Interleukin-22 (IL-22) is identified as a tumor-promoting factor in certain cancers, which was secreted by tumor infiltrated lymphocytes. However, the role of IL-22 in breast cancer remains conflicting. In this study, we assessed the expression of IL-22, IL-22 receptor 1 (IL-22R1), CD4, CD8, FOXP3, and CD68 in breast cancer by immunohistochemistry. IL-22 expression was exhibited in 105 (69.1%) cases in tumor cells (tIL-22), whereas only 24 (15.8%) samples displayed IL-22 expression in stromal cells. Multivariate analysis showed that tIL-22 expression was a poor prognostic factor for overall survival (OS) (p = 0.04). Meanwhile, IL-22R1 was predominantly presented in tumor cells (84.9%), which was associated with tIL-22 expression. The CD68-positive tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) displayed the highest infiltration rate (50.7%) compared with CD4-, CD8-, and FOXP3-positive cells. Kaplan-Meier analysis confirmed patients with high TAM infiltration displayed significantly worse relapse-free survival (RFS) compared with low TAMs group (p = 0.017). TAM infiltration was also positively associated with tIL-22 and IL-22R1 expression. Furthermore, tIL-22 expression together with high TAM infiltration displayed the worst prognosis outcomes both in OS (p = 0.039) and RFS (p = 0.008). Instead of lymphocytes, our data indicated that tumor cells express IL-22 in breast cancer that is associated with IL-22R1, high TAM infiltrating, and poor prognosis.


The Lisse effect is a rarely noted phenomenon occurring when infiltration caused by intense rain seals the surface soil layer to airflow, trapping air in the unsaturated zone. Compression of air by the advancing front results in a pressure increase that produces a water‐level rise in an observation well screened below the water table that is several times as large as the distance penetrated by the wetting front. The effect is triggered by intense rains and results in a very rapid water‐level rise, followed by a recession lasting a few days. The Lisse effect was first noted and explained by Thal Larsen in 1932 from water‐level observations obtained in a shallow well in the village of Lisse, Holland. The original explanation does not account for the increased air pressure pushing up on the bottom of the wetting front. Analysis of the effect of this upward pressure indicates that a negative pressure head at the base of the wetting front, Ψf, analogous to that postulated by Green and Ampt (1911) to explain initially rapid infiltration rates into unsaturated soils, is involved in producing the Lisse effect. Analysis of recorded observations of the Lisse effect by Larsen and others indicates that the water‐level rise, which typically ranges from 0.10 to 0.55 m, should be only slightly larger than |Ψf| and that the depth of penetration of the wetting front is no more than several millimeters.


Abstract Damask rose (Rosa damascena Mill.) is known for its high quality oil, used in the perfumery industry. The aim of this study was to determine the influences of fermentation time, hydro-distillation time and fractions with sequential intervals on essential oil composition, particularly on methyl eugenol content of Damask rose. Essential oil of the rose flowers was produced by hydro-distillation using a Clevenger-type apparatus. Six fermentation times (6, 12, 18, 24, 30 and 36 h at 25°C in sack), 6 distillation times (30, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 min.) and 7 fractions (0–15, 16–30, 31–60, 61–90, 91–120, 121–180, and 181–240 min.) during a hydro-distillation were used. The components in the essential oils were analyzed by GC-FID and GC-MS. Rose oil was characterized by high percentage of acyclic monoterpene alcohols, represented particularly by citronellol, geraniol and nerol, and long-chain hydrocarbons represented particularly such as nonadecane, nonadecene and heneicosane. The oil yield started to decrease through the fermentation (from 0.055 to 0.025 %). Fermentation increased the citronellol and methyl eugenol contents in opposition to the content of geraniol and nerol. Each one of hydrocarbons increased their percentages nearly two times and more during the fermentation. Extending of distillation time up to 150 min increased the essential oil yield. The longer distillation time gave a higher methyl eugenol concentration, whose content increased steadily up to last distillation time (from 0.69 to 1.65 %). Contents of monoterpene alcohols decreased, whereas the hydrocarbons steadily increased up to late fractions.


Abstract This paper elaborates a proximity framework and provides empirical evidence of how knowledge cross-fertilization is instigated at international trade fairs (ITFs) and continued in a cluster network. This paper applies a case study method relying on social network analysis to explore the knowledge cross-fertilization initiated at ITFs and furthered at a Swedish cluster. The findings suggest that firms participating at ITFs translate and re-articulate the acquired external knowledge through their interactions in the cluster network. Creating awareness of the ITFs' influence on innovation is significant for policy-makers and scholars.


The main objective of this paper is the assessment of the exact phase angle displacement of each Partial Discharge, PD, pulse with respect to the voltage reference waveform. Such problem also referred to as `synchronization' is relevant when the cable is not accessible and the PD measure is carried out in wireless mode. It is well known, that the angle phase shift, due to the propagation phenomenon on the transmission line, can be calculated knowing the line type and length and typical operating conditions of the transmission line. The setup comprises a customized electronic device, the "Phase check", a server to collect remote measurements and a Look up table to provide corrections to the measured phase shift values. To evaluate the voltage phase shift introduced by a transmission line, different simulations have been carried out in PSCAD. Then, to prove the correctness of simulated results and verify the "Phase check" precision, experimental measurements have been carries out on three transmission lines in Sicily, Italy. The experimental measurements prove that the proposed setup is effective and quite useful to provide precise assessment of voltage phase shift for PD wireless diagnosis.


PURPOSE
This study explores the effects of participation in a program designed to enrich friendship and reduce loneliness among women in later life. Several hypotheses based on the need to belong, socioemotional selectivity theory, and the social compensation model were tested.

DESIGN AND METHODS
Study 1 involved two measurement points, one at the end of the program and the other 1-year later. Study 2 used a pretest-post-test control group design with a follow-up measurement. A combination of semistructured interviews and structured questionnaires was used to collect data. A comparison group was also drawn from a nationwide representative sample.

RESULTS
Participants were characterized by deprivation on the need to belong; that is, loss of a partner, higher levels of loneliness and negative affect, and lower positive affect compared with a nationwide representative sample of same-aged women. Participants were more likely than women in a control group to report the development of new friendships and an improvement in friendship. The combination of new and improved friendships contributed to a significant reduction in loneliness within a year. There was no evidence of satiation of the need to belong among those who did not expand or improve friendships. Loss of a partner had no influence on friendship development; however, age did. Older participants were less likely to improve friendships.

IMPLICATIONS
The action-oriented approach that focused on friendship development in this intervention might be applied to other goals considered important in later life (optimal health, autonomy, harmonious family relations).


In this interview, retired educator Karen Hulme recounts how her interest in working with disabled children began at age six, a passion that led her to become a camp counsellor in her late teens at the School for Crippled Children. Next, she discusses her 42-year career at the Mackay Centre School, and some of the early initiatives that were in place to not only help integrate handicapped children into regular schools, but also introduce regular kids into the Mackay Centre—a process called "reverse integration." She talks about the "Circle of Friends," a school program that promotes social interactions, facilitates awareness, and breaks down barriers between students with and without disabilities. Lastly, she discusses the importance of educators in leadership positions to "… know who these kids are, what their needs are, and what their parents' needs are …"


Hybrid analog and digital beamforming transceivers are instrumental in addressing the challenge of expensive hardware and high training overheads in the next generation millimeter-wave (mm-Wave) massive MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) systems. However, lack of fully digital beamforming in hybrid architectures and short coherence times at mm-Wave impose additional constraints on the channel estimation. Prior works on addressing these challenges have focused largely on narrowband channels wherein optimization-based or greedy algorithms were employed to derive hybrid beamformers. In this paper, we introduce a deep learning (DL) approach for joint channel estimation and hybrid beamforming for frequency-selective, wideband mm-Wave systems. In particular, we consider a massive MIMO Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) system and propose three different DL frameworks comprising convolutional neural networks (CNNs), which accept the received pilot signal as input and yield the hybrid beamformers at the output. We also introduce both offline and online prediction schemes for channel estimation and hybrid beamforming. Numerical experiments demonstrate that, compared to the current state-of-the-art optimization and DL methods, our approach provides higher spectral efficiency, lesser computational cost, and higher tolerance against the deviations in the received pilot data, corrupted channel matrix, and propagation environment.


This study was carried out to determine the fish fauna of the basin of Buyukcekmece Dam Lake and to study the taxonomic characteristics of the fish present. As a result of examined the 586 specimens collected between April 1995 and September 1997, it was revealed that 23 fish species, including 4 subspecies, belonging to 10 families, were found in the basin of Buyukcekmece Dam Lake. This paper gives the diagnostic characteristics of these fish.


This paper introduces an accurate nonlinear model predictive control-based algorithm for trajectory following. For accuracy, the algorithm incorporates both the planned state and control trajectories into its cost functional. Current following algorithms do not incorporate control trajectories into their cost functionals. Comparisons are made against two trajectory following algorithms, where the trajectory planning problem is to safely follow a person using an automated ATV with control delays in a dynamic environment while simultaneously optimizing speed and steering, minimizing control effort, and minimizing the time-to-goal. Results indicate that the proposed algorithm reduces collisions, tracking error, orientation error, and time-to-goal. Therefore, tracking the control trajectories with the trajectory following algorithm helps the vehicle follow the planned state trajectories more accurately, which ultimately improves safety, especially in dynamic environments.


While simulation and controlled pretest‐marketing approaches are increasingly used, the traditional test marketing is still the most widely used approach for product and marketing programme testing. For several decades now, the most popular research and professional approach to test market selection has involved the search for an "average" America for test marketing. Discusses the problems associated with this approach and argues that the US is very diverse regionally and, consequently, "middletowns" do not exist. Recommends a multivariate approach for city segmentation to develop homogeneous sets of cities from which test markets may be selected for control and testing purposes. The study also discusses the empirical findings and managerial implications along with ways to validate the recommended approach.


To investigate time-related immunopathological changes in the lacrimal glands (LGs) of CD25KO mice, we examined LGs of C57BL/6 (wild-type) and CD25KO mice at 8, 12, and 16 weeks of age. T cell infiltration was quantified by flow cytometry, and gland function by tear peroxidase activity and epidermal growth factor mRNA expression. T helper (Th)-1, -2 and -17-associated cytokine expression was evaluated by real-time PCR. Epithelial apoptosis was assessed by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling assay and activated caspase-3 staining. Eight-week-old CD25KO mice demonstrated significantly increased numbers of CD4 and CD8 T cells infiltrating the LGs. This peaked at 12 weeks of age. No peroxidase secretion was detected, and epidermal growth factor mRNA expression was barely detected in CD25KO mice. Ductal epithelial apoptosis was noted in CD25KO mice. Young CD25KO LGs had higher Th-17- (interleukin [IL]-23R, transforming growth factor-beta1, IL-17A, CC chemokine attractant ligand-20) and Th-1-associated cytokine transcripts (interferon-gamma, T-bet, IL-12, IL-2, IL-18) than young wild-type LGs. There was also a significant time-related decrease in IL-17A and CC chemokine attractant ligand-20 in CD25KO LGs. Taken together, autoimmune LG infiltration with loss of LG function was observed in CD25KO mice as early as 8 weeks of age. Time-related switch from Th-17 to Th-1 inflammation was noted in CD25KO mice.


Graph models provide flexible tools for the representation and analysis of signals defined over irregular domains such as social or sensor networks. However, in real applications data observations are often not available over the whole graph, due to practical problems such as sensor failure or connection loss. In this paper, we study the estimation of partially observed graph signals on multiple graphs. We learn a sparse representation of partially observed graph signals over spectrally concentrated graph dictionaries. Our dictionary model consists of several sub-dictionaries each of which is generated from a Gaussian kernel centered at a certain graph frequency in order to capture a particular spectral component of the graph signals at hand. The problem of jointly learning the spectral kernels and the sparse codes is solved with an alternating optimization approach. Finally, the incomplete entries of the given graph signals are estimated using the learnt dictionaries and the sparse coefficients. Experimental results on synthetic and real graph data sets suggest that the proposed method yields promising performance in comparison to reference solutions.


ISSN: 1937-9056 Copyright © 2011 Answers in Genesis. All rights reserved. Consent is given to unlimited copying, downloading, quoting from, and distribution of this article for non-commercial, non-sale purposes only, provided the following conditions are met: the author of the article is clearly identified; Answers in Genesis is acknowledged as the copyright owner; Answers Research Journal and its website, www.answersresearchjournal.org, are acknowledged as the publication source; and the integrity of the work is not compromised in any way. For more information write to: Answers in Genesis, PO Box 510, Hebron, KY 41048, Attn: Editor, Answers Research Journal. The views expressed are those of the writer(s) and not necessarily those of the Answers Research Journal Editor or of Answers in Genesis. Callie Joubert, Truth Exposed, P.O. Box 300, Paulshof, Johannesburg, South Africa 2056


Purpose of Study Earlier studies have shown that renal artery stent revascularization in the presence of atherosclerotic renal artery disease has a beneficial effect on blood pressure (BP) control and renal function, while some authors have reported that stent revascularization has minimal or no effect on kidney function. We did a retrospective chart review of the effect of stenting in our patient population with atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis. Methods This study involved 18 patients who underwent stent placement for atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis between 1999 and 2004 in our facility. The most common indication for the procedure was a combination of uncontrolled hypertension requiring three or more medications and worsening renal function. Patients whose serum creatinine was greater than 4.0 mg/dL at the time of stenting were excluded from the study. Renal function was estimated by calculating the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) using the MDRD equation. BP and GFR were recorded just before the procedure and at regular 3-month interval follow-up visits at the outpatient clinic up to 1 year. Differences in GFR and BP at baseline and 1 year after the procedure were compared for statistical significance using the Wilcoxon matched pairs sign rank test. A p value < .05 was considered statistically significant. The institutional review board of our hospital approved the study protocol. Results Mean age of our study population was 74 ± 14 years and 70% of patients also had diabetes mellitus type 2. At 1 year after the procedure mean systolic blood pressure decreased from 143 mm Hg at baseline to 131 m mHg (p = .05). Mean diastolic blood pressure decreased from 76 mm Hg to 67 mm Hg (p = .006) and the mean arterial pressure decreased from 98 mm Hg to 88 mm Hg (p = .0195). Further, the mean GFR decreased from 38.14 mL/min/1.73 sq.m to 35.16 mL/min/1.73 sq.m (p = .2634). Conclusions Significant improvement was noted in the blood pressure variables in patients who were treated with stent deployment. There was a small but statistically nonsignificant decrease in GFR; perhaps improved blood flow and blood pressure control helped stabilize kidney function in the face of underlying diseases such as diabetes. Our findings support a clinically important and statistically significant decline in blood pressure following stenting of atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis. However, in contrast to some previous studies, no significant improvement was noted in the renal function.


: Essence and potency of immunological effects produced by some anti-bacterial drugs used in the treatment of peptic ulcer were determined in the course of immunological survey of patients. Trichopol and--to the less extent--furazolidone were established to provide immunocorrective effect and prevent exacerbation better than amoxicillin. The latter, to the contrary, aggravates secondary immune deficiency.


The present study uses a numerical model to investigate the effects of flow turbulence on premixed iso-octane HCCI engine combustion. Different levels of in-cylinder turbulence are generated by using different piston geometries, namely a disc-shape versus a square-shape bowl. The numerical model is based on the KIVA code which is modified to use CHEMKIN as the chemistry solver. A detailed reaction mechanism is used to simulate the fuel chemistry. It is found that turbulence has significant effects on HCCI combustion. In the current engine setup, the main effect of turbulence is to affect the wall heat transfer, and hence to change the mixture temperature which, in turn, influences the ignition timing and combustion duration. The model also predicts that the combustion duration in the square bowl case is longer than that in the disc piston case which agrees with the measurements. The results imply that it is preferable to incorporate detailed chemistry in CFD codes for HCCI combustion simulations so that the effect of turbulence on wall heat transfer can be better simulated. On the other hand, it is also found that the onset of combustion is also very sensitive to the initial conditions so that an accurate estimate of initial mixture conditions is essential for combustion simulations.


Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches ( Gromphadorhina Portentosa) have been used to better understand cellular respiration in ectotherms. In other trials, it has been discovered that the respiration rate in ectotherms can vary drastically (Contreras and T.J. 2009). In this experiment, we examined whether the temperature of the environment affects the metabolic rate per gram of Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches. This will allow for better understanding of metabolic rates in relation to the mass and environmental temperature in other ectotherms. We found that the higher the temperature was, the higher the CO 2 output was. Likewise, we found that the lower the temperature was, the lower the CO 2 output was. This means that the metabolic rate in this organism increases as the environmental temperature increases, and vice versa. Therefore, the metabolic rate is directly proportional to the environmental temperature.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present the research carried out on a conceptual approach in business improvement termed as culture driven regeneration (CDR). The research positions CDR as business improvement tool that leverages organizational learning, organization culture and corporate knowledge in implementing changes. The CDR concept is positioned half way between business process re-engineering (BPR) that thrives on radical design and process changes, and total quality management (TQM) that takes the slow and incremental approach to improvement. CDR regenerates the processes in the journey to business improvement.

Design/methodology/approach

A structured and a comprehensive literature review were carried out on BPR and TQM in the context of leadership, organization learning, organizational learning and corporate knowledge. The review confirmed that TQM and BPR are connected to the four areas. This connection led to the conceptualization that organizations deploy culture and corporate knowledge to drive business improvement. Organization culture and knowledge was quantified based on previous research in this area and methods applied in other research studies relating to benchmarking. There are no empirical analyses included in this paper, however knowledge and culture were given scores in illustrating the CDR concept.

Findings

This conceptual paper has pointed out that organization culture, knowledge, organizational learning and leadership are important components of a business improvement tool such as BPR and TQM. The CDR concept leverages those components and draws on the organization's corporate culture to enable change.

Research limitations/implications

Additional empirical studies are required on various types of industries, organization cultures, organization structures and professions to establish more robust scores for knowledge and culture applied in the CDR concept. The concept could be further expanded into a framework that could be applied across a number of industries.

Originality/value

The CDR concept is a business improvement tool that enables organizations to leverage their existing culture in driving change. The concept is built up on the existing relationship BPR and TQM has with organization learning, organization culture, corporate knowledge and the quantification of culture and knowledge.


We present a deep survey of the Super-Cluster Assisted Shear Survey (SuperCLASS) supercluster – a region of sky known to contain five Abell clusters at redshift z ∼ 0.2 – performed using the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager (AMI) Large Array (LA) at 15.5 GHz. Our survey covers an area of approximately 0.9 deg2. We achieve a nominal sensitivity of 32.0 μJy beam−1 towards the field centre, finding 80 sources above a 5σ threshold. We derive the radio colour– colour distribution for sources common to three surveys that cover the field and identify three sources with strongly curved spectra – a high-frequency-peaked source and two GHz-peakedspectrum sources. The differential source count (i) agrees well with previous deep radio source counts, (ii) exhibits no evidence of an emerging population of star-forming galaxies, down to a limit of 0.24 mJy, and (iii) disagrees with some models of the 15 GHz source population. However, our source count is in agreement with recent work that provides an analytical correction to the source count from the Square Kilometre Array Design Study (SKADS) Simulated Sky, supporting the suggestion that this discrepancy is caused by an abundance of flat-spectrum galaxy cores as yet not included in source population models.


In the presence of operational context changes, many applications must use dynamic adaptations in order to meet requirements. When an application has a set of distributed objects that collaborates to offer a particular function, adaptations involving simultaneous distributed processes may affect such collaborations, planning distributed adaptations is thus a complex task for developers. This paper presents Adapt-Medium, an architecture of adaptive distributed components. In the architecture, adaptations are realized by performing dynamic compositions of distributed components. We introduce a model-based process for 1) specifying architecture variants of such distributed components and 2) automatically generating adaptation plans that are performed at runtime to switch between architecture variants.


We present a model of the gravitational field based on two symmetric tensors. The equations of motion of test particles are derived: Massive particles do not follow a geodesic but massless particles trajectories are null geodesics of an effective metric. Outside matter, the predictions of the model coincide exactly with General Relativity, so all classical tests are satisfied. In Cosmology, we get accelerated expansion without a cosmological constant.


A human cell line with strong natural killer (NK) activity lacking alloreactive cytotoxicity was derived from a primary mixed lymphocyte culture (MLC). The line was developed from a single colony grown in soft agarose and subsequently expanded in liquid culture. Several subcultures with identical reactivity were established, one of which (3.3) was studied in detail. The morphologic and phenotypic characteristics of this line were distinct from those of alloreactive T lymphocytes. While reacting with a moAb to the sheep red blood cell receptor, it lacked the well-defined pan T cell markers Leu 1 and Leu 4, as well as the markers associated with functional T cell subsets Leu 2a and Leu 3a. Further morphologic, histochemical, and phenotypic characterization revealed this cell line to be strikingly similar to the larger granular lymphocyte (LGL) population, which contains the bulk of the natural killer cell activity normally found in peripheral blood. Cold target blocking studies confirmed the NK specificity of the observed cytotoxicity. Although unlabeled NK targets readily inhibited cytotoxic activity, B-LCL bearing the stimulating antigens of the original MLC failed to inhibit lysis of NK-sensitive targets. The growth of 3.3 was strictly dependent on IL 2 CM. Absorption studies with IL 2-dependent T cells and 3.3 revealed that both of these cell populations were equally effective in removing the growth-promoting factor(s) from IL 2 CM. These data suggest that at least some of MLC-generated NK activity is mediated by a population of cells similar to if not identical to LGL. These cells, in addition, appear to depend on the same growth-promoting factor(s) in IL 2 CM as do classical T lymphocytes.


I read the article by Liu and Edye with particular interest. The article mentioned that the first comprehensive in-patient electronic health records (EHR) system was not implemented until July 2014. For the record, probably at least one of the earliest EHR system would have been used as early as 2003 in a small hospital in Western Australia. This system was built with limited, basic resources and at no cost to the health system, apart from some technical support from the local IT team. While EHR nowadays has become the norm, in those days not everyone was keen to move away from handwritten paper notes. There has always been some reservation to its use, mainly due to perceived privacy concerns. Since its implementation, the EHR system has proven to be very useful in many aspects, including auditing our surgical cases, thereby helping us improve our performance, along with carrying out quick and easy research.


Purpose: Guided by the conception that amotivation is a multidimensional construct, the present study aimed to evaluate gender as a moderator of relationships between different dimensions of perceived teachers' controlling behavior and amotivation in high school physical education. Method: A total of 419 students (246 girls and 173 boys) completed questionnaires assessing their relevant psychological constructs. To detect gender differences, a multi-group structural equation modelling was employed with restrictions placed on the structural paths across genders. Results: The results revealed that girls showed overall higher amotivation and more strength than boys in associations of perceived negative conditional regard and intimidating behavior from teachers with amotivation, whereas boys demonstrated more strength than girls in the association of perceived teachers' controlling use of praise with amotivation. Discussion/Conclusion: These gender differences should be acknowledged and instructionally addres...


OBJECTIVE To investigate the activation of NF-κB in the carrageenan rat air pouch model of inflammation in a time course experiment, and the effect of dexamethasone on NF-κB activation. METHODS Air pouch tissue treated with carrageenan (inflamed tissue) was obtained from rats killed at days 1, 2, 3, 6, 14, 21, 28 and 35 after carrageenan challenge. Tissue was also taken from non-carrageenan treated pouches (non-inflamed tissue) at day 3, and from inflamed tissues treated with dexamethasone. Tissue sections were wax embedded and stained with an "activity specific" monoclonal antibody raised against the nuclear localisation signal (NLS) of the p65 sub-unit of NF-κB. RESULTS Cells containing activated NF-κB were detected in the intimal and sub-intimal regions of the air pouches as early as day 1. There was a significant increase in cells staining for activated NF-κB as the inflammation progressed. Initially cells staining were more prominent in the intimal versus sub-intimal region (p<0.001 for day 1) and at later time points the pattern was reversed (p<0.001 for day 6). There was a significant reduction in the number of cells staining for activated NF-κB in tissue taken from dexamethasone treated rats, compared with inflamed pouches alone (p<0.001). At no time point was positive staining for activated NF-κB observed in blood vessels. CONCLUSIONS Activated NF-κB is present in the inflamed air pouch and the activation is associated with the inflammatory response to carrageenan. Treatment with dexamethasone resulted in reduced numbers of cells staining for activated NF-κB.


This a tool that will provide you with access to all the resources (both library and non-library) that Auburn University Montgomery has to assist you in becoming a financially wise individual.


The genus Dermacentor is represented by 12 species in the New World. We sequenced a 300-bp portion of the mitochondrial 16S ribosomal DNA gene for 28 individual ticks representing 9 of these species and analyzed their phylogenetic relationships. Maximum parsimony, distance (neighbor-joining), and maximum likelihood were all used to resolve tree topologies. Eleven specimens of Dermacentor hunteri Bishopp representing populations across the tick's entire geographic range showed negligible genetic variation, with only single base-pair differences between each of 5 haplotypes. We found high degrees of bootstrap support (66-86%) for monophyly of the genus, but variable support for monophyly of species within the genus. D. hunteri, D. occidentalis Marx, and D. variabilis (Say) each resolved as a monophyletic taxon (79-99% support). D. andersoni Stiles and D. parumapertus Neumann formed a paraphyletic clade (99% support). D. albipictus Packard showed substantial intraspecific variation and warrants further investigation. D. imitans Warburton was distinct from all other Dermacentor spp. on all trees.


Visualization and analysis of micro/nano structures throughout multiphase ow have received signi cant attention in recent years due to remarkable advances in micro imaging technologies. In this context, monitoring bubbles and describing their structural and motion characteristics are crucial for hydrodynamic cavitation in biomedical applications. In this thesis, novel vision based estimation techniques are developed for the analysis of cavitation bubbles. Cone angle of multiphase bubbly ow and distributions of scattered bubbles around main ow are important quantities in positioning the ori ce of cavitation generator towards the target and controlling the destructive cavitation e ect. To estimate the cone angle of the ow, a Kalman lter which utilizes 3D Gaussian modeling of multiphase ow and edge pixels of the cross-section is implemented. Scattered bubble swarm distributions around main ow are assumed to be Gaussian and geometric properties of the covariance matrix of the bubble position data are exploited. Moreover, a new method is developed to track evolution of single, double and triple rising bubbles during hydrodynamic cavitation. Proposed tracker fuses shape and motion features of the individually detected bubbles and employs the well-known Bhattacharyya distance. Furthermore, contours of the tracked bubbles are modeled using elliptic Fourier descriptors (EFD) to extract invariant properties of single rising bubbles throughout the motion. To verify the proposed techniques, hydrodynamic cavitating bubbles are generated under 10 to 120 bars inlet pressures and monitored via Particle Shadow Sizing (PSS) technique. Experimental results are quite promising.


We previously established a bioassay method to screen for compounds that activate the promoter activity of p21(WAF1/CIP1), a potent inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinases, in a p53-independent manner. As an activator of p21(WAF1/CIP1) promoter activity, we isolated cryptolepine (CLP: 5-methyl indolo (2,3b)-quiniine), an indoloquinoline alkaloid, from the traditional Ayurvedic medicinal plant Sida cordifolia. We show here that CLP induces the expression of p21(WAF1/CIP1) with growth arrest in p53-mutated human osteosarcoma MG63 cells. Four micromolar of CLP completely inhibited the growth of MG63 cells and caused G2/M-phase arrest. CLP up-regulated the expression of p21(WAF1/CIP1) at both mRNA and protein levels in a dose-dependent manner. Using several mutant p21(WAF1/CIP1) promoter constructs, we found that the CLP-responsive element is an Sp1 site at -82 relative to the transcription start site of the p21(WAF1/CIP1) promoter. These findings suggest that CLP arrests the growth of MG63 cells by activating the p21(WAF1/CIP1) promoter through the specific Sp1 site in a p53-independent manner. In addition, CLP-mediated cell cycle arrest was reduced by the knockout of the p21(WAF1/CIP1) gene in human colon cancer HCT116 cells, suggesting that the cell cycle arrest by CLP was at least partially mediated through the induction of p21(WAF1/CIP1) expression. Although we need further study of chemotherapeutic effect in vivo, these results raise the possibility that CLP might be a suitable chemotherapeutic agent for treatment of osteosarcoma.


Hemoglobin is important part of red blood cell to transport oxygen and carbon dioxide. Hemoglobin concentration in the blood can be used as physical condition parameter. A low hemoglobin level is called anemia and high hemoglobin level is called polycythemia. WHO has determined the anemia cut off level of hemoglobin concentration based on age, sex, and condition (pregnant or not). Currently, accurate and reliable hemoglobin concentration measurement uses invasive methods such as cyanmethemoglobin and automated hematology analyzer. But these methods are expensive, not real time, high infection risk, and need special techniques. Non-invasive methods offer a better alternative because it has low infection risk, instant result, and portable in size. This work developed a non-invasive hemoglobin measurement for anemia diagnosis based on optical spectroscopy. The system utilized LED and photodiode as optical sensor placed on the fingertip. Photodiode just could obtain DC component, so the signal conditioning circuit which consisted of HPF, LPF and amplifier was used to obtain the AC component of the signal. This system used microcontroller to control the operation of the hardware and to calculate the hemoglobin concentration.


In this work, we studied the fragmentation dynamics of 2-deoxy-d-ribose (DR) in solution that arises from the double ionization of a water molecule in its primary hydration shell. This process was modeled in the framework of ab initio molecular dynamics. The charge unbalanced in the solvent molecules produces a Coulomb explosion with the consequent release of protons with kinetic energy in the few electronvolts range, which collide with the surrounding molecules in solution inducing further chemical reactions. In particular, we observe proton collisions with the solute molecule DR, which leads to a complete ring opening. In DNA, damage to the DR moiety may lead to DNA strand breaking. This mechanism can be understood as one of the possible steps in the radiation-induced fragmentation of DNA chains.


Prokaryotic expression system is the most widely used host for the production of recombinant proteins but inclusion body formation is a major bottleneck in the production of recombinant proteins in prokaryotic cells, especially in Escherichia coli . In vitro refolding of inclusion body into the the proteins with native conformations is a solution for this problem but there is a need for optimization of condition for each protein specifically. Several approaches have been described for in vitro refolding; most of them involve the use of additives for assisting correct refolding. Co-solutes play a major role in refolding process and can be classified according to their function as, aggregation suppressors and folding enhancers. This study presents a review of additives that are used in refolding process of insoluble recombinant proteins in small scale and industrial process. Key words : Refolding, protein aggregation, low-molecular-weight additives, arginine.


Extracranial meningiomas of the sphenoid sinus are extremely rare. They present a unique challenge to otolaryngologists and neurosurgeons regarding diagnosis and treatment when contiguous intracranial involvement is present. We present a case of a secondary sphenoid sinus meningioma extending from the temporal fossa and medial sphenoid ridge. Otolaryngologic endoscopic transnasal techniques are able to characterize masses of the nose and paranasal sinuses when intra and extracranial involvement is seen on imaging to further direct treatment with a lower associated morbidity than a craniotomy approach. Surgical excision of a secondary sphenoid sinus meningioma can be complicated due to frequent involvement of nearby neurovascular structures. Often, an endoscopic transnasal technique combined with a transfacial/transcranial approach is both required to achieve adequate resection of the meningioma, although complete resection is difficult.


Many third-party payors, which include commercial health and auto insurance companies and workmen's compensation carriers, are requesting access to their clients' itemized patient statements and medical records for verifying accuracy of charges and documentation of services rendered. If even a portion of the payment is withheld until the audit is completed, slowing of cash flow results. A slow cash flow may ultimately have profound effects on the quality, or even availability, of patient care. Hospitals are finding it cost effective to have someone within their institution audit patient accounts and medical records to identify problem areas that may result in denial of payment. Nurses are being recruited to perform these audits because of their knowledge of documentation standards and patient account charging procedures. With this background, the nurse auditor is also able to assess educational needs of the nursing staff and work collaboratively with other departments to correct deficiencies.


SIR,-Surgeon Captain T L Cleave and Dr W W Yellowlees (29 May, p 1340) both remain unaware of, or choose to, ignore, the fact that the fat of the intensively reared animals that they get from their butchers differs from that eaten by hunter-gatherers at the time of Moses and by nomadic peoples like the Masai today. My colleagues and I have described these differences,1-4 World Medicine has reviewed them,5 and we have written a general book on the subject6; the same query on animal fats was raised and answered in the Lancet five years ago.7


Purpose To quantify the false positive rates for keratoconus (KC) and potential ectatic corneal conditions in highly astigmatism eyes when using published parameters/indices obtained from the Pentacam and Galilei units. Setting Oftalmosalud Instituto de Ojos, Lima, Peru. Design Prospective cohort study. Methods 67 consecutive eyes with corneal astigmatism > 1.5 D, with a minimum follow ups of 36 months after an uneventful LASIK procedure were included. Indices for KC and other potential ectatic corneal conditions (subclinical KC, forme fruste KC, suspect KC) were obtained using the Pentacam and Galilei Scheimpflug cameras. Main outcome measures The false positive rates for KC and potential ectatic corneal conditions were measured. Cut off values provided by previous studies and company-based parameters were used to assess the rate of false positivity. Results The range of false positive rates for a KC diagnosis depending on the lowest and highest cutoff values were: index of height decentration (61% - 1%), index of surface variance (76% - 0%), Posterior elevation (55% - 0%), maximum Ambrosio Relational thickness (100% - 13%), Belin Ambrosio enhanced ectasia display total deviation value (100% - 4%), Average pachymetric progression index (69% - 3%), Pachymetry at the thinnest point (58% - 1%), CSI Center Surround Index (100%), Differential sector index (51%). Conclusion The false positive rates for KC and ectatic corneal conditions vary dramatically depending on the cut-off values used. Some indexes used for diagnosis of potential ectatic corneal conditions are inaccurate in normal, highly astigmatic eyes.


In this paper, we introduce the fuzzy model of the makespan on a single batch-processing machine with non-identical job sizes and propose an improved DNA evolutionary algorithm (IDEA) solution approach. The model is based on fuzzy batch processing time and fuzzy intervals between batches. DEA is improved by integrating the crossover operator to overcome the immature convergence caused by the determinate selection of vertical operator in DEA. To decode the permutations of jobs searched by IDEA, the heuristic first fit decreasing (FFD) is applied to produce batches. In the experiment, the results of the fuzzy makespan demonstrate the proposed algorithm outperforms GA and SA on all instances.


In today's highly competitive market, CAD tools are widely used and thought to reduce time to market and increase engineering productivity. However, to take advantage of these putative benefits requires proper use of CAD tools. Merely teaching declarative knowledge (particular keystrokes and button picks) in CAD is not sufficient; students should acquire deeper procedural knowledge (design strategy) in CAD. This will allow them to gain a level of expertise that is adaptive in nature. Recent research in engineering education finds that experts demonstrate two distinct characteristics: adaptive versus routine expertise. Adaptive experts possess the content knowledge similar to routine experts in the field, but also the ability to effectively utilize and extend their content knowledge. Epistemological beliefs, metacognitive skills, multiple perspectives, and learning orientations are among the constructs that can define adaptive expertise. This work describes the implementation of an instrument used to measure adaptive expertise in two courses at two universities. The instrument contains questions covering four dimensions: multiple perspectives, meta-cognitive self-assessment, goals and beliefs, and epistemology. In one university setting, freshmen and sophomore engineering students were surveyed with the instrument; in the other, junior and senior level engineering students were surveyed. In addition to the student participants, practicing engineers from industry were surveyed using the instrument. Participant demographic, education, and engineering experience data were collected. These data were used to examine the relationships among expertise related responses and demographic variables. We report the factor analyses results and the reliability coefficients of the instrument and the observed differences between students' and engineers' responses to survey items.


Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a heterogenous group of inherited conditions arising from a variety of biochemical and morphological collagen defects. We report 2 cases with a clinical diagnosis of OI. The first case was classified as Silence type IIA. He was delivered at 38 weeks' gestation with severe bowing of long bones, blue sclera and craniotabes at birth. Radiographs showed severe generalized osteoporosis, broad and crumpled long bones, beading ribs and poorly mineralized skull. Histological examination of the long bones revealed the trabecula of the calcified cartilage with an abnormally thin layer of osteoid & the bony trabeculae were thin and basophilic. The second case was classified as Sillence type III. She was delivered at 39 weeks' gestation. Short, bowed lower extremities but normal color of sclerae were noted after birth. Radiographs revealed L't femoral fracture and callus formation of R't 8th rib. She survives till now with gradual deformity of long bone and growth retardation. Because of the poor prognosis of Sillence type II and type III, there is no doubt that accurate genetic counseling and prenatal diagnosis will become important in the management of the disease.


Temengor and Bersia reservoirs which were constructed mainly for the purpose of hydropower generation and flood mitigation have contributed towards the inland fisheries of Malaysia. However, the contribution towards the total fish landings from these reservoirs is poorly documented. Hence, a study on inland fisheries has been conducted in two consecutive reservoirs along Sungai Perak. A monthly study on fish diversity and distribution at these two reservoirs had been carried out for ten months between August 2009 and December 2010. A total of 20 species, which comprised of eight families, was recorded during this study. Cyprinidae was the most dominant family in terms of the number caught in Temengor and Bersia reservoirs with 94% and 78%, respectively while the other families were only represented by one or two species. Nineteen species were recorded in Temengor whereas 16 species were recorded in Bersia. Shannon-Wiener diversity and evenness indices were
higher in Bersia Reservoir (2.030; 0.732) as compared to Temengor Reservoir (1.921; 0.653). In particular, total catch in both lakes showed that Osteochilus vittatus and Cyclocheilichthys apogon were two dominant species caught during this study. Based on Mann-Whitney U Test, there is no significant difference (p>0.05) between the total individual number per species caught in Temengor and Bersia reservoirs. Therefore, Temengor Dam does not affect the fish abundance of Bersia Reservoir.


In this paper we derive a model for the diffusion of strongly sorbed solutes in soil taking into account diffusion within both the soil fluid phase and the soil particles. The model takes into account the effect of solutes being bound to soil particle surfaces by a reversible nonlinear reaction. Effective macroscale equations for the solute movement in the soil are derived using homogenization theory. In particular, we use the unfolding method to prove the convergence of nonlinear reaction terms in our system. We use the final, homogenized model to estimate the effect of solute dynamics within soil particles on plant phosphate uptake by comparing our double-porosity model to the more commonly used single-porosity model. We find that there are significant qualitative and quantitative differences in the predictions of the models. This highlights the need for careful experimental and theoretical treatment of plant-soil interaction when trying to understand solute losses from the soil.


To study the structural basis of pathological remodelling and altered calcium channel functional states in the heart, we sought to re-purpose high-affinity ligands of the cardiac calcium channel, the ryanodine receptor (RyR2), into super-resolution imaging probes. Imperacalcin (IpCa), a scorpion toxin peptide which induces channel sub-conduction states, and DPc10, a synthetic peptide corresponding to a sequence of the RyR2, which replicates arrhythmogenic CPVT functional changes, were used in fluorescent imaging experiments. Isolated adult rat ventricular cardiomyocytes were saponin-permeabilised and incubated with each peptide. IpCa-A546 became sequestered into the mitochondria. This was prevented by treatment of the permeabilised cells with the ionophore FCCP, revealing a striated staining pattern in confocal imaging which had weak colocalisation with RyR2 clusters. Poor specificity (as an RyR2 imaging probe) was confirmed at higher resolution with expansion microscopy (proExM) (~70 nm). DPc10-FITC labelled a striated pattern, which had moderate colocalisation with RyR2 cluster labelling in confocal and proExM. There was also widespread non-target labelling of the Z-discs, intercalated discs, and nuclei, which was unaffected by incubation times or 10 mM caffeine. The inactive peptide mut-DPc10-FITC (which causes no functional effects) displayed a similar labelling pattern. Significant labelling of structures unrelated to RyR2 by both peptide conjugates makes their use as highly specific imaging probes of RyR2 in living isolated cardiomyocytes highly challenging. We investigated the native DPc10 sequence within the RyR2 structure to understand the domain interactions and proposed mechanism of peptide binding. The native DPc10 sequence does not directly interact with another domain, and but is downstream of one such domain interface. The rabbit Arg2475 (equivalent to human Arg2474, mutated in CPVT) in the native sequence is the most accessible portion and most likely location for peptide disturbance, suggesting FITC placement does not impact peptide binding.


Historically, design margin and defects have been viewed as different topics, one a part of design and the other a part of a test. Shrinking process geometries are making the two part of a continuum. This paper discusses the leakage and delay behavior associated with classic resistive defects and compares it with transistor variation due to lithography.


Over the past decade, the U.S. Census Bureau has implemented the American Community Survey as a replacement for its traditional decennial "long-form" survey. Starting in 2011, ACS data was made available at the census tract and block group level for the entire nation, representing geographies small enough to be useful to local planners; in the future these estimates will be updated on a yearly basis, providing much more current data than was ever available in the past. Although the ACS represents a bold strategy with great promise for planners working at the neighborhood scale, it will require them to become comfortable with statistical techniques and concerns that they have traditionally been able to avoid.To help with this challenge the author has been working with local-level planners to determine the most common problems associated with using ACS data, and has implemented these functions as a package in the R statistical programming language. The effort is still a work-in-progress, with some tweaks remaining on the "punch-list" (to say nothing of the additional features on the "wish list"), but the basic framework is in place. The package defines a new "acs" class object (containing estimates, standard errors, and metadata for tables from the ACS), with methods to deal appropriately with common tasks (e.g., creating and combining subgroups or geographies, automatic fetching of data via the Census API, mathematical operations on estimates, tests of significance, plots of confidence intervals, etc.).


Aiming at the ecological problems such as soil erosion, desertification, and salinization in the Jingnanxia-Heishanxia reach of Yellow River, the single-factorial ecological problem's sensitivity and the comprehensive ecological sensitivity of the reach were analyzed by GIS spatial analysis, grid computing and superposition, and RS image feature extraction. The results showed that the regions with medium- and high ecological sensitivities almost covered the whole study area, including the Wufo Town of Jingtai County, the Beiwan Town, Wulan Town, Mitan Town, Dongwan Town, and Santan Town of Jingyuan County, and the area between Doucheng and Hongliutan of Pingchuan District. The high, medium, and low sensitive areas should be accordingly programmed as forbidden, medium, and deep constructing areas. During the development process of regional hydropower, effective measures should be adopted to protect the ecological environment to achieve the sustainable development of the drainage area.


The present work presents a cycle-level execution-driven simulator for modern GPU architectures. We discuss the simulation model used for our GPU simulator, based in the concept of boxes and signals, and the relation between the timing simulator and the functional emulator. The simulation model we use helps to increase the accuracy and reduce the number of errors in the timing simulator while allowing for an easy extensibility of the simulated GPU architecture. We also introduce the OpenGL framework used to feed the simulator with traces from real applications (UT2004, Doom3) and a performance debugging tool (Signal Trace Visualizer). The presented ATTILA simulator supports the simulation of a whole range of GPU configurations and architectures, from the embedded segment to the high end PC segment, supporting both the unified and non unified shader architectural models.


Despite existing literature that often conflates the terms party membership and party activism, the first is a formal ascription with a given party organization, while the second entails a set of practices, whether sporadic, informal, or devoted, that (a group of) individuals perform to support a political party either during an electoral campaign or more permanently, independently of being enrolled in the party or not. Party members and activists can be analyzed from both the normative model of democracy and the inner functioning of political parties. Focusing on Latin America, party membership and party activism are related to various types of party organizations, social cleavages, and party identification. Individuals join, and/or work for, parties to gain tangible benefits, information, social advantages, and influence, as well as mental satisfaction, without which they could lose financial resources, time, and alternative opportunities. Moreover, prior contributions on party membership and activism based on Latin American countries has emphasized the functions party supporters have as connectors between the citizenry and the party organizations. In this regard, scholars conceive members' participation not only as a mechanism for party rootedness ("vertical" function), but also as a connection between social and partisan arenas ("horizontal" function). In the region, the research area of party membership and activism portrays virtues and limitations in methodological terms both at the aggregate and the individual level. As a future research agenda, party membership and activism in Latin America should be further studied using comparative strategies, avoiding the pitfalls of public opinion research, not to mention making additional efforts to keep the two terms conceptually distinct. Also, party members and activists can be explored in transnational perspective, joining forces with the blooming literature of political party abroad.


Modelling of large-scale natural (thermally-generated) turbulent flows (such as the turbulent convection in Earth's atmosphere, oceans, or Sun) is approached in laboratory experiments in the simplified model system called the Rayleigh-Benard convection (RBC). We present preliminary measurements of vertical temperature profiles in the cell with the height of 4:7 m, 7:15m in diameter, obtained at the Barrel of Ilmenau (BOI), the worldwide largest experimental setup to study highly turbulent RBC, newly equipped with the Luna ODiSI-B optical fibre system. In our configuration, the system permits to measure the temperature with a high spatial resolution of 5mm along a very thin glass optical fibre with the length of 5m and seems to be perfectly suited for measurement of time series of instantaneous vertical temperature profiles. The system was supplemented with the two Pt100 vertically movable probes specially designed by us for reference temperature profiles measurements.


In the design of spatial auditory displays, listener interactivity can promote greater immersion, better situational awareness, reduced front/back confusion, improved localization, and greater externalization. Interactivity between the listener and their environment has traditionally been achieved using a head tracker interface. However, trackers are expensive, sensitive to calibration, and may not be appropriate for use in all physical environments. Interactivity can be achieved using a number of alternative interfaces. This study compares learning rates and performance in a single-source auditory search tasking for a head-tracker and a mouse/keyboard interface within a single source and multi-source context.


Purpose: Recently, high-quality vocational education and training has attracted much attention in Mexico. In this context, more practically applied skills are taught "on a dual basis", combining classroom-based training with practical, on the job, training within the company. Dual practices are expected to modernize the skills formation system, and simultaneously support companies, while ensuring provision of skilled workers. For this reason, the vocational training system has been reformed in recent years. Hence, it is necessary that schools and universities, as well as companies, closely interact and coordinate their activities. It is also important that there is successful cooperation between vocational training organizations and companies, to contribute to the modernization of vocational training. The aim of this paper is to examine the cooperation between learning venues of vocational education in the hotel industry in Cancún (Quintana Roo, Mexico), one of the most important tourism destinations in Latin America. Research in vocational education and training, reveals a particular focus on the principles that are necessary for successful cooperation between learning venues. This study examines whether the setting of common goals, communication between companies and training organizations and governance are equally important.
Methods: In an exploratory approach, based on a qualitative framework, ten face-to-face expert interviews were conducted in Cancún. The interviews were then fully transcribed and evaluated using qualitative methods. The survey is complemented by further document analysis.
Findings: The results show that for successful cooperation between learning venues, the coordination of a common goal (to secure the availability of skilled workers) between different actors, and communication between companies and vocational training organizations, are particularly important for successful cooperation. Furthermore, it seems that companies are taking on a more dominant role, so that vocational training organizations must be more in line with the wishes of the hotels. The results indicate that partnership-based action is not very obvious. Accordingly, the aspect of governance plays a subordinate role.
Conclusion: The study shows that cooperation between learning venues in other regions and industries, requires certain principles to be successful. In this respect, the duration of the relationship as well as the specificity of a region or sector can influence the required principles. Therefore, the cooperation partners should agree on the principles in advance.


Objective Social isolation is a risk factor for depression in older age. However, little is known regarding whether its impact varies depending on country-specific cultural contexts regarding social relationships. The present study examined the association of social isolation with depression onset among older adults in England, which has taken advanced measures against social isolation, and Japan, a super-aged society with a rapidly increasing number of socially isolated people. Design Prospective longitudinal study. Setting We used data from two ongoing studies: the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study (JAGES). Participants Older adults aged ≥65 years without depression at baseline were followed up regarding depression onset for 2 years (2010/2011–2012/2013) for the ELSA and 2.5 years (2010/2011–2013) for the JAGES. Primary outcome measure Depression was assessed with eight items from the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale for the ELSA and Geriatric Depression Scale for the JAGES. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate social isolation using multiple parameters (marital status; interaction with children, relatives and friends; and social participation). Results The data of 3331 respondents from the ELSA and 33 127 from the JAGES were analysed. Multivariable logistic regression analysis demonstrated that social isolation was significantly associated with depression onset in both countries. In the ELSA, poor interaction with children was marginally associated with depression onset, while in the JAGES, poor interaction with children and no social participation significantly affected depression onset. Conclusions Despite variations in cultural background, social isolation was associated with depression onset in both England and Japan. Addressing social isolation to safeguard older adults' mental health must be globally prioritised.


To support the real-time prediction of the student demographic features such as gender, age, study level etc., in different type of online surveys and questionnaires machine learning played a vital role. In this paper, the author's applied a five supervised machine learning algorithms to predict the student's association with their home land (native) towards the technology used in their university. For this, a primary dataset has been collected with google form from the two country university (Indian and Hungarian. The present model might be useful to identify the student category based on their native nation towards their thinking for the technology in higher education. The identification of the nation affiliation might help to understand the satisfaction, usability, technology available and attitude of student for the ICT as well. The best predictive model may be deployed on real-time web module to support demographic prediction system towards ICT. Considering the binary classification problem, the student's nation wise affiliation class set to as a response variable and rest of features was considered as predictors. A student's nation wise affiliation class has two values such as Hungarian student and Indian student. In the Weka experimental environment, the primary dataset of 331 records with 38 attributes were analyzed using the Logistic Regression (LR), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Multilayer Perceptron (MP), K-nearest neighbor (KNN) and Random Forest (RF). The performances and prediction time of each classifier was compared with statistical t-test at the 0.05 confidence level. The authors performed two major experiments with training ratio and cross-validation method using these classifiers. The first experiment found no significant difference between the accuracies of the classifiers in the affiliation prediction. Also, the RF classifier outperformed others with the highest prediction accuracy of 87.56% in 0.07 seconds. The findings of the second experiment proved that the RF attained the highest prediction accuracy of 89.33% as compared to others in 0.08 seconds. This experiment also evidenced the prediction accuracies of the KNN, MP, and LR are found a significant difference as compared to the RF and SVM classifier. The statistical t-test also proved that the prediction times of the SVM, KNN, and LR found significant different than others in each experiment. Hence, the authors presented the RF model to identify the student's affiliation (Indian or Hungarian) towards technological use after made a comparison of various performance measures.


Nodular panniculitis, also known as Weber-Christian disease, is a nonsuppurative inflammatory disorder that affects the adipose tissue (1). It presents as symmetrically distributed subcutaneous nodules which are often accompanied by abdominal pain and vomiting as well as systemic symptoms that include fever and malaise. It is classified into dermatologic and systemic types based on the organ systems involved. In this article, we present a rare case of multiple calcifications in the skin and viscera. This is followed by a discussion of the diagnosis and treatment.


Gait disturbances and sensory deficit in the hands are the most common clinical features in cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM). The disease course is often insidious and slow. The treatment for the underlying cervical-canal stenosis is surgical decompression or stabilisation. Functional scales have been used in CSM to assess neurological impairment, including the Nurick scale1 and the modified Japanese Orthopedic Association (mJOA) scale.2 Whereas functional scales are helpful in quantifying patient disability, they lack the objectivity of a neurological examination. A timed walking test as a quantitative functional test focusing on gait impairment has recently been developed.3 The present study has assessed hand disability in CSM patients with the quantitative Nine-Hole-Peg Test (9-HPT). This easy-to-use test was developed in 1985,4 and is now extensively applied to measure hand dexterity in multiple sclerosis (MS).5 Nine-HPT could constitute a quantifying complementary test to the Walking Time test in CSM to explore the two main symptoms—gait and hand disability.

Forty patients with CSM, corroborated by MRI, were recruited between January 2003 and March 2006. Patients with other known neurological disease were excluded from this study. A posterior decompressive procedure was undergone in all patients.

Twenty healthy subjects were assessed with the 9-HPT to give the normal range values in our …


Candida albicans is a polymorphic fungus that colonizes mucosal tissue, and is thus a frequent member of the human microbiome. While it is no threat to healthy individuals, C. albicans can become pathogenic in immunocompromised hosts, being one of the most common human fungal pathogens, and one of the leading causes of nosocomial infections. For many years, and especially due to the fact that patients with B cell or immunoglobulin deficiencies do not show any increased propensity to C. albicans infections, B cells and antibodies were considered not to play any role in defensive responses against this pathogen. However, several studies have contradicted this view so that nowadays, even though not considered as major players like neutrophils or TH17 cells, B cells are seen as helpers in mounting efficient anti-C. albicans protective responses. To study the interplay between C. albicans and B cells, mouse splenic B cells were isolated and cultured in the presence of heat-killed C. albicans yeast, hyphae, or the fungal cell wall preparation zymosan. Cultures in unsupplemented medium or medium supplemented to mimic either T cell-independent or T-cell dependent B cell activation were analysed. The obtained results allowed to conclude that zymosan and heat-killed C. albicans hyphae, but not yeast, are able to increase B cell activation in a MyD88-dependent manner, and mostly via TLR2. This conclusion was drawn from the observed increase in AID induction and IgG1, IL-10 and IL-6 production. Dectin-1 and specific BCR recognition were not required for this effect. Furthermore, it was possible to observe that C. albicans-induced TLR signalling is able to cooperate with BCR signalling to increase B cell proliferation.


Gun violence is an outsized problem in the United States. Between a culture that allows for relatively unconstrained firearm ownership and a constitutional provision that ensures that ownership will continue to be relatively unchecked, it has proven virtually impossible for politicians to address the problem of gun violence. And yet, gun violence costs the United States tens of billions of dollars or more annually. These tens of billions of dollars are negative externalities — costs that gun owners do not bear themselves, and thus that are imposed on the victims of violence and on taxpayers generally.

What can we do about these costs? One way to reduce them would be to pass meaningful laws, laws that would reduce the likelihood of gun violence. In light of both the culture and the Constitution of the United States, though, such legislation seems improbable. Lawmakers face significant limitations on their ability to regulate firearms directly. If they cannot prevent gun violence, though, they can at least cause gun owners to internalize the costs. Where direct regulation is difficult, they can turn instead to a Pigouvian tax.

In this Article, I propose a Pigouvian tax on firearms. The tax would be a hybrid excise tax and property tax, imposed at the state or local level. Legislatures would set tax rates that roughly approximated the amount of externality that gun violence created in their jurisdiction, and would use the revenue to reimburse individuals and governments for the costs they bore from gun violence. Such a tax would have little problem passing the constitutional muster, and, while it might have little behavioral impact, at least it would serve the interim purpose of making society financially whole, and requiring gun owners to bear a larger percentage of the costs of gun ownership.


Frame rate up-conversion (FRC) is one of the main issues that have arisen in recent years with the emergence of new television and multimedia systems; it is required for conversion between any two display formats with different frame rates. We present a frame interpolation algorithm for FRC. It is based on a pyramid structure and the motion compensation process is performed independently at each resolution level. A technique similar to control grid interpolation (CGI) is employed to process hole regions generated at the top level of the pyramid. Bidirectional motion estimation (ME) and prediction mode selection are utilized at intermediate levels. Finally, at the bottom level, motion vector refinement and overlapped block motion compensation (OBMC) are used. In experiments, the frame rate of the progressive video sequence is up-converted by a factor of two and the performance of the proposed algorithm is compared with that of the conventional frame interpolation method. Experiments with several test sequences show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.


Playing is an important part of daily life interactions as well as a substantial and joyful part in the life of children. It can be relaxing, exciting - children can play a role and it is an important possibility to get in touch with other children. In this paper the setup and results of user trials with a dedicated robot are described. The robot system "PlayROB" , developed by the authors, aims to support children with severe physical impairments for interaction with standard toys. Six of such systems have been installed at three Austrian special schools for a long term trials - the results from this two-years field study are discussed in the paper together with a description of future development.


The aim of the study is to determine and record mangrove species biodiversity and structure at Kudat Mainland and Banggi Island. The sampling plots with size of 100 m x 10 m and four (4) replication was established to measure the species diversity by using Shannon-Wiener Index (H'), Shannon Evenness Index (E) and Simpson's Diversity Index (D). From the results, a total of 10 mangrove species were recorded from both study areas. There are eight (8) species at Kudat Mainland and six (6) species at Banggi Island. The diversity indexes gives the value of H', E and D with the similar value at both study areas. At Kudat Mainland, H' = 1.51, E = 0.73 and D = 0.29 while at Banggi Island H' = 1.50, E = 0.84 and D = 0.29. The results of these value shows the value of diversity at both areas is less diverse. The findings show the represented of mangrove species at both areas are may be affected by the water salinity, tidal inundations, soil conditions and propgules size. While the dependency of local people to mangrove's wood and tree's age will affected to the distribution of mangrove diameter. Meanwhile the current of winds and types of species represented in a plots assume affected the results of distributions of mangrove height. Represented of species less than 8 species assume affected the values of mangrove species diversity. As the conclusion, the mangrove species at Kudat district can be determine and recorded and the diversity of mangrove species at both areas is less diverse. © 2017 UMK Publisher. All rights reserved.


Using a sample of mother-child pairs from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) and the Young Adults of the NLSY79 we explore the relationship between a woman's attitudes towards the role of females in the labor market and the attitudes of her children. We also examine whether this intergenerational cultural link has implications for the labor market behavior of the females in the NLSY79. We find that a woman's attitudes have a statistically significant effect on her children's views towards working women. Furthermore we find that this cultural transmission influences female labor market decisions. Our results imply that a woman's view regarding the role of females in the labor market and family not only affects the labor market force participation decision of her daughter, but also has an equally strong association with the labor force participation of the wife of her son. These results indicate that the transmission of gender role attitudes contributes to the persistence of economic status across generations.


By a significant modification of the standard protocol of quantum state teleportation, two processes "forbidden" by quantum mechanics in their exact form, the universal NOT gate and the universal optimal quantum cloning machine, have been implemented contextually and optimally by a fully linear method. In particular, the first experimental demonstration of the tele-UNOT gate, a novel quantum information protocol, has been reported. The experimental results are found in full agreement with theory.


Economic valuation of ecosystem services is a new concept in forest management. Economic valuation provides basis for payment for ecosystem services (PES). Therefore, objective of this study was to evaluate eco-tourism and carbon stock services of the Maindam valley, District Swat, Pakistan. For the carbon stock calculation, a sample size of 155 plots of 0.1 hectare (Ha) was taken using preliminary survey at 95% confidence interval and 10% allowable error. The data for tourism services was collected from owners of all the hotels, 100 tourists and key informants of the area at 10% sampling intensity on pretested questionnaire for twenty years period (1997-2017). Results showed that Miandam valley has carbon stock worth US$ 16,306,000 while the value of eco-tourism was US$ 1,578,458 on annual basis. The results also showed that trend of tourism has drastically declined after the 9/11 incident for foreigners and locals and the situation was further deteriorated during the era of Talibanization or militancy from 2008-2011. This study recommends implementation of PES strategy at the rate of 5%, thus a total of US$ 78,922 can be earned from eco-tourism and carbon crediting in the study area annually, which could play important role in sustainable forest management.


Many plants, including Festulolium , grown in temperate climates require vernalization and must experience a period of low winter temperature to initiate or accelerate the flowering process. The aim of research was to investigate impact of vernalisation thermoinduction on growth and development parameters of Festulolium new varieties 'Vėtra' and 'Punia'. Investigations were carried out in Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry Institute of Horticulture, Plant Physiology Laboratory of phytotron complex in 2011-2012. The aim of research is to investigate some peculiarities of growth and development of Festulolium . Festulolium varieties 'Vėtra' and 'Punia' were investigated. 5 plants were sown in each 5 liter pot in neutral peat substrate (pH 6-6.5). The plants were grown in greenhouse till the tillering phase at the temperature of 20±2°C at daytime and 16±2°C at night. Later plants were moved to low temperature chambers for 90, 110 and 130 days for passing of vernalisation processes, where the 8 and 16 hour photoperiod were maintained at 4°C temperature. After vernalisation periods plants were removed to a greenhouse for additional 20 days. Biometric parameters, namely plant height, shoot number, and dry mass were measured after each period in greenhouse and climatic chambers. The data revealed different response of Festulolium new varieties 'Vėtra' and 'Punia'to vernalisation conditions.According to our data 'Vėtra' plant height was 6% higher than the 'Punia' after 130+20 days of vernalisation. Nonetheless, vernalisation temperature conditions have no significant impact on shoot number. 110 and 130 long-day photoperiod significantly impacted on shoot number of Festulolium ʽVėtra'. Otherwise, 90 days vernalisation of both photoperiod induced significantly the highest length of ʽPunia' shoots. ʽVėtra' accumulated significantly the maximum dry matter after 110 days vernalisation period, than that after 90 and 130 days. Keywords: Festulolium, vernalisation, photoperiod, morphometry Article DOI: http://doi.org/10.15544/RD.2017.002


Learning from experiences is one, if not the main pillar of modern safety approaches. On micro level, in work organizations, learning from experience (LFE) may help to improve concrete safety practices. On macro level, learning from experience and important accident investigations were the starting point of new concepts in safety approaches. However, learning from experience faces a number of obstacles. Because even with the presence of LFE process in most organizations, the same accidents unfortunately still happen. Failure of a LFE process is either directly at the moment when integrated in the organization or it slowly dies after several years of use. Because the process is not generalized in the organization or the success expected isn't present. In this article, we present a series of common pitfalls that cause learning from experience to fail to be productive. Firstly, a general model of conception, implementation and exploitation of a learning from experience process is presented. In the second part, based on literature and illustrated with research results with industrial partners, the most important obstacles are identified, with an emphasis on social, organizational or cultural factors. In the third part, we propose some recommendations for implementing and driving successfully a LFE process in an organization. In perspective, the identification of those common pitfalls can help an organization willing to develop a successful LFE tool or process. An organization with an already functional LFE process can proceed to a diagnostic of the performance of the learning capacity of his organization regarding safety by checking his LFE process.


IZA DP No. 15168 MARCH 2022 Housing Conditions and Health in Urban China Using longitudinal data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, we investigate the causal relation between housing conditions (both internal and external) and health among urban adults aged 18+. We find that housing improvement reduces the probability of bad self-reported health by 3.7 percent, with more pronounced impacts among females, older adults, those with lower socioeconomic status (low education and income) and residents of the less developed central and western regions. This beneficial health effect is enhanced by longer treatment periods and consistent across several robustness checks. Housing conditions seemingly operate on health via poor macronutrient intake, physical inactivity, and sleep deprivation. JEL Classification: D63, I10, I12, R21


The mammalian ureter consists of a mesenchymal wall composed of smooth muscle cells and surrounding fibrocytes of the tunica adventitia and the lamina propria and an inner epithelial lining composed of layers of basal, intermediate, and superficial cells. How these cell types arise from multipotent progenitors is poorly understood. Here, we performed marker analysis, cell proliferation assays, and genetic lineage tracing to define the lineage relations and restrictions of the mesenchymal and epithelial cell types in the developing and mature mouse ureter. At embryonic day (E) 12.5, the mesenchymal precursor pool began to subdivide into an inner and outer compartment that began to express markers of smooth muscle precursors and adventitial fibrocytes, respectively, by E13.5. Smooth muscle precursors further diversified into lamina propria cells directly adjacent to the ureteric epithelium and differentiated smooth muscle cells from E16.5 onwards. Uncommitted epithelial progenitors of the ureter differentiated into intermediate cells at E14.5. After stratification into two layers at E15.5 and three cell layers at E18.5, intermediate cells differentiated into basal cells and superficial cells. In homeostasis, proliferation of all epithelial and mesenchymal cell types remained low but intermediate cells still gave rise to basal cells, whereas basal cells divided only into basal cells. These studies provide a framework to further determine the molecular mechanisms of cell differentiation in the tissues of the developing ureter.


Variable-step incremental conductance (Inc.Cond.) technique, for photovoltaic (PV) maximum power point tracking, has merits of good tracking accuracy and fast convergence speed. Yet, it lacks simplicity in its implementation due to the mathematical division computations involved in its algorithm structure. Furthermore, the conventional variable step-size, based on the division of the PV module power change by the PV voltage change, encounters steady-state power oscillations and dynamic problems especially under sudden environmental changes. In this study, an enhancement is introduced to Inc.Cond. algorithm in order to entirely eliminate the division calculations involved in its structure. Hence, algorithm implementation complexity is minimised enabling the utilisation of low-cost microcontrollers to cut down system cost. Moreover, the required real processing time is reduced, thus sampling rate can be improved to fasten system response during sudden changes. Regarding the applied step-size, a modified variable-step size, which depends solely on PV power, is proposed. The latter achieves enhanced transient performance with minimal steady-state power oscillations around the MPP even under partial shading. For proposed technique's validation, simulation work is carried out and an experimental set up is implemented in which ARDUINO Uno board, based on low-cost Atmega328 microcontroller, is employed.


The neuroendocrine mechanism regulates reproduction through the hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis which is evolutionarily conserved in vertebrates. The HPG axis is regulated by a variety of internal as well as external factors. Serotonin, a monoamine neurotransmitter, is involved in a wide range of reproductive functions. In mammals, serotonin regulates sexual behaviors, gonadotropin release and gonadotropin-release hormone (GnRH) secretion. However, the serotonin system in teleost may also play unique role in the control of reproduction as the mechanism of reproductive control in teleosts is not always the same as in the mammalian models. In fish, the serotonin system is also regulated by natural environmental factors as well as chemical substances. In particular, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are commonly detected as pharmaceutical contaminants in the natural environment. Those factors may influence fish reproductive functions via the serotonin system. This review summarizes the functional significance of serotonin in the teleosts reproduction.


Intakes of vitamins A, C, and E, folate, and carotenoids have been hypothesized to reduce the risk of breast cancer. However, previous epidemiological studies on these nutrients and breast cancer risk have been inconclusive, and have included primarily postmenopausal women. We examined the intake of these nutrients in relation to breast cancer risk among 90,655 premenopausal women ages 26-46 years in 1991 in the Nurses' Health Study II. Nutrient intake was assessed with a validated food-frequency questionnaire at baseline in 1991 and in 1995. During 8 years of follow-up from 1991 to 1999, we documented 714 incident cases of invasive breast cancer. Overall, none of the vitamins and carotenoids was strongly related to a reduced risk of breast cancer. However, intake of vitamin A, including preformed vitamin A and carotenoids, was associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer among smokers; participants in the highest quintile of total vitamin A intake had a multivariate relative risk of 0.28 (95% confidence interval 0.12-0.62; P, test for trend <0.001; P, test for interaction <0.001) compared with those in the lowest quintile of intake. We found no evidence that higher intakes of vitamins C and E, and folate in early adult life reduce risk of breast cancer. However, intake of vitamin A may be related to a reduced risk of breast cancer among smokers.


In this paper, we examine the sensitivity of the three-top quark production at the LHC to the top quark flavor-changing neutral currents (FCNC) as well as the sensitivity of the four-top production to the strong and weak dipole moments of the top quark. Upper limits at $95\%$ CL on the branching fractions of $\mathcal{B}(t\rightarrow qX)$, where $X = g, Z, \gamma, H$ and $q=u,c$, are set by performing an analysis on three-top events in the same-sign dilepton channel. We consider the main sources of the background processes and a realistic detector simulation is performed at the center-of-mass energy of 14 TeV. In the second part of this work, based on the recent upper limits which have been set on the four-top quark cross section by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations from 13 TeV data, we constrain the top quark strong and weak dipole moments. The bounds on the top quark dipole moments are presented using the future LHC prospects for four-top quark cross section measurement.


The interaction of pig heart AMP deaminase with different chemical species of phosphatidylcholine and with natural plasma membranes has been investigated. Phospholipids added to the system either as natural biological membranes (plasma membrane vesicles) or in the form of liposomes containing unsaturated phosphatidylcholine considerably enhanced AMP deaminase activity. The secondary structure of pig heart AMP deaminase in the absence and in the presence of dioleoyl phosphatidylcholine and dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine liposomes was investigated by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Quantitative analysis of the amide I band showed that the enzyme contains 45% beta-sheets, 28% alpha-helix, 16% turns and 11% non-ordered structure. In the presence of dioleoyl phosphatidylcholine liposomes, the beta/alpha content ratio decreased; this decrease was dependent on the amount of lipid added. This phenomenon was not observed in the case of dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine liposomes. These data suggest a possible role for membrane phospholipids in the regulation of AMP deaminase activity.


This paper focuses upon Middlesex University's response (ISLER Project) to concerns regarding the widening participation agendas' implication on retention. On-going
institutional research in the form of the ISLER Project (Impact of the student learning experience on retention) has been instigated, to better understand the issues that affect
our first year students, in particular academic related factors which contribute to student departure and/or persistence. Findings illustrated reasons for non-completion
often consisted of a mixture of academic related factors coupled with factors external to academic issues. Factors influential to student departure included academic
preparedness, staff/student and peer relationships, students' concerns regarding aspects of learning and teaching. Factors that fostered persistence included institutional aspects of adopting active learning techniques, formative assessments, regular feedback, adopted techniques to make students feel a sense of belonging to the university and course, tied with personal traits of investment, self efficacy beliefs and motivation.


401(k) plans, also. How the value of benefits are perceived by employees and prospective employees, however, will increasingly be the &dquo;wild card&dquo; that separates the winners and losers in recruiting and retention. After taking a few polite jabs at the field's slowness in developing benefits communications strategies, the author offers the &dquo;campaign approach&dquo; to communication as one practitioner's solution to the dilemma. Detailing a retirement plan communications campaign waged by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, this article provides a practical, compelling rationale for investing in benefits communication. Campaign highlights described in the article include preliminary steps, such as employee surveys and focus groups, as well as a creative combination of video and interactive


This paper provides a focus upon forecasting electricity prices in the medium term (from a few weeks to several months ahead) in which accurate estimates of tail risks, e.g., at the 1%, 5%, 95%, and 99%, are important. Medium term forecasting and risk analysis are important for operational scheduling, fuel purchasing, trading, and profit management. We extend the research on hybrid forecasting methods, which link detailed fundamental price formation models, using optimization techniques and market equilibrium considerations, with econometric recalibration to the time series data. This paper is innovative in its use of quantile regression to undertake the recalibration and provide accurate risk estimates. It is shown that probabilistic outputs from the fundamental model add value over expected value inputs to the quantile regressions and that if the fundamental model is itself well specified to diurnal variation through the inclusion of relevant explanatory variables such as demand or climatic conditions, then it is not necessary to undertake the quantile regressions separately for each hour of the day. A real application of the proposed methodology is successfully tested on the Spanish electric power system, in which the high penetration of intermittent wind generation creates extreme price risks. The hybrid method outperforms the more conventional fundamental model, making particular use of wind generation data in the quantile recalibrations.


Coordinated EISCAT, Chatanika, and Millstone Hill incoherent scatter radar observations have revealed that in the auroral zone, the nighttime F region densities vary substantially with the longitude of the observing site: EISCAT's densities are the largest and Millstone Hill's are the lowest. The nighttime F region densities measured by the individual radars are not uniform: the regions where the densities are maximum are the so-called "blobs" or "patches" that have been reported previously. The observations are consistent with the hypothesis that the nighttime densities are produced in significant amounts not by particle precipitation, but by solar EUV radiation, and that they have been transported across the polar cap. The observed differences can be explained by the offset of the geographic and geomagnetic poles. A larger portion of the magnetospheric convection pattern is sunlit when EISCAT is in the midnight sector than when Chatanika is. In winter, when Millstone Hill is in the midnight sector, almost all the auroral oval is in darkness. This universal time effect, which was observed on all coordinated three-radar experiments (September 1981 to February 1982), is illustrated using two periods of coincident radar and satellite observations: November 18–19, and December 15–16, 1981. These two periods were selected because they corresponded to relatively steady conditions. Dynamics Explorer (DE) measurements are used to aid in interpreting the radar observations. DE 1 auroral images show what portion of the oval was sunlit. DE 2 data are used to measure the ion drift across the polar cap. Because the altitude of the ionization peak was high, the decay time of the F region density was substantially longer than the transit time across the polar cap. The southward meridional wind that was observed coincidentally with the ionization patches at Chatanika and EISCAT contributed to the maintenance of the F region by raising the altitude of the peak. DE 2 Langmuir probe measurements of electron density clearly showed a UT dependence, the same as that in the radar measurements.


: An outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China caused by SARS-CoV-2 has led to a serious epidemic in China and other countries, resulting in worldwide concern. With the active efforts from prevention and control, the quantity of discharged patients is escalating. How to manage these patients normatively is still challenging. We hereby reported an asymptomatic discharged patient with COVID-19 who was retested positive for SARS-CoV-2, which arouses concern regarding the present discharge standard of COVID-19.


Collagen VI is an extracellular protein that most often contains the three genetically distinct polypeptide chains, α1(VI), α2(VI), and α3(VI), although three recently identified chains, α4(VI), α5(VI), and α6(VI), may replace α3(VI) in some situations. Each chain has a triple helix flanked by N- and C-terminal globular domains that share homology with the von Willebrand factor type A (VWA) domains. During biosynthesis, the three chains come together to form triple helical monomers, which then assemble into dimers and tetramers. Tetramers are secreted from the cell and align end-to-end to form microfibrils. The precise molecular mechanisms responsible for assembly are unclear. Mutations in the three collagen VI genes can disrupt collagen VI biosynthesis and matrix organization and are the cause of the inherited disorders Bethlem myopathy and Ullrich congenital muscular dystrophy. We have identified a Ullrich congenital muscular dystrophy patient with compound heterozygous mutations in α2(VI). The first mutation causes skipping of exon 24, and the mRNA is degraded by nonsense-mediated decay. The second mutation is a two-amino acid deletion in the C1 VWA domain. Recombinant C1 domains containing the deletion are insoluble and retained intracellularly, indicating that the mutation has detrimental effects on domain folding and structure. Despite this, mutant α2(VI) chains retain the ability to associate into monomers, dimers, and tetramers. However, we show that secreted mutant tetramers containing structurally abnormal C1 VWA domains are unable to associate further into microfibrils, directly demonstrating the critical importance of a correctly folded α2(VI) C1 domain in microfibril formation.


Patient load, lack of time and treatment incentives are the major problems faced by healthcare professionals of being outdated and compromising quality of healthcare. Evidence based medicine has an enormous role to play in improving the present situation. Objective of study is to determine attitude, skills and barriers in practice of evidence based medicine among practitioners and pharmacy students. A cross sectional study was conducted. Institutional ethical committee permission, individual institute permission and consent from all the participants were obtained prior to the study. 323 students and 139 practitioner's responses were collected. 99.4 % of the pharmacy students and 94.2 % of practitioners were aware of evidence based medicine and had positive attitude towards evidence based medicine. The level of confidence for doing various tasks related to evidence based practice is varying widely among students. 56.3 % of pharmacy student's concurred lack of time, lack of skills and non-availability of resources were the major barriers in practice. 74.8 % practitioner's agreed that enhancing pharmacy student's knowledge in evidence based medicine will help to solve clinical queries in minimum time. Evidence based medicine practice among the pharmacy students and practitioners showed positive attitude towards evidence based medicine and supported skill development programs such as hands on training, workshops and seminars. Curriculum modifications in all healthcare professional's education according to the current needs are to be incorporated to enhance the patient care quality in this era of information explosion.