�,5 , 7-trihydroxy-3 � , 6-dimethoxyflavone) isolated from the herb of Artemisia vestita Wall on several human cancer cell lines. Jaceosidin significantly reduced the proliferation of CAOV-3, SKOV3, HeLa, and PC3 cells in a concentration-dependent manner. A time-dependent inhibition was also observed in CAOV-3 cells by Jaceosidin. By flow cytometric analysis, we found that Jaceosidin treatment resulted in an increased apoptosis in CAOV-3 cells. The cells treated with Jaceosidin exhibited a decreased mitochondrial membrane potential. Jaceosidin also increased the level of cleaved caspase-9 and induced the cleavage of caspase-3 and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), while caspase-3 inhibitor Z-DEVD-FMK significantly reversed the proapoptotic effect of Jaceosidin in CAOV-3 cells. Moreover, Jaceosidin elevated the level of cytochrome c in cytosol. These findings suggest that the anticancer effect of Jaceosidin may be contributed by an induction of apoptosis involving cytochrome c release from mitochondria to cytosol.


In variety of application such as information sharing, navigation system, internet access vehicular area network plays an important role. To broadcast message safely, optimal routing we need more research. In such a case efficient routing plays an important role .To reach to destination we use shortest path algorithm but it can gives higher hop count. By adding mobile nodes to ad hoc network, it will deviate the path far from optimal path because it has no knowledge current topology which cause higher hop count. In this paper we propose optimize routing technique for VANET which improve routing by continuously monitoring and change the path which causes less hop count.


Software is being increasingly incorporated in increasingly extensive industrial and other applications. There is a demand for total control of entire applications including their software components. A consequence of this is that the development procedure, production operations and maintenance, previously separate processes, are being integrated in comprehensive process systems. In the integration of these processes, many difficulties are encountered because of different natures of the processes and the different approaches made to the problem. In the integration process, many activities overlap and much data is duplicated, this making a complex process even more complex. Software Configuration Management (SCM) and Product Data Management (PDM) which are used to solve similar problems in different ways are examples of overlapping processes. Attempts to integrate SCM and PDM systems to obtain a more efficient development process have not proved particularly successful. This paper analyses the main characteristics of SCM and PDM, development processes that are PDMor SCM-centered, their common characteristics and their differences. The problems encountered when using both systems are analyzed. An analysis of possible integration of these systems is presented and the potential benefits of and problems involved in such integration are discussed.


U.S. academic libraries exist in an unusual space, as they are both providers of access to computers, the Internet, and databases and electronic products, and producers of electronic content through digital repositories and electronic journals. They are part of larger organizations, yet the other parts of these larger organizations are not libraries or even library-related. In addition, there are factors — beyond merely decision-making processes — that make accessibility a far more fraught concern for academic libraries. U.S. academic libraries are also influenced by the policies of new media content creators that maximize their profits through streaming on their own platforms. Further, academic libraries have taken on new roles related to information access, including the collation and distribution of electronic materials through campus digital repositories of preprints, theses, and other works created by faculty, staff, and students. Moreover, in some cases, libraries have stepped into the role of publisher, particularly with respect to open-access electronic journals. For people with disabilities, accessibility in all of these facets is essential for their ability to be equal users of the library. These various roles of academic libraries create a distinct set of legal, technological, and ethical pressures related to ensuring accessibility for individuals with disabilities, which will be explored in this article, along with the potential for academic libraries to become leaders in accessibility in libraries and in broader society.


The suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) act within the brain as a master clock that generates and maintains biological and physiological circadian rhythms ( 1 ). Activity of the SCN is strongly modulated by melatonin, a principle hormone produced by the pineal gland. Melatonin appears to have multiple effects on the SCN, including inhibition of firing and phase-shifting of periodic activity of these nuclei in parallel with light stimuli to entrain circadian rhythms to environmental inputs. These activities appear to be mediated via Gcoupled melatonin receptors. Two melatonin receptor subtypes, Mella and Mel,b, have recently been cloned, with distinct expression of the Mel,a receptor gene in brain areas that bind melatonin, including the SCN, and with expression of Mel,b remaining enigmatic. To test the hypothesis that the Mel,a receptor is responsible for neuronal inhibition and phase-shifting effects of melatonin in the SCN, investigators at Harvard Medical School and BristolMyers Squibb created mutant mice with targeted disruption of the Mella receptor (2). As expected, targeted disruption of the Mella receptor was associated with loss of the inhibitory effects of melatonin on the firing of SCN neurons. Surprisingly, however, targeted disruption of Mella modified, but did not abolish, melatonin's phase-shifting effect on SCN activity. This shows that the Mella receptor is not necessary for the phase-shifting effects of melatonin, although it contributes to the response. To explore the participation of the Mel,b receptor in melatonin's phase-shifting activities, the authors studied the effects of pertussis toxin on melatonin-induced


'Will depend Upon the ability of the SUperviso~o reach anct to teach the teachers through stimulating lead ship, which,. in turn, rests upon his personal and professio I fitness for the task. "Perso~a1 fitness involves native intelligence; common sense, initiative, good will, patience and industry." This is as much as one often finds said with eleveu words, It is characteristic of Mr. Scott's style. ' " i__


Objective Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates collected in Nanjing, China, that possessed decreased susceptibility (or resistance) to extended spectrum cephalosporins (ESCs), were examined for susceptibility to ertapenem and their sequence types determined. Methods Ceftriaxone and cefixime minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) ≥ 0.125 mg/L and ≥ 0.25 mg/L, respectively, were first determined in 259 strains isolated between 2013 and 2019 and then MICs of ertapenem were measured using the antimicrobial gradient epsilometer test (Etest). Genetic determinants of ESC resistance and multi-antigen sequence typing (NG-MAST) were also determined to analyze associations with ertapenem susceptibility. Results All isolates displayed ertapenem MICs between 0.006 mg/L-0.38 mg/L; the overall MIC50 and MIC90 were 0.032 mg/L and 0.125 mg/L. 44 (17.0%) isolates displayed ertapenem MICs of ≥ 0.125 mg/L; 10 (3.9%) had MICs ≥ 0.25 mg/L. The proportion of isolates with ertapenem MICs ≥ 0.125 mg/L increased from 4.0% in 2013, to 20.0% in 2019 (χ2= 24.144, P<0.001; Chi square test for linear trend). The penA mosaic allele was present in a significantly higher proportion of isolates with ertapenem MICs ≥ 0.125 mg/L compared to isolates with MICs ≤ 0.094 mg/L) (97.7% vs. 34.9%, respectively; χ2=58.158, P<0.001). ST5308 was the most prevalent NG-MAST type (8.5%); ST5308 was also significantly more common among isolates with ertapenem MICs ≥ 0.125 mg/L vs. isolates with MICs ≤ 0.094mg/L (22.7% and 5.6% respectively; χ2=13.815, P=0.001). Conclusions Ertapenem may be effective therapy for gonococcal isolates with decreased susceptibility or resistance to ESCs and isolates with identifiable genetic resistance determinants.


Objective: To optimize the use of ciprofloxacin, a synthetic fluoroquinolone, in community and hospital practice, and to minimize overprescribing by providing an overview of the literature and recommendations for appropriate use. Options: First-line treatment for infections in which ciprofloxacin is shown to be effective, treatment with oral ciprofloxacin rather than parenteral therapy with another drug, and stepdown therapy with oral ciprofloxacin after initial parenteral treatment. Outcomes: In order of importance: efficacy, side effects and cost. Evidence: A MEDLINE search of articles concerning ciprofloxacin, including in-vitro and pharmacokinetic studies using recognized standard methods with appropriate controls and published in recognized peer-reviewed journals, and randomized, controlled, double-blind clinical trials. Values: The Committee on Antimicrobial Agents of the Canadian Infectious Disease Society (CIDS) and a recognized expert (T.J.L.) recommended use of ciprofloxacin to treat infections against which it has proved effective both in vitro and in randomized controlled trials. They took into account its value as an oral replacement for other drugs given parenterally and development of resistance. Benefits, harms and costs: With more appropriate use of ciprofloxacin there will be less development of resistant pathogens. For certain infections patients who would otherwise require admission to hospital could be treated at home and patients initially admitted for parenteral therapy could be discharged sooner on oral therapy with ciprofloxacin. Recommendations: Ciprofloxacin may be considered as first-line treatment for a number of infections in which gram-negative pathogens are proven or strongly suspected, including complicated urinary tract infections, bacterial prostatitis, bacterial diarrhea, selected bone and joint infections, malignant otitis externa, bronchopulmonary infections in patients with cystic fibrosis and selected pneumonia cases. Validation: The paper was prepared, reviewed and revised by the Committee on Antimicrobial Agents of the CIDS. It was then reviewed and revised further by the Council of the CIDS. Sponsor: The CIDS is solely responsible for developing, funding and endorsing these guidelines.


ABSTRACT Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In Brazil, TB is a public health problem, and the treatment dropout rate contributes to it. Methods: This systematic review investigated the factors associated with TB treatment dropout in Brazil using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method. The databases used were Bireme, Scopus, PubMed, Medline, Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), and Latin-American and Caribbean Literature on Health Sciences (LILACS). The search was conducted on May 16, 2021. Nine articles were reviewed, and all were published within the last 5 years in English, Spanish, or Portuguese. Results: The sample sizes in the studies ranged from 148 to 77,212 individuals, and the studies enrolled only adult patients (aged 18-59 years) in Brazil. Evidence suggests that the significant risk factors associated with TB treatment dropout are male sex, black race/ethnicity, age between 19 and 49 years, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) co-infection, low education (<8 years), use of alcohol and illicit drugs, and unsupervised treatment. This study's limitations were the small number of articles published on this topic with stronger study designs, use of secondary data sources in most articles, and a moderate to high risk of bias in most papers. Conclusions: There was a significant association between abandonment of TB treatment and HIV/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome co-infection; socioeconomic factors (low education and homelessness); use of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs; and failure to use directly observed treatment. These results can guide more efficient measures to prevent dropout.


We describe a data mining application in large databases of student records. Our goal has been to discover knowledge useful in understanding the university enrollment and to find ways to increase it. We demonstrate a combination of automated discovery with human involvement in the discovery process. Human operators formulate open questions and interpret the knowledge discovered by the automated discovery system. Some surprising discoveries we have made have led to the repeated cycle of asking questions, running the automated search, and interpreting new results. In this paper we focus on several findings. We show that good high school students are the best source of large numbers of credit hours, but that some of these students drop out, causing significant enrollment losses. We examine the effect of financial aid on retention. We demonstrate that remedial instruction does not seem to help retain the academically under-prepared students. Our results have been surprisingly stable when we used the Fall '87 cohort to verify the findings obtained from the cohort of Fall '86. We have presented our findings to university administrators in a number of meetings. The discovered knowledge can affect decision making and policy formation.


Lithium-rich layered oxides (LLOs, Li1.2Mn0.54Ni0.13Co0.13O2) are widely used as cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries due to its high specific capacity, high operating voltage and low cost. However, the LLOs are faced with rapid decay of charge/discharge capacity and voltage, as well as interface side reactions, which limit its electrochemical performance. Herein, the dual strategies of sulfite/sodium ion co-doping and lithium carbonate coating were used to improve it. It founds that modified LLOs achieve 88.74% initial coulomb efficiency, 295.3 mAh g-1 first turn discharge capacity, in addition to 216.9 mAh g-1 at 1 C, and 87.23% capacity retention after 100 cycles. Mechanism research indicated that the excellent electrochemical performance benefits from the doping of both Na+ and SO32-, and it could significantly reduce the migration energy barrier of Li+ and promote Li+ migration. Meanwhile, anion and cation are co-doped greatly reduces the band gap of LLOs and increase its electrical conductivity, and no electron spin barrier leap effect at the Fermi level. In addition, the lithium carbonate coating significantly inhibits the occurrence of interfacial side reactions of LLOs. This work provides a theoretical basis and practical guidance for the further development of LLOs with higher electrochemical performance.


The dual phase steel, which consists of hard martensite islands embedded in a ductile ferrite matrix, is known to possess high strength, toughness, and superior wear resistance. However, the detailed wear mechanism of the steel has not yet been understood thoroughly. In the present study, dry sliding friction and wear characteristics of an ultra-fine grained ferrite-martensite dual phase steel has been investigated at room temperature. Wear tests of the steel were carried out using a pin-on-disk wear tester against an AISI 52100 bearing steel ball at loads ranging from 1N to 10N. Normalizing heat treatment was also performed on the steel to produce a ferrite-pearlite microstructure, and the wear characteristics of the normalized specimen were compared with that of the dual phase steel. The dual phase steel exhibited lower wear rates than the normalized steel, but the steady-state friction coefficients of the two steels were similar. The wear of the dual phase steel proceeded with a tribochemical reaction on the wearing surface accompanied with subsurface strain hardening, which explained the lower wear rate of the steel.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to assess the safety and efficacy of combined active responsive neurostimulation (RNS) and vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) therapies in pediatric patients with drug-resistant epilepsy.

METHODS
A single-center retrospective chart review was conducted on pediatric patients implanted with the RNS System with a concomitant active VNS System (VNS+RNS) between 2015 and 2021. Patients with at least 1 month of overlapping concomitant VNS and RNS treatment were included. Patients who had an RNS device implanted after 21 years of age, those who had responsive neurostimulators implanted after their VNS was inactivated, or those in whom the VNS battery died and was not replaced before RNS System implantation were excluded.

RESULTS
Seven pediatric VNS+RNS patients were identified, and their courses of treatment were evaluated. All patients tolerated concurrent VNS and RNS treatment well, no device-device interactions were identified, and no major treatment-related adverse effects were noted. The median follow-up after RNS System implantation was 1.2 years. By electroclinical criteria, all 7 patients achieved 75%-99% reductions in the frequency of disabling seizures after RNS System implantation. By patient and caregiver report, 2 patients (28.6%) had 75%-99% reductions in the frequency of their disabling seizures, 2 patients (28.6%) achieved 50%-74% reductions, 2 patients achieved 1%-24% reduction in frequency of disabling seizures, and 1 patient (14.3%) experienced a 1%-24% increase in seizure frequency. The available VNS magnet swipe data identified 2 patients with 75%-99% reductions in seizure frequency as measured by magnet swipes, one with 25%-49% reductions and the other with 1%-24% increases in seizure frequency as measured by magnet swipes.

CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrated that RNS and VNS therapies can safely be used simultaneously in pediatric patients. RNS may potentially augment the therapeutic effects of VNS treatment. Patients in whom a response to VNS has been suboptimal should still be considered for RNS therapy.


Inflation in the euro area has been falling steadily since early 2013 and at the end of 2014 turned negative. Part of the decline has been due to oil prices, but the weakness of aggregate demand has also played a significant role. This paper uses a VAR model to quantify the contribution of oil supply, aggregate demand and monetary policy shocks (identified by means of sign restrictions) on inflation in the euro area. The analysis suggests that in the last two years inflation has been driven down by all three factors, as the effective lower bound to policy rates has prevented the European Central Bank from reducing the short-term rates to support economic activity and align inflation with the definition of price stability. Remarkably, the joint contribution of monetary and demand shocks is at least as important as that of oil price developments to the deviation of inflation from its baseline. Country-by-country analysis shows that both aggregate demand and oil supply shocks have driven inflation down everywhere, albeit with varying intensity. The findings stand confirmed after a series of robustness checks.


DNA barcoding represents a reliable and powerful way to discriminate and identify species using a standardized region of the mt COI gene. However, a correct identification requires two factors: differentiation and assignment. When one component is lacking, the barcode approach usually fails. To circumvent such problem, we developed a dual approach using a nuclear marker as complementary identifier. A first step consisted in characterizing the first intron of the F-RTN4 gene. This intron was found to be the longest, the most divergent and the most variable of the different introns constituting F-RTN4, making it a candidate of choice. This dual approach was applied to a group of closely related armoured catfishes constituting the Panaque group within the Guianas. Three groups were found: Pseudacanthicus, Hemiancistrus, and Peckoltia-Panaqolus, and four new species were highlighted. Within the latter group, Panaqolus koko n. sp. displayed a pattern of mitochondrial introgression with Peckoltia otali n. sp., while Peckoltia capitulata n. sp. and Peckoltia simulata n. sp. revealed cryptic species of Peckoltia oligospila. Hemiancistrus appeared significantly distinct from Peckoltia. Its type species is redescribed and a neotype is designated to clarify its taxonomic status considering the loss of the holotype.


Devoted to the subject of shape charge design using numerical methods, this book offers the defense and commercial industries unique material not contained in any other single volume. The coverage of the Lagrangian and Eulerian methods as well as the equation of state provides first hand help to engineers working on shape charge problems.The book includes detailed descriptions of oil-well perforation not available from any other sources and, coupled with the material flow physics discussed in Chapters 2 and 3 and Appendix B, readers can design the fuel rod configurations for a nuclear reactor core. The equations of state and the constitutive models in Chapter 8 are among the best material models currently available.


This study investigates the effect of corpus consultation on the accuracy of learner written error revisions. It examines the conditions which cause a learner to consult the corpus in correcting errors and whether these revisions are more effective than those made using other corrections methods.
Claims have been made for the potential usefulness of corpora in encouraging a better understanding of language through inductive learning (Johns, 1991; Benson, 2001; Watson Todd, 2003). The opportunity for learners to interact with the authentic language used to compile corpora has also been cited as a possible benefit (Thurstun and Candlin, 1998). However, theoretical advantages of using corpus data have not always translated into actual benefits in real learning contexts. Learners frequently encounter difficulties in dealing with the volume of information available to them in concordances and can reject corpus use because it adds to their learning load (Yoon and Hirvela, 2004; Frankenberg Garcia, 2005; Lee and Swales, 2006). This has meant that practical employment of corpus data has sometimes been difficult to implement.
In this experiment, learners on a six week pre-sessional English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course were shown how to use the BYU (Brigham Young University) website to access the BNC (British National Corpus) to address written errors. Through a draft/feedback/revision process using meta-linguistic error coding, the frequency, context and effectiveness of the corpus being used as a reference tool was measured.
Use of the corpus was found to be limited to a small range of error types which largely involved queries of a pragmatic nature. In these contexts, the corpus was found to be a potentially more effective correction tool than dictionary reference or recourse to previous knowledge and it may have a beneficial effect in encouraging top-down processing skills. However, its frequency of use over the course was low and accounted for only a small proportion of accurate error revisions as a whole. Learner response to the corpus corroborated the negative perception already noted in previous studies.
These findings prompt recommendations for further investigation into effective mediation of corpus data within the classroom and continued technological developments in order to make corpus data more accessible to non-specialists.


Using a novel anti‐natural killer (NK) cell monoclonal antibody (MoAb), we have recently identified an evolutionary conserved function‐associated molecule (FAM) present on fish, rat and human NK cells. This molecule is involved in NK cell function as anti‐FAM MoAbs inhibit cytotoxicity, stimulate lymphokine secretion and inhibit conjugate formation between effector cells and target cells. We now have examined murine NK cells for the presence of this structure. It was observed by two‐colour flow cytometric analysis that the anti‐FAM MoAb 5C6 specifically bound to a subpopulation of nylon wool non‐adherent splenic lymphocytes (19–20%). The expression of the FAM molecule was restricted to NK cells that expressed the NK1.1 antigen. Neither T cells, B cells, nor macrophages reacted with the anti‐FAM MoAb. Analysis of FAM expression in various lymphoid tissues revealed that splenocytes expressed the greatest numbers of MoAb(+) cells. Generation of lymphokine‐activated killer (LAK) cells and adherent tymphokine‐activated killer (ALAK) cells resulted in higher levels of FAM expression. The anti‐FAM MoAb 5C6 also detected the presence of FAM on fresh SCID NK cells. It was demonstrated that the anti‐FAM MoAb 5C6 inhibited the lysis of target cells by endogenous NK cells, activated NK cells, 5d LAK cells, ALAK cells and SCID NK cells. Moreover, conjugate assays demonstrated involvement of this molecule in recognition between NK cells and target cells.


A milieu of cytokines and signaling molecules are involved in the induction of UV-induced immune suppression and thus the etiology of non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC). Targeting the UV-induced immunosuppression pathway, and using a large population based study of NMSC, we have investigated the risk associated with functional variants in 10 genes (IL10, IL4, IL4R, TNF, TNFR2, HTR2A, HRH2, IL12B, PTGS2, and HAL). The most prominent single genetic effect was observed for IL10. There was increasing risk for both basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) with increasing number of variant IL10 haplotypes (BCC: ptrend = 0.0048; SCC: ptrend = 0.031). Having two IL10 GC haplotypes was associated with increased odds ratios of BCC and SCC (ORBCC = 1.5, 95% CI 1.1–1.9; ORSCC = 1.4, 95% CI 1.0–1.9), and these associations were largely confined to women (ORBCC = 2.2, 95% CI 1.4–3.4; SCC: ORSCC = 1.8, 95% CI 1.1–3.0). To examine how combinations of these variants contribute to risk of BCC and SCC, we used multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) and classification and regression trees (CART). Results from both of these methods found that in men, a combination of skin type, burns, IL10, IL4R, and possibly TNFR2 were important in both BCC and SCC. In women, skin type, burns, and IL10 were the most critical risk factors in SCC, with risk of BCC involving these same factors plus genetic variants in HTR2A, IL12B and IL4R. These data suggest differential genetic susceptibility to UV-induced immune suppression and skin cancer risk by gender.


Government spending plays an important role in determining economic performances in China. Its macroeconomic effects are analyzed in this paper. We show that government spending in China (i) Granger-causes output, consumption and investment booms as well as inflation and (ii) has a multiplier larger than 1. The large multiplier effects are found not only in aggregate time-series data but also in panel data at the provincial level. We also provide a theoretical model and Monte Carlo analysis to rationalize our empirical findings. Our theoretical and Monte Carlo analyses support the large multiplier found in China but also suggests that government spending is not necessarily a free lunch in spite of the large multiplier effects.


The extant Information Systems (IS) literature has focused on developing methods for assessing the level of Information Quality (IQ), paying scant attention to the introduction of strategic initiatives for improving the level IQ and operational performance. We address that lacuna and explore how organizations can improve the level of subjective IQ and positively influence their operational performance. Through a Canonical Action Research approach and interviews with 43 individuals from a multinational military organization, we demonstrate that the implementation of an IQ strategy can significantly improve operational performance through its impact on knowledge, employee satisfaction, efficiency, and productivity. Our findings demonstrate that employee tenure, and background, as well as organizational culture and hierarchy significantly influence the level of subjective IQ. Our work contributes to IS theory by further elucidating the relationship between IQ and operational performance, and to practice by enabling organizations to improve their level of subjective IQ and operational performance.


Although the thermal and radiative effects associated with a two-level quantum system undergoing acceleration are now widely understood and accepted, a surprising amount of controversy still surrounds the simpler and older problem of an accelerated classical charge. We argue that the analogy between these systems is more than superficial: There is a sense in which a "UD detector" in a quantized scalar field effectively acts as a classical source for that field if the splitting of its energy levels is so small as to be ignored. After showing explicitly that a detector with unresolved inner structure does behave as a structureless scalar source, we use that analysis to rederive the scalar version of a previous analysis of the accelerated electromagnetic charge, without appealing to the troublesome concept of "zero-energy particles." Then we recover these results when the detector energy gap is taken to be zero from the beginning. This vindicates the informal terminology "zero-frequency Rindler modes" as a shorthand for "Rindler modes with arbitrarily small energy." In an appendix, the mathematical behavior of the normal modes in the limit of small frequency is examined in more detail than before. The vexed (and somewhat ambiguous) question of whether coaccelerating observers detect the acceleration radiation can then be studied on a sound basis.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the efficacy of a new transdermal nicotine system for smoking cessation.

DESIGN
Two 6-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel group trials were conducted. Successful abstainers from both trials enrolled in a third trial for blinded downtitration from medications (6 weeks) and subsequent off-drug follow-up (12 weeks).

SETTING
Nine outpatient clinics specializing in the treatment of smoking cessation.

PATIENTS
Healthy volunteers who smoked one or more packs of cigarettes daily and wanted to participate in a smoking cessation program.

INTERVENTION
Patients were randomly assigned to a transdermal nicotine system delivering nicotine at rates of 21, 14, or 7 mg (in trial 1 only) over 24 hours or to placebo. Group counseling sessions were provided to all participants.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
Rates of continuous smoking abstinence were determined during 6 weeks of full-dose treatment, a 6-week weaning period (through week 12), and a 3-month follow-up receiving no therapy (through week 24). Abstinence was defined by patient diary reports of no smoking during the designated periods, confirmed by expired-breath carbon monoxide levels of 8 ppm or lower.

RESULTS
The centers enrolled 935 patients. Cessation rates during the last 4 weeks of the two 6-week trials (pooled data) were 61%, 48%, and 27% for 21- and 14-mg transdermal nicotine and placebo, respectively (P less than or equal to .001 for each active treatment vs placebo). Six-month abstinence rates for 21-mg transdermal nicotine and placebo were 26% and 12%, respectively (P less than or equal to .001). All transdermal nicotine doses significantly decreased the severity of nicotine withdrawal symptoms and significantly reduced cigarette use by patients who did not stop smoking. Compliance was excellent, and no serious systemic adverse effects were reported.

CONCLUSIONS
Transdermal nicotine systems show considerable promise as an aid to smoking cessation.


Keywords: meaning interpretation, Reality Show, transsexual

"Be a Man" is a reality show program presented by Global TV. When another show made men, women, children, foreigner, etc as object, "Be A Man" was so different by presenting transsexual as object. The transsexual was "educated" in military neighborhood, so that they could became a "man". Basically, the show wanted to present masculine side of transsexual, where feminity was stuck on them. "Be A Man" format didn't get positive respond from television audience. The background's different created people respond, whether positive or negative. As television tex, "Be A Man" was interpretated in different view by the television audience. So, how about transsexual meaning interpretation who became minority audiences of "Be A Man"?
Understanding was always came from positiion or view of a man who understood, not only involving textual meaning reproduction, but also meaning production by the reader. Text could structure meaning aspect by guiding its reader, but it couldn't state meaning which was a result from interaction between text and reader's imagination. Audience was active creator of meaning related with text (Barker, 2005: 34). Understanding was influenced by several factors, they were race, nation, ethnicity, social background, education, gender, sexuality, etc. This influence created various meaning in picture and messages series in television, depending on audiences. Different meaning interpretation by audiences to media text gave a sign that there was ambiguity and meaning richness in a text.
The approach used by the researcher was qualitative approach. The method was reception studies with interpretative paradigm. Interpretative paradigm in the research was an effort to diagnose people's reality. The pioneers of reception studies or consumption study stated that whatever did by textual meaning analysis as critic was far from certainty of identified meaning which would be actived by reader/audience/consumer.
From data analysis, there could be stated as explained in research subject, changing transsexual into man which became the program's purpose was not synchronous with the field's fact in quarantine time. Transsexual still behaviored as transsexual, they were taught and educated in military style, but still in woman make up and style. Talking about sex orientation, research subjects had opinion that transsexual couldn't be changed into male who had female oriented, if they were forced, they could turn into gay who had male-sex orientation. It was general since transsexual placed themselves in woman position than male position. The theme was only as completion or target accomplishment by the producer. Transsexual in "Be A Man" reality show was exploited. He was published, but insulted for entertainment because of their different behavior with heterosexual people. Keke, Siska, Yayuk, and Meriatun were hoped a program which could able to show positive image of transsexual, not exploiting their community. It different with Chen Chen opinion who focused on transsexual participation in socializing with people and people care to transsexual. The transsexual would be respected, benefit, and didn't underestimate by society and far from exploitation just as what media industry had done.


Abstract. The Western Mansions (Xīyang Lou) in the Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan ) are extremely valuable set of heritage. When it was first conceived and constructed, it was an important part of the successful exchange between Chinese and the Western cultures. It marked the entry of European architecture and the art of gardening into Chinese royal gardens. Therefore, the Western Mansions occupies a vital position in the garden history of China and even the world. Since the 1980s, the Administrative Office of the Old Summer Place (Yuanmingyuan) had cleared and reorganized the Western Mansions relics. But currently, both the protection and display of the Western Mansions are far from satisfactory. With regards to the outlook of the cultural relics, there is cracking and collapses, relics are damaged by tourists, there is rainwater erosion, plant aggression, pollutants, weathering, crumbling and other threats. This is caused by the improper protective measures and the yearslong erosion through natural causes. Therefore, in order to protect the important heritage and show people the situation of the plant growth,As the basis of the copper planting, the historical conditions of planting can be speculated at the time of the western building, which become an important basis for the recovery of history. This paper also further researches on the informationg of plant form in history,to avoid destabilising the heritage.Some destruction from plant growth can be controled.


This study examines how the auditor-client relationship affects the audit process and audit quality. Chapter 2 examines the likelihood of auditor dismissal following financial statement restatements at companies where at least one of the audit committee members works on the audit committee of another company that is audited by the same audit firm ("AC-auditor interlocking"). Empirical evidence shows that companies with AC-auditor interlocking relationships are less likely to dismiss their auditors after a restatement occurs. Further evidence suggests that interlocking companies that retain their auditors after a restatement have lower subsequent audit quality compared to interlocking companies that dismiss their auditors. These findings raise concerns about the audit committee's role in auditor termination when audit quality is relatively low and suggest that AC-auditor interlocking may impair audit quality. Chapter 3 explores the pricing and client acceptance strategies of audit offices following litigations related to clients' misconduct. Using a hand-collected sample of auditor litigation events, I find that audit offices involved in litigation increase their audit fees following the filing of the lawsuit. Further analyses indicate that the increase in audit fees charged by litigation offices is driven by clients' high switching cost and low bargaining power. I also find that both litigation and non-litigation offices of audit firms involved in litigation are less likely to have new engagements following the start of the litigation, and that new engagements of litigation offices after litigation are likely to be less risky than the new engagements before litigation.


Prior empirical research, mainly conducted in US under the US GAAP, has indicated that managers in listed banks use loan loss provisions as a primary tool for income smoothing activities. Since 2005 the accounting environment in the European Union (EU) changed, as all listed companies are required to comply with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Some arguments envisage that IFRS is a set of high quality standards that plug some inconsistencies relative to national General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The overall objective of the present study is to examine earnings management and in particular income smoothing through the use of loan loss provisions (LLP) to manage earnings under IFRS and national GAAPs. The sample consists of twenty large commercial banks listed in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) for the years 2004-2012 (including early adopters) and sixteen banks for the years 1996-2003 under each country's national reporting regime. Furthermore we present the body of earning management literature in conjunction with agency theory in order to grasp managers' opportunistic behavior. Finally we assess the institutional role of financial reporting standards and the arguments of how IFRS could restrict earnings management activities as proposed by some authors. Overall, our results indicate some degree of income smoothing activities through loan loss provisions by bank managers both under national GAAPs and IFRS. The study contributes to the broad literature body on earnings management, while testing income-smoothing activities on a single industry compared to previous studies where the samples comprises a variety of firms in different industries.


Spinal epidural lymphoma is a rare entity that is not often considered in the differential diagnosis of an epidural mass in a previously healthy individual. Pfatients with Primary Spinal Epidural Lymphomas (PSELs) have negative diagnostic work up for systemic lymphoma and unlike disseminated lymphoma, they achieve good functional recovery and long survival following prompt intervention. We report a case of isolated primary lymphoma of the thoracic spine in a 75 year old woman who presented with spinal cord compression syndrome and had negative work up for systemic lymphoma. She was managed with decompressive surgery and chemotherapy with long term good functional outcome. The clinical presentation, treatment modalities and outcome of presentation, primary spinal epidural lymphoma are discussed. Keywords: Spinal, Epidural, Lymphoma, Spinal cord


SUMMARY: The genetic properties of transformable (SR 5a) and non-transformable (SR30) streptomycin-resistant streptococci were examined. In mutant SR30, the very high resistance (VHR) phenotype appeared to be due to at least two factors; a high resistance (HR) mutation and an enhancing modifier gene. In mutant SR 5a, resistance was due to a single VHR mutation which is allelic to the HR mutation of mutant SR 30. The transfer of non-trans-formability (Ntr) by SR 30 DNA revealed that this factor is separable from the streptomycin resistance marker and the enhancing modifier. Results indicate co-transfer of Ntr with the HR marker.


We study the existence of general finite-dimensional compensators in connection with the H/sup /spl infin//-optimal control of linear time-invariant systems on a Hilbert space with noisy output feedback. The approach adopted uses a Galerkin-type approximation, where there is no requirement for the system operator to have a complete set of eigenvectors. We show that if there exists an infinite-dimensional compensator delivering a specific level of attenuation, then a finite-dimensional compensator exists and achieves the same level of disturbance attenuation. In this connection, we provide a complete analysis of the approximation of infinite-dimensional generalized Riccati equations by a sequence of finite-dimensional Riccati equations. As an illustration of the theory developed, we provide a general procedure for constructing finite-dimensional compensators for robust control of flexible structures.


A general and straightforward analytical expression for the defect-state-energy distribution of a-Si:H is obtained through a statistical-mechanical treatment of the hydrogen occupation for different sites. Broadening of available defect energy levels (defect pool) and their charge state, both in electronic equilibrium and nonequilibrium steady-state situations, are considered. The model gives quantitative results that reproduce different defect phenomena, such as the thermally activated spin density, the gap-state dependence on the Fermi level, and the intensity and temperature dependence of light-induced spin density. An interpretation of the Staebler-Wronski effect is proposed, based on the «conversion» of shallow charged centers to neutrals near the middle of the gap as a consequence of hydrogen redistribution


The suitability of stripping vein homografts as AV fistulae for intermittent hemodialysis has been evaluated. Microscopic investigation of stored veins indicated the superiority of cryopreservation over refrigeration. A systematic study of 12 venous homograft fistulae surgically excised from hemodialysis patients revealed that the homograft walls are the sites of both connective tissue proliferation and of mural degeneration. It was also noted that the implants failed in the short term (less than 1 yr) mainly due to stenosis, in the medium term (1 yr-3 yrs) mainly due to aneurysmal dilatation and for a variety of reasons beyond 3 years. It was concluded that when suitably selected, handled and stored, stripping vein homografts are a viable alternative to treated human umbilical or bovine heterografts as blood access fistulae if no autograft is available.


Senator John Ensign registered his legal defense fund as a section 527 organization. He appears to be unique in this regard. This report lays out the advantages of, and difficulties with, registering a congressional legal defense fund as a section 527 organization. It begins by offering as background a summary of the congressional and executive branch rules that apply to these funds, the Federal Election Commission's position on them, and a brief description of the best-known legal defense funds - the two established by President Clinton. The report then considers whether contributions to funds that do not register as section 527 organizations are income to the official and, if so, whether there are matching deductions. The report examines whether contributors to the legal defense funds could have gift tax liability. It concludes the tax section by examining whether the trust would be considered a grantor trust. It concludes that both the politicians for which the fund was established and contributors to it could face tax liability under current law. The report then explains how an amendment to section 527 in 1988 permits the use of a section 527 organization for such a fund and describes how that use can avoid both income and gift tax liability that a legal defense fund might otherwise generate. The report also discusses how a legal defense fund becomes a section 527 organization and describes two funds established by state officeholders that operated as section 527 organizations. Finally, the report recommends that the House and Senate rules regarding legal expense funds be amended to explicitly recognize section 527 legal defense funds.


Poor engagement in child and adolescent mental health services is a significant public health concern. The purpose of this study was to synthesize the engagement literature using a multidimensional measurement framework to identify practice elements that are associated with improved engagement. We examined 50 randomized controlled trials of interventions targeting treatment engagement in youth mental health services published between 1974 and 2016. We utilized a multidimensional measurement framework that includes five engagement domains (i.e., Relationship, Expectancy, Attendance, Clarity, Homework [REACH]). We also used a distillation method (Chorpita & Daleiden, 2009; Chorpita, Daleiden, & Weisz, 2005) to identify specific practices common to interventions that were effective at increasing engagement within each REACH domain. Engagement was most frequently operationalized in intervention studies as Attendance. Individual practices distilled from effective interventions were successful when used with participants with diverse characteristics in a wide variety of contexts. Importantly, we found unique practice patterns associated with outcomes from each REACH domain. Findings suggest that practices such as assessment, psychoeducation, accessibility promotion, barriers to treatment, and goal setting might be used with all youth and families to promote engagement and that other practices could be introduced on an as-needed basis to target specific engagement domains (e.g., modeling to promote Clarity about therapy; therapist monitoring to promote Homework/participation). A substantial evidence base demonstrates that engagement can be improved through specific interventions, and findings highlight opportunities to advance the field's understanding of engagement through multidimensional measurement in future studies.


Abstract Using the quantum magnetohydrodynamics (QMHD) model, linear dispersion of magnetosonic waves are studied in a quasineutral quantum electron-ion plasma in two distinct regimes of nonrelativistic and relativistic degeneracies considering also the plasma composition effect. It is shown that the paramagnetic spin effects of the degenerated electrons plays a key role in dynamics of magnetosonic waves. The linear wave-speed is found to have minimum value at some degeneracy parameter in such plasmas. This is due to delicate interplay between relativistic degeneracy and the Pauli spin-magnetization. It is also revealed that the plasma composition has significant effect on the linear dispersion in the relativistic degeneracy limit contrary to that of nonrelativistic case and Zeeman energy has significant effect in nonrelativistic degeneracy regime unlike that of relativistic one in the linear perturbation-limit. Current findings can have important applications in both inertial plasma confinement and astrophysical degenerate plasmas.


Planetary exploration rovers require high level of autonomy: they should act as much as possible without human intervention. Nevertheless, there are intrinsic uncertainties on activity duration, position of the rover, and other environment characteristics, like soil condition, dust on solar panels, temperature, etc.: disregarding them during planning would bring unreliable plans. A novel, non-deterministic planning approach for autonomous rovers will be presented. Epistemic uncertainties in the models and errors are taken into account in the planning process in order to prevent failures. For each plan, reliability is computed and used to predict the safest one, by means of the Dempster-Shafer Theory of Evidence. In addition, the rover has been endowed with the capability of reallocating its goals. By data-fusing payload and navigation information, it assigns interest values to the existing goals or generates new goals. In this way the planner can choose the most interesting scientific objectives to be analyzed, with limited human intervention, and reallocates its goals autonomously. Dezert-Smarandache Theory of Plausible and Paradoxical Reasoning has been used for information fusion. Finally, some applications to the generation of reliable plans are shown. These tests demonstrate how the planner is able to generate plans that maximize both the reliability and the level of interest.


Most phenological studies to date have taken place in upland forest above the maximum flood level of nearby streams and rivers. In this paper, we examine the phenological patterns of tree assemblages in a large Amazonian forest landscape, including both upland (terra firme) and seasonally flooded (várzea and igapó) forest. The abundance of vegetative and reproductive phenophases was very seasonal in all forests types. Both types of flooded forest were more deciduous than terra firme, shedding most of their leaves during the inundation period. Pulses of new leaves occurred mainly during the dry season in terra firme, whereas those in the two floodplain forests were largely restricted to the end of the inundation period. Flowering was concentrated in the dry season in all forest types and was strongly correlated with the decrease in rainfall. The two floodplain forests concentrated their fruiting peaks during the inundation period, whereas trees in terra firme tended to bear fruits at the onset of the wet season. The results suggest that the phenological patterns of all forest types are largely predictable and that the regular and prolonged seasonal flood pulse is a major determinant of phenological patterns in várzea and igapó, whereas rainfall and solar irradiance appear to be important in terra firme. The three forest types provide a mosaic of food resources that has important implications for the conservation and maintenance of wide‐ranging frugivore populations in Amazonian forests.


This doctoral thesis is an investigation into the process of translation performed by "natural" translators in comparison to MA Translation Studies students, hereon after will be termed trainee translators. "natural" translators were defined following Harris and Sherwood understanding of "natural" translation as: "the translation done in everyday circumstances by people who have had no special training for it" (1978: 155). The research examines bilinguality and diglossia in the context of Kuwait and how these two factors influence the translation process. The research examines the participants' working units as well as the most commonly used strategies in the translation of culture-specific items and in the translation of English passive voice into Arabic. The study also explores the cohorts' perceptions of translation and of the role of the translator drawing from Tymoczko's call to look beyond Western conceptualisations of translation. The study uses think-aloud protocols (TAPs) to monitor and understand the process of translation. Different levels of working translation units were identified among the cohorts which further highlights the importance of translator training. Trainee translators worked on larger segments, mixing different levels of translation units. On the other hand, natural translators worked primarily on smaller units, although some worked on larger units. In terms of strategies, the research explores how time restrictions and the observational method might influence the strategies applied in a translation task. In terms of strategies there were general similarities in the types used, trainee participants and "natural" participants used global and local strategies to complete the task within the time frame. The participants were observed to advocate for an active role of the translator in some instances, however, the authority of the text was also an important aspect that was taken into consideration during the task. This project aims to contribute to existing literature in process-oriented research by comparing the process of translation with that of "natural" translators to academically instructed translators. This research also sets out to make an empirical contribution to the research in translation from English to Arabic.


We present observations of four T Tauri stars using long baseline infrared interferometry from the Palomar Testbed Interferometer. The target sources, T Tau N, SU Aur, RY Tau, and DR Tau, are all known to be surrounded by dusty circumstellar disks. The observations directly trace the inner regions (<1 AU) of the disk and can be used to constrain the physical properties of this material. For three of the sources observed, the infrared emission is clearly resolved. We first use geometric models to characterize the emission region size, which ranges from 0.04 to 0.3 AU in radius. We then use Monte Carlo radiation transfer models of accretion disks to jointly model the spectral energy distribution and the interferometric observations with disk models including accretion and scattering. With these models, we are able to reproduce the data set with extended emission arising from structures larger than 10 mas contributing less than 6% of the K-band emission, consistent with little or no envelope remaining for these class II sources [d log(λFλ)/d log λ ≈ -2-0 in the infrared]. The radiation transfer models have inner radii for the dust similar to the geometric models; however, for RY Tau, emission from gas within the inner dust radius contributes significantly to the model flux and visibility at infrared wavelengths. The main conclusion of our modeling is that emission from inner gas disks (between the magnetic truncation radius and the dust destruction radius) can be a significant component in the inner disk flux for sources with large inner dust radii.


BACKGROUND
Evaluations of interventions should be carefully designed and conducted to maintain a balance between internal and external validity, with the dual goal of minimising the influence of potential confounders and improving the generalisability or applicability of any findings to practice.

AIM
To review strategies to promote balance between internal and external validity in an evaluation of a cognitive-behavioural intervention for chronic insomnia.

DISCUSSION
A pragmatic approach is needed to balance internal and external validity, and generate evidence relevant to practice. The authors present strategies to promote such a balance, including using strict eligibility criteria, subgroup analysis, random assignment of patients based on preferences, a no-treatment control condition, and standardised and consistent implementation of the intervention.

CONCLUSION
A balance between internal and external validity is essential to promote enrolment in the study and confidence in attributing its outcomes to an intervention, as well as to provide answers to clinically relevant questions such as who benefits most from which intervention.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE
The authors recommend researchers conduct a pilot study in advance of an evaluation, to help decide which strategies to use and how to balance internal and external validity.


One way to offer students pursuing health and social care programmes realistic experiences of teamwork is interprofessional training wards where students from different educational programmes learn teamwork by working together. In the present study, a training ward in municipal care for older people was evaluated. Students from occupational therapy, nursing and social work programmes worked together on the ward for 3 weeks to learn with, from and about each other. The aim of the study was to compare students' attitudes towards practice on a training ward before and after and to evaluate goal fulfilment after 3 weeks' interprofessional education on a training ward. An attitude questionnaire was distributed to all students before and after their time on the ward, supplemented with a retrospective goal-fulfilment questionnaire afterwards. The results show that the collaborative, social experience the training ward offers was appreciated by the students and in most respects, met the learning goals set up for the course. The most important learning experience was working together in a real-life setting. However, there are some issues to take into consideration when planning and developing training wards. The setting needs to be realistic and relevant in relation to future roles for all of the student groups involved. The value and purpose of engaging together in basic patient care needs to be the subject of further investigation. When it comes to fostering competent team-workers, training wards seem to be one way forward. But to fully understand the challenges and difficulties involved in planning these wards, the learning achieved must be understood in the context of the setting as a whole, in all its aspects.


One of the most important problems in the design of a stilling basin is determination of the exact location of the hydraulic jump or stabilization of the hydraulic jump. In the present study, the effects of different forms of end sills on hydraulic jump characteristics were studied. The experiments were carried out for three different forms of end sills, rectangular, square and stepped, with three heights in two distances and for Froude numbers in the range of 4.7-8.23. The results showed that the end sill with larger cross section (square and stepped) will have a greater effect on reducing sequent depths of hydraulic jump and increasing energy loss than narrow end sills. However, in this type of end sills, water fall and the risk of erosion at downstream is greater.


Rats were fed, for 3 weeks, high-fat (20 % w/w) diets containing sunflower-seed oil, linseed oil or fish oil. Chow-fed rats were used as a low-fat reference. The high-fat diets markedly reduced non-fasting-rat serum triacylglycerol as compared with the low-fat reference, and the highest reduction (85 %) was observed with the fish-oil group, which was significantly lower than that ofthe other high-fat diets. The serum concentration of phospholipids was significantly reduced (30 %) only in the fish-oil-fed animals, whereas serum non-esterified fatty acids were reduced 40-50 % by both the fish-oil- and linseed-oil-fed groups. The liver content of triacylglycerol showed a 1.7-fold increase with the fish-oil diet and 2-2.5-fold with the other dietary groups when compared with rats fed a low-fat diet, whereas the hepatic content of phospholipids was unchanged. Peroxisomal fatty acid oxidation (acyl-CoA oxidase) was 2-fold increased for the rats fed fish oil; however this was not significantly higher when comparison was made with rats fed the linseed-oil diet. There was no difference in phosphatidate hydrolysis (microsomal and cytosolic fractions) among animals fed the various diets. Acyl-CoA: diacylglycerol acyltransferase activity was increased by all high-fat diets, but the fish-oil-diet-fed group showed a significantly lower enzyme activity than did rats fed the other high-fat diets. A linear correlation between acyl-CoA diacylglycerol acyltransferase activity and liver triacylglycerol was observed, and the microsomal enzyme activity was decreased 40-50 % by incubation in the presence of eicosapentaenoyl-CoA. CoA derivatives of arachidonic, linolenic and linoleic acid had no inhibitory effect when compared with the control. These results indicate that dietary fish oil may have greater triacylglycerol-lowering effect than other polyunsaturated diets, owing to decreased triacylglycerol synthesis caused by inhibition of acyl-CoA: diacylglycerol acyltransferase. In addition, increased peroxisomal fatty acid oxidation and decreased availability of non-esterified fatty acids could also contribute by decreasing the amounts of fatty acids as substrates for triacylglycerol synthesis and secretion.


Subfamily Spathelioideae of Rutaceae constitutes a well-supported early branching clade of eight small woody genera that were formerly assigned to five different Sapindalean/Rutalean families. This study brings together detailed wood anatomical information on all eight genera (for four the wood anatomy is described for the first time in detail). Wood anatomy strongly supports the inclusion of all Spathelioid genera in Rutaceae and underpins the molecular phylogeny with a set of interesting apomorphies at different nodes of the cladogram. The wood anatomy of Cneorum tricoccon with its semi-ring porosity, dendritic vessel pattern, vascular tracheids and helical vessel wall thickenings stands out in Spathelioideae. This wood anatomical syndrome is hypothesized to be due to adaptive evolution for hydraulic safety and efficiency of this species in a typical Mediterranean climate, where similar syndromes have evolved in many unrelated clades of woody dicots. In at least six unrelated genera of Rutaceae outside Spathelioideae from Mediterranean or cool temperate and montane climates, the syndrome has also evolved in presumably parallel, adaptive evolution.


Pneumatic cylinders, as a long lifetime product, are used continuously under normal conditions. So Accelerated Life Testing is an important tool to get information quickly on lifetime which is achieved by subjecting the test cylinders to conditions that are more severe than the normal ones. This paper firstly analyze the failure mechanism of pneumatic cylinder, then based on the General Log-Linear relationship and Weibull distribution, describes a model for multiple stress-type accelerated life data analysis. The paper gives the parameter statistical method of the mode by using likelihood theory. Based on the test data from ALT of pneumatic cylinders which adopt four test stresses including air temperature, motion frequency, working pressure and operation velocity, the parameter of the model are fitted. According to the test data and the estimated model, the paper extrapolates the pneumatic cylinder's lifetime information under the normal user level.


The citations to articles published in Applied Physical Letters (APL) and Journal of the American Ceramic Society (JACS) were analyzed. For each journal, 199 articles published in 1995 were randomly selected and the number of citations in each year, CY, to these articles during 1996 ~ 2004 were recorded. It was found that CY reaches its maximum in 1997 for APL and in 1999 for JACS. During the first three years after the year when the articles were published, the number of self-citations to the articles published in APL is about two times of that in JACS. These results seem to indicate that the impact factor, which is defined as the ratio of the number of citations to a journal to the number of articles published in this journal over a two-year period, is not comparable for different journals in different fields.


We are reporting here, a case of the Lenz syndrome in a neonate who was brought to the Paediatric OPD, Kasturba Medical College Hospital, Attavar, Mangalore India, with the complaints of poor suckling since birth and abnormal facial features. Altogether, the characteristic congenital abnormal findings in Lenz syndrome, which comprise of microophthalmia, ear anomalies, microcephaly, skeletal and digital deformities, and urogenital malformations were observed, with an exception of a dental anomaly. Dental abnormalities were not pertinent, as the patient was a neonate.


The promoter for the major coat protein gene of bacteriophage fd contains a unique sequence. TATAAT, in the non-transcribed region corresponding to the Pribnow box. A R-Hha I cleavage site which destroys functions is located five pairs upstream from the TATAAT sequence (fifteen base pairs upstream from the RNA initiation site). The promoter was cleaved into two fragments by R-Hha I and each promoter fragment was joined to DNA fragments derived from other regions. Ligation of the TATAAT-containing fragment to any of the DNA fragments examined resulted in recovery of promoter function. The results suggest for this type of promoter that no unique sequence is necessary upstream from the R-Hha I cleavage site although a contiguous DNA chain must be present in this area.


The exact mechanisms through which ghrelin promotes lipogenesis are unknown. Uncoupling protein (UCP)-2 is a mitochondrial protein important in regulating reactive oxygen species; however, recent research shows that it may play an important role fat metabolism. Given that ghrelin increases UCP2 mRNA in white adipose tissue, we examined whether the lipogenic actions of ghrelin are modulated by UCP2 using ucp2(+/+) and ucp2(-/-) mice. Chronic ghrelin treatment either via osmotic minipumps or daily ip injections induced body weight gain in both ucp2(+/+) and ucp2(-/-) mice; however, body weight gain was potentiated in ucp2(-/-) mice. Increased body weight gain was completely due to increased body fat as a result of decreased fat oxidation in ucp2(-/-) mice. Ghrelin treatment of ucp2(-/-) mice resulted in a gene expression profile favoring lipogenesis. In a calorie-restriction model of negative energy balance, ghrelin to ucp2(+/+) mice did not increase body weight; however, ghrelin to ucp2(-/-) mice still induced body weight. These results show that UCP2 plays an important role in fat metabolism by promoting fat oxidation and restricts ghrelin-induced lipogenesis.


In recent years, in order to display high vision broadcast the next generation displays, super resolution techniques for improving image resolution are demanded. In addition, with the spread of digital cameras and smartphones, people have more opportunities to handle camera images. In particular, images of surveillance cameras are required to obtain high-definition output by removing noise. In this paper, in order to avoid the adverse effect of image quality deterioration when emphasizing noise mixed image which is a problem of super resolution processing, we examine a noise removal method before super resolution processing. In our proposed method, Total Variation regularization, which is decomposed into structure and texture components, is extended in direction of time axis. As a result, moving images can be decomposed into structure moving images and texture moving images. In theory, it is thought that noise components with large value of Total Variation should shift to texture components. Furthermore, we aim for separation of texture components and noise, and aim for acquisition of high-definition moving images. We verify the performance of our proposed method by comparing it with the BM3D method, which is regarded as the highest performance for moving image noise removal processing. 


Objective: The pandemic of coronavirus has caused various psychological impacts. Psychiatric emergency departments (PED) are important to detect the clinical reflections of this unforeseeable and extraordinary period, as these departments served uninterruptedly during the pandemic. We aim to study the possible reflections by comparing the medical data obtained during pandemic period with the same dates of the previous year. Method: A total of 7209 patients admitted to PED between March–May 2019 and March–May 2020 were included in this retrospective and cohort study. Comparisons were made between the two periods based on the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of the patients. Results: PED visits, which were 4330 in 2019, decreased by 33.5% to 2879 in 2020. The number of female patients decreased be-tween 2019 and 2020 (p=0.001), but there was no difference in terms of age (p=0.085). It was observed that all diagnosis groups decreased in 2020, except for "Neurocognitive Disorders." The decrease in the frequency was most evident in "Obsessive-Compul-sive and Related Disorders" group (66.1%). On the other hand, the least decrease was found in "Anxiety Disorders" group (11.8%). Conclusion: Despite the fact that this pandemic is considered as a multifaceted psychological stressor, emergency psychiatry applications have decreased compared to the previous year during the pandemic. As the physical burden of the COVID-19 gradually diminishes, we may face a mental health pandemic due to tremendous psychological effects of this time period. It is obvious that some new and alternative ways to spread psychiatric practices are needed in the pandemic period and beyond.


We present maps of the 2008 presidential voting bases on ethnicity, income, and state, and discuss the challenges involved in statistical modeling and the graphical presentation of the results


Introduction: Interim PET identifies patients with early stage classical HL (cHL) suitable for risk-adapted treatment escalation or de-escalation, but relapse-free survival remains inferior for patients with a negative interim PET who omit radiotherapy. Genetic risk predictors have demonstrated potential to enhance the negative predictive value of interim PET. In the BioPET study reported here, we evaluated the association between a priori selected candidate genes with interim PET and cHL-specific event free survival (cHL-EFS) for patients enrolled on the UK NCRI RAPID trial (NCT00943423).
 Methods: Patients with stage 1A or 2A cHL treated with 3 cycles of ABVD followed by interim PET assessment using a 5-point scale, full clinical data and available diagnostic biopsy material were included. Patients with a score of 1-2 (PET 'negative') were randomised (1:1) to involved field radiotherapy (IFRT) or no further treatment (NFT); those with a score of 3-5 (PET 'positive') received a further cycle of ABVD plus IFRT. Pre-treatment diagnostic FFPE material was obtained for 227 patients (21 with cHL events). Tissue homogenates were prepared and analysed using Quantigene 2.0 (QG_2.0) Plex for expression of 57 candidate genes known to be associated with treatment response and survival in cHL. QG_2.0 data were generated for experimental samples (n=227), RNA controls (n=15) and FFPE controls (n=12). Data were capped at both upper and lower limits of detection. Four housekeeper genes with the lowest variance (GUSB, TBP, HMBS, ABL1) were used for normalisation using the geometric mean. Candidate genes were ranked according to variability of expression. The association between gene expression, PET outcomes and cHL-EFS (disease progression or death) in the three treatment groups was evaluated in a series of regression analyses (Cox and binary logistic), both in univariable and multivariable settings using stepwise procedures, taking baseline EORTC and GHSG risk stratification into account. Analyses were run on the full dataset as there were insufficient cases for a training:validation split.
 Results: In total, cHL events were observed in 10/121 (8.3%) PET score 1, 4/53 (7.5%) PET score 2, 2/33 (6.1%) PET score 3, 1/10 (10.0%) PET score 4 and 4/10 (40.0%) PET score 5 respectively. Several genes were found to be associated with PET response after ABVD, and two genes remained in the multivariable model: PRF1 increased the risk of PET score 3-5 (OR=1.49, 95% CI: 1.05-2.13, p=0.03); BCL2L1 decreased risk (OR=0.65, 95% CI: 0.44-0.96, p=0.03). BCL2L1 was also strongly associated with a lower PET score (OR=0.62, 95% CI: 0.46-0.83, p<0.01) in multivariable analysis of ordinal PET scores (PET score 1/2/3/4/5). We found no evidence of an association between any of the genes and PET score 4-5 only, likely due to the small number of cases in this group (n=20). Three genes (CD22, BID, IL15RA) were associated with cHL-EFS and included in the multivariable model after adjusting for PET ordinal score (CD22 (HR=0.54, 95%CI: 0.41-0.72, p<0.001); BID (HR=4.04, 95%CI: 1.79-9.14, p=0.001; IL15RA (HR=0.39, 95%CI: 0.16-0.97, p=0.04); PET score p=0.06). Using this model, a cut-off value of 0.69 for the predicted probability performed best in a time-dependent ROC curve analysis of cHL-EFS with a true positive rate of 67.7% and a false positive rate of 9.5% (Figure 1). There was no evidence of an association with baseline EORTC and GHSG risk scores, and the observed results for genes were similar after adjusting for risk score. We also considered a combined variable of treatment failure (PET score 4-5 or cHL event; n=36) versus success (PET score 1-3 and no cHL event; n=191), adjusting for study group; five genes were associated with treatment failure (CD22, BCL2, SH2D1A, ITGA4, CD3D), and CD22 (HR=0.66, 95% CI: 0.51-0.85, p=0.02) remained in the multivariable model.
 Conclusions: A combined multivariable model using interim PET and selected pre-treatment genes shows promising utility for enhanced prediction of cHL-EFS in early stage cHL that is independent of EORTC and GHSG pre-treatment clinical risk scores. These findings warrant further evaluation in an independent cohort with a view to more precisely individualising treatment, improving disease control and minimising late toxicity for patients with early stage cHL.
 Figure 1. Kaplan-Meier survival plot of cHL-EFS based on expression of CD22, BID and IL15RA
 Figure

 Linton: Roche: Consultancy; Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Janssen: Other: Travel, accommodations, expenses ; Celgene: Other: Travel, accommodations, expenses; Beigene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Takeda: Honoraria; Gilead: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Karyopharm: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Burton:Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust: Current Employment; Takeda: Honoraria, Other: Travel Support; BMS: Honoraria; Celgene: Honoraria; Roche: Honoraria, Other: Travel Support. Illidge:Takeda: Honoraria; Merck: Research Funding; Roche: Consultancy; Takeda: Consultancy; Roche: Speakers Bureau; Takeda: Speakers Bureau; Roche: Honoraria. Radford:Pfizer: Research Funding; AstraZeneca: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company, Other: Spouse; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Seattle Genetics: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria; BMS: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; ADCT: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; GlaxoSmithKline: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company, Other: Spouse.


A novel frequency-domain technique for image blocking artifact detection and reduction is presented. The algorithm first detects the regions of the image which present visible blocking artifacts. This detection is performed in the frequency domain and uses the estimated relative quantization error calculated when the discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients are modeled by a Laplacian probability function. Then, for each block affected by blocking artifacts, its DC and AC coefficients are recalculated for artifact reduction. To achieve this, a closed-form representation of the optimal correction of the DCT coefficients is produced by minimizing a novel enhanced form of the mean squared difference of slope for every frequency separately. This correction of each DCT coefficient depends on the eight neighboring coefficients in the subband-like representation of the DCT transform and is constrained by the quantization upper and lower bound. Experimental results illustrating the performance of the proposed method are presented and evaluated.


Web has become the best source of information throughout the world. Search engines play a key role in finding out the information, which is abundant. As such search engines are enhanced with new technology. Though search engines find much information with one key word, fail to provide the accurate, exact data that is required. Through the research it has found that users will not have much interest if it is delayed and can't afford to spend time with queries. This time constrain can be observed in many situations. Hence the most significant point in the applications of the search engines is to find accurate information immediately. This aspect of accurate and immediate information for a search is well attended by personalized web environments. Since there is an increasing importance to the personalized web environment, which develops models of short-term and long-term users needs. This paper delineates many user personalization approaches and techniques, which are useful in web search domain and the systems that are at present used on the Internet.


Continuing Professional Development (CPD) provides an important strategy for reduction of maternal morbidity and mortality with the aim of attaining Millennium Development goals (MDG) four and five. However, there is lack of information about how Kenyan midwives understand and perceive CPD and how this is situated in the practice and social context. This research aimed to explore Kenyan midwives' experience and perceptions of CPD. A descriptive explorative approach gathered focus group discussion and questionnaire data on beliefs, opinions, and perceptions, demotivating and motivating factors to CPD of a total of 25 midwives in a level five hospital in Kenya. Questionnaires were piloted and self-administered after cleaning and focus groups taped and transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed thematically using inductive approach with the aid of SPSS computer program. Results: Four key themes emerged from the data: Midwives' views of CPD, their motivators for undertaking CPD, the choices they made around CPD, their demotivators for undertaking CPD. Congruence with the issues evident in the literature were: the difficulties with role diversity, the importance of CPD in personal and professional growth, the importance of flexible modes of study and the importance of a supportive culture for ongoing learning. The study findings helped in identifying gaps in the literature about Kenyan midwives' perspectives on CPD.


Implementing continuous integration involves choosing the right tools and technology. It also involves examining the software delivery pipeline for waste, introducing automation, building feedback mechanisms into processes, and fostering cohesive teams that collaborate across functions. This paper is written to provide guidance for teams new to continuous integration or wanting to explore ways to improve their implementations. The topics explored in this paper include Value Stream Maps, Antipatterns, and Tools and Technology for Continuous Integration. Abstract 1 Extending Agile's Benefits with Continous Integration 2


We are a few years into a paradigm shift where mobile Internet usage around the world is increasing fast. Smartphones have in Sweden become the device a substantial proportion of the population have, and companies have seen them as a new way to communicate with consumers. This thesis is a case study of four smartphone applications issued by companies in brand building purposes. The applications are King of the slope by Vattenfall, Korklar? by SalusAnsvar, McWrap Go&Get by McDonalds and Manga Strackor Sma by Lantmannen. Empirical materials are gathered through semi-structured interviews with people involved in the creation of each application. Results are then analysed based on what initial goals each issuer had set for the application with the aim of obtain learnings valuable to future application issuers. Findings have shown that the mindset when creating these applications has generally been short-term. This contradicts the nature of a mobile application and its purpose of strengthening a company's brand, which usually is a long-term process. We advocate a more long-term mindset and a consumer-oriented standpoint instead of product- oriented when creating mobile applications for branding purposes.


In this paper we consider Lipschitz graphs of functions which are stationary points of strictly polyconvex energies. Such graphs can be thought as integral currents, resp. varifolds, which are stationary for some elliptic integrands. The regularity theory for the latter is a widely open problem, in particular no counterpart of the classical Allard's theorem is known. We address the issue from the point of view of differential inclusions and we show that the relevant ones do not contain the class of laminates which are used in [22] and [25] to construct nonregular solutions. Our result is thus an indication that an Allard's type result might be valid for general elliptic integrands. We conclude the paper by listing a series of open questions concerning the regularity of stationary points for elliptic integrands.


Class I homeobox (Hox) genes encode a major group of transcription factors controlling embryonic development and have been implicated in the continuing process of hematopoietic cell differentiation. They are clustered on four chromosomes and, in early development, exhibit spatially restricted expression with respect to their 3'-->5' chromosomal position. By using an improved PCR-based method for amplifying total cDNA derived from limited cell numbers, we now describe the expression of class I Hox genes in highly purified CD34+ cell subpopulations isolated from normal human bone marrow that represent functionally distinct stem and progenitor cell compartments. Our data indicate that at least 16 different Hox genes, mainly from the A and the B clusters, are expressed in one or more of these subpopulations of human hematopoietic cells. Moreover, markedly elevated expression of some of the Hox genes found at the 3' end of the A and B clusters (e.g., HoxB3) was a unique feature of the subpopulations that contained the most primitive functionally defined cells, whereas genes located in the 5' region of each cluster (e.g., HoxA10) were found to be expressed at nearly equal levels in the CD34+ subpopulations analyzed. In contrast to the findings for CD34+ cells, expression of two selected Hox genes, HoxB3 and HoxA10, was virtually extinguished in the CD34- fraction of bone marrow cells. These results demonstrate the expression of a broad range of Hox genes in primitive hematopoietic cells and point to the existence of a regulated program of Hox gene expression during their normal development.


The observations recorded in this paper on the infectivity of Type III pneumococci for rabbits may be summarized as follows: 1. Of eleven strains of Type III isolated from human sources, ten were found to possess low virulence for rabbits. This was true despite the fact that all the strains tested possessed large capsules and a high degree of virulence for mice. 2. One strain of Type III pneumococcus was rendered highly virulent for rabbits. Since it possessed no other biological property demonstrably different from the other strains, its virulence must reside in some additional property. 3. An initial decrease in the number of circulating organisms following the injection of virulent bacteria is a well known occurrence, and it was observed in rabbits injected with the rabbit virulent strain of Type III. However, the extent of the reduction was in inverse proportion to the degree of virulence of the strain; a fact which makes mechanical explanations of the phenomenon insufficient. 4. The bacteremia produced in rabbits by Type III pneumococci, avirulent for this species, runs a characteristic course. It differs from that produced by non-encapsulated R forms of pneumococci although in both instances survival of the infected animal ensues. This is evidence that the mechanism of resistance against encapsulated and non-encapsulated pneumococci is not identical. 5. Phagocytosis of Type III pneumococci by circulating rabbit leucocytes was not demonstrable by a vital stain technique, whereas under the same conditions the ingestion of non-encapsulated R forms occurred. This is further evidence that the process whereby non-encapsulated pneumococci are disposed of, is insufficient to explain the natural resistance of rabbits to infection with encapsulated Type III pneumococci.


Photon upconversion is a process by which lower energy photons are converted to higher energy photons, which can be achieved by the interaction of two triplet excited states. This process holds potential for wavelength shifting solid films in photovoltaic cells. Not all wavelengths emitted by the sun have sufficient energy to be utilized by such devices. Typical solar cells have a band gap of around 1 µm, however there is a significant amount of energy output by the sun that falls below this threshold. Upconversion could lead to more efficient use of energy by converting these lower energy wavelengths to wavelengths that could be directly absorbed by the solar panel. Upconversion has thus far been harnessed in solution, where diffusion is the limiting factor for the efficiency of the process. However, for technological applications it would be better to create thin solid films. In these films, molecules would have to be brought within the distance on which upconversion occurs, as the process would no longer be defined by diffusion. One way to achieve this would be to create liquid crystalline derivatives of upconversion emitter molecules. This would provide ordering in the system, which would enhance electronic coupling and bring molecules within the scale on which upconversion occurs.  The work of this thesis has focused on the synthesis of these organised functional liquids: liquid crystals of common upconversion emitter molecules. 9,10-diphenylanthracene (DPA) and 9,10-bis(phenylethynyl)anthracene (BPEA) are popular emitter molecules, and derivatives of these molecules were synthesized. A variety of alkyl chains were attached with or without phenyl linkers. The alkyl chains would provide entropy to the system in order to induce the formation of liquid crystalline phases. The resulting phase behaviour of these derivatives was studied using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and polarised optical microscopy (POM).  Eight novel derivatives of DPA and BPEA were synthesized. New information was gained as to the requirements of inducing liquid crystallinity in these dye molecules. Direct addition of chains symmetrically to the central dye molecules did not result in the formation of liquid crystalline phases. Through extension of the central core by an extra phenyl ring a liquid crystalline behaviour was observed. A synthesized derivative of DPA exhibited extreme supercooling, which is one of a few derivatives of 9,10-diphenylanthracene to exhibit a liquid state at room temperature. A derivative of BPEA was synthesized that exhibited formation of a mesophase (liquid crystal phase). These two derivatives were investigated for potential use as a material for upconversion.


Long hospitalisation and high hospital charges of premature infants are important concerns for parents and health providers. In this study we determined the length of stay and hospital cost of preterm babies and assessed the predictive value of perinatal factors on the duration and the cost of hospitalisation. We reviewed hospital charges and length of stay for a retrospective cohort of 72 premature infants discharged from the neonatal intensive care unit of Marmara University Hospital between January 1999 and January 2000. The perinatal factors were analysed using forward stepwise multiple linear regression analysis. The median gestational age and birth weight of the study group was 33 (28-37) weeks and 1560 (814-2340) grams respectively. Median length of hospital stay was 19 (4-93) days whereas hospital charges were 4345 (750-23217). The hospital cost per day of hospitalisation was 250 (57-350). We developed a mathematical model to predict length of stay and hospital charges from perinatal information. The equation predicts length of stay within five days in 91% of the cases and has an R2 of 0.83. Birth weight and presence of respiratory distress requiring mechanical ventilation and bronchopulmonary dysplasia are the most powerful predictive factors in both the duration of hospital stay and hospital costs. In addition presence of intraventricular haemorrhage (IVH) is also an important factor for determining hospital costs. The equation for hospital charges predicts the costs within 1475 in 92% of the cases and has an R2 of 0.85. This information is helpful in counselling parents to provide an estimate for the duration and cost of hospitalisation as well as introducing quantitative information for health planning and allocation of resources in the country.


Ten years of remarkable progress in understanding the fundamental biochemistry of Alzheimer's disease have been followed by ten years of remarkable and increasing clinical insight into the natural progression of the disorder. The concept of a long, intermediary, prodromal phase between the first appearance of amyloid plaques and tangles and the manifestation of dementia is now well established. The major challenge for the next decade is to chart the many cellular processes that underlie this phase and link the biochemical alterations to the clinical manifestation of Alzheimer's disease. We discuss here how genetics, new cell culture systems, and improved animal models will fuel this work. We anticipate that the resulting novel insights will provide a basis for further drug development for this terrible disease.


The promoter region of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p15(INK4B) contains a CpG island that is hypermethylated in many hematologic malignancies. To explore the relationship between patterns of methylation and gene transcription, we used bisulfite genomic sequencing to obtain a detailed analysis of methylation in acute leukemia, leukemia cell lines, and normal lymphocytes. The entire CpG island region of p15 was largely devoid of methylation in normal lymphocytes, but methylation of varying density was found in primary acute leukemia. Methylation density was generally conserved between the alleles from each sample, but marked heterogeneity for the specific CpG sites methylated was observed. Patterns of methylation were compared and expression assessed with reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The density of methylation within the CpG island, and not any specific location, correlates best with transcriptional loss. Leukemias with methylation of approximately 40% of the CpG dinucleotides on each allele had complete gene silencing, with variable, but diminished expression with less dense CpG island methylation. Our results suggest that the transcriptional silencing of p15 in conjunction with aberrant hypermethylation is best understood as an evolutionary process that involves progressively increasing methylation of the entire p15 CpG island.


This is the answer to trading profit growth lies in derivatives. "All About Derivatives" explains the major derivatives and their key features of each vital mechanical issues such as storage, settlement, valuation, and payoff; and common types of risk and how to effectively hedge against them. Michael Durbin is known as a derivatives trader and manager for one of the world's largest, most high-profile hedge funds.


This paper demonstrates experimentally that ultra-thin, nanocrystalline films can exhibit coexisting colossal stress and texture depth gradients. Their quantitative determination is possible by X-ray diffraction experiments. Whereas a uniform texture by itself is known to generally cause curvature in so-called sin2ψ plots, it is shown that the combined action of texture and stress gradients provides a separate source of curvature in sin2ψ plots (i.e., even in cases where a uniform texture does not induce such curvature). On this basis, the texture and stress depth profiles of a nanocrystalline, ultra-thin (50 nm) tungsten film could be determined.


Abstract This article aims to increase an awareness of caring for Saudi families by non-Saudi nurses to improve their understanding of culturally competent care from a Saudi perspective. Healthcare providers have a duty of a care to deliver holistic and culturally specific health care to their patients. As a consequence of 'duty of care' obligations, healthcare providers must facilitate culturally congruent care for patients of diverse cultural backgrounds. For the Saudi family considerable cultural clashes may arise when Saudi patients are hospitalised and receive care from healthcare professionals who do not understand Islamic principles and Saudi cultural beliefs and values. The healthcare workforce in Saudi Arabia is a unique multicultural workforce that is mix of Saudi and significant other nationalities. Saudi nurses for example represent only 36.3% of the workforce in the different health sectors. Whilst the different ethnic and cultural background expatriate nurses represent 63.7% (Ministry of Health, 2010). This article also could increase the awareness of healthcare professionals caring for Arab and Muslims patients in another context in the world.


The spatio-temporal expression of connexin43 in Xenopus laevis embryos was studied by in situ hybridization. Cx43 expression is first detected at stage 25 in the developing eye. In stage 32, expression was found in the margin of the lens placode, the cement gland, notochord, and in stage 37 in the branchial arches. Early limb buds show strong expression of Cx43 distally while later on expression is confined to sites of precartilage condensation. q 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.


Timing of diagnosis and intervention, together with understanding of physiology and knowledge of anatomy, are essential for success in the practice of surgery in general, and emergency surgery in particular. Either excess of treatment, for example fluid overload in tamponated haemorrhage such as a ruptured retroperitoneal Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm, or defect of treatment such as delayed arrest of life threatening bleeding from a transected Superficial Femoral Artery above the knee, can both lead to disastrous outcome or death. Proximal control of damaged arteries is an obligatory step before repair and in emergency situations must be effected rapidly: the femoral artery can be easily aggressed at the groin under local anaesthesia; the abdominal aorta can be rapidly controlled with digital compression at the hiatus through the avascular area of the gastrohepatic ligament.


Introduction: Ageing induces changes in gut micro- biota that may affect the quality of life. In this work we analyze the effect of Lactobacillus plantarum CECT 7315/7316 on the regulation of intestinal transit and on nutritional status. Methods: We carried out a double-blind, randomized and controlled by placebo clinical trial. We evaluated the evolu- tion of the weekly defecation frequency and blood levels of total proteins, albumin, cholesterol and reactive C-protein. Results: Lactobacillus plantarum CECT 7315/7316 helps to regulate intestinal transit and improves the nutri- tional status in elderly. Conclusions: Consumption of functional foods con- taining L. plantarum CECT 7315/7316 improves the qual- ity of life in elderly subjects.