(2010) for monitoring endoplasmic reticulum stress and the unfolded protein response. Int J Cell Biol, 830307. The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is the site of folding of membrane and secreted proteins in the cell. Physiological or pathological processes that disturb protein folding in the endoplasmic reticulum cause ER stress and activate a set of signaling pathways termed the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR). The UPR can promote cellular repair and sustained survival by reducing the load of unfolded proteins through upregulation of chaperones and global attenuation of protein synthesis. Research into ER stress and the UPR continues to grow at a rapid rate as many new investigators are entering the field. There are also many researchers not working directly on ER stress, but who wish to determine whether this response is activated in the system they are studying: thus, it is important to list a standard set of criteria for monitoring UPR in different model systems. Here, we discuss approaches that can be used by researchers to plan and interpret experiments aimed at evaluating whether the UPR and related processes are activated. We would like to emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation and strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to verify UPR activation.


Rationale Stroke-associated pneumonia, a leading cause of hospital-acquired infection after stroke, affects a fifth of stroke survivors annually. Associated with increased risk of death and poorer rehabilitation outcomes, research suggests a possible relationship between stroke-associated pneumonia and patients' oral health. Aim The aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of a randomized controlled trial of the clinical and cost effectiveness of enhanced oral healthcare vs. usual oral healthcare for people in stroke care settings. Design Our pilot, multicentered, pragmatic, stepped wedge, cluster randomized controlled trial oral healthcare [Stroke Oral healthCare pLan Evaluation (SOCLE II)] will compare enhanced oral healthcare intervention and usual oral healthcare. Over 13 months, across 4 wards, we seek to recruit 400 patients (estimating an average of 23 beds per site and a 50% recruitment rate) and 60 nursing staff (estimating an average of 20 members of staff per site and a 75% recruitment rate). Initially, control data (usual oral healthcare) will be collected from all sites. In a randomized, stepped manner, wards will convert to deliver the enhanced oral healthcare intervention. Study outcome(s) Outcomes will be captured across dimensions of care (as recommended for evaluations of complex interventions) at baseline and weekly thereafter. Primary outcomes are pneumonia (patients), knowledge and attitudes (staff), and specialist dental referrals (service). Secondary outcomes include oral health quality of life, plaque, antibiotics, length of stay, death (patients), use of oral healthcare equipment and products, completed assessments, and documented oral healthcare plans (staff). Discussion As one of the first stepped wedge, cluster randomized, controlled trials in stroke care mapping of the complex intervention, our choice of primary and secondary outcomes and choice of trial design are described.


A Java developer's guide to the JBoss Business Process Management framework Thoroughly understand how the jBPM framework works Build custom Java Enterprise solutions using the jBPM framework No experience with jBPM required Helpful guidance on converting a business analyst's spec into complete, working software In Detail jBPM is an open source business process management (BPM) solution used for defining and executing business processes. Java developers can use jBPM to analyze, improve, and maintain their business processes. This book steers you through each point of the jBPM framework and its implementation to model your business processes. The book starts by explaining the key concepts in a Business Process Management framework. It will help you to learn and practice all of the conceptual and theoretical terms used in the Business Process Management field. Then you will master jPDL, the preferred process language for jBMP, which will let you specify exactly how your processes must be defined and implemented. From here on, the book takes a closer look at the engine, discussing a broad range of topics from building real business processes inside real applications to learning and implementing advanced capabilities of the jPDL and jBPM framework. It will also help you to handle vital information and tasks related to persistence, integrating jBPM with other enterprise systems, and deploying jBPM to existing J2EE application servers. By the end of this book, you will gain all the experience required to implement solutions that use the framework as well as to make decisions about how the framework needs to be used in particular situations. What you will learn from this book Key concepts of Business Process Management to understand how the community leads and implements open source software Gain deep understanding of JPDL, the preferred process language, to know how your processes must be defined and implemented Convert your projects into fully featured applications with advanced jBPM features such as the persistence service and human task mechanism Understand the framework's behavior in different environments Create and configure Human Task activities to model situations where human beings interact with the process Understand how the framework handles information that flows through your business process Configure the persistence service to reduce risk and perform successful implementations with jBPM Improve your process definitions using nodes Configure the Eclipse IDE to start modeling your processes Approach This book is a complete developer's guide to working with jBPM in a J2EE enterprise environment. It is packed with examples of implementations that will provide you with all the experience needed in real-life implementations. Extensive discussions about how the framework is implemented internally will contribute to creating a robust knowledge of when and how your projects will include this framework. Who this book is written for This book is mainly targeted at Java developers and Java architects who need to have a deep understanding of how frameworks behave in real-life implementations. The book assumes that you know the Java Language well and also know some widely used frameworks such as Hibernate and Log4J. You should also know the basics of relational databases and the Eclipse IDE. A brief introduction to Maven2 is included in this book but extra experience might be needed for more advanced usages.


A number of substituted quinazolinone are known for their biological importance like antimicrobial, anti-inflamatory, anticancer, antifungal, antimalarial, anti-viral, anti-psychotics activity. In the present investigation an attempt has been made for the synthesis of quinazolinone derivatives. Further these synthesized of quinazolinone derivatives has been condensed with various primary amine containing drug like sulfonalamide, sulfanilamide, acetamides, thiourea, urea, pyrimethamine and with aromatic amine like 2-amino benzoic acid, aniline. The synthesized compound have been confirmed by IR, and NMR spectral data. These compounds were also screened for various biological activities like anti-microbial activity by standard methods. The synthesized compound compound has shown moderate to good anti-microbial activity and some synthesized compound has shown significant as compared with standard.


The Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter (ATIC) Balloon Experiment has been flown from McMurdo, Antarctica in 2000-01 (test flight) and 2002-03 (science flight). ATIC is composed of a segmented BGO calorimeter following a carbon target with scintillator tracking layers and a Silicon matrix detector at the entrance. ATIC measures the composition and energy spectra of the nuclei plus electrons. We present the electron spectrum derived from the ATIC-2 science flight, from 20 GeV to 1.5 TeV, and compare it to existing very high energy measurements from emulsion chambers and to the results of galactic propagation calculations. The good energy resolution and high statistics in the ATIC data allow detailed astrophysical interpretation of the results.


The martian meteorite ALH84001 contains small, disk-shaped concretions of carbonate with concentric chemical and mineralogical zonation. Oxygen isotope compositions of these concretions, measured by ion microprobe, range from δ18O = +9.5 to +20.5‰. Most of the core of one concretion is homogeneous (16.7 ± 1.2‰) and over 5‰ higher in δ18O than a second concretion. Orthopyroxene that hosts the secondary carbonates is isotopically homogeneous (δ18O = 4.6 ± 1.2‰). Secondary SiO2 has δ18O = 20.4‰. Carbon isotope ratios measured from the core of one concretion average δ13C = 46 ± 8‰, consistent with formation on Mars. The isotopic variations and mineral compositions offer no evidence for high temperature (>650°C) carbonate precipitation and suggest non-equilibrium processes at low temperatures (<∼300°C).


Objective: Limited evidence exists on the use of corticosteroids in pediatric shock. We sought to determine physicians' practices and beliefs with regard to the management of pediatric shock. Design: Cross-sectional, Internet-based survey. Setting: Canada. Subjects: Physicians identified as practicing pediatric intensive care in any of 15 academic centers. Measurements and Main Results: Seventy of 97 physicians (72.2%) responded. Physicians stated that they were more likely to prescribe steroids for septic shock than for shock following cardiac surgery (odds ratio, 1.9 [95% CI, 0.9–4.3]) or trauma (odds ratio, 11.46 [95% CI, 2.5–51.2]), and 91.4% (64/70) would administer steroids to patients who had received 60 cc/kg of fluid and two or more vasoactive medications. Thirty-five percent of respondents (25/70) reported that they rarely or never conducted adrenal axis testing before giving steroids to patients in shock. Eighty-seven percent of respondents (61/70) stated that the role of steroids in the treatment of fluid and/or vasoactive drug-dependent shock needed to be clarified and that 84.3% would be willing to randomize patients into a trial of steroid efficacy who were fluid resuscitated and on one high-dose vasoactive medication. However, 74.3% stated that they would start open-label steroids in patients who required two high-dose vasoactive medications. Conclusions: This survey provides information on the stated beliefs and practices of pediatric critical care physicians with regard to the use of steroids in fluid and/or vasoactive drug-dependent shock. Clinicians feel that the role of steroids in shock still requires clarification and that they would be willing to randomize patients into a trial. This survey may be useful as an initial framework for the development of a future trial on the use of steroids in pediatric shock.


The article presents an analysis of the functioning of e-administration in municipal offices in the Silesian Province in Poland. It was evaluated by handicapped people with various degrees of disability, of different ages and different educational backgrounds. In Poland the disabled, similarly to abled-bodied people, have to take care of various official matters in offices. It is important that all these clients, in particular the handicapped, can arrange things without leaving their home. The following hypothesis has been formulated in the present article: more frequent use of electronic tools for communication with the office leads to increased satisfaction of the disabled client with the functioning of e-administration. Based on the study conducted, the following variables received the highest scores: functioning of an office's website under various browsers (score 4.89); providing a service in a safe way (4.76); polite and friendly attitude of employees towards clients having trouble using the e-office (4.75); employees' assistance for the client in the event he/she makes a mistake when using the e-office (4.75). The lowest rated issues among the investigated variables include: promptness of employees' response to e-mails (4.29), promptness of e-service provision (3.34), and taking care of official business on the first attempt (4.42).


Purpose
Underpinned by the consumer-based model of authenticity (CBA), this study aims to investigate whether leisure involvement, object-based and existential authenticity, host sincerity and engagement stimulate positive memorable visitor experiences in a distinctive commercial hospitality setting: a living history site.

Design/methodology/approach
Quantitative data were gathered from living history site visitors (n = 1,004), with partial least squares structural equation modeling used to test the hypothesized relationships.

Findings
The results confirm the inclusion of the hypothesized relationships between leisure involvement, sincerity and authenticity, relative to engagement and subsequent memorability. The findings suggest that engagement can be a predictor of a positive memorable experience, contingent on CBA constructs (sincerity; object-based authenticity; existential authenticity). The significant association between object-based authenticity and memorable experience identified herein differs from some published studies, while other results are broadly consistent with extant research. Results also reveal significant differences for visitors who purchased souvenirs when compared to those who did not.

Research limitations/implications
The research extends the CBA by positing sincere hospitality as a relationship-based encounter between host and guest that influences social interaction, engagement and memorability within the novel living history site context. Further, the ability to differentiate visitors based on their purchases at the site is illustrated.

Originality/value
Given the ubiquity of engagement and authenticity as precursors to memorable experiences within contemporary commercial hospitality and heritage discourses, the findings apply to hospitality experiences beyond the living history site context examined herein.


This paper studies inequality of opportunity in health in Chile. Following Roemer's approach to equality of opportunity, we separate the effect of circumstances and efforts -healthy behaviors- on self-assessed health. In addition to parental and family background, our set of circumstances includes a proxy of numeracy skills. We find that circumstances explain nearly 40 percent of the variance of health outcomes, four times the contribution of efforts. More than one third of the contribution of circumstances is due to numeracy skills, similar to the contribution of parental education. Parents' longevity is also important but its contribution is smaller. The overall influence of circumstances on inequality is substantial, ranging from 62 to more than 90 percent depending on the inequality index used. Overall, we find that health inequality is higher in Chile than in European countries and the contribution of unequal opportunities to inequality is at least as large. Our results also highlight the importance of cognitive ability on health inequality.


Introduction The minimally invasive "step-up" approach to acute pancreatitis with necrotic collection is now well established. This study aimed to retrospectively review the indications, specific techniques used and outcomes of pancreatic necrosectomy in an Australasian tertiary hepatopancreatobiliary unit. Methods Retrospective analysis of 21 patients with confirmed diagnosis of necrotising pancreatitis with necrotic collection admitted to a tertiary hepatopancreatobiliary unit between May 2010 and May 2016 was performed. Primary composite endpoint of morbidity or mortality as outlined by the PANTER were examined. Results Out of the 23 total patients included in the study, 7 patients were treated with traditional open necrosectomy and the remaining 16 patients underwent a minimally invasive step-up approach. There was no statistically significant difference between the minimally invasive and open necrosectomy groups in terms of the primary endpoint (p=0.29) or development of any Grade 3 complication (p=0.19). Discussion Based on the experience of a small cohort of patients managed at a tertiary hepatopancreatobiliary unit, we did not find an appreciable difference in measurable endpoint outcomes between patients who underwent minimally invasive step-up necrosectomy as compared to open necrosectomy. Further multi-centre trials are still required to investigate if the management of severe acute pancreatitis can be safely undertaken at adequately resourced hospitals but without access to MIN.


Good sound-feeling is more important than noise strength for industrial products, especially for household appliances. In the paper, the control method of good sound-feeling of vacuum cleaner is researched based on the theory of soundscape. For the purpose, a special method of sound forge and evaluation technology (SFET) is utilized. For the method, first the spectrum of vacuum cleaner is analyzed to obtain its spectrum characteristics. Second by means of spectrum forge technology, the frequency spectrum of vacuum cleaner is modified and compiled to make the testing samples. Third based on the sound subjective evaluation, the optimum compiled sound sample of vacuum cleaner is acquired. At last, according to the optimum sound sample, the structure of product is modified to obtain product sound of good-feeling. In the paper, the spectrum of vacuum cleaner noise is analyzed, according to the spectrum, the method of sound forge is discussed. In the end of the paper, the virtual simulation of soundscape of vacuum cleaner is designed by means of some software to give an example of optimizing soudscape.


The New Zealand export meat industry has been through a considerable number of changes in the 1980s. The deregulation of export slaughter facilities, Supplementary Minimum Prices, Producer Board intervention, declining livestock numbers and domestic cost pressures have all affected the performance of the domestically based processing sector. Major changes in market access and demand have influenced off-shore marketing operations, particularly for sheepmeats. Additionally, there has been a change in the type of meat exported with a greater proportion of further processed product shipped in recent years. As an example of the impact of these developments on livestock producers, the producer share of the United Kingdom wholesale market return for a representative prime lamb carcase has fallen from 40 per cent in 1978 to 25 per cent in 1988. In this article the pattern of intervention in the New Zealand pastoral meat industries from the mid-1960s is detailed, emphasising the different environments of the beef and sheepmeat enterprises. Then the principal factors influencing domestic processing margins for these products are empirically examined. Alternative model specifications and alternative estimation techniques are compared and contrasted. The results of these analyses are discussed in terms of the historical patterns of assistance and structural change, and in terms of current rationalisation pressures on the meat processing sector.


In this study, a numerical method was developed based on peridynamics to determine the ice loads for a ship navigating in level ice. Convergence analysis of threedimensional ice specimen with tensile and compression loading are carried out first. The effects of ice thickness, sailing speed, and ice properties on the mean ice loads were also investigated. It is observed that the ice fragments resulting from the icebreaking process will interact with one another as well as with the water and ship hull. The ice fragments may rotate, collide, or slide along the ship hull, and these ice fragments will eventually drift away from the ship. The key characteristics of the icebreaking process can be obtained using the peridynamic model such as the dynamic generation of cracks in the ice sheet, propagation and accumulation of ice fragments, as well as collision, rotation, and sliding of the ice fragments along the ship hull. The simulation results obtained for the ice loads and icebreaking process were validated against those determined from the Lindqvist empirical formula and there is good agreement between the results.


The urinary concentration of fibrin-fibrinogen degradation products (F.D.P.) was measured in 90 patients with proteinuria above 2 g/1 and correlated with proteinuria, differential protein clearances, serum urea and creatinine, and renal biopsy findings. There was a linear correlation (r equals 0-7; P less than 0-001) between the urinary F.D.P. excretion and the selectivity of the proteinuria such that patients with highly selective proteinuria excreted only small amounts of F.D.P. whereas those with non-selective proteinuria excreted much higher levels. There was a significant correlation between the urinary F.D.P. excretion and the urine:serum (U:S) ratio of IgG excretion but not with the U:S ratio or urinary excretion of albumin or transferrin. Sephadex G200 column chromatography of the concentrated urine in 26 cases showed that patients with highly selective proteinuria excreted predominantly F.D.P. of low molecular weight in the urine whereas those with non-selective proteinuria excreted mainly fibrinogen and products of high molecular weight. Hence the type and quantity of F.D.P. in the urine are determined primarily by the differential filtration of fibrinogen and the various degradation products from the plasma through the glomerular basement membrane, which in turn is determined by the "pore size" of the basement membrane. In clinical nephrology measurement of the urinary F.D.P. level provides a rapid and convenient means of estimating the differential protein clearance.


Presented study is aimed at designing a model for bending length based on the concentrated loading method using 10 parameters extracted from the modified tensile test. After that, a new database has been reproduced by using principal component analysis and the modeling is conducted by regression and artificial neural network (ANN) based on the trial and error method. The obtained R-squared of 0.97 between ANN outputs and corresponding real bending lengths proves that the proposed method has a great potential for evaluating the mechanical properties of fabrics.


Difficult-to-treat asthma affects up to 20% of patients with asthma and is associated with significant healthcare cost. It is an umbrella term that defines a heterogeneous clinical problem including incorrect diagnosis, comorbid conditions and treatment non-adherence; when these are effectively addressed, good symptom control is frequently achieved. However, in 3-5% of adults with difficult-to-treat asthma, the problem is severe disease that is unresponsive to currently available treatments. Current treatment guidelines advise the 'stepwise' increase of corticosteroids, but it is now recognised that many aspects of asthma are not corticosteroid responsive, and that this 'one size fits all' approach does not deliver clinical benefit in many patients and can also lead to side effects. The future of management of severe asthma will involve optimisation with currently available treatments, particularly corticosteroids, including addressing non-adherence and defining an 'optimised' corticosteroid dose, allied with the use of 'add-on' target-specific novel treatments. This review examines the current status of novel treatments and research efforts to identify novel targets in the era of stratified medicines in severe asthma.


Despite the many books and articles written about the end of the Cold War, scholars have not produced a truly international history f this seminal event. This article shows how some of the most important monographs on the end of the Cold War can be synthesized to yield a preliminary account. In particular, the article outlines an interpretation that connects the immediate crisis of the early 1980s, long-term ideological and institutional trends, and transformational choices made from 1985 to 1991. N single decision or variable brought the Cold War t an end. Personalities, trends, and institutions interacted to create an outcome that few predicted.


The renaissance in state constitutional law is nearly in full bloom. Lawyers are becoming increasingly effective in asserting state constitutional claims, having been prodded by judges and commentators to consider state constitutional arguments on behalf of their clients.(1) Better-informed advocacy has in turn provided state court judges with increasingly well-reasoned grounds from which constitutional doctrine may grow. The dialectic methodology inherent in our common law system, sacred to John Stuart Mill's conception of political community and to the philosophical foundation of current federal First Amendment free speech doctrine,(2) appears to be working its magic within the context of state constitutional jurisprudence. Legitimate decisionmaking frameworks, founded upon the text of our state constitutions and growing from the combined work of lawyers, students, scholars, and judges, are becoming more apparent each year.(3) To some observers, however, the current dynamism of state constitutional law appears ungrounded. This perception gives rise to suggestions that all state constitutional jurisprudence is devoid of interpretative legitimacy.(4) My own retort to this and other criticisms is that the difference between legitimate and illegitimate state constitutional decisionmaking is not so much a matter of how one perceives the current relationship between state and federal governments, as it is a matter of maintaining an internal sort of interpretative integrity. Legitimate renaissance in this field depends on the willingness of courts to engage in vigorous and honest legal research and writing, oriented towards the text, history, and case law of the state constitution itself.(5) This view stems from a belief that the primary creative force in state constitutional adjudication arises from the duty of trial and appellate judges to decide questions of law placed before them, rather than from exhortations by figures like Justice William Brennan, who emphasized individual rights as an end to be pursued for their own good, with state constitutions serving as a convenient means to that end.(6) Stated differently, because state court judges can hardly stipulate the non-existence of the organic instruments which empower them to act as judges, they really have little option but to strive to maintain the interpretative integrity of text and case law through vigorous research and writing,(7) i.e., the stuff which lies at the heart of all legal interpretation.(8) If the key to legitimate interpretation is indeed within the grasp of judges, a survey of opinions dealing with state constitutional law should reveal that some opinions do indeed appear to be more true to the text of the respective constitution and the history and culture of the respective state involved than do others. I will begin here, then, by summarizing recent developments and criticism in the area of state constitutional law to provide a context to frame the discussion that follows.(9) In Part II, I highlight some important opinions to demonstrate that there actually is a difference between legitimate and illegitimate state constitutional decisionmaking, and that the source of the difference often lies within the realm of interpretative integrity.(10) Finally, in Part III, I examine the limited alternatives state judges might take if they were to shun the current renaissance in state constitutional interpretation.(11) These alternatives are few and disreputable. I. CONTRIBUTIONS AND CRITICISMS Justice Robert Utter of the Washington Supreme Court has helpfully reminded us that the development of constitutional law, whether state or federal, is a jagged process.(12) "New judges, fragile majorities, poor facts, and still developing historical and legal scholarship" are all uncertain variables which sometimes lead to unstable law.(13) Still, it is apparent that the stock of intellectual capital capable of deployment in this endeavor is growing exponentially. …


Academics have never agreed on a theory of proof. The darkest corner of anyone's theory has concerned how legal decisionmakers logically should find facts. This Article pries open that cognitive black box. It does so by employing multivalent logic, which enables it to overcome the traditional probability problems that impeded all prior attempts. The result is the first-ever exposure of the proper logic for finding a fact or a case's facts.

The focus will be on the evidential processing phase, rather than the application of the standard of proof as tracked in my prior work. Processing evidence involves (1) reasoning inferentially from a piece of evidence to a degree of belief and of disbelief in the element to be proved, (2) aggregating pieces of evidence that all bear to some degree on one element in order to form a composite degree of belief and of disbelief in the element, and (3) considering the series of elemental beliefs and disbeliefs to reach a decision. Zeroing in, the factfinder in step #1 should connect each item of evidence to an element to be proved by constructing a chain of inferences, employing multivalent logic's usual rules for conjunction and disjunction to form a belief function that reflects the belief and the disbelief in the element and also the uncommitted belief reflecting uncertainty. The factfinder in step #2 should aggregate, by weighted arithmetic averaging, the belief functions resulting from all the items of evidence that bear on any one element, creating a composite belief function for the element. The factfinder in step #3 does not need to combine elements, but instead should directly move to testing whether the degree of belief from each element's composite belief function sufficiently exceeds the corresponding degree of disbelief. In sum, the factfinder should construct a chain of inferences to produce a belief function for each item of evidence bearing on an element, and then average them to produce for each element a composite belief function ready for the element-by-element standard of proof.

This Article performs the task of mapping normatively how to reason from legal evidence to a decision on facts. More significantly, it constitutes a further demonstration of how embedded the multivalent-belief model is in our law.


The Asian summer monsoon (ASM) is an important component of the global climate system. We investigate the relationship that exists between it and the snow accumulation record from an ice core drilled on the Dasuopu glacier in the Himalayas. This ice core record has been proposed as a proxy to study variability in the ASM. We argue that there is a weak direct expression of the ASM in the snow accumulation time series from the ice core. This is the result of the extreme elevation of the ice core site and the surface‐trapped characteristic of the atmospheric moisture transport associated with the ASM. We will present evidence of a coupling between Dasuopu snow accumulation (DSA) and the Hadley and Walker circulations. In particular, we argue that the recent reduction in snow accumulation at the site is the result of an intensification of the regional Hadley circulation.


This letter proposes an Active Fault Tolerant Control (AFTC) framework for a quadcopter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The proposed framework is capable of achieving trajectory tracking, estimating states, as well as estimating and compensating for all four actuators multiplicative faults. The framework combines two optimization-based nonlinear estimation and control techniques; Nonlinear Moving Horizon Estimation (NMHE) and Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC). We formulate the NMHE algorithm such that it simultaneously estimates the states and the 4 actuators faults. These estimates are then provided to NMPC to achieve fault accommodation. To validate our proposed framework, we investigate two fault scenarios, where 4 actuators experience an abrupt and time-varying partial Loss Of Effectiveness (LOE) in the presence of noisy measurements. Finally, simulation results show satisfactory performance and prove that the proposed framework is numerically tractable and real-time applicable.


The convergence of questions about teaching and learning among MIMESIS, the research Group from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, and the CDIO Initiative led to reflection about electronics engineering curriculum. The process initiated as a result of the above has involved four stages: socialization of the initiative, adaptation of the CDIO syllabus, analysis of the body of knowledge, design of the curriculum structure using Backward Design technique, and the integration of competences defining a gradual process in their development. Should be highlighted the support given by the university administration, deans and directors of school of engineering; It is also relevant to point out collaboration provided by students, faculty, local industry, alumni and some high schools. During this process also managed to strengthen the relationship with the stakeholders. Today, motivated by the experience of electronic engineering, the civil, industrial and software engineering programs at the University have begun their own reflections oriented by the MIMESIS group. The present work shows the development of curricular reflection and the methodology implemented, which allowed us to formulate and to integrate, innovative curriculum in the Colombian context. Also is presented here the proposal of a teaching and learning Center for engineering that will support the CDIO standards.


Direct arylation polymerization (DArP) provides a more sustainable alternative to conventional methods for conjugated polymer synthesis, such as Stille–Migita or Suzuki–Miyura polymerizations. DArP proceeds through a C–H activation pathway, allowing for a reduction in the synthetic steps needed to access the monomer, since the installation of a transmetallating reagent, such as an organostannane or organoboron, is not required. However, compared to small-molecule synthesis, the prevalent conditions employed for DArP still require hazardous or unsustainably sourced reaction components, such as the solvent and transition-metal catalyst. This mini-review highlights recent work on the implementation of sustainable solvents, transition metal catalysts, and overall polymerization methods for DArP. The extension of small-molecule direct arylation conditions towards polymer synthesis is also discussed, along with the associated challenges, mechanistic considerations, and outlook for future work.


We present the design for the new read out system being developed for the Phase 2 Upgrade of the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter. The front-end electronics will be replaced to address the increase in beam energy and luminosity planned for the LHC around 2023, as well as to upgrade to faster, more modern components with higher radiation tolerance. The new electronics will operate dead-timelessly, providing calorimeter data at full granularity from each beam crossing to the data acquisition system that resides off-detector in the USA15 counting room. The new electronics contains five main parts: the Front End Boards that connect directly to the photo-multiplier tubes; the Main Boards that digitize the data; the Daughter Boards that collect the data streams and contain the high-speed optical communication links for writing data to the data acquisition system; a programmable high voltage control system; and a low-voltage power supply. There are different options for implementing these subcomponents, which will be described. The new system contains new features, including power system redundancy, data processing redundancy, 4 × 10 Gbps optical links, and a Kintex-7 FPGA with single-event upset mitigation. To date, we have built a Demonstrator - a fully-functional prototype of the new system. The system and current status will be described, and plans going forward will be presented.


Surface properties of the 4H-SiC (0001) Si faces could be evaluated by the contact angle measurements with water droplet method, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and an atomic force microscope. The contact angles do not depend on the surface roughness under 3nm. The substrate surfaces with the contact angles over 30o will be terminated by hydrogen related species. The contact angles around 20o on 4H-SiC is caused by the removal of oxide layer with fluoride acid and terminated subsequently by the -CF species on the surface. The hydrophile surface of 4H-SiC is caused by the formation of chemical oxide layer as well as the case of the silicon wafers.


Political scientists often cite the importance of mechanism-specific causal knowledge, both for its intrinsic scientific value and as a necessity for informed policy. This article explains why two common inferential heuristics for mechanism-specific (i.e., indirect) effects can provide misleading answers, such as sign reversals and false null results, even when linear regressions provide unbiased estimates of constituent effects. Additionally, this article demonstrates that the inferential difficulties associated with indirect effects can be ameliorated with the use of stratification, interaction terms, and the restriction of inference to subpopulations (e.g., the indirect effect on the treated). However, indirect effects are inherently not identifiable—even when randomized experiments are possible. The methodological discussion is illustrated using a study on the indirect effect of Islamic religious tradition on democracy scores (due to the subordination of women).


Cognitive radio networks are expected to address and resolve important operational challenges such as opportunistic spectrum access, spectrum and network heterogeneities and requests for the provision of diverse Quality-of-Service (QoS) for different applications. Accordingly, a number of network functionalities are required to take into account these challenges towards the efficient management of cognitive radio networks. This paper advances a new architecture for the management of cognitive radio networks. The architecture is designed and developed at the application layer and incorporates sensing and prediction, addressing and routing, middleware and decision making. Accordingly, a number of management functions are required to address the challenges associated with the management of cognitive radio networks. The paper provides an analysis of these components as well.


Extensive preclinical studies have documented the presence in the adult heart of cardiac stem cells (CSCs) that express c-kit and are clonogenic, self-renewing, and multipotent. CSCs have been shown to improve postinfarction LV dysfunction in animal models, but their efficacy in humans has not been evaluated. In August 2008, we obtained FDA approval to begin SCIPIO ( S tem C ell I nfusion in P atients with I schemic Cardi O myopathy). SCIPIO is a phase I, randomized, single-center, open-label trial of CSCs in patients with postinfarction LV dysfunction (EF (cid:1) 40%) who undergo CABG surgery. Autologous CSCs are isolated from the right atrial appendage (harvested during CABG), expanded, and re-infused intracoronarily 4 months after CABG; patients are followed for 2 years. We report here the initial results at 4 months after treatment in the first 8 CSC-treated patients. Of these, one was excluded (aortic stenosis), and in another one echo images were inadequate. In the remaining 6 CSC-treated patients, LVEF Background: Studies in transgenic mice showed the key role of moloney murine leukemia virus 1 (Pim-1) in the control of cardiomyocyte function and viability. Objective: To investigate if Pim-1 is a therapeutic target for the cure of diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM), a steadily increasing cause of non-ischemic heart failure. Methods and Results: Western blot analysis on hearts of streptozotocin-induced type-1 (T1D) mice showed a time-dependent reduction in Pim-1 (8-fold at 20 wks from T1D induction), a parallel decline in the Pim-1 activators STAT-3 (6-fold) and Akt (7-fold) and an increase of the Pim-1 direct inhibitor miR-1 (6-fold) (P (cid:1) 0.01 vs. age-matched non-diabetic (ND) mice for all comparisons). Moreover, diabetic hearts showed low levels of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2, high levels of pro-apoptotic Bad and increased caspase 3/7 activity (P (cid:1) 0.01 vs. ND for all comparisons). Studies on murine cardiomyocytes challenged with high glucose (HG) confirmed the in vivo expressional changes. In in vitro rescue studies, anti-miR-1 boosted Pim-1 and Bcl-2 expression and promoted cardiomyocytes survival under HG. Similarly, transfection with Pim-1 plasmid prevented cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Finally, at 4 wks from T1D induction, mice were randomly assigned to receive an i.v. injection of human (h) Pim-1 via cardiotropic serotype-9 adeno-associated virus (1X10 10 or 5X10 10 pfu, doses decided on pilot titration studies) or empty vector. Expression of hPim-1 was confirmed by Western blot and immunohistochemistry in cardiomyocytes and to a less extent in skeletal muscles (Fig.1a), but not in other organs.Echocardiography showed that hPim-1 gene therapy attenuates diastolic dysfunction and prevents the development of left ventricle dilatation and failure in T1D mice (Fig.1b). Conclusion: Down-regulation of pro-survival Pim-1 contributes in the pathogenesis of DCM. Systemic delivery of hPim-1 via cardiotropic AAV9 represents a novel and effective approach to treat DCM. Author Disclosures: R. Katare: Employment; Significant; Salary is paid by British Heart Foundation. Research Significant; British Foundation. A. Caporali: L. Zentilin: G.S. Newby: C. Emanueli: M. Giacca: P. British Heart Foundation. complex function is the to of heart failure in response to Background: Approximately half of all heart failure patients die as a result of lethal ventricular arrhythmias. In these patients, diastolic release of Ca2 (cid:7) from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) through type 2 ryanodine receptors (RyR2) has been linked to sudden arrhythmogenic death. However, the molecular mechanisms behind this release remain unknown. We hypothesized that increased RyR2 phosphorylation by Ca2 (cid:7) /calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) is both necessary and sufficient to promote lethal ventricular arrhythmias. Methods and Results: We generated knock-in mice in which the CaMKII phosphorylation site on RyR2 is constitutively activated (S2814D). In lipid bilayer preparations there was increased RyR2 open probability in S2814D (Po 54.7% (cid:2) 8.0%, n (cid:3) 14) vs. WT mice (Po 1.3% (cid:2) 0.4%, n (cid:3) 14, p (cid:1) 0.001). Also, intact S2814D myocytes had higher diastolic SR Ca2 (cid:7) release events on confocal microscopy as evinced by increased spark frequency (9.8 (cid:2) 0.5, n (cid:3) 8) vs. WT mice (6.4 (cid:2) 0.3, n (cid:3) 10, p (cid:1) 0.05). At baseline, young S2814D mice had structurally and functionally normal hearts without arrhythmias; however, they develop sustained ventricular tachycardia with increased risk for sudden cardiac death upon catecholaminergic provocation by caffeine/epinephrine (71% vs. 13%; n (cid:3) 8,7; p (cid:1) 0.05) or programmed electrical stimulation (53% vs. 6%; n (cid:3) 15,16; p (cid:1) 0.01). Transverse aortic constriction (TAC) surgery in S2814D and WT mice caused a significant decline in survival due to arrhythmogenic death on ECG telemetry (Survival 40% vs. 90%; n (cid:3) 10,11; p (cid:1) 0.05). Conversely, genetic inhibition of the CaMKII site on RyR2 (S2814A) rescues mutant mice from pacing-induced arrhythmias versus WT mice after TAC surgery (NSVT 14% vs. 75%, n (cid:3) 7,8; p (cid:1) 0.05). Conclusions: Abnormal CaMKII phosphorylation of RyR2 Ca2 (cid:7) release channels plays a critical role in arrhythmogenesis and sudden cardiac death in heart failure. Inhibition of CaMKII phosphorylation of RyR2 may reduce the incidence of death from arrhythmias in patients with heart failure. None. M.E. Anderson: None. D.M. Bers: None. X.H.T. Wehrens: None. Introduction: Long QT syndrome (LQTS) is a life-threatening disorder characterized prolon- gation of cardiac repolarization. The zebrafish mutant breakdance is a LQTS type 2 model with an I59S KCNH2 mutation, that faithfully recapitulates many features of human LQTS: ventricular action potential duration (APD) prolongation, spontaneous early afterdepolarizations, and 2:1 AV block in early stages of development. While many molecules prolong QT interval and ventricular APDs, very few compounds are known to shorten APD, and their effect sizes are small. We conducted a small molecule screen for rescue of the "breakdance" phenotype to identify compounds that shorten its ventricular APD as candidates for treatment of LQTS. Methods: 48 hour breakdance embryos were placed 3/well in 96-well plates, exposed to test compounds from commercially available small molecule libraries (Prestwick and Chembridge) for 24 hours and scored for rescue of 2:1 AV block. Optical voltage mapping using di-4 ANEPPS was performed to measure cardiac APDs. Glucocorticoid receptor and androgen receptor gene knockdown was accomplished by antisense morpholino injection at the single cell stage. Results: Screening of 1200 small molecules yielded 2 compounds, flurandrenolide and 2-MMB, that rescued zebrafish LQT2 breakdance embryos in a dose dependent fashion. Optical voltage mapping confirmed that treatment with each compound caused shortening of ventricular APDs in LQT fish. Time course experiments and structure activity analyses are consistent with the hypothesis that 2-MMB inhibits late sodium current to shorten ventricular ticoid receptor, but not the androgen receptor, suggesting it acts at a transcriptional level via the glucocorticoid receptor to shorten APDs. Conclusions: This chemical screen in a zebrafish model of LQT2 syndrome has identified two compounds, flurandrenolide and 2-MMB, as previously unsuspected small molecules that shorten ventricular action potential duration and rescue zebrafish LQTS. Further study of these molecules will provide novel insights into the biology of repolarization and may lead to useful therapeutics for human LQT patients. Loss of myocardium following myocardial infarction (MI) is the leading cause of LV dysfunction and heart failure worldwide. However, the molecular pathways regulating remodeling are not well understood. We recently demonstrated that GSK-3 (cid:1) is critical to the heart's response to pressure overload. However the role, if any, of GSK-3 (cid:1) in regulating ischemic injury and post-MI remodeling is not known. To address this, MI was induced in wild-type (WT) vs. GSK-3 (cid:1) ( (cid:5) / (cid:5) ) (KO) mice by LAD ligation and mice were followed with serial echocardiography. Pre-MI, WT and KO hearts had comparable chamber dimensions and ventricular function, but as early as one week post MI, KO animals had a significant increase in end-diastolic (4.44 (cid:2) 0.088 vs 3.96 (cid:2) 0.1622mm; P (cid:1) 0.05) and end-systolic dimension (3.44 vs 2.57mm; P (cid:1) 0.0001), reflecting accelerated dilative remodeling in KOs. This was associated with marked LV dysfunction as reflected by reduced FS (22.40 vs 34.81; P (cid:1) 0.001). KO mice had significantly increased mortality within the first 10 days post-MI (43% vs 22%; P (cid:3) 0.0418), and post-mortem examination confirmed increased rates of cardiac rupture as the cause of most of the deaths. In the mice that survived the first 10 d, there was no difference in mortality between WT and KO up to the termination of the study (8wks), but LV dilatation and dysfunction remained worse in the KO throughout. Furthermore, markers of hypertrophy, heart failure (BNP and lung weight/body weight) and fibrosis were significantly increased in the KO. Given the increased early deaths due to rupture and significantly worse LV function evident as early as 1 wk post-MI, we examined infarct size at 48h and found it to be significantly increased in the KO. Conclusion: GSK-3 (cid:1) provides a critical ? brake? on both acute ischemic injury and chronic MI-induced LV remodeling and preserves cardiac function. Thus in contrast to our recent report that deletion of GSK-3 (cid:2) is protective against post-MI remodeling, deletion of GSK-3 (cid:1) is detrimental in a similar setting. These striking differences in the isoform-specific effects highlight the need to understand the unique r


Varicocele is one of the key causes of male infertility. It is a condition that needs more research regarding diagnosis and treatment. Although varicocelectomy is the most sought after option for treatment, it comes with drawbacks such as invasion, recurrence, testicular atropy and unreliability. One of the easier ways patients with varicocele prefer is Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) wherein the cost and risk involved are higher. Its repetitive invasion and ethical issues are also a concern. Antioxidant therapy, on the other hand, has proven to have benefits with minimum side effects and is being explored as an alternate option due to increasing oxidative-stress induced infertility. In this article, we have reviewed the literature concerning antioxidants such as bioflavonoids, carnitines, selenium, vitamin C, vitamin E, kallikrein, coenzyme Q10, cinnoxicam, zinc and folic acid which are used for managing the condition ofvaricocele. It was seen that these antioxidants proved to be effective in improving sperm parameters and antioxidant levels which are major causes of infertility. Further, some antioxidants such as daflon, vitamin C, and vitamin E act as good adjuvant alongside varicocelectomy. Despite its potential, there is no concrete evidence to recommend antioxidants as a routine therapy or for replacing surgery. Hence, as a future perspective, there is a need to conduct larger studies backed with pregnancy outcome reports to confidently recommend antioxidant therapy as an alternative.


The studies presented in the current PhD thesis aimed at investigating the neural correlates of distinct aspects of visual attention, i.e., spatial bias, efficiency of top-down control and visual processing speed and how they change with healthy ageing. The presented studies are theoretically grounded on Bundesen's Theory of Visual Attention, which provides a mathematical framework enabling quantifying various visual attention functions as the independent parameters of the model. A more recent neural interpretation of these attentional processes – NTVA – served as a basis for investigating attentional processing in combination with neurophysiological techniques. In the presented thesis, we combined TVA-based partial- and whole-report tasks with briefly presented letter arrays that enable mathematically independent estimations of the attentional parameters with simultaneous EEG recording. Extracting event-related lateralizations (ERL) from the signal provided fine-graded neurophysiological signatures of the attentional processes involved in the tasks.
 In the first empirical study, we combined a partial report task with ERP measurement and aimed at investigating how attentional spatial bias and top-down control efficiency are reflected in the electrophysiological brain activity of healthy participants of between 20 and 35 years of age. We divided participants into groups with more and less efficient top-down control and left- and rightward spatial bias, respectively. First, an ERL component – the PCN wave – reflecting interindividual differences in top-down control efficiency was identified by comparing participants with more relative to less efficient top-down control. Participants with more, compared to less efficient top-down control showed higher PCN amplitudes. Second, we identified asymmetries in earlier visual ERLs reflecting the direction of the spatial bias by comparing participants with a biastowards left or towards right hemifield. Our results show that these two distinct functions of attention are exclusively reflected by the amplitudes of the distinct ERLs.
 In the second study, we aimed at investigating whether top-down control efficiency is affected by healthy ageing and whether it is similarly reflected in older adults by the amplitude of the lateralized components PCN and Ppc, as reported for younger adults. To pursue this goal we employed an identical methodology as in the first study to additionally test older adults ranging between 33 and 77 years of age. To control for a potential influence of (the amount of) cognitive reserve, we included crystallized IQ as a common proxy for cognitive reserve in the analyses. We divided participants into individuals with more relative to less efficient top-down control and lower versus higher level of cognitive reserve. We found comparable top-down control efficiency values across age groups and, furthermore, that across all age groups, participants with more efficient top-down control showed higher amplitudes of both the Ppc and the PCN waves. We further found that the amount of cognitive reserve modulated the relation between age, top-down control efficiency, and ERLs amplitudes. More precisely, only in participants with higher crystallized IQ Ppc amplitude was higher in participants with more efficient compared to less efficient top-down control. In contrast, in participants with lower crystallized IQ the PCN amplitude decreased significantly with age.
 In the third study, we combined a whole report task with ERP assessment. We aimed at investigating whether and how visual processing speed is reflected in the neural activity of the brain as indexed by ERLs, and whether this potential relation is affected by healthy ageing. We assessed visual processing speed in a sample of participants ranging from 20 to 78 years of age. Participants were divided into groups with relatively low versus high visual processing speed. Data revealed that visual processing speed declines with age. Further, we identified two lateralized components indexing individual differences in visual processing speed: N1pc and PCN. Both components had increased amplitudes in participants with higher processing speed. Furthermore, amplitudes of the N1pc was increased and latency of the PCN was delayed in older, compared to younger, participants.
These age-related changes in the components reflecting visual processing speed may suggest that younger versus older participants employ different mechanisms while performing the whole-report task. More precisely, younger participants may encode the entire display at the early stage of processing and then select relevant information, whereas older ones rather preselect relevant information during an initial phase. The evidence collected across the three ERP studies provides valuable insights into the relation between efficiency of attentional functions, brain activity, and healthy ageing. We found that trajectories of age-related changes of distinct attentional functions are substantially different. Age also does not affect all electrophysiological correlates of functions of attention equally. Finally, our studies show that the relation between efficiency of attentional functions and their neurophysiological correlates is influenced by the amount cognitive reserve.


Spectroscopic detection of narrow emission lines traces the presence of circumstellar mass distributions around massive stars exploding as core-collapse supernovae. Transient emission lines disappearing shortly after the supernova explosion suggest that the material spatial extent is compact and implies an increased mass loss shortly prior to explosion. Here, we present a systematic survey for such transient emission lines (Flash Spectroscopy) among Type II supernovae detected in the first year of the Zwicky Transient Facility survey. We find that at least six out of ten events for which a spectrum was obtained within two days of the estimated explosion time show evidence for such transient flash lines. Our measured flash event fraction (>30% at 95% confidence level) indicates that elevated mass loss is a common process occurring in massive stars that are about to explode as supernovae.


Little is known about the pharmacology of the metabolites of 2-chloroprocaine in obstetrical patients. The primary objective of this study was to describe the elimination of 2-chloroaminobenzoic acid (CABA) in maternal and neonatal urine after epidural anesthesia. A secondary objective was to compare its elimination in patients with preterm and term deliveries. The study included 21 pregnant women and their offspring. The mean gestational age of the 11 preterm infants was 34 +/- 3 weeks and that of the 10 term infants was 40 +/- 2 weeks. Maternal and cord venous blood samples were obtained at delivery and 12-hr urine samples for 72 hr postpartum. Blood and urine samples were analyzed for CABA by gas chromatography using electron capture detection. Both mothers and neonates excreted considerable amounts of unchanged CABA, and mothers also excreted CABA in a conjugated form. Mean elimination rate constants were 0.263 +/- 0.193 mg X hr-1 for mothers and 0.129 +/- 0.035 micrograms X hr-1 for neonates. Over 95% of the CABA recovered from the mothers and neonates was excreted by 36 hr postpartum. Mothers excreted 40% of the administered 2-chloroprocaine as CABA and neonates excreted 0.22-0.25% of the maternal dose as CABA. No differences in elimination due to the length of gestation were found in the mothers or neonates. Although mothers excrete CABA more rapidly than neonates, the results of this study suggest that both effectively excrete CABA.


The article presents results of tests concerning the susceptibility of alloy IN617 to hot cracking. The research-related tests required the inert gas-shielded melting of test alloy sheets using a tungsten electrode in forced strain conditions. The process of melting involved 3 mm and 5 mm thick test sheets. The tests of the welded joints included the macro and microstructural analysis of the molten area, base material and heat affected zone. Results obtained in the DTA differential analysis were used to perform tests using a Gleeble 3800 simulator. In the above-presented manner it was possible to determine the high-temperature brittleness range (HTBR) of alloy IN617 as well as to identify the effect of strains on the development of hot cracks in the Transvarestraint test. The tests were supplemented with the fractographic analysis of the crack area. It was revealed that the hot cracking phenomenon occurred within the high-temperature brittleness range of the alloy and depended on the size of strain as well as on the presence of eutectics formed in the solid-liquid state.


s 14th World Congress on Disaster and Emergency Medicine s43 life-saving procedures. The average values of the timetables were: (1) first ambulance: 4.6 minutes; (2) first injured evacuated: 11.5 minutes; and (3) last urgent injured evacuated: 28.3 minutes. In Israel, MDA plays a major role in the medical response to MCIs. The next step is to plan the medical response to mega-attacks by terrorists. To do so, a model terror event was estimated with 1,000 victims: 10% (100) killed, 25% (250) urgent injuries, and the rest (650) not urgent. The main issues dealt with were: (1) the role of EMS in the medical response to mega-attacks by terrorists; and (2) the mode of action of the EMS system. To recruit national and military medical response to the site of a mega-terror event will take an hour or longer; meanwhile, the EMS personnel will be the only organized responders to this event. If the mega-terror event occurs in a central, urban part of Israel, MDA will be on-scene within one hour with 100 ambulances (15%-advanced life support (ALS)), and more then 200 emergency medical technicians (EMTs) (20%-ALS), and 180-200 urgent-injured will be evacuated from the scene. Major changes in the mode of action of the EMS system responding to such a mega-terror event will be needed, including: (1) On-scene triage and urgent medical procedures will be performed on the ALS level only (mass-casualty incident (MCI)-61% ALS) (ALS level providers will stay on-scene), and ambulance transportation of injured to a hospital will be performed on BLS level (MCI-40% ALS); (2) all the injured triaged as non-urgent (green tag) will not be treated or evacuated by ambulances; instead they will be transported by buses to general hospitals out of the region; (3) treatment will be delayed for those triaged as non-salvageable(expectants); and (4) the distribution of injured to the hospitals will be numerical. No triage to hospitals according to the type of injuries will be performed. The MDA is now in the process of planning, writing the guidelines, and training the personnel for the medical response to mega-attacks by terrorists.


High strength concrete become more popular among engineers due to load carry by the building itself and the demand of skyscrapers being built in Malaysia. Generally, high strength concrete can be similar to normal concrete but with the presence of superplasticizer and cementatious material like fly ash, silica fume and granulated slag will boost the strength of concrete due to physical and chemical reaction within concrete itself. As the demand for high strength concrete increases in the local construction market, there is a need to develop high strength concrete using local aggregates. High strength concrete that is made from local aggregates will minimize construction cost, and at the same time results in more durable and lasting buildings. As the suitability of local aggregates for producing high strength concrete is not proved, there is a need for further investigation.
In this study, fly ash will be used as cement replacement material that is mixed with local aggregates to develop high strength concrete. The objectives of this study are as follows:
a) To optimize high strength mix design, using local aggregates with fly ash as partial replacement of cement
b) To investigate the effect of using local aggregates in the properties of fresh and hardened high strength concrete
Therefore, trial mixes using fly ash as different percentages of the total cementitious materials are made. Fresh and hardened concrete properties was done in laboratory. 10% of fly ash was recommandedin producing high strength by using local aggregate.
The aim of this study is to help the construction industry and manufacturing market. If local aggregates are found to be suitable for producing high strength concrete, this means we are able to produce cheaper high strength concrete for the local construction market.


Abstract Objective: This study was conducted to establish associations among the Candida carriage rate, the diversity of Candida species carried and the different caries status of preschool children. Materials and methods: Sixty-one children between 2 and 5 years of age were examined by a single expert examiner and were divided into three groups, the caries-free, moderate caries and severe caries groups, according to the criteria of the International Caries Detection and Assessment System II (ICDAS). Saliva samples were obtained from the members of each group and were plated on Sabouraud agar plates to assess the Candida carriage rates. CHROMagar Candida medium was used for the preliminary screening. Biochemical testing or PCR/sequencing was conducted to identify the different Candida species in the samples. The differences observed were considered significant if the p value was <0.05. Results: The Candida carriage rate and the number of species of this fungus carried were higher in the group with the highest level of caries severity (p < 0.05). Whereas Candida albicans was the most predominant Candida species in the saliva of all of the children, C. dubliniensis was identified only in the most caries-affected group in addition to other rare species of Candida non-albicans. Conclusions: A high salivary Candida carriage rate and the presence of specific species of this fungus (such as C. albicans and C. dubliniensis) appear to be related to the severity of caries experienced by preschool children.


ing is permitted with credit to the source. Libraries are permitted to photocopy for private use of patrons. Instructors are permitted to photocopy isolated articles for non-commercial classroom use without fee. For other copying, reprint or republication, please write to the Managing Editor. The IEEE Canadian Review is printed in Canada, postage paid at Toronto, (Ontario). Member of / membre constituant de Engineering Institute of Canada l'Institut canadien des ingénieurs IEEE Canada


To clarify the role of oxidative stress in aging of colorectal tissue, we analyzed the 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OH-dG) levels in colorectal biopsy samples from normal tissue of patients with either colorectal cancer (n = 15) or benign colorectal polyps (n = 40). An age-associated increase of 8-OH-dG was observed (p =.002), although the 8-OH-dG levels were not significantly different between the patients with cancer and those with polyps. These results suggest an increased level of 8-OH-dG formation in human colorectal tissue with age.


BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE STUDY
Valvular calcification is common in patients with end-stage renal disease, and is associated with an unfavorable prognosis. It was hypothesized that sevelamer, a non-calcium-based phosphorus binder, might attenuate the progression of valvular calcification.

METHODS
Two hundred subjects on maintenance hemodialysis received either sevelamer or calcium-based phosphorus binders. To assess the extent of calcification, 186 subjects underwent baseline electron beam tomography (EBT) of the coronary arteries, aorta and mitral and aortic valves, and 132 had follow up EBT scans at week 52. Changes in valvular calcification and combined valvular/vascular calcification were monitored and compared.

RESULTS
At baseline, mitral valve calcification was seen in 46% of subjects, aortic valve calcification in 33%. Most subjects with zero values at baseline failed to progress over one year. Aortic valve calcification was significantly increased in calcium-treated subjects. Changes in mitral valve calcification, and combined mitral + aortic valve calcification were less in sevelamer-treated than in calcium-treated subjects, but not significantly so. When combining valvular and vascular calcification, the median (10%, 90%) change in sevelamer-treated subjects was significantly lower than in calcium-treated subjects (6, -5084 to 1180 versus 81, -1150 to 2944, p = 0.04). The effect of sevelamer remained significant after adjustment for baseline calcification and the time-averaged calcium-phosphorus product, and was independent of the calcium preparation (acetate versus carbonate), geographic region (US versus Europe), LDL- or HDL-cholesterol, C-reactive protein and statin use. Significantly more sevelamer-treated subjects experienced an arrest (45 versus 28%, p = 0.047) or regression (26 versus 10%, p = 0.02) in total valvular and vascular calcification.

CONCLUSION
Sevelamer arrested the progression of valvular and vascular calcification in almost 50% of hemodialysis subjects. Sevelamer treatment, plus intensive control of calcium and phosphorus levels, may attenuate progression of, or achieve regression in, cardiac valvular calcification.


In this paper an attempt has been made to find the inflation rates which were faced by households belonging to different income brackets and living in different areas. ·The results of this study do not show any consistent pattern of inflation being higher or lower for the rich or the poor households. During 1971-72 and between 1978-79 and 1980-81, households in the lower income brackets were found to be facing lower inflation rates. These were the years when food prices rose at lower rates than those of the prices of non-food items. These differences, however, disappeared in 1981-82 when food prices rose sharply, resulting in a higher inflation rate for the poor than for the rich. The numerical magnitudes of the differences were, however, not very high.


rijs aKTtvos correct = 'be seen by, i.e. be exposed to, the beams of the sun' (common poetic metaphor: cf. already Hes. Theog. 760); 63. 2 f. diropa^ovaai TO Kevrpov avrUa TOU wA f̂tu: the text is sound; the sense is 'as soon as they have sacrificed their icevrpov for the sake of stinging': avrUa goes with the participle dirojSaAotwcu, and rod irAfj£ai is final-causal (cf. Aalto, Stud. Gesch. Infin., Ann. Acad. Sc. Fenn. B. 80. 2, 1953, 86 fF.): Eutecnius has just underlined (62. 30 aTTO$vi]OKei ira.pavTi.Ka . . . Kanpov . . . ) that bees, if they want to sting, must be prepared to sacrifice, throw away, lose (diro/SoAouaai) their Kcvrpov, which loss is fatal to them; 68. 29 fKara rov TOITOV ro drjptov TJv€yKcv ivravSoi TI\V w\i)yfy>: text sound. Eutecnius was prone to faulty 'liaison relative' and to hyperurbanisms (cf. C.R. 1969, 236 f.). He has here perpetrated a typical hyperurbanism: he has, that is, over-reacted to the common fault of employing a relative where a demonstrative was required by grammar (cf. Tabachovitz, Skr. utg. Vet. Samf. Uppsala, 36. 3, p. 11) and has used the demonstrative evravdoi where a 'liaison relative' would have been correct.


INTRODUCTION
Although prior studies have shown that smoking reduces preeclampsia risk, the relationship between nicotine level and preeclampsia risk is not known. Our objective was to study the effects of smoking on the incidence of preeclampsia in African-American women using cotinine, a quantitative marker of nicotine.

METHODS
We performed a secondary analysis of data collected prospectively in Project District of Columbia Healthy Outcomes of Pregnancy Education. Our study included 724 African-American women. Self-reported smoking, cotinine levels, and pregnancy outcomes were examined.

RESULTS
Some 18% of participants were smokers. Women with salivary cotinine levels greater than 200 ng/ml had infants with lower birth weights and a higher incidence of small-for-gestational-age infants than women with cotinine levels of 200 ng/ml or less. Exact logistic regression analysis revealed that women with salivary cotinine levels greater than 200 ng/ml had a significantly lower incidence of preeclampsia, compared with women with cotinine levels of 200 ng/ml or less, in unadjusted analysis (odds ratio [OR] = 0.16, 95% CI = 0-0.90). After controlling for age, parity, and medical comorbidities, the trend was observed, but the effect was no longer significant (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 0.19, 95% CI = 0-1.11). We found no significant differences in preeclampsia rates using lower cutoffs of cotinine exposure. We did not observe a decrease in preeclampsia incidence at low or moderate cotinine levels.

DISCUSSION
Women with the highest cotinine levels may have a decreased risk for preeclampsia, although this effect was not significant after controlling for other risk factors.


In order to solve the higher cost of system maintenance and higher risk bringing by MSP430 MCU and DSP site commissioning by using emulator, the Ethernet-based telephone communication system management software was designed based on the hardware platform of VOIP telephone communication system, which realize the remote management, maintenance, and the DSP and MSP430 MCU software online update for the network telephone communication system. The management software developed in Visual C # platform, using a Socket to the network communications. This management software has been put into use, which shows the advantages' of good stability, simple operation and work efficiency, etc.


Taking advantage of high-tech welding methods, a concept is formed in sheet metal forming community. The so-called tailor-welded blanks (TWBs) are sheet metals that are welded together prior to forming. This technology dates back to the 80's, and numerous studies are conducted in order to explore different aspects of it. This review paper concerns with mechanics of TWBs. The paper is divided into three major chapters. The first chapter is devoted to mechanical properties of TWBs. Tensile testing, tensile properties, and hardness of TWBs are covered in this chapter. The second chapter deals with the formability of TWBs. The formability testing methods, effect of different parameters on the formability of TWBs, material flow phenomena, control of material flow, stress and strain distributions, and springback behavior are covered in the second chapter. The third chapter is focused on failure and fracture of TWBs. Failure modes and failure criteria are the principal topics of this chapter.


A wireless channel sounder based upon the conventional spread spectrum sliding correlator implementation uses unfiltered pseudo-random noise (PN) at both the transmitter and receiver to generate a time-dilated copy of the channel's impulse response. However, in addition to this desired impulse response, the sliding correlator also produces a noise-like, wideband distortion signal that decreases the measurement system's dynamic range. Careful selection of the sliding correlator's low-pass filter can significantly reduce this distortion, but no amount of filtering will remove it completely. In contrast, using filtered PNs at both the transmitter and receiver enables one to remove this distortion in entirety and realize a measurement system whose dynamic range closely approximates the theoretical ideal for spread spectrum systems.


BACKGROUND
Heart failure is the end stage of heart disease, and the prevalence and incidence of the condition is rapidly increasing. Although heart transplantation is one type of surgical treatment for people with end-stage heart failure, donor availability is limited. Implantable ventricular assist devices (VADs) therefore offer an alternative treatment to heart transplantation. Although two studies reported the beneficial effects of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation (CR) on functional capacity and quality of life (QOL) by performing systematic reviews and meta-analyses, both systematic reviews included studies with limited design (e.g. non-randomised, retrospective studies) or participants with implantable or extracorporeal VADs.

OBJECTIVES
To determine the benefits and harms of exercise-based CR for people with implantable VADs.

SEARCH METHODS
We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) in the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Conference Proceedings Citation Index-Science (CPCI-S) on Web of Science, CINAHL, and LILACS on 3 October 2017 with no limitations on date, language, or publication status. We also searched two clinical trials registers on 10 August 2017 and checked the reference lists of primary studies and review articles.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) regardless of cluster or individual randomisation, and full-text studies, those published as abstract only, and unpublished data were eligible. However, only individually RCTs and full-text publications were included.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two review authors independently extracted outcome data from the included studies. We double-checked that data were entered correctly by comparing the data presented in the systematic review with the study reports. We had no dichotomous data to analyse and used mean difference or standardised mean difference with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for continuous data. Furthermore, we assessed the quality of evidence as it relates to those studies that contribute data to the meta-analyses for the prespecified outcomes, using GRADEpro software.

MAIN RESULTS
We included two studies with a total of 40 participants in the review. Exercise-based CR consisted of aerobic or resistance training or both three times per week for six to eight weeks. Exercise intensity was 50% of oxygen consumption (VO2) reserve, or ranged from 60% to 80% of heart rate reserve. Two serious adverse events were observed in one trial, in which participants did not complete the study due to infections. Furthermore, a total of four participants in each group required visits to the emergency department, although these participants did complete the study. Summary scores from the 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) and the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) were measured as quality of life. One trial reported that the KCCQ summary score improved by 14.4 points in the exercise group compared with 0.5 points in the usual care group. The other trial reported that the SF-36 total score improved by 29.2 points in the exercise group compared with 16.3 points in the usual care group. A large difference in quality of life was observed between groups at the end of follow-up (standardised mean difference 0.88, 95% CI -0.12 to 1.88; 37 participants; 2 studies; very low-quality of evidence). However, there was no evidence for the effectiveness of exercise-based CR due to the young age of the participants, high risk of performance bias, very small sample size, and wide confidence intervals, which resulted in very low-quality evidence. Furthermore, we were not able to determine the effect of exercise-based CR on mortality, rehospitalisation, heart transplantation, and cost, as these outcomes were not reported.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
The evidence is currently inadequate to assess the safety and efficacy of exercise-based CR for people with implantable VADs compared with usual care. The amount of RCT evidence was very limited and of very low quality. In addition, the training duration was very short term, that is from six to eight weeks. Further high-quality and well-reported RCTs of exercise-based CR for people with implantable VADs are needed. Such trials need to collect data on events (mortality and rehospitalisation), patient-related outcomes (including quality of life), and cost-effectiveness.


A variety of machine learning models have been proposed to assess the performance of players in professional sports. However, they have only a limited ability to model how player performance depends on the game context. This paper proposes a new approach to capturing game context: we apply Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) to learn an action-value Q function from 3M play-by-play events in the National Hockey League (NHL). The neural network representation integrates both continuous context signals and game history, using a possession-based LSTM. The learned Q-function is used to value players' actions under different game contexts. To assess a player's overall performance, we introduce a novel Game Impact Metric (GIM) that aggregates the values of the player's actions. Empirical Evaluation shows GIM is consistent throughout a play season, and correlates highly with standard success measures and future salary.


Nowadays, autonomous vision-based system has been applied to handle human job
that reliability and efficiency of any intelligent system gain improvement and
enhancement. Human head detection is the first step of an autonomous human
recognition system. This thesis focuses on a method to recognize and detect a human
at the surveillance or highlighted area boundary based their head beside; a simulation
system of head detection was developed using image processing. The main
contribution of this thesis is it contributes an algorithm of head recognition and
detecting which based on image segmentation, Prewitt edge detection and Chain
Code algorithm. Static or still images are used as input data for simulation process.
The use of Median Filter (MF) method for preprocessing stage is studied and
implemented to make low noise for good signification in an image. Prewitt edge
detecting (PED) has been applied to present boundary of features in the images in
early stage. The image converted to binary image using Threshold Coding (TC) for
difference between boundary and background. Features from the image are train
using the Chain Code Algorithm (CCA) to do recognition of the crux human head
then do detecting process. The low of complexity in mathematical equation is the
factor of chosen this method, compares other techniques. Two environments have been applied to demonstrate the performance of the system, a person or more was
detected for texture background and untextured background. The anahsis. design
and development of simulation system are done in Visual C++. All the methods have
been tested on image data and the experimental results have demonstrated a robust
system.


UNLABELLED
It is generally accepted that dental implant-treatment is "restorative" driven: the virtual blueprint of a prosthesis determines the position and number of implants to be placed. Competent interdisciplinary team-work is essential for the successful completion of implant-retained restorations. The purpose of this survey was to determine the experiences, practices and opinions in terms of the surgical placement of implants among South African prosthodontists.

METHODS
A questionnaire was e-mailed to a sample of South African prosthodontists. Data were collated and analysed using Epilnfo. Statistical significance was set at 0.05 and strength of association was determined by means of measurement of relative risk (RR) and chi-squared test or Fisher's exact test.

RESULTS
The response rate was 49%. The majority of respondents were male. Mean age was 50 years and all treated patients with implant-supported prostheses. Most implants were placed by non-prosthodontists (surgeons/ periodontists) and the majority of prosthodontists reported that they were generally satisfied with implant placement by other specialities. Six prosthodontists reported that they surgically place implants themselves. Of those not placing implants, five reported that they would like to do so. Younger prosthodontists, those who had attended short courses and those who considered their "surgical training" to be adequate, were more likely to place implants themselves or to want to do so.

CONCLUSION
This survey identified areas for further research into the dynamics that may cause changing habits in the management of implants in prosthodontic practices, and carries the mplication that the scope of practice of the different specialities should be continuously evaluated and adapted, to the ultimate benefit of the patient.


The spatial contour error which exists in multi-axis machine tools is believed relative with the track-lag error existing in the single axis, the set value of feed-rate and the curvature of the contour. A spatial error model is taken for presenting a vector method to calculate the contour error in three-axis machine tool and an adaptive cross coupled controller which is based on neural network is presented. The simulation results of cross coupled control in three-axis, indicate that the contour precision can be improved effectively which exists in the machine tool, and the errors influenced by the change of curvature and the set value of feed-rate can be obviously reduced.


Large colliders are not sensitive to light neutrino masses and character, but they can produce new heavy neutrinos, allowing also for the determination of their Dirac or Majorana nature. We review the discovery limits at the next generation of large colliders.


The avoidance of regular but not irregular plurals inside compounds (e.g., *rats eater vs. mice eater) has been one of the most widely studied morphological phenomena in the psycholinguistics literature. To examine whether the constraints that are responsible for this contrast have any general significance beyond compounding, we investigated derived word forms containing regular and irregular plurals in two experiments. Experiment 1 was an offline acceptability judgment task, and Experiment 2 measured eye movements during reading derived words containing regular and irregular plurals and uninflected base nouns. The results from both experiments show that the constraint against regular plurals inside compounds generalizes to derived words. We argue that this constraint cannot be reduced to phonological properties, but is instead morphological in nature. The eye-movement data provide detailed information on the time-course of processing derived word forms indicating that early stages of processing are affected by a general constraint that disallows inflected words from feeding derivational processes, and that the more specific constraint against regular plurals comes in at a subsequent later stage of processing. We argue that these results are consistent with stage-based models of language processing.


A common method for comparing the result of different global circulation models (GCMs) under different emission scenarios is to study global climate response variables, such as mean temperature. An interesting alternative measure of climate sensitivity is to study the biosphere's response to the different climate scenarios. The Lund-Postdam-Jena (LPJ) global vegetation model and its extension LPJ-GUESS is a dynamic global vegetation model that can be coupled to GCMs and used to explore the effect of varying climates on vegetation and carbon uptake. Using the output from different GCMs under different emission scenarios LPJ-GUESS can be used to generate global vegetation and carbon uptake patterns that are specific to each forcing climate scenario. We investigate if important regional and global differences exist between the vegetation patterns from different GCMs and emission scenarios. An important question is if potential differences are primarily due to the different emission scenarios or to the different GCMs. In order for us to carry out the above analysis we need to both reduce the noise in the LPJ-GUESS predictions and reduce the vast amount of data. To accomplish both these goals we compute smooth principal components. A problem when computing the PCA and the smoothing is that LPJ-GUESS output is generated on a regular longitude-latitude grid, implying that both the size and distance between grid cells vary. To handle this irregular data on a sphere we use a Gaussian Markov random field (GMRF) approximation of Thin Plate Splines (TPS) that generalises the TPS to general manifolds (such as a sphere). The well known computational advantages of GMRFs greatly aids the analysis, given the large amount of data obtained from LPJ-GUESS. (Less)


Preferential trade agreements are an important feature of the global trade system. Several questions, ranging from the rationale for preferential arrangements to their impact on members, non-members and the broader multilateral trade system, are at the forefront of academic and policy debates in trade policy. This paper contributes to the literature in two ways. First, it presents a new database that offers a detailed assessment of the content of preferential arrangements, examining the coverage and legal enforceability of provisions. The database covers 279 agreements signed by 189 countries between 1958 and 2015, which reflects the entire set of preferential trade agreements in force and notified to the World Trade Organization as of 2015. Second, the paper presents some novel stylized facts on preferential arrangements based on the analysis of the data. The key insight is that preferential trade agreements became deeper over time. A growing number of these treaties cover an extended set of policy areas, frequently with legally enforceable provisions, in areas under the current World Trade Organization mandate and in four leading areas outside the current World Trade Organization mandate: competition policy, investment, movements of capital, and intellectual property rights protection. Accounting for the changing coverage of preferential trade agreements, that is, their "horizontal depth," is essential to gain a more complete and accurate understanding of where the global trading system is going and how its governance can be improved.


This work was aimed to investigate the effect of salt (NaCl) stress on three oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) cultivars: 'Banacanka', 'Jasna' and 'Kata'. The following parameters were determined: antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD) and guaiacol peroxidase (GPX), reduced glutathione (GSH) quantity, lipid peroxidation (LP) intensity, radical-scavenging capacity (DPPH-RSC), hydroxyl radical scavenging (•OH radicals) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP). Seed viability was determined using the standard laboratory test for germination as well as the seed accelerated aging test measuring the germination, shoot and root length. The plants were subjected to three salt treatments: 0, 100, 150 and 200 mmol dm-3 NaCl for 7 days. All three cultivars responded with an increase of lipid peroxidation in seedlings and with a decrease of GPX activity. 'Banacanka' was found to be the most vulnerable cultivar, with an increase of 237% of LP intensity in comparison to the control at the highest NaCl concentration. The induction of the SOD activity was observed for all three cultivars by different NaCl concentrations. The antioxidant capacity measured by FRAP, DPPH-RSC and •OH radicals was also induced, especially FRAP at the highest concentration in the cultivar 'Jasna' (by 282%). Germination, shoot and root length decreased for all investigated cultivars. Our results showed that cultivar 'Jasna' is the most adapted to salt stress because of the highest SOD activity and accumulation of antioxidants. Furthermore, this research suggests that some of the antioxidant parameters can be useful biochemical markers for the selection of oilseed rape tolerant cultivars under the conditions of salinity.


Acute steroid-resistant graft-versus-host disease (AGVHD) after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation is frequently fatal. A new treatment for this T-lymphocyte-mediated condition uses an immunotoxin, H65-RTA, comprised of a monoclonal antibody that recognizes the CD5 lymphocyte differentiation antigen coupled to ricin A chain, a cytotoxic enzyme that inhibits protein synthesis. The safety and efficacy of this lymphocyte-targeted immunotoxin was evaluated in patients with severe AGVHD in a phase I-II dose escalation study with group expansion at the two middle doses. Thirty-four patients received up to 14 daily intravenous infusions of the immunotoxin. The principal side effects were constitutional symptoms such as fatigue and myalgias, and hypoalbuminemia with weight gain was seen at all doses. Thirty-two patients were evaluated for improvement or resolution of disease. Durable complete or partial responses were not dose-related and were seen in 16 patients. Skin GVHD had the highest incidence of response (73%), although improvement or resolution in gastrointestinal tract (45%) and liver (28%) GVHD was also noted. Survival in responding patients was significantly prolonged at all times as compared with those with no response (P = .03). Treatment was associated with a rapid decrease in peripheral blood T lymphocytes, which persisted for greater than 1 month after therapy. Anti-immunotoxin antibodies were seen in 6 of the 23 patients tested; these were of low titer and did not block immunotoxin binding to T cells. Results of this study indicate that anti-T-lymphocyte immunotoxins may form a new class of immunosuppressive agents useful in T-lymphocyte-mediated diseases.


Background Cigarette smoking is highly prevalent in schizophrenia and is one of the main factors contributing to the significantly decreased life expectancy in this population. Schizophrenia smokers, compared to their counterparts with no comorbid psychiatric disorder, are largely unaware and indifferent to the long-term negative consequences of cigarette smoking. The objective of this study was to determine, for the first time, if these meta-cognitive deficits are associated with neuro-functional alterations in schizophrenia smokers. Methods Twenty-four smokers with no psychiatric disorder and 21 smokers with schizophrenia (DSM-IV criteria) were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging and exposed to anti-smoking images. Granger causality analyses were used to examine the effective connectivity between brain regions found to be significantly activated. Results Across groups, potent activations were observed in the left ventro-lateral prefrontal cortex, the left amygdala (AMG), and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC). Using the dmPFC as a seed region, we found an abnormal negative connectivity from the dmPFC to the AMG in schizophrenia smokers during the viewing of anti-smoking stimuli. This abnormal connectivity was not present during the viewing of aversive stimuli unrelated to tobacco. Discussion Given the well-established roles of the dmPFC in social cognition and of the AMG in emotional processing, our results suggest that the relative indifference of schizophrenia smokers regarding the negative consequences of tobacco smoking could be explained by a cognitive-affective dissonance.


It has been reported that, in patients with acute myocardial infarction or congestive heart failure, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) plays an important role in the development of inflammatory responses and that the level of MCP-1 is correlated with the severity of the disease. We conducted this study to investigate the effects of dobutamine and dopamine on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced MCP-1 production in human monocytic THP-1 cells. Monocytes were incubated in vitro with LPS for 16 h at 37°C in the presence or absence of dobutamine or dopamine. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to examine the effect of dobutamine on MCP-1 synthesis, with the MCP-1 messenger RNA expression examined by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Dobutamine inhibited LPS-induced production of MCP-1, as well as messenger RNA expression, in a dose-dependent manner, whereas dopamine had no significant effect. Furthermore, we demonstrated that dobutamine suppressed MCP-1-induced chemotaxis and peak [Ca2+]i in monocytic THP-1 cells. These findings suggest that dobutamine may modulate monocyte activation, such as chemotaxis and [Ca2+]i, as well as MCP-1 production, during therapy for congestive heart failure.


ABSTRACT Gontz, A.; McCallum, A.; Ellerton, D.; Patton, N., and Shulmeister, J., 2020. The Teewah Transect: GPR-Derived Insights into the Younger Dune Morphosequences on the Great Sandy Coast, Queensland, Australia. In: Malvárez, G. and Navas, F. (eds.), Global Coastal Issues of 2020. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 95, pp. 500–504. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. The world's largest sand islands lie off the coast of southeast Queensland, Australia. Between these islands, mainland coastal sand masses, bedrock promontories and rivers exist in low-lying areas. Sediment is sourced from one of the world's longest downdrift systems, transporting sand eroded from sandstones in New South Wales north over 1000 km. Recent work has shown the coastal dune fields have been periodically active for the last million years, at times of high and intermediate sea-levels, and identified a series of aeolian morphosequences that exhibit an onlapping relationship with evidence of significant reworking of more seaward morphosequences to create more landward low-relief aeolian landscapes. In 2012, a campaign that collected over 300 km of ground penetrating radar data was begun to understand the stratigraphic framework of this sand-rich system.. One of the surveys acquired a transect over the dune environment of the southern tip of the Cooloola Sand Mass near the town of Teewah. At this location, the dune field narrows to less than 1.5 km with 20-25 m of relief. The seaward side is characterized by eroding dunes and high bluffs. Moving inland over the highest portion of the dune field, the landscape slopes gently to a near sea level with a pluvial-fluviallacustrine dominated system that drains directly to the Noosa River and the Coral Sea. GPR surveys revealed a complex stratigraphy including primary sediment structures related to aeolian processes overprinted with podzol soil development resulting in post depositional features that range from well-developed soil sequences to incipient horizons. Recent GIS mapping has identified this area as consisting of primarily Holocene systems. The Teewah Transect is presented as a case study demonstrating a spatial relationship of the morphosequences and examines the aeolian-soil relationships at the far southern tip of the Cooloola Sand Mass.


Dysregulation of AngII-mediated intra-neuronal signaling contributes to the pathogenesis of hypertension. Previous studies using AngII-sensitive neuronal cell culture models suggest that AngII induces chronic changes in the expression of various cell signaling proteins, including its own receptors. However, many of these studies stimulated cultured neurons with a single administration of exogenous AngII and harvested neurons 3-24 hours later to investigate changes in mRNA and protein levels. One limitation of these "chronic" AngII stimulation studies is the lack of evidence indicating the stability of AngII in neuronal cell culture media. Here, we tested the hypothesis that exogenous AngII is rapidly metabolized in neuronal cell culture media. Further, we hypothesized that AngII receptors are differentially expressed depending on the chronicity of stimulation. AngII (100nM) was added to catecholaminergic (CATH.a) neurons in culture, media was collected 15 min - 24 hr later, and AngII levels were determined by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. AngII was rapidly metabolized with media levels of AngII returning to near baseline within 3 hr of administration (baseline: 2.2 nM AngII; 15 min: 50.6 nM; 30 min: 42.9 nM; 1hr: 28.8 nM ; 3hr: 4.0 nM, n = 3-4). To begin investigating the relevance of this observation, we measured mRNA levels of AngII type 1 (AT1R) and type 2 (AT2R) receptors using real time quantitative RT-PCR in CATH.a neurons 24 hr after a single administration of AngII (100nM) or repeated administration every 3 hr. While a single administration of AngII did not alter AT1R mRNA levels, replenishing media every 3 hr with fresh AngII did induce a 20% decrease. In addition, fresh AngII every 3 hr resulted in a 41% decrease in AT2R mRNA levels; whereas, a single dose of AngII increased AT2R mRNA by 19%. These data indicate that AngII is quickly metabolized in neuronal cell culture media, and that supplementing fresh AngII every 3 hr to maintain elevated levels chronically yields different changes in AngII receptor mRNA levels as compared to a single administration. In conclusion, we suggest that to accurately model hypertension, where AngII is chronically elevated, the metabolism of AngII in a given cell culture model should first be determined.