Various rhizobacteria strains are isolated and tested worldwide for their plant growth promoting activities. A strain is said to be a plant growth promoter if it has the ability to influence plant growth directly or indirectly. Though the main focus has always been to realize the plant growth promoting traits of rhizobacteria and use them as biofertilizers, but the disadvantages or deleterious effects of such plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) if any have also been ignored to a greater extent. The present study deals with the characterization of both promoting as well as deleterious activities of an isolated strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa on plants. The bacterium was isolated from the soil of the college campus of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh and was characterized as P. aeruginosa by various positive biochemical tests such as oxidase, catalase, citrate tests and confirmed by MALDI-TOF-MS. Its growth as well as IAA producing ability at different salt (NaCl) concentrations was tested. Tests examining HCN, Ammonia and siderophore production, flocculation ability, phosphate and zinc solubilization by the strain were carried out. Its anti-microbial property was tested against three phytopathogenic fungi: Fusarium solani, Aspergillus niger and Curvularia lunata and two bacterial strainsKlebsiella pneumoniae and E. coli. Its effect over seed germination of Triticum aestivum and Zea mays was inspected in plates as well as in pots. The strain showed a great potential as a plant growth promoter growing up to 10% NaCl concentration and producing considerable amount of IAA upto 8% NaCl concentration. It showed antagonistic nature against the three phytopathogenic fungi, solubilized phosphate and produced siderophore and NH3. Though supernatant of the bacterial culture did not show any deleterious effect over seed (of the test plants T. aestivum and Z. mays) germination but the seeds inoculated with the strain itself, failed to germinate. The seed turned dormant and grew a pale brown color showing bacterial growth over it. Thus it maybe concluded that the isolated strain of P. aeruginosa has abilities to both promote and at the same time inhibit plant growth (by inhibiting seed germination).


Global socio-political and economic forces often determine the histories of countries and nations, but internal historical identities, values and sentiments modify and combine with these forces to create a distinct local societal character and ethos, which are often mirrored in local institutions and organizations. In South Africa this is illustrated in the history of South African military chaplaincy. It was established in 1914 at a time when most other countries accorded their military chaplaincies with a reasonable degree of professionalism, but it was only acknowledged as an autonomous support service of the South African armed forces in 1973; this, despite the important role of religion in the South African society and the influence of British customs since 1806. The roots for this belated acknowledgement are found in the clash between the international force of imperialism and the local sentiments of Afrikaner nationalism. It influenced the establishment, functioning and ethos of South African military chaplaincy, turning the latter into a representation of the identities and sentiments elicited in the South African society by the global forces active within the historic context.


Most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are struggling to escape what economists label "the middle income trap." While much if not all of the region has emerged from low income status, neither growth nor productivity has increased sufficiently to enable Latin America to narrow the gap separating it from the world's most developed economies. And while income inequality has diminished across much of the region in recent years, social vulnerability remains widespread and institutional weaknesses continue to plague efforts to achieve equitable development. How can this trap be avoided? One key element is to build a development vision shared by the public and private sectors and by political and social stakeholders. This paper outlines three large policy areas that demand the construction of a shared strategy: on the economic front, the need for higher productivity; on the social front, the need to tackle poverty, and address the new vulnerabilities and needs for protection of a new middle class; and in the area of integration, the need to create a productive integration system that generates synergies among the countries of the region.This report was prepared by Alejandro Foxley of CIEPLAN in the context of a joint project of CIEPLAN-American University on Emergent Challenges in Latin American and Caribbean Economies. Commissioned by the Office of Stratgic Planning and Development Effectiveness of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the study has benefitted significantly from discussions and contributions in seminars organized earlier by CIEPLAN, the Center for Global Development, and the IDB. This version also includes valuable comments and suggestions by members of the External Advisory Council named by the IDB President in 2013.


A device has been developed to measure local skin friction on a flat plate by measuring the force exerted upon a very small movable part of the surface of the flat plate. These forces, which range from about 1 milligram to about 100 milligrams, are measured by means of a reactance device. The apparatus was first applied to measurements in the low-speed range, both for laminar and turbulent boundary layers. The measured skin-friction coefficients show excellent agreement with Blasius' and Von Karman's results. The device was then applied to high-speed subsonic flow and the turbulent-skin-friction coefficients were determined up to a Mach number of about 0.8. A few measurements in supersonic flow were also made. This paper describes the design and construction of the device and the results of the measurements.


Internet of Things is rapidly changing the human lives to bring convenience in domestic, public and industrial environments spanning across multiple application domains. At the same time, increasing security attacks on these networks raised alarms for timely response by forensic investigators to avoid severe consequences of the attacks. Major network forensic approaches proposed so far for IoT are based on recording and analyzing the network traffic to produce suitable evidences. One of the greatest challenges in this process is the identification and correlation of suitable artifacts among volumes of network packets to reconstruct the attack scenarios during forensic investigation. To address this challenge, we propose ProvNet-IoT, a novel provenance based forensic model for investigating network level attacks in IoT environment. The interactions between different nodes at network layer are depicted using information, functional, and event modeling techniques. We use progressive network provenance to explain different events pertaining to various attack scenarios and to provide forensically sound evidences. ProvNet-IoT is validated using two publicly available labeled IoT datasets with a corpus of different attacks. Experimental results showed the benchmark performance of ProvNet-IoT in identifying selective artifacts to produce reliable evidences during forensic investigation. © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of DFRWS This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).


In recent years, a few colonial marine invertebrates have shown intracolonial genetic variability, a previously unreported phenomenon. Intracolonial genetic variability describes the occurrence of more than a single genotype within an individual colony. This variability can be traced back to two underlying processes: chimerism and mosaicism. Chimerism is the fusion of two or more individuals, whereas mosaicism mostly derives from somatic cell mutations. Until now, it remained unclear to what degree the ecologically important group of hermatypic (reef building) corals might be affected. We investigate the occurrence of intracolonial genetic variability in five scleractinian corals: Acropora florida, Acropora hyacinthus, Acropora sarmentosa, Pocillopora species complex and Porites australiensis. The main focus was to test different genera for the phenomenon via microsatellite markers and to distinguish which underlying process caused the genetic heterogeneity. Our results show that intracolonial genetic variability was common (between 46.6% for A. sarmentosa and 23.8% for P. species complex) in all tested corals. The main process was mosaicism (69 cases of 222 tested colonies), but at least one chimera existed in every species. This suggests that intracolonial genetic variability is widespread in scleractinian corals and could challenge the view of a coral colony as an individual and therefore a unit of selection. However, it might also hold potential for colony survival under rapidly changing environmental conditions.


The fractographs of Mg-9Gd-4Y-0.6Zr alloy specimens which were tensioned at different temperatures were investigated by optical and scanning electron microscopy, respectively. The results showed that different slip systems were activated at different temperatures, which were responsible for varied deformation mechanisms and fracture mechanisms. At 25 °C, the enabled slip systems were few and only the slip systems on basal plane were able to be activated, so cleavage fracture was observed. At −196°Cthe number of enabled slip systems increased, prismatic or pyramidal slip maybe occurred, so that an obvious low-temperature plasticity was observed, while fracture mechanisms were mainly microvoid coalescence fracture with cleavage fracture in local areas. At 250 °C, 300 °C and 350 °C, the multisystem slips on the basal planes, the prismatic planes and the pyramidal planes were able to be activated, while fracture mechanisms were also microviod coalescence fracture. At 400 °C, recrystallization happened, grain-boundary sliding in new fine recrystallized grains made the plastic deformation easy, showing coarse-grain superplasticity phenomenon, and an intergranular shear fracture took place.


With 5.2 million people already receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) in low and middle-income countries and 33.4 million people estimated to be living with HIV globally, there is an urgent need to develop better antiretroviral (ARV) regimens that are less costly and less complex to implement than the current standard of care. We think it is technically possible to develop such improved regimens soon, and discuss some illustrative examples of how new ARVs and treatment simplification approaches might simultaneously improve outcomes and dramatically reduce costs. Such regimens would: 1) include new ARVs that are more tolerable, durable, and inexpensive to manufacture; 2) contain a reduced number of ARVs; and/or 3) be amenable to directly observed dosing on a weekly or a monthly-basis. However, success will not only require technical solutions, but also good will and mechanisms to foster collaboration within the international community. Therefore, we also suggest a few priority actions that interested parties can take to help expedite the widespread availability of better ARV regimens.

 Key words: HIV treatment, antiretroviral drugs, manufacturing costs, corporate social responsibility, incentives for research and development.


In this paper, a technology driven logic synthesis approach for look up table FPGAs is presented. Decomposition and bottom-up construction are the key concepts of this approach. By using functionally complete compact modeling with set systems, technology mapping is trivial. The method offers correctness by construction and easy post-synthesis verification and uses a multiple criteria search algorithm for constructing near optimal solutions.


Erythrocytes sensitized with purified neuraminidase (Hong Kong) antigens were used for assay of influenza A neuraminidase antibodies. The neuraminidase indirect hemagglutination test was equal to the neuraminidase hemagglutination-inhibition (enhancement) test and appeared to be better than the neuraminidase inhibition test for detection of fourfold or greater antibody rises in paired sera from influenza patients or vaccinees. It was better than both tests for detection of neuraminidase antibody. The neuraminidase indirect hemagglutination test is simple to perform and has the advantage of direct antigen-antibody assay.


Abstract The aim of this paper is to determine changes in the structure of demographic types of small towns in Poland between 2004 and 2013. It is assumed in the paper, following the Central Statistical Office of Poland, that small towns are urban settlements having less than 20,000 inhabitants. The time period covered in this study is the time of Poland's accession to the EU, which brought reduction of many barriers on the labour market and in migration movement. Demographic types of small towns were determined using Webb's typology. Natural increase and migration indicators constitute its base. It was found that the share of towns of progressive character decreased and the share of those of regressive character increased in the analyzed period. A negative migration balance had the greatest effect on the number of inhabitants of the analyzed settlement units. The described demographic changes in small towns in Poland were connected with the second stage of demographic transition.


The kinetics of biological reactions depends on the deuterium/protium (D/H) ratio in water. In this work, we describe the kinetic model of biocatalytic reactions in living organisms depending on the D/H ratio. We show that a change in the lifetime or other characteristics of the vital activity of some organisms in response to a decrease or increase in the content of deuterium in the environment can be a sign of a difference in taxons. For animals—this is a curve with saturation according to the Gauss's principle, for plants—it is the Poisson dependence, for bacteria a weakly saturated curve with a slight reaction to the deuterium/protium ratio toward increasing deuterium. The biological activity of the aquatic environment with reduced, elevated, and natural concentrations of deuterium is considered. The results of the study are presented in different vital indicators of some taxons: the bacteria kingdom—the colony forming units (CFU) index (Escherichia coli); animals—the activation energy of the death of ciliates (Spirostomum ambiguum), embryogenesis of fish (Brachydanio rerio); plants—germination and accumulation of trace elements Callisia fragrans L., sprouting of gametophores and peptidomics of moss Physcomitrella patens. It was found that many organisms change their metabolism and activity, responding to both high and low concentrations of deuterium in water.


This paper deals with a theoretical instability analysis of a rotating flexible disk subjected to swirling fluid flow, resulting in the generation of a strong coupling between the flexible disk vibration and swirling fluid flow around it, and a possible mechanism governing unstable vibration. In the instability analysis, the basic equations of swirling fluid flow around the rotating disk are based on Navier-Stokes equations integrated over the gap width between the rotating disk surface and the shroud wall. The structural vibration equation of the rotating flexible disk is based on the Kirchhoff-Love plate model. The equations of coupled fluid-structure motion take into account the moving boundary conditions with respect to both the rotating disk and the fluid flow. These equations are linearized for small deflection of the disk near the equilibrium state, and the solution of these equations is obtained using the multimodal expansion approximation and applying the Galerkin method. The theoretical results show a good agreement to the experiment with respect to the unstable vibration mode shapes and dependence of the instability frequency on the rotating speed, but only a qualitative agreement for the critical speed at which the disk's unstable vibration occurs.


Magnetic Cluster Expansion method is applied to the investigation of magnetic properties of Fe-Cr alloys treated as a function of Cr content, the spatial distribution of Cr atoms, and temperature. Random Fe-Cr alloys and Cr clusters formed in concentrated alloys are analyzed. We find significant differences between the types of magnetic order characterizing those systems, which are reflected in the characteristic variation of the temperature-dependent magnetic specific heat. Simulations show that in random Fe-Cr alloys and in alloys containing Cr clusters, the interplay between antiferromagnetic interactions characterizing Fe-Cr and Cr-Cr atom pairs gives rise to unusual patterns of finite temperature magnetic ordering.


[From the introduction]. If the debates raged around the European Employment Strategy (EES) and more generally on Open Method of Coordination (OMC) and the new modes of governance, less and less attention was paid to social dialogue. An evaluation of the cross-industry and sectoral social dialogue is a difficult task as it is an on-going process with various dimensions, among them the information, consultation, and negotiation between the European trade unions, the European employers and the Commission are often underlined (Transfer, 2006). Social dialogue is based on the treaty (Art. 138 and 139) and is generally considered as being part of a hard law approach (Falkner, 1998). Nevertheless, the last cross-industry agreement dated back to 1999 and only few binding agreements have been signed at sectoral level. Since 2000, the agreements signed were autonomous agreements which look like a hybrid between soft and hard law both by flexibility of the content and the nature of instruments to implement the EU agreement. The paper analyses the latest developments at cross-industry and sectoral level in order to evaluate the nature of the dynamics at play (Leonard et al., 2007). We will present in an integrated framework both the cross-industry and sectoral social dialogues. Their stories run mostly in parallel but recently the interaction has increased as they have worked on the same topics (telework for example) and as the Commission (see CEC, 2004) is trying to combine them. Finally, they have more or less reached the same point (soft law as the main regulatory instrument) and are confronted by the same set of problems (implementation, enlargement, representativeness…). As the sectoral social dialogue is much less well-known that the cross-industry one, we will concentrate our attention in this paper on developments at sectoral level (see also De Benecditus et al, 2003, de Boer et al, 2005, Dufresne et al, 2006, for the development at cross-industry level see the annual review by Degryse). This chapter is structured as follows: the first part presents a brief history of the European social dialogue, the second part defines broad categories to classify the joint texts adopted by the EU social partners, the third present a quantitative analysis of the texts adopted in the last ten years at sectoral level. Section 4 briefly illustrates the nature of the exchange and presents a typology. Then we draw some conclusions.


Simplicity is that a relative few theories and mathematical models can explain a number of phenomena. While complexity is the opposite where there seems to be an unending need to invent new theories. By this definition, physics and astronomy are in the former camp and social science and biology belong to the latter. Why is the universe is even understandable? This itself is hard to understand according to Einstein. I propose a line of reasoning here. Simplicity is a result of long term evolution in a close system. The resulting equilibrium gives rise to simplicity. The infinite possibilities of any member of the system have been largely reduced to a highly confined options. Most of the possibilities are prohibited due to forces that have long been cancelled out during the long evolution. Because of this simplicity, there appears to be causal effect. In other words, causal effect is a direct product of simplicity. Take our universe as an example, the universe is in equilibrium by and large. Only a handful forces remain. Because there are relatively few forces and laws, the universe appears to be orderly and thereby allows mathematics to even exist and work. Mathematics owes its existence to the equilibrium of the universe. Equilibrium brings orderliness and slowness to change. Just imagine, if one puts one stone by another stone, and because the stones decay so fast, by the end of this action of moving them together, one counts zero stone. The law of addition will be forever different from what we know today. In this sense, math and physics have 'this worldliness' feature, and is a localized knowledge to this universe at this phase of equilibrium. It could be vastly different in other possible states of the universe or other universes. A corollary is that the rules governing a simple universe is discoverable and free of controversy. The simplistic nature of the rules make it hard to miss the mark, so to speak. Once the framework of the rules is tested true over numerous times, what's left is refining of the details. Contradiction between the rules and the reality should be worked away over the time. This is good news to scientists because it solves the age old anxiety of finding all theories are invalid one morning. One notable exception to the simplicity in universe is the complexity in bio-sphere. Because the bio-sphere is inherently expansive and interactive, we cannot reduce the theories to a few laws and mathematics models. The bio-sphere is NOT an equilibrium system. Therefore it is very hard to apply causal effect to explain human society for instance. It is very hard to generalize theories or apply mathematics in bio-sphere or human society, as we are able to in cosmology. Humans' brain is wired to understand simple things and not complex things. We seek patterns and generalize. This skill helps tremendously in our evolutionary past. For instance, our eyes are adept in figuring out patterns like straight lines. Our eyes are especially good at spotting moving object in a static background. The predisposition to seek simplicity gave humans survival advantage in its evolutionary history. We appreciate simplicity over complexity. Humans process limited computational power. It is most efficient to apply the limited resource to a fast algorithm. The design principal of the fast algorithm is simplicity. There is an aesthetic side from human eyes for simplicity, whether be a new physics theory or a design of a gadget. The propensity of seeking simplicity is a very human specific trait, and has nothing to do with the reality whether the world is simple or complex. The coincidence of the simplicity of the universe and human's preference of simplicity is fortunate and fruitful. Specifically in the math and physics the coincidence yielded amazing results. There is no reason to doubt that more amazing discoveries will surface in the future. However, a grain of salt must be added so that we are conscious that there is less mysterious processes or agent involved in the coincidence. This article hopefully explained why. In fact, if we are blindly led by our pursuit of simplicity, we might fall into traps of naturally complex traps. For instance, any attempt to gain simplistic insight into a complex system is not a good idea. Our brain comes into my mind as an example of complex system. There are so many facets to this simple object that no one can claim a brain can be modeled with a finite number of rules. However, the simplicity on the surface for the natural world might be just a disguise of a chaotic and unpredictable reality. The equilibrium masks over much of the chaos and most noises or complex nuisances cancel each other out. What's left is the poetic simplicity skin. Underneath the skin, things might not be that smooth, or elegant or simple after all. It is a possibility. We probably are able to see some hints as we get more refined data, better models and more powerful observation tools. Another aspect of the simplicity is that it indicates the death process of the universe toward infinite entropy. Based on the second law of thermal dynamics, our universe is slipping into this final death of maximum entropy. An accompanying result of this process is that the universe becomes simpler and simpler. Imagine a universe where homogeneity rules and any imaginable infinitesimal particles and forces are distributed absolutely uniformly and cannot be changed a bit. This would be the simplest state and requires the simplest mathematics or physics. If we are slipping in that direction, which I think we are, then we should not be surprised that the physics laws in describing the universe is becoming simpler. Our current simplistic physical forces and laws are hinting that.


Excellent power efficiency on the physical layer is one of the key requirements for mobile data transmission systems. Besides increasing the life time of the battery, this also minimizes the implementation costs. This paper describes a flexible framing structure, which allows for decoupling of the bandwidth of the transmitted OFDM signal and the bandwidth used by the receiver. Instead of decoding signals across the whole transmission channel, the proposed receiver utilizes only a narrow bandwidth segment with a fixed OFDM sub-carrier spacing. Hence, a low power receiver architecture with reduced complexity can be obtained. The described framing concept was originally proposed for the use in DVB's next generation handheld broadcasting standard DVB-NGH. However, this concept is not limited to broadcasting, but can be used in point-to-point systems. This paper shows simulation results that prove the performance of the proposed solution in mobile channels and analyzes its power reduction capabilities.


Tuberculous meningitis (TB meningitis) is a subacute meningitis known for its various form of initial manifestations, which often make early diagnosis difficult. Psychosis is a rare manifestation of this disease. We reported a case of 19-year-old woman who presented with worsening psychotic disorder of one year duration. She presented initially with social isolation with subsequent mutism and stupor. Initial brain imaging & Electroencephalography (EEG) was unremarkable. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) investigations revealed positive cerebrospinal fluid Mycobacterium tuberculosis polymerase chain reaction (MTB PCR). She was treated with empirical antituberculosis drugs and steroids. Subsequently her psychotic symptoms resolved. As a conclusions, the psychotic disorder was most likely caused by TB meningitis. TB meningitis should be considered in patients with no background history of psychiatric illness presenting with psychotic disorder especially in countries with high TB burden.


Introduction and Objective Primary health care (PHC) is the basic strategy towards national health development in Nigeria, and provision of its services has been devolved to the local government. However, the PHC system in Nigeria has been hampered by several factors which have produced a negative effect on quality. It is assumed that given the proper structure, quality medical care will follow. Hence this study seeks to assess the structure of PHC in a rural area of Lagos state, southwest Nigeria. Methodology The study was carried out in Ikosi-Ejinrin local council development area (LCDA) of Lagos
state, which had 9 primary health care facilities catering for a population of about 100,000 people, using a descriptive cross-sectional study design. Data was collected from health facilities and health workers using a health facility checklist and a structured questionnaire for the health workers. Results Most facilities (77.8%) had inadequate water and power supply, as well as inadequate sanitary toilet facilities. In addition 44.4% lacked basic equipment and none had a maintenance plan.
Ambulance service was available in only 11.1% of the facilities. Only 33% of the facilities could be accessed easily by public transportation. Stewardship was unsatisfactory as no facility had a regular work schedule for its workers, none had a copy of the Essential Drugs List, and only 22.2% of the facilities enjoyed community participation in planning and management. There
were only 19 health care workers for the LCDA. There was neither a medical doctor nor community health officer, and the workers comprised nurses/midwives (57.9%), senior and junior community health extension workers (CHEWs)-21.1% and 15.8% respectively, and pharmacy technician (5.2%). None of the workers had gone on any in-service training within the previous two years. No health care workers knew anything about the budget for the health facilities. None of the facilities had a functional 2-way referral system in place. Only 22.2% had
adequate size, layout, utilities and furnishings. Conclusion
The structure of PHC Ikosi-Ejinrin LCDA, a rural area in south-west Nigeria, is inadequate. There is a need for increased political will, funding and intersectoral collaboration. Technical supervision, manpower management, community participation and 2-way referral system need to be improved upon. Keywords: Structure of primary health care, rural area, southwest Nigeria.


Software-based active replication is expensive in terms of performance overhead. Multithreading can help improve performance; however, thread scheduling is a source of nondeterminism in replica behavior. To achieve strong replica consistency in multithreaded environments, this paper proposes intercepting mutex lock/unlock operations performed by threads on accessing the shared data and contributes with two algorithmic solutions: 1) a loose synchronization algorithm (LSA), which captures the natural concurrency in a leader replica and projects it on follower replicas through interreplica communication, and 2) a preemptive deterministic scheduler (PDS) algorithm, which removes the need for interreplica communication through the notion of round and by suspending threads when it is unable (yet) to schedule them deterministically. Failure behavior and performance of LSA and PDS implementations are evaluated in a triplicated system and compared with existing solutions. A performance evaluation indicates that LSA and PDS outperform existing solutions, with PDS offering lower throughput than LSA. A fault-injection campaign shows that PDS is more robust to errors due to the absence of interreplica communication. Hence, LSA and PDS represent a trade-off between performance and dependability. Finally, LSA and PDS are demonstrated in replicating the Apache Web server, a substantial real-world application.


Background Some patients with advanced or recurrent, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation-positive (EGFR M+) non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) continue to receive EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) beyond radiological progression. Methods We analysed a cohort of 577 patients with EGFR M+ NSCLC, who had received a first-line EGFR-TKI. We classified patients according to clinical course and treatment patterns at Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) progressive disease (PD). We evaluated the period from RECIST PD to TKI discontinuation or clinical PD and also evaluated survival after RECIST PD and compared it between groups. Results RECIST PD was documented in 451 cases, of which 283 (62.7%) were clinically stable. 186 (65.7%) discontinued and 97 (34.3%) continued the EGFR-TKI. In those who continued EGFR-TKI, median time between RECIST PD and clinical PD or TKI discontinuation was 5.1 months. Median survival after RECIST PD in patients who discontinued and continued EGFR-TKI after clinically stable RECIST PD was 14.6 and 15.3 months (p=0.5489), respectively. In multivariate analysis, continuing EGFR-TKI therapy, female gender, better performance status and exon 19 deletion subtype were likely positive predictive factors for survival after clinically stable RECIST PD. Conclusion Our study suggests that some patients could benefit from receiving an EGFR-TKI beyond radiological progression.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the achievement of promotional strategies on the participation in two educational modalities for the development of skills for the elaboration of the knowledge (SSEK) in courses of teacher formation (TF).

METHODS
A quasi-experimental design was performed in four courses of TF with similar contents and strategies with seven students each one. As independent variable the presence and semipresence modalities were considered. In order to measure the development of the SSEK reliable; a validated instrument were used.

RESULTS
No significant differences were found among or between evaluations before and after interventions in the four groups. The students of the semipresencial course well as the presence advanced significantly in the development of the aptitudes and educative posture according to Wilcoxon test.

CONCLUSIONS
Both modalities increase the SSKE to development therefore represents an option for medical education in health professionals.


The exceptional increase in molecular DNA sequence data in open repositories is mirrored by an ever-growing interest among evolutionary biologists to harvest and use those data for phylogenetic inference. Many quality issues, however, are known and the sheer amount and complexity of data available can pose considerable barriers to their usefulness. A key issue in this domain is the high frequency of sequence mislabeling encountered when searching for suitable sequences for phylogenetic analysis. These issues include, among others, the incorrect identification of sequenced species, non-standardized and ambiguous sequence annotation, and the inadvertent addition of paralogous sequences by users. Taken together, these issues likely add considerable noise, error or bias to phylogenetic inference, a risk that is likely to increase with the size of phylogenies or the molecular datasets used to generate them. Here we present a software package, phylotaR that bypasses the above issues by using instead an alignment search tool to identify orthologous sequences. Our package builds on the framework of its predecessor, PhyLoTa, by providing a modular pipeline for identifying overlapping sequence clusters using up-to-date GenBank data and providing new features, improvements and tools. We demonstrate and test our pipeline's effectiveness by presenting trees generated from phylotaR clusters for two large taxonomic clades: Palms and primates. Given the versatility of this package, we hope that it will become a standard tool for any research aiming to use GenBank data for phylogenetic analysis.


The finance community has published thousands of articles about the size effect, the value effect, and other "Fama-French factors." But size is typically defined by market capitalization, which is a product of the size multiplied by some measure of growth, such as P/E. So, capitalization is a tangled combination of size and growth. Moreover, when the analysis of other market anomalies are cap weighted and partitioned by value versus growth, size and style become interconnected in ways that undermine the measurement of the anomalies. When the size effect is separated from the value-versus-growth effect, size as measured by market cap is seen to be far less powerful than is generally believed and the value effect becomes more powerful and more consistent than generally believed.


Abstract This study reports on the responses to a survey of 55 upper primary school teachers, conducted prior to their classes engaging in a substantial unit of work in multimodal composition. The survey was designed to ascertain the extent to which the teachers were already familiar with, and had already embedded in their teaching, a metalanguage of multimodal composition. The project from which the data was drawn and its underlying theoretical perspective are described. While the teachers' overall attention to a relevant metalanguage is identified as quite low, it is the differential attention that is paid to the more general elements of text construction practices, together with the prior professional learning associated with this material, which raises concerns about preparedness for multimodal authoring teaching more generally. Schools, school systems and teachers themselves are advised to take urgent and systemic action to ensure the satisfactory implementation of multimodal authoring as literacy practice. Recommendations for further research are presented.


Abstract Heritable trait variation is a central and necessary ingredient of evolution. Trait variation also directly affects ecological processes, generating a clear link between evolutionary and ecological dynamics. Despite the changes in variation that occur through selection, drift, mutation, and recombination, current eco‐evolutionary models usually fail to track how variation changes through time. Moreover, eco‐evolutionary models assume fitness functions for each trait and each ecological context, which often do not have empirical validation. We introduce a new type of model, Gillespie eco‐evolutionary models (GEMs), that resolves these concerns by tracking distributions of traits through time as eco‐evolutionary dynamics progress. This is done by allowing change to be driven by the direct fitness consequences of model parameters within the context of the underlying ecological model, without having to assume a particular fitness function. GEMs work by adding a trait distribution component to the standard Gillespie algorithm – an approach that models stochastic systems in nature that are typically approximated through ordinary differential equations. We illustrate GEMs with the Rosenzweig–MacArthur consumer–resource model. We show not only how heritable trait variation fuels trait evolution and influences eco‐evolutionary dynamics, but also how the erosion of variation through time may hinder eco‐evolutionary dynamics in the long run. GEMs can be developed for any parameter in any ordinary differential equation model and, furthermore, can enable modeling of multiple interacting traits at the same time. We expect GEMs will open the door to a new direction in eco‐evolutionary and evolutionary modeling by removing long‐standing modeling barriers, simplifying the link between traits, fitness, and dynamics, and expanding eco‐evolutionary treatment of a greater diversity of ecological interactions. These factors make GEMs much more than a modeling advance, but an important conceptual advance that bridges ecology and evolution through the central concept of heritable trait variation.


We introduce MesoGAN, a model for generative 3D neural textures. This new graphics primitive represents mesoscale appearance by combining the strengths of generative adversarial networks (StyleGAN) and volumetric neural field rendering. The primitive can be applied to surfaces as a neural reflectance shell; a thin volumetric layer above the surface with appearance parameters defined by a neural network. To construct the neural shell, we first generate a 2D feature texture using StyleGAN with carefully randomized Fourier features to support arbitrarily sized textures without repeating artefacts. We augment the 2D feature texture with a learned height feature, which aids the neural field renderer in producing volumetric parameters from the 2D texture. To facilitate filtering, and to enable end‐to‐end training within memory constraints of current hardware, we utilize a hierarchical texturing approach and train our model on multi‐scale synthetic datasets of 3D mesoscale structures. We propose one possible approach for conditioning MesoGAN on artistic parameters (e.g. fibre length, density of strands, lighting direction) and demonstrate and discuss integration into physically based renderers.


This article aims to analyse the factors leading to varying trends in Turkey's activeness as a mediator in the Middle East during the post-Cold War period. It seeks to investigate which variables – from various levels of analysis – have influenced Turkey's activeness in mediation initiatives in the Middle East during this period. Moreover, it also aims to explore the relationships between these variables in the scope of which variables come into play in which conditions and, more importantly, which one of them assumes the primary role within this set of interactions. Utilising the theoretical framework of neoclassical realism and international mediation literature, this study specifies an independent variable (security concerns about the neighbouring part of the region), three intervening variables (eagerness of foreign policymakers for diplomatic expansion, domestic institutional constraint, and diplomatic and economic capacity) and finally, a dependent variable (activeness of Turkey as a mediator in the Middle East) to address these questions systematically. By analysing this process through these variables, this article reaches the following two main conclusions: (1) when security concerns increase, activeness decreases. (2) When security concerns decline, the levels of intervening variables determine the degree of activeness.


Cholesterol appended diazine derivative 1 on a 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde scaffold has been designed and synthesized. The compound having diazine as a metal ion binding site forms nice gels with Ag+ and Fe3+ ions over a series of other metal ions from CHCl3/CH3OH (3 : 1, v/v). Strong hydrophobic interaction owing to the presence of cholesterol has a marked contribution in aggregation. The SEM image reveals fibrillar to globular porous microstructures. The true nature of the gels is determined from a rheological study. The Ag+ and Fe3+-gels are distinguishable with the aid of tetrabutylammonium chloride, tetrabutylammonium bromide or fluoride and ammonium thiocyanate. There is no interference of Fe2+ ions in the detection of Fe3+ ions. The presence of Fe2+ ions in solution can successfully be ascertained through gelation of 1 in the specified solvent upon adding external oxidising agents such as m-CPBA. As an application, both the Ag+- and Fe3+-gels of 1 act as good adsorbents for adsorption of uranine dye and picric acid from aqueous solution. In this process, the metallogels are recyclable and exhibit excellent efficiency.


Created in 1995 in response to consumer enthusiasm for the World Wide Web, Health On the Net FoundationHealth On the Net Foundation: http://www.healthonnet.org/ has developed solutions to address the problem of potentially dangerous online health and medical information. Then as now, no international legal framework regulated online content, and consumers needed to be given the means to check the reliability and the relevance of health information [[1]]. HON was first to introduce a code of conduct for online health and medical publishers, the HONcode [[2],[3],[4]], which was readily adopted by webmasters aware of the need for credibility in the new, competitive online space. HON went on to develop Web applications to enhance access to reliable information, making use of innovative NLP-based and semantic search technologies.This paper describes the implementation of a quality standard for online information (HONcode) based on the information production process; its evolution through nearly 10 years of effectiveness, its challenges and results. Today, over 4,700 HON-accredited websites, respecting minimum standards for disclosure and responsibility in online medical publishing, constitute the largest voluntary accreditation network on the Web.


Abstract. Medical knowledge of the skeleton including its structures has improved constantly over the past decades. Advanced imaging methods, mechanical testing and optical techniques have revealed insights into bone architecture and composition. Most of these advancements were possible due to the ex vivo investigation of biological tissues. Investigations of fresh tissue are generally preferred over preserved or fixed samples. However, chemical fixation is sometimes inevitable due to histological procedures or logistical reasons. The aim of this study was to investigate whether short-term chemical fixation with formaldehyde affects bone quality parameters obtained from Raman spectroscopy and if these effects last for intermediate sample storage of several hours. As formaldehyde induces cross-links to the organic components in bone tissue, we hypothesized that collagen-related parameters are particularly affected. Femurs of eight 17-week-old C57BL/6 mice were extracted and divided into two groups (N  =  8  /  group). Samples of the first group were fixed by immersion in 4% formaldehyde (PFA-solution) for 12 h at 4°C (fixed group) while samples of the second group were left untreated (unfixed group). Raman spectroscopy was performed, and repeated after 4 h, to assess whether intermediate storage time influenced the obtained results. Based on resultant spectra, mineral-to-matrix ratio, carbonate-to-phosphate ratio, carbonate-to-amide I ratio, mineral crystallinity and collagen maturity were determined. Carbonate-to-phosphate ratio was the only parameter showing a significant difference between the first and the subsequent measurements. For both groups, ratios showed a decrease in carbonate substitution compared to the first measurement (percentage decrease: 3.1% in fixed, 4.7% in unfixed). Collagen maturity of samples, which were short-term fixed with formaldehyde, was significantly lower than of fresh, unfixed samples (percentage difference: 3.8%). Our study shows that Raman spectroscopy is able to detect changes in collagen structure initiated by formaldehyde and that changes in short-term fixed samples are minimally influencing bone material properties measured with Raman spectroscopy.


Experiments concerned with the regulation of the tryptophan synthetic enzymes in anaerobes were carried out with a strain of Clostridium butyricum. Enzyme activities for four of the five synthetic reactions were readily detected in wild-type cells grown in minimal medium. The enzymes mediating reactions 3, 4, and 5 were derepressed 4- to 20-fold, and the data suggest that these enzymes are coordinately controlled in this anaerobe. The first enzyme of the pathway, anthranilate synthetase, could be derepressed approximately 90-fold under these conditions, suggesting that this enzyme is semicoordinately controlled. Mutants resistant to 5-methyl tryptophan were isolated, and two of these were selected for further analysis. Both mutants retained high constitutive levels of the tryptophan synthetic enzymes even in the presence of repressing concentrations of tryptophan. The anthranilate synthetase from one mutant was more sensitive to feedback inhibition by tryptophan than the enzyme from wild-type cells. The enzyme from the second mutant was comparatively resistant to feedback inhibition by tryptophan. Neither strain excreted tryptophan into the culture fluid. Tryptophan inhibits anthranilate synthetase from wild-type cells noncompetitively with respect to chorismate and uncompetitively with respect to glutamine. The Michaelis constants calculated for chorismate and glutamine are 7.6 × 10−5m and 6.7 × 10−5m, respectively. The molecular weights of the enzymes estimated by zonal centrifugation in sucrose and by gel filtration ranged from 24,000 to 89,000. With the possible exception of a tryptophan synthetase complex, there was no evidence for the existence of other enzyme aggregates. The data indicate that tryptophan synthesis is regulated by repression control of the relevant enzymes and by feedback inhibition of anthranilate synthetase. That this enzyme system more closely resembles that found in Bacillus than that found in enteric bacteria is discussed.


The recent detection of pulsations from the ultra luminous X-ray source (ULX) NuSTAR J095551+6940.8 in M82 by Bachetti et al. indicates that the object is an accreting neutron star in a high mass X-ray binary (HMXB) system. The super-Eddington luminosity of the object implies that the magnetic field is sufficiently strong to suppress the scattering cross-section unless its beam is viewed at a favourable angle. We show that the torque equilibrium condition for the pulsar indicates the dipole magnetic field of the neutron star is $6.7 \times 10^{13}$ G, two orders of magnitude higher than that estimated by Bachetti et al., and further point to the possibility that even stronger magnetic fields could well be in the higher multipoles. This supports the recent view that magnetars descent from HMXBs if the magnetic field decays an order of magnitude during the process of transition.


The aims of this study are to characterize the spatial variability of biomarker imprints in a peatland and to test to which extent this variability can be related to the surrounding vegetation. Since the mid 1970's La Guette peatland (region Centre, France) has been colonized by vascular plants. Nowadays it is totally colonized by Molina caerulea and, to varying extent, by Pinus sylvestris and Betula pendula. In nine stations representative of distinct vegetation cover, we analysed the lipid composition of soil developed under Molinia caerulea. The lipids of the six most abundant plants encountered in the peatland were analysed as reference samples: Sphagnum rubellum, Erica tetralix, Calluna vulgaris, Molinia caerulea, Betula pendula and Pinus sylvestris. For all these samples, lipids were ultrasonically extracted with DCM and then separated into neutral, acidic and polar compounds. The neutral fraction was further separated by flash chromatography to afford (i) aliphatics and aromatics; (ii) ethers, esters, ketones and acetates and (iii) alcohols. 5α-cholestane was added prior to analysis for quantitation. Lipid fractions were then identified and quantified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. In order to quantify their density, trees were counted within circles of increasing radius (giving areas of 3.14; 12.6; 28.3; 50.3 and 78.5 m2) around the sampling plot. After counting, total tree density was determined as well as individual P. sylvestris and B. pendula density. For each sample (n=9) regressions were calculated between (i) lipids and (ii) the density of the tree (n=9). This calculation was reproduced for each counting surface. Then, the resulting regression coefficient was plotted against each surface of counting.
Apart from ubiquist compounds such as n-alkanes and triterpenoid ketones, we found in soils several biomarkers for which the source could be constrained. Taraxeryl, friedelanyl and moretenyl acetates were detected. Friedelanyl and moretenyl acetates were found in high amounts in open vegetation plots (9.7 and 2.9 µg.g soil-1, respectively). They were also detected in E. tetralix and C. vulgaris (Ericaceae) and, probably due to contamination, in S. rubellum. Multiflorenyl and two unknown acetates, also present in low contents, may originate from undetermined, less abundant plant. Four methoxy-serratenes (Le Milbeau et al., 2013) and seven tricyclic diterpenes were detected in both soils and P. sylvestris needles. Strong correlation (r = 0.997; p ≤ 0.0001) of their respective abundances in soils attest to their common origin and similar conservation potential. The presence of betulin and related compounds in soil samples and in B. pendula leaves are in agreement with the admitted use of these biomarkers to track the former presence Betula species in soils and sediments (i.e. Otto and Simoneit, 2001).
The source of these biomarkers being defined, we then assessed their spatial distribution at the nine sampling sites. Although not abundant, triterpenyl acetates, methoxy-serratenes, diterpenes and betulin derivatives exhibit a higher coefficient of variation along sampling sites than other compound such as n-alkanes or triterpenoid ketones.
The correlation between methoxy-serratenes and the number of P. sylvestris in the nine sampling sites increases with the surface used for the calculation (r = 0.93, p<0.022). These values indicate that specific biomarkers of P. sylvestris in soil samples and surrounding vegetation are spatially linked. The same applies for B. pendula and betulin derivatives (r = 0.96, p<0.008). The degradability of the betulin and its relatively high solubility may induce lost and leaching out of the sampling point.
Our results provide evidence that selected biomarkers in soil samples can give a reliable picture of the surrounding vegetation. It also quantifies the area of influence of trees on the soil lipid composition, over 20 m². The approach combining tree counting and quantitation of specific biomarkers that was developed in the frame of this study proved to be efficient in evidencing the spatial control of the surrounding vegetation on lipids distribution in a peatland invaded by vascular plants.

REFERENCES
Le Milbeau, C., Lavrieux, M., Jacob, J., Breheret, J.G., Zocatelli, R., Disnar, J.R., 2013. Diversity of methoxy-serratenes in a soil under a conifer forest and their potential as biomarkers of Pinaceae. Organic Geochemistry 55, 45-54.
Otto, A., Simoneit, B.R.T., 2001. Chemosystematics and diagenesis of terpenoids in fossil conifer species and sediment from the Eocene Zeitz formation, Saxony, Germany. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 65:20, 3505–3527.


Pupae of the Simulium damnosum complex were exposed for different time periods to temperatures of 0, 4, 8 and 12 degrees C before returning to ambient temperature (24-28 degrees C). As the period of exposure to the low temperatures increased, pupal survival decreased. A one day exposure even to 0 degrees C had little effect on survival, whereas for a 4 day exposure, the optimum survival occurred at 8 degrees C with a total of 46% emergence. Young pupae (pale cuticle) had greatest emergence after exposure to 12 degrees C, the old ones (dark sclerotised cuticle) after exposure to 8 degrees C. Exposure to the different cold temperatures did not significantly affect the longevity of the emerging adults. Low temperature storage of pupae is thus a viable method for long distance transportation of living specimens of blackflies.


Volumetric curvature analysis is a simple but computationally intensive procedure that provides insight into fracture orientation and regional stresses. Until recently, curvature analysis has been limited to computation along horizon surfaces that may be affected by unintentional bias and picking errors introduced during the interpretation process. Volumetric curvature is best estimated in a two-step process. In the first step, we use a moving-analysis subvolume to estimate volumetric reflector dip and azimuth for the best-fit tangent plane for each sample in the full volume. In the second step, we calculate curvature from adjacent measures of dip and azimuth. We use larger curvature analysis windows to estimate longer wavelength curvatures. Such a technique allows us to output full 3D volumes of curvature values for one or more scales of analysis. We apply these techniques to a data set from the Central Basin Platform of west Texas and find lineaments not observable with other seismic attributes. These lineaments indicate that, in the lower Paleozoic interval, a left-lateral shear couple oriented due east-west controls the local stress regime. Such a model predicts that extension faulting and fractures will be oriented northeast-southwest. The example demonstrates the potential of this new technology to determine stress regimes and predict azimuths of open fractures.


Clinical evidence shows that pain, particularly without organic lesions, tends to be more frequent on the left side of the body. Concomitantly, experimental data indicate that differential sensitivity for the right and left side, the pain threshold and tolerance being usually higher in the dominant than in the non-dominant side of the body. Headache laterality was investigated in 188 consecutive chronic headache patients. Headache was lateralized in approximately 50% of the cases, with an overall right predominance (59%). However, when descriptive diagnosis was taken into consideration, lateralized pain was predominant on the left side in psychogenic headache (p less than .01), whereas somatogenic headache was more often right-sited. Since pain lateralization can hardly be explained by peripheral factors, we assumed that reduced efficiency of the non-dominant side in processing several perceptual and cognitive activities could reflect asymmetry in cerebral organization. As differential engagement of the two hemispheres by appropriate tasks can be demonstrated with the EEG, we have studied 13 chronic headache patients with quantitative EEG analysis, compared with a control group of normal subjects (n = 7). The analysis of alpha-asymmetry, during analytical and spatial tasks, revealed that chronic headache patients showed a trend toward a relative activation of the right hemisphere during both tasks, independently of descriptive diagnosis, suggesting that chronic headache might be considered a "psychosomatic continuum". We postulate that pain perception may be biased by the reduced efficiency of the right hemisphere in sensory processing, so that the sensory message may be misinterpreted or amplified as painful by higher centers, even in absence of nociceptive stimuli.


Purpose The purpose of this descriptive qualitative study was to explore cognitive, behavioral, and psychosocial challenges associated with having and/or parenting an adolescent with pediatric type 2 diabetes (T2D) from the perspectives of ethnic minority parents and adolescents. Methods Ethnic minority (79.2% non-Hispanic black, 29.6% Hispanic) adolescents (n = 14, 78.6% female, 14.7 ± 1.9 years) and their parents (n = 13, 100% female) participated in either individual family interviews or multifamily focus group sessions. Sessions were audio recorded, transcribed, and coded by a team of 4 raters. QSR NVivo 10 was used to perform a content analysis and to extract coded adolescent and parent responses. Results Six themes corresponding to 3 broad categories (cognitive, behavioral, and psychosocial challenges) emerged. Regarding cognitive challenges, families described difficulties learning about a new disease and managing youth knowledge deficits and/or superficial knowledge. In terms of behavioral challenges, parents and adolescents discussed ongoing difficulties with making and maintaining positive youth health behavior changes as well as with ensuring regimen adherence. Finally, managing youth emotions related to diabetes and navigating social relationships with peers and other family members around the disclosure of T2D were the primary psychosocial challenges to emerge. Conclusions Directions for future research include developing and evaluating brief family interventions and adolescent psychosocial screening measures. Recommendations for clinical practice include increasing family knowledge of T2D, enhancing parenting skills for managing youth behavior change, and conducting routine psychosocial screening during follow-up clinic visits.


Background and Aims: Intraperitoneal (IP) instillation of local anesthetics has been shown to minimize postoperative pain after laparoscopic surgeries. We compared the antinociceptive effects of IP dexmedetomidine combined with ropivacaine with that of IP ropivacaine alone in the patients undergoing laparoscopic hysterectomy. Materials and Methods: At the end of laparoscopic hysterectomy, in a double-blind, randomized manner, one of the following injections was given intraperitoneally. The patients were allocated into the following two groups: The patients in ropivacaine group (R group) (N = 30) were given 30 mL of 0.2% ropivacaine plus 2 mL of normal saline; the patients in ropivacaine plus dexmedetomidine group (RD group) (N = 30) were given 30 mL of 0.2% ropivacaine combined with 1 μg/kg dexmedetomidine (diluted in 2 mL normal saline) through trocars. All the patients were given diclofenac sodium when they had pain [visual analogue scale (VAS) 3]. Results: VAS score at different time intervals, overall VAS in 24 h was significantly lower (1.86 ± 0.46 vs 4.7 ± 0.94), time to first request of analgesia (min) was longest (126 ± 24 vs 59 ± 13) and total analgesic consumption (mg) was lowest (95 ± 15 vs 175 ± 75) in RD group than in R group. Conclusion: The antinociceptive effects of the intraperitoneal instillation of ropivacaine in combination with dexmedetomidine is superior to ropivacaine alone.


Introduction The first children's hospice was established 30 years ago and included a cooled bedroom where the child's body could be cared for in the hospice until the funeral. This was seen as a crucial aspect of the care extended to grieving families, allowing them to say goodbye to their child in their own way over several days, within a supported environment. Problem identified This practice has been replicated in over 40 subsequent children's hospices, but minimal research has evaluated the impact of this aspect of support on families. Thus a service is being offered which has not been validated as beneficial. Policies guiding this aspect of service delivery are based on practice experience and anecdotal evidence with practices differing across the country. Methodology A literature review was carried out to identify what is known about the impact on bereavement outcomes for parents who have prolonged access to their child's body beyond the immediate hours following death. Related literature looking at the impact of viewing stillborn babies or adult bodies following unexpected death and post organ donation was included. Findings While most literature suggested unspecified benefits to bereaved relatives from accessing dead bodies, there was one notable exception in stillbirth studies which indicated higher levels of anxiety and depression in mothers who had held their stillborn baby. Few studies measured the impact of access to the body on bereavement outcomes. Recommendations There is urgent need for research to identify the impact of this service on the bereavement outcome of parents, looking at both benefits and potential risks. This research should inform service development in terms of governance within children's hospices. Furthermore, new evidence will be added to the understanding of factors influencing bereavement outcomes for parents.


This paper aimed at investigating the chemical compositions and mineral contents of Leptadenia hastate leaves. The proximate analysis shows moisture, ash, lipid, crude protein, crude fiber and carbohydrate contents to be (7.67, 17.67, 5.0, 14.88, 9.33, and 45.45) % respectively. The high percentage of carbohydrates indicates that Leptadenia hastata leaves could served as a good source of energy to the body. The elemental analysis was carried out using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). Calcium recorded the highest concentration of 1845.66 mgKg and Zinc with the lowest concentration of 15.27mgKg. Other elements includes; Na, Fe, K and Mg with concentrations of (72.54, 148.94, 1245.34 and 275.87) mgKg respectively. These results suggest that Leptadenia hastata leaves could served as good source of minerals such as Ca, Fe, and K that are essential for human and livestock.


An amphiphilic meta-ethynylpyridine polymer with chiral amide side chains was developed. The polymer was prepared by sequential Sonogashira reactions, and the product was soluble in polar and apolar solvents. The additive effects of metal salts on the polymer were examined in water and aqueous EtOH on the basis of UV-vis and CD spectra. The enhancement of the positive Cotton effect and hypochromism around 360 nm occurred by the addition of various metal salts, indicating the coordination of the cations to the amide side chains of the polymer to stabilise the helical structure. Among them, rare-earth metal salts, especially Sc(OTf)3 showed more efficient additive effects probably because of its strong coordination ability even in water. Positive cooperativity was observed for the coordination of Sc(OTf)3 to the polymer in aqueous EtOH.


Background: Myocardial infarction is 1 of the most serious cardiovascular diseases. Early interventional therapy preserves the cardiac function of patients with myocardial infarction to the greatest extent, but it is far from meeting people's need only limited to cardiac revascularization. It is also necessary to help patients improve their quality of life, exercise tolerance, and reduce the incidence of acute cardiac recurrence as much as possible. All these depend on cardiac rehabilitation (CR) are based on exercise. Early and correct CR helps to improve the patient's heart function and improve living standards. Traditional Chinese exercise Tai Chi as an alternative form of CR has gradually become popular, but it lacks large samples and high-quality clinical studies to verify it. This study aims to explore the effect of Tai Chi on the cardiac function of patients with myocardial infarction, and to provide a strong basis for patients to choose which CR exercise. Methods: This is a prospective randomized controlled trial. 272 patients with myocardial infarction will be randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group according to 1:1, with 136 cases in each group. The control group: conventional treatment; the experimental group: increase Tai Chi exercise on the basis of the control group. Both groups will receive standard treatment for 24weeks and will be followed up for 3months. Observation indicators include: total effective rate, 6 minutes walking test, brain natriuretic peptide, left ventricular ejection fraction, the adverse reaction rate, etc. The data will be analyzed by using SPSS 25.0 software. Discussion:This study will evaluate the effect of Tai Chi on the cardiac function of patients with myocardial infarction. The results of this test will provide clinical evidence for patients to choose which CR exercise. Trial registration: OSF Registration number: DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/QKWDP. Abbreviations: CR = cardiac rehabilitation, NYHA = New York Heart Association, SS = safety set.


HCO3 secretion plays a vital role in regulating the pH and mucus viscosity of airway surface liquid to facilitate airway mucociliary clearance of inhaled pathogen. In cystic fibrosis (CF), reduced HCO3 secretion contributes to defective mucociliary clearance which predisposes the lungs to bacterial infection. Calu-3 cells are used as a model of human submucosal gland serous cells which are involved in CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator)-dependent HCO3 secretion, a process that appears to involve functional interactions with both apical and basolateral Cl/HCO3 anion exchangers (AE), but through regulatory pathways that are not well understood. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the signalling mechanisms that regulate CFTR-dependent AE activity in Calu-3 cells. Under resting conditions, Calu-3 cells showed a DIDS-sensitive Cl and HCO3dependent basolateral anion exchange activity consistent with AE2 (SLC4A2) expression. However, apical AE activity was not detected. Increasing cytosolic Ca, or removal of extracellular Ca, had no effect on basolateral AE activity. In contrast, lowering cytosolic Ca with BAPTA-AM, or inhibiting calmodulin (CaM), reduced basolateral AE activity. Furthermore, an intact actin cytoskeleton, as well as active dynamin, were essential for maintaining basolateral AE activity, possibly via supply of new proteins to the basolateral membrane. Inhibiting CK2 or protein phosphatase 1 (PP1) abolished basolateral AE activity, and CK2 inhibition was linked to CaM. This suggests that AE activity was maintained through a novel CaM-dependent mechanism involving phosphorylation/dephosphorylation by CK2/PP1. In support of this, transient transfection of HEK293 cells with mouse AE2, with and without CK2 cotransfection, clearly demonstrated CK2-dependent AE2 activity. Stimulation of Calu-3 cells with cAMP agonists both activated an apical anion exchanger via a PKA and Epac-dependent mechanism, and inhibited the basolateral anion exchanger, but through a PKA and Epac-independent mechanism. Blocking CFTR with GlyH-101 caused an apparent inhibition of apical AE activity, but addition of basolateral DIDS restored apical activity, suggesting that a basolateral HCO3 transporter was activated when CFTR was inhibited. Removal of extracellular Ca partially reduced the cAMP-induced inhibition of the basolateral AE activity, but had no effect on cAMP-stimulated apical AE activity. Moreover, increasing cytosolic Ca, or lowering cytosolic Ca with BAPTA-AM, markedly reduced cAMPstimulated apical AE activity, but it had no effect on cAMP-induced inhibition of the basolateral anion exchanger. Actin-cytoskeleton disruption had no effect on apical AE activity but dynamin inhibition caused a significant decrease. A similar decrease in apical AE activity was observed when CK2 was inhibited, but in contrast to the basolateral anion exchanger, this appeared to be via a CaM-independent mechanism. Inhibiting CK2, however, had no effect on the cAMP-induced inhibition of the basolateral AE activity, suggesting that CK2 regulation of Calu-3 anion exchangers is through cAMP-independent mechanisms. These findings provide new insights into the signalling pathways that regulate both the apical and basolateral anion exchangers in Calu-3 cells and help define their respective roles in airway HCO3 secretion. The results could potentially open up new avenues for modulating AE activity which could be beneficial in HCO3 secretory diseases such as CF.


Studies in Nigeria have not fully shown the effect of using celebrities and how celebrities can effectively change the attitude of the consumers towards a brand. Based on this notion, the study examined audience perception of celebrity endorsement on product advertising and its influence on brand loyalty. Through a mixed method design, the study used questionnaire and structured interview. The respondents perceived the use of celebrities in Globacom adverts necessary because these celebrities are persuasive, entertaining and experienced. This further enhances awareness and sales for the product. Globacom celebrities have a good interpersonal relation with Globacom customers as they prefer celebrity endorsed products' adverts to non-celebrity endorsed products' adverts which influence their purchase. Globacom celebrities are liked and perceived as highly credible; hence celebrities that match products' brand image should be endorsed to promote the brand in order to influence consumers' purchase and loyalty to the products.


In this work we explore the use of shape-based representations as an auxiliary source of supervision for pose estimation and action recognition. We show that shape-based representations can act as a source of `privileged information' that complements and extends the pure landmark-level annotations. We explore 2D shape-based supervision signals, such as Support Vector Shape. Our experiments show that shape-based supervision signals substantially improve pose alignment accuracy in the form of a cascade architecture. We outperform state-of-the-art methods on the MPII and LSP datasets, while using substantially shallower networks. For action localization in untrimmed videos, our method introduces additional classification signals based on the structured segment networks (SSN) and further improved the performance. To be specific, dense human pose and landmarks localization signals are involved in detection progress. We applied out network to all frames of videos alongside with output from SSN to further improve detection accuracy, especially for pose related and sparsely annotated videos. The method in general achieves state-of-the-art performance on Activity Detection Task for ActivityNet Challenge2017 test set and witnesses remarkable improvement on pose related and sparsely annotated categories e.g. sports.


We describe here the deployment of a visualization tool as a web service to monitor the CMS tracker. The results obtained with a first prototype consisting of a Java client which implements the GUI and a data server connected to the CMS construction database and event store on the Grid are promising. This tool will allow access to monitoring data and services by tracker experts from anywhere in the world: something essential for a detector built by an international collaboration. The main representation used is a schematic 2-D map of the whole tracker: its use is essential for fast monitoring on the web.


Previous research has documented the comprehensive health benefits of regular physical activity. However, just over a third of Black women report meeting the suggested amount of physical activity per week. Research also indicates that collegiate emerging adults often reduce their physical activity as well. Given that Black collegiate women represent the intersection of two groups that report a reduction in physical activity, the primary purpose of this descriptive study was to examine whether or not the rate of engagement in high-calorie-burning (HCB) activity by collegiate females differed by race. A secondary purpose was to explore how the chronic stress of racism for Black women was related to their HCB activity. Three hundred and eighty-three collegiate females between the ages of 18 and 25 (M = 19.67, SD = 1.45) participated; (61.1% [n = 234] self-identified as White, while the remaining 38.9% [n = 149] self-identified as Black). All eligible participants took a 10–15 min anonymous online survey. Results from a chi-squared analysis (χ2 [1] = 8.40, p = .004) revealed that White collegiate women (70.3%) were more likely to report participation in weekly HCB activity than Black collegiate women (55.7%). Additional analyses also suggested that chronic experience with racism (F [1, 147] = 5.13, p = .03) was associated with more frequent HCB activity for the Black women sampled. Campus health promotion campaigns should not overlook how the experience of race may shape health behaviors for their racial minority students and sustain emerging health disparities.


In this paper we introduce a novel, open domain socialbot for the Amazon Alexa Prize competition, aimed at carrying on friendly conversations with users on a variety of topics. We present our modular system, highlighting our different data sources and how we use the human mind as a model for data management. Additionally we build and employ natural language understanding and information retrieval tools and APIs to expand our knowledge bases. We describe our semistructured, scalable framework for crafting topic-specific dialogue flows, and give details on our dialogue management schemes and scoring mechanisms. Finally we briefly evaluate the performance of our system and observe the challenges that an open domain socialbot faces.


PURPOSE: To present strategies in diagnosing and treating infertility related to antisperm antibodies. METHODS: Antisperm antibodies (ASA) were detected on sperm using the direct immunobead (IBD) test. Treatments included intrauterine insemination (IUI) with pretreatment with chymotrypsin/galactose vs. in vitro fertilization (IVF) with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). RESULTS: Intrauterine insemination with protein digestive enzyme treatment was much more effective than IUI without enzymatic therapy. However IVF with ICSI provided three times the pregnancy rate for males with sperm coated with ASA than IUI with chymotrypsin treated sperm. CONCLUSIONS: It is advisable to include measurement for ASA on the initial semen analysis. However, another option is to perform it initially only with an abnormal post-coital test. The decision for IUI with chymotrypsin pretreatment of the sperm vs. IVF with ICSI may depend on insurance and financial issues.


Shea butter is the fat extracted from the nut of Africa Shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa). It is used in cosmetic formulations and as a substitute for Cocoa butter in chocolate industries. It is edible and used cooking fat in Africa. The saponifiable fraction of Shea butter is composed primarily of stearic and oleic acids with lesser amounts of palmitic, linoleic and arachidic acids while the unsaponifiable fraction of Shea butter is composed of bioactive substances that are responsible for Shea butter's medicinal properties. Shea butter is a solid at room temperature and melts at body temperature. It is therefore useful for skin care as it has sun screening properties and acts as an emollient and skin moisturizer. Topical use of Shea butter has also demonstrated anti-aging and anti-inflammatory properties. Dietary intake of Shea butter has hypocholesterolemic effect and reduces serum and organ protein concentrations.


The purposes of this research were 1) to survey the number of drugstores that unlawful dispense of asthma prescription drugs, in form of drug combinations in the Phaya Thai district of Bangkok, 2) to find the steroids contained in that drug combinations, 3) to find a means for informing general public about the dangers of drugs and for a campaign to stop dispensing them. Researcher collected drug combinations from 69 drugstores in Phaya Thai district from Feb 15, 2012 to Mar 15, 2012. The survey found 30.43%, 21, drug stores, sold asthma drug combinations to customers without a prescription. These collected samples were tested for steroid contamination by using Immunochromatography kits. Eleven samples, 52.38%, were found contaminated with steroids. In short, there should be control and inspection of drugstores in the distribution of steroid medications. To improve the knowledge of self health maintenance and drug usage among public, Thai Government and Department of Public Health should educate people about the side effects of using drug combinations and steroids. Keywords—Dispensing, Drug Combinations, Steroids


The introduction of a secondary currency, the chevronets, played an important and beneficial role during hyperinflation in Soviet Russia in the early 1920s. This sophisticated strategy was crowned by the execution of a successful stabilization in March 1924, despite the persistence of a substantial budget deficit. The stabilization was much less costly than appears to have been the case in other post Great War hyperinflations. further, the use of a secondary currency in this case allowed real money and output to increase in the course of 1923, while these were greatly disrupted in the late phase of hyperinflation in cases like Germany and Poland in the period. The theoretical approach to secondary currencies developed here (and in Auerbach, Davison and Rostowski 1992) further suggests that this may have important implications for policy today.


Abstract This rapport contains a comparison between in-situ cast joists and prefab joists. We have looked closely at the aspects that should be taken into account when selecting the method and what should be most efficient economically and timely. The work we have done has been with the guidance of Peab Sverige AB in Linkoping. It begins with a basic background and theory in the field. Then we conducted interviews with various players that we believe may have an impact in the method to be used, including project managers, site managers, carpenters, concrete workers and installers. In addition, we made visits to workplaces where they use different methods and at Skandinaviska Byggelement in Katrineholm, where prefab slabs is manufactured. We also visited PERI AB's head office in Halmstad. PERI AB is a form provider in Sweden. In our study comparing the same item in different methods such as reinforcement, connections, installations, time to dry out, transport, etc. It is apparent that certain elements are almost identical for the two approaches while the other elements vary considerably. The factors that determine which method should be used are many and differ to some extent also between different regions and enterprises. In Ostergotland and Orebro one were more positive about the site cast joists. We believe that there is no reason to depart from a concept that works and giving profits to the company. In southern Sweden, there is another point of view which is almost completely different from the cast on site between the beams and aiming instead for prefab slabs in apartment buildings. (Less)


We develop ergodic theory of the inviscid Burgers equation with random kick forcing in noncompact setting. The results are parallel to those in our recent work on the Burgers equation with Poissonian forcing. However, the analysis based on the study of one-sided minimizers of the relevant action is different. In contrast with previous work, finite time coalescence of the minimizers does not hold, and hyperbolicity (exponential convergence of minimizers in reverse time) is not known. In order to establish a One Force --- One Solution principle on each ergodic component, we use an extremely soft method to prove a weakened hyperbolicity property and to construct Busemann functions along appropriate subsequences.


Two designs for an integrated photoelectrolysis system that uses a 10× concentrating solar collector have been investigated in detail. The system performance was evaluated using a multi-physics model that accounted for the properties of the tandem photoabsorbers, mass transport, and the electrocatalytic performance of the oxygen-evolution and hydrogen-evolution reactions (OER and HER, respectively). The solar-to-hydrogen (STH) conversion efficiencies and the ohmic losses associated with proton transport in the solution electrolyte and through the membrane of the photoelectrolysis system were evaluated systematically as a function of the cell dimensions, the operating temperatures, the bandgap combinations of the tandem cell, and the performance of both the photoabsorbers and electrocatalysts. Relative to designs of optimized systems that would operate without a solar concentrator, the optimized 10× solar concentrator designs possessed larger ohmic losses and exhibited less uniformity in the distribution of the current density along the width of the photoelectrode. To minimize resistive losses while maximizing the solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency, η_(STH), both of the designs, a two-dimensional "trough" design and a three-dimensional "bubble wrap" design, required that the electrode width or diameter, respectively, was no larger than a few millimeters. As the size of the electrodes increased beyond this limiting dimension, the η_(STH) became more sensitive to the performance of the photoabsorbers and catalysts. At a fixed electrode dimension, increases in the operating temperature reduced the efficiency of cells with smaller electrodes, due to degradation in the performance of the photoabsorber with increasing temperature. In contrast, cells with larger electrode dimensions showed increases in efficiency as the temperature increased, due to increases in the rates of electrocatalysis and due to enhanced mass transport. The simulations indicted that cells that contained 10% photoabsorber area, and minimal amounts of Nafion or other permselective membranes (i.e. areal coverages and volumetric fractions of only a few percent of the cell), with the remaining area comprised of a suitable, low-cost inert, non porous material (flexible polymers, inert inorganic materials, etc.) should be able to produce high values of η_(STH), with η_(STH) = 29.8% for an optimized design with a bandgap combination of 1.6 eV/0.9 eV in a tandem photoabsorber system at 350 K.


My research reviews the current literature on cuentapropismo (selfemployment) in Havana and some of the existing theories of informality. My major goal is to see how well such theories explain the Havana case. Traditional approaches to understanding the informal economy do not fit Havana, which is distinct in terms of (1) social class structure, (2) social demography, (3) the relations between the formal and informal sectors, and (4) the relations between the informal economy and globalization. My research also examines the nature of informality and entrepreneurship and argues that the former supports the latter in three ways: overexploitation, invisibility and informal social network. These three elements apply to previous state employees who quit state jobs to enter the informal sector. In a context of neoliberal reforms and the consolidation of urbanization in Latin American countries, I conclude that it is necessary to theorize the experience of these informal entrepreneurs who previously worked in the formal sector and whose human capital and expectations separate them from earlier rural-origin migrants of the 1960s.


A suite of measurements was collected from the talus, calcaneus, navicular, and cuboid of humans from Southern China, Victorian Britain, Roman Britain, and Zulu tribes people from the Republic of South Africa. Univariate and multivariate statistical analyses of dimensions of individual foot bones revealed subtle but distinct patterns of morphological discrimination on the basis of sex and size on the one hand, and geographical relationships on the other. These differences are largely expressed in the first three canonical variates of the multivariate analyses: the first axis expresses both sex and size differences, and the second and third, geographical group differences. Confirmation of morphological patterns obtained from individual multivariate analyses was provided by an integrated analysis of the four tarsal elements together. However, the integrated analysis also gave larger separations with discriminations along different axes. Thus the three geographical groups (Zulus, Southern Chinese, and the two British groups together) were separated by first and third variates. The discrimination of sex and size differences was found in the second axis, mirroring what was found in the first axes of the individual studies. This axis reversal implies that in examining all bones together, there is enough redundant information about sex and size in each individual bone that they are relegated to a second axis. It likewise implies that the data referring to geographic discriminations provided by each individual bone are not redundant; they sum in the integrated analysis, and therefore contribute to the overall analysis to a greater extent, with increased clarity.


Competitive hability of plants for the use of environmental resources is affected by their morpho-physiological characteristics. There is no agreement on which rice plant characteristic is the most important in determining its competitive ability against weeds. This research aimed to identify flooded rice plant characteristics that contribute the most to its competitiveness. Thus, a field experiment was carried out during the 2000/01 growing season in Cachoeirinha, RS, to compare the behavior of eight rice genotypes, grown in the absence or presence of the EEA 406 rice genotypes, simulating a red rice infestation. Rice plant characteristics in the absence of competition were evaluated and at harvesting time, grain yield decrease was determined for each rice genotype, due to competition effect. The analysis of multiple linear regression and simple linear correlation showed that the ability of a cultivar to shadow the soil 60 days after seeding (DAS) was the variable more closely related to its competitive potential, and that this characteristic was especially associated with rice plant shoot matter accumulation at 15 DAS.


Efficacy, Openness, Ingenuousness: Micro-Foundations of Democratic Engagement Irina Soboleva What drives civic engagement in weak democracies? What are the psychological processes responsible for overcoming post-authoritarian learned helplessness? This dissertation argues that in nonWestern political contexts, traditional psychological predictors of individual engagement in civic affairs—openness to experience, high self-efficacy, and low political skepticism—do not align with previously established Western patterns. Building on the results of a large-scale field experiment on a demographically diverse sample of 1,381 respondents, as well as multi-year ethnographic observation of community engagement in Ukraine, this dissertation demonstrates that perceived self-efficacy and collective efficacy improve respondents' interest in civic engagement while suppressing their interest in running for office. In the first chapter, I explore what factors prompt citizens' interest in joining an electoral commission, supporting a recycling campaign, establishing a civic council, and leading a homeowners' association. Using original experimental data, I demonstrate that individual empowerment constitutes a sufficient condition for civic engagement. Moreover, contrary to most theoretical expectations, the effects of individual empowerment on involvement in local civic activities are comparable to the effects produced by civic education. This study represents one of the first experimental contributions to support the theory of democratic learning and shows that citizens benefit from democracy by practicing it and trying various civic activities rather than by learning democratic values through civic education and top-down democracy promotion. In the second chapter, I study the effects of personality traits on policy priorities and ideological preferences of Ukrainians. Previous research suggests that personality affects political attitudes by predisposing people to certain policies. Contrary to these findings, this chapter shows that personality predicts individual response to the revision of the status quo rather than preference for specific policies. I illustrate this logic by addressing one of the most counterintuitive associations between personality traits and political attitudes—the link between openness to experience and conservatism in Eastern Europe. Combining the results of open-ended coding and bootstrapped regression models, the analysis shows that openness to experience predicts both social liberalism and social conservatism. I build upon these findings to address the existing gaps in the personality theory of ideology by suggesting that those open to experience are, on average, more responsive to any policy suggestion that revises the status quo. In the final chapter, I examine the problem of nascent political ambition in weak democratic states. Building on the results of my original field experiment, I show that higher efficacy discourages political engagement in Ukraine. Specifically, increasing respondents' collective efficacy, on average, disincentivizes them from running for city parliament. Most surprisingly, citizens with higher pre-treatment levels of internal political efficacy were the ones most dissuaded from running for office after the induction of collective efficacy. Their improved sense of collective efficacy might have discouraged them from political institutions that they consider powerless and inefficient. Altogether, these findings challenge existing wisdom in comparative political psychology by demonstrating that (1) psychological pathways to collective action are more context-dependent than previously assumed; (2) previously established effects of personality traits and self-evaluations on political behavior do not travel well beyond Western European and North American contexts; (3) self-efficacy and collective efficacy do not differ in their causal effects on individual attitudes and behavior; and (4) politically sophisticated individuals are put off from political office when reminded of alternative non-political ways of achieving collective goals, with this running from office creating a trap of declining political ambition in weak democracies. Thus, democratic promotion campaigns that increase self-efficacy or collective efficacy might suppress nascent political ambition when the population is skeptical of the quality of representative democratic institutions.


The establishment location of the renewable power resources requires serious measurements and analysis in order to estimate and dominate the performance and the cost of the power station with respect to location impairments. In this paper, a unique methodology is presented to model the power systems in critical specific locations with respect to the formalization of the natural geographical area. The geographical impairment that is chosen as the case study in this work is the declinations of the river based earth surface at Altun-Kopru town in Iraq. A hybrid power system was chosen to study and apply the idea. In addition, the hybrid power station is modeled using both hydro and wind turbines to provide a specific load with the required power. The proposed idea can be applied by specifying the point that the river declines, then creating a water channel to keep the water in the same level before declination phenomenon starts. In contrast, the channel leads river water to the critical location in order to be fallen down to operate the hydro turbine in certain flow ratios and separately to fill a Tank as water preservation model. In accordance, the main power was produced primarily depending on the hydro turbine and secondarily on the wind turbine. Moreover, four hydroelectric power considerations were studied in order to show their impacts on the performance and cost of the renewable power stations. For more precise analysis, extending power form the grid has shown that proposed stand-alone system in the whole case studies unconditionally is always cheaper than the breakeven grid network. Finally, a modular control system is designed in order to dominate water flow ratio based on Tank control unit.


In order to study the expression of lysine-specific demethylase 6B, Kdm6b in differentiation of chondrocyte and chondrogenesis and the regulation effect of Kdm6b on chondrocyte anabolism, a mouse model of osteochondral defects was established in this study. The mice were subjected to antibiotic treatment and intestinal microbiota reconstruction by the method of specific knock out Kdm6b of embryonic cartilage. The mice were divided into Col2al-CreER Kdm6b experimental group and Kdm6b control group and then the destabilization of the medial meniscus operation was performed to model osteoarthritis in mice, which accelerated the abnormal metabolism of cartilage. In addition, transgenic mice with induced chondrocyte specific knockout of Kdm6b were constructed and embryonic samples were collected to study the effects of Kdm6b knockout on cartilage development. At the same time, the proliferation and apoptosis of chondrocytes after kdm6b gene knockout were also studied based on the obvious abnormalities in embryonic chondrogenesis. The results showed that 3 weeks after the mouse osteochondral defect modelling surgery, the mice in the Col2al-CreER; Kdm6b group still had an area without complete healing in the femoral trochle defect, while the defect areas in the Kdm6b group of mice were completely filled. After 12 weeks of mouse osteoarthritis modelling, mice in the Kdm6b group showed cartilage staining loss and cartilage defect. The mice in the Col2al-CreER Kdm6b group were more severe, and even a large area of wear and destruction of the cartilage layer appeared. However, after the growth plate thickness of mice in the Col2al-CreER Kdm6b group was observed, it was found that there was no statistical significance compared with the Kdm6b control group. qRT-PCR analysis showed that compared with the Kdm6b control group, the Col10al gene expression in the primary chondrocytes of the Col2a1-CreER Kdm6b group was significantly decreased. In addition, qRT-PCR and Western Blot sequencing verified that the expressions of Sox9, Col2al, Acan and other proteins related to anabolism were significantly reduced after Kdm6b knockout. Therefore, it can be concluded that Kdm6b directly regulated the expression of genes related to chondrocyte anabolism, and Kdm6b knockout could inhibit the anabolism of chondrocytes, impair the synthesis of cartilage matrix, and accelerate the progress of osteoarthritis.


Using monoclonal antibodies to hemagglutinin and nucleoprotein of various influenza virus strains, the populations of long-passaged strain A/Hong Kong/1/68 and of recently isolated strain A/sparrow/Ukraine/83 belonging to the H3N2 serovariant were shown to have subpopulations of virions differing in the structure of antigenic sites of hemagglutinin and in nucleoprotein domain which correlated with the degree of electrostatic interaction of virions with an ion-exchanger. The results of the study indicate a possibility of separation in the course of stepwise ion-exchange chromatography on DEAE-Sephadex A-50 of antigenic variants of influenza virus strains which is very important for the understanding of the mechanisms of population variability as well as for investigation of individual epitopes of hemagglutinin and nucleoprotein domains of influenza virus in evaluation of antigenic relationships of virions belonging to the same strain of a certain serotype.


The immunological properties of ten lipoamide dehydrogenase mutants of Escherichia coli were investigated with antiserum raised against purified lipoamide dehydrogenase. Seven mutants were CRM+ (cross-reacting material present) as they contained lipoamide dehydrogenase proteins exhibiting either complete or partial immunological identity with the wild-type protein. This indicates that at least seven of the mutations affect the lipoamide dehydrogenase structural gene (lpd). The remaining three mutants (CRM-) contained no detectable cross-reacting protein. None of the lpd mutations were sensitive to any of three different amber-suppressors. Genetic analysis by P1-transduction showed that all the lpd mutant sites were clustered very near the distal gene (aceF) of the ace region which specifies the dehydrogenase (aceE) and transacetylase (aceF) components of the pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex. Calculations based on the recombination frequency between an aceF mutant and the nearest lpd mutant site support the conclusion that apart from the possible presence of a regulatory element, the aceF and lpd genes are contiguous.