Since a treatise or some historical account committed to recording information on the ancient Athenian society is absent in Athenian historical sources, any information on ancient Athenian society needs to be configured based on analytical examination of evidence gathered from numerous sources facetted by logical conjectures. By cross examining literary, archaeological and iconographical evidence, the social historian can therefore develop and configure the ancient Athenian social structure in order to understand it better within its socio-political context. This paper therefore makes an attempt to understand Classical Athenian family and the atmosphere which conditioned it with the help of literary and iconographical evidence. The objective of the present study is to re-examine the literary evidence on a par with the iconographical evidence which produce domestic scenes in order to investigate whether any affection existed among Athenian spouses because the interpretations given to some such scenes seem problematic.The study is mainly based on library research with evidence from verse and prose literature, relevant oratorical texts, and images of Attic vase paintings extensively examined. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/sljh.v38i1-2.7214 The Sri Lanka Journal of Humanities XXXVIII (1&2) 2012; 63-78


We empirically investigate differences in cost-effectiveness of public procurement auctions that are won by entrants and incumbents. We use a unique data set that covers all Turkish public procurement auctions for the years 2004 to 2010. We find that procurement prices of auctions won by entrants are significantly lower. More than half of the entrants cannot survive in the public procurement market and cannot win more than one auction. Our results indicate that policymakers should cultivate competition and promote entry in public procurement auctions.


The relationship between migration and age has long been established, and most recently, there have been calls for the inclusion of a life course perspective to migration research. In this paper, we explore Northern Ireland's internal migration patterns, and in particular, we test for the importance of urban to rural migration at different stages of the life course. Data from the Northern Ireland Longitudinal Study are used for the first time to analyse urban–rural migration patterns. The resulting modelling demonstrates unique aspects of urban to rural migration within Northern Ireland, which up until now have gone largely unreported.

Results from logistic regression modelling suggest that there is an age selectivity to urban–rural mobility but not necessarily at the life course stages predicted from a review of the life course migration literature. Individuals in younger age groups (at the household and family formation stages of the life course) are most likely to make an urban to rural move in Northern Ireland, with a decline in the likelihood of this move type with age. Possible explanations are offered linked to Northern Ireland's settlement hierarchy, rural planning policy, and family farming traditions. The findings challenge researchers to pay due attention to how migration processes may play out differently in varying geographical, social, and planning contexts and emphasise the importance of structural factors to explain migration patterns. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


A long-standing debate centers on the role of the "Haves" and the "Have Nots" in litigation. It is often suggested that wealthier plaintiffs are more likely to be repeat players, who tend to prevail in disputes before the courts. Do wealthy repeat players indeed capture courts and succeed in shaping legal rules regardless of the intent of policy makers? This paper employs a unique historical data set that allows a direct test of these hypotheses, including information on the wealth of participants in civil district courts, their occupations, and the total number of lawsuits filed by each litigant over a long period. The results show that repeat players indeed tended to be wealthier, in occupations that likely benefited from creating a reputation for uncooperative litigation strategies. However, outcomes in court were independent of wealth, and related more to the type of case. Far from being under the sway of the "Haves," early courts functioned as an effective enforcement mechanism for extensive markets in debt, that likely promoted economic growth during this period.


High amount of waste heat emerging from thermal processes performed in the industry can be recovered by means of equipment such as heat pipes, heat exchangers and heat recovery boilers. In this study, thermal performance of a heat recovery device, which enables air-to-air heat transfer, was examined. For this purpose, cross-flow plate-fin heat exchangers were produced by using three different materials, which are aluminum, polymer and cellulose. With the established apparatus, outlet temperatures with different values were obtained for fresh air and exhaust air. Thermal calculations, were performed with the mathematical model developed by using the EffectivenessNumber of Transfer Unit (e NTU) method and their results were compared. It was seen that at the same air rate with the same exhaust air inlet temperature and the same fresh air inlet temperature; when the polymer heat exchanger is used, effectiveness value is 12,6% higher on an average than the aluminum heat exchanger. Similarly, when the cellulose heat exchanger is used, effectiveness value is 14,5% higher on an average than the polymer heat exchanger.


Taxi behavior is a spatial–temporal dynamic process involving discrete time dependent events, such as customer pick-up, customer drop-off, cruising, and parking. Simulation models, which are a simplification of a real-world system, can help understand the effects of change of such dynamic behavior. In this paper, agent-based modeling and simulation is proposed, that describes the dynamic action of an agent, i.e., taxi, governed by behavior rules and properties, which emulate the taxi behavior. Taxi behavior simulations are fundamentally done for optimizing the service level for both taxi drivers as well as passengers. Moreover, simulation techniques, as such, could be applied to another field of application as well, where obtaining real raw data are somewhat difficult due to privacy issues, such as human mobility data or call detail record data. This paper describes the development of an agent-based simulation model which is based on multiple input parameters (taxi stay point cluster; trip information (origin and destination); taxi demand information; free taxi movement; and network travel time) that were derived from taxi probe GPS data. As such, agent's parameters were mapped into grid network, and the road network, for which the grid network was used as a base for query/search/retrieval of taxi agent's parameters, while the actual movement of taxi agents was on the road network with routing and interpolation. The results obtained from the simulated taxi agent data and real taxi data showed a significant level of similarity of different taxi behavior, such as trip generation; trip time; trip distance as well as trip occupancy, based on its distribution. As for efficient data handling, a distributed computing platform for large-scale data was used for extracting taxi agent parameter from the probe data by utilizing both spatial and non-spatial indexing technique.


Background Severe COVID-19 can manifest in rapid decompensation and respiratory failure with elevated inflammatory markers. This presentation is consistent with cytokine release syndrome in chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy, for which IL-6 blockade is approved treatment. Methods We assessed effectiveness and safety of IL-6 blockade with tocilizumab in a single-center cohort of patients with COVID-19 requiring mechanical ventilation. The primary endpoint was survival probability post-intubation; secondary analyses included an ordinal illness severity scale integrating superinfections. Outcomes in patients who received tocilizumab compared to tocilizumab-untreated controls were evaluated using multivariable Cox regression with propensity score inverse probability weighting (IPTW). Findings 154 patients were included, of whom 78 received tocilizumab and 76 did not. Median follow-up was 47 days (range 28-67). Baseline characteristics were similar between groups, although tocilizumab-treated patients were younger (mean 55 vs. 60 years), less likely to have chronic pulmonary disease (10% vs. 28%), and had lower D-dimer values at time of intubation (median 2.4 vs. 6.5 mg/dL). In IPTW-adjusted models, tocilizumab was associated with a 45% reduction in hazard of death [hazard ratio 0.55 (95% CI 0.33, 0.90)] and improved status on the ordinal outcome scale [odds ratio per 1-level increase: 0.59 (0.36, 0.95)]. Though tocilizumab was associated with an increased proportion of patients with superinfections (54% vs. 26%; p<0.001), there was no difference in 28-day case fatality rate among tocilizumab-treated patients with versus without superinfection [22% vs. 15%; p=0.42]. Interpretation In this cohort of mechanically ventilated COVID-19 patients, tocilizumab was associated with a decreased likelihood of death despite higher superinfection occurrence. Randomized controlled trials are urgently needed to confirm these findings.


SUMMARY Measuring outcomes is becoming an increasingly standard (and highly complex) part of what mental health services are expected to do. Practising psychiatrists will need to have a good understanding of approaches to outcome measurement: used well, they have the potential to amplify the patient voice, promote good-quality services and facilitate research. We discuss what constitutes an outcome measure, the different ways that such measures can be obtained and the mechanisms for assessing the quality and appropriateness of an outcome measure. We outline the rapidly evolving research and policy context regarding outcome measurement, with particular reference to the UK's National Health Service. We also consider the potential pitfalls to outcome measurement, such as added clinical burden, inappropriate incentivisation of behaviour and incorrect interpretation of results. We discuss ways that such difficulties can be avoided or their effects mitigated.


This article focuses on the recent epidemic caused by COVID-19 and takes into account several measures that have been taken by governments, including complete closure, media coverage, and attention to public hygiene. It is well known that mathematical models in epidemiology have helped determine the best strategies for disease control. This motivates us to construct a fractional mathematical model that includes quarantine categories as well as government sanctions. In this article, we prove the existence and uniqueness of positive bounded solutions for the suggested model. Also, we investigate the stability of the disease-free and endemic equilibriums by using the basic reproduction number (BRN). Moreover, we investigate the stability of the considering model in the sense of Ulam–Hyers criteria. To underpin and demonstrate this study, we provide a numerical simulation, whose results are consistent with the analysis presented in this article.


We have analyzed the development of fluoroquinolone resistance between 1986 and 1993 among clinical isolates of Enterococcus faecalis from a French hospital. One hundred randomly selected isolates per year were screened for resistance to ciprofloxacin (MIC > 2 micrograms/ml) and for high-level resistance to gentamicin (MIC > 1,000 micrograms/ml). The percentages of ciprofloxacin-resistant strains for these years were as follows: 1986, 0; 1987, 1; 1988 to 1989, 2; 1990, 6; 1991, 16; 1992, 24; and 1993, 14. Eighty-three percent of the ciprofloxacin-resistant isolates were coresistant to high levels of gentamicin. Forty-eight high-level gentamicin-resistant E. faecalis strains, which were resistant (24 strains) or susceptible (24 strains) to ciprofloxacin, were examined by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) of SmaI-digested total DNA. Numerous PFGE types were observed among the ciprofloxacin-susceptible isolates, whereas one type was largely predominant among the ciprofloxacin-resistant strains, which suggests that the increase in fluoroquinolone resistance was due to the spread of a single clone. A 241-bp fragment of gyrA, corresponding to the quinolone resistance-determining region, was amplified and sequenced for seven ciprofloxacin-resistant isolates. Six strains had high levels of resistance (MICs, 32 to 64 micrograms/ml) and had a mutation at position 83 (Escherichia coli coordinates) from Ser to Arg (three strains) or to Ile (two strains) or at position 87 from Glu to Gly (one strain), whereas the low-level-resistant isolate (MIC, 8 micrograms/ml) had no mutations.


The morphological characteristics of metal play a pivotal role in affecting the activity of metal–semiconductor composite photocatalysts for solar energy conversion. In this article, geometry- and size-controlled sub-20 nm Pd nanocubes (NCs) have been fabricated and hybridized with 2D TiO2 nanosheets (TNS) to explore how the geometry and size of Pd influences the photocatalytic efficiency of Pd-based semiconductor composites. The photoactivity results evaluated by the dual-function photocatalytic system for simultaneous H2 evolution and 1,1-diethoxyethane (DEE) production suggest that Pd NCs endow TNS with a greatly enhanced photoactivity compared to Pd nanoparticles (NPs) supported on 2D TNS. The activation energy for H2 generation and the adsorption affinity between Pd and hydrogen molecules can be modulated by the geometry differences between Pd NCs and Pd NPs. Meanwhile, the activity of TNS–Pd NCs composites can be increased by decreasing the size of the Pd NCs from 17 to 7 nm, which is predominantly attributed to the more efficient capability of small Pd NCs to boost the separation and transportation of photoexcited electron–hole pairs. Our work not only fundamentally elucidates the relationship between the morphological characteristics of metal Pd and the photoactivity of Pd-based semiconductor composites, but also supplies a dual-purpose sustainable way for simultaneous H2 evolution and organic synthesis of fine chemicals.


Anthropogenic threat maps are commonly used as a surrogate for the ecological integrity of rivers in freshwater conservation, but a clearer understanding of their relationships is required to develop proper management plans at large scales. Here, we developed and validated empirical models that link the ecological integrity of rivers to threat maps in a large, heterogeneous and biodiverse Andean–Amazon watershed. Through fieldwork, we recorded data on aquatic invertebrate community composition, habitat quality, and physical-chemical parameters to calculate the ecological integrity of 140 streams/rivers across the basin. Simultaneously, we generated maps that describe the location, extent, and magnitude of impact of nine anthropogenic threats to freshwater systems in the basin. Through seven-fold cross-validation procedure, we found that regression models based on anthropogenic threats alone have limited power for predicting the ecological integrity of rivers. However, the prediction accuracy improved when environmental predictors (slope and elevation) were included, and more so when the predictions were carried out at a coarser scale, such as microbasins. Moreover, anthropogenic threats that amplify the incidence of other pressures (roads, human settlements and oil activities) are the most relevant predictors of ecological integrity. We concluded that threat maps can offer an overall picture of the ecological integrity pattern of the basin, becoming a useful tool for broad-scale conservation planning for freshwater ecosystems. While it is always advisable to have finer scale in situ measurements of ecological integrity, our study shows that threat maps provide fast and cost-effective results, which so often are needed for pressing management and conservation actions.


This study deals with the development of a bimetallic Co-Ni/Al2O3 oxygen carrier suitable for a fluidized bed chemical-looping combustion process. Temperature programmed characterization shows that the addition of Co enhances the reducibility of the oxygen carrier by influencing the metal-support interactions helping the formation of reducible nickel species. Reactive characterization of the prepared oxygen carriers in a CREC fluidized riser simulator, using multiple reduction/oxidation cycles, demonstrates that the Co-Ni/Al2O3 particles display excellent reactivity and stability. The addition of Co in the bimetallic Co-Ni/Al2O3 influences the state of the surface minimizing the formation of nickel aluminate. The addition of Co also inhibits metal particle agglomeration by maintaining consistent metal dispersion during the cyclic oxidation/reduction processes. A solid-state kinetics for both reduction and oxidation cycles is established using a clarified Avrami-Erofeev model at nonisothermal conditions. This random nucleation model describes solid phase changes adequately. The activation energy for Co-Ni/Al2O3 reduction is found to be significantly lower than the activation energy for the unpromoted Ni/Al2O3 sample, with this observation confirming the positive influence of adding Co on the Ni-Al2O3 oxygen carrier. © 2007 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2007


Voltage sags, also known as dips, are important to industrial reliability. This paper presents a Monte Carlo based approach to evaluate the maximum voltage sag magnitudes as well as the voltage unbalance ratio in transmission systems. In this context, investigations have been conducted on a system model taking into consideration the uncertainty in several factors associated with the practical operation of a power system. MATLAB is used in the simulation studies.


The story of the discovery of the Nag Hammadi texts – a tale about a hapless Arab peasant who uncovers the buried secrets of early Christianity – has accompanied most scholarly and popular explorations of Nag Hammadi literature. As a colonialist relic, however, it is more than a quirky tale of the accidents of history. It represents and perpetuates the orientalist epistemological tropes that have since been fixed onto the individual texts themselves: seeking/finding, secrecy/unveiling (esoterism), and sexual taboo/sexual excess (asceticism/libertinism). This paper explores the resonances of this story with the history of Nag Hammadi scholarship, as well as with popular renderings of Nag Hammadi texts. It uses the recent cultural studies interests in affect theory to ask: what is at stake in casting what is called "Nag Hammadi literature" as the romantic and dangerous "East" to the Bible's domesticated and rational "West"?


Medical leadership is increasingly considered as crucial for improving the quality of care and the sustainability of healthcare. However, conceptual clarity is lacking in the literature and in practice. Therefore, a systematic review of the scientific literature was conducted to reveal the different conceptualizations of medical leadership in terms of definitions, roles and activities, and personal–and context-specific features. Eight databases were systematically searched for eligible studies, including empirical studies published in peer-reviewed journals that included physicians carrying out a manager or leadership role in a hospital setting. Finally, 34 articles were included and their findings were synthesized and analyzed narratively. Medical leadership is conceptualized in literature either as physicians with formal managerial roles or physicians who act as informal 'leaders' in daily practices. In both forms, medical leaders must carry out general management and leadership activities and acts to balance between management and medicine, because these physicians must accomplish both organizational and medical staff objectives. To perform effectively, credibility among medical peers appeared to be the most important factor, followed by a scattered list of fields of knowledge, skills and attitudes. Competing logics, role ambiguity and a lack of time and support were perceived as barriers. However, the extent to which physicians must master all elicited features, remains ambiguous. Furthermore, the extent to which medical leadership entails a shift or a reallocation of tasks that are at the core of medical professional work remains unclear. Future studies should implement stronger research designs in which more theory is used to study the effect of medical leadership on professional work, medical staff governance, and subsequently, the quality and efficiency of care.


This work presents a design methodology based on the combination of a set of compatibility equations for determining nominal tooth and cutter geometry and a set of tooth contact analysis equations for determining modified tooth surfaces and motion transmission laws. Both have been shown separately to lead to various optimisations, and some parametric subspaces of the designed gears are shown to be so weakly coupled that optimisations found individually may be superimposed, as shown in the case of the gear pair stiffness function, dynamical load factor, bending fatigue strength and pitting/ scoring resistance optimisation. This is in contrast to traditional strengthening methods, such as profile shifting, which invariably produce much stronger couplings and thereby trade-offs.


In this study, it is aimed to determine the factors that are effective in determining the vocational goals of the students studying at vocational high schools. For this purpose, the study was carried out with 15 students studying at vocational high schools by using case study design, one of the qualitative research methods. The data were obtained through the semi-structured interview form created by the researcher, and the descriptive analysis method was used in the analysis of the data. It has been found that families and friends influence students by supporting them, teachers influence them through counseling, and other people around them influence through validating the professions they choose. In addition, it is another research result that the vocational courses available at the school are effective in choosing a profession. The result that gender is not an effective factor in determining professional goals is one of the important results of the study. It was determined that the students chose the profession they aimed for because they were interested, they believed they would do it fondly, they thought they were talented in their chosen profession and they believed they would be successful.


This document highlights the role of political institutions for the adoption and design of pro-poor policies on the basis of cross-country comparisons. Understanding the potential of specific features of political institutions to interfere with social policy and its objectives needs to be taken into account when designing and supporting anti-poverty programs in developing country contexts.


This report describes the measures being applied to control malaria in China and outlines the present situation in the country. In the 1940s, it was estimated that approximately 350 million people were at risk of infection and that about 30 million cases of malaria occurred annually. In the last 30 years, large-scale antimalaria campaigns have been established and have achieved much success. In 1979, there were just over 2 million reported cases of malaria and approximately 64% of the population now live in areas where the incidence is below 5 per 10 000. However, there are still several major difficulties to be overcome, and much work is needed before the ultimate goal of complete eradication of malaria in China can be achieved.


A total of 1887 pigs (PIC 337 × C22; 213 lb initial BW) were used in a 28-d growth assay to simultaneously examine both the true-ileal-digestible (TID) lysine and TID total sulfur amino acid (TSAA) requirements. The objective was to determine the appropriate TID TSAA-to-lysine ratio in finishing pigs fed Paylean® (4.5 g/ton) to maximize growth performance and carcass composition. Four TID lysine (0.66. 0.79, 0.92, and 1.05%) and four TID TSAA (0.47, 0.52, 0.57, and 0.63%) concentrations were evaluated. The highest lysine and TSAA concentrations were combined in the same diet, and there were eleven or twelve replicate pens per treatment. The lysine treatments were formulated with a minimum TID TSAA to lysine ratio of 60%, and the TSAA diets were formulated with 1.05% TID lysine. No gender × treatment or treatment × week interactions were observed (P>0.13). Increasing TID lysine increased ADG (linear, P<0.01), with the greatest response at 0.92% TID lysine, but ADG (P>0.76) was not affected by increasing TID TSAA. This resulted in a TID TSAA-to-lysine ratio of not more than 51% for optimum ADG. Increasing TID lysine did not affect ADFI (P>0.60), but ADFI decreased (linear, P<0.04) with increasing TID TSAA. Increasing dietary TID lysine improved feed efficiency (F/G) (linear, P<0.01), and increasing TID TSAA tended to improve F/G (linear, P<0.09). Although the response was linear, the greatest improvement in F/G was observed as the TID TSAA increased from 0.47% to 0.52%, resulting in an optimum TID TSAA-to-lysine ratio of 57%. Regression analysis indicates that the maximum F/G response was obtained with a TID TSAA-to-lysine ratio of 58%. Increasing TID lysine had no effect on any carcass criteria (P>0.11), but increasing TID TSAA from 0.47 to 0.52% tended to improve fat-free lean (quadratic, P<0.10). No other carcass criteria were affected by increasing TID TSAA (P>0.10). In summary, a TID TSAA-to-lysine ratio of 58% optimizes growth performance of finishing pigs fed Paylean.; Swine Day, 2004, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, 2004


BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Buprenorphine is commonly used to treat opioid use disorder; however, non-buprenorphine prescription opioid use among these patients is not well defined. We sought to estimate the prevalence of non-buprenorphine opioid use among incident buprenorphine users and quantify levels of opioid use prior to, during and after the first treatment episode.

DESIGN
We used QuintilesIMS anonymized, individual-level, all-payer pharmacy claims to identify incident users of buprenorphine between January 2010 and July 2012 from a large cohort of approximately 50 million patients filling two or more prescriptions for any opioid during any calendar year between 2006 and 2013 in 11 states of interest.

SETTING
Eleven states within the United States.

PARTICIPANTS
Of the individuals who met our inclusion criteria (n = 38 096), 55% were female and half were aged between 29 and 54 years. Median length of the first treatment episode was 55 days [interquartile range (IQR) = 28-168 days].

MEASUREMENTS
We calculated four measures of non-buprenorphine opioid use: (1) number of prescriptions, (2) quantity dispensed, (3) days of supply and (4) total morphine milligram equivalents (MME) before, during and after the first treatment episode. Our primary outcome was the MME per opioid day supplied during each time period.

FINDINGS
Approximately two-fifths (43%) of buprenorphine recipients filled an opioid prescription during the treatment episode and two-thirds (67%) filled an opioid prescription following treatment. The mean total of MME per opioid day supplied 12 months prior to treatment declined from 57 mg/per day [95% confidence interval (CI) = 57, 58] to 54 mg/per day (95% CI = 54, 55) during the treatment episode, then remained constant at 55 mg/per day (95% CI = 54, 56) following the treatment episode.

CONCLUSIONS
The use of buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid use disorder has increased markedly in the United States. However, a substantial proportion of patients fill prescriptions for non-buprenorphine opioids during and following such treatment.


In the last decade, measurement of the levels of certain serum enzymes has come to be an important adjunct to medical practice. Diagnostic significance is attached to the rise of serum acid phosphatase in carcinoma of the prostate, elevation of serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase in acute myocardial infarction, the very low levels of cholinesterase in liver disease and high levels in hyperthyroidism, the extremely low level of serum alkaline phosphatase in hypophosphatasia, and changes in serum lactic dehydrogenase activity in certain cases of carcinoma. It has been shown that neither age nor sex influences enzyme levels and that those individuals with nonmalignant tumors (positive controls) do not differ significantly in their enzyme patterns from healthy hospital personnel (negative controls). Patients with various malignant tumors, however, reveal a pattern of change involving a number of serum enzymes which tend to be characteristic of a tumor type. 1-3 In another study 4


The path of Hurricane Isabel was reconstructed using the variables pressure, wind speed, and wind direction. The 36-hour time period between 12AM on September 18, 2003 and 12PM on September 19, 2003 was selected for formal analysis and separated into six six-hour time periods. Maps were constructed for average pressure, average wind speed, average wind direction, pressure range, and wind speed range in order to display Hurricane Isabel's path. Maps displaying average pressure revealed the path of Isabel through the lowest average pressure values and maps displaying high average wind speed values and counter-clockwise circulation displayed the general circulation of Hurricane Isabel after landfall. All three variables were necessary to get an accurate picture of Hurricane Isabel's path.


Received: 15.04.2017 Accepted: 10.07.2017 Optimization of machine elements is both an important issue and an intensive study topic in engineering. Design of compression springs according to minimum weight or volume is a sample problem in this area. Various optimization methods such as particle swarm optimization, genetic algorithm are applied to the problem. Grey Wolf optimization (GWO) method, one of the least nature-inspired algorithms, mimics the hunting and leadership hierarchy of grey wolves. The method has attracted attention for a short time due to its successful performance in engineering applications. In this study, GWO was applied to the design of compression springs with minimum volume. The performance of the GWO was compared with the optimization methods used for solving the same problem in previous studies. The results of the study show that the GWO provides very successful results for the design of compression springs with minimum volume.


: Post-settlement faunal extinction rates are widely cited statistics and help to understand the magnitude of recent biodiversity loss driven by human activity. However, extinction rate estimates can vary greatly depending on factors such as the geographic boundaries of the region being considered, how the faunal group is defined, completeness of fossil records, and taxonomic frameworks. Here, I combine recently described extinct bird species with the latest taxonomic revisions and well-defined geographic regions to provide an updated estimate of post-settlement extinction rates for the New Zealand avifauna. The results show that extinction rates varied regionally from 50% species extinction on the North Island to just 14.5% on offshore islands. As a whole, the New Zealand mainland and its offshore islands lost 30.9% of bird species, although this rate increases to 32.8% with the inclusion of the distinct Chatham Islands/Rēkohu avifauna.


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Health-related quality of life has become an important criterion for assessing disease impact and treatment outcome. Therefore, we developed a questionnaire called Aachen Life Quality Inventory (ALQI) for the use in neurosurgical patients with brain damage. The ALQI is derived from the German version of the Sickness Impact Profile (SIP). The 117 items are formulated on a concrete behavioral level covering the following dimensions of health-related quality of life: 1. activation; 2. mobility; 3. house-work; 4. social contact; 5. family relations; 6. ambulation; 7. work; 8. free-time activities; 9. autonomy; 10. communication; 11. cognitive capacity. As in the SIP, a summary score of total impairment (ALQI Total score), a summary score covering the psycho-social dimension (ALQI Psycho-social score) and a summary score covering aspects of physical functioning (ALQI Physical score) can be calculated. The ALQI consists of a self-rating and a parallel proxy-rating version. The ALQI was validated and psychometrically verified using the data of as yet 231 neurosurgical patients with brain damage of mixed etiology (subarachnoid hemorrhage, closed-head injury, benign brain tumors). Internal consistency (Cronbach's Alpha) ranged from.68 to.91 for the subscales, while it was.97 for the whole instrument,.94 for the psycho-social and.93 for the physical score. The internal consistency for the subscales of the proxy-rating version of the ALQI ranged between.77 and.92, while it was.97 for the whole inventory and.94 for the psycho-social and the physical scores, respectively. Examination of construct validity revealed substantial correlations with a wide range of relevant neurological, neurosurgical and neuropsychological parameters. Beyond other findings, substantial associations emerged with several neuropsychological tests (r =.30 to r =.50), the Glasgow Outcome Scale (r =.39; p <.00) and in patients after subarachnoid hemorrhage with the Hunt& Hess grading (r =.28; p <.001). According to these results, the ALQI promises to become a valid and reliable means for assessing quality of life in patients with brain damage. Nevertheless, further analyses using larger patient samples and with particular emphasis on the investigation of the retest-reliability and the prognostic validity are called for in the future.


Primary objective: To investigate the effectiveness of isokinetic strength training of ankle and knee muscles in adults with chronic acquired brain injury (ABI). Research design: Series of single case studies. Methods: Twelve people with ABI participated in a 2.5-week baseline, 12-week intervention and a 4-week follow-up phase. Intervention: Concentric isokinetic exercise, twice a week, for plantarflexors (PFs), dorsiflexors (DFs), knee flexors (KFs) and knee extensors (KEs). Outcomes: Peak torque and power at 60 and 90° s−1, PFs and KFs tone at 60° s−1, gait speed and timed chair rises. Results: For single case analyses strength improvements were noted in 11/12 participants' PFs, 5/12 participants' DFs and 7/12 participants' KEs and KFs. Gait speed improved in 8/12 participants and chair rise time improved in 7/12 participants. PFs tone increased in three participants, KFs tone increased in six participants and three participants reported knee pain. For group analyses, peak torque of PFs and KEs, fast gait speed and timed chair rises demonstrated improvement (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Isokinetic strength training may be effective to improve lower limb muscle strength; however, care needs to be taken in selecting suitable candidates as some individuals reported knee pain with this intensive programme.


Background Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multisystemic autoimmune disease that primarily affects young women of reproductive age. The preponderance of SLE in women may result from stimulation of the immune system by female hormones. Prolactin is not only a lactogenic hormone but also an immunomodulator involved in lymphocyte survival activation and proliferation. The aim of this study is to estimate serum prolactin in SLE patients and to determine whether there is any correlation between serum PRL level and activity of SLE disease. Subjects and methods The present study was carried out in Dermatology and Rheumatology outpatient clinics of Zagazig University hospitals. The laboratory investigations were analyzed in Clinical Pathology Department of Zagazig University. Ninety persons of both sexes participated in this study which was carried out between May 2015 and Dec 2016 on 90 subjects divided into two groups: Group A included 45 SLE patients diagnosed according to the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) classification criteria for SLE 4 of 11 criteria for definite case definition (10) and Group B included 45 apparently healthy persons who were age and sex matched and nonrelative to patients as control, SLE patients were divided according to the severity of the disease activity into 4 groups using SLEDAI. Specific investigation Serum PRL was determined by the electrochemiluminescence immunoassay "ECLIA" by using "cobas 411" immunoassay analyzer and Elecsys prolactin II reagent kits. Normal serum PRL range was from 5–20 ng/ml. Results In the present study, serum PRL level in SLE patients ranged from (6–27 ng/ml) with a mean PRL level ± SD of (13 ± 5.6). On the other hand, serum PRL level in the control subjects ranged from (5–20 ng/ml) with a mean PRL level ± SD of (11.8 ± 4.2). The normal range of serum PRL level is 6–20 ng/ml. No statistical significant difference were found between patients and control groups as regards serum PRL level (P > 0.05). There was increase in level of serum prolactin in severe cases of SLE followed by moderate followed by mild with statistically significant difference as P value <0.05. There was statistically significant difference, when comparing serum PRL and patients' disease activity, as P value <0.05. Conclusions In this study, there was no significant higher serum PRL level in SLE patients than the control group, no significant relationship between serum PRL level and SLEDAI, but a significant relation between serum PRL level and increase the severity of SLEDAI score.


The figure compares the costs inherent in each mode. One third of a consultation's costs are allocated to administration; this is taken as one cost unit, which happens to approximate to the average cost of one item on prescription. No account is taken of opportunity costs by the patient through loss of earnings or by the fact that the specialist clinic continues to function. Nevertheless, the model shows that referral as an outpatient, for example, may be seen to be a highly expensive management decision. Morbidity studies of general practice show that the referral option is exercised with a high degree of discrimination (about 1 in 10). The general practitioner thus plays a key role in "sparing" expensive specialist resources. Nevertheless, there is a wide range of variation, suggesting that there may be scope for creating a greater awareness of cost effectiveness in primary care. Issuing a prescription may be obviated by using the counselling mode, but at the expense of consulting time. The figure shows the relative insignificance of prescribing as a cost, yet this management option has received so much attention. We need a reappraisal of primary medical care costs in a fuller context, to include the general practice-hospital interface and the public.3 J D E KNOX University Department of General Practice, Westgate Health Centre, Dundee DD2 4AD


In view of the insufficiency of central air-conditioning system that FCU, water pumps and air blower's movement connot match with the actual operating load when varying duty, an energy saving control system for central air-conditioning based on terminal temperature measuring and frequency conversion control technology is proposed. This system can real-time measure different floors' and nods' temperatures in the building, and export orders to control the frequency of FCU, chilled water pump, cooling water pump and cooling tower air blower. To overcome big delay, large inertia and variable condition of control object, the dnamic fzzy nural network algorithm(DFNN), is applied into the control system. According to the practical running situations, the energy saving control system has advantages as high energy saving rate, high stability, good maintainability, which may be promoted the application vigorously.


We report the case of a 70-year-old woman with polycystic disease of the liver and kidney, complicated with rupture and hemorrhage of the hepatic cysts located in the right lobe. A laparoscopic approach was used. After identifying the polycystic mass, the cytologic examination of the aspirated hematic fluid and the intraoperative biopsy showed its benign nature. An hepatic fenestration was performed. Hemostasis was achieved by electrosurgical and argon probes. The postoperative course was satisfactory and radiological improvement was demonstrated on the CT scan 3 months later. Follow-up examination one year later has been uneventful. Fenestration is one of the less stressing surgical options in the adult polycystic liver disease when treatment is indicated. The laparoscopic approach may be used with safety to perform a similar technique in selected cases, establishing a communication between the cysts and the peritoneal cavity. Nevertheless, it may be difficult to reach deeply situated cysts and to differentiate them from vascular structures. Laparoscopic intraoperative ultrasonography might be of great value in these cases. Likewise, long term studies are needed to determine the benefits and the indications of the laparoscopic fenestration.


Molecular markers provide a rapid approach to breeding for desired agronomic traits. To use them, it is necessary to determine the linkage between quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and such markers. The objective of this research was to determine such linkage in recombinant inbred (RI) soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] populations. To do this, RI soybean segregants were characterized for molecular genetic markers and traits measured in several different environments. QTLs then were identified by interval mapping. Agronomic traits were measured and compared in large (about 240 segregants) RI populations derived from crosses between the cultivars Minsoy and Noir 1 (MN population), Minsoy and Archer (MA population), and Noir 1 and Archer (NA population). The MA and NA populations were grown together as two replications in each of four environments. Measurements from the MN population were reported previously and were taken from three replications grown in four environments. Traits measured were plant height, lodging, date of flowering, reproductive period, maturity, yield, seed weight, seed oil, seed protein, leaf length, and leaf width. Additional traits were derived from these primary measurements. Each of the three RI populations was also characterized by a large (>400) number of molecular genetic markers including RFI.P (restriction fragment length polymorphism) and SSR (simple sequence repeat polymorphisms). QTLs were identified for all of the primary and derived traits at a significance level ≥LOD 3 on 17 of the 20 linkage groups and tended to be clustered on three. QTLs with major effects (R 2 > 10%) were identified for all traits, and for many, these explained more than half of the heritable variation. Comparison of QTLs between the three RI populations established that for the majority of the traits, only two alleles could be identified. In only a few instances could a third allele be detected. Many of the significant QTLs identified in one population were confirmed in another. However, an almost equal number were found in only one population, suggesting that a dependence on the genetic background for expression (epistasis) was common.


What are the political and economic consequences of contention (i.e., genocide, civil war, state repression/human rights violation, terrorism, and protest)? Despite a significant amount of interest as well as quantitative research, the literature on this subject remains underdeveloped and imbalanced across topic areas. To date, investigations have been focused on particular forms of contention and specific consequences. While this research has led to some important insights, substantial limitations—as well as opportunities for future development—remain. In particular, there is a need for simultaneously investigating a wider range of consequences (beyond democracy and economic development), a wider range of contentious activity (beyond civil war, protest, and terrorism), a wider range of units of analysis (beyond the nation year), and a wider range of empirical approaches in order to handle particular difficulties confronting this type of inquiry (beyond ordinary least-squares regression). Only then will we have a better and more comprehensive understanding of what contention does and does not do politically and economically. This review takes stock of existing research and lays out an approach for looking at the problem using a more comprehensive perspective.


This thesis describes a method to offer personalised healthcare. It is motivated
by a desire for more efficient healthcare, as population ages and care demand and costs increase. Developing and testing individually tailored health services using ICT fits in this motivation, as it leads to more adequate information provided to care receivers and caregivers, a shift in tasks from caregiver to care receiver, and most of all: health services that empower as they are personalised towards individual needs.

In this research, a platform is realised and tested to provide user-tailored
e-health services. Tailored means client-specific, i.e different care receivers can consume varying care services of different vendors from the same platform. E-health services are electronic health services, or recurring health applications involving communication, mediated by ICT to bridge time and/or distance. The services in the platform apply to care situations like alarming, reminding, taking vital sign measurements, and medication management. Moreover, activity management and interaction between (in)formal caregivers and care receivers are supported. The personalisation of these services can be performed
by end users themselves. Hence, the e-health services are user-tailored.

To realise this platform, requirements have been elicited involving interviews
with end users. Desires and needs have been translated into scenarios and scenario visualisations to discuss refinement. The technical design based on this requirements engineering process, has been implemented. Then it was tested in a nursing home. Finally we researched how, given such a system in use, data can be analysed and leveraged to monitor patients over longer time, to offer decision support and to provide insight into patient behaviour.

Results show that is possible to create a platform that enables patientspecific
care. The platform provides useful applications in care. These applications
can save time for caregivers, and increase self-management in patients. However, it requires investment in the learning process.

In sum, the work shows that this platform successfully integrates and tailors
heterogeneous sensors, actuators and services from different vendor and technological origins. Moreover, the research shows how collected data can be
leveraged for analysis and decision support. Adequate personalisation of selected e-health services saves time, increases health situation awareness, supports interaction and furthers patient empowerment.


The African Real Estate Society (AfRES), founded in 1997 seeks to promote networking, research and education among property professionals across Africa. In recent years AfRES has witnessed a number of challenges to its objectives. One of the most critical of these challenges is the decline in new members and an aging membership. In this paper we highlight the creation of the Future Leaders of the African Real Estate Society (FLAfRES). The inauguration and creation of FLAfRES is to promote active participation among early career academics, researchers and professionals; and promote volunteering and create a structural pathway to mentor the next crop of AfRES leaders. We examine the need for FLAfRES, the structure, its fit within AfRES and strategies to explicitly involve younger members in the succession plans of the society.


Statistical network analysis primarily focuses on inferring the parameters of an observed network. In many applications, especially in the social sciences, the observed data is the groups formed by individual subjects. In these applications, the network is itself a parameter of a statistical model. Zhao and Weko (2019) propose a model-based approach, called the hub model, to infer implicit networks from grouping behavior. The hub model assumes that each member of the group is brought together by a member of the group called the hub. The set of members which can serve as a hub is called the hub set. The hub model belongs to the family of Bernoulli mixture models. Identifiability of Bernoulli mixture model parameters is a notoriously difficult problem. This paper proves identifiability of the hub model parameters and estimation consistency under mild conditions. Furthermore, this paper generalizes the hub model by introducing a model component that allows hubless groups in which individual nodes spontaneously appear independent of any other individual. We refer to this additional component as the null component. The new model bridges the gap between the hub model and the degenerate case of the mixture model -- the Bernoulli product. Identifiability and consistency are also proved for the new model. In addition, a penalized likelihood approach is proposed to estimate the hub set when it is unknown.


We present a multiphysics numerical tool for calculating the terahertz (THz) conductivity of transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). The tool combines the ensemble Monte Carlo (EMC) technique for carrier transport with a three-dimensional finite-difference-time-domain (FDTD) solver for electromagnetic fields. We use the coupled EMC–FDTD technique to calculate the frequency-dependent conductivity in the terahertz range for monolayer MoS2, both for suspended layers and for layers supported on the commonly used silicon-dioxide substrate.


Antimony sulfide (Sb2S3) has drawn widespread attention as an ideal candidate anode material for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) due to its high specific capacity of 946 mA h g−1 in conversion and alloy reactions. Nevertheless, volume expansion, a common flaw for conversion-alloy type materials during the sodiation and desodiation processes, is bad for the structure of materials and thus obstructs the application of antimony sulfide in energy storage. A common approach to solve this problem is by introducing carbon or other matrices as buffer material. However, the common preparation of Sb2S3 could result in environmental pollution and excessive energy consumption in most cases. To incorporate green chemistry, natural stibnite ore (Sb2S3) after modification via carbon sheets was applied as a first-hand material in SIBs through a facile and efficient strategy. The unique composites exhibited an outstanding electrochemical performance with a higher reversible capacity, a better rate capability, as well as an excellent cycling stability compared to that of the natural stibnite ore. In short, the study is expected to offer a new approach to improve Sb2S3 composites as an anode in SIBs and a reference for the development of natural ore as a first-hand material in energy storage.


Despite the vast research on human resources, little is known about the perspective of perceived organizational support in helping women faculty in professional education to strike the desirable balance between their work and non-work activities. This paper studies the role of Organizational Support in relation to Work-Life Balance of working women. India in general and Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in particular, shows paucity of research conducted in this area. Therefore, this paper empirically examines the influence of these three dimensions on the Work-Life Balance of women faculty at college and university level in Kashmir. The results of the study indicated that all the factors were significantly related to a woman's Work-Life Balance. This means that modern organizations should frame robust organizational policies aimed at supporting and enhancing career development of women professionals at work.


The blister test is a promising test method to determine the interface fracture toughness of thin films adhering to rigid fibre reinforced plastics. In this paper nonlinear finite element analysis is used to determine a suitable layout for both the shaft loaded and the pressurised blister test. On the example of a PET film adhering to a quasi-isotropic fibre reinforced plastic, it is shown that energy release rates in a range of 0-1500N/m can be obtained for a 0.5mm thick film if test parameters are carefully selected. The two main causes for deviations of the analytic solution from the FEA results is attributed to infringement of the membrane limit condition and plastic deformation in the film.


In the course of investigating nutrient availability in a montane meadow ecosystem of the Sierra Nevada range, it was determined that resin availability of Na + and K + was significantly affected by season (winter vs. summer and fall). The underlying mechanism(s) controlling this seasonal effect was investigated in the laboratory. Four replicate A horizon samples of a Typic Humaquept (silty clay texture, kaolinitic mineralogy, 3% organic C, pH 5.10) were saturated with Mg 2+ . Using 5-g subsamples from each replicate, soil was equilibrated for a period of 30 min with 30 mL of a 5.00 mmol solution of Na + and K + at 1, 15, 30, and 45°C. After centrifugation, the supernatant was analyzed for K + , Na + , and Mg 2+ . Exchanger sorption characteristics varied significantly with temperature. Overall, K + was preferentially sorbed over Na + , but the proportional sorption of K + decreased significantly at a temperature of 1°C. The temperature dependence of K + and Na + sorption partially explains seasonal differences in availability. Net sorption (K + + Na + - Mg 2+ ) was statistically similar to 0 at temperatures of 15, 30, and 50°C, but significantly increased at 1°C. This increase in cation exchange capacity at low temperature may have special relevance to ecosystems during snowmelt when increased retention of certain cations could occur.


Self-healing asphalt by increasing bitumen temperature using microwave radiation is an effective technique for crack-healing on asphalt mixtures. Normally, these types of asphalt mixtures contain metal additives that promote microwave heating. However, results from the literature suggest that crack-heling would be possible without additives. If this is possible, existing asphalt pavements could be healed by microwave heating. The objective of this research is to evaluate the crack-healing capabilities of conventional asphalt mixtures without metal additives. With this purpose, the authors studied and compared the crack-healing capabilities of conventional asphalt mixtures without metal additives with modified mixtures containing steel fibre, metal shavings, and Silicon Carbide, the last being a novel ceramic material for the crack-healing of asphalt mixtures by microwaves. The authors conducted three-point bending tests on semi-circular asphalt samples to calculate the flexural strength of asphalt. Results of the research showed that the effect of additives that promote microwave heating on the crack-healing of mixtures was a small reduction of the average healing ratio. Additionally, it was found that the effect of additives that promote microwave heating on the surface temperature of samples was either a small increase or small decrease, similar to the effect observed in the healing of mixtures. X-Ray computed tomography results showed that the virgin aggregates used contained metals, which explains the heating and good crack-healing of the reference mixtures. Overall, results of crack-healing tests indicate that asphalt mixtures with aggregates that naturally heat with microwave radiation could be crack-healed without the addition of additives to promote microwave heating.


The plant growth hormone auxin typified by indoleacetic acid (IAA) transcriptionally activates early genes in pea, PS-IAA4/5 and PS-IAA6, that are members of a multigene family encoding short-lived nuclear proteins. To gain first insight into the biological role of PS-IAA4/5 and PS-IAA6, promoter-beta-glucuronidase (GUS) gene fusions were constructed and their expression during early development of transgenic tobacco seedlings was examined. The comparative analysis reveals spatial and temporal expression patterns of both genes that correlate with cells, tissues, and developmental processes known to be affected by auxin. GUS activity in seedlings of both transgenic lines is located in the root meristem, sites of lateral root initiation and in hypocotyls undergoing rapid elongation. In addition, mutually exclusive cell-specific expression is evident. For instance, PS-IAA4/5-GUS but not PS-IAA6-GUS is expressed in root vascular tissue and in guard cells, whereas only PS-IAA6-GUS activity is detectable in glandular trichomes and redistributes to the elongating side of the hypocotyl upon gravitropic stimulation. Expression of PS-IAA4/5 and PS-IAA6 in elongating, dividing, and differentiating cell types indicates multiple functions during development. The common and yet distinct activity patterns of both genes suggest a combinatorial code of spatio-temporal co-expression of the various PS-IAA4/5-like gene family members in plant development that may mediate cell-specific responses to auxin.


It is foreseen that several wireless sensor networks (WSNs) will be deployed in the very near future to provide various sensing services to end user applications. A wide range of novel end-user applications will emerge. In some application scenarios, the sinkless model is appropriate. In this model, the applications interact directly with the sensor nodes, without going through a gateway. However, the current sensor nodes use proprietary protocols and data access frameworks. This propriety will hinder the speed of evolution of applications. There is a need for a framework that is well known to application developers and is based on standard protocols. This paper presents an embedded Web services platform residing on the sensor nodes, allowing direct interaction between applications and individual sensor nodes. The lessons learned indicate that Web service platform on sensor node is feasible, despite the nodes' limited resources and the complexity of the framework.


BACKGROUND
Oligohydramnios (reduced amniotic fluid) may be responsible for malpresentation problems, umbilical cord compression, concentration of meconium in the liquor, and difficult or failed external cephalic version. Simple maternal hydration has been suggested as a way of increasing amniotic fluid volume in order to reduce some of these problems.

OBJECTIVES
The objective of this review was to assess the effects of maternal hydration on amniotic fluid volume and measures of pregnancy outcome.

SEARCH STRATEGY
The Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group trials register and the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register were searched. Date of last search: 1 February 1999.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomised trials comparing maternal hydration with no hydration in pregnant women with reduced or normal amniotic fluid volume.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Eligibility and trial quality were assessed by both reviewers.

MAIN RESULTS
Two studies of 77 women were included. The women were asked to drink two litres of water before having a repeat ultrasound examination. Maternal hydration in women with and without oligohydramnios was associated with an increase in amniotic volume (weighted mean difference for women with oligohydramnios 2.01, 95% confidence interval 1.43 to 2.56; and weighted mean difference for women with normal amniotic fluid volume 4.5, 95% confidence interval 2.92 to 6.08). Intravenous hypotonic hydration in women with oligohydramnios was associated with an increase in amniotic fluid volume (weighted mean difference 2.3, 95% confidence interval 1.36 to 3.24). Isotonic intravenous hydration had no measurable effect. No clinically important outcomes were assessed in any of the trials.

REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS
Simple maternal hydration appears to increase amniotic fluid volume and may be beneficial in the management of oligohydramnios and prevention of oligohydramnios during labour or prior to external cephalic version. Controlled trials are needed to assess the clinical benefits and possible risks of maternal hydration for specific clinical purposes.


BACKGROUND: Cases of old ankle fractures with different delayed treatments in different conditions were collected and evaluated to determine which treatments were optimal for individual type of fractures. METHODS: Sixteen cases of old ankle fractures were managed by open reduction and internal fixation, osteotomy, or removal of loose fragment according to the condition of the fractures between 1977 and 1987. The follow-up period was from 5 to 15 years with mean 7.9 years. The final result was evaluated by a modified performance index. RESULTS: All the 12 patients treated with open reduction and internal fixation for malposition got improved with the mean performance score rising from 37 before operation to 76 after operation. Improvement was also noted in all the 3 patients treated with osteotomy for malunion without significant arthritis, rising from 44 to 88. One patient had painful non-united fragment of medial malleolus, and removal of the loose fragment was done to improve the score from 58 to 96. CONCLUSIONS: Management of old ankle fractures can be effective and beneficial when appropriate treatments are given according to the different conditions of the fracture and joint.


Providing a justification or explanation for a recommendation has been shown to improve the users' experience with recommender systems, in particular by increasing confidence in the recommendations. However, in order to be effective in a conversational setting, the justifications have to be appropriate for the conversation so far. Previous approaches rely on a user history of reviews and ratings of related items to personalize the recommendation, but this information is not generally available when conversing with a new user, and as such a cold-start problem imposes a challenge in generating suitable justifications. To address this problem, we propose and validate a new method, CONJURE (CONversational JUstificatons for REcommendations) to generate contextually relevant justifications for conversational recommendations. Specifically, we investigate whether the conversation itself can be used effectively to model the user, identify relevant review content from other users, and generate a justification that boosts the user's confidence in and understanding of the recommendation. To implement CONJURE, we test several novel extensions to prior algorithms, by exploiting an auxiliary corpus of movie reviews to construct the justifications from extracted pieces of those reviews. In particular, we explore different conversation representations and ranking approaches. To evaluate CONJURE, we developed a pairwise crowd task to compare justifications. Our results show large, significant improvements in Efficiency and Transparency metrics over the previous non-contextualized template-based methods. We plan to release our code and an augmented conversation corpus on Github.


The cardiac Na+/Ca2+ exchanger (NCX1) is the predominant mechanism for the extrusion of Ca2+ from beating cardiomyocytes. The role of protein phosphorylation in the regulation of NCX1 function in normal and diseased hearts remains unclear. In our search for proteins that interact with NCX1 using a yeast two-hybrid screen, we found that the C terminus of calcineurin Aβ, containing the autoinhibitory domain, binds to the β1 repeat of the central cytoplasmic loop of NCX1 that presumably constitutes part of the allosteric Ca2+ regulatory site. The association of NCX1 with calcineurin was significantly increased in the BIO14.6 cardiomyopathic hamster heart compared with that in the normal control. In hypertrophic neonatal rat cardiomyocytes subjected to chronic phenylephrine treatment, we observed a marked depression of NCX activity measured as the rate of Na+i-dependent 45Ca2+ uptake or the rate of Na+o-dependent 45Ca2+ efflux. Depressed NCX activity was partially and independently reversed by the acute inhibition of calcineurin and protein kinase C activities with little effect on myocyte hypertrophic phenotypes. Studies of NCX1 deletion mutants expressed in CCL39 cells were consistent with the view that the β1 repeat is required for the action of endogenous calcineurin and that the large cytoplasmic loop may be required to maintain the interaction of the enzyme with its substrate. Our data suggest that NCX1 is a novel regulatory target for calcineurin and that depressed NCX activity might contribute to the etiology of in vivo cardiac hypertrophy and dysfunction occurring under conditions in which both calcineurin and protein kinase C are chronically activated.


Most real-world data sets contain outliers that have unusually large or small values when compared with others in the data set. Outliers may cause a negative effect on data analyses, such as ANOVA and regression, based on distribution assumptions, or may provide useful information about data when we look into an unusual response to a given study. Thus, outlier detection is an important part of data analysis in the above two cases. Several outlier labeling methods have been developed. Some methods are sensitive to extreme values, like the SD method, and others are resistant to extreme values, like Tukey's method. Although these methods are quite powerful with large normal data, it may be problematic to apply them to non-normal data or small sample sizes without knowledge of their characteristics in these circumstances. This is because each labeling method has different measures to detect outliers, and expected outlier percentages change differently according to the sample size or distribution type of the data. Many kinds of data regarding public health are often skewed, usually to the right, and lognormal distributions can often be applied to such skewed data, for instance, surgical procedure times, blood pressure, and assessment of toxic compounds in environmental analysis. This paper reviews and compares several common and less common outlier labeling methods and presents information that shows how the percent of outliers changes in each method according to the skewness and sample size of lognormal distributions through simulations and application to real data sets. These results may help establish guidelines for the choice of outlier detection methods in skewed data, which are often sen in the public health field.


The intellectualization requirement of the artificial entities' behavior makes us reconsider the logical and mathematical abstractions underlying the construction of their onboard control systems. The problem of developing such systems based on pattern theory is actual. It is shown that this ensures the effective experience transfer and ensures the theological approach compatibility and the causal approach. There is a survey of the identifying problem and building pattern models' one. There is a proposal to use four information processing positions for this purpose, and there is a development of logical inference method on patterns.


A large amount of domestic wastewater is produced in our daily life. To sustainably use the urban domestic wastewater in the residential area and develop the equipment for distributed domestic wastewater treatment, the present work carried out a pilot study on the treatment of domestic wastewater by sequencing batch membrane bioreactor (SBMBR). Under the conditions of 20 L/h·m2 of average water flux, and 2 h/3 h of anaerobic/aerobic period, the SBMBR process showed a good treatment effect with a good quality of effluent (<50 mg/L of chemical oxygen demand (COD), <5 mg/L of ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), <15 mg/L of total nitrogen (TN), <2.6 NTU of turbidity, 96.9% of color removal and 99.9% of bacteria removal). The aeration quantity had a certain degree of impact on the removal of COD and the optimum aeration rate was 13.9 m3/m3·h considering both the effectiveness and cost. When the SBMBR was continuously operated for 40 days, the transmembrane pressure reached 50 kPa and the membrane needed to clean. The hydrochloric acid (pH ≈ 2) was a suitable cleaning agent and the membrane was almost completely restored after cleaning.


Dissatisfaction with standards of diabetes care in general, and the traditional diabetic clinic in particular, is widespread. Problems include the large numbers of attenders, short consultation times (often with inexperienced medical staff), lack of continuity and prolonged waiting times. Standards of education and control fall woefully below those that are desired. In recent years several different strategies have been adopted to provide solutions, including general practitioner cooperative care schemes to reduce numbers and improve community care, the appointment of diabetes specialist nurses to take on the major educational role, and the commissioning of special education units designed to remove the educational element from the traditional clinic environment. Lately consideration has been given to the development of Diabetes Centres, to provide more comprehensive diabetes care, both educational and clinical. A workshop was held in January 1987 to analyse in greater detail the concept of Diabetes Centres and the consequences of their implementation.


Administration of NMDA antagonists leads to attenuation or disappearance of some symptoms of central sensitization, such as secondary hyperalgesia. However, the side effects of NMDA antagonists to a large extent counterbalance the expected benefits, thus preventing wide or prolonged use. Dextromethorphan and its metabolite dextrophan, on the other hand, are established and safe drugs. Experimentally they both antagonize the NMDA receptor. This study evaluates the effects of dextromethorphan and its metabolite in pain models using electrical stimulation for testing the antinociceptive effect and capsaicin-induced hyperalgesia. Dextromethorphan shows clear antinociceptive as well as neuromodulary effects, both depending heavily on the cytochrome P450 2D6 phenotype (CYP2D6).


Recent techniques to solve photorealistic style transfer within deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) generally require intensive training from large-scale datasets, thus having limited applicability and poor generalization ability to unseen images or styles. To overcome this, we propose a novel framework, dubbed Deep Translation Prior (DTP), to accomplish photorealistic style transfer through test-time training on given input image pair with untrained networks, which learns an image pair-specific translation prior and thus yields better performance and generalization. Tailored for such test-time training for style transfer, we present novel network architectures, with two sub-modules of correspondence and generation modules, and loss functions consisting of contrastive content, style, and cycle consistency losses. Our framework does not require offline training phase for style transfer, which has been one of the main challenges in existing methods, but the networks are to be solely learned during test time. Experimental results prove that our framework has a better generalization ability to unseen image pairs and even outperforms the state-of-the-art methods.


Oscillating heat pipes (OHPs) provide a promising heat transfer device for a variety of applications, including the cooling of electronic devices. Recently, it has been shown that a hydrophilic, nanostructured cupric oxide (CuO) coating can significantly enhance the thermal performance of copper OHPs that use water as the working fluid. Motivated by these results, we report neutron scattering and electron microscopy (EM) measurements to investigate the interaction of water with copper-oxide surfaces on the nanoscale. Our measurements confirm earlier observations of a thin cuprous oxide (Cu2O) layer growing on a bare copper substrate followed by "grass-like" CuO nanostructures. New evidence of the nanostructure hydrophilicity is provided by EM measurements of wetting and by our high-energy-resolution elastic neutron scattering measurements, showing a continuous freezing and melting of the water in our samples over a temperature range of ∼80 K. In addition, our neutron diffraction measurements are consistent with water closest to the CuO nanostructures freezing into an amorphous solid at low levels of hydration and hexagonal ice at higher hydration. In short, our findings support a strong interaction of water with the CuO nanostructures, which could significantly affect the operation of an OHP.Oscillating heat pipes (OHPs) provide a promising heat transfer device for a variety of applications, including the cooling of electronic devices. Recently, it has been shown that a hydrophilic, nanostructured cupric oxide (CuO) coating can significantly enhance the thermal performance of copper OHPs that use water as the working fluid. Motivated by these results, we report neutron scattering and electron microscopy (EM) measurements to investigate the interaction of water with copper-oxide surfaces on the nanoscale. Our measurements confirm earlier observations of a thin cuprous oxide (Cu2O) layer growing on a bare copper substrate followed by "grass-like" CuO nanostructures. New evidence of the nanostructure hydrophilicity is provided by EM measurements of wetting and by our high-energy-resolution elastic neutron scattering measurements, showing a continuous freezing and melting of the water in our samples over a temperature range of ∼80 K. In addition, our neutron diffraction measurements are consisten...


Background In vitro cell culture experiments with primary cells have reported that cell proliferation is retarded in the presence of ambient compared to physiological O2 levels. Cancer is primarily a disease of aberrant cell proliferation, therefore, studying cancer cells grown under ambient O2 may be undesirable. To understand better the impact of O2 on the propagation of cancer cells in vitro, we compared the growth potential of a panel of ovarian cancer cell lines under ambient (21%) or physiological (3%) O2. Principal Findings Our observations demonstrate that similar to primary cells, many cancer cells maintain an inherent sensitivity to O2, but some display insensitivity to changes in O2 concentration. Further analysis revealed an association between defective G2/M cell cycle transition regulation and O2 insensitivity resultant from overexpression of 14-3-3 σ. Targeting 14-3-3 σ overexpression with RNAi restored O2 sensitivity in these cell lines. Additionally, we found that metastatic ovarian tumors frequently overexpress 14-3-3 σ, which in conjunction with phosphorylated RB, results in poor prognosis. Conclusions Cancer cells show differential proliferative sensitivity to changes in O2 concentration. Although a direct link between O2 insensitivity and metastasis was not determined, this investigation showed that an O2 insensitive phenotype in cancer cells to correlate with metastatic tumor progression.


MATERIALS SCIENCE
Surfactant vesicles can be used as nanoreactors for polymerization reactions and can serve as templates that direct the morphology of the polymer formed. This approach has been used to make closed spherical polymer structures as well as so-called "parachute-like" morphologies. One might expect that these morphologies would depend on the relative solubility of the monomers and polymers versus the surfactant, which would influence phase separation.

Jung et al. performed a systematic study of the factors that determine the final vesicle-polymer morphology using a wide variety of polymers and surfactants. Nanoscopic phase separation occurred for all common surfactant-polymer combinations, which suggests that phase separation occurs during polymerization. The final morphology did, however, depend on the chemical nature of the two components, and so guidelines for the synthesis of vesicle-polymer hybrid architectures can be developed. Novel architectures seen include "wrapped parachutes," in which a second vesicle surrounds an inner parachute-like structure, and necklace architectures, in which numerous polymer beads decorate the vesicle surface.— JU

Adv. Mater. 12 , 210 (2000).


OF THESIS SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAMS AND THE AMERICAN DIET: EXPLORING A CONTESTED FOOD TERRAIN This study examines the social actors and issues involved in constructing and contesting the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), in order to identify whose interests are involved in shaping an institution which transmits dietary habits and food knowledge to the nation's children through the mid day meal. For the historical analysis, I collected data from historical accounts of the NSLP, congressional hearings, laws, and newspaper articles. For the contemporary analysis, I interviewed 15 actors representing organizations key to federal NLSP policy making. To frame my analysis, I utilize a model of power, based on the work of Arts and Van Tatenhove (2004), and the work of Burstein (1991), who describes issue creation and movement in policy domains. The key findings of this study are that actors with the most financial resources (e.g. the food industry) do not automatically achieve their interests in the policy making process. In fact, at key times of contestation, economically powerful actors form alliances and adjust their agenda in reaction to the use of other forms of power by economically weaker actors. This information can help economically weaker actors (e.g. the farm to school movement) understand how to increase their influence in the policy domain.


Hypertension is the major risk factor for coronary disease worldwide. Primary hypertension is idiopathic in origin but is thought to arise from multiple risk factors including genetic, lifestyle and environmental influences. Secondary hypertension has a more definite aetiology; its major single cause is primary aldosteronism (PA), the greatest proportion of which is caused by aldosterone producing adenoma (APA), where aldosterone is synthesized at high levels by an adenoma of the adrenal gland. There is strong evidence to show that high aldosterone levels cause adverse effects on cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, renal and other systems. Extensive studies have been conducted to analyse the role that regulation of CYP11B2, the gene encoding the aldosterone synthase enzyme plays in determining aldosterone production and the development of hypertension. One significant regulatory factor that has only recently emerged is microRNA (miRNA). miRNAs are small non-coding RNAs, synthesized by a series of enzymatic processes, that negatively regulate gene expression at the posttranscriptional level. Detection and manipulation of miRNA is now known to be a viable method in the treatment, prevention and prognosis of certain diseases. The aim of the present study was to identify miRNAs likely to have a role in the regulation of corticosteroid biosynthesis. To achieve this, the miRNA profile of APA and normal human adrenal tissue was compared, as was the H295R adrenocortical cell line model of adrenocortical function, under both basal conditions and following stimulation of aldosterone production. Key differentially-expressed miRNAs were then identified and bioinformatic tools used to identify likely mRNA targets and pathways for these miRNAs, several of which were investigated and validated using in vitro methods. The background to this study is set out in Chapter 1 of this thesis, followed by a description of the major technical methods employed in Chapter 2.
Chapter 3 presents the first of the study results, analysing differences in miRNA profile between APA and normal human adrenal tissue. Microarray was implemented to detect the expression of miRNAs in these two tissue types and several miRNAs were found to vary significantly and consistently between them. Furthermore, members of several miRNA clusters exhibited similar changes in expression pattern between the two tissues e.g. members of cluster miR-29b-1 (miR-29a-3p and miR-29b-3p) and of cluster miR-29b-2 (miR-29b-3p and miR-29c-3p) are downregulated in APA, while members of cluster let-7a-1 (let-7a-5p and let-7d-5p), cluster let-7a-3 (let-7a-5p and let-7b-5p) and cluster miR-134 (miR-134 and miR-382) are upregulated. Further bioinformatic analysis explored the possible biological function of these miRNAs using Ingenuity® Systems Pathway Analysis software. This led to the identification of validated mRNAs already known to be targeted by these miRNAs, as well as the prediction of other mRNAs that are likely targets and which are involved in processes relevant to APA pathology including cholesterol synthesis (HMGCR) and corticosteroidogenesis (CYP11B2). It was therefore hypothesised that increases in miR-125a-5p or miR-335-5p would reduce HMGCR and CYP11B2 expression.
Chapter 4 describes the characterisation of H295R cells of different strains and sources (H295R Strain 1, 2, 3 and HAC 15). Expression of CYP11B2 was assessed following application of 3 different stimulants: Angio II, dbcAMP and KCl. The most responsive strain to stimulation was Strain 1 at lower passage numbers. Furthermore, H295R proliferation increased following Angio II stimulation.
In Chapter 5, the hypothesis that increases in miR-125a-5p or miR-335-5p reduces HMGCR and CYP11B2 expression was tested using realtime quantitative RT-PCR and transfection of miRNA mimics and inhibitors into the H295R cell line model of adrenocortical function. In this way, miR-125a-5p and miR-335-5p were shown to downregulate CYP11B2 and HMGCR expression, thereby validating certain of the bioinformatic predictions generated in Chapter 3.
The study of miRNA profile in the H295R cell lines was conducted in Chapter 6, analysing how it changes under conditions that increase aldosterone secretion, including stimulation Angiotensin II, potassium chloride or dibutyryl cAMP (as a substitute for adrenocorticotropic hormone). miRNA profiling identified 7 miRNAs that are consistently downregulated by all three stimuli relative to basal cells: miR-106a-5p, miR-154-3p, miR-17-5p, miR-196b-5p, miR-19a-3p, miR-20b-5p and miR-766-3p. These miRNAs include those derived from cluster miR-106a- 5p/miR-20b-5p and cluster miR-17-5p/miR-19a-3p, each producing a single polycistronic transcript. IPA bioinformatic analysis was again applied to identify experimentally validated and predicted mRNA targets of these miRNAs and the key biological pathways likely to be affected. This predicted several interactions between miRNAs derived from cluster miR-17-5p/miR-19a-3p and important mRNAs involved in cholesterol biosynthesis: LDLR and ABCA1. These predictions were investigated by in vitro experiment. miR-17-5p/miR-106a-p and miR-20b-5p were found to be consistently downregulated by stimulation of aldosterone biosynthesis. Moreover, miR-766-3p was upregulation throughout. Furthermore, I was able to validate the downregulation of LDLR by miR-17 transfection, as predicted by IPA.
In summary, this study identified key miRNAs that are differentially-expressed in vivo in cases of APA or in vitro following stimulation of aldosterone biosynthesis. The many possible biological actions these miRNAs could have were filtered by bioinformatic analysis and selected interactions validated in vitro. While direct actions of these miRNAs on steroidogenic enzymes were identified, cholesterol handling also emerged as an important target and may represent a useful point of intervention in future therapies designed to modulate aldosterone biosynthesis and reduce its harmful effects.


Diabetes mellitus is a systemic metabolic disease characterized by disrupted glucose and lipid metabolism. With an alarming rise of incidence each year, there is therefore a pressing need to find more efficient medicines and methods for its treatment. Using the obese type 2 diabetes db/db mouse model, in our pervious work we found that a new type of nanomaterial could inhibit the formation of insulin resistance. The underlying mechanisms of its therapeutic effect in the glucose and lipid metabolism are further investigated in the present study. Compared with the control mice, the blood glucose of the mice decreased significantly after the nanomaterial injection, accompanied by a dose-dependent hypoglycemic effect. The impaired glucose tolerance and insulin resistance were significantly improved in mice treated with the material. We found that the expression of PCK1 and G6Pc were reduced at both RNA and protein levels, whilst p-AKT was stimulated at the protein level after the nanomaterial injection, which indicated its positive impact on glucose metabolism. Reductions in total, adipose and liver weight were also present in db/db mice treated with the material, compared with the control. In the aspect of lipid metabolism, H and E and oil red O staining of liver tissue revealed an amelioration of fatty liver symptoms in mice injected with the material. Consistent with the observed phenotype, the mRNA expression of the FA synthesis enzymes ACC and FAS were decreased significantly after the treatment, as confirmed by q-PCR analysis. Meanwhile, an observably lower nucleus abundance of SREBP1c, the important transcriptional regulator of ACC and FAS, was detected following the treatment, using immunohistochemical approach. These results demonstrate the striking effects of the nanomaterial on the glucose and lipid metabolism. Taken together, our data implies the significance of this novel type of nanomaterial as the next-generation therapy for diabetes and fatty liver, yet the relevant mechanisms are to be further examined. Disclosure J. Wu: None. Y. Chen: None. L. Liu: None. Q. Yao: None. X. Liu: None. Y. Wu: None.


Abstract We report new field observations, zircon U–Pb ages and geochemical data for the discrete members of the Zhaheba ophiolite complex in northeastern Junggar of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB) with the aim to understand the accretion process of the eastern Junggar terrane. The zircon age data reveal that the cumulates of the Zhaheba ophiolite crystallized at ~485 Ma while the volcanic sequences erupted at ~400 Ma. Thus, the volcanic sequences are not members of the Zhaheba ophiolite. Chromian spinels from the serpentinite have comparable elemental compositions to those of spinels from MORB-type ophiolites. Similarly, the rift affinity of clinopyroxene and positive zircon ε Hf(t) (13–20) and mantle δ 18O (+5.37‰) values of the cumulates imply that the cumulates crystallized from primitive magmas derived from a depleted mantle source. Elemental and Nd isotopic compositions indicate that the basalts in the Zhaheba area were derived from partial melting of a mantle wedge metasomatized by adakitic melts and/or subduction-related fluids. The data presented in this contribution, together with previous studies, indicate that the Zhaheba–Almantai and Kelameili ophiolites were MORB-type, which implies that there were at least two mid-ocean ridges during Ordovician to early Devonian times in the Junggar Ocean. In the earlier stage, intra-oceanic subduction led to the formation of the intra-oceanic arc, and then the Kelameili ophiolite accreted to an intra-oceanic accretionary wedge. In the later stage, the Zhaheba–Almantai ophiolite accreted to the accretionary wedge along the southern margin of the Iritish suture zone during the roll-back of the subduction zone from north to south.


Reaching to targets in space requires the coordination of eye and hand movements. In two experiments, we recorded eye and hand kinematics to examine the role of gaze position at target onset on eye-hand coordination and reaching performance. Experiment 1 showed that with eyes and hand aligned on the same peripheral start location, time lags between eye and hand onsets were small and initiation times were substantially correlated, suggesting simultaneous control and tight eye-hand coupling. With eyes and hand departing from different start locations (gaze aligned with the center of the range of possible target positions), time lags between eye and hand onsets were large and initiation times were largely uncorrelated, suggesting independent control and decoupling of eye and hand movements. Furthermore, initial gaze position strongly mediated manual reaching performance indexed by increments in movement time as a function of target distance. Experiment 2 confirmed the impact of target foveation in modulating the effect of target distance on movement time. Our findings reveal the operation of an overarching, flexible neural control system that tunes the operation and cooperation of saccadic and manual control systems depending on where the eyes look at target onset.


The purpose of this study was to explore the different parenting skills of mothers in various demographics in parenting their young children with development delay. The participants were mothers of 3-6 year old children with development delay (DDC mothers) from a registered preschool in Taiwan. Mothers Parenting Skills Questionnaire (MPSQ) was used as the research tool. A convenience sampling of 199 valid questionnaires was collected. Nearly 80% of the children exhibited developmental delay in language and communications; less prominent developmental delays were in (ranked in descending order by proportion) motor, cognitive, emotional, interpersonal, activities of daily living, and physiological aspects. The results of the present study revealed that the parenting skills of the DDC mothers approached the "moderately to satisfactorily met the criteria" level. The multiple regression analysis results revealed that the DDC mothers whose parenting skills were acquired from "parenting seminars" or "professionals or physicians," residing in northern Taiwan, and attaining an education level of university or above exhibited higher performance in overall parenting skills, achieving a statistically significant correlation. The research results can serve as a reference for the DDC mothers of young children, educator of preschools, and early-intervention facilities.


The problem of nonlinear water waves, which is of great practical importance in ocean engineering, has been studied vigorously for over three decades by adopting a Mixed Eulerian-Lagrangian (MEL) formulation that employs the fully nonlinear potential flow theory (FNPT). In this approach, the free surface equations in the Lagrangian frame are solved using a time marching procedure and the Laplace equation in the fluid domain is solved in the Eulerian frame. While the boundary integral/element method for solving the Laplace equation has been studied for over 4 decades, the finite element (FE) method has been investigated during the last 2 decades.Time domain (TD) integration of the free surface equations in the MEL model is a crucial step. In the FE based MEL model, FE solution of the Laplace equation, which is the most computationally intensive part, is required at each time step. The fourth order Runge-Kutta (RK4) method, which involves four function evaluations at each time step, has been widely used for solving the free surface equations. In this context, the third and fourth order Adams-Bashforth (AB3 & AB4) methods that involve only one function evaluation at each time step are worth considering. For a chosen time step, the RK4 method is much more accurate than the AB methods, in addition to having much better stability. So, it is essential to study the performance of the AB methods from the view point of accuracy and stability, with a focus on computational economy. In the present paper, such a study has been undertaken employing a MEL computation capability recently developed by the authors. Since the accuracy of MEL solution to sloshing problems is not hindered by radiation boundary condition (r.b.c.), it has been adopted here to carry out simulations over several wave cycles. Since long-time nonlinear simulations using the MEL formulation are generally hampered by instability, the case of small amplitude sloshing has been simulated for about 1000 wave cycles using the AB3 and AB4 algorithms. In the MEL numerical model, errors accrue at every time step because of numerical integration, FE solution of the Laplace equation and estimation of velocities using the FE solution. The errors in the amplitude and phase of free surface waves have been estimated and compared for different simulations. The errors in the FE solution at every time step, which is an input for the next time stepping calculation, appear contained and no solution instability has been noticed.As a second example, nonlinear sloshing with a moderate steepness of 1/30 has been considered. For this case, simulations could not be carried out beyond about 30 to 50 cycles, because of the well known saw-tooth instability associated with the Lagrangian model for the free surface equations. This instability manifests as Jacobian determinant error in the isoparametric element formulation. Interestingly, this seems to provide a diagnostic to detect saw-tooth instability in the MEL model. It would be useful to develop accurate smoothing techniques to overcome this instability and also extend the computation capability to problems with higher wave steepness.Copyright © 2016 by ASME


Abstract The molecular identification and histopathology are described for the parasitic larvae of a nematode species present in the abdominal cavity of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) grilse caught in fish traps on their natal river in the west of Ireland and post-smolts collected during experimental trawls on the continental shelf edge of the northeast Atlantic Ocean. Larvae in the adult and juvenile salmon were identified as Anisakis simplex sensu stricto by PCR amplification and RFLP and sequencing of the ITS gene and PCR amplification and sequencing of the cox2 gene. Parasitic nematode larvae in the grilse were either encapsulated in the abdominal mesentery associated with the pyloric ceca or on the serosal surface of the liver and in the vent region. In some fish, larvae were found in the parenchyma of the liver and muscularis circularis of the intestine. In general, the larvae induced a limited cellular response apart from the occurrence of focal melanin macrophage aggregates and individual eosinophilic granular cells in the connective tissue capsule. Melanin macrophage aggregates were also present among the hepatocytes adjacent to encapsulated larvae in the liver. The reaction to the parasites was more severe in the wall of the intestine. Encapsulated nematode larvae caused displacement, vacuolation, and necrosis of the circular muscle fibers. The stratum compactum was also disrupted with focal areas of degeneration. Overall, the intestinal wall had a hypercellular appearance with extensive cellular infiltration comprising eosinophilic granular cells, macrophages, lymphocytes, and fibrocytes. The post-smolts were caught in May during the early oceanic phase of their life cycle. In these fish, A. simplex sensu stricto larvae were found lying free on the serosal surface of the intestine and liver without any apparent histologic changes. This is the earliest in the marine migration of Atlantic salmon that A. simplex sensu stricto infection has been recorded.


Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) is a 25 kDa glycoprotein expressed and secreted by renal tubular cells, immune cells and cancer cells under various pathologic states. NGAL plays important roles in renal tubular epithelial recovery, bacterial defense and inflammation. Currently, NGAL is considered as an accurate early biomarker for acute renal disease, and also shows great potential in improving the assessment of risk groups and the short-term and the long-term prognosis of chronic renal disease. Systemic reviews and meta-analysis illustrated that systemic and urinary NGAL have similar sensitivity and specificity for assessing renal damage, however, emerging studies found that they behaved dissimilar in certain patients, suggesting they may have different clinical significances. Moreover, plenty of studies have found that pathologic conditions, like inflammation, sepsis and cancer also upregulate NGAL protein, which caused the fluctuations of systemic and urinary NGAL concentrations and blurred the accuracy of NGAL as renal damage indicator. The purpose of this review article is to examine the different performances of systemic and urinary NGAL in diagnosis and prognosis of renal diseases and summarize the current knowledge on factors affecting NGAL as sensitive renal damage biomarker.


Excess energy intake and a sedentary lifestyle have led to increasing incidence of obesity which is a major risk factor for the development of insulin resistance. Research in the last two decades has revealed that chronic-low grade inflammation in adipose tissue is a key link between obesity and insulin resistance. As a result, adipose tissue is now considered an active immune organ with a key role in metabolic homeostasis. In the course of obesity, cells of the immune system infiltrate visceral adipose tissue (VAT) in an active process that promotes local and systemic inflammation. This inflammatory process in VAT is driven by various subsets of immune cells and is a central mechanism connecting obesity with its metabolic complications. One key event of adipose tissue inflammation is the switching of macrophages towards a pro-inflammatory phenotype. In addition, recent research has discovered an expanding list of immune cells contributing to this inflammatory process. Pro-inflammatory immune cells are crucial to obese VAT inflammation because of their production of cytokines, which can interfere with insulin signaling in peripheral tissues. This review summarizes our current knowledge of the pathology of innate and adaptive immune cells in obese adipose tissue, with emphasis in the immunological mechanisms mediating obesity-associated insulin resistance.