Background: Frozen section is quick and reliable technique for urgent tissue diagnosis i.e. on table diagnosis. In ovarian neoplasms different categories i.e. benign, borderline and malignant tumors are surgically treated differently. In such situations, frozen section is very helpful and can changes the surgical management of patients. In the present study we evaluate diagnostic accuracy of frozen section in ovarian neoplasms.
Patients and methods: This was a comparative cross-sectional study conducted at department of pathology of Fatima Jinnah Medical University, Lahore, from 01-06-2013 to 31-05-2015. This study comprised of 70 patients having ovarian masses on abdominal ultrasonography and planned to undergo surgery. The participants were operated and frozen sections of all the fresh specimens were performed at Pathology Department. The specimens were then fixed and paraffin sections were prepared for evaluation of histopathological changes.
Results: Out of total 70 cases (patient age range 10-82 years) 25 (35.7%) were malignant, 3 (4.3%) were borderline and 42 (60%) were benign. In FS analysis, 24 (34.3%) cases were diagnosed as malignant, 5 (7.1%) as borderline and 41 (58.6%) as benign. There were disagreements between diagnoses of frozen section and permanent paraffin sections in 04 (5.71%) cases. The overall accuracy of frozen section diagnosis was 97.10 %. The sensitivity of FS for all three categories i.e. benign, borderline and malignant lesions was 100%, 75% and 96%; and specificities were 97.6%, 100% and 100% respectively.
Conclusion: Frozen section is a reliable and precise technique in the intraoperative evaluation of patients with suspicious ovarian masses


Introduction Gap junctions (GJ) are intercellular channels that are found in nearly all cell types. They play an essential role in cell-to-cell communication. By enabling the exchange of ions and small metabolites between adjacent cells, they coordinate the activities of individual cells and synchronise cellular response within a tissue. Although GJ are indispensable for many processes including impulse propagation in heart, their role and regulation in tissues like tendon has not been sufficiently studied. Tendons act as force transmitters between muscle and bone. They consist of bundles of collagen with cells (tenocytes) aligned in longitudinal rows separated by collagen fibres. Tenocytes wrap around these fibres forming an elaborate network of cell processes linked by GJ. The aim of the present study was to establish and subsequently validate a method to study gap junction-mediated intercellular communication in tendon-derived cells as well as in whole tissue samples. Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) is a non-invasive technique that allows quantitative assessment of GJ function in living cells. It measures the redistribution of a GJ permeable fluorescent dye following photobleaching. Methods Tenocytes were isolated by explant culture of human hamstring tendons. The cells were cultured in monolayer or 3D collagen gels, loaded with green-fluorescent dye calcein and subjected to photobleaching using Zeiss LSM710 Confocal Microscope. A time-lapse series was subsequently recorded to monitor the transfer of calcein between the cells. Mobile fraction percentage was calculated to quantify the gap junctional communication. In ex vivo experiments individual tendon fascicles were isolated from mouse tail tendons and immobilised onto an imaging dish with fibrin sealant before they were subjected to FRAP analysis. GJ were blocked by pre-treating the samples with 18β-glycyrrhetinic acid (GA) or carbenoxolone (CBX). Results Fluorescently labelled tenocytes subjected to photobleaching rapidly re-acquired the fluorescent dye from adjacent cells. The recovery however was dependent on the number of cell-to-cell connexions. In both monolayer and 3D cultures, isolated cells showed a decrease in intercellular communication when compared to cells in confluent cultures. The mobile fraction percentage for well-connected cells reached about 70%. HeLa cells, which do not communicate via gap junctions, served as a control for the experiments and accordingly remained permanently bleached. The mobile fraction values obtained for the ex vivo tissue were comparable with in vitro cultured tenocytes. Standard inhibitors of GJ activity, GA and CBX, impaired fluorescence recovery both in vitro and ex vivo. Previously, it has been described that mechanical stimulation regulates GJ function in rat tendons. In order to investigate the GJ communication in presence of mechanical loading in human, fluorescently labelled tenocytes were subjected to sheer stress using a see-saw rocker and subsequently photobleached. Fluid sheer stress reduced the florescence recovery demonstrating that mechanical loading can regulate GJ function in human tenocytes. Discussion In this study we showed that FRAP provides a tool to study the function of GJ in tendon both in vitro and ex vivo. Furthermore, our results demonstrated that GJ function in a native tendon can be quantified and experimentally manipulated in the same way as in in vitro cultured tenocytes.


";Socially-aware graduates wanted for practical problem solving";. No, this is not an advertisement for design engineers - but for recruiting police officers. (Sunday Times Magazine, Feb . 17th. 1974) . So in ten short years of so, the jargon of Design Education has made its mark. Integration, open-ended problem solving, rational decision making, graphicacy are ideas which now have achieved a currency far outside the parameters of Design Education. Yet, have we really travelled very far in practice? In the 1973 Winter edition of this periodical, devoted to the spread of Design Education ideas, I read ";If problem solving is the educational means to an end, how can it be called Des i gn without successful 3D creativity?"; . Creativity .... Yes.. . .. But why 3D? I should very much like to have a musician as a design student on one of my courses. Musical composition seems appropriate to the design process as I understand it . But it isn't 3D.


OCCUPATIONAL APPLICATIONS Worker well-being and overall system performance are important elements in the design of production lines. However, studies of industry practice show that current design tools are unable to consider concurrently both productivity aspects (e.g., line balancing and cycle time) and worker well-being related aspects (e.g., the risk of musculoskeletal disorders). Current practice also fails to account for anthropometric diversity in the workforce and does not use the potential of multi-objective simulation-based optimization techniques. Accordingly, a framework consisting of a workflow and a digital tool was designed to assist in the proactive design of workstations to accommodate worker well-being and productivity. This framework uses state-of-the-art optimization techniques to make it easier and quicker for designers to find successful workplace design solutions. A case study to demonstrate the framework is provided. TECHNICAL ABSTRACT Rationale: Simulation technologies are used widely in industry as they enable efficient creation, testing, and optimization of the design of products and production systems in virtual worlds. Simulations of productivity and ergonomics help companies to find optimized solutions that maintain profitability, output, quality, and worker well-being. However, these two types of simulations are typically carried out using separate tools, by persons with different roles, with different objectives. Silo effects can result, leading to slow development processes and suboptimal solutions. Purpose: This research is related to the realization of a framework that enables the concurrent optimization of worker well-being and productivity. The framework demonstrates how digital human modeling can contribute to Ergonomics 4.0 and support a human factors centered approach in Industry 4.0. The framework also facilitates consideration of anthropometric diversity in the user group. Methods: Design and creation methodology was used to create a framework that was applied to a case study, formulated together with industry partners, to demonstrate the functionality of the noted framework. Results: The framework workflow has three parts: (1) Problem definition and creation of the optimization model; (2) Optimization process; and (3) Presentation and selection of results. The case study shows how the framework was used to find a workstation design optimized for both productivity and worker well-being for a diverse group of workers. Conclusions: The framework presented allows for multi-objective optimizations of both worker well-being and productivity and was successfully applied in a welding gun use case.


In this paper through to analyse the sensitivity of several modal parameters about the elastic modulus damage such as characteristic frequency, modal displacement, flexibility matrix and modal curvature , Combined with Fisher information matrix , got the sensitivity of modal parameters on different damage positions of bridge. Computational simulation of Jian Tiao bridge is implemented with this method to find Optimum sensor placement schemes of different parameters. And through the result of numerical analysis we know, flexibility matrix is the most sensitive parameter about damage of elastic modulus, modal sensitivity less than flexibility matrix, the third is frequency. Sensitivity of modal curvature is the dullest, its sensitivity only 1/300 than flexibility matrix. It have different sensor arrange schemes when use four different modal parameters, among them the sensitivity of flexibility matrix is highest.


Extracts of leaves and stems of Chlorophytum borivilianum San and Fern (aerial parts) were subjected to preliminary phytochemical screening for the presence of plant secondary metabolites and in-vitro antibacterial and antifungal studies. The results of the preliminary investigation revealed the presence of alkaloids, glycosides, steroidal nucleus, saponins and tannins in both parts. The methanolic extract of leaf and stems part were investigated in vitro antimicrobial activity using agar disc diffusion technique. Six clinical strains of human pathogenic microorganisms, comprising 3 Gram positive, 1 Gram negative and 2 fungi were utilized in the studies. The leaf extract of Chlorophytum borivilianum displayed overwhelming concentration dependent antimicrobial properties, inhibiting the growth of Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus, far above that of ampicillin used in the study at a concentration of 1.0 g/ml. The extract was less sensitive to the 2 Gram negative bacteria in the assay. In the antifungal assay, the growth of Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans, used were inhibited in the same manner comparable to voriconazole the reference drug included in the study. The methanol extract of stem also displayed a concentration related antibacterial activity, inhibiting the growth of S. aureus comparable to ampicillin at 1.0 g/ml. The extract was least active against Escherichia coli with a mild activity at 1.0 g/ml. The extract exhibited a weak activity against C.albicans as well as A. niger. Both plant parts seem to justify their ethnomedical uses.


This paper presents a hybrid-clustering algorithm that is a stochastic disturbance of particle swarm optimization (PSO) for K-means clustering method (SDPSO-K). The proposed algorithm can improve the particle global searching ability in PSO to avoid the K-means disadvantage of being easily trapped in a local optimal solution and to save the expensive computational cost of PSO clustering. The performance of the SDPSO-K, compared with three recently developed modified PSO techniques and related clustering algorithms for six datasets, indicates that the SDPSO-K algorithm is clearly and consistently superior in terms of precision and robustness.


Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a heterogeneous condition with classification based on shared pathophysiological characteristics. There is a paucity of literature reflecting the spectrum of disease across the 5 diagnostic groups encountered at a specialist referral centre in the era of the widespread availability of targeted pulmonary vascular therapy.

The first part of this thesis focuses on the ASPIRE registry; a large registry of contemporary, consecutive, treatment-naive patients identified at a specialist PH centre using a catheter-based approach. Uniquely, the ASPIRE registry compares the natural history of all forms of PH, providing new and novel insights into the natural history of rare groups such as pulmonary arterial hypertension and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension and more common but less well studied forms such as PH associated with left heart disease and lung disease where the role of targeted therapies is not clear. This registry demonstrates that outcomes and characteristics differ between and within PH diagnostic groups. In addition, the current system of diagnostic classification in PH has prognostic value even when adjusted for age and haemodynamic severity emphasizing the importance of systematic evaluation and precise classification.

The second part of this thesis focuses on patients in group 3; pulmonary hypertension associated with lung disease, concentrating particularly on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and emphysema, the most common type of lung disease associated with PH. The characteristics of patients with severe PH associated with COPD (PH-COPD) differed from those with mild to moderate PH-COPD despite similar degrees of emphysema on CT scan. Survival in PH-COPD was poor and this study identified independent predictors of outcome. Patients with severe PH-COPD share certain characteristics with PAH such as the degree of haemodynamic severity and right ventricular impairment. This leads to the question of whether therapies frequently prescribed in PAH should be considered for this group. In the largest cohort yet studied, a minority of patients with severe PH-COPD demonstrated objective evidence of improvement with compassionate treatment with targeted pulmonary vascular therapies and where there was evidence of clinical benefit, patients demonstrated superior survival. This data suggests that further evaluation of targeted therapies is warranted in patients with severe PH-COPD.

In conclusion, retrospective review of this cohort of patients has provided a detailed comparison of characteristics between and within PH diagnostic groups, assessed prognostic markers and provided insights into the effects of targeted pulmonary vascular treatment in severe PH-COPD. This underscores the importance of thorough assessment and accurate classification to ensure appropriate management and prudent use of costly therapies. This registry also provides detailed phenotypic information which may be helpful when defining entry criteria for clinical trials.

The characterization of this patient cohort has also lead to a number of publications from collaborative projects in the Academic Unit of Radiology.


Understanding how carbon dioxide cycles between land and atmosphere is key to developing better climate models. One key to accurately predicting future levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) is understanding how land and atmosphere exchange CO2. Each year, photosynthesizing land plants remove (fix) one in eight molecules of atmospheric CO2, and respiring land plants and soil organisms return a similar number. This exchange determines whether terrestrial ecosystems are a net carbon sink or source. Two papers in this issue contribute to understanding the land-atmosphere exchange by elegantly analyzing rich data sets on CO2 fluxes from a global network of monitoring sites. On page 834, Beer et al. (1) estimate total annual terrestrial gross primary production (GPP) in an approach more solidly based on data than previous simple approximations. On page 838, Mahecha et al. (2) assess how ecosystem respiration (R) is related to temperature over short (week-to-month) and long (annual) time scales, and find a potentially important but difficult-to-interpret relationship.


This research cloned endochitinase-antifreeze protein precursor (EAPP ) gene of Dong-mu 70 rye (Secale cereale ) by designing special primers according to Genbank's EAPP gene sequence, and analyzing the influence of low temperature stress on the expression of mRNA with RT-PCR. The results indicated that the EAPP 's full length coding of Dong-mu-70 rye was 1085 bp, while the homology of its amino acid and that of Hordeum vulgare and Triticum aestivum was much higher (95 and 91%, respectively). The mRNA of the EAPP gene in Dong-mu 70 rye was expressed in roots under normal temperature, and was most active in the leaves. When stressed at a low temperature of 4°C, remarkable improvements were shown in mRNA expression in the root and stems, and the maximum expression appeared 24 h after treatment and decreased afterwards.


The trade route between Manila and Mexico was a monopoly of the Spanish Crown for more than 250 years. The Manila Galleons were "the richest ships in all the oceans", but much of the wealth sank at sea and remain undiscovered. We introduce a newly constructed dataset of all of the ships that travelled this route. We show formally how monopoly rents that allowed widespread bribe-taking would have led to overloading and late ship departure, thereby increasing the probability of shipwreck. Empirically, we demonstrate not only that these late and overloaded ships were more likely to experience shipwrecks or to return to port, but that such effect is stronger for galleons carrying more valuable, higher-rent, cargo. This sheds new light on the costs of rent-seeking in European colonial empires.


We read the article by Chambers et al, 1 entitled "Relationship of Advance Directives to Hospital Charges in a Medicare Population" with interest. The authors compare their results with those in our article, "Effects of Offering Advance Directives on Medical Treatments and Costs." 2 Chambers et al found medical charges significantly reduced in patients dying in the hospital when there were documented discussions between them and physicians about limiting care. We 2 and others 3 have found no savings associated with the execution of advance directives. Although Chambers et al drew comparisons with our results, unfortunately the similarity in the titles masks considerable dissimilarity in the two studies. We used the term advance directives to signify a written document executed by a person to convey that person's treatment preferences in the event of future loss of decision-making capacity. 4 Usually, such documents are executed well in advance of the anticipated


Native air sampling (NAS) is distinguished from dedicated air sampling (DAS) devices (eg, BioWatch) that are deployed to detect aerosol disseminations of biological threat agents. NAS uses filter samples from heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in commercial properties for environmental sampling after DAS detection of biological threat agent incidents. It represents an untapped, scientifically sound, efficient, widely distributed, and comparably inexpensive resource for postevent environmental sampling. Calculations predict that postevent NAS would be more efficient than environmental surface sampling by orders of magnitude. HVAC filter samples could be collected from pre-identified surrounding NAS facilities to corroborate the DAS alarm and delineate the path taken by the bioaerosol plume. The New York City (NYC) Native Air Sampling Pilot Project explored whether native air sampling would be acceptable to private sector stakeholders and could be implemented successfully in NYC. Building trade associations facilitated outreach to and discussions with property owners and managers, who expedited contact with building managers of candidate NAS properties that they managed or owned. Nominal NAS building requirements were determined; procedures to identify and evaluate candidate NAS facilities were developed; data collection tools and other resources were designed and used to expedite candidate NAS building selection and evaluation in Manhattan; and exemplar environmental sampling playbooks for emergency responders were completed. In this sample, modern buildings with single or few corporate tenants were the best NAS candidate facilities. The Pilot Project successfully demonstrated that in one urban setting a native air sampling strategy could be implemented with effective public-private collaboration.


The topic of IT alignment to various forms of organizational strategy and operations continues to be a top concern among both IS practitioners and academics. The overall historical discourse is that organizations have two options regarding alignment: 1) develop a set strategy and enforce it through a top-down focus via some governance mechanism(s), or 2) accomplish it via patchy evolutionary processes. Claudio Ciborra argued that the former model fails to recognize the realities of such change, offering many new tracks for alignment research positioned in the latter that have been ignored for many years. However, the Australian government is now implementing many aspects of these tracks as the strategy itself, directing organizations to reverse focus to users and prototyping rather than executives and waterfalling. As we will illustrate, alignment might be better achieved not through rigid control and governance, but through increased focus on micro-level needs, local-level ownership, and coevolutionary moves over time. By focusing on the dynamic between Australia's Digital Transformation Office and the Department of Employment, this research in progress paper answers calls to refocus on the everyday practices and activities in which various actors appear to become aligned through coevolutionary socio-technical practices.


A pan-European, classification of the extent of environmental degradation from chemical, physical and biological pressures on fish communities as a precursor to assess the ecological status of running waters based on fish is proposed. Twenty-four potential pressures acting on fish communities at three different spatial scales (river basin, segment and site) were identified and class boundaries for high, good, moderate, poor and bad status, based on existing data and/or expert judgement, were defined. Four pressures (hydrological regime, morphological conditions, toxic or acid conditions, nutrients and organic load) were found to describe the majority of degradation at a specific site and these were combined into a single pressure variable to describe impact at each location. Principal Component Analysis showed that the four variables were correlated with other physical and chemical variables not included in the combined pressure variable. However, biological pressures, e.g. introduction of fish, and longitudinal connectivity were not well correlated, suggesting that two dimensions of human impact on stream fish were poorly accounted for. Low-resolution Geographical Information Systems (GIS) data (1 km grid) on land use and population density correlated well with the four chosen pressures, suggesting it is possible to use standardised GIS data to aid pre-classification of stream degradation.


We describe the first discovery of small molecules that bind to the Z-DNA binding domain of human ADAR1 (Adenosine Deaminase Acting on RNA 1) by structure-based virtual screening of chemical database. These molecules bind to Z-DNA binding domain to inhibit the interaction with the Z-DNA. Many viruses have Z-DNA binding proteins, which are structurally similar to Z-DNA binding domain of human ADAR1, and the abil-ity of Z-DNA binding protein to bind the Z-DNA is essential for their pathogenicity. Therefore, the molecules identified in this study may serve as novel leads for the design of agents that inhibit biological functions of those pathogenic viruses.


Abstract. Biomass burning emits significant quantities of intermediate-volatility and
semi-volatile organic compounds (I/SVOCs) in a complex mixture,
probably containing many thousands of chemical species. These components are
significantly more toxic and have poorly understood chemistry compared to
volatile organic compounds routinely quantified in ambient air; however,
analysis of I/SVOCs presents a difficult analytical challenge. The gases and particles emitted during the test combustion of a range of
domestic solid fuels collected from across Delhi were sampled and analysed.
Organic aerosol was collected onto Teflon (PTFE) filters, and residual
low-volatility gases were adsorbed to the surface of solid-phase extraction
(SPE) discs. A new method relying on accelerated solvent extraction (ASE)
coupled to comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with
time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC × GC–ToF-MS) was developed.
This highly sensitive and powerful analytical technique enabled over 3000
peaks from I/SVOC species with unique mass spectra to be detected.
A total of 15 %–100 % of gas-phase emissions and 7 %–100 % of particle-phase emissions were
characterised. The method was analysed for suitability to make quantitative
measurements of I/SVOCs using SPE discs. Analysis of SPE discs indicated
phenolic and furanic compounds were important for gas-phase I/SVOC emissions
and levoglucosan to the aerosol phase. Gas- and particle-phase emission
factors for 21 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were derived,
including 16 compounds listed by the US EPA as priority pollutants.
Gas-phase emissions were dominated by smaller PAHs. The new emission factors
were measured (mg kg−1) for PAHs from combustion of cow dung cake
(615), municipal solid waste (1022), crop residue (747), sawdust (1236),
fuelwood (247), charcoal (151) and liquefied petroleum gas (56). The results of this study indicate that cow dung cake and municipal solid
waste burning are likely to be significant PAH sources, and further study is
required to quantify their impact alongside emissions from fuelwood
burning.


Brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) combine methods, approaches, and concepts derived from neurophysiology, computer science, and engineering in an effort to establish real-time bidirectional links between living brains and artificial actuators. Although theoretical propositions and some proof of concept experiments on directly linking the brains with machines date back to the early 1960s, BMI research only took off in earnest at the end of the 1990s, when this approach became intimately linked to new neurophysiological methods for sampling large-scale brain activity. The classic goals of BMIs are 1) to unveil and utilize principles of operation and plastic properties of the distributed and dynamic circuits of the brain and 2) to create new therapies to restore mobility and sensations to severely disabled patients. Over the past decade, a wide range of BMI applications have emerged, which considerably expanded these original goals. BMI studies have shown neural control over the movements of robotic and virtual actuators that enact both upper and lower limb functions. Furthermore, BMIs have also incorporated ways to deliver sensory feedback, generated from external actuators, back to the brain. BMI research has been at the forefront of many neurophysiological discoveries, including the demonstration that, through continuous use, artificial tools can be assimilated by the primate brain's body schema. Work on BMIs has also led to the introduction of novel neurorehabilitation strategies. As a result of these efforts, long-term continuous BMI use has been recently implicated with the induction of partial neurological recovery in spinal cord injury patients.


In principal component regression (PCR) and partial least‐squares regression (PLSR), the use of unlabeled data, in addition to labeled data, helps stabilize the latent subspaces in the calibration step, typically leading to a lower prediction error. For using unlabeled data in PLSR, a non‐sequential approach based on optimal filtering (OF) has been proposed in the literature. In this work, a sequential version of the OF‐based PLSR and a PCA‐based PLSR (PLSR applied to PCA‐preprocessed data) are proposed. It is shown analytically that the sequential version of the OF‐based PLSR is equivalent to that of PCA‐based PLSR, which leads to a new interpretation of OF. Simulated and experimental data sets are used to point out the usefulness and pitfalls of using unlabeled data. Unlabeled data can replace labeled data to some extent, thereby leading to an economic benefit. However, in the presence of drift, the use of unlabeled data can result in an increase in prediction error compared to that obtained with a model based on labeled data alone. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


of how, specifically, these devices should vary in their expression. This trend started with the phenomenal success of mobile phones. The complex relationship between the use of mobile devices and the consumption of fashionable clothing has been identified and discussed in sociology and HCI [1]. Since we interact with mobile phones in close physical proximity to our bodies and clothes, we have a similar interest in their beautification. That relationship is likely to increase, given the growing interest in manufacturing and commercializing smart watches. There is an ongoing trend of digital devices being used in close physical proximity to our bodies, in the same position as our clothes. It started with the success of mobile phones, continues with the emergent use of smart watches and smart eyewear, and is leading to a future of smart textiles and organic user interfaces. These devices provide public visual surfaces with possibilities for endless variation of visual expression. With the emergence of wearable hardware, we foresee the need to develop fashion-oriented software, services, and applications. The question then arises Insights → Many wearable devices provide public visual surfaces with possibilities for endless variation of aesthetic expression. → To leverage these new expressive possibilities, fashion designers should be included in the making of software and services. → Fashionable wearable services and software could one day interact with people's clothing ensembles.


The suggestion was made to us by Col. Sam F. Seeley (Medical Corps, U. S. Army) that intra-arterial infusion of blood or plasma under a pressure equal to normal arterial pressure might have advantages over the conventional method of intravenous infusion in the treatment of shock. It was his view that intra-arterial infusion would elevate blood pressure rapidly, thus restoring tissue perfusion without delay; further, the exact amount of blood or plasma required to reestablish arterial pressure at any desired level would be given without the use of complex or inaccurate methods of calculation, since the intra-arterial infusion would autonomically check itself at this level. This report is based on an experimental study of Colonel Seely's suggestion. We have also sought some test indicating the effects of hemorrhage and hypotension on the vascular system. Page 1 had shown that the pressor response to angiotonin was severely depressed by hemorrhage; subsequently


The article approaches the problem of spiritual value education in the context of challenges imposed by globalisation. Following the opinions of theologians, philosophers and educational researchers, the essential contours of spirituality expression are actualised. In the context of such ideas the role of emotional experiences, as a relevant dimension of spirituality, in internalisation of values is substantiated. Following B. Dodonov's conception, it is stated that the influence of emotions on internalisation of values depends on the need of specific emotions felt by an individual, which manifests itself through a particular attraction towards these emotions as positive values. The formed favourable attitude is an expression of this need, which reflects individual's emotional orientation and his/her relation with spiritual values. The article presents the data of the longitudinal study (1998–2009), which show that during the period of 10–11 years the most considerable positive changes were observed in upper secondary learners' evaluations of communicative and altruistic emotions (an increase of one fifth in the number of respondents, who evaluated these emotions as the most pleasant was observed) and slightly more positive changes were identified in evaluation of praxical, gnostic and esthetical values. The opinion that an increasing attraction of school learners towards these emotions that make up the core of spiritual experiences results in strengthening of their links with spiritual values (moral, gnostic and esthetical) is followed. An increasing favour towards hedonistic emotions and partially to gloristic, pugnistic and acquisitive values is seen as considerably negative phenomenon. Changes in perceiving of these emotions, as well as previously identified changes in understanding meanings of values, allow stating that next to identified positive changes, the orientations towards values that may be considered as a certain source of pragmatism, hedonism and utilitarianism are observed among senior school learners. The dependence of emotion changes on learners' gender and type of school is not considerable.


Incorporating active learning strategies in online teaching involves several challenges both at the level of course development but also at the level of global program development. This session is co-organized by Dr. Ioulia Rytikova and Dr. Mihai Boicu and is building on the participants long-term successful experience in active learning, course and program development. In this roundtable/panel discussion we propose to analyze from various perspectives several challenges faced in this process, including: learning materials (from textbooks to open resources), classroom format (from mini-lectures to lighting talks), objective grading and personalized feedback (from detailed rubrics to automatic grading), student assessment (exams vs. quizzes), and assistive technology (from learning management systems to intelligent teaching assistants).


Epigenetic mechanisms play a central role in governing functional beta-cell mass. In particular, the methylation of DNA to generate 5-methylcytosine (5mC), directed by DNA methyltransferases, has been shown to regulate the establishment and maintenance of beta-cell identity and function. While the contribution of DNA methylation to beta-cell homeostasis and diabetes pathogenesis has been studied in detail, not much is known about the role of DNA demethylation in beta-cells. Oxidative conversion of 5mC to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) by Ten Eleven Translocation (Tet) enzymes constitutes a key step towards active DNA demethylation. In the present study, we provide evidence that the 5hmC landscape is dynamic, and undergoes specific changes during embryonic and postnatal islet development, islet adaptation, and in diabetes. We report that the Pdx1-positive pancreatic progenitors are marked by very low 5hmC, and beta-cell differentiation and functional maturation is accompanied by a progressive increase in 5hmC. However, under conditions during adaptive beta-cell expansion as well as in diabetes 5hmC levels decline in part due to the oxidative stress. These changes in 5hmC pattern are conserved in mouse and human pancreas, and are accompanied by the changes in Tet2 levels. We show that deletion of Tet2 in the pancreatic lineage results in improved glucose tolerance and beta-cell function. Together, our data show the importance of Tet2-dependent 5hmC patterning in maintaining a differentiated beta-cell phenotype, and highlight the remodeling of beta-cell epigenetic landscape as a key component of diabetes pathogenesis. Disclosure T. Gurlo: None. S. Georgia: None. S. Dhawan: None.


This thesis studies Bayesian estimation/detection algorithms for P and T wave analysis in ECG signals. In this work, different statistical models and associated Bayesian methods are proposed to solve simultaneously the P and T wave delineation task (determination of the positions of the peaks and boundaries of the individual waves) and the waveform-estimation problem. These models take into account appropriate prior distributions for the unknown parameters (wave locations and amplitudes, and waveform coefficients). These prior distributions are combined with the likelihood of the observed data to provide the posterior distribution of the unknown parameters. Due to the complexity of the resulting posterior distributions, Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms are proposed for (sample-based) detection/estimation. On the other hand, to take full advantage of the sequential nature of the ECG, a dynamic model is proposed under a similar Bayesian framework. Sequential Monte Carlo methods (SMC) are also considered for delineation and waveform estimation. In the last part of the thesis, two Bayesian models introduced in this thesis are adapted to address a specific clinical research problem referred to as T wave alternans (TWA) detection. One of the proposed approaches has served as an efficient analysis tool in the Endocardial T wave Alternans Study (ETWAS) project in collaboration with St. Jude Medical, Inc and Toulouse Rangueil Hospital. This project was devoted to prospectively assess the feasibility of TWA detection in repolarisation on EGM stored in ICD memories.


It is well recognised that a significant proportion of errors involving trainee doctors result from failures of non-technical skills (NTS),1 which occur at least as frequently as knowledge and technical errors.2 Regardless of background, all trainees need generic skills of leadership, decision-making, team-working and resource management.3 It might, therefore, be expected that curricula for different specialties would use similar definitions and teaching methods to specify NTS standards. We have performed an analysis of medical training curricula to determine the extent to which different medical specialties set training objectives in NTS, and to seek trends in the prominence with which these skills feature.

All hospital-based medical, surgical and critical-care specialties were obtained in mid-2013, along with each curriculum's immediate predecessor (where available). The curricula were initially searched for the core keywords 'non-technical skills', 'situational awareness' and 'human factors', as well as a list of secondary keywords (generated by a modified Delphi process) grouped under headings 'task management', 'team working', 'situational awareness' and 'decision making'. The list was refined over two generations before consensus was reached. Each curriculum …


Students' emotions and attitudes are discernible in messages posted to online question and answer boards. Understanding student sentiment may help instructors identify students with potential course issues, optimize help-seeking, and potentially improve student achievement, as well as identify both positive and negative actions by instructors and provide them with valuable feedback. Towards this end, we present a set of context-independent emotion acts that were used by students in a universitylevel computer science course to express certainty and uncertainty, frustration, and politeness in an online Q&A board and develop viable classification approaches. To explore the potential of sentiment-based profiling, we present a heuristic-driven analysis of thread resolution and detail future research.


Bladder cancer (BC) is a fatal invasive malignancy accounting for approximately 5% of all cancer deaths in humans; however, the underlying molecular mechanisms and potential targeted therapeutics for BC patients remain unclear. We report herein that RAB14 was overexpressed in BC tissues and cells with high metastatic potential, and its abundance was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis (p=0.001), a high-grade tumor stage (p=0.009), poor differentiation (p<0.001), and unfavorable prognoses of BC patients (p=0.003, log-rank test). Interference by RAB14 mediated a reduction in the TWIST1 protein, and inhibited cell migration and invasion (p<0.05). Moreover, silencing RAB14 reduced cell proliferation and induced apoptosis in vitro and suppressed tumorigenesis in a mouse xenograft model. We demonstrated that RAB14-promoted BC cancer development and progression were associated with activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling through upregulation of MAPK1/MAPK8 and downregulation of DUSP6/SHC1/FOS. We provide evidence that RAB14 acts as a tumor promoter and modulates the invasion and metastatic potential of BC cells via activating the MAPK pathway.


Adequate handling, efficient treatment and effective methods of biomedical waste play a vital role in the hospital infection control programme. Inadequate management of healthcare waste is a serious concern in many developing countries due to the risks posed to human health and environment. This study evaluates the biomedical waste generated at the Kogi State University Teaching Hospital, Anyigba. Seven wards were selected within the health facilities to determine the quantities of waste. The result showed that total waste generated in seven consecutive days was 19.89 kg/week. The average waste generated in seven wards was 2.8 kg/week and average waste generated per day was 0.4 kg/day. The quantity of waste increased as the number of patients and visitors increased. There were non-availability of bags in all the bins used for waste collection, storage and the bins were not colour coded, neither was there segregation of waste in the seven units. The study equally showed that the waste collected from the hospital are subjected to open burning which may affect the health of the workers, patients, visitors and the residents. There should be proper management of healthcare waste which can be improved through employment and retraining of staff, provision of colour coded bins and at least an incinerator for waste treatment before final disposal.

 Key words: Biomedical waste, Kogi State University Teaching Hospital, Anyigba, waste generation, waste segregation, waste disposal.


The cause of cerebral atrophy in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is obscure because human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV‐1)‐related histopathological changes hardly correlate with cerebral atrophy. In this study, brain ventricular expansion was compared to the frontal lobe density of mononuclear and astroglial cells at autopsy. Twenty‐eight male patients with AIDS displaying varying degrees of atrophy were compared to 17 age‐matched male control subjects without AIDS or atrophy. An index of ventricular expansion was measured in uniformly sliced, formalin‐fixed brain specimens, and immunochemically marked cells in coronal sections of the left superior frontal gyrus (Brodmann area 8) were quantified by field counting and planimetry. In the cortex, diffuse ferritin‐stained microglia and glial fibrillary acidic protein‐positive astrocytes were about twice as numerous in the patients with AIDS. Sixty‐five percent (18/28) of the patients with AIDS had a microglial cell density greater than 2 standard deviations above the control mean. Microglial cell density was correlated positively with the severity of ventricular expansion (r = 0.71, p <0.0001), while hypertrophied astroglial cells were very weakly related. In white matter, Ham‐56–‐positive macrophages and glial fibrillary acidic protein‐positive astrocytes were not meaningfully correlated with the index of ventricular expansion. Brain ventricular expansion and diffuse cortical microgliosis are highly prevalent anomalies in patients with AIDS, and their interrelationship may be more important than previously recognized.


This work aims to evaluate performance of 2D electrical resistivity modelling technique for detecting buried tunnels using various electrode configurations. A synthetic resistivity model was designed to explore the capability of Wenner, Wenner- Schlumberger, Dipole-Dipole, Pole-Dipole and Pole-Pole electrode configurations for detecting buried tunnels at different noise levels. 2D forward modelling (RES2DMOD) and 2D inversion (RES2DINV) software were implemented using blocky L1 norm optimization method. The results showed that the modelled tunnel can clearly be detected at 0% noise level due to the high resistivity contrast between the synthetic tunnel and the surrounding host materials. At 0-30% noise levels, the results indicated that dipole-dipole and Wenner- Schlumberger in the second order perform better than other configurations. This can be attributed to the characteristics features and sensitivity of these configurations for resolving the subsurface resistivity changes. It is suggested that these configurations are more suitable for detecting the buried structures. The results also showed that the inversion artifacts caused by high noise levels may smear the resistivity signature of the burred targets for particular configurations. Thus, obtaining high quality data ensures reliable resistivity interpretations. The study demonstrated the usefulness of the 2D numerical modelling for planning of electrical resistivity surveys.


A lot has changed since that day on December 17, 1903 when the Wright brothers made the first powered manned flight. Even though the concepts behind flying are unaltered, appearance of stat-of-the-art modern aircrafts has undergone a massive evolution. This is mainly owed to our deeper understanding of how to harness and optimize the interaction between fluid flows and aircraft bodies. Flow passing over wings and different junctions on an aircraft faces numerous local features, for instance, acceleration or deceleration, laminar or turbulent state, and interacting boundary layers. In our study we aim to characterize some of these flow features and their physical roles.Primarily, stability characteristics of flow over a wing subject to a negative pressure gradient are studied. This is a common condition for flows over swept wings. Part of the current numerical study conforms to existing experimental studies where a passive control mechanism has been tested to delay laminarturbulent transition. The same flow type has also been considered to study the receptivity of three-dimensional boundary layers to freestream turbulence. The work entails investigation of effects of low-level freestream turbulence on crossflow instability, as well as interaction with micron-sized surface roughness elements.Another common three-dimensional flow feature arises as a resultof stream-lines passing through a junction, the so-calledcorner-flow. For instance, thisflow can be formed in the junction between the wing and fuselage on aplane.A series of direct numerical simulations using linear Navier-Stokes equationshave been performed to determine the optimal initial perturbation. Optimalrefers to perturbations which can gain the maximum energy from the flow overa period of time. In other words this method seeks to determine theworst-casescenario in terms of perturbation growth. Here, power-iterationtechnique hasbeen applied to the Navier-Stokes equations and their adjoint to determine theoptimal initial perturbation.Recent advances in super-computers have enabled advance computational methods to increasingly contribute to design of aircrafts, in particular for turbulent flows with regions of separation. In this work we investigate theturbulentflow on an infinite wing at a moderate chord Reynolds number of Re= 400,000 using a well resolved direct numerical simulation. A conventional NACA4412 has been chosen for this work. The turbulent flow is characterizedusing statistical analysis and following time history data in regions with interesting flow features.In the later part of this work, direct numerical simulation has been chosen as a tool to mainly investigate the effect of freestream turbulence on the transition mechanism of flow from laminar to turbulent around a turbine blade.


Conserved embryonic signaling pathways such as Hedgehog (Hh), Wingless and Notch have been implicated in the pathogenesis of several malignancies. Recent data suggests that Hh signaling plays a role in normal B-cell development, and we hypothesized that Hh signaling may be important in precursor B-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia (B-ALL). We found that the expression of Hh pathway components was common in human B-ALL cell lines and clinical samples. Moreover, pathway activity could be modulated by Hh ligand or several pathway inhibitors including cyclopamine and the novel SMOOTHENED (SMO) inhibitor IPI-926. The inhibition of pathway activity primarily impacted highly clonogenic B-ALL cells expressing aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) by limiting their self-renewal potential both in vitro and in vivo. These data demonstrate that Hh pathway activation is common in B-ALL and represents a novel therapeutic target regulating self-renewal and persistence of the malignant clone.


Atmospheric SO 2 can be measured by remote sensing of scattered sunlight from space, using its unique absorption features in the ultraviolet region. However, the sensitivity of the SO 2 measurement depends critically on spectral interference, surface albedo and varies with wavelength as Rayleigh scattering increases at shorter wavelengths. The Weighting Function Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (WFDOAS) method was used to pinpoint these problems and improve the retrieval. The Ring spectra included in the WFDOAS fit were determined as a function of total ozone column density, solar zenith angle, surface albedo, and effective scene altitude. The WFDOAS SO 2 retrieval from SCIAMACHY (Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography) data onboard the ENVISAT satellite are presented here and compared to those of the Standard DOAS (SDOAS) method for cases of background conditions and volcanic eruption. The study demonstrates the problems in the SO 2 retrieval with SDOAS, such as the positive offsets over remote (clean) regions and the negative offsets at high solar zenith angles and high ozone, could be attributed to imperfect correction for the varying ozone dependence of the Ring effect and could be solved by the WFDOAS approach.


From a position informed by the philosophical legacy of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, this paper examines the idea of 'care' in nursing theory and philosophy. Deleuze and Guattari make a distinction between, on the one hand, 'concepts', which are the proper domain of philosophy and, on the other, 'functives' which are the domain of science and all other empirical matters. At first blush, this distinction and use of the word concept appears rather odd, but Deleuze and Guattari hold it to be important for reasons that go beyond the acknowledged and obvious differences between philosophy and science. In Deleuzian terms, a 'functive' is any proposition that makes a verifiable truth-claim about actual states of affairs, whereas a 'concept' is a philosophical tool that, although it is used in statements that make claims and that seek to affect our thinking on states of affairs, is not a representation of them in any verifiable (functive) sense. In this respect, philosophical concepts, and the statements in which they are used, are neither true nor false. I argue that the way in which the word 'care' is used in much nursing theory and philosophy conflates concept (neither true nor false) with functive (either true or false) with less than productive results. I seek to persuade that if we can gain more clarity between the use of care as a would-be functive and its use as a philosophical concept, this would strengthen the purpose of the use of the idea of care in nursing theory. This is to say that I take the view that the role of 'care' as a philosophical concept is to be used in statements that 'think the event' called nursing; that seek to be 'worthy of the event', but without being an actual part of the event. Finally, I show how the concept of care in nursing philosophy has been, and can continue to be, reworked to achieve the permanent task of surveying the ever-shifting planes of the event and how it is described.


A novel decision method for autoepistemic reasoning is developed. The method is applicable in a general setting, i.e. for an autoepistemic logic based on a given classical logic. It provides a decision method for a tightly grounded form of autoepistemic reasoning based on Lhierarchic expansions as well as for autoepistemic reasoning based on Moore style expansions and N-expansions. Prominent formalizations of nonmonotonic reasoning, such as default logic and circumscription, can be embedded into autoepistemic logic based on Lhierarchic expansions using simple local translations. Hence, the method can serve as a unified reasoning tool for a wide range of forms of nonmonotonic reasoning.


Ligation of the B cell antigen receptor (BCR) on B lymphocytes has divergent effects including anergy, apoptosis, proliferation or differentiation depending on the developmental state of the cell. Immature B cells are sensitive to the process of negative selection enabling the removal of self-reactive B lymphocytes. Consequently, ligation of the BCR on immature B cells induces growth arrest and apoptosis. However, co-ligation of CD40 can rescue immature B cells and enable them to survive, mature and proliferate. The murine B cell lymphoma cell line WEHI-231 is widely used as a model of clonal deletion of immature B lymphocytes. This investigation has explored the signalling mechanisms used by the BCR and CD40 to differentially regulate the survival and proliferation of WEHI-231 immature B cells. In particular, the role of extracellular signal regulated kinase-mitogen-activated protein kinase (Erk- MAPK) in controlling these processes was examined. The activity of Erk-MAPK in WEHI-231 cells was investigated by Western blotting. WEHI-231 cells were shown to undergo a transient activation (≤2 hr) of Erk that was associated with the induction of the BCR-driven mitochondrial death pathway. However, a second, more sustained (12-48 hr) Erk signal was also identified and this appears to be critical for the proliferation of WEHI-231 cells. This sustained Erk signal was suppressed by ligation of the BCR and this seems to be mediated by the induction of MAPK phosphatases rather than a downregulation of upstream activators of Erk. However, co-ligation of CD40 restored sustained and cyclic activation of Erk to WEHI-231 cells and thus enabled them to undergo cell cycle progression and proliferation, as shown by measuring the uptake of [3H] thymidine. A dual role for Erk MAPK in BCR-driven apoptosis and CD40-mediated rescue of WEHI-231 cells was thus identified. The mechanisms used to regulate the activity of Erk-MAPK in WEHI-231 cells were further examined using WEHI-231 cells that were transfected with constitutively active forms of Ras. These studies showed that Ras is an important upstream activator of Erk in WEHI-231 cells and it can induce Erk1/2 activation via Raf-1 and/or phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI-3-K) pathways. The induction of sustained and cyclic Erk signals and hence proliferation of WEHI-231 cells therefore requires active Ras and stimulation of its downstream effectors. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).


The causes and status of saline soil in southern Xinjiang are stated simply, and the properties of it are presented based on experiment. Much emphasis is laid on the improvement mechanism design and the scheme comparison. On this foundation, a series of tests are conducted. The functions of different subgrade fillers and the reasonable proportion of them are studied. The result reveals that improvement scheme II-3 can effectively decrease anion content in saline soil, and mixed with cement and active material fly ash, can significantly increase the strength of the soil mass, and decrease water involved in expansion and frost heave. The research findings can provide an economical and applicable reference to the solving of problems such as frost heave, salt expansion and melt sinking of the saline soil subgrade.


Cooperative communication is a new physical layer technique which improves link capacity by exploiting broadcast nature and spatial diversity of wireless channel. The introduction of cooperative communication in wireless networks changes the traditional definition of link and the contention relationship among links. In this paper, we focus on cooperative communication aware routing protocol design in wireless mesh networks, targeting at maximizing the overall end-to-end throughput of the whole network and meanwhile taking contention relationship among multiple links into consideration. We propose a routing metric called contention-aware cooperative metric (CCM) and prove that CCM has the isotonic property. Therefore, efficient algorithms such as Dijkstra or Bellman-Ford can be used to find CCM-based minimum cost paths. Based on CCM, we propose a routing protocol called Contention-aware Cooperative Routing (CCR) which can be implemented in both link-state and distance-vector routing protocols. Extensive simulations are conducted on ns-2 to evaluate the performance of our novel routing metric and routing protocol. The results show that CCR achieves significant throughput gain compared with hopcount-based routing and ETT-based routing. The end-to-end delay is also dramatically reduced under CCR routing.


"The tale I have told you, that tale is a lie. But listen to me, bright maiden, proud youth--the tale is a lie; what it tells is the truth." Traditional Folktale Ending


The following is a list of Seventh-day Adventist publications available online in full-text. If you know of any additional titles or find a broken link on this list, please email firstname.lastname@example.com.


To estimate the impact on energy production and environment of tidal turbines placed in the Eastern Scheldt Storm Surge Barrier a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) study has been carried out on the additional head differences induced by the turbines. The CFD model focusses on a single gate opening of the Storm Surge Barrier and includes half of the adjoining gates on either side. In this 40 m wide Gate a 1.2 MW array existing of five Tocardo T2 tidal turbines has been installed as part of a demonstration project in 2015. Transient computations of the barrier with and without the turbine array were carried out for a range of quasi stationary tidal phases. The turbines are resolved in detail as rotating equipment: real-time rotation of the turbine blades (involving the displacement of the mesh nodes in an unsteady setting) is implemented, and torque and thrust for the prescribed speed of rotation is provided as output. The results for velocity, power and thrust are compared with field experiments to validate the model. Based on these computations an estimate of the effect of turbines on the discharge capacity of the storm surge barrier is given. This information will be used to parameterize the tidal turbines in the far-field hydrodynamic model of Eastern Scheldt estuary for the ultimate assessment of the effect of tidal turbines on energy production and on the environment. Keywords—CFD validation, Tidal Turbines, Hydraulic Structure, Free Surface Flow


Author(s): Marconett, Crystal Nicole | Advisor(s): Firestone, Gary L | Abstract: ABSTRACTPhytochemical Disruption of Hormone Receptor Expression and Intracellular Signaling in Human Reproductive Cancer CellsByCrystal Nicole MarconettDoctor of Philosophy in Molecular and Cell BiologyUniversity of California, BerkeleyProfessor Gary Firestone, Chair ER-alpha is a critical target of therapeutic strategies to control the proliferation of hormone dependent breast cancers. Preferred clinical options have significant adverse side effects that can lead to treatment resistance due to the persistence of active estrogen receptors. This thesis details the molecular mechanism indole-3-carbinol (I3C) initiates to ablate ER-alpha; expression and subsequent downstream targets of ER-alpha transcriptional activity; IRS1, IGF1R, and hTERT and the ability of an aqueous mixture from the Scutellaria Barbata plant, BZL101, to arrest the proliferation of human reproductive cancer cells, regardless of hormonal status. I3C dependent activation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) initiates Rbx-1 E3 ligase-mediated ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation of ER-alpha protein. I3C disrupts endogenous GATA3 interactions with the ER-alpha promoter, leading to a loss of GATA3 and ER-alpha expression. Ectopic expression of GATA3 has no effect on I3C induced ER-alpha protein degradation but does prevent I3C inhibition of ER-alpha promoter activity, demonstrating the importance of GATA3 in this I3C triggered cascade. Our preclinical results implicate I3C as a novel anti-cancer agent in human cancers that co-express ER-alpha, GATA3 and AhR, a combination found in a large percentage of breast cancers but not in other critical ER-alpha target tissues essential to patient health. Estrogen signaling stimulates growth and proliferation of these cells by activation of key downstream targets, such as Insulin-like Growth Factor Receptor-1 (IGF1R) and Insulin Receptor Substrate-1 (IRS1) of the Insulin-like Growth Factor (IGF1) signaling pathway. We show that I3C downregulates both IGF1R and IRS1 RNA and protein expression. We established that this decrease in expression was contingent upon ER-alpha ablation by I3C. I3C is able to block hTERT expression through a loss of transcriptional activation. I3C mediated loss of hTERT expression was attributed to disrupted endogenous binding to a composite ER-alpha-Sp1 site. The block in hTERT expression disrupted telomerase activity, and ectopic expression of hTERT was able to restore telomerase activity. We have uncovered a critical role I3C employs to block the proproliferative activities of IGF signaling and telomerase activity in hormone sensitive breast cancer cells. Aqueous extracts from BZL101 were able to disrupt estrogen expression in the hormone MCF7 cell line. Specifically, BZL101 induced a G1 cell cycle arrest and ablation of Cyclin D, CDK2, and CDK4 expression in MCF7 cells. MDA-MB-231 and PC3 cells arrested in S phase with corresponding ablations in Cyclin A2 and CDK2. LNCaP cells arrested in G2/M phase upon exposure to BZL101 with a corresponding decrease in Cyclin B1 and CDK1. Our results indicate that BZL101 exerts cell type specific molecular changes that lead to arrest of reproductive cancer proliferation and the general disruption of ER-alpha by phytochemicals is a potent disruptor of hormone sensitive cancer growth and proliferation.___________________________________Gary Firestone, PhD


We synthesized a cross-conjugated polymer containing ketones in the backbone and converted it to a linearly conjugated, cationic polyarylmethine via a process we call "spinless doping" to create a new class of materials, conjugated polyions. This process involves activating the ketones with a Lewis acid and converting them to trivalent cations via the nucleophilic addition of electron-rich aryl moieties. Spinless doping lowers the optical band gap from 3.26 to 1.55 eV while leaving the intrinsic semiconductor properties of the polymer intact. Electrochemical reduction (traditional doping) further decreases the predicted gap to 1.18 eV and introduces radicals to form positive polarons; here, n-doping produces a p-doped polymer in its metallic state. Treatment with a nucleophile (NaOMe) converts the cationic polymer to a neutral, non-conjugated state, allowing the band gap to be tuned chemically, post-polymerization. The synthesis of these materials is carried out entirely without the use of Sn or Pd and relies on scalable Friedel–Crafts chemistry.


The human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) UL98 gene is predicted to encode a homologue of the conserved herpesvirus alkaline nuclease. To determine if the HCMV UL98 gene product is functionally homologous to other herpesvirus alkaline nucleases, the HCMV UL98 protein was purified and its activity characterized in vitro. Extracts of HCMV-infected cells were fractionated using Q Sepharose, phosphocellulose and native DNA cellulose chromatography. UL98 immunoreactivity copurified with alkaline pH-dependent nuclease activity. The purified protein migrated at its predicted size of approximately 65 kDa in denaturing polyacrylamide gels, and displayed nuclease activity in an activity gel assay. Enzyme activity was characterized by a high pH optimum, an absolute requirement for divalent cation, salt sensitivity, and 5' to 3' exonuclease activity. DNA digestion resulted in 5' monophosphoryl mono- and oligodeoxyribonucleotides. Kinetic analyses revealed a turnover rate of greater than 200 per min, and similar apparent affinity and rate constants on single- and double-stranded DNA. These results indicate that a functional alkaline nuclease activity is conserved among distant members of the herpesvirus family, and are consistent with a highly conserved role in the virus life cycle.


Proponents of impure moral perception claim that, while there are perceptual moral experiences, these experiences epistemically depend on a priori moral knowledge. Proponents of pure moral perception claim that moral experiences can justify independently of substantive a priori moral knowledge. Some philosophers, most notably David Faraci (2015), have argued that the pure view is mistaken, since moral perception requires previous moral background knowledge, and such knowledge could not itself be perceptual. I defend pure moral perception against this objection. I consider two ways to understand the notion of "background knowledge" that is crucial to the objection. On a (stronger) reading, the claim that background knowledge is necessary for moral perception is likely false. On a second and weaker reading, the claim is true, but the background knowledge in question could be perceptual, and thus compatible with pure moral perception. Thus, the objection fails.


This report is the result of a collaboration between the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Poverty and Equity Global Practice of the World Bank Group (WBG). Repatriation or the return of refugees to their country of origin has been rarely studied, and data on their socio-economic outcomes is sparsely available. In such a context, the World Bank and UNHCR teams attempted to make good use of the existing data sources and complemented it with new data collection methods to better understand the patterns and characteristics of recent Afghan refugee returns. More specifically, the team attempted to analytically connect insights between different data sources to explore (albeit imperfectly) questions of selection among Afghans who remained in Pakistan and those documented returnees who returned to Afghanistan.


The recent use of lasers as a surgical tool in ophthalmology has demonstrated the importance of healing to obtain the desired outcome. Since the basic response of wounded tissue is to repair the defect, the surgeon is confronted with a wound and healing phenomenon that alters the biochemistry, morphologic features, and tissue function unpredictably. Clearly, understanding this phenomenon is of utmost importance. Several studies have shown that the 193-nm argon fluoride excimer laser discretely removes corneal tissue by photoablation without thermal damage to surrounding tissue. 1-4 Ultrastructural analysis of the walls of the ablated areas shows damage to the adjacent structures confined to a 60- to 200-nm-wide zone. 2 Nonpenetrating incisions reaching within 40 μm of Descemet's membrane result in endothelial cell loss beneath the line of irradiation. 1-3 Corneal ridging, epithelial cell damage, stromal swelling, and difficulty in making incisions to predictable depths are reasons for caution in human


In order to assess the possible clinical value of measuring regional amplitude of ultrasound reflected from intracardiac structures, two-dimensional echocardiographic images from 20 normal subjects and 70 patients with heart disease were processed by modulation of both colour and intensity to represent grey scale. Maximum echo intensity was consistently recorded from the pericardial interface behind the posterior left ventricular wall, and this was taken as 100 per cent. In the normal heart, central fibrous body reflected at 64 +/- 5 per cent, and mitral and aortic valves at 35 +/- 5 per cent and 36 +/- 8 per cent, respectively. Normal septal myocardium gave a valve of 33 +/- 8 per cent and posterior wall of 23 +/- 6 per cent. Consistent increases were recorded from prosthetic mitral valves in 20 patients, and also from the anterior cusp of the mitral valve (54 +/- 11%) in 20 patients with rheumatic heart diseases. In all of 15 patients with left ventricular involvement caused by coronary artery disease, septal echo amplitude was increased in all to 71 +/- 11 per cent, and localised increases were also noted in the posterior wall, subendocardially, or in one or both papillary muscles. Similar focal changes were noted in five, and increases in septal density in 10 of 15 patients with left ventricular hypertrophy and in 12 of those with mitral valve disease. Thus, measurement of regional echo amplitude is possible without degradation of the quality from standard two-dimensional cardiac images. Abnormalities are particularly common in left ventricular disease where their distribution corresponds to that described for fibrous tissue.


Inspired by what he saw in artefacts from the past, Victorian cultural critic John Ruskin (1819-1900) believed that there are individuals and generations of particular 'worth'. Looking to biblical and Venetian models which influenced Ruskin, this paper offers a brief overview of how he conceived both of a 'generation' and of particularly inspirational individuals within ideal generations. Consistently in Ruskin, perceptive judging – combined with the ability actively to communicate this through artistic ability, whether in fine art, literature or music – are requisites for the genius which characterises individuals of special 'worth'. This paper is in three parts. It begins with a definition of Ruskinian 'generation', then traces how he read the work of a specific Venetian artist, Carpaccio, as representative of a historical generation of particular note, and concludes by briefly considering Ruskin's theories of generation and genius in relation to his own specific generation of Victoria's Victorians, born in 1819.


To measure enthalpy densities, respectively overall specific heats, frequently the differential scanning thermal analysisis (DSC) is applied. Other useful methods are also available, but all of them have disadvantages. Therefore, an alternative measurement procedure - the online enthalpy measurment method - which was presented six years ago, has now been further improved. The quality of the results can be essentially increased by evaluating the experimental data according to a specially developed method. It is analogous to a method of numerical mathematics. The new evaluation procedure is presented and applied to measurements of the enthalpy density of two different phase change slurries, an ice slurry and a water suspension containing micro-encapsulated paraffin wax.


Clostridium perfringens is one of the most widespread pathogen producing toxins related to variable pathogenic conditions, particularly food poisoning in humans. Thus, this study described the prevalence, enumeration, toxigenic types and antibiotic susceptibility of C. perfringens strains isolated from minced meat in Egypt as well as the validation of a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for the identification of C. perfringens toxin genes. A high prevalence of C. perfringens (98/105, 93.3%) was detected in minced meat samples. The total count of viable C. perfringens in 23 samples was 2.0 × 102  to 4.5 × 102 with a mean value 3.7 × 102 ± 1.07 × 102    CFU/g. The toxin typing of C. perfringens based on lecithinase activity and dermonecrotic reactions in albino guinea pig exhibited 33 (33.7%) as toxigenic strains of C. perfringens type A and 65 (66.3%) as non-toxigenic strains. Antibiotic susceptibility testing of isolates against 15 different antimicrobial agents indicated that C. perfringens was extremely sensitive to penicillin, followed by erythromycin, tetracycline, doxycycline and amoxicillin. All the other drugs were relatively less effective against the isolates. The real time PCR (RT-PCR) was performed for screening of alpha (cpa), beta, epsilon, iota toxins and enterotoxin (cpe) genes in toxigenic isolates of C. perfringens type A. All toxigenic strains of C. perfringens type A (33, 33.7%) were positive for alpha toxin (cpa) and enterotoxin (cpe) genes, while none of these isolates carried beta, epsilon and iota toxin genes. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is one of the studies that used RT-PCR for the determination of toxigenic strains of C. perfringens in Egypt. It is suggested that RT-PCR could be used instead of the conventional culture procedures for identification of C. perfringens in minced meat in Egypt.

 Key words: Clostridium perfringens, minced meat, alpha toxin (cpa) gene, enterotoxin (cpe) gene, real time-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).


The concept of Open Innovation (OI) has breathed new life into both empirical research and industry practice concerned with distributed and collaborative modes of innovating. Certainly, the volume of OI research and its impact on practice has been remarkable. However, equally remarkable is the lack of balance. With few exceptions, the stories of OI are positive stories. A unbalanced focus on successes leads to open innovation imperatives and the conclusion that, for most firms, openness is good, and more openness is better. In this paper, we nuance this perception by empirically investigating the relationships between innovation openness and its effects on project abandonment and delays. Using survey data from Belgium, we find that open innovation strongly associates with an increased risk of both project abandonment and project delays.


Humankind, differentiated from nature, has always strived to extend the body and to overcome spatial boundaries. These civilizational attempts have been achieved by means of technological inventions and developments recently. The continuous technological development could, however, qualify only partially as an energyeffective means for establishing experimental spaces. The instinctive "colonization process" has been able to unfold in electronic environments.The bodily fixation and the narrow scope of attention are qualities of Internet use which cannot create the experience of full-body immersion. In contrast, Virtual Reality (VR) attempts to create a sense of full audiovisual-haptic experience in the recipient by aspiring for interactivity. However, this field does not correlate with global networks which would minimize spatial constraints and which, speaking about the Internet, are the essential sources of popularity and dynamism. Certainly, it is just a matter of time before developers attempt to integrate these currently disconnected virtual environments in a giant Internet-like fashion. What is even more likely is that sensational qualities and features of virtual reality will be assigned to the organism of the Internet. In the case of virtual reality the fixation of view was replaced by the fixation of environment, a concept that will be abandoned and followed by a constantly changing, dynamic system after the setting up of a network virtual reality.


Contour currents influence sedimentation in an area 15 km wide and 65 km long at the base of the slope off the Keweenaw Peninsula in Lake Superior, northwestern Michigan. Seismic-reflection profiles (3.5 kHz) from this area show distinct wavy reflectors in a scoured trough at a depth of 200 m at the base of the slope, hyperbolic echoes adjacent to the trough, and overlapping echoes farther lakeward. These acoustic features are identical to those in marine environments where contourites are deposited. Box cores from the lakeward margin of this area contain what appear to be contourites: irregular, thin sand layers with sharp upper and lower contacts, interbedded with sandy clay. The sandy clay layers are trough cross-laminated in some places and plain laminated in others. This is the first report of contourites in a lacustrine environment.


We study holographic insulator/superconductor phase transition in the framework of Born—Infeld electrodynamics both numerically and analytically. First we numerically study the effects of the Born—Infeld electrodynamics on the phase transition, find that when the Born—Infeld parameter increases, the critical chemical potential keeps invariant but the gap frequency becomes larger. Then we employ the variational method for the Sturm—Liouville eigenvalue problem to study the phase transition analytically. The analytical results obtained are found to be consistent with the numerical results.


Isoniazid and pyrazinamide are both well-known hepatotoxic drugs. When isoniazid is used, the hepatic lesion appears before than when pyrazinamide is used. This paper intends to relate a case of a 5-month-old patient who had lungs' and meningeal tuberculosis and who developed toxic hepatitis accomplished by hepatic failure while he was being treated with isoniazid, pyrazinamide and rifampicin. The clinic manifestations and the laboratory alterations were detected in the fifth day of treatment and the recovery was fast; and almost complete by the end of the first week, in which the use of isoniazid had been suspended. Although it was necessary to take the patient to the intensive care unit, he had a good recovery, without sequels.


This brief explains the challenges limiting use of improved rice seed in three Eastern Uganda major rice growing districts. Insufficient supply of improved seed is a core constraint to intensification in rice production. There are only four rice seed producers in the three study districts, which renders rice seed to be the hardest input to access by farmers compared to fertilizer, herbicides, and fungicides. Rice seed inaccessibility is further compounded by producers having contractual obligations with external seed companies. The volume of seed required by farmers exceeds the supply capabilities of the four seed producers, creating a gap in the rice seed supply chain. Furthermore, the seed producers rarely multiply the varieties grown by farmers, but rather those demanded by seed companies outside the region. The estimated seed supply gap is about 90 percent of what farmers would require. Therefore, in order to meet local farmer's requirement for improved rice seed, at least 40 new seed production enterprises should be established and this is estimated to cost slightly over one billion Uganda shillings (US $ 300,000).


Abstract. Reconstructions of failure surfaces (prior to
potential landslides or after their release), landslide deposits, or other
palaeotopographic features are important for hazard and erosion assessment.
The volumes involved in landslide and failure surfaces constrain the
propagation of a landslide, and knowledge of the past topography helps
us to understand these hazards. Some methods exist to characterise landslide geometry, but these methods
usually require monitoring information. This study tries to assess the
validity of the sloping local base level (SLBL) method for this purpose. Two
sets of airborne lidar digital elevation models (DEMs) of the Kii Peninsula
(Japan) are used: the first one was acquired before Typhoon Talas, and the
second one was acquired after. A total of 70 deep-seated landslides occurred
during this event between 2 and 5 September 2011. This study shows that the SLBL method is efficient using either the slope
deformations identifiable on the DEM before the release of the landslide or
a reliable 2.5-D failure surface created by using both DEMs (the 2.5-D
corresponds to a surface which has only one z value for each
x–y coordinate; in other words, no true vertical topography or overhang can be
represented perfectly). In addition, this method allows for the reconstruction
of eroded deposits and buried valleys. Most of the volumes estimated are
within ±35 % of the estimation made by Chigira et al. (2013), and
the coefficients of expansion range from 10 % to 25 %. These results show
considerable sensitivity to the parameters used for the reconstruction
of the landslide volume estimations and demonstrate the need for an
efficient and fast tool to reconstruct potential landslide geometries or
histories.


Background: Somatostatin has been shown to offer a distinct advantage over antisecretory drugs in the management of peptic ulcer bleeding (PUB). However, rebleeding rates are still high in spite of endoscopic and medical treatment. In this study, we intended to determine whether comb ined therapy of a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) plus somatostatin is more beneficial than a PPI alone in patients with PUB. Methods: We enrolled 90 consecutive patients who presented with PUB between January 2006 and October 2007. All the patients were managed with endoscopic hemostasis and divided into two treatment groups: 1) PPI alone (group A) and 2) PPI plus somatostatin (group B). The primary outcome was rebleeding within 72 hours. The secondary outcomes were rebleeding in 30 days, packed red blood cells (pRBC) transfused, length of hospital stay, need for surgery, and in-hospital mortality. Results: Forty-five patients in the PPI group (A) and 45 patients in the PPI plus somatostatin group (B) were studied. There was no difference between the two groups with respect to clinical and endoscopic features at admission. After medical treatment, there was no difference between groups A and B in rebleeding at 72 hours (11% vs. 13%, p = NS), rebleeding in 30 days (13% vs. 16%, p = NS), pRBC transfused (mean, 3.2 vs. 4.5 units, p = NS), length of hospital stay (mean, 7.4 vs. 8.4 days, p = NS), and in-hospital mortality (2% vs. 7%, p = NS). Conclusions: Combined therapy with PPI and somatostatin did not result in better outcomes than PPI alone.


Recently, there has been much effort to foster the adoption of Open Source Software (OSS) in several different countries. Studying the characteristics of new users and the reasons that lead them to adopt OSS can thus help better understand this phenomenon, offering lessons to similar projects. In this context, the present paper addresses the adoption of OSS in a Brazilian university. The paper identified distinct groups of students with different preferences in relation to OSS.


Mean-Variance optimization has long played an important role in portfolio construction. These traditional methods have been applied to hedge funds, but recent research indicates that hedge fund return distributions are distinctly non-normal. That is, hedge fund return distributions exhibit considerable leptokurtosis and skewness. Consequently, traditional mean-variance optimization will lead to sub-optimal results. This article incorporates skewness and kurtosis into the hedge fund selection process and applies it to a "live" portfolio of hedge funds. The results show that multi-moment optimizations produced superior portfolios with higher Sharpe Ratios while explicitly accounting for kurtosis and skewness.


The research upon which the outputs submitted as part of this thesis are based examines the socio-cultural environment of the Northeast of Scotland, from Aberdeen to Cabrach and from Portsoy to Laurencekirk. In total, five hundred and twenty hours of research data were collected as part of a project that began in 1987. This thesis investigates and visualises aspects of cultural identity representing the historical lifestyles of the "ordinary people" within rural Aberdeenshire circa 1890s-1950s. A unique feature of this research is the use of video as a tool for data gathering and presentation. The key themes are direct observations of the "ordinary people" and the author's rural ancestors. The use of the visual dynamic and the Doric dialect capture the ordinary person's testimony what a "past way of life" was like within Aberdeenshire. The research was initiated as a response to the author's cultural pride in his ancestors. It was not initially envisaged as a formal piece of academic research; the author conducted the research from a simplistic "desire to know". However, through reflective analysis of the research it can clearly demonstrate a rigorous research methodology, which has been replicated within the thesis. The procedures and methods engage with ordinary people in the real world, and help visualise and communicate material heritage. Through the identification of suitable topics, respondent selection, data capture, data analysis, critical review, post-production, archive management and research funding, aspects of the past are sustained. This new data has the potential to be future-proof and is unique in its content. The six topic videos, refereed conference papers, television features, and press articles have captured and sustained irreplaceable data. The research output has been utilised and subjected to critical peer review by diverse user groups locally, nationally and internationally. The work has credible and diverse endorsements and has also been accepted as authentic by the host community, going a long way to developing greater cultural pride. It captures a lost cultural identity in an innovative manner and presents output in a way which is both significant to user groups and also capable of furthering greater knowledge and understanding. This practitioner-based research has the potential to enhance future developments within the field of study through the embracing of modern visual technology in its widest sense. Media files in connection with this thesis are provided elsewhere on OpenAIR: http://hdl.handle.net/10059/2908


Contents 1. Introduction 1 2. Some topology 2 3. Local isomorphisms 4 4. Ind-Zariski algebra 6 5. Constructing w-local affine schemes 6 6. Identifying local rings versus ind-Zariski 10 7. Ind-´ etale algebra 14 8. Constructing ind-´ etale algebras 15 9. Weaklyétale versus pro-´ etale 18 10. Constructing w-contractible covers 18 11. The pro-´ etale site 21 12. Points of the pro-´ etale site 29 13. Compact generation 31 14. Generalities on derived completion 31 15. Application to theorem on formal functions 39 16. Derived completion in the constant Noetherian case 40 17. Derived completion on the pro-´ etale site 41 18. Comparison with thé etale site 43 19. Cohomology of a point 47 20. Weakly contractible hypercoverings 48 21. Functoriality of the pro-´ etale site 50 22. Finite morphisms and pro-´ etale sites 51 23. Closed immersions and pro-´ etale sites 51 24. Extension by zero 54 25. Constructible sheaves on the pro-´ etale site 56 26. Constructible adic sheaves 57 27. A suitable derived category 61 28. Proper base change 65 29. Other chapters 66 References 67


Due to the experience in the exploitation of previous European telemedicine projects an open Euro-Mediterranean consortium proposes the Virtual Euro-Mediterranean Hospital (VEMH) initiative. The provision of the same advanced technologies to the European and Mediterranean Countries should contribute to their better dialogue for integration. VEMH aims to facilitate the interconnection of various services through real integration which must take into account the social, human and cultural dimensions. VEMH will provide a platform consisting of a satellite and terrestrial link for the application of medical e-learning, real-time telemedicine and medical assistance. The methodologies for the VEMH are medical-needs-driven instead of technology-driven. They supply new management tools for virtual medical communities and allow management of clinical outcomes for implementation of evidence-based medicine. Due to the distributed character of the VEMH Grid technology becomes inevitable for successful deployment of the services. Existing Grid Engines provide basic computing power needed by today's medical analysis tasks but lack other capabilities needed for communication and knowledge sharing services envisioned. When it comes to heterogeneous systems to be shared by different institutions especially the high level system management areas are still unsupported. Therefore a Metagrid Engine is needed that provides a superset of functionalities across different Grid Engines and manages strong privacy and Quality of Service constraints at this comprehensive level.


The work described in this Thesis consists of a study of the lipids present in the fatty nodules (plaques) which occur during the fatty degeneration of the human aorta associated with the disease atherosclerosis. For many years studies of the chemistry of these lesions have concentrated on the major classes of lipid constituents, viz. cholesterol, cholesterol esters, phospholipids and triglycerides: the minor lipid groups havebeen largely neglected. We have attempted to remedy this omission, since quantity is not necessarily a measure of biological significance. Early studies on the subject were severely handicapped by the absence of suitable techniques for the separation and identification of microgram quantities of material and as a result had to use large quantities of tissue requiring, in some cases, several years for collection. The necessarily prolonged nature of these investigations introduced the possibility of gross artefact formation and cast doubt on the authenticity of certain compounds identified as arterial constituents. In the present wort, thin-layer and gas-liquid chromatography (TLC and GLC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) were used to enable each investigation to be restricted to plaque tissue from one aorta. Lesions from severely diseased aortas were dissected and solvent extracted within 24 hours post mortem. Division of the extract into its major components was effected by column chromatography on silicic acid. Repeated crystallisation of the sterol fraction from methanol enabled the concentration of several sterols chromato-graphically more polar than cholesterol. The most prominent of these was tentatively identified on the basis of its chromatographic behaviour as 26-hydroxycholesterol (cholest-5-ene-3beta,26-diol), a previously unknown tissue constituent. Confirmation of this structure was obtained by GC-MS, making use of the ability of trimethylsilyl ether derivatives to promote characteristic mass spectral fragmentations. Using a similar approach,7-ketocholesterol (3beta-hydroxycholest-5-ene-7-one); 7beta-hydroxycholesterol (cholest-5-ene-3beta,7beta-diol) and 5alpha-cholestane-3beta,5,6beta-triol were confirmed as constituents of this fraction as had been suggested by earlier investigators. Examination of the hydrocarbons, which had been neglected by previous workers, revealed that the major component was the isoprenoid hydrocarbon squalene. The initial identification wasmade by TLC, GLC and GC-MS and was corroborated by infrared spectrometry. Preparative TLC on silica gel impregnated with silver nitrate enabled the separation of two unsaturated steroidal hydrocarbons, later shown by mass spectrometry to be a cholestene and a cholestadiene, from a series of n-alkanes. Hydroxylation of the cholestene and GC-MS of the resulting diol in the form of the trimethylsilyl ether derivative has established that the compound present is largely cholest-5-ene. Work is in progress to determine the double bond positions in the cholestadiene. TLC analysis of silicic acid column eluates of polarityintermediate between triglycerides and cholesterol revealed theexistence of several unidentified esters which were furtherpurified by extensive chromatography. Acetylation demonstratedthat these esters contained unesterified hydroxyl groups. Theprincipal neutral compounds generated on hydrolysis were shown tobe cholesterol, 26-hydroxycholesterol and 7beta-hydroxycholesterol. The presence of the latter two sterols was not unexpected:however, the identification of cholesterol as a hydrolysis productnecessitated the postulation of the existence of an ester ofcholesterol with a hydroxy fatty acid. TLC and GLC studies onthe fatty acid portion of the molecule have confirmed this andGC-MS examination has shown that the major compounds are isomeric C18-monohydroxy acids each with two double bonds. TLC of sterol fractions (as propionate esters) on silica gel impregnated with silver nitrate has permitted the separation of desmosterol from an overwhelming mass of cholesterol. The relatively unsatisfactory behaviour of sterol propionates on GLC and GC-MS has led to the preferred use of trifluoroacetates. Using this approach we have been able to identify cholestanol in plaque extracts. It is difficult to assess the significance of these findings in relation to the development of human atherosclerosis, as only one stage of the disease has been examined. However, the methods developed will form the basis of a further investigation which will involve the study of plaques at various stages of evolution in an attempt to relate chemical changes within the artery wall to the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis.


Purpose The purpose of the present study was to accurately document the oculomotor misalignments and instabilities associated with the non-decussating retinal-fugal fiber syndrome, a rare inborn, isolated, achiasmatic condition. 1–3 To date, the achiasmatic syndrome described has thus far been identified in three unrelated females. 1–4 A comparable achiasmatic condition has also been identified in a canine breed. 5,6 Materials and Methods The unique, inborn visual pathway malformation in the form of an isolated absence of the optic chiasm was confirmed by metabolic assay, the visual evoked potential (VEP) misrouting paradigm and neuroradiological evaluation, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Horizontal and vertical, left and right eye, oculomotor scleral search coil recordings were measured, in one of the achiasmats, at 15 years of age. Comparable oculomotor recordings were implemented in three controls, including a normal age-matched control, an adult control and an adult with idiopathic congenital nystagmus (CN). In addition to central and eccentric target fixation with binocular and monocular viewing, binocular and monocular pursuit and optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) also were recorded. Results Following a binocular and monocular fixation paradigm, classic congenital nystagmus (CN) profiles were recorded in the achiasmat in the horizontal planes together with see-saw nystagmus (SSN) in the vertical planes; an alternating esotropia and vertical tropias also were documented. The CN showed interocular conjugacy and waveforms typically exhibited well-defined foveation periods. In general, both achiasmatic horizontal and vertical eye movements as well as corresponding interocular misalignments varied with stimu-lus and recording conditions. Moreover, horizontal eye movements showed sustained interocular conjugacy while vertical eye movements typically showed disconjugacy. Previous oculomotor studies in the achiasmatic canine breed revealed comparable oculomotor instabilities, albeit the latter were reported to present primarily with unyoked eye movements and uniocular saccades. In the present study, in addition to target fixation with binocular and monocular viewing, binocular and monocular pursuit and OKN responses also were recorded. For the achiasmat, high-gain pursuit results, as with eccentric fixation, emphasized a preference for fixation with the adducting eye. Also at eccentric gaze with monocular viewing, the eye under cover showed, relative to the fixating eye, a hypodeviation concomitant with adduction and a hyperdeviation concomitant with abduction. OKN profiles in the achiasmat with stimuli presented under both normal viewing and open-loop, retinal-field locked conditions proved rather complex; however, when an OKN response was identified, reversed OKN tracking was not apparent. Conclusions In general, the oculomotor results reported herein demonstrate that the non-decussating retinal-fugal fiber syndrome is an afferent visual pathway disorder associated with vertical and horizontal misalignments concurrent with congenital nystagmus and also with the rarer see-saw nystagmus.


Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) is a dangerous virus that was first emerged
 in China at December 2019. It has already infected more than 128 million
 people and killed more than 2.8 million people. The main purpose of this
 paper is to find out the present mental condition of Bangladeshi Senior
 Citizens in Dhaka city to overcome their loneliness or boringness. A
 systematic cross-sectional online survey regarding COVID-19 has been
 conducted from June 15 to June 25, 2020. After developing questionnaires
 utilizing Google form, it has been sent out to the participants using an
 online platform and the responses of the participants have been recorded. A
 total of 280 participants (100 female and 180 male) completed the survey.
 The average age of them is about 60 years. It has been observed that maximum
 male participants (58.3%) felt financial stress and maximum female
 participants (56%) felt horrified due to COVID-19. Additionally, it has been
 found that maximum male and female participants were utilized more time in
 social media then the normal time. Since COVID-19 has already become a major
 issue all over the world, it is necessary to identify the mental health
 conditions and activities of people during this pandemic situation so that
 appropriate measures can be taken. More research should be conducted
 regarding mental health impact and possible solutions. Hopefully, it will
 ease to provide fruitful information especially for the community health
 workers with a view to helping them tackle these psychological
 fitness-related issues in response to other similar societal disasters.
 After the pandemic, follow-up should be made in order to improve mental
 health.