: Rattus tiomanicus is a serious pest of oil palm plantations in Peninsular Malaysia, feeding on the ripening fruit. R. diardii is a rat of human habitations and has been only an occasional field species, presumably because it cannot compete with better adapted species. A widely used control for R. tiomanicus of proven effectiveness uses maize-based baits containing warfarin at 0.05% in 2 cm 3 (14.5 g) wax-bound cubes. These are applied in campaigns at one per palm, replaced on 4 daily rounds, until acceptance has declined to 20%. This "standard method" is applied at about 6-month intervals, and rat populations remain low. In the early 1980s resistance to warfarin began in R. tiomanicus, and from about the same time R. diardii was found more often in oil palms, apparently in the same localities. This review is of studies of these phenomena. Rat population studies by mark, release, recapture (MRR) confirmed that warfarin baiting was failing against R. tiomanicus, or required prolonged application, whereas second-generation anticoagulants (brodifacoum, bromadiolone, and flocoumafen) were effective. Physiological resistance was confirmed in the laboratory. Direct substitution of second-generation compounds increased the cost of control considerably, and ways to reduce costs were investigated. Smaller bait size presented problems in monitoring bait acceptance, and longer intervals between replacements did not reduce consumption. Half the active ingredient concentration had some promise, but a first-round application of one bait per two palms was most practicable. Bromadiolone baits at 0.005% are now used at half density of one bait per two palms on the first application in areas of warfarin resistance. Where the problem was first rat populations were compared in areas with and without continued baiting. In an 81-ha plot left unbaited, R. diardii gradually increased and replaced R. tiomanicus during 1982-84. R. diardii then remained predominant until 1989. In the baited plot, once bromadiolone was used (from early 1984) both species were controlled. It is postulated that R. diardii became able to out-compete R. tiomanicus because the genotype of the latter had somehow been weakened in the rapid selection for warfarin resistance.


Hierarchical scheduling provides predictable timing and temporal isolation; two properties desirable in real-time embedded systems. In hierarchically scheduled systems, subsystems should receive a sufficient amount of CPU resources in order to be able to guarantee timing constraints of its internal parts (tasks). In static systems, an exact amount of CPU resource can be allocated to a subsystem. However, in dynamic systems, where execution times of tasks vary considerably during run-time, it is desirable to give a dynamic portion of the CPU given the current load situation. In this thesis we present a feedback control approach for adapting the amount of CPU resource that is allocated to subsystems during run-time such that each subsystem receives sufficient resources while keeping the number of deadline violations to a minimum. We also show some example simulations where the controller adapts the budget of a subsystems.


Global trends are transforming nearly every sector, and the higher education sector is not an exception. Universities are synchronizing their curricula so that credits are transferrable and cumulative across countries. Governments are increasingly controlling the quality of education through new regulations. Universities are now competing globally and managerial methods derived from business are being introduced. In South America, an increasing student population is demanding access to universities, while at the same time universities are facing a reduction in funding and more competition. The profile of students is shifting and demanding more flexible curricula along with double degree and continuing education programs. All of these trends, together with government regulations passed in 1992, have caused major transformations in the Colombian higher education sector. Universities have been straining to remain competitive in this new environment and many have attempted to implement credit frameworks as a solution. However, such transformations are complex and require uncommon managerial competencies. Furthermore, very little research has been done to understand the real impact of these changes in Colombian Universities, and any studies done have not provided a full picture of what was really happening within the management of Colombian Universities. Did universities fully understand the concept and complexity of implementing credit frameworks? What were the main drivers affecting the higher education sector in Colombia which catalysed the implementation of credit frameworks? Finally, what impact did this implementation have on university management? This research study attempted to answer these questions through an in-depth study of three representative universities. The results showed clear differences and also common understandings among universities and revealed key insights into university management. It is the hope of this research study that it may assist universities and policy makers in the on-going transformation of the Colombian higher education sector.


Employment is crucial for people's well-being and economic growth. Promoting job creation and tackling the economic and social consequences of unemployment, underemployment and preventing social exclusion are a priority for all our countries. Although G20 countries are at different stages of development and there is no "one size fits all" labour market policy, G20 countries will benefit from well-designed, integrated and consistent public policies.(G20 Labour and Employment Ministers' Declaration, 18–19 July 2013)

Since 2008, the global economic and financial crisis and subsequent austerity measures are estimated to have resulted in the loss of 10 million jobs across Europe. Moreover, fiscal consolidation measures have led to reductions in funding for social security and related labour market measures across most European welfare settings. Within these constraints, innovative social security and labour market measures have been developed to enable inclusivity whilst also promoting the structural resilience of labour markets to economic recession. Structural issues of underemployment and wage depression have significantly intensified this challenge.
For the purposes of this themed issue, a pragmatic definition of innovation where "mainstream" policies within specific national contexts serve as the point of reference for qualifying policies as "new" or innovative is adopted.
Critically addressing the underlying rationale, scope and impacts of specific social security and employment measures across a number of European countries, this themed issue aims to assess the characteristics and impact of innovative social security and employment policies in promoting key labour market objectives. These key objectives include the use of short-term policy instruments to counteract the impact of economic crises on the employability and labour market access of vulnerable groups and those aimed at improving the long-term capacity and resilience of distinct European societies and labour markets to cope with economic crises and labour market restructuring.
This set of themed papers has been chosen to be published by the International Social Security Review because the subject matter coincides and is supportive of the topical priorities of the International Social Security Association for the triennium 2014–2016; namely, i) they investigate a number of proposed innovative responses as regards to how social security programmes may better support social cohesion and economic growth and ii) address issues related to how social security programmes may better adapt their current practices to cater to the needs of "atypical" population groups. Within this issue, "atypical" groups are defined as vulnerable groups within the labour market including young people (younger than age 25), migrants and disabled workers. Employment figures reveal that the unemployment rate in these groups is significantly higher than the average unemployment rate in all European countries.


Breast cancer is the number one killer disease among women in Malaysia. In the diagnosis of breast cancer, breast ultrasound examination is commonly used as a supplement to mammography. Ultrasound examination is a non ionizing technique, free of harmful effects. Unfortunately, ultrasound is also known as a time-consuming examination technique with high operator dependency with the results from the examination difficult to discuss, document and reproduce. Three-dimensional imaging provides new information and allows a better interpretation of the standard two-dimensional images. The aim of this study is to therefore develop a PC-based three dimensional ultrasound system to help in the examination and evaluation of breast lesions. The system consists of a PC-based ultrasound system and a magnetic tracking sensor. A sequence of breast ultrasound images were acquired along with the coordinates. These data were then filtered, segmented and finally reconstructed into a 3D image.


Two-dimensional black phosphorus (BP) has sparked enormous research interest due to its high carrier mobility, layer-dependent direct bandgap and outstanding in-plane anisotropic properties. BP is one of the few two-dimensional materials where it is possible to tune the bandgap over a wide energy range from the visible up to the infrared. In this article, we report the observation of a giant Stark effect in electrostatically gated few-layer BP. Using low-temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy, we observed that in few-layer BP, when electrons are injected, a monotonic reduction of the bandgap occurs. The injected electrons compensate the existing defect-induced holes and achieve up to 35.5% bandgap modulation in the light-doping regime. When probed by tunnelling spectroscopy, the local density of states in few-layer BP shows characteristic resonance features arising from layer-dependent sub-band structures due to quantum confinement effects. The demonstration of an electrical gate-controlled giant Stark effect in BP paves the way to designing electro-optic modulators and photodetector devices that can be operated in a wide electromagnetic spectral range.


In this work, the combined diagnostic measurements of ablated material by scanning electron microscopy of the craters and ion time of flight analysis have been employed to study the interaction of third harmonic Nd-Yag laser with silicon and titanium target. Evidence for the transition from normal vaporization to phase explosion has been obtained, showing an abrupt increase in the mass ablation rate beyond a laser intensity threshold and round-shaped micrometer-sized cavities found on the irradiated areas. Ion time of flight analysis is used to estimate the surface temperature under near threshold ablation conditions.


Among the kidney stone diseases, cystinuria (OMIM 220100) is unique as it is exclusively caused by genomic alterations. Cystinuria is associated with mutations in the SLC3A1 and the SLC7A9 genes encoding the subunits rBAT and b0,+AT of the renal b0,+ transporter. Mutations in SLC3A1 are usually inherited autosomal recessively, but SLC7A9 mutations result in a broad clinical variability. The detection rate for mutations is influenced by the ethnic origin of the patient and by the functional significance of the variant. As a result, mutations cannot be detected in 100% of alleles, but it reaches approximately 85%. In case of SLC3A1, large rearrangements in 2p21 cause cystinuria and severe hypotonia (hypotonia–cystinuria syndrome – HCS). Meanwhile, a large number of mutations in both genes have been reported, several of these variants were functionally analysed. Thereby, the aetiology of the disease as well as the physiological mechanisms of the renal trafficking of cystine could be deciphered.

Key Concepts:

Cystinuria is characterised by the defect transport of cystine, resulting in cystine stone formation.

With SLC3A1 and SLC7A9, two disease causing genes have been identified.

SLC3A1 and SLC7A9 encode the two subunits of the amino acid transporter b0,+.

Mutations in SLC3A1 are predominantly associated with an autosomal recessive inheritance, whereas SLC7A9 mutations show an autosomal dominant inheritance with an incomplete penetrance.

Homozygosity for large genomic deletions affecting both the SLC3A1 and the PREPL gene in 2p21 cause the hypotonia–cystinuria syndrome.

Keywords:

cystinuria;
molecular Genetics;
SLC3A1;
SLC7A9;
mutations;
hypotonia-cystinuria syndrome


Abstract Frozen sections (FS) are usually performed in a General Hospital and are very useful for the surgical procedure orientation. PURPOSE--To verify the accuracy of the FS performed at the Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA), RS, Brazil. METHOD--2,152 FS were carried out between March 1986-September 1991, in a prospective study. RESULTS--3.7% of the conventional pathologic examinations (58,127), performed in the same period, correspond to the FS examined. When the FS diagnosis differed from the definitive one (in paraffin) it was classified as False Positive (0.4%), False Negative (1.8%) or inconclusive (2.8%). The organs more frequently examined were lymph nodes (19.3%), ovary (17.21%), breast (16.6%) and thyroid gland (12.4%). We observed accuracy indices in 95% of the FS examined, and in 97.8% when excluding the inconclusive ones. CONCLUSION--The accuracy indices of FS performed in HCPA were similar to the ones found in the literature, which vary from 90.4% to 98.5%.


This is the executive summary of the "new challenges to data protection" report, the full version of which can also be downloaded from this page. The purpose of the study was to identify the challenges for the protection of personal data produced by current social and technical phenomena such as the Internet, globalisation, the increasing ubiquity of personal data and personal data collection, the increasing power and capacity of computers and other data-processing devices, special new technologies such as RFID, biometrics, face-recognition, increased surveillance (and "dataveillance"); and increased uses of personal data for purposes for which they were not originally collected, in particular in relation to national security and the fight against organised crime and terrorism; and to produce a report containing a comparative analysis of the responses that different regulatory and non-regulatory systems (within the EU and outside it) offer to those challenges, and that provides guidance on whether the legal framework of the main EC Directive on data protection (Directive 95/46/EC) still provides appropriate protection or whether amendments should be considered in the light of best solutions identified. Douwe Korff was the Team Leader for this study and Ian Brown his fellow core expert. Other experts provided country reports and/or important further advice and greatly contributed to this study. They are: Peter Blume (DK), Chris Hoofnagle (USA), Graham Greenleaf (AUS), Lilian Mitrou (GR) and Filip Posposil (CR) (experts) and Ros Anderson (UK), Caspar Bowden (UK), Katrin Nyman-Metcalf (EST) and Paul Whitehouse (UK) (advisers). NB: French and German translations are also available from the present ssrn page, both of this Executive Summary and of the full Final Report.


Measurements of Doppler spread, multipath spread, and signal‐to‐noise ratio have been made on four high‐latitude high‐frequency (HF) communications paths. The measurement system and analysis techniques are outlined, and an analysis of the data pertinent to the design of robust HF data modems is presented. A summary of the spreads that are exceeded for 5% of time is presented for each path. Doppler spreads range from 2 to 55 Hz, while multipath spreads range from 1 to 11 ms. Physical interpretations of the data are made, and the data are related to the measured performance characteristics of an HF data modem to estimate the modem availability on the paths considered. When there is mode support, availabilities range from 64% to 100% for a signal‐to‐noise ratio of 0 dB, although the data indicate that the availabilities can generally be increased by optimizing frequency selection.


The coagulation experiments, with Kaolin as objects, aluminum chloride (PAC) as coagulant, were accomplished under different conditions. In the experiment, the particle size distribution and turbidity in water were detected by on-line detector. Result showed that all floc changed in speed in the first 5 min of the coagulation process and the fractal dimension of floc growth in the first 4 min of coagulation process had best linear relation (R2 was biggest and more than 0.92 )with turbidity, total particle number and the number of particle size <5µm of settled water. The fractal dimension had a direct ratio relation with water quality of settled water and could be used as a factor to forecast water quality of settled water.


Active supervision is a proactive, low-intensity strategy to minimize challenging behaviors and increase desired behaviors. To examine the evidence base of this strategy, we applied the Council for Exceptional Children's (CEC) Standards for Evidence-Based Practices in Special Education to the body of research exploring the impact of active supervision with Pre-K–12 students in traditional school settings. In this systematic literature review, we identified seven peer-reviewed, single-case design, treatment-outcome studies meeting inclusion criteria. All studies met a ≥80% weighted criterion of CEC's quality indicators. These seven studies included 15 cases aggregated at the school, classroom, or grade level, collectively involving 1,686 participants. Three studies included three or more cases and demonstrated positive effects across primary dependent variables (with one study showing neutral effects on a secondary dependent variable). Based on available evidence and using CEC criteria, we determined active supervision to be a potentially evidence-based practice. We discuss implications, limitations, and future directions.


Detection of feature points in images is an important preprocessing stage for many algorithms in computer vision. We address the problem of detection of feature points in video sequences of 3D scenes, which could be mainly used for obtaining scene correspondence. The main feature we use is the zero crossing of the intensity gradient argument. We analytically show that this local feature corresponds to specific constraints on the local 3D geometry of the scene, thus ensuring that the detected points are based on real 3D features. We present a robust algorithm that tracks the detected points along a video sequence, and suggest some criteria for quantitative evaluation of such algorithms. These criteria serve in a comparison of the suggested operator with two other feature trackers. The suggested criteria are generic and could serve other researchers as well for performance evaluation of stable point detectors.


Purpose: This study was done to compare educational needs for discharge after thyroid cancer surgery between patients and nurses. Methods: The participants were 107 patients who had thyroid cancer surgery and 70 nurses who have had experience of taking care of patients with thyroid cancer surgery at P hospital in Busan. The researcher reviewed the literature and conducted a preliminary survey to develop a questionnaire. Results: Although there was no significant difference in total perceived nursing discharge educational needs after thyroid cancer surgery between patients and nurses, both had a high level of nursing educational needs for discharge. The degree of patients" needs was higher than nurses in areas of dietary management after discharge and the degree of nurses" needs was higher than patients in the other areas. Although the first ranking area of educational needs was medication management for both patients and nurses, dietary management after discharge was the second ranking for patients and operation site and complication management was those for nurses. Conclusions: As the patients had different educational needs from the nurses, nurses need to focus on the patient"s educational needs and provide relevant information. Educational programs should be developed and applied to post-surgical thyroid cancer patients.


Diversity and inclusion in Kinesiology is needed to ensure the future professionals of tomorrow engage in recognizing the shared fabric of science and inquiry. Initiatives targeting inclusion and diversity have shown promise in bridging the existing gap. Vital to this process is the role of faculty, administrators and students in providing academic support and paracurricular exposure to the field of Kinesiology. Historical perspectives and knowledge of best practices shape the conversation regarding innovative 21st century options deemed necessary for meeting this challenge. Our review describes programs that strengthen the preparedness of undergraduate students. In addition, we outline existing strategies leading to effective partnerships between undergraduate and graduate institutions. Diversity and inclusion are integral to the achievement of excellence and enhance each institution's ability to accomplish its academic mission and to serve its constituents.


We present a proof of principle for the phenomenon of the tragedy of the commons that is at the center of many theories on the evolution of cooperation. We establish the tragedy in the context of a general chemostat model with two species, the cooperator and the cheater. Both species have the same growth rate function and yield constant, but the cooperator allocates a portion of the nutrient uptake towards the production of a public good -the "Commons" in the Tragedy-which is needed to digest the externally supplied nutrient. The cheater on the other hand does not produce this enzyme, and allocates all nutrient uptake towards its own growth. We prove that when the cheater is present initially, both the cooperator and the cheater will eventually go extinct, hereby confirming the occurrence of the tragedy. We also show that without the cheater, the cooperator can survive indefinitely, provided that at least a low level of public good or processed nutrient is available initially. Our results provide a predictive framework for the analysis of cooperator-cheater dynamics in a powerful model system of experimental evolution.


An intraocular-lens abrasion test, vital dye staining, and scanning electron microscopy were used for an in vitro comparison of endothelial protection offered by four viscous solutions of 1% sodium hyaluronate (Healon), 3% sodium hyaluronate (AmVisc), 4% chondroitin sulfate (Viscoat), and 2% methylcellulose. Wide-field specular microscopy with analysis of endothelial cell density and morphologic evaluation, pachymetry, and intraocular pressure measurements were also used to study the toxicity of the viscous solutions in an in vivo cat model with and without anterior chamber washout. All four solutions provided complete endothelial protection from mechanical trauma. Endothelial cell density and morphologic nature were unaffected during the in vivo toxicity study. A mild increase in intraocular inflammation occurred at one and two days after intraocular injection with all four viscous solutions. Intraocular pressure elevations peaked within four hours after instillation of the viscous solutions and were significantly reduced by anterior chamber washout.


The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between hepatic mitochondrial function and residual feed intake (RFI) in growing beef cattle. In Trial 1, RFI was measured in 29 Angus heifers (initial BW = 258.0 ± 24.9 kg) from divergent IGF-I selection lines created at the Eastern Agricultural Research Station (The Ohio State University) fed a grain-based diet (calculated ME = 2.85 Mcal/kg DM). In Trial 2, RFI was measured in 119 Santa Gertrudis steers (initial BW = 308.4 ± 28.1 kg) fed a roughage-based diet (calculated ME = 2.21 Mcal/kg DM). At the end of the RFI measurement period, cattle in Trial 1 (n = 7 low RFI and n = 7 high RFI) and in Trial 2 (n = 6 low RFI and n = 8 high RFI) with measures of RFI exceeding 0.5 (Trial 1) or 1.0 (Trial 2) SD from the mean RFI were selected to measure mitochondrial function. Overall ADG, DMI, and RFI were 1.19 ± 0.15, 9.31 ± 1.12, and 0.00 ± 0.63 kg/d and 0.83 ± 0.16, 9.48 ± 1.00, and 0.00 ± 0.86 kg/d in Trial 1 and 2, respectively. Cattle with low RFI consumed 13 and 24% less (P < 0.05) DM and had 14 and 56% greater (P < 0.05) G:F than cattle with high RFI in Trial 1 and 2, respectively, even though ADG and BW were similar (P > 0.10). In Trial 1, cattle with low RFI tended (P = 0.06) to have greater state 3 respiration rates than cattle with high RFI, but state 3 respiration rates were similar (P > 0.10) between cattle with low and high RFI in Trial 2. In both trials, cattle with low RFI had greater (P < 0.05) acceptor control ratios than their high RFI counterparts. The respiratory control ratio tended (P = 0.09) to be greater for cattle with low RFI compared with high RFI cattle in Trial 1, but no difference (P > 0.10) was observed in Trial 2. Proton-leak kinetics were similar (P > 0.05) between cattle with low and high RFI in both trials. These data suggest that ADP has greater control of oxidative phosphorylation in liver mitochondrial of cattle with low RFI compared to their high RFI counterparts.


The inconstant environment in which animals lives and the variation of their metabolic states determined the gas exchangers system that must be able to operate efficiently across a spectrum of conditions that range from resting to exercise and even under hypoxia. The primordial respiratory organs that evolved for water breathing were the gills, evaginated gas exchangers, whereas for terrestrial air breathing developed a invaginated gas exchangers, the lungs. Specialized organs evolved for animals that can extract oxygen from water and air, consider as a transitional breathing (or bimodal). From amphibians to mammals, it is possible to verify that the dimensions of their respiratory units are being increasingly smaller and the number per unit of lung volume increases. The evolution of the vertebrate respiratory system achieved its most efficient state in birds, with their constant volume parabronchial lungs and their highly compliant air sacs with low pressure ventilation that, enabling them to sustained flapping flight. In contrast, the mammalian bronchoalveolar lungs, with their mandatory high-pressure ventilation and great volume changes, allowed the development of adaptations that favour, for example, a highly mobile trunk for high velocity running predators or to live in a deep-sea.


Given significant genetic, molecular, and phenotypic overlaps, researchers have begun to investigate whether targeted treatments for Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) could also be beneficial for patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). For example, low-dose sertraline, an SSRI, was used in two recent controlled trials in children with FXS and ASD. The first trial recruited 52 children with FXS, 32 of which were also diagnosed with ASD; the second trial recruited 58 children with non-syndromic ASD. One focus of the present study is to compare the response to sertraline between the FXS-associated ASD and non-syndromic ASD groups. Another focus is to compare baseline ASD-related characteristics between the groups and review these differences within the context of recent literature comparing these populations. Our comparison showed more severe ASD profiles in children with non-syndromic ASD vs. FXS-associated ASD. Regarding response to sertraline, the FXS-ASD group displayed significant improvements in language development, while the non-syndromic group did not show any significant improvements. One possible explanation for this differential response is the distinct anxiety profiles that are seen in these two groups. The heightened anxiety phenotype seen in those with FXS-ASD may have led to a greater relief of anxiety symptoms with sertraline compared to those with non-syndromic ASD; this, in turn, could have led to measurably greater developmental gains. Further research is required to solidify this connection between anxiety relief and developmental gains in these populations.


In many engineering design texts, the solution(s) to design problems are provided along with the proposed problem. Therefore, the student will read about the solution rather than take the time to think about the problem being presented. This paper explores the development of and pilot study done on an online textbook and research tool, based on the book, "How to Model It," by Starfield, Smith and Bleloch. With this online system, students are able to read only a portion of the text, and then must complete one or more tasks related to the modeling problem, then submit a response to the system. Their responses are captured and available for their review (but cannot be changed). Once their response is submitted, they can then proceed to read subsequent text where they might, for example, compare their responses with 'expert' design methods for that problem. Through this approach, students are forced to begin practicing the engineering design process, rather than simply reading about someone else's solution to the problem. This format allows engineering design instructors to look at the effectiveness of their teaching methods on student design learning in such areas as heuristics, problem definition, etc. Besides allowing instructors to assess their students' design learning process, the 'online book' generates data of potential interest for research on design learning. For research purposes, videotapes of the input process have been used to determine the amount of information, if any, lost during the participants' solving of the design problem on the computer (i.e., discussion of ideas not presented in the input response). The video data has shown that most ideas, heuristics, methods, etc. discussed by the students during the exercise are included in the data input as responses into the system, making this a useful tool to research student learning. Currently, the data produced using the online text is being compared to the same problems completed using more traditional methods (i.e., paper and pencil, followed by a computer report). We expect to find little difference in the data provided by these methods. Introduction Design process learning is a field of much recent interest in the engineering education community. Many approaches have been used to examine the ways people use the engineering design process. One of these methods, verbal protocol analysis produces very detailed information on a student's design process thinking through the 'talking-out-loud' method. This type of analysis is extremely time-consuming, which severely restricts the number of subjects that can be included in any sample. Another method, analysis of student design journals, has also been used for analysis of the design process, but unless regularly monitored for content, journals may not provide detailed information about the students' day-to-day design learning. Both of these approaches look at vital aspects of engineering design learning, but due to the time considerations for data processing and the desire to have continuous monitoring of students' design learning, neither of these methods allow for frequent glimpses at student learning over the course of a semester. In addition to our research interests in engineering design learning, we are also interested in the pedagogy of engineering instruction. In many engineering design texts, the solution(s) to design problems are provided in the pages following the proposed problem. Therefore, it is our experience that students will nearly always read ahead to the presented solution (if one is available) rather than take the time to think about and generate their own solutions for the problem being presented in the text. Reading about a process does not necessarily promote student learning of problem solving strategies; in contrast, active engagement with the material will more likely provide students with a deep understanding of the concepts discussed in the text. The purpose of this study was two-fold: to develop an online textbook to enhance engineering students' leaning in their first design course, and to use the information gathered from this online text to investigate student learning of the engineering design process during this course. Therefore, a program has been developed based on the engineering design textbook, "How to Model It," ("HTMI") by A.M. Starfield, K.A. Smith, and A.L. Bleloch, that permits both of these goals to be realized.


Hepatoid adenocarcinoma of the stomach (HAS) is a rare form of gastric cancer that has unique clinicopathological features and an extremely poor prognosis. Here, we report on three patients with suspected gastric cancer who were referred to our hospital. Gastrointestinal fiberscopy on the three patients revealed two lesions in the antrum and a third lesion in the gastroesophageal junction. The alpha fetoprotein (AFP) serum levels were markedly elevated in all cases. At the time of diagnosis, two cases were advanced stages with lymph nodes and/or liver metastases. Two patients underwent exploratory laparotomy. A total gastrectomy was performed on the operable lesion, and an expanded gastrectomy was completed in the case with hepatic metastases. Histopathological analysis revealed that the tumors displayed two pathological changes: hepatoid-like foci and adenocarcinomatous. Furthermore, the tumor cells were immunohistochemically positive for AFP, alpha-1 antitrypsin, and alpha-1 antichymotrypsin. All three patients received chemotherapy. The follow-up duration ranged from 8-36 mo. Our experience and previous published studies have suggested that HAS is an aggressive type of adenocarcinoma. However, radical surgery and chemotherapy may positively impact clinical outcomes.


The Supercritical Fluid Extraction (SFE) technique was used to fractionate Suwannee River reference fulvic acid (FA). The fractions were characterized by gas chromatography (GC) and reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). A SFE fractionation method was developed using stepwise gradient of supercritical CO₂ and methanol. Three FA fractions were separated. The average mass recovery was 102% with the coefficient of variation of 2.8%. The fractionation dynamics and the difference in the ratios of UV absorption to fluorescence emission indicate the real fractionation of the FA. The HPLC chromatographic peak patterns and the spectra of the corresponding peaks were almost indistinguishable. The overall results of this research support the argument that FA exhibits polymer-like molecular structure.


With advances in computer technology and software engineering, systems are constantly becoming larger and more complex. Straightforward testing methods are insufficient to cope with the complexity and maintaining quality of service demands the use of more structured testing methods. Checking sequences are testing mechanisms based on finite state behavior models that can offer guarantees about a system under test, under certain assumptions. However, their complexities are high, and to make their implementation feasible methods of their construction need to be refined. We have studied several methods of checking sequence construction in the presence of distinguishing sequences, developed fully formed algorithms from loose specifications, then implemented and compared their performances. We have also proposed several improvements that will allow generation of shorter checking sequences. We are confident that these developments will be instrumental in making the use of checking sequences feasible in a larger scope.


A formal description of polish utterances with a vocative nominal phrase We describe an automatic processing approach to the problem of a vocative nominal phrase. The author of the formalism adopted here is Alain Colmerauer (1978). This formalism is known as «metamorphosis grammar». It was used to describe the syntax of the Polish language by Stanislaw Szpakowicz (1983) and Marek Świdzinski (1987) in Poland. The same metamorphosis grammars can be used for semantic models or models which take into account parameters of the speech acts. This is also our purpose here. The analysis of real utterances led us to reject the hypothesis that the vocative nominal phrase should be considered as a subject of the main verb. At the same time, it became obvious that it was necessary to take into account some parameters of the speech act (namely those refering to the speaker and the addressee) for the description of utterances with a vocative constituent. During the formalization process, we noticed that the «loose constituent» in the vocative case could not be generated only by a rewrite rule as it linked too closely the «loose constituent» with the sentence. For this reason, a procedure call had to be added to the raies. In our system, every linear expression uttered in a given speech situation is defined as an utterance, if 1) it contains a loose constituent (in the vocative case), 2) it contains an elementary well-formed sentence and 3) it refers to a speech situation. Without taking the speech situation into account, we have to bind the loose constituent to the sentence by syntactic rules. In our opinion, this stands in contradiction with the syntactic «independence» of the «loose constituent». The contradiction raises the problem of the syntactic nature of loose constituents in general. This is particularly important because not only a noun phrase in the vocative case but also some other phrases (among them modifiers such as temporal and local phrases, modal adverbs or particles) can be viewed as loose constituents of an utterance. The restrictions on the formation of utterances with the vocative noun phrase are not due to syntax but to the coreferential rules that anchor the linguistic expressions in given speech situations. Therefore, in our model, the speech situations are treated as procedure calls, because we think that such procedures allow the insertion of coreferential parameters during automatic processing of utterances.


Chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) was recently proposed as a contributing factor in the pathology of multiple sclerosis. This concept has gained remarkable attention, partly because endovascular neurointervention has been suggested as a treatment strategy. This review summarizes available evidence and provides a critical analysis of the published data. Currently, there is inconclusive evidence to support CCSVI as an etiological factor in patients with multiple sclerosis. Endovascular procedures should not be undertaken outside of controlled clinical trials.


In a classical dogma, pathogens are sensed (via recognition of Pathogen Associated Molecular Patterns (PAMPs)) by innate immune cells that in turn activate adaptive immune cells. However, recent data showed that TLRs (Toll Like Receptors), the most characterized class of Pattern Recognition Receptors, are also expressed by adaptive immune B cells. B cells play an important role in protective immunity essentially by differentiating into antibody-secreting cells (ASC). This differentiation requires at least two signals: the recognition of an antigen by the B cell specific receptor (BCR) and a T cell co-stimulatory signal provided mainly by CD154/CD40L acting on CD40. In order to better understand interactions of innate and adaptive B cell stimulatory signals, we evaluated the outcome of combinations of TLRs, BCR and/or CD40 stimulation. For this purpose, mouse spleen B cells were activated with synthetic TLR agonists, recombinant mouse CD40L and agonist anti-BCR antibodies. As expected, TLR agonists induced mouse B cell proliferation and activation or differentiation into ASC. Interestingly, addition of CD40 signal to TLR agonists stimulated either B cell proliferation and activation (TLR3, TLR4, and TLR9) or differentiation into ASC (TLR1/2, TLR2/6, TLR4 and TLR7). Addition of a BCR signal to CD40L and either TLR3 or TLR9 agonists did not induce differentiation into ASC, which could be interpreted as an entrance into the memory pathway. In conclusion, our results suggest that PAMPs synergize with signals from adaptive immunity to regulate B lymphocyte fate during humoral immune response.


The multigenic Rsv1 locus in the soybean plant introduction (PI) 'PI96983' confers extreme resistance against the majority of Soybean mosaic virus (SMV) strains, including SMV-N, but not SMV-G7 and SMV-G7d. In contrast, in susceptible soybean cultivars lacking a functional Rsv1 locus, such as 'Williams82' (rsv1), SMV-N induces severe disease symptoms and accumulates to a high level, whereas both SMV-G7 and SMV-G7d induce mild symptoms and accumulate to a significantly lower level. Gain of virulence by SMV-N on Rsv1-genotype soybean requires concurrent mutations in both the helper-component proteinase (HC-Pro) and P3 cistrons. This is because of the presence of at least two resistance (R) genes, probably belonging to the nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NB-LRR) class, within the Rsv1 locus, independently mediating the recognition of HC-Pro or P3. In this study, we show that the majority of experimentally evolved mutational pathways that disrupt the avirulence functions of SMV-N on Rsv1-genotype soybean also result in mild symptoms and reduced accumulation, relative to parental SMV-N, in Williams82 (rsv1). Furthermore, the evaluation of SMV-N-derived HC-Pro and P3 chimeras, containing homologous sequences from virulent SMV-G7 or SMV-G7d strains, as well as SMV-N-derived variants containing HC-Pro or P3 point mutation(s) associated with gain of virulence, reveals a direct correlation between the perturbation of HC-Pro and a fitness penalty in Williams82 (rsv1). Collectively, these data demonstrate that gain of virulence by SMV on Rsv1-genotype soybean results in fitness loss in a previously susceptible soybean genotype, this being a consequence of mutations in HC-Pro, but not in P3.


Predictions by housestaff physicians of whether or not patients would return for follow-up visits and of the amount of prescribed medication they would take were compared to measured compliance for 187 patients discharged from the medical service. Although physicians were able to predict visit compliance better than by chance alone, at best they could accurately predict only 35% of the noncompliers and one half of their predictions of noncompliance were incorrect. In predicting medication compliance, less than one half of physician predictions correctly discriminated between compliant and noncompliant patients and three fourths of their predictions of noncompliance were inaccurate. Because of physician limitations in this important clinical area, medical education should expand efforts to develop physician skills in diagnosing and managing sociobehavioral aspects of illness, and efforts to improve quality of care cannot ignore these "nontechnical" factors.


Ultrasmooth, highly spherical monocrystalline gold particles were prepared by a cyclic process of slow growth followed by slow chemical etching, which selectively removes edges and vertices. The etching process effectively makes the surface tension isotropic, so that spheres are favored under quasi-static conditions. It is scalable up to particle sizes of 200 nm or more. The resulting spherical crystals display uniform scattering spectra and consistent optical coupling at small separations, even showing Fano-like resonances in small clusters. The high monodispersity of the particles we demonstrate should facilitate the self-assembly of nanoparticle clusters with uniform optical resonances, which could in turn be used to fabricate optical metafluids. Narrow size distributions are required to control not only the spectral features but also the morphology and yield of clusters in certain assembly schemes.


The deformation of the middle to lower crust in collisional settings occurs via deformation mechanisms that vary with rock composition, fluid content, pressure, and temperature. These mechanisms are responsible for the accommodation of large tectonic transport distances during nappe stacking and exhumation. Here, we show that fracturing and fluid flow triggered coupled dissolution–precipitation and dissolution–precipitation creep processes, which were responsible for the formation of a mylonitic microstructure in amphibolites. This fabric is developed over a crustal thickness >500 m in the Lower Seve Nappe (Scandinavian Caledonides). Amphibolites display a mylonitic foliation that wraps around albite porphyroclasts appearing dark in panchromatic cathodoluminescence (CL). The albite porphyroclasts were dissected and fragmented by fractures preferentially developed along the (001) cleavage planes and display lobate edges with embayments and peninsular features. Two albite/oligoclase generations, bright in CL, resorbed and overgrew the porphyroclasts, sealing the fractures. Electron backscattered diffraction shows that the two albite/oligoclase generations grew both pseudomorphically and topotaxially at the expense of the albite porphyroclasts and epitaxially around them. These two albite/oligoclase generations also grew as neoblasts elongated parallel to the mylonitic foliation. The amphibole crystals experienced a similar microstructural evolution, as evidenced by corroded ferrohornblende cores surrounded by ferrotschermakite rims that preserve the same crystallographic orientation of the cores. Misorientation maps highlight how misorientations in amphibole are related to displacement along fractures perpendicular to its c‐axis. No crystal plasticity is observed in either mineral species. Plagioclase and amphibole display a crystallographic preferred orientation that is the result of topotaxial growth on parental grains and nucleation of new grains with a similar crystallographic orientation. Amphibole and plagioclase thermobarometry constrains the mylonitic foliation development to the epidote amphibolite facies (˜600°C, 0.75–0.97 GPa). Our results demonstrate that at middle to lower crustal levels, the presence of H2O‐rich fluid at grain boundaries facilitates replacement reactions by coupled dissolution–precipitation and favours deformation by dissolution–precipitation creep over dislocation creep in plagioclase and amphibole.


BACKGROUND
Disordered functioning of gap junctions between normal and initiated cells has been proposed as one possible mechanism of tumour promotion. Many putative carcinogens such as peroxisome proliferators, are known to activate various signal transduction mechanisms and modulate gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC). They act as tumour promoters on pre-existing "initiated" cells, rather than as genotoxic initiators.

OBJECTIVES
The aim of this article is to provide a screening-tool to evaluate the promoter carcinogen effect of environmental and occupational chemical contaminants, focusing on their ability to alter GJIC.

METHODS
GJIC was investigated in serum-free cultured primary human keratinocytes, by directly evaluating the intercellular transfer of a microinjected fluorescent dye (Dye transfer). The expression of caspase 3, which is the ultimate target to be activated of both mitochondrial- and non-mitochondrial-linked pro-apoptotic pathways, was evaluated using Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR).

RESULTS
Mercury chloride (10 nM), mono-methyl Mercury (250 nM) and Trichloroethylene (500 I1M) were shown to significantly inhibit GJIC. Conversely di-methyl mercury, lead acetate and epichloridine had no effect on GJIC. All Trans Retinoic Acid completely reversed the inhibitory effect on GJIC induced by HgCI2 but not that induced by mono-methyl mercury and trichloroethylene. The result of a RT-PCR assay on total RNA cell extract showed that treatment of keratinocytes with 10 nM HgCl2 resulted in a decrease of the pro-apoptotic caspase 3 expression.

CONCLUSIONS
In this work a protocol is designed to study gap junction intercellular communication in primary cultures of human keratinocytes which could be used as a reliable screening tool to test the promoter carcinogen effect of various environmental and occupational contaminants.


Rates of street crime have dropped substantially over the past several decades, but important nuances of this decline are underappreciated and the reasons for it remain unclear. We suggest that the narrow conception of change adopted within criminology has hindered the field's capacity to develop a stronger scientific understanding of crime trends. Criminology has focused heavily on within-person changes in crime, devoting comparatively little attention to changes in aggregate crime rates. In this review, we make a case for integrating research on crime trends into the core of criminology. After describing the late twentieth century crime drop, we present a conceptual framework that situates the study of crime trends in the criminological theoretical literature and illuminates several unresolved questions central to criminological inquiry. We then highlight major shortcomings of current empirical approaches and outline several methodological improvements that would enhance our capacity to describe and exp...


The problem of rendering the origin an asymptotically stable equilibrium point of a nonlinear system while, at the same time, optimising some measure of performance has been the object of much attention in the past few years. In contrast to the case of linear systems where several optimal synthesis techniques (such as H∞, H2 and l1) are well established, their nonlinear counterparts are just starting to emerge. Moreover, in most cases these tools lead to partial differential equations that are difficult to solve. In this chapter we propose a suboptimal regulator for nonlinear parameter varying, control affine systems based upon the combination of model predictive and control Lyapunov function techniques. The main result of the chapter shows that this controller is nearly optimal provided that a certain finite horizon problem can be solved online. Additional results include: (a) sufficient conditions guaranteeing closed-loop stability even in cases where there is not enough computational power available to solve this optimisation online; and (b) an analysis of the suboptimality level of the proposed method.


Given a probabilistic transition system (PTS) A partially observed by an attacker, and an ω-regular predicate φ over the traces of A, measuring the disclosure of the secret φ in A means computing the probability that an attacker who observes a run of A can ascertain that its trace belongs to φ. We consider specifications given as Interval Markov Chains (IMCs), which are underspecified Markov chains where probabilities on edges are only required to belong to intervals. Scheduling an IMC S produces a concrete implementation as a PTS and we define the worst case disclosure of secret φ in S as the maximal disclosure of φ over all PTSs thus produced. We compute this value for a subclass of IMCs and we prove that simulation between specifications can only improve the opacity of implementations.


Rayleigh-Taylor instability at a gas-water interface has been investigated experimentally. Such instability was produced by accelerating a water column down a vertical circular tube employing shock wave impact. Accelerations from 50 to 100 times gravitational acceleration with fluid depths from 125 to 250 mm were studied. The resulting instability from small amplitude random perturbations was recorded and later analyzed using high-speed video images. Cavity formation was observed in the middle of the gas-water interface soon after the shock wave impact; bubbles and spikes then developed across the rest of the interfacial plane. Measurements of the growth coefficient of the bubbles and spikes show that they are nearly constant over different runs.


C-H functionalization has recently received considerable attention because C-H functionalization during the late-stage transformation is a strong and useful tool for the modification of the bioactive compounds and the creation of new active molecules. Although a carbene transfer reaction can directly convert a C-H bond to the desired C-C bond in a stereoselective manner, its application in late-stage material transformation is limited. Here, we observed that the iridium-salen complex 6 exhibited efficient catalysis in asymmetric carbene C-H insertion reactions. Under optimized conditions, benzylic, allylic, and propargylic C-H bonds were converted to desired C-C bonds in an excellent stereoselective manner. Excellent regioselectivity was demonstrated in the reaction using not only simple substrate but also natural products, bearing multiple reaction sites. Moreover, based on the mechanistic studies, the iridium-catalyzed unique C-H insertion reaction involved rate-determining asynchronous concerted processes.


Until fairly recently most linguistic fieldwork relied on written records of spoken data or audio-only recordings. The recent increase in research focusing on audio-visual data, with emphasis on the co-expressiveness of speech and gesture, has led to a greater understanding of the relationship between language, gesture and thought. In this paper, we discuss gesture and what it illuminates linguistically in two Modern South Arabian Languages: Mehri and Śḥerɛt.


Sign bilingual education, for the purpose of this article, is defined as a program at primary or secondary school where sign language is used as the first language of instruction with spoken/written language (e.g. English) as the second language (Knoors et al., 2014). International research on sign bilingual education has been on the rise over the last twenty years to the extent that researchers can no longer ignore its importance in an Irish context. The aim of this article is to establish whether or not a case should be made for sign bilingual education in Ireland. Based on a review of international literature, the article begins by discussing the historical development of sign bilingualism. It then discusses each of the key objectives for such a programme outlined in Marschark et al. (2014): (1) the promotion of first (sign) language acquisition to support literacy and numeracy skills in the second (spoken) language; (2) to use an accessible, visual language as a way to unlock the curriculum for deaf students; (3) to improve proficiency in the written and spoken language of the majority population; (4) to enhance deaf children's social, emotional and positive identity development and their academic achievement. The study concludes with the argument that, although empirical evidence is limited, there are sufficient grounds for promoting a debate on sign bilingual education at policy level in Ireland.


Objective: To examine whether sleep problems in infancy and early toddlerhood precede symptoms of anxiety or depression at 3 years. Methods: Data on specific sleep problems at 2 months and 24 months were available for 4,782 children participating in a population-based cohort in The Netherlands. The Child Behavior Checklist for toddlers containing the Anxious/Depressed syndrome scale was assessed at 36 months. We adjusted the logistic regression analyses for several confounding factors; the analyses with sleep problems at 24 months were additionally adjusted for preexisting anxiety or depressive symptoms (at 18 months). Results: Dyssomnia and parental presence during sleep onset at 2 months and 24 months were associated with anxiety or depressive symptoms at 3 years (e.g., parental presence: odds ratio2 months, 1.22; 95% confidence interval, 1.04–1.44; odds ratio24 months, 1.58; 95% confidence interval, 1.30–1.92). Parasomnia, short sleep duration, and absence of set bedtime at 24 months, but not at 2 months, also preceded anxiety or depressive symptoms. These significant associations were not due to children's anxiety or depressive symptoms at 18 months. Rhythmicity and co-sleeping were not associated with later anxiety or depressive symptoms. Additional analyses provided little evidence for a bidirectional association with anxiety or depressive symptoms preceding later sleep problems. Conclusions: Our findings highlight the importance of sleep problems early in life, because different sleep problems are associated with the frequency of anxiety or depressive symptoms. Therefore, healthcare practitioners must be particularly attentive to these problems in young children. Future research should address possible mechanisms underlying the association between disturbed sleeping and anxiety or depressive symptoms. CBCL/1½-5 = Child Behavior Checklist for toddlers; OR = odds ratio; 95% CI = 95% confidence interval.


Stochastic volatility (SV) models are nonlinear state-space models that enjoy increasing popularity for fitting and predicting heteroskedastic time series. However, due to the large number of latent quantities, their efficient estimation is non-trivial and software that allows to easily fit SV models to data is rare. We aim to alleviate this issue by presenting novel implementations of four SV models delivered in two R packages. Several unique features are included and documented. As opposed to previous versions, stochvol is now capable of handling linear mean models, heavy-tailed SV, and SV with leverage. Moreover, we newly introduce factorstochvol which caters for multivariate SV. Both packages offer a user-friendly interface through the conventional R generics and a range of tailor-made methods. Computational efficiency is achieved via interfacing R to C++ and doing the heavy work in the latter. In the paper at hand, we provide a detailed discussion on Bayesian SV estimation and showcase the use of the new software through various examples.


Total lipids, lipid class and fatty acid compositions were studied to elucidate their role in the life cycle strategies of the Antarctic silverfish Pleuragramma antarcticum, one of the few truly pelagic fish species in the Antarctic realm. Various size groups (larvae to juveniles, 10-105 mm length) of this notothenioid fish have been collected in the southern Weddell Sea during different seasons (mainly spring: October/November and summer: January/February). Total lipid data of P. antarcticum revealed little variation between the seasons. Lipid levels were largely determined by the developmental stage and size, with lower lipid levels ( 40%DM) in the older juveniles (>55-105 mm). Lipid class composition was clearly related to total lipid levels, with neutral lipids (triacylglycerols) comprising 65%TL in the older lipid-rich fishes. Triacylglycerols and phospholipids showed an inverse relationship. Hence, the relative importance of these polar lipids, typically components of biomembranes, decreased with increasing lipid and triacylglycerol levels. Principal fatty acids were 14:0, 16:0, 18:1(n-9), 18:1(n-7), 20:5(n-3) and 22:6(n-3). Elevated portions of the long-chain mono¬unsaturated fatty acids, 20:1 and 22:1, in the lipid-rich specimens suggest the ingestion of two dominant calanoid copepod species, the wax ester-rich Calanoides acutus and the triacylglycerol-rich Calanus propinquus. They are the only species known to biosynthesize larger amounts of these monounsaturated compounds in high-Antarctic waters, which may therefore serve as dietary marker fatty acids for higher trophic levels. Apparently, wax ester moieties (fatty acids and alcohols) ingested with prey, e.g. copepods, are converted to triacylglycerols via fatty acids or metabolized by P. antarcticum. We discuss the function of these high-energy and low-density lipid compounds as energy reserve and/or buoyancy aid in this swimbladderless fish species.


Genome-wide association studies implicate the CYP17A1 gene in human blood pressure regulation although the causative polymorphisms are as yet unknown. We sought to identify common polymorphisms likely to explain this association. We sequenced the CYP17A1 locus in 60 normotensive individuals and observed 24 previously identified single-nucleotide polymorphisms with minor allele frequency >0.05. From these, we selected, for further studies, 7 polymorphisms located ≤ 2 kb upstream of the CYP17A1 transcription start site. In vitro reporter gene assays identified 3 of these (rs138009835, rs2150927, and rs2486758) as having significant functional effects. We then analyzed the association between the 7 polymorphisms and the urinary steroid metabolites in a hypertensive cohort (n=232). Significant associations included that of rs138009835 with aldosterone metabolite excretion; rs2150927 associated with the ratio of tetrahydrodeoxycorticosterone to tetrahydrodeoxycortisol, which we used as an index of 17α-hydroxylation. Linkage analysis showed rs138009835 to be the only 1 of the 7 polymorphisms in strong linkage disequilibrium with the blood pressure-associated polymorphisms identified in the previous studies. In conclusion, we have identified, characterized, and investigated common polymorphisms at the CYP17A1 locus that have functional effects on gene transcription in vitro and associate with corticosteroid phenotype in vivo. Of these, rs138009835--which we associate with changes in aldosterone level--is in strong linkage disequilibrium with polymorphisms linked by genome-wide association studies to blood pressure regulation. This finding clearly has implications for the development of high blood pressure in a large proportion of the population and justifies further investigation of rs138009835 and its effects.


The long-term effects of Mexico's conditional cash transfer program, PROSPERA, on poor households are of great interest to policy makers and academics alike. This paper analyzes the long-term effects on the welfare of the original participant households and their offspring, about 20 years after the inception of the program. To complement other studies that look into the effects on schooling and health, the analysis focuses on a utilitarian definition of welfare and employs two empirical strategies. The first uses the 1997-2000 experiment as the cleanest, albeit limited, source of variation. The analysis finds that by 2017–18, the offspring of original beneficiary households are more likely to have formed their own households, to have migrated to different localities, and to have more durable assets and larger consumption expenditures than their control counterpart. The second strategy confirms and expands those findings using a difference-in-difference methodology based on the localities' rollout of the program and the age of the individuals, as a proxy of exposure. This second approach covers a much larger and representative sample, while also directly observing self-reported vulnerability in food consumption. The findings confirm the generally positive outlook in terms of durable assets and lower food vulnerability. Perhaps more interestingly and relevant for evaluating the success of the program is that it improved intergenerational mobility. Using the 1997-2000 experiment, the analysis finds that the young adults who benefited from the program improved with respect to their parents in education, assets holding, and income. They appear to be climbing the ladder of assets and income.


In patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), the initial prehospital treatment and transfer of patients directly to intervention clinics—bypassing smaller hospitals—have improved outcomes in recent years. Despite the improved treatment strategies, some patients develop myoclonic status following OHCA, and this phenomenon is usually considered an indicator of poor outcome. With this study, we wanted to challenge this perception. The regional prehospital database in Odense in the Region of Southern Denmark was searched for patients with OHCA from the period of 2011–2016. All 900 patients presenting with a diagnosis of OHCA were included in the study. Patients surviving to the hospital and presenting with myoclonic status were followed for up to one year. Only 2 out of 38 patients with myoclonic status and status epilepticus verified by an EEG survived more than one year. Eleven out of 36 patients with myoclonic status but without status epilepticus survived for more than one year. We found no evidence that myoclonic status is an unmistakable sign of poor outcome when not associated with EEG-verified status epilepticus. The conclusion for clinicians involved in post-resuscitation care is that myoclonic status is uncomfortable to witness but does not necessarily indicate that further treatment is futile.


Background: It is well-established that there is a need for more research into the cause and prevention of breast cancer. While many studies are done in cell lines and laboratory animals, translation of findings to women often falters due to perceived difficulty in recruiting women for research. The Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation received a grant from the Avon Foundation to form the Love/Avon Army of Women (AOW): an online recruitment resource designed to partner women with the research community in an effort to accelerate breast cancer research. Methods: The AOW was launched in 2008 with the goal of recruiting 1 million women interested in participating in breast cancer research. Researchers interested in having the AOW recruit for their studies submit a proposal to be reviewed by the AOW Scientific Advisory Committee, comprised of nominees from AACR and NBCC. If a study is accepted, a mass e-mail describing the study procedures and inclusion/exclusion criteria is sent to the entire AOW database. Women sign up at www.armyofwomen.org to join the AOW. Women aren9t committing to participating in a particular study, but agree to receive AOW e-mails about breast cancer research studies. If the individual is interested and qualifies for a study, she undergoes a secondary online screening and then her contact information is passed on to the principal investigator. Results: Over 336,500 women have signed up, including survivors and healthy women, ranging from age 18 to 100, representing all 50 U.S. states and 49 countries. To date, the AOW has recruited for 34 studies, both regional and national, that vary from biomarker and circadian rhythm research to psychosocial and quality-of-life studies. With over 44,000 AOW members having participated in the research process, this method of recruitment has been found to be effective and efficient. The diversity of the AOW members has proved beneficial for many studies such as those needing to enroll African American women, women of varying sexual orientations, or young survivors. Many studies were closed to enrollment within the first 48 hours after accruing all subjects while others were very quickly overenrolled by 5% to 10%. This overwhelming response has led many researchers to seek additional funding to increase their statistical significance and accommodate all eligible subjects. Conclusions: The Love/Avon Army of Women is a novel resource for scientists to accelerate accrual, expand the number and diversity of their subject population and to obtain exactly the type of specimens they need when they need it. This new partnership between women and scientists can revolutionize research and accelerate efforts to eradicate breast cancer. This talk is also presented as Poster A62. Citation Information: Cancer Prev Res 2010;3(12 Suppl):PR-07.


To decree evapotranspiration from soil surface and improving irrigation efficiency and reduce water usage in cotton cultivation , plastic mulch was applied in furrow irrigation. This study was performed as a split plot experiment in capability randomized complete block design, in 3 replications. The experiment was located in Khorasan Razavi –KashmarKashmar agricultural research station and was applied in 2 years, 2004-2005. The treatments were consist of irrigation period at three levels ; 6, 9 and 12 days as main plot and plastic mulch at three levels I-black plastic mulch, IIwhite plastic mulch and IIIcontrol (without plastic mulch)as a subplot on furrow irrigation. Each treatment was irrigated up to field capacity. The results showed that application of plastic mulch used better water usage and black plastic mulch was more effective. Meanwhile The results showed that the use of plastic mulch had significant effect on reducing of weed growth, plant height increasing, yield and water use efficiency in respect with control.


The dental health care requirements of Navy and Marine Corps personnel exceed the treatment capabilities of the Navy Dental Corps. Through the effective training and efficient utilization of the various categories of auxiliaries, members of the naval service have all essential care completed. The staff of the Dental Technicians School has developed a task-based/self-paced curriculum for the basic dental assisting course. In the task-based curriculum instruction is limited to the psychomotor domain. Background knowledge from the cognitive domain is included only to the extent that the information is needed to perform designated tasks. There are 229 tasks in the inventory of the 12 week basic dental assisting course. These are organized into 17 instructional modules covering all aspects of chairside dental assisting. Student evaluation is based on demonstrated performance of the tasks and is graded on a pass/fail standard. The new curriculum is believed to be unique in dental auxiliary education. Because of the highly successful results in improving the quality of graduates, the positive student enthusiasm and acceptance of task-based instruction and the overall revitalization of every dimension of the basic dental assistant training program, development teams have begun to convert the other three courses of instruction conducted at the Dental Technicians School to the task-based curriculum format.


Many seismological observatories began to record and store seismic events in the early years of the twentieth century,
contributing to the compilation of very valued databases of both phase pickings and waveforms. However, despite
the availability of the instrumental data for some of the events of the last century, an instrumental location for
these earthquakes is not always computed; moreover, when available, the macroseismic location is strongly preferred
even if the number of points that have been used for it is low or the spatial distribution of the observations is
not optimal or homogeneous. In this work I show how I computed an instrumental location for 19 events which occurred
in the Garfagnana-Lunigiana region (Northern Tuscany, Italy) beginning from 1902. The location routine is
based on a Joint Hypocentral Determination in which, starting from a group of master events, the systematic errors
that may affect the data are summed up in the corrective factors complementing the velocity propagation model. All
non-systematic errors are carefully checked and possibly discarded by going back to the original data, if necessary.
The location is then performed using the classic approach of the inverse problem and solved iteratively. The obtained
locations are then compared to those already available from other macroseismic studies with the aim to check
the role to be attributed to the instrumental locations. The study shows that in most cases the locations match, in particular
when considering the different significance of the location parameters, especially for the strongest events: the
instrumental location provides the point where the rupture begins, while the macroseismic one is an estimate of the
area where the earthquake possibly took place. This paper is not meant to discuss the importance and the necessity
of macroseismic data; instead, the aim is to show that instrumental data can be used to obtain locations even for older
seismic events, without any intention to define which location is better or more reliable.


The goal of this paper is the analysis of innovative behavior of firms, that according to their innovative efforts in terms of R&D employees and R&D expenditures, are located in Galicia. The analysis of Technological Innovation Panel has allowed to identify a profile of innovative Ga- lician company based on the type of innovation that makes (in product and in process), the coo- perative relationships they have with other organizations, the access to additional sources of pu- blic funding for the development of innovation (from different sources: local, regional, national and European), and the weight of factors as obstacles to development innovation.


The ankle-foot of human body is a multi-joint structure that accommodates complex foot motion. Abnormality to the ankle-foot due to injury or disease can result in abnormal gait motion. In such cases, physiotherapist has to assist hemiplegic patients (ankle dorsiflexor muscles with lack of dorsiflexion assist moment) in rehabilitation therapy by using gait training in parallel bars. Physiotherapist has to support hemiplegic patient to position foot and also supports their stand balance. This prolongs multiple task puts extra burden to physiotherapist which gives side effect such as muscular strain or bone fracture while doing the task. Consequently, the motion of the foot patients did not follow the normal gait pattern. Therefore, there is a need to develop an effective ankle foot orthosis (AFO) to solve the long issue-problem. This research was undertake to embark on the modeling and designing of new ankle foot orthosis (AFO) using active control system which later could be used to help patients with ankle dorsiflexor muscles problem. The work was carried out in four stages involving modeling and simulation of DC motor, algorithm development, design and fabrication of the orthosis and finally, evalaution of the product and its functions. The orthosis was tested on healthy volunteer and the results show that the objective to develop and fabricate a new type of robust ankle foot orthosis which can control movement has been achieved successfully.


The Trinidad dome, Escambray complex, Central Cuba, forms part of an accretionary wedge built-up during intra-oceanic subduction in the Caribbean from the Late Cretaceous (∼75 Ma) to Tertiary. Fieldwork, microscopic studies, P-T estimates and new 40Ar/39Ar isotopic data indicate a tectono-metamorphic evolution involving five deformation phases. Three main stages (D1, D2 and D3) were responsible for the subduction-exhumation of the units during metamorphic development. 40Ar/39Ar isotopic data allow for the first time, an evaluation of the complete time interval from subduction/collision to final exhumation. D1 deformation took place at 60.5 ± 0.6 Ma during subduction and was characterized by a prograde path with HP peak metamorphic conditions in eclogite facies in the Monforte nappe (the highest structural nappe) and greenschist metamorphism in the La Sierrita, Yaguanabo and Rio Chiquito nappes (at lower structural levels). D2 deformation (56.32 ± 0.40 Ma) included a short-lived heating event in the lower nappes that caused incipient recrystallization at lower amphibolite facies, but was generally linked to decompression and retrograde metamorphism to greenschist conditions during folding and NNE thrusting of all nappes. Parallelism of the main S2 foliation and serpentinite lenses indicates D2 was the main phase of exhumation. During D3, exhumation and NNE thrusting continued as the units were progressively incorporated into the growing accretionary wedge until about 50 Ma. Structures related to D4 are post-metamorphic and reflect the domal structure. D5 strike-slip and normal faults cut the tectonic pile, and low angle normal faults are more abundant towards the dome rim indicating exhumation of the Escambray. Field observations, structures, and the inverted distribution of the P-T conditions in the wedge suggest exhumation mechanisms by underthrusting/underplating and erosion combined with extension at the surface. Subduction/accretion/exhumation in the Trinidad dome thus occurred from 75 to 50 Ma, indicating a period of 25 million years of deformation history in the northern Caribbean realm.


Author(s): Diamante, Graciel | Advisor(s): Schlenk, Daniel | Abstract: Oil spills are one of the primary sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in marine environments. PAHs are subject to biotic and abiotic weathering that can alter their physical and chemical characteristics. Due to photochemical reactions and microbial activity PAHs can undergo oxidation forming oxygenated products that can have severe effects on marine life and the environment. Previous studies have indicated that weathered oil can cause greater developmental toxicity than source oil. Among the PAHs found in crude oil, chrysene is one of the most persistent in the water column and can undergo photo-oxidation to produce oxygenated derivatives such as 2-hydroxychrysene and 6-hydroxychrysene, which possess respective estrogenic and antiestrogenic properties. The endocrine system regulates many signaling processes that control the development of cardiovascular immune, reproductive and central nervous systems. The integrated role of various biological systems and the interaction between organs can make it difficult to assess the effects of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) especially when a series of signaling events need to occur in a precise spatio-temporal manner during embryogenesis. To assess the role of estrogen signaling in the effects of hydroxychrysene, estradiol toxicity was first characterized using zebrafish. Here we showed that although disruption of estrogen signaling can result in significant malformations, the toxic effects of 2-hydroxychrysene and 6-hydroxychrysene were not directly mediated through this pathway. Additionally, studies evaluating microRNA regulation of mRNA expression, indicated disruption of ion transport may be critical step in the cardiovascular toxicity caused by oil. These findings raise the need to utilize genomic and epigenomic tools to identify mechanisms that are involved in the toxicity of these compounds to assess the potential risks of oil spills on fish populations.


How complex is a given multivariate polynomial? The main point of this survey is that one can learn a great deal about the structure and complexity of polynomials by studying (some of) their partial derivatives. The bulk of the survey shows that partial derivatives provide essential ingredients in proving both upper and lower bounds for computing polynomials by a variety of natural arithmetic models. We will also see applications which go beyond computational complexity, where partial derivatives provide a wealth of structural information about polynomials (including their number of roots, reducibility and internal symmetries), and help us solve various number theoretic, geometric, and combinatorial problems.


People affected by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) out of proportion are also at high risk for oral diseases and experience oral health and oral health care inconsistencies at high rates COVID-19 has led to reduced hours of dental practices or even closure except for emergency services Dental care includes aerosol releasing procedures that may increase the transmission of virus This pandemic offers a chance for the dental professionals to change towards procedures without much aerosol, preventive approaches to care and away from surgical interventions Regular barrier changes to oral health care access during the pandemic could have a valid impact if maintained in the future


Based on a sample of 56 countries, we find that while fiscal policy in the G-7 countries appears to be broadly consistent with Barro's tax smoothing proposition, in developing countries government spending and taxes are highly procyclical (i.e., government spending rises and taxes fall during expansions, while the reverse is true in recessions). To explain this puzzle, we develop an optimal fiscal policy model in which running budget surpluses is costly because they create pressures to increase public spending. Given this distortion, a government that faces large (and perfectly anticipated) fluctuations in the tax base will find it optimal to run a procyclical fiscal policy. We argue that the differences in fiscal policy between the G-7 countries and developing countries can be traced back to the fact that the tax base is much more volatile in developing countries than in the G-7 countries.


Islet homeostasis protein (IHoP) was firstly characterized as a novel protein that regulates glucagon synthesis in alpha-cells of pancreatic islet. Here, we report a cDNA designed BmIHoP encoding an IHop homolog cloned from the fat body of the silkworm, Bombyx mori, using conserved domain homology search method. The resultant BmIHoP translated into a protein that encodes 693 amino acids, with a theoretical isoelectric point of 5.15 and a molecular weight of 77.5 kDa. Homology analysis revealed that BmIHoP has higher similarity at the amino acid level with those of other species, 52% identity with H. sapiens, 52% with M. musculus, 51% with D. rerio, and 73% with D. melanogaster. The expression of BmIHoP was detected in all tissues tested with 4 fold higher expression in the midgut, Malpighian, ovary and testis, and stronger expression in the larval fat body at 5th-3rd instar. The overexpression of BmIHoP in the β-cells reduced insulin secretion, which is not associated with SOX17 regulation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of B. mori IHoP cDNA, BmIHoP, and its associated role in controlling insulin secretion from the β-cells.


The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) secondary kinase domain T790M non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) mutation enhances receptor catalytic activity and confers resistance to the reversible tyrosine kinase inhibitors gefitinib and erlotinib. Currently, irreversible inhibitors represent the primary approach in clinical use to circumvent resistance. We show that higher concentrations of the irreversible EGFR inhibitor CL-387,785 are required to inhibit EGFR phosphorylation in T790M-expressing cells compared with EGFR mutant NSCLC cells without T790M. Additionally, CL-387,785 does not fully suppress phosphorylation of other activated receptor tyrosine kinases (RTK) in T790M-expressing cells. These deficiencies result in residual Akt and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) activities. Full suppression of EGFR-mediated signaling in T790M-expressing cells requires the combination of CL-387,785 and rapamycin. In contrast, Hsp90 inhibition overcomes these limitations in vitro and depletes cells of EGFR, other RTKs, and phospho-Akt and inhibits mTOR signaling whether or not T790M is present. EGFR-T790M-expressing cells rendered resistant to CL-387,785 by a kinase switch mechanism retain sensitivity to Hsp90 inhibition. Finally, Hsp90 inhibition causes regression in murine lung adenocarcinomas driven by mutant EGFR (L858R) with or without T790M. However, efficacy in the L858R-T790M model requires a more intense treatment schedule and responses were transient. Nonetheless, these findings suggest that Hsp90 inhibitors may be effective in T790M-expressing cells and offer an alternative therapeutic strategy for this subset of lung cancers.


PURPOSE: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) of the hand is a significant healthcare problem. Techniques to accurately quantity the structural changes from RA are crucial for the development and prescription of therapies. Analysis of radiographic joint space width (JSW) is widely used and has demonstrated promise. However, radiography presents a 2D view of the joint. In this study we performed tomosynthesis reconstructions of proximal interphalangeal (PIP), and metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints to measure the 3D joint structure. METHODS: We performed a reader study using simulated radiographs of 12 MCP and 12 PIP joints from skeletal specimens imaged with micro-CT. The tomosynthesis technique provided images of reconstructed planes with 0.75 mm spacing, which were presented to 2 readers with a computer tool. The readers were instructed to delineate the joint surfaces on tomosynthetic slices where they could visualize the margins. We performed a quantitative analysis of 5 slices surrounding the central portion of each joint. Reader-determined JSW was compared to a gold standard. As a figure of merit we calculated the average root-mean square deviation (RMSD). RESULTS: RMSD was 0.22 mm for both joints. For the individual joints, RMSD was 0.18 mm (MCP), and 0.26 mm (PIP). The reduced performance for the smaller PIP joints suggests that a slice spacing less than 0.75 mm may be more appropriate. CONCLUSIONS: We have demonstrated the capability of limited 3D rendering of joint surfaces using digital tomosynthesis. This technique promises to provide an improved method to visualize the structural changes of RA.


This article outlines an experiential learning project with international students who visited St. Louis to investigate the Ferguson protests of 2014-2015. While students demonstrated increased engagement and depth of knowledge following their visit, they did not always grasp the nuances of historical and civic thinking that the trip was intended to teach. Such pedagogical challenges exemplify many of the obstacles facing instructors grappling with projects that address contemporary racism and its history. These include: mastering interdisciplinary scholarship; engaging in personal, classroom, and community reflection; negotiating gaps between scholarly knowledge and current media coverage; and accepting the enormity and complexity of an issue like racism. Such roadblocks can prove discouraging to history and civics instructors, even ones dedicated to open and thoughtful conversation about difficult issues. As a whole, civic thinking came no more naturally than historical thinking for students, and integrating the two required more attention and more aspects of experiential learning than many instructors assume. The article concludes by addressing how, despite such challenges, student learning ultimately justified the project.


In this paper we analyze general Stackelberg games (SGs) and Stackelberg security games (SSGs). SGs are hierarchical adversarial games where players select actions or strategies to optimize their payoffs in a sequential manner. SSGs are a type of SGs that arise in security applications, where the strategies of the player that acts first consist in protecting subsets of targets and the strategies of the followers consist in attacking one of the targets. We review existing mixed integer optimization formulations in both the general and the security setting and present new formulations for both settings. We compare the SG formulations and the SSG formulations both from a theoretical and a computational point of view. Our theoretical results show that the new formulations provide tighter linear relaxations. Our computational experiments show that the new formulations give better solution times.


Different slums exhibit different levels of resilience against the threat of eviction. However, little is known about the role of the social capital of the slum community in this context. This study investigates the factors contributing to slum resilience in the Lagos Metropolis, Nigeria, through a social capital lens. This study first investigates land allocation in slums, then the available social capital, and subsequently how this capital influences resilience to the threat of eviction in slums. Data were collected in two slum communities, in Lagos, through in-depth interviews and focus groups discussion. This study shows that land allocation is done by the traditional heads, contrarily to the mandate of the Nigeria Land Use Act of 1978. Furthermore, there is a form of structural social capital through the presence of government registered community development associations in the slums; however, their activities, decision-making process and the perception of the residents' towards their respective associations, differs. This led to differences in trust, social cohesion and bonding ties among residents of the slum, thereby influencing resilience to the threat of eviction in slums. Since community group associations, through the appointed executives, drive the efficient utilization of social capital in slums, this study therefore recommends their restructuring in order to support a sustainable solution to the threat of eviction in slums in Lagos.


SPECTRA (Surface Processes and Ecosystem Changes through Response Analysis) is a planned spaceborne multiangular hyperspectral and thermal imaging spectrometer in phase A early design led by ESA's earth observation group. Its mission is to describe, understand and model the role of terrestrial vegetation in the global carbon cycle and its response to climate variability. Even though the project has been terminated in November 2005, many results of the phase A studies are considered to be useful as input to future missions.
The SPECTRA end-to-end simulator is intended to be used to test different aspects of the SPECTRA mission concept and for tuning the retrieval algorithms as well as assessing their performances. The intention of this ESA-commissioned study was not to build an actually working simulator, but to conceive an architecture for a simulator to be built during phase B of the SPECTRA design, as well as perform a limited validation of this architecture.
The software architecture for the future SPECTRA end-to-end simulator has been designed to be modular, flexible and distributed. It consists of a central control unit with associated database, which is controlled and monitored via an internet-accessible web interface, and a flexible number of modules performing the actual calculations. The list of simulator modules currently includes but is not limited to state-of-the-art developments in radiative transfer (Onera), instrument modelling (ESA), atmospheric correction (Onera), and various level 2 algorithms (Alterra). Assimilation models and global carbon flux models are linked to the simulator via the SPECTRA field segment database (RSL and Princeton), for which a high level schema has been defined. The simulator structure has been validated using full end-to-end simulations from ground data to top-of-atmosphere, through the SPECTRA instrument simulator provided by industry, and back again. Test data from the Barrax field site are used for this purpose (University of Valencia).


The gold standard of natural nacre provides the inspiration for assembling bioinspired nanocomposites. Herein, the gel-film transformation method, a feasible and economical strategy, was applied to fabricate flexible, large-area, and hierarchical porous graphene oxide (GO)-based nanocomposites with excellent properties. In this study, the GO-polymer nanocomposite hydrogels could be transformed into nanocomposite films with hierarchically laminated structures via the evaporation self-assembly technique, followed by introduction of ionic cross-linking into the nanocomposite films. The obtained bioinspired nanocomposites, with synergistic effect originating from hydrogen bonds and ionic bonds, have an excellent tensile strength of 475.2 ± 13.0 MPa and a toughness of 6.6 ± 0.3 MJ m−3, as well as a high electrical conductivity of 297.1 S cm−1. Therefore, this type of strong integrated nacre-like graphene nanocomposites have great potential applications in aerospace and flexible supercapacitor electrodes.


Both, the employment of leaching bacteria for metal winning as well as the mitigation of bioleaching processes at AMD/ARD sites, require reliable monitoring methods for assessing bacterial activities. Therefore, we have developed a robust and rapid test system combining two sensitive analytical techniques: quantification of heat evolution by microcalorimetry and determination of all relevant inorganic sulfur species by chromatographic methods (IC and HPLC). Generally, only about 1 g of sample is sufficient for a complete analysis. The combined test has been applied to various leaching biotopes such as bioreactors, columns, heaps and natural sites. The bacterial activity of diverse sulfidic materials such as lignite and coal wastes, pure metal sulfides and complex ores has been investigated. In our labs, microcalorimetry can be performed in the range of 5 to 80 °C, covering most of the temperature spectrum of leaching bacteria. Hence, the heat evolution values of samples as a direct measure for calculating leaching rates can be obtained at nearly all relevant in situ temperatures. The combination with sulfur species determination results in additional information on leaching mechanisms (thiosulfate or polysulfide pathway) and general leaching performance (e. g. accumulation of sulfur intermediates).


In this paper, the first order time derivative of time fractional partial differential equations are replaced by the Caputo fractional order derivative. We derive the numerical solution of this equation using the Element-free Galerkin (EFG) method. In order to obtain the discrete equation, a various method is used and the essential boundary conditions are enforced by the penalty method. Numerical examples are presented and the results are in good agreement with exact solutions.


The Law and Literature movement has had limited influence on the work of lawyers and judges. But a rap lyric's dual quality as aesthetic and "truth" document makes it uniquely amenable to literary interpretation. The competing problems: lyrics are meant to be heard and not read, and the ambition of the contemporary rapper is no longer to be didactic or suggest authenticity. The #rapgame has changed. I argue the internet rapper is the paradigm of creative identity. The guiding questions for this Article are how the law should respond to the individual who lives life as art, and if the social knowledge project will lead to the crowdsourcing of hermeneutics of both rappers and legal texts.


Signaling via the Hypothalamic‐Pituitary‐Gonadal (HPG) axis regulates fertility in both men and women. Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), secreted from the anterior pituitary, binds to a G protein coupled receptor (GPCR) on ovarian granulosa cells. The activation of this receptor triggers a cellular signaling pathway that leads to the promotion of follicle development and estrogen secretion. Our lab has previously demonstrated that the human FSH receptor (hFSHR) shows an affinity for residing in lipid rafts of HEK293 cells which may play a pivotal role in its signaling. Lipid rafts are membrane microdomains enriched in cholesterol and sphingolipids, with higher stiffnesses than bulk membrane domains. To characterize lipid rafts on the human granulosa cell line hGrC1 we used atomic force microscopy. Atomic force microscopy is a technique used to produce nanoscale resolution topographical images. It can also be used for determining mechanical characteristics, such as stiffness and strain. Here, using contact and force‐volume mode atomic force microscopy, we successfully generated topographical maps of hGrC1s and recorded membrane stiffness measurements. Areas of the granulosa cell membrane showed variable stiffness on a scale of 58.998 nm / pixel, providing the first direct evidence of lipid rafts in human granulosa cell membranes. Demonstration of lipid rafts contributes to the implications of the role of lipid rafts hFSH signalling. By understanding membrane dynamics on granulosa cells we hope to gain insight into how to manipulate hFSHR function.


Purpose The aim of this study is to present developed tools that are necessary to determine and verify dose‐response parameters of tumors and healthy tissues. Furthermore, this software uses this radiobiological information in order to compare and optimize several treatment plans. Material and Methods One part of the software determines the dose‐response parameters for tumors and healthy tissues. The dose distributions of each patient are associated with their follow‐up results in a maximum likelihood fitting, which calculates the best estimates and confidence intervals of the model parameters. Another part is used to validate reported dose‐response parameters. The software uses local dosimetric and treatment outcome data and associates them with published radiobiological parameters using various statistical methods (χ2‐test, ROC, odds ratio etc). The third part is used to estimate and increase the likelihood of complication‐free tumor control, P + by plotting the response curves of the control, complication and P + probabilities using the mean dose to the target on the dose axis. Results Head & neck and prostate cancer cases are used to show the clinical usefulness of this radiobiological tool in treatment plan comparison. The compatibility of the examined treatment methodologies with a set of reported dose‐response parameters was confirmed using the appropriate module of the software. The prescribed dose levels were determined by renormalizing the treatment plans until the P + index became maximal. A more conformal dose delivery to the target shows that a higher control rate is achieved for the same complication level. Conclusions The described tool is proved to be useful and effective in the clinical application of radiobiological modeling. Furthermore, it can be applied in the development of clinical information databases and for performing epidemiological studies assisting the cooperation between different institutions in order to produce research and clinical frameworks.