from the ICD during pregnancy, however, and only one required anti-tachycardia pacing at 27 weeks' gestation. Mean gestational age at delivery was 37±2 weeks and all deliveries were by cesarean section, including 5 as emergency deliveries due to a fetal indication. After delivery, 2 mothers had reduced cardiac function and 1 received an ICD shock for the first time.

CONCLUSIONS
Pregnancy did not increase the risk of an ICD-related complication under appropriate management. Additional caution might be required in the postpartum period as well as during pregnancy and labor.


The present study describes the wear and mechanical behaviour of some carbide composites (TiC-base cermets and WC-base hardmetals) in cyclic loading applications (blanking of sheet metal). Adhesive wear as well as fatigue endurance were tested, followed by XRD measurements. The results show that the blanking performance of a carbide composite is dependent on its level of resistance to adhesion wear and fatigue sensitivity. XRD measurement revealed that fatigue damage is preceded by plastic strain in both the ductile binder and the brittle carbide phase.


The COVID-19 mRNA vaccine is the first mRNA vaccine approved for human administration by both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency. Studies have shown that the immune response and the decay of immunity after vaccination with the COVID-19 vaccines are variable within a population. Host genetic factors probably contribute to this variability. In this study, we investigated the effect of the single-nucleotide polymorphisms rs12252 and rs34481144 in the interferon-induced transmembrane protein (IFITM) 3 gene on the humoral immune response after vaccination against COVID-19 with mRNA vaccines. Blood samples were collected from 1893 healthcare workers and medical students at multiple time points post-vaccination and antibody titers against the SARS-CoV-2 S1 protein receptor binding domain were determined at all time points. All participants were genotyped for the rs34481144 and rs12252 polymorphisms in the IFITM3 gene. After the second and third vaccinations, antibody titer levels increased at one month and decreased at six months (p < 0.0001) and were higher after the booster vaccination than after the basic immunization (p < 0.0001). Participants vaccinated with mRNA-1273 had a higher humoral immune response than participants vaccinated with BNT162b2. rs12252 had no effect on the antibody response. In contrast, carriers of the GG genotype in rs34481144 vaccinated with BNT162b2 had a lower humoral immune response compared to A allele carriers, which reached statistical significance on the day of the second vaccination (p = 0.03) and one month after the second vaccination (p = 0.04). Further studies on the influence of rs12252 and rs34481144 on the humoral immune response after vaccination against COVID-19 are needed.


Abstract Monitoring studies in Strzaliny, one of the greatest hibernacula in Poland, comprised 31 annual bat censuses (1989–2019). The abundance peaked in 2002 for Myotis myotis, 2009 for Myotis nattereri and 2008 for the whole assemblage. Comparison of the maximum abundance in the monitoring period with that from 1980 to 1982 showed an almost fourfold increase for the whole assemblage, tenfold increase for M. nattereri and fourfold increase for M. myotis. In 1989–2019, the numbers of M. myotis, M. nattereri, Myotis daubentonii and Plecotus auritus were fluctuating, but most of the recorded changes could not be explained by methodological problems or a direct human impact. Therefore, the cumulative results largely reflected the real trends in the species abundance. A long-term upward trend in the whole bat assemblage was recognisable, but with a stable or slightly decreasing phase in the last decade. An upward trend in M. nattereri was even stronger and has only slightly flattened recently. In M. myotis, the trend was clearly upwards up to the early 2000s, but weakly downwards in the following years. In M. daubentonii and P. auritus, no significant trend was determined. In strongly fluctuating M. daubentonii, the numbers were mostly moderate or high, and even increasing, up to 2008 and only moderate or low in the following years. In P. auritus, an increase occurred in the 1980s and early 1990s, and then, after the stochastic human-induced drop in 1994, its abundance remained relatively stable. The population trends in Strzaliny largely reflected the general trends assessed for a large part of Europe. This suggests that the general population trends may be recognisable even in one large winter assemblage if it is reliably and consistently monitored through a long period. In this context, the hibernaculum in Strzaliny appeared to be a model object for such studies.


Abstract This article seeks to explore the construction of group and professional identities in situations of organizational change. It considers empirical material drawn from a health demonstration project funded by the Scottish Executive Health Department, and uses insights from this project to discuss issues that arise from identity construction(s) and organizational change. In the course of the project studied here, a new organizational form was developed which involved a network arrangement with a voluntary sector organization and the employment of "lay-workers" in what had traditionally been a professional setting. Our analysis of the way actors made sense of their identities reveals that characterizations of both self and other became barriers to the change process. These identity dynamics were significant in determining the way people interpreted and responded to change within this project and which may relate to other change-oriented situations.


Brain disorders can impair physical and cognitive functions necessary for safe driving. Two hundred people with brain disorders referred for a driving assessment were recruited and their performance on a computerized battery of sensory-motor and cognitive tests (SMCTests) and a blinded on-road assessment determined. Based on SMCTests performance, binary logistic regression (BLR) and nonlinear causal resource analysis (NCRA) models classified on-road pass or fail with 70% accuracy. Greater accuracy could be achieved by splitting referrals into two groups: (1) Dementia and (2) Non-dementia-related brain disorders. BLR models classified on-road driving outcome as pass or fail with accuracies of 76% (Dementia) and 75% (Non-dementia), while NCRA models had accuracies of 77% (Dementia) and 80% (Non-dementia). Measures of attention were most critical for predicting driving ability in the dementia group. In the non-dementia group, prediction of driving ability was most accurate with assessment of a broader range of sensory-motor and cognitive functions. Compared to BLR, NCRA was able to identify and use additional measures to improve accuracy. NCRA is also better able to accommodate outliers due to it being a non-linear modelling method based upon individual performance-limiting impairments. We propose three main factors underlying sub-optimal prediction of driving ability based on SMCTests performance: (1) there are one or more functions important for driving ability which are not currently assessed with SMCTests – these could be sensory-motor or cognitive or other (e.g., attitude, confidence, insight, road code knowledge); (2) suboptimal classification/prediction techniques or models; or (3) inaccuracies in the on-road driving assessments.


We present the Minigrid and Miniworld libraries which provide a suite of goal-oriented 2D and 3D environments. The libraries were explicitly created with a minimalistic design paradigm to allow users to rapidly develop new environments for a wide range of research-specific needs. As a result, both have received widescale adoption by the RL community, facilitating research in a wide range of areas. In this paper, we outline the design philosophy, environment details, and their world generation API. We also showcase the additional capabilities brought by the unified API between Minigrid and Miniworld through case studies on transfer learning (for both RL agents and humans) between the different observation spaces. The source code of Minigrid and Miniworld can be found at https://github.com/Farama-Foundation/{Minigrid, Miniworld} along with their documentation at https://{minigrid, miniworld}.farama.org/.


We present the Macquarie/AAO/Strasbourg Hα Planetary Nebula Catalogue (MASH) of over 900 true, likely and possible new Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe) discovered from the AAO/UKST Hα survey of the southern Galactic plane. The combination of depth, resolution, uniformity and areal coverage of the Hα survey has opened up a hitherto unexplored region of parameter space permitting the detection of this significant new PN sample. Away from the Galactic bulge the new PNe are typically more evolved, of larger angular extent, of lower surface brightness and more obscured (i.e. extinguished) than those in most previous surveys. We have also doubled the number of PNe in the Galactic bulge itself and although most are compact, we have also found more evolved examples. The MASH catalogue represents the culmination of a seven-year programme of identification and confirmatory spectroscopy. A key strength is that the entire sample has been derived from the same, uniform observational data. The 60 per cent increase in known Galactic PNe represents the largest ever incremental sample of such discoveries and will have a significant impact on many aspects of PN research. This is especially important for studies at the faint end of the PN luminosity function which was previously poorly represented.


Abstract Various studies show that statistical machine translation (SMT) systems suffer from fluency errors, especially in the form of grammatical errors and errors related to idiomatic word choices. In this study, we investigate the effectiveness of using monolingual information contained in the machine-translated text to estimate word-level quality of SMT output. We propose a recurrent neural network architecture which uses morpho-syntactic features and word embeddings as word representations within surface and syntactic n-grams. We test the proposed method on two language pairs and for two tasks, namely detecting fluency errors and predicting overall post-editing effort. Our results show that this method is effective for capturing all types of fluency errors at once. Moreover, on the task of predicting post-editing effort, while solely relying on monolingual information, it achieves on-par results with the state-of-the-art quality estimation systems which use both bilingual and monolingual information.


The immunising potency of an inactivated Rift Valley fever (RVF) vaccine prepared from RVF virus infected mouse brain and RVF infected cell culture was studied in cattle and sheep. Different doses and adjuvants were compared. In laboratory trials both cattle and sheep developed neutralising antibodies against virulent RVF virus and in cattle antibodies were still detectable 9 months after immunisation. Although the immunity produced was inadequate to prevent viraemia after challenge, evidence of protection against clinical RVF was obtained. Field trials in sheep showed that vaccination induced a good immunity in pregnant ewes.


This dissertation explores the emergence of a postcolonial neoliberal subjectivity amongst urban Moroccan Muslim youth through an ethnography of Moroccan hip hop practitioners' aesthetic preferences, performance practice, disciplinary strategies, and socio-musical networks. The hip hop arts, including emceeing, deejaying, b-boying or b-girling (dancing), and graffiti, were first introduced to Morocco in the early 1990s through existing networks of migrants to and from Francophone Europe. Today hip hop music-making flourishes in the nation's major cities and in smaller enclaves throughout the country.Under the late King Hassan II and his son, King Mohamed VI, the Moroccan state has adopted neoliberalizing policies and forms of governance since the early 1980s with far-reaching social and economic consequences. In this context, I ask how hip hop practitioners' musical work enables and expresses new modes of citizenship and belonging while neoliberalization renders older forms of political participation less effective. To do this, I first situate Moroccan hip hop in relation to local musico-poetic traditions, already informed by previous generations' encounters with processes of globalization, and translocally circulating hip hop aesthetics. Drawing from an archive of interactions, interviews, observations, documents, recordings, and live performances, I then show how practitioners use hip hop to intervene in national debates, and to respond to, critique, and take advantage of the effects of neoliberalization.While bringing the insights of network theory and Foucault's notion of governmentality to an ethnography of neoliberalization, I describe practitioners' techniques of self-management and self-care as they strive towards musical competence as well as greater economic and social mobility. In contrast with much scholarship on hip hop beyond the United States, I show that Moroccan hip hop music-making is critical, but not resistant. By locating their critiques in the terrain of the self rather than in movement-based politics, artists and their audiences effect political quietism through, not despite, their embrace of the transnational hip hop tradition's normative ideology of critique and opposition as both a stylistic and an ethical goal. The practitioners' construction of valued selves within their socio-musical networks prompt a reconsideration of agency, citizenship, and political action in a neoliberalizing postcolonial environment.Explicitly attracted by the discourses of freedom and resistance which hip hop and other Afro-diasporic sounds evoke in many parts of the world, members of Moroccan hip hop networks depend on those discourses to create music that enables local and translocal connections, even as their music-making and entrepreneurship conform to the goals of the neoliberalizing state. In a conjuncture profoundly shaped by Morocco's adherence to neoliberal economic orthodoxy, Moroccan hip hop practitioners offer to the national imaginary an alternative expression of pious modern citizenship, to transnational markets a calculated balance of proficiency and difference, and to music scholarship an alternative to the frequently unquestioned association of hip hop production and oppositional politics.


Abstract. We compare the nitric oxide measurements in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (60 to 150 km) from four instruments: the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment–Fourier Transform Spectrometer (ACE-FTS), the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS), the SCanning Imaging Absorption spectroMeter for Atmospheric CHartographY (SCIAMACHY), and the Sub-Millimetre Radiometer (SMR). We use the daily zonal mean data in that altitude range for the years 2004–2010 (ACE-FTS), 2005–2012 (MIPAS), 2008–2012 (SCIAMACHY), and 2003–2012 (SMR). We first compare the data qualitatively with respect to the morphology, focussing on the major features, and then compare the time series directly and quantitatively. In three geographical regions, we compare the vertical density profiles on coincident measurement days. Since none of the instruments delivers continuous daily measurements in this altitude region, we carried out a multi-linear regression analysis. This regression analysis considers annual and semi-annual variability in the form of harmonic terms and inter-annual variability by responding linearly to the solar Lyman-α radiation index and the geomagnetic Kp index. This analysis helps to find similarities and differences in the individual data sets with respect to the inter-annual variations caused by geomagnetic and solar variability. We find that the data sets are consistent and that they only disagree on minor aspects. SMR and ACE-FTS deliver the longest time series in the mesosphere, and they agree with each other remarkably well. The shorter time series from MIPAS and SCIAMACHY also agree with them where they overlap. The data agree within 30 % when the number densities are large, but they can differ by 50 to 100 % in some cases.


Image retargeting technology has been widely studied to adapt images for the devices with heterogeneous screen resolutions. Meanwhile effective objective retargeting quality assessment algorithms are also very important for optimizing and selecting favorable retargeting methods. Unlike previous assessment algorithms which rely on image local structure features and unidirectional prediction of information loss, we propose a bi-directional natural salient scene distortion model (BNSSD) including image natural scene statistics (NSS) measurement, salient global structure distortion measurement, and bi-directional salient information loss measurement. First, we propose a new NSS model in log-Gabor domain and verify its effectiveness in reflecting nature scene statistical distortions introduced during the retargeting process. Second, the concept of salient global structure distortion is proposed to measure the global structure uniformity in the corresponding salient regions between original and retargeted images. Finally, we propose a bidirectional salient information loss metric to measure the information loss between salient areas in original image and retargeted image. The effectiveness of the BNSSD model is verified on two widely recognized public databases, and the experimental results show that our method outperforms the state-of-the-art algorithms under different statistical assessment criteria.


The nutrition support team at Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford developed a clinical pathway for infants and children receiving parenteral nutrition (PN). Use of clinical pathways for health care delivery is one way in which clinicians and institutions are responding to pressure from managed care organizations to reduce costs and maintain or improve quality. This pathway was developed to standardize the process for ordering, implementing, and monitoring PN. Specific goals for the pathway are as follows: to decrease the number of patients receiving PN inappropriately, to decrease the duration of PN for those patients who require it, to determine complication rates, and to monitor outcomes of therapy. Such comprehensive monitoring will help identify areas for improvement. By developing and implementing action plans to address these issues, we expect to improve continuously the processes and outcomes associated with PN therapy.


This paper describes accrual output based budgeting (AOBB) systems and examines their adoption in Australia. An analysis of claims made about AOBB systems by central agency reformers is set out, and the conclusion offered that these claims are fundamentally rhetorical in their characteristics. These rhetorical claims are contrasted against a critical analysis which suggests that despite the claims made by reformist elements in favour of the adoption of these systems, the structural and empirical elements of AOBB systems as implemented in Australia raise considerable doubts as to whether suggested benefits will be realised in


Previous studies of the Tudor occupation of Tournai have tended to stress the imposition of English rule on the city. The most prolific of these historians, C. G. Cruickshank, saw Tournai's occupation as 'the beginning of a new English empire on the continent', while T. E. Mayer described Henry's rule over the city as a 'colonial situation'. C. S. L. Davies has cautioned against such claims, stating that 'the significance of Tournai lay not in any assimilation of the conquered territory into the English crown; but rather in its very separateness, its status as part of Henry's dominion as "king of France"'. This article supports Davies' revisionist view of the occupation, and demonstrates that Tournai, unlike Calais, was not intended to be developed along colonial lines. It will examine the impact of Tudor rule on Tournai and consider the nature of the relationship that developed between the English monarch and the native population. Although Mayer has asserted that Henry VIII developed a form of imperial kingship at Tournai and 'asserted all the prerogatives of a rex imperator…against the Tournaisiens', this article will demonstrate, in contrast, that Henry's rule at Tournai was marked by the development of a favourable relationship between the king and the municipal elite. The Tudor monarch accorded the city's rulers a range of economic grants and permitted them a highly privileged degree of access to the organs of central government. It is possible to track in detail the relations that developed between Tournai and the Tudor administration due to the large volume of surviving sources, which provide a wealth of detail on the city's occupation. While Tournai's archives were largely destroyed by a German air raid in 1940, the city's archivists published a significant amount of the city's records in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The most important of these documents are the collection of municipal sources edited by Adolphe Hocquet, which permit us to track in detail the ruling elite's response to Tudor rule. In addition to the civic sources, the Henry's administration left numerous records relating to its rule at Tournai, which permits us to examine both sides of the relationship. The study will look broadly at the impact of Tudor rule on the different strata of Tournai's society, beginning with the municipal elite.


Background and objective: The glenoid cavity of the scapula forms the  gleno-humeral joint  along with the head of the  humerus .  The morphology of the glenoid cavity has been studied in various races. These shallow depressions are variants in shape and are considered to be important during open surgery around the shoulder region. The aims of the present study was undertaken to investigate the prevalence of various shape of the glenoid cavity in Thais. Methods: A total of 138 (104 males and 34 females) dry human scapulae were examined. The shape of each glenoid cavity was investigated, photographed and recorded.  Results:  Four types of the shape of glenoid cavity were classified according to the glenoid notch along the anterior margin of the cavity.  Type 1 Inverted comma shaped with a well defined notch along the anterior border (21.01%). Type 2 Pear shaped with a less evident notch along the anterior border (60.14%). Type 3 Pear shaped without indentation (1.45%).  Type 4 Oval shaped (17.40%). Conclusions:  The present study provides the first information of the shape of glenoid cavity in Thais.  The most common was pear shaped type while the least common was the oval shape.


The term 'Whig interpretation of history' was applied by Herbert Butterfield to a particular current within English historiography, an outstanding characteristic of which was its tendency to praise revolutions provided they had been successful, the particular successes to which he referred being those of Protestants and Whigs over Catholics and Tories. He also acknowledged that his critique 'possibly' gave the phrase an 'extended sense' applicable to any current in historiography characterised by equivalently crude teleology and decontextualisation. It is with reference to this possible 'extended' sense that the phrase has gained currency in critical currents within the history of the natural and social sciences. The present case study of the secondary literature on the English writer William Petty (1623–87) argues that, while the two senses are of course conceptually distinct, they are nevertheless very much part of the same story if we are to explain how it has come about that the distortions indicated in the extended sense have become so deeply rooted in the economics mainstream's portrayal of its own history.


Abstract The last three decades of the twentieth century saw a transformation of the place and influence in British society of two cultural themes: environmental conservation and the values of political conservatism. These are here used to examine cultural change in the science of geology at two levels of resolution. First, the micropolitics of the science are revealed through a study of collecting in an era of conservation. Here the scientific hegemony confronted the more populist and commercially driven wings of geology. This was a period of campaign and conflict, leading to the eventual accommodation of opposing views. The second section examines the macropolitics of the science's institutional infrastructure through a study of a science in a period of recession and under the control of an ideologically motivated Conservative government. The challenge for science was to acquire appropriate government patronage. Here patterns of decline and growth in the science are revealed, driven by supposedly 'external' factors. Both perspectives show how the notion of accountability became critical to the science at all levels, and how, in an era which saw the revolutionizing of mass communication, language became fundamental to the political progress of the science.


Educators in informal settings can be a key part of the learning experience, yet they are often poorly supported as professionals. This study followed the professional development of museum educators who participated in iterative implementation of a new school trip program focused on climate change. The learner-centered pedagogy, inquiry format, and controversial content of this program all presented challenges to the educators' existing models of learning and teaching in the museum. We offer four case studies that explore how part-time museum docents engaged in reflective practice through iterative implementation and how their approaches to learning and teaching in the museum changed, or failed to change. Findings have implications for addressing the challenge of effective professional development for informal educators, particularly in content areas that may be scientifically challenging or socially controversial.


The connection between food and human health needs no introduction, but apart from food, there are multiple other luminal factors that alone or in combination with others can impact on enterocyte function and thus play a role in health. These interactions maybe at different levels, but primarily at the molecular level. The intestinal epithelial cell line Caco-2 has been used extensively as a model to investigate molecular interactions between different luminal factors and enterocytes. More recently attention has been given to interactions of more complex food extracts with the aim of gaining more insights into the combined effects of food components, as would occur in vivo. In chapter 1, The importance of studying enterocytes, food interactions and the Caco-2 as an enterocyte model system is discussed. Previous research on Clostridium difficile toxins and their interaction with enterocytes as well as systems biology and related approaches are described in detail. The chapter ends with a brief introduction on the key research questions and the content of the chapters which follow. In this thesis, we have generated a data compendium by collecting transcriptome data (largely from microarray experiments) pertaining to Caco-2 cells exposed to luminal factors from in- house experiments and public databases (Chapter 2). Initially, the data compendium was used to develop a Caco-2 specific protein-protein interaction network. Then, we addressed the issue of identifying pathway specific reporter genes for qPCR experimental validation. To this end, we developed a statistical method called differential expression correlation analysis (DECA), which is designed to mine knowledge from the Caco-2 data compendium. The method utilises differential expression values of genes in the compendium combined with limited knowledge of pathways of interest to identify reporter genes. This method was further used to predict genes that belonged to AhR and Nrf2 mediated stress response pathways and was experimentally validated using Caco-2 cells exposed to coffee extracts. In Chapter 4, the Caco-2 data compendium was utilized for identification of food substances that may mitigate the effects of C. difficile toxins on small intestinal enterocytes. This was combined with Caco-2 microarray data obtained from Caco-2 cells exposed to Clostridium difficile toxins (toxin A and toxin B) and toxoids. The identification of possibly beneficial foods was carried out using multivariate techniques such as principal component analysis (PCA). Blackcurrant of Ben Finlay cultivar was found to be the most beneficial food among the food substances used in the compendium and was experimentally verified. It was found to help maintain the epithelial barrier and also in preventing the translocation of C. difficile toxins from the apical side to the basolateral side. Additionally, we also tested the efficacy of strawberry (Sabrina), yellow onion, white onion and Galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) and found, in accordance with PCA results, that while strawberry and yellow onion were moderately effective against the toxin translocation, white onion and GOS had almost no effect. We delved further into an investigation of the impact of Clostridium difficile toxins on the miRNA expression of the colonic enterocytes and probed the role of miRNAs in regulating toxin-induced changes in mRNA expression (Chapter 3). miRNA-mRNA interaction was studied with the help of public database, miRWalk 2.0 and the network analysis tool, Cytoscape. We performed pathway analysis with the data obtained and found a role for miRNAs in several pathways that are affected by Clostridium difficile toxins in Caco-2 cells. Finally, to enable data fusion of experiments that have low and varying sample sizes, we developed a batch effect mitigation protocol (Chapter 5). The method is a combination of ratio- based methods and median rank scores. The method was tested on the controls-only data derived from the Caco-2 compendium and was shown to mitigate batch effects. It was further tested on arthritis patient sample data, applied to the Caco-2 compendium data and shown to be efficient at batch effect mitigation. In chapter 6, the results of the thesis are discussed including the limitations and future perspectives for the advancements in the field of foodomics.


"This paper provides an analysis of the labour market entry of migrant youth in Germany after completion of an apprenticeship. We are particularly interested in the impact of local cultural diversity on a successful career start. Focusing on the cohort of people completing apprenticeships in 2000, we distinguish between Turks, citizens of former Yugoslavia, EU15 migrants and other migrants compared with Germans as the reference group. A multinomial probit model reveals that Turkish apprentices and those from the other migrant groups have a significantly lower probability of transition into the primary labour market, whereas EU15 migrants do not differ from Germans in this respect. In addition to controlling for individual and firm characteristics as well as occupation, we explicitly include regional characteristics. Our results show that if there is a high level of cultural diversity, young migrants will find employment more easily. In contrast to other studies which emphasize the impact of friends and family ties, we conclude that networks and information flows which are not restricted to an individual's own ethnic group increase the likelihood of finding a job." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))


Risk Factors (RFs) associated with the design, construction and operation of Oil and Gas Pipeline (OGP) projects have a serious impact on the safety of a project. The limitations of the effective risk analysis techniques due to a lack of reliable risk data - particularly in insecure countries like Iraq where OGPs are suffering from sabotage attacks - frequently cause great challenges in the attempt to mitigate these risk factors and provide a systematic risk management system. This paper, therefore, aims to analyse OGPs' RFs more accurately using a more systematic and holistic Risk Management Framework (RMF). The RMF was designed under three steps. Step 1 focused on carrying out a comprehensive review to identify the RFs in OGP projects in different countries and some of the Risk Mitigation Methods (RMMs) used in these projects. Step 2 used a questionnaire survey to analyse the RFs regarding their influence on OGP projects and to evaluate the RMMs based on their degrees of effectiveness to mitigate the RFs. The ranking of the RFs indicated that proper attention needs to be paid to the question of what motivates third-party disruption to OGPs in Iraq like sabotage, terrorism and theft risks. Step 3 was about recommending some RMMs to mitigate the RFs in these projects based on the results of the survey. The RMF and its recommendations could be used to more effectively manage the RFs in OGP projects in troubled countries that have just begun to address such risks.


Wake measurements are critical for quantifying the hydrodynamic impacts of turbine presence and tidal energy extraction on the tidal flow. Turbine wakes are typically assessed using numerical models and controlled laboratory experiments, with only a few field studies available for the wakes of full-scale operating tidal turbines.

In this investigation we present field observations of the combined wake generated by the four-turbine array mounted onboard Sustainable Marine Energy Canada PLAT-I 4.63. Measurements were conducted downstream of the platform in Grand Passage, a tidal channel in the southwest of the Bay of Fundy in eastern Canada in October 2020. Velocity data were obtained by a suite of mobile Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP), both vessel-mounted and free-drifting. Data were collected during ebb and flood tides (and therefore with time-varying inflow velocity), and under different turbine operating conditions. The collected data were organized according to the turbine inflow velocity for ebb and flood tide. For each tide, the wake and undisturbed flow regions to the sides of the wake were identified. Vertical profiles of velocity in the wake were compared to inflow velocity measured by a current-meter onboard PLAT-I and with measurements in the undisturbed flow to the sides of PLAT-I wake.

In all measurements the PLAT-I wake manifests as a reduction in flow speed at the depths spanned by the turbine rotors. The reduction is maximum near the platform for both ebb and flood. For flood, velocity profiles vertically mix less than 5 effective diameters downstream of the array, but velocities remain slower compared to the flow outside of the wake. Flow speed increases downstream, recovering approximately about 20 effective diameters from the platform. For ebb, the velocity reduction persists farther downstream compared to flood, there is less vertical mixing, and the wake shape is still present beyond 10 effective diameters downstream of the platform. Increased turbulence is also observed downstream of the platform, which recovers to levels similar to those of the surrounding undisturbed flow about 10 effective diameters downstream of the turbine for both ebb and flood. Comparisons of results between the two measurements approaches, and between the wake of clean and bio-fouled turbines are also explored.


Published government statistics and social science research have documented employment trends for the 1960-1980 period. During the 1960s, the percentage of Black, White, and other men who worked full-year (48 or more weeks per year) increased, and the gap between Blacks and Whites, and Whites and others narrowed (Smith and Welch 1986; Sandefur and Pahari 1987). This improvement did not continue in the 1970s, however, and the percentage of Black, White and other men who worked full-year declined while the percentage who worked none at all increased. Further, the gap in the employment of Whites and Blacks increased. Most observers attribute the gains of the 1960s to economic growth and to improvements in the average level of education of minority group members (Smith and Welch 1986). The 1970s, on the other hand, was a period of inflation, recessions, and little growth in jobs. In addition, the ranks of those seeking employment increased with the coming of age of the baby boom generation and the increase in job-seeking among women. This made finding employment much more difficult than it had been during the 1960s. The evidence also suggests that Blacks, because of their over-representation in marginal jobs, were hurt more by the problems of the 1970s than were Whites (Wilson 1987). Most of the research on these trends in employment has concentrated on Blacks and Whites, because these are the two largest racial groups in American society and because data on these groups is more readily available. The limited amount of research on other groups such as Asians, Hispanics, and Native Americans indicates that their experiences diverge from those of both Blacks and Whites (see, for example, Hirschman 1988; Sandefur and Pahari 1987). The purpose of this paper is to examine racial differences in trends in employment more carefully. We address two major questions: (1) Have the racial/ethnic differences in employment increased or declined since 1970? and, (2) Have differences in employment across educational groups increased or declined since 1970?


These analyses are part of a larger study designed to investigate the developmental, behavioral, and sociocultural lives of gay and bisexual men who identify as barebackers. We examined the sexual behaviors of these men, as well as the relation of these behaviors to matters of identity and perceived benefits of barebacking. Of the 102 men who completed the study, about half reported barebacking with main partners and 92% reported barebacking behaviors with casual partners whom they met in a variety of social venues. The frequency of these behaviors with casual partners (but not main partners) varied across serostatus of participant and the serostatus of his partners. Identification as a barebacker was unrelated to the frequency of these sexual acts. This sample of self-identified barebackers perceived greater benefits to barebacking than a more general community- based sample. Although previous research has contended that intention is central to the construct of barebacking, only half of our sample indicated that they understood the construct in these terms. It appears that gay and bisexual men, despite their identification as barebackers, incorporate harm reduction strategies with regard to this behavior which is guided by their perception of risk related to specific sexual acts, as well as the seroconcordance of their casual sexual partners. Our findings suggest that barebacking is a construct that is only beginning to be understood, and that more detailed understandings of this construct are needed to disentangle the meanings that gay and bisexual men ascribe to this behavior, including the relationship between both individual and partner serostatus.


Natural gas hydrates occur on the ocean floor in such great volumes that they contain twice as much carbon as all known coal, oil and conventional natural gas deposits. Releases of this gas caused by sediment slides and other natural causes have resulted in huge slugs of gas saturated water with density too low to float a ship, and enough localized atmospheric contamination to choke air aspirated aircraft engines. The unexplained disappearances of ships and aircraft along with their crews and passengers in the Bermuda Triangle may be tied to the natural venting of gas hydrates. The paper describes what gas hydrates are, their formation and release, and their possible link to the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle.


INTRODUCTION
This study evaluates worry about sexual and relationship functioning, sexual desire, and sexual satisfaction as indicators of sexual quality of life in men of different age groups suffering from mild to severe erectile dysfunction (ED).

AIM
To increase insight in the mechanisms of some key indicators of sexual quality of life in different age groups.

METHODS
The study sample consisted of 904 men with mild to severe ED. Mean age was 60.7 years (standard deviation [SD] = 12.4) and mean erectile function (EF) (International Index of Erectile Function [IIEF]) score was 14.5 (SD = 8.9). Multivariate analyses of variance were conducted to test the differences in outcomes among two age groups (65 <or= age > 65) and two levels of ED (16 <or= EF > 16).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
We analyzed age, severity of ED, and interrelated indicators of sexual quality of life as worry about sexual or relationship functioning, sexual desire, and overall sexual satisfaction. Beyond, we aimed to see on which of these measures their interaction had specific independent effects.

RESULTS
Younger men at a higher level of ED reported higher levels of worry about sexual and relationship functioning than older men with high ED. Older men reported slightly less sexual desire than younger men; also, more ED was associated with lower sexual desire. Finally, men with less severe ED reported higher sexual satisfaction than men with more severe ED, whereas at all levels of ED severity, older men reported more sexual satisfaction than younger men.

CONCLUSIONS
Indicators of sexual quality of life among men with ED are poorer in those with more severe ED. However, younger men with severe ED worries concerning sexual functioning were more pronounced than among their older counterparts. Independent of the degree of severity of ED, older men indicated lower sexual desire but higher overall sexual satisfaction. Observed age-group differences were very small, however.


The TATA binding protein (TBP), which plays a central role in gene regulation as an essential component of all three nuclear transcription systems, sharply kinks the TATA box at two sites and severely contorts the intervening DNA segment. DNA constructs with precisely localized flexure have been used to investigate the special repertoire of mechanisms and properties that arise from TBP interacting with the TATA box. DNA flexure precisely localized to the sites of TBP-mediated DNA kinking increases the affinity of TBP more than 100-fold; unexpectedly, this increase in affinity is achieved almost exclusively by increasing the stability of the TBP-DNA complex rather than the rate of its formation. In vitro transcription with RNA polymerase III provides a first demonstration that the orientation of TBP on the TATA box is governed by DNA deformability, its C-proximal repeat contacting the more flexible end of the TATA box. Exceptionally stable TBP-DNA complexes reach their orientational equilibrium very slowly; in these circumstances, assembly of stable (''committed'') transcription initiation complexes can freeze far-from-equilibrium orientations of TBP on the TATA box, causing transcription polarity to be determined by a kinetic trapping mechanism. # 1998 Academic Press


The paper contains new data on the pharmacodynamics of heparin and its interaction with the Xa factor, antithrombin III and thrombin. A critical assessment of the clinical efficacy of different types of heparin treatment of thromboembolisms is given, including thromboembolism of the pulmonary artery.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the efficacy and safety of a novel formulation of 15% azelaic acid gel (Finacea; Berlex Laboratories, Inc, Montville, NJ) with 0.75% metronidazole gel (MetroGel; Galderma Laboratories LP, Fort Worth, Tex) as topical therapy for moderate, papulopustular facial rosacea.

DESIGN
Multicenter, double-blind, randomized, parallel-group study.

SETTING
Thirteen US centers.

PATIENTS
A total of 251 patients with papulopustular rosacea with persistent erythema and telangiectasia.

INTERVENTIONS
Patients were randomized to receive azelaic acid gel or metronidazole gel twice daily for 15 weeks.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Nominal and percent change in inflammatory lesion count, change in erythema and telangiectasia severity ratings, investigator's global assessment of rosacea, and investigator's and patient's overall improvement ratings.

RESULTS
Azelaic acid gel was superior to metronidazole gel in reduction of mean nominal lesion count (-12.9 vs -10.7, respectively) (P =.003) and mean percent decrease in inflammatory lesions (-72.7% vs -55.8%, respectively) (P<.001). With respect to erythema severity, 56% of azelaic acid gel-treated patients were rated improved vs 42% of metronidazole gel-treated patients (P =.02). The effectiveness of metronidazole gel on these variables seemed to plateau after week 8, whereas azelaic acid gel demonstrated progressive improvement through week 15. Neither treatment had a clinically appreciable effect on telangiectasia. Both the investigator's global assessment (P =.02) and overall assessment of improvement (P =.005) showed a significant therapeutic advantage for azelaic acid gel. Azelaic acid gel also scored higher on the patient's overall assessment of efficacy. Both treatments were rated as having high cosmetic acceptability. No serious or systemic treatment-related adverse events were reported in either group.

CONCLUSION
Use of 15% azelaic acid gel twice daily for 15 weeks demonstrated significant superiority over using 0.75% metronidazole gel in improving principal signs of rosacea (inflammatory lesions and erythema).