Fragility functions are determined for low- and mid-rise ordinary concrete buildings, which constitute the most vulnerable construction type in Turkey as well as several other countries prone to earthquakes. A hybrid approach is employed where building capacities are obtained from field data and their dynamic responses are calculated by response history analyses. Field data consists of 32 sample buildings representing the general characteristics of two- to five-story substandard reinforced concrete buildings in Turkey. Lateral stiffness, strength, and deformation capacities of the sample buildings are determined by pushover analyses conducted in two principal directions. Uncertainties in lateral stiffness, strength, and damage limit states are expressed by using statistical distributions. The inelastic dynamic structural characteristics of the buildings investigated are represented by a family of equivalent single-degree-of-freedom systems and their seismic deformation demands are calculated under 82 ground-motion records. Peak ground velocity (PGV) is selected as the measure of seismic intensity since maximum inelastic displacements are better correlated with PGV than peak ground acceleration (PGA). Fragility functions are derived separately for different number of stories, which is a prominent parameter influencing the vulnerability of existing substandard concrete buildings.


A new interpretation of commodity futures price theory is evaluated because, currently, many products exhibit price behavior which cannot be explained with existing theory. A method for classifying products according to the particular price theory relevant to them is provided. The classification method uses the futures price dependence enforced by arbitrage opportunities in spot market as its base. The futures markets for beef cattle and corn are used as examples.


The elderly are especially prone to the adverse health effects of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is a common disorder in that population. While the prevalence and morbidity of COPD in the elderly are high, it is often undiagnosed and thus undertreated. The diagnosis of COPD is primarily based on the physiological documentation of airflow limitation using spirometry. However, several controversies exist as to the range of predicted normal values for these measurements in the elderly population, and the clinical presentation of COPD in the elderly may be complicated by the presence of several comorbidities. Many non-pharmacological and pharmacological interventions are available for managing COPD. However, management of COPD in the elderly population may be challenged by the "polypharmacy" of medications that these patients often take, which can interfere with compliance with therapy. Additionally, the elderly often suffer from physical or cognitive disabilities that can prevent compliance with prescribed medications. Lastly, adverse effects from medications prescribed for treatment of COPD may be more pervasive in elderly patients.


Background There is a strong correlation between disease mortality and the depth of myometrial invasion in stage I endometrial cancer (EC). Current assessment of the depth of invasion relies on light microscopy. Tumor cells can evade detection by light microscopy if they are vastly outnumbered by myometrial cells. Immunohistochemical (IHC) techniques against pancytokeratins (PCKs) have a great potential in the detection of such isolated cells. Objectives To investigate the application of IHC techniques in the identification of isolated infiltrating tumor cells within myometrium and assess its significance in clinically stage I EC. Methods A single representative tissue block containing the deepest myometrial invasion by the tumor was selected for 90 patients with stage I EC. Sections from each block were immunostained in accordance with established streptavidin–biotin peroxidase method using a mouse monoclonal antikeratin clone AE1/AE3. Myometrium was re-examined to identify deeper myometrial invasion that had escaped detection on hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) section. The clinical records were reviewed, and following data were collected: age, race, parity, presentation, associated medical disorders (obesity, diabetes, and hypertension), use of tamoxifen or hormone replacement therapy, menopausal state, recurrence, and survival. Results Of 90 cases, deeper myometrial invasion was detected on IHC sections in seven cases (7.7%). In five of these seven cases, isolated tumor cells surrounded by inflammatory cells were noted 0.2–1.2 mm deeper within the myometrium than that detected by H&E staining. In the remaining two cases, the deeper extension seen was the result of examining serial levels through the tumor block; in these cases, deeper infiltration should have been apparent on H&E sections. Follow-up data was available in 72 of the 90 cases. A trend was noted between the presence of isolated tumor cells deeper within myometrium on IHC and tumor recurrence (P = 0.056). The 2-year recurrence-free survival was 40% for the group with IHC evidence of deeper invasion compared with 89% for the group without (P = 0.005). Similarly, analysis of cause-specific and overall survival revealed significant differences between the two groups (P = 0.038 and P = 0.026, respectively). Conclusions In this study, we have shown that it is possible to identify deeper level of myometrial invasion by tumor cells using an IHC technique. IHC-detected deeper invasion is an uncommon event and may be a feature of more aggressive tumors with greater potential for recurrence and lower survival.


OBJECTIVE
This study set out to investigate whether socially anxious individuals with psychosis will perceive more loss, entrapment, shame and humiliation, will blame themselves more for their illness and have lower self-esteem than non-socially anxious individuals with psychosis.

METHOD
Two groups of participants with psychosis with (n=19) and without (n=19) social anxiety disorder were matched on the basis of gender and diagnosis.

RESULTS
There were no differences between the two groups in terms of positive and negative symptoms. Participants with social anxiety had significantly higher levels of self-blame, entrapment, shame and lower self-esteem. Differences in entrapment, shame and self-esteem remained significant after controlling for depression.

CONCLUSIONS
Negative beliefs about self and psychosis may be associated with the development of concurrent social anxiety disorder. The clinical and research implications of the findings are discussed.


Thailand's Bangkok has experienced rapid population growth and subsequent expansion over recent decades. It has resulted in an unintentional increase in vulnerability within rural-residential and metropolis areas. Flood prevention strategies, such as dams, irrigation canals, and flood detention basin, and Kaem Ling 'Green belt Embankment', have been slowly built and activated in response to this suburban catastrophe (Vanno). In recent years, King Rama IX of Thailand, initiated Kaem Ling's, 'Monkey's Cheek's' project; a reference to the common parable of an intelligent monkey storing its food in its saggy cheeks rather than swallowing. This has allowed the Western and Eastern suburbs of Bangkok to function as waterways, diverting the destructive water paths away to protect the metropolis.  Beginning in July 2011, a significant rainfall from the highlands of Thailand flooded down to Bangkok. With affected areas lying less than 10 metres above mean sea level and some as low as 1.5 metres, some areas remained flooded until January 2012. By October, the inundated metropolitan Bangkok began to negatively impact on industries, such as computers and automotive. Both critical supply networks for other manufacturing operations outside of Thailand. This 'vulnerability' where the inter-connectedness of economies could mean the closing of factories and manufacturing assembly lines in one country because of a flooding disaster in another had not been recognised.   The 2011 Thailand's flooding death tolls surpassed 815 deaths (with 3 missing), affected 13.6 million people and classed 65 of Thailand's 77 provinces as flood disaster zones (Benfield, 2012). During the extreme environmental activity, decisions were made to close several district gates in last-ditch efforts for protecting the metropolitan areas. This caused many other peri-urban areas of Bangkok to flood. These suburban areas were intended to act as waterways to protect the metropolis, but instead became a reservoir. Nimitmai 40 Road, situated in Khlong Sam Wa district, was in the middle of the 2011 flooding zones became the locus and main area of interest in this research.  Several initial studies, of precedence and technical data, explored objectives of building resilience in response to flooding and community. This research further utilised field study surveys, interviews, and case studies, all of which provided a wealth of information and contextual material. They contributed to design propositions developed through a series of critical reflections.  This research aimed to build community resilience, encapsulating spiritual elements in cultural and psychosocial elements of suburban Thai community's livelihood and to provide flood resilience through both non-technical and technical solutions. Final outcomes of the design iterations suggested a merging of Thai monastery and community centre as a spiritual anchor for the community's resilience and strengthen my neighbourhood's sense of place.


Payment problems have prompted several developed countries to introduce construction-specific statutory security of payment acts typically known as construction contracts act to eliminate poor payment practices and smoothen the contractors' cash flow. Malaysia too cannot pretend not to have these problems despite adequate mechanisms provided in many standard forms of construction contract. This paper presents findings of a study conducted amongst Malaysian contractors with the aims to determine the seriousness of late and non-payment problems, to identify the main causes and effects of late and non-payment and to identify remedies for securing payment debt as already been embedded in the construction contracts acts in other developed countries. It can be concluded that many local contractors have experienced late and non-payment problems in the Malaysian construction industry and the situation is far worse when it comes to government clients. This problem actually involves enormous amounts of money and leads to other problems that could affect the performance and image of the construction industry. The study via theoretical investigation and research survey found that the late and non-payment problems are contributed by inter alia: local culture/attitude, disagreement on the valuation of work done and paymaster's poor financial management. The study shows that late and non-payment can create cash flow problems, stress and undue financial hardship on the contractors. Amongst the most appropriate remedies to overcome or mitigate the problem of late and non-payment faced by local contractors include: a right to a speedy dispute resolution mechanism e.g. adjudication, a right to suspend work and a right to regular periodic payment. It is perhaps timely for Malaysia to introduce its own statute on the Payment and Adjudication Act.


Rat embryos explanted at 9 1/2 or 11 1/2 days of gestation and cultured in rotating bottles were subjected to a number of agents. Embryos explanted at 9 1/2 days (head-fold stage) and incubated for 48 h at 40.5 degrees C were retarded and abnormal and these effects were more severe in embryos cultured at 41 degrees C. Embryos exposed to 40 degrees over this period were superficially normal, but separate head and body protein determinations and careful measurement of the head dimensions showed them to be microcephalic. Addition of 12-15 mg/ml D-glucose to the culture medium of embryos grown in vitro over the same period also produces malformations. This teratogenic action of D-glucose is distinct from but exacerbated by its osmotic effect. Embryos explanted 12 h earlier (i.e. at 9 days of gestation) and cultured for 66 h were more sensitive to excess glucose--abnormalities were produced by 6-9 mg/ml exogenous D-glucose. Embryos explanted at 11 1/2 days of gestation and cultured for 18 h responded to both 10% CO and suboptimal oxygen levels with a reduction in growth rate and an increase in the ratio of lactate produced to glucose consumed, suggesting a shift to less efficient anaerobic energy metabolism.


In this paper we use the Diebold Yilmaz (2009 and 2012) methodology to construct an index of connectedness among five European stock markets: France, Germany, UK, Switzerland and the Netherlands, by using volatility risk premia. The volatility risk premium, which is a proxy of risk aversion, is measured by the difference between the implied volatility and expected realized volatility of the stock market for next month. While Diebold and Yilmaz focus is on the forecast error variance decomposition of stock returns or range based volatilities employing a stationary VAR in levels, we account for the (locally) long memory stationary properties of the levels of volatility risk premia series. Therefore, we estimate and invert a Fractionally Integrated VAR model to compute the cross forecast error variance shares necessary to obtain the index of total connectedness and the net contribution of each series to total connectedness. The results show that, over January 2000-August 2013, the index of total connectedness among volatility risk premia has been relatively stable with an increasing role played by France and with a positive (but decreasing) role played by Germany and the Netherlands. Non EMU countries such as the UK and Switzerland are negative net contributors to the index.


The European Commission introduced in its 2006 revision of the Leniency programme the concept of 'marker' which is a temporary protection for potential leniency applicants while they prepare a full leniency application. The object of the marker is to grant companies some predictability on the level of immunity they will obtain once they submit the full application and to induce earlier leniency applications by inducing competition between potential applicants. However, the marker system is not actually being used in the case of complex cartels where the Commission is unable to establish criteria to implement it. The solution in these cases is not to skip the marker system but to improve it to make it effective.


Moral justifications work, when they do, by invoking values that are shared in the common ground of the interlocutors. We asked 3- and 5-year-old peer dyads (N = 144) to identify and punish norm transgressors. In the moral condition, the transgressor violated a moral norm (e.g., by stealing); in the social rules condition, she/he violated a context-specific rule (e.g., by placing a yellow toy in a green box, instead of a yellow box). Children in both age groups justified their punishment in the social rules condition mostly by referring to the rule (e.g., "He must put yellow toys in the yellow box"). In contrast, in the moral condition they mostly justified their punishment by simply referring to the observed fact (e.g., "He stole"), seeing no need to state the norm involved (e.g., "He must not steal"), presumably because they assumed this as part of their moral common ground with their partner. These results suggest that preschoolers assume certain common ground moral values with their peers and use these in formulating explicit moral judgments and justifications.


Cancer is increasing worldwide. Th e Russian Federation is no exception in this regard with an increase of the total number of new cases predicted to rise from 529,062 in 2018 to 587,622 in 2040. Th e present high burden and increase in incident cases at the same time increases the pressure on healthcare infrastructure and related costs. Th us, primary and secondary prevention of cancer becomes essential. Occupational cancers related to exposure at the workplace are among the preventable cancer burden, due to the modifi ability of the risk through minimisation of occupational exposures and adequate worker protection. For the Russian Federation, some 20,000 cancers each year may be att ributable to occupation, but systematic recording is currently lacking. As information is also lacking on the absolute eff ect of various occupational carcinogens in the Russian workforce due to lack of large-scale epidemiological studies and because for many suspected occupational carcinogens the evidence may become stronger, the true burden may in fact be higher. Th e Russian Federation appears particularly suitable for research into occupational cancer given the sizable workforce, the heavy industr ialisation as well as the good documentation and workplace surveillance over time, so that results are both informative for the situation in the Russian Federation and on a global scale. Five challenging but not unfeasible steps of nationwide population-based cancer registration, development of a legal framework for record linkage of registries and data collections, recording of occupational cancers, large scale epidemiological occupational cancer research and rigorous implementation of worker protection on known carcinogens, lead the way to a continuously updated cancer control plan that includes the elimination of occupational cancer in the Russian Federation.


While designing jet-engine components information about the loads that the component will be subjected to, is critical. For this, a full system analysis of the engine is often performed with every component put together in a large finite element model, which is called the whole engine model (WEM). This model will mostly be composed of lower order shell elements with a few thousands of elements. At the design level of a component, the FE model is detailed with several hundred thousand higher order solid elements. The detailed model cannot be directly put into the whole engine model due to excessive run times. Therefore there must be a simpler representation of the component -a sub-model- with much fewer elements so that it can be assembled into the whole engine model. This simple model must have the same stiffness (load/displacement) in chosen directions, the same mass and the basic mode shapes and frequencies should also be the same with the detailed model. 4 different structural optimisation schemes were studied to prepare a model: sizing optimisation, optimisation with material properties as design variables, combined sizing and material property optimisation and free-size optimisation. Among these free-size optimisation where each element in the model has its own design variable -thickness- was found to be the most effective method. The stiffness could be matched to the detailed model as close as 5% and so also could the first two fundamental mode shapes and frequencies. Additionally, the initial sub-model prepared was used to do a preliminary study on how variations in casting dimensions would affect the stiffness of the component in a certain direction. This was done by creating a design of experiments (DoE) for the stiffness. A response surface for the stiffness was created in terms of the dimensions that have the most significant effect. This was later used to predict an interval for the stiffness based on variations in the cast dimensions with a confidence level of 99.7%.


The genetic causes of infertility in males or the history of paternal lineages are some relevant problems directly related to mutations in Y-linked genes. The interest of how these genes and their mutations evolve in a population leads us to introduce (see Gonzalez et al. (2012). Extinction conditions for Y-linked mutant-alleles through two-sex branching processes with blind-mating structure . Journal of Theoretical Biology 307, 104-116) a new two-sex two-type branching process to model the evolution of the number of carriers of an allele (and its mutations) of a Y-linked gene. In that work, it is assumed a population where females and males coexist and mate without the gene having influence on the mating process. Also, it is proved that the key to determine conditions for the extinction/survival of such allele are given by the probability of an offspring to be female, the rate of mutation and the mean number of offspring per couple. It is shown that the fate of its mutations in the population depends on the survival/extinction of the original allele. The present work focuses on the development of Bayesian inference for this model, considering a parametric framework with the reproduction laws belonging to the power series family of distributions. A sample is considered given by the observation of the total number of females and males of each genotype (original allele and its mutations) up to some generation. Using a simulation method based on the Approximate Bayesian Computation methodology, we approximate the posterior distributions of the main parameters of this model. The accuracy of the procedure based on this sample is illustrated by way of a simulated example. Acknowledgements: The research is supported by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad, Junta de Extremadura and the FEDER through the grants MTM2012-31235 and GR10118.


Recently, the volume integral equation (VIE) approach has been proposed as an efficient simulation tool for silicon photonics applications [J. Lightw. Technol.36, 3765 (2018)JLTEDG0733-872410.1109/JLT.2018.2842054]. However, for the high-frequency and strong-contrast problems arising in photonics, the convergence of iterative solvers for the solution of the linear system can be extremely slow. The uniform discretization of the volume integral operator leads to a three-level Toeplitz matrix, which is well suited to preconditioning via its circulant approximation. In this paper, we describe an effective circulant preconditioning strategy based on the multilevel circulant preconditioner of Chan and Olkin [Numer. Algorithms6, 89 (1994)NUALEG1017-139810.1007/BF02149764]. We show that this approach proves ideal in the canonical photonics problem of propagation within a uniform waveguide, in which the flow is unidirectional. For more complex photonics structures, such as Bragg gratings, directional couplers, and disk resonators, we generalize our preconditioning strategy via geometrical partitioning (leading to a block-diagonal circulant preconditioner) and homogenization (for inhomogeneous structures). Finally, we introduce a novel memory reduction technique enabling the preconditioner's memory footprint to remain manageable, even for extremely long structures. The range of numerical results we present demonstrates that the preconditioned VIE is fast and has great utility for the numerical exploration of prototype photonics devices.


Hospital directors constitute a French-style statutory profession. Analysis shows how the link has slowly been forged between a career in terms of rank or hierarchy and one based on professional experience. Historically, career management can be divided into three periods. The pre-bureaucratic period was characterized by the mobilization of a professional group that between 1941 and 1969 continually demanded improved status: the competitive examination for access to the profession had no real impact on the make-up of the professional body and there was no definite career profile. Then, during the bureaucratic period between 1969 and 1988, a hospital policy led by the state was gradually put in place, along with a true career model: recruitment by an effective, impartially graded, competitive exam, and the appearance of differentiated functions. From 1988 onward came a third period, under the banner of modernization and the adoption of the categories of new public management: career strategies and profiles became diversified and a recognition of competencies slowly emerged. Although this last period has continued to align itself with the bureaucratic rationale of a statutory career, it now takes into account the career itself, assessed in terms of the posts occupied. So far, whatever opposition may exist between these two notions has been overcome thanks to the fact that hospital directors have been in control of producing their elites and that competence has been based on professional criteria.


Furin is a serine protease that takes part in the processing and activation of the host cell pre-proteins. The enzyme also plays an important role in the activation of several viruses like the newly emerging SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 disease with a high rate of virulence and mortality. Unlike viral enzymes, furin owns a constant sequence and active site characteristics and seems to be a better target for drug design for COVID-19 treatment. Considering furin active site as receptor and some approved drugs from different classes including antiviral, antibiotics, and anti protozoa/anti parasites with suspected beneficial effects on COVID-19, as ligands we have carried out docking experiments in HEX software to pickup those capable to bind furin active site with high affinity and suggest them as probable candidates for clinical trials assessments. Our docking experiments show that saquinavir, nelfinavir, and atazanavir with cumulative inhibitory effects of 2.52, 2.16, and 2.13, respectively seem to be the best candidates for furin inhibition even in severe cases of COVID-19 as adjuvant therapy, while clarithromycin, niclosamide, and erythromycin with cumulative inhibitory indices of 1.97, 1.90, and 1.84, respectively with lower side effects than antiviral drugs could be suggested as prophylaxes for the first stage of COVID-19 treatment.


There is a paucity of local data about anaphylaxis and the use of adrenaline (epinephrine) prescribed for out-patient use. We described in this brief report our experience of out-patient-prescription of epinephrine of a university affiliated teaching hospital. The dispensing rate has been far below that of reported Western data. Our patients were prescribed upon fulfilling the current consensus but some may have suboptimal dosing. Lack of availability and carrying out-dated epinephrine auto-injector seems an issue. Issues of logistics, availability and clinical indications and were discussed. A local guideline to better define its usage seems warranted.


Household income and spending in China have grown rapidly over the past few decades, and income inequality has also risen. The various measures of China's aggregate household saving rate have all increased since the 1990s, and variation in saving behaviour by income group suggests that increasing the income of poorer households in particular would boost aggregate consumption. Changes in Chinese household consumption patterns as incomes rise have the potential to lead to higher imports of services and food from Australia in the long run. However, uncertainty around the outlook for growth of Chinese household income, consumption and saving is increasing as economic growth moderates in China.


CEO succession is a vital organizational decision because organizational strategy is a reflection of the experiences of a firm's top leader. The dissertation studies CEO succession by exploring its pattern, which reveals a dynamic nature of many succession decisions. One specific succession pattern, leadership vacillation, is observed in a grounded case of PepsiCo. Leadership vacillation occurs when organizations sequentially select their CEOs between "output" and "throughput" functions. To explain the existence of leadership vacillation, the study combines organizational vacillation theory (Nickerson and Zenger, 2002) with insights from upper echelons research (Hambrick and Mason, 1984) and studies on expert performance (Bereiter and Scardamalia, 1993). The study argues that some organizations dynamically balance exploration and exploitation by switching leaders between output and throughput functions, thus exhibiting the phenomenon of leadership vacillation. An empirical examination of 200 large, public companies indicates that the phenomenon is common and non-random. In addition, a probit model accounting for sample selection and a modified treatment effect model are employed to correct for two endogeneity problems when assessing antecedents, boundary conditions, and performance implications of leadership vacillation. The empirical analyses provide initial evidence that leadership vacillation is a product of a series of endogenous successor choices, meaning that a departing leader's functional background has an impact on that of a successor. Knowledge of the phenomenon of leadership vacillation, which has not been explored in previous research, contributes to CEO succession studies in specific and to organization and strategy research in general. Finally, the dissertation discusses its limitations and suggests possible future research on leadership vacillation.


In the transition from a repressive to a democratic society, the successor government faces the problem of how to deal with grave human rights violations such as killings and torture committed under its predecessor. This paper analyzes the dilemma a new government may encounter when it attempts to prosecute and punish those found responsible. On one hand, trials of chargeable officers may be able to prevent human rights abuses in the future and to facilitate instituting or restoring democracy. On the other, in the case that there were no legal rules definitively prohibiting the abuses committed by these officers, the trials require ex post facto laws, which breach the principle of nulla poena sine lege, and more generally violate the rule of law. These retroactive laws not only break legal predictability but treat individuals unfairly. After identifying both the need for, and the legal and political losses incurred by such criminal trials, the author examines the claims that international law resolves the dilemma of retroactive justice or that prosecution is justified as a fulfillment of international obligation. Then the author refers to this dilemma as "dirty hands" to characterize a circumstance in which one cannot avoid using the wrong means to obtain the best ends. Such characterization has normative implications for three aspects of trials: the process of enacting retroactive laws and the process of conducting the trials; the choice of other possible legal remedies; and the principles related to reactions in the international community.


Background: Synthesis of cysteinyl leukotrienes (cys-LTs) is thought to cause inflammatory disorders such as bronchial asthma and allergic rhinitis. Recent reports have suggested that LTC 4 is an important regulator of pulmonary fibrosis. This study examined the effect of LTC 4 in LTC 4 synthase-overexpressed transgenic (Tg) mice with bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis. We also focused on the function of lung-derived fibroblasts in the Tg mice. Methods: Prior to administration of bleomycin, pranlukast hydrate, a cys-LT1 receptor antagonist, was intragastrically administered to Tg mice daily from the previous day of the administration. Bleomycin was administrated by intratracheal instillation. Concentrations of IL-4, -13, and TGF-β1 in BAL fluid were measured 14 days after the administration of bleomycin. And lung tissue was examined histopathologically. In addition, lung-derived fibroblasts from Tg and wild-type (WT) mice were cultured for 7 days, and LTC 4 secretion and cell viability were assessed by EIA and MTT assay, respectively. And the expression of TGF-β1 mRNA was measured by real time PCR. Results: The levels of IL-4, -13, and TGF-β1, and pulmonary fibrosis were greater in Tg than in WT mice. The reduction of LTC 4 function in Tg mice could be decreased both these cytokines and pulmonary fibrosis. Furthermore, continuous LTC 4 secretion from fibroblasts was higher in Tg than in WT mice, while reduction of LTC 4 by pranlukast in fibroblasts from Tg, but not in those from WT mice, decreased cell viability and expression of TGF-β1 mRNA. Conclusion: These findings first suggest that overexpression of LTC 4 using transgenic mice is responsible for the development of pulmonary fibrosis.


Ageratum conyzoïdes (AC) is a plant used in traditional medicine for mental and infection diseases, cephalgia, dyspnea, enteralgia and fever. The objective of this study is to investigate the antinoceptive properties of Ageratum conyzoïdes in the rat. The raw extract of AC is constituted by a lyophilisated powder obtained from leaves juice extract by using a crusher. A dilution of 1% in NaCl 0.9% is prepared with the lyophilisat. Several doses of this preparation; 25, 50, 100, 125, 150 mg/kg are injected intraperitonealy in animals. The wistar rats of both sexes weighting between 200-250 g are used for this study. Animal's behaviour is observed macroscopically; the spontaneous motor activity is measured by using Martin et al. method (1990), slightly modified. The number of squares crossed by animal is measured every ten minutes during thirty minutes. The rectal temperature is sampled and analgesic activity evaluated by the hot plate method and by the writhing syndrome induced by acetic acid. AC is compared here with morphine 7.5 mg/kg sc and control 0.9% NaCl ip. The student--Fisher t test is used for the statistical analysis of the results. The results obtained demonstrate that all doses equal or higher than 125 mg/kg cause mortality of rat. The doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg are selected for experiments. At these doses, AC cause: a precocious ataxia, a sedation and a slight ptosis. Six hours after injection, those effects disappear; a reduction of spontaneous motor activity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


The discovery of Sanal flow choking is a scientific breakthrough and a paradigm shift in the diagnostics of the detonation/hemorrhage in real‐world fluid flow systems. The closed‐form analytical models capable of predicting the boundary‐layer blockage factor for both 2D and 3D cases at the Sanal flow choking for adiabatic and diabatic fluid flow conditions are critically reviewed here. The beauty and novelty of these models stem from the veracity that at the Sanal flow choking condition for diabatic flows all the conservation laws of nature are satisfied at a unique location, which allows for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code verification. At the Sanal flow choking condition both the thermal choking and the wall‐friction‐induced flow choking occur at a single sonic fluid throat location. The blockage factor predicted at the Sanal flow choking condition can be taken as an infallible data for various in silico model verification, validation, and calibration. The 3D blockage factor at the Sanal flow choking is found to be 45.12% lower than the 2D case of a wall‐bounded diabatic fluid flow system with air as the working fluid. The physical insight of Sanal flow choking presented in this review article sheds light on finding solutions, through in silico experiments in base flow and nanoflows, for numerous unresolved problems carried forward over the centuries in physical, chemical, and biological sciences for humankind.


Local rub-impact is common faults in rotating machinery and results in impact and friction between rotor and stator. The vibration signals due to impact and friction are always non-stationary which includes the rub-impact signal, the background signal and the noise signal. Local wave decomposition (LWD) is based upon the local characteristic time scale of signal and could decompose the complicated signal into a number of intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). However, because the weak rub-impact signal is always submerged in the background and noise signals. The LWD procedure would generate the components redundancy. In order to solve the problem, a novel method combining with independent component analysis (ICA) and LWD is proposed. ICA was introduced into LWD, so that the components are orthogonal to each other and the components redundancy can be removed. In the end, a much better decomposition performances can be obtained. Experimental analysis results show that the proposed method is accurate and efficient.


Objectives Hazardous drinking is a problem in many occupational settings. Finland has been active in implementing early identification and brief intervention with respect to risky drinking habits. To obtain information on these activities in Finnish occupational health services, a questionnaire survey was carried out as part of a national survey of occupational health services in 1997 and 2000.

Methods In 1998 and 2001, a questionnaire was sent to all Finnish occupational health centers in operation in 1997 and 2000, respectively. Information was obtained on 770 centers in 1998 (83.1%) and 672 centers in 2001 (77.6%). Every center filled out one questionnaire. The outcome variable was activity involving early identification and brief intervention for risky drinking in 1997 and in 2000, respectively. Statistical differences were tested with the chi-square test.

Results Early identification and brief intervention for risky drinking increased the most in eastern Finland from 1997 to 2000 (from 30% to 55%). Large centers increased their early identification and brief intervention (from 48% to 69%) more than the small ones (from 20% to 30%) did.

Conclusions There was a clear increase in early identification and brief intervention for risky drinking over a period of 3 years, but the number of clients receiving such a service from occupational health units is still low.


In this essay I am concerned with our understanding of philosophical dialogue. I will examine the most prevalent western model of dialogue—the combat model—and suggest some flaws in this model. I will outline concerns as to how standards for what counts as 'philosophical' are determined, and use this outline to frame preliminary objections to conceiving of philosophical dialogue as combative. Noting that philosophy is a socially and historically rooted practice, I argue that the view of philosophy as a kind of combat has its origins in features of ancient Greek life. Next, I will look to other cultures and traditions for differing conceptual resources. Specifically, I look to ancient China's philosophical narrative as one that does not primarily conceive of philosophy in terms of combat. I conclude by suggesting the relevance of this inquiry into methodology for practices of teaching philosophy.


Objective: Sufficient and good-quality sleep is important for individual functioning. This study explored associations between personality and sleep duration and sleep quality in adulthood. The mediating role of hedonic balance and the moderating roles of age and sex were also explored. Method: A nationally representative sample of Australian adults (n = 14,065; Mage = 44.4 years; 53.1% women) completed self-report measures of personality, sleep, hedonic balance and demographic variables (e.g. health status, employment status) in late 2013. Results: After controlling for demographic variables, we found that high neuroticism was associated with poorer sleep quality, and both long and short sleep durations (a curvilinear relationship). Small effects were also observed relating high extraversion and low openness to better sleep quality. Hedonic balance mediated all linear and non-linear associations between personality and sleep. Additional moderator analyses showed that high openness was more strongly related to poor sleep quality among men and young adults. High neuroticism was more strongly related to poor sleep quality among men. Conclusion: Findings indicate that personality is important for sleep in adulthood and that hedonic balance features a prominent role in this association.


A 3-dimensional, endoscopic optical coherence tomography (OCT) system based on a high-speed micromachined scanning mirror is presented. Cross sectional images of in-vitro and in-vivo samples are obtained and continuously displayed to the user. The optical resolution of the system is approximately 20 mumtimes20 mumtimes10 mum. The endoscopic OCT probe has been utilized to identify cancerous regions of hamster cheek pouch tissue in real-time


Land degradation is a global issue on a par with climate change and loss of biodiversity, but its extent and severity are only roughly known and there is little detail on the immediate processes – let alone the drivers. Earth-observation methods enable monitoring of land resources in a consistent, physical way and on global scale by making use of vegetation activity and/or cover as proxies. A well-known spectral proxy is the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), which is available in high temporal resolution time series since the early 1980s. In this work, harmonic analyses and non-parametric trend tests were applied to the GIMMS NDVI dataset (1981–2008) in order to quantify positive changes (or greening) and negative changes (browning). Phenological shifts and variations in length of growing season were accounted for using analysis by vegetation development stage rather than by calendar day. This approach does not rely on temporal aggregation for elimination of seasonal variation. The latter might introduce artificial trends as demonstrated in the chapter on the modifiable temporal unit problem. Still, a major assumption underlying the analysis is that trends were invariant, i.e. linear or monotonic, over time. However, these monotonic trends in vegetation activity may consist of an alternating sequence of greening and/or browning periods. This effect and the contribution of short-term trends to longer-term change was analysed using a procedure for detection of trend breaks. Both abrupt and gradual changes were found in large parts of the world, especially in (semi-arid) shrubland and grassland. Many abrupt changes were found around large-scale natural influences like the Mt Pinatubo eruption in 1991 and the strong 1997/98 El Nino event. This marks the importance of accounting for trend changes in the analysis of long-term NDVI time series. These new change-detection techniques advance our understanding of vegetation variability at a multi-decadal scale, but do not provide links to driving processes. It is very complex to disentangle all natural and human drivers and their interactions. As a first step, the spatial relation between changes in climate parameters and changes in vegetation activity was addressed in this work. It appeared that a substantial proportion (54%) of the spatial variation in NDVI changes could be associated to climatic changes in temperature, precipitation and incident radiation, especially in forest biomes. In other regions, the lack of such associations might be interpreted as human-induced land degradation. With these steps we demonstrated the value of global satellite records for monitoring land resources, although many steps are still to be taken.


The ability to actively control light has long been a major scientific and technological goal. We proposed a scheme that allows for active control of light by utilizing the nonreciprocal magnetoplasmonic effect. As a proof of concept, we applied current signal through an ultrathin metallic film in a magneto-plasmonic multilayer and found that dynamic photonic nonreciprocity appears in magnetic-optical material layer due to the magnetic field being induced from current signal and modulates surface plasmon polaritons trapped in the metal surface and the light reflected. The proposed concept provides a possible way for the active control of light and could find potential applications such as ultrafast optoelectronic signal processing for plasmonic nanocircuit technology and ultrafast/large-aperture free-space electro-optic modulation platform for wireless laser communication technology.


We present the results of a spectroscopic analysis of rotational velocities in 714 M-dwarf stars observed by the SDSS-III Apache Point Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) survey. We use a template-fitting technique to estimate while simultaneously estimating , , and . We conservatively estimate that our detection limit is 8 km s−1. We compare our results to M-dwarf rotation studies in the literature based on both spectroscopic and photometric measurements. Like other authors, we find an increase in the fraction of rapid rotators with decreasing stellar temperature, exemplified by a sharp increase in rotation near the M4 transition to fully convective stellar interiors, which is consistent with the hypothesis that fully convective stars are unable to shed angular momentum as efficiently as those with radiative cores. We compare a sample of targets observed both by APOGEE and the MEarth transiting planet survey and find no cases where the measured and rotation period are physically inconsistent, requiring . We compare our spectroscopic results to the fraction of rotators inferred from photometric surveys and find that while the results are broadly consistent, the photometric surveys exhibit a smaller fraction of rotators beyond the M4 transition by a factor of ∼2. We discuss possible reasons for this discrepancy. Given our detection limit, our results are consistent with a bimodal distribution in rotation that is seen in photometric surveys.


This chapter, new in the third edition, concerns how Congress, the Food and Drug Administration, and the courts have treated the definitions of "food," "drug," "cosmetic," "device," and "human biological product." The scope of FDA's power is delineated almost entirely by the list of product categories over which it has jurisdiction. As the materials in this chapter show, the product definitions are strikingly broad and thus confer jurisdiction over a vast range of goods. Furthermore, the definitions are remarkably plastic, providing FDA with great flexibility to decide whether and how to regulate products. Sometimes FDA has interpreted the definitions expansively, so as to expand its power. On other occasions, the agency has construed the definitions narrowly, so as to avoid taking responsibility for products it does not want to regulate or to minimize the burdensomeness of the requirements it does impose.


Some recently developed 0.18-μm SiGe BiCMOS radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) for multiband multimode wireless communications, radar and sensing systems, which provides many benefits for sensing and communications in uncertain environments with harsh operational scenarios, are presented. The multiband low-noise amplifier has measured peak gain of 21.9/16.6 dB at 23.5/35.7 GHz and best measured noise figure of 5.1/7.2 dB at 22/35.6 GHz, respectively. The multiband power amplifier exhibits gain of 21.4 and 17 dB, maximum output power of 16 and 13 dBm, and maximum power add efficiency (PAE) of 10.6 % and 4.9 % at 25.5 and 37 GHz respectively. The ultra-wideband pulse generator exhibits -1.9 dB (loss) to 1.1 dB (gain) from 31 to 37.1 GHz and produces very narrow RF pulses of 200 ps with extremely low RF leakage. The up-conversion mixer exhibits a conversion gain of 25.7 dB, 1-dB input power of -23 dBm, 1-dB output power of 1.36 dBm, and maximum output power of 2.7 dBm at 24.5 GHz.


BACKGROUND
To compare the accuracy and reaction time of a new dry rapid urease test (GUT test) with the CLO test and an independent gold standard in the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection. To determine whether this new test can replace the CLO test in routine clinical practice.

METHODS
We included consecutive patients in whom normal-sized gastric biopsies were taken in routine practice. six antral and three corpus biopsies were taken for determination of H. pylori infection. results of the GUT test were monitored after 15, 60 and 120 minutes of incubation. Results were compared with the standard CLO test and an independent gold standard (bacterial culture and histology). The results of the CLO test were also compared with the gold standard.

RESULTS
116 patients were recruited in the study: 60 were males and 56 females. The mean age was 59.3 years (range 14-89 years). Compared with the CLO test, the GUT test had a sensitivity of 76.7% and a specificity of 100% in 15 minutes. After 60 minutes the sensitivity of the GUT test increased to 95.3%, the specificity remained 100%. All positive results of the GUT test occurred before 60 minutes of incubation. Compared with the gold standard, the GUT test had a sensitivity and specificity of 97.4 and 96.1% respectively. The CLO test had a sensitivity of 97.4% and a specificity of 93.5%, when compared with the gold standard.

CONCLUSION
The GUT test appeared to be a good and reliable alternative for the widely used Clo test in diagnosing H. pylori infection. The GUT test results were not yet reliable after 15 minutes, but all positive results occurred before 60 minutes of incubation. The test can best be read 60 to 120 minutes after endoscopy.


Background Invasive intensive care unit (ICU) treatments for patients with advanced medical illnesses and poor prognoses may prolong suffering with minimal benefit. Unfortunately, the quality of care planning and communication between clinicians and critically ill patients and their families in these situations are highly variable, frequently leading to overutilization of invasive ICU treatments. Time-limited trials (TLTs) are agreements between the clinicians and the patients and decision makers to use certain medical therapies over defined periods of time and to evaluate whether patients improve or worsen according to predetermined clinical parameters. For patients with advanced medical illnesses receiving aggressive ICU treatments, TLTs can promote effective dialogue, develop consensus in decision making, and set rational boundaries to treatments based on patients' goals of care. Objective The aim of this study will be to examine whether a multicomponent quality-improvement strategy that uses protocoled TLTs as the default ICU care-planning approach for critically ill patients with advanced medical illnesses will decrease duration and intensity of nonbeneficial ICU care without changing hospital mortality. Methods This study will be conducted in medical ICUs of three public teaching hospitals in Los Angeles County. In Aim 1, we will conduct focus groups and semistructured interviews with key stakeholders to identify facilitators and barriers to implementing TLTs among ICU patients with advanced medical illnesses. In Aim 2, we will train clinicians to use protocol-enhanced TLTs as the default communication and care-planning approach in patients with advanced medical illnesses who receive invasive ICU treatments. Eligible patients will be those who the treating ICU physicians consider to be at high risk for nonbeneficial treatments according to guidelines from the Society of Critical Care Medicine. ICU physicians will be trained to use the TLT protocol through a curriculum of didactic lectures, case discussions, and simulations utilizing actors as family members in role-playing scenarios. Family meetings will be scheduled by trained care managers. The improvement strategy will be implemented sequentially in the three participating hospitals, and outcomes will be evaluated using a before-and-after study design. Key process outcomes will include frequency, timing, and content of family meetings. The primary clinical outcome will be ICU length of stay. Secondary outcomes will include hospital length of stay, days receiving life-sustaining treatments (eg, mechanical ventilation, vasopressors, and renal replacement therapy), number of attempts at cardiopulmonary resuscitation, frequency of invasive ICU procedures, and disposition from hospitalization. Results The study began in August 2017. The implementation of interventions and data collection were completed at two of the three hospitals. As of September 2019, the study was at the postintervention stage at the third hospital. We have completed focus groups with physicians at each medical center (N=29) and interviews of family members and surrogate decision makers (N=18). The study is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2020, and results are expected to be available in mid-2020. Conclusions The successful completion of the aims in this proposal may identify a systematic approach to improve communication and shared decision making and to reduce nonbeneficial invasive treatments for ICU patients with advanced medical illnesses. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) DERR1-10.2196/16301


The sense of orientation during locomotion is derived from our spatial relationship with the external environment, sensed predominantly by sight and sound, and from internal signals of motion, generated by the vestibular sense and the pattern of efferent and afferent signals to the muscles and joints. The sensory channels operate in different reference frames and have different time‐dependent adaptive properties and yet the inputs are combined by the central nervous system to create an internal representation of self‐motion. In normal circumstances vestibular, visual and proprioceptive cues provide congruent information on locomotor trajectory; however, in cases of sensory discord there must be a recalibration of sensory signals to provide a unitary representation. We develop a means of studying these fusion processes by perturbing each channel in isolation about a consistent behavioural axis. This review focuses on creating the vestibular perturbation of the orientation sense by transmastoidal galvanic stimulation, a technique generally used to evoke balance reflexes. Vector summation across the population of semicircular canal afferents creates a net signal that is interpreted by the brain as a vector of angular acceleration in a craniocentric reference frame. The signal feeds perceptual processes of orientation after transformation that resolves the 3‐D signal onto the terrestrial or behavioural plane. Changing head posture changes the interpretation of the galvanic vestibular signal for balance and orientation responses. With appropriate head alignments during locomotion, the galvanic stimulus can be used to either steer trajectory over the terrestrial plane or perturb balance.


While literature is suffused with scenes of men eating, there is a conspicuous absence of images of women engaged in the same activity. Margaret Atwood displays a sensitive awareness of how images of women eating have been suppressed and erased. She remarks, "I think I first connected literature with eating when I was twelve and reading Ivanhoe: there was Rebecca, shut up romantically in a tower, but what did she have to eat?" (CanLit Introduction). Atwood probes the prohibitions on the public display of female appetite and the social taboos which surround women and food in terms of the politics of eating. For her, eating is unequivocally political. Atwood defines "politics" as "who is entitled to do what to whom with impunity; who profits by it; and who therefore eats what" (Second 394). Women are rarely depicted eating in literature because, as Atwood's comment implies, consumption embodies coded expressions of power. Atwood displays a profound preoccupation with eating in her writing; she has even edited a cook book. In her novels eating is employed as a metaphor for power and is used as an extremely subtle means of examining the relationship between women and men. The powerful are characterized by their eating and the powerless by their non-eating. Eating is not the only, or the most predominant, metaphor for power; indeed, images of consumption seem so ordinary as to be insignificant. Nevertheless, they reappear persistently throughout the novels and, examined in totality, assume a potent significance. The domestic, the feminine, the inconsequential is, Atwood suggests, highly important. While The Edible Woman and Lady Oracle have been analyzed extensively in terms of food, particularly in terms of feminist theories of eating disorders, critics have failed to note the significance of the food theme in the rest of Atwood's fiction. An analysis of the politics of eating in all the novels provides a new way of reading Atwood and a new understanding of women's relationship to food. All Atwood's heroines initially appear as victims, and they demonstrate their powerlessness through their relationship with food. In The Edible Woman, as Marion's wedding approaches and she subconsciously feels herself being absorbed by Peter, she stops eating. As she loses her identity and autonomy, so she loses her ability to eat. Her non-eating is a physical expression of her powerlessness and, at the same time, a protest against that powerlessness. Significantly, Peter's power is demonstrated by his ability to directly control what Marion eats. He chooses her order in the restaurant, and this is the moment from which Marion can no longer tolerate food. Duncan recognizes Marion's food refusal as a form of protest before she understands it herself. He tells her, "You're probably representative of modern youth, rebelling against the system; though it isn't considered orthodox to begin with the digestive system. But why not?" (192). When Marion finally realizes what is happening to her, she bakes Peter a cake in the shape of a woman and offers it to him to symbolize how he has tried to consume her. Immediately after she ends her relationship with Peter, she regains her sense of self hood and her ability to eat. In Surfacing the narrator's sense of victimization by the father of her aborted child is symbolized by the way she imagines he controlled what she ate during her pregnancy. Anna's appetite is also controlled and repressed. She is a stereotypical woman who possesses all the traditionally feminine characteristics imposed by the process of socialization, and "isn't allowed to eat or shit or cry or give birth, nothing goes in, nothing comes out" (159). The killing of the heron, in particular, highlights the relationship between eating and power. The way that killing is linked to eating and slavery suggests that eating, like killing and enslavement, is an expression of power: Why had they strung it up like a lynch victim, why didn't they just throw it away like trash? …


The diagnostic values of immunoglobulin G subclass antibodies from patients with gnathostomiasis were assessed by immunoblot technique. Antigen was prepared from crude extracts of Gnathostoma spinigerum advanced third‐stage larvae obtained from naturally infected eels. The sera were obtained from 14 parasite‐confirmed gnathostomiasis cases, 63 patients with other helminthic infections and 13 healthy controls. Nine prominent IgG4 reactive bands appeared with molecular weights of 94, 51, 47, 43, 38, 24, 21, 20 and 15 kDa. The diagnostic sensitivity of each of the nine reactive bands ranged from 100% to 64.3% in 14 parasite‐confirmed gnathostomiasis cases. All (100%) confirmed cases recognized the 21 kDa antigenic band, but not other helminthic infections or parasite‐free control. Recognition of 21 kDa antigen in G. spinigerum advanced third‐stage larvae crude extracts is the most specific diagnostic marker for human gnathostomiasis, with 100% sensitivity and specificity. The 20 and 24 kDa protein bands were additional diagnostic bands for confirming diagnosis of infection where the 21 kDa band was faint. No specific binding of IgG1, IgG2, or IgG3 antibodies was observed in any sera from confirmed gnathostomiasis cases.


The emergence of life on the Early Earth during the Archean has required a prior complex organic chemistry providing the prerequisite bricks of life. The origin of the organic matter and its evolution on the early Earth is far from being understood. Several hypotheses are investigated, possibly complementary, which can be divided in two main categories: the endogenous and the exogenous sources. In this work we have been interested in the contribution of a specific endogenous source: the organic chemistry occurring in the ionosphere of the early Earth. At these high altitudes, the VUV contribution of the young sun was important, involving an efficient production of reactive species. Here we address the issue whether this chemistry can lead to the production of larger molecules with a prebiotic interest in spite of the competitive lysing effect of the harsh irradiation at these altitudes.


Sofradir was first to show a 10μm focal plane array (FPA) in DSS 2012, and announced the DAPHNIS 10μm product family back in 2014. This pixel pitch is key for enabling more compact sensors and increased resolution. SOFRADIR recently achieved outstanding MTF demonstration at this pixel pitch, which clearly demonstrate the benefit to users of adopting 10μm pixel pitch focal plane array based detectors. The last results, and associated gain in detection performance, are discussed in this paper. Concurrently to pitch downsizing, SOFRADIR also works on a global offer using digital interfaces and smart pixel functionalities. This opens the road to enhanced functionalities such as improved image quality, higher frame rate, lower power consumption and optimum operation for wide thermal conditions scenes. This paper also discusses these enhanced features and strategies allowing easier integration of the detector in the system.


The value of the multivariate data analysis tools principal component analysis (PCA) and principal component discriminant analysis (PCDA) for prioritizing leads generated by microarrays was evaluated. To this end, Pseudomonas putida S12 was grown in independent triplicate fermentations on four different carbon sources, i.e. fructose, glucose, gluconate and succinate. RNA isolated from these samples was analysed in duplicate on an anonymous clone-based array to avoid bias during data analysis. The relevant transcripts were identified by analysing the loadings of the principal components (PC) and discriminants (D) in PCA and PCDA, respectively. Even more specifically, the relevant transcripts for a specific phenotype could also be ranked from the loadings under an angle (biplot) obtained after PCDA analysis. The leads identified in this way were compared with those identified using the commonly applied fold-difference and hierarchical clustering approaches. The different data analysis methods gave different results. The methods used were complementary and together resulted in a comprehensive picture of the processes important for the different carbon sources studied. For the more subtle, regulatory processes in a cell, the PCDA approach seemed to be the most effective. Except for glucose and gluconate dehydrogenase, all genes involved in the degradation of glucose, gluconate and fructose were identified. Moreover, the transcriptomics approach resulted in potential new insights into the physiology of the degradation of these carbon sources. Indications of iron limitation were observed with cells grown on glucose, gluconate or succinate but not with fructose-grown cells. Moreover, several cytochrome- or quinone-associated genes seemed to be specifically up- or downregulated, indicating that the composition of the electron-transport chain in P. putida S12 might change significantly in fructose-grown cells compared to glucose-, gluconate- or succinate-grown cells.


A novel algorithm designed to compute efficiently and accurately the high-frequency electromagnetic scattering from open-ended waveguide cavities is presented. The cavity is converted into a stepped-waveguide model so that the field spectra are propagated, forward and backward, along each waveguide section. As boundary conditions for perfect electric conductors are applied via image theory, they are of local nature and take into account only the first-order interactions between each pair of waveguide sections. Accordingly, additional forward-backward iterations must be performed if multiple interactions are to be taken into account. Finally, the radar cross section due to the interior irradiation is calculated by a Kirchhoff-based aperture integral. Good agreement with method of moments and hybrid modal solutions is found, as well as with experimental data, for two-dimensional and three-dimensional cavities with rectangular cross section. >


This paper presents a 24 hour ahead microgrid power planning using the approach of unit commitment by dynamic programming. The studied system comprises twelve PV-based active generators with embedded storage and three micro gas turbines. Based on the prediction of the energy available from the PV generator, the storage availability, the micro turbine emission characteristics and the load prediction, a central energy management system calculates a 24-hour ahead plan of the power references for three micro gas turbines and the active generators in order to minimize the CO2 equivalent emissions of the gas turbines1.


Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease of worldwide distribution caused by spirochetes of the genus Leptospira. Leptospirosis is a common disease, highly prevalent in human populations but most often unidentified. The International Leptospirosis Society estimates that disease incidence ranges are 0.1 to 1.0 per 100 000 in temperate climates and 10 to 100 per 100 000 in humid tropics.1 In India, outbreaks have been increasingly reported since 1980s, especially from the states of Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa, and Tamil Nadu.2 Outbreaks mostly occur as a result of heavy rainfall and consequent flooding, usually during monsoons.3 The clinical manifestation of leptospirosis varies from inapparent infection to fulminant fatal disease. Pulmonary complications for patients with leptospirosis are also relatively common, reported in 17% to 70% of patients in several large studies.4 Although these manifestations are usually mild, recent studies suggest that pulmonary involvement is frequently the most dramatic feature of leptospiral infection. Accordingly, severe pulmonary manifestations of leptospirosis are becoming more prevalent, with pulmonary hemorrhage being the most
predominant cause of death in leptospirosis. The hemorrhagic potential of leptospirosis was first reported by Weil in 1886.5 The intense intra-alveolar hemorrhages seem to be unique for leptospirosis. Previous literature on diffuse alveolar hemorrhage heavily emphasizes the causal role of vasculitides.6 Use of steroids is rarely reported in leptospirosis-associated pulmonary hemorrhages. Here, we report a case of leptospirosis with pulmonary hemorrhage that was successfully treated with a high intravenous dose of methylprednisolone.


The most important measures of surface quality during the machining process are changes in the average surface roughness and maximum peak-to-valley height caused by such machining variables as cutting speed and feed rate. This study quantifies the interaction effects of the machining variables on surface roughness in dry hard turning process of AISI 4140 steel with CBN7015 inserts. The Taguchi experimental design, (multivariate) analysis of variance, and multiple (non-)linear regression models were combined in the quantification and modeling of interaction effects on surface roughness in dry hard turning process. There existed a significant interaction effect between cutting speed and feed rate in determining the behavior of the response variables. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.mech.23.5.16223


The fi rst set of results from a large collaboration comparing genomic data across 12 tumor types, published in 18 papers across several journals this fall, provides numerous early demonstrations of how such analyses may aid in identifying new patterns of drivers for cancer. Studies in the Pan-Cancer Initiative drew on data from about 5,000 tumors gathered by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Launched as an informal TCGA collaboration in October 2012, the Pan-Cancer program has grown to more than 250 researchers at dozens of institutions. Project goals were to put together coherent TCGA data sets across tumor types and platforms and to study, among other questions, the extent to which different types of tumors are driven by common abnormalities across tissue types and the extent to which they are driven by factors specifi c to their tissue of origin. The researchers are sifting through the pooled data sets, which include protein and phosphoprotein abundance, DNA methylation, copy number, single-nucleotide and structural variants by whole-exome sequencing, microRNA sequencing, and RNA sequencing and gene expression data. Among early Pan-Cancer analyses, one published in Nature examined point mutations and small insertions/ deletions and identifi ed 127 signifi cantly mutated genes across the 12 tumor types (Nature 2013;502:333–9). Most tumor types have two to six mutations, suggesting a relatively small number of driver mutations. Additionally, "mutations in transcriptional factors/regulators show tissue specifi city, whereas histone modifi ers are often mutated across several cancer types," the study notes. A study in Nature Genetics that looked at somatic copy number alterations (SCNA) discovered 140 regions containing signifi cantly recurrent focal SCNAs across all tumor lineages (Nature Gen 2013;45:1134–40). Among these 140 regions, 102 have no known oncogene or tumor suppressor gene targets and 50 have signifi cantly mutated genes. Amplifi ed regions without known oncogenes were enriched for genes involved in epigenetic regulation. "Analysis of the molecular aberrations and their functional roles across tumor types will teach us how to extend therapies effective in one cancer type to others with a similar genomic profi le," the Pan-Cancer researchers noted in a Nature Genetics commentary introducing the initiative (Nature Gen 2013;45:1113–20). The next round of Pan-Cancer analyses will draw on an expanded TCGA data set covering 10,000 tumors from 25 tumor types, including wholegenome sequencing of tumors from 1,000 patients and their corresponding normal genomes, says Joshua Stuart, PhD, professor of biomolecular engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and senior author of the commentary. TCGA sample collection for this expanded round will be completed in about a year, if all goes as planned. Stuart and his Pan-Cancer colleagues also are working with the International Cancer Genome Consortium to pool their data for a total of 2,000 tumors analyzed with whole-genome sequencing. These full sequences may reveal a greater role for phenomena such as viral integration and mobile elements in the genome, says Stuart. ■


: The clinical and experimental study of 66 schizophrenics were conducted. Based on mental symptoms, four-diagnostic method of TCM and hemorheology, it presented preliminarily the clinical and experimental criteria for schizophrenia. The combined therapy of Xuefu Zhuyu Decoction and low dosage of antipsychotic drug could relieve the mental symptoms and the abnormal hemorheologic index normalized. Its therapeutic index was higher than that of control group.


This paper presents hidden Markov models (HMM) approach for forecasting stock price for interrelated markets. We apply HMM to forecast some of the airlines stock. HMMs have been extensively used for pattern recognition and classification problems because of its proven suitability for modelling dynamic systems. However, using HMM for predicting future events is not straightforward. Here we use only one HMM that is trained on the past dataset of the chosen airlines. The trained HMM is used to search for the variable of interest behavioural data pattern from the past dataset. By interpolating the neighbouring values of these datasets forecasts are prepared. The results obtained using HMM are encouraging and HMM offers a new paradigm for stock market forecasting, an area that has been of much research interest lately.


Abstract. Improved versions of CH4 and N2O profiles derived at the Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research and Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia (CSIC) from spectra measured by the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) have become available. For the MIPAS full-resolution period (2002–2004) these are V5H_CH4_21 and V5H_N2O_21 and for the reduced-resolution period (2005–2012) these are V5R_CH4_224, V5R_CH4_225, V5R_N2O_224 and V5R_N2O_225. Here, we compare CH4 profiles to those measured by the Fourier Transform Spectrometer on board of the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE-FTS), the HALogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) and the Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric CHartographY (SCIAMACHY), to the Global Cooperative Air Sampling Network (GCASN) surface data. We find the MIPAS CH4 profiles below 25 km to be typically higher of the order of 0.1 ppmv for both measurement periods. N2O profiles are compared to those measured by ACE-FTS, the Microwave Limb Sounder on board of the Aura satellite (Aura-MLS) and the Sub-millimetre Radiometer on board of the Odin satellite (Odin-SMR) as well as to the Halocarbons and other Atmospheric Trace Species Group (HATS) surface data. The mixing ratios of the satellite instruments agree well with each other for the full-resolution period. For the reduced-resolution period, MIPAS produces similar values as Odin-SMR, but higher values than ACE-FTS and HATS. Below 27 km, the MIPAS profiles show higher mixing ratios than Aura-MLS, and lower values between 27 and 41 km. Cross-comparisons between the two MIPAS measurement periods show that they generally agree quite well, but, especially for CH4, the reduced-resolution period seems to produce slightly higher mixing ratios than the full-resolution data.


This paper presents the use of multithreaded processors in real-time architectures. In particular we will handle real-time applications with hard timing constraints. In our approach, events (e.g. timer interrupts, signals from the environment, etc) are distinguished into three classes according to the reaction times that have to be met. Since two of these classes are well known in real-time systems, we will focus on the new class, for which the special features of a multithreaded processor together with a real-time scheduler realized in hardware are employed. Doing so enables us to realize the handling of events from this new class in software while still meeting the demands on reaction time. Additionally, the predictability of the application and the ease of implementing them are increased. The processor, named MSparc, which we developed to support these features, is based on block multithreading and is outlined in this paper, too. We then present an architecture, designed for rapid prototyping of embedded systems, to show the feasibility of this approach. Finally, a case study shows the potential of multithreading for embedded systems. Category: C.1 Processor Architecture


Introduction Geology makes less use than other physical sciences of laboratory equipment to demonstrate the various phenomena commonly discussed in the classroom. Many teachers explain this lack of demonstration material by saying that few geologists have the engineering ability to design the necessary equipment. Others say that the geologist's true laboratory is the out-of-doors and that a single field trip, properly conducted, is worth more than any amount of laboratory instruction. Still others insist that, although laboratory equipment in geology can readily be constructed, it is essentially worthless, inasmuch as static models can not arouse the average student's interest; and further, that operative exhibits are misleading or useless either because of the general inability to handle properly the time element or because of difficulties inherent in the disparity of any scale employed in the models in comparison with that of the actual areas portrayed. These objections, although in part real, . . .


Supply chain management (SCM) is a concept that has flourished in manufacturing, originating from Just-In-Time (JIT) production and logistics. Today, SCM represents an autonomous managerial concept, although still largely dominated by logistics. SCM endeavors to observe the entire scope of the supply chain. All issues are viewed and resolved in a supply chain perspective, taking into account the interdependency in the supply chain. SCM offers a methodology to relieve the myopic control in the supply chain that has been reinforcing waste and problems. Construction supply chains are still full of waste and problems caused by myopic control. Comparison of case studies with prior research justifies that waste and problems in construction supply chains are extensively present and persistent, and due to interdependency largely interrelated with causes in other stages of the supply chain. The characteristics of the construction supply chain reinforce the problems in the construction supply chain, and may well hinder the application of SCM to construction. Previous initiatives to advance the construction supply chain have been somewhat partial. The generic methodology offered by SCM contributes to better understanding and resolution of basic problems in construction supply chains, and gives directions for construction supply chain development. The practical solutions offered by SCM, however, have to be developed in construction practice itself, taking into account the specific characteristics and local conditions of construction supply chains


Here we present a method for calculating the TCO sheet resistance of complete thin film modules using EL imaging. The method uses the characteristic decay of the junction voltage over the width of a cell stripe to derive four simple analytic equations for the TCO sheet resistance and the internal and contact resistances. Experimentally, only the module dark JV curve, Jsc-Voc curve, and electroluminescence imaging is required. Unlike previous methods, the internal and contact resistances of the modules are accounted for, and the method does not require curve fitting. The TCO sheet resistances of four 10cm × 10cm amorphous silicon modules are calculated and show excellent agreement with the experimentally measured values.


The prevalence of diverticulosis in western countries has increased and two-thirds of the population over the age of 85 are now affected. Diverticulitis results from inflammation and subsequent perforation of a colonic diverticulum. Mild forms of diverticulitis usually present with gradually increasing symptoms from the lower left quadrant of the abdomen, whereas acute complicated disease is characterised by dramatic onset of abdominal pain, followed by fever within a few hours. The standard treatment for uncomplicated diverticulitis is bowel rest, with liquid diet or intravenous fluids in combination with antibiotics. Patients not responding to conservative treatment within the first 24 hours require further evaluation by computed tomography or ultrasonography. If an abscess is present, it can often be drained percutaneously. In cases of perforation and peritonitis, surgical intervention is mandatory, though no consensus exists as to the choice of procedure. Fistula formation and intestinal obstruction are also indications for surgical intervention, although the frequent recurrent attacks which commonly afflict these patients are seldom associated with severe complications. Prophylactic resection is not to be recommended for patients with diverticular disease, but a high-fibre diet may afford protection by preventing further complications.


: On the basis if an inquiry among Dutch veterinary practitioners, an attempt has been made to obtain an impression of the occurrence, the symptoms and the therapeutic measures used in problem behaviour in dogs. In addition, answers have been obtained to some supplementary questions. The response to the inquiry was limited. Aggression appeared to be the most serious and most frequent behaviour problem. Following this nervousness, unruliness, house-soiling, mounting and destructiveness were found to be serious behaviour problems with a high frequency. Therapeutic measures in unruliness and house-soiling problems consisted mainly of advice and obedience courses. In mounting, however, medical or surgical methods were primarily used. In aggression, nervousness and destructiveness, both the former and the latter methods were used about equally. The vast majority of the respondents was of the opinion that treating problem behaviour is part of the veterinary practitioners task.


We introduce and study a new class of locally convex vector lattices of continuous functions on a locally compact Hausdorff space, which we call regular vector lattices. We investigate some general properties of these spaces and of the subspaces of so-called generalized affine functions. Moreover, we present some Korovkin-type theorems for continuous positive linear operators; in particular, we study Korovkin subspaces for finitely defined operators, for the identity operator and for positive projections. Due to its length, the paper is split up into two parts of distinct character; in this first part, we introduce the class of regular vector lattices, we prove an integral representation theorem for continuous positive linear forms and we study some enveloping functions related to a continuous positive operator, together with the corresponding space of generalized affine functions. Finally, we obtain a Stone–Weierstrass type theorem. In the second part, which will appear in the same journal, we will present some Korovkin-type theorems, together with some applications.


Aberrant activation of Wnt signaling is a crucial event in tumor development and metastasis. Wnt signaling is commonly divided into canonical and non-canonical signaling pathways based on whether β-catenin is activated (canonical). The two signaling pathways are initiated by Wnt ligand binding to the surface Frizzled (FZD) receptors, and regulate cancer stem cell self-renewal and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Frizzled 7 (FZD7), a member of Frizzled family, promotes cell proliferation and invasiveness in many cancers, suggesting that FZD7 transmitting Wnt signaling is important for driving cancer growth. FZD7 expression has been reported to be up-regulated in human primary gastric cancer tissues. However, the molecular mechanism by which FZD7 promotes gastric cancer(GC) development and progression is not fully understood. Our present study showed that FZD7 was overexpressed in clinical GC samples, and thus was correlated with tumor invasion, lymphatic and organ metastasis, late TNM stages and poor patient survival. The endogenous expression of FZD7 was significantly increased in cancer stem cell-enriched spheres compared with adherent cells. Furthermore, RNA interference-mediated silencing of FZD7 inhibited proliferation, migration and invasion in gastric cancer cells. Moreover, ablation of FZD7 down-regulated EMT and the expression levels of cancer stem cell markers, and these inhibitions were associated with attenuated canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling. The results suggest that Wnt canonical pathway may contribute to tumorigenesis and metastasis, indicating that FZD7 could be a potential therapeutic target for gastric cancer.


Using Dynamic Bayesian Networks (DBN) to model genetic regulatory networks from gene expression data is one of the major paradigms for inferring the interactions among genes. Averaging a collection of models for predicting network is desired, rather than relying on a single high scoring model. In this paper, two kinds of model searching approaches are compared, which are Greedy hill-climbing Search with Restarts (GSR) and Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods. The GSR is preferred in many papers, but there is no such comparison study about which one is better for DBN models. Different types of experiments have been carried out to try to give a benchmark test to these approaches. Our experimental results demonstrated that on average the MCMC methods outperform the GSR in accuracy of predicted network, and having the comparable performance in time efficiency. By proposing the different variations of MCMC and employing simulated annealing strategy, the MCMC methods become more efficient and stable. Apart from comparisons between these approaches, another objective of this study is to investigate the feasibility of using DBN modeling approaches for inferring gene networks from few snapshots of high dimensional gene profiles. Through synthetic data experiments as well as systematic data experiments, the experimental results revealed how the performances of these approaches can be influenced as the target gene network varies in the network size, data size, as well as system complexity. Keywords—Genetic regulatory network, Dynamic Bayesian network, GSR, MCMC.


We present a climatological study of the tropical Atlantic surface wind convergence, in order to establish wether is constitutes a major drivers of the marine precipitations distributions in general, and particularly over the coastal parts of Brazilian and African monsoon rainfalls. We analyze the climatological monthly-mean surface wind convergence budget, as well as that of their month-to-month variations over the 2000-2009 decade. Our main tool is an atmosphere mixed layer model forced by atmospheric reanalyses; and observed satellite datasets. We articularly investigate the influence of sea surface temperature (SST), via comparison of its Laplacian with that of sea level pressure. The convergence model is qualitatively very accurate for monthly means over the whole basin, with the notable exception of the core of the marine ITCZ, but generally overestimates the intensities. Results show that the positive and negative convergence signals are generally to the first order due at least qualitatively to sea level horizontal pressure gradient structures. Effect of advection of convergence or divergence may be as important however near the continents. Convergence and divergences moreover occur essentially within the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL), from about 850hPa to the sea surface where interactions with SST are expected to be the strongest. Our most remarkable results consists in the evidence of frequent tight correspondence between the Laplacian of MABL pressure, which explains principally the convergence distribution of the model, and the Laplacian of SST. This suggests the possibility of a local control of marine rainfall by the temperature distribution of underlying waters.


Blind source separation (BSS) is a very popular technique to analyze data which can be modeled as linear mixtures of elementary sources. Standard approaches generally make the assumption that such sources are statistically independent or at least uncorrelated. However, this is barely the case for real-world sources which are very often partially correlated. We present a new sparsity-enforcing BSS method coined Adaptive Morphological Component Analysis (AMCA) designed to retrieve sparse and partially correlated sources based on an adaptive weighting scheme. Numerical experiments have been carried out which show that the proposed method is robust to the partial correlation of the sources while standard BSS techniques fail. The performances of the proposed algorithm are further illustrated with simulations in the context of astrophysics.


In this paper we present a series of three field studies on the integration of multiple modalities (touch and mid-air gestures) in a public display. We analyze our field studies using Conversion Diagrams, an approach to model and evaluate usage of multimodal public displays. Conversion diagrams highlight the transitions inherent in a multimodal system and provide a systematic approach to investigate which factors affect them and how. We present a semi-automatic annotation technique to obtain Conversion Diagrams. We use Conversion Diagrams to evaluate interaction in the three field studies. We found that 1) clear affordances for touch were necessary when mid-air gestures were present. A call-to-action caused significantly more users to touch than a button (+200%), 2) the order of modality usage was different from what we designed for, and the location impacted which modality was used first, and 3) small variations in the application did lead to considerable user increase (+290%).


The standard continuous Galerkin (CG) finite element method for second order elliptic problems suffers from its inability to provide conservative flux approximations, a much needed quantity in many applications. We show how to overcome this shortcoming by using a two-step postprocessing. The first step is the computation of a numerical flux trace defined on element interfaces and is motivated by the structure of the numerical traces of discontinuous Galerkin methods. This computation is nonlocal in that it requires the solution of a symmetric positive definite system, but the system is well conditioned independently of mesh size, so it can be solved at asymptotically optimal cost. The second step is a local element-by-element postprocessing of the CG solution incorporating the result of the first step. This leads to a conservative flux approximation with continuous normal components. This postprocessing applies for the CG method in its standard form or for a hybridized version of it. We present the hybridized version since it allows easy handling of variable-degree polynomials and hanging nodes. Furthermore, we provide an a priori analysis of the error in the postprocessed flux approximation and display numerical evidence suggesting that the approximation is competitive with the approximation provided by the Raviart-Thomas mixed method of corresponding degree.


Now-a-days, peoples are using emails for sharing their data. Sharing of secret information via emails is not that much secure as the information or data can be hacked easily by the third-party. In this current work we have proposed Visual Cryptographic Scheme for color images where the divided shares are enveloped in other images using stamping. The shares are generated using Random Number. Visual Cryptography Schemes (VCS) is a process of encrypting the image which hide the secret information present in images. In simple visual cryptographic technique encryption of secret image is done by splitting the image into n number of shares and the Stamping process is performed by overlapping k number of shares. It may helps to hide secret image. The decryption process of simple visual cryptographic system can be performed by a human eye so there is a possibility of security issues while using cryptography for sharing information. and to solve this problem we are using password technique. Previous methods faced some security issues like pixel expansion and noise troubleshoot the proposed system add more security to generated transparencies by applying an envelope to each shares by using stamping algorithm.


To address security and safety risks stemming from highly capable artificial intelligence (AI) models, we propose that the US government should ensure compute providers implement Know-Your-Customer (KYC) schemes. Compute - the computational power and infrastructure required to train and run these AI models - is emerging as a node for oversight. KYC, a standard developed by the banking sector to identify and verify client identity, could provide a mechanism for greater public oversight of frontier AI development and close loopholes in existing export controls. Such a scheme has the potential to identify and warn stakeholders of potentially problematic and/or sudden advancements in AI capabilities, build government capacity for AI regulation, and allow for the development and implementation of more nuanced and targeted export controls. Unlike the strategy of limiting access to AI chip purchases, regulating the digital access to compute offers more precise controls, allowing regulatory control over compute quantities, as well as the flexibility to suspend access at any time. To enact a KYC scheme, the US government will need to work closely with industry to (1) establish a dynamic threshold of compute that effectively captures high-risk frontier model development, while minimizing imposition on developers not engaged in frontier AI; (2) set requirements and guidance for compute providers to keep records and report high-risk entities; (3) establish government capacity that allows for co-design, implementation, administration and enforcement of the scheme; and (4) engage internationally to promote international alignment with the scheme and support its long-term efficacy. While the scheme will not address all AI risks, it complements proposed solutions by allowing for a more precise and flexible approach to controlling the development of frontier AI models and unwanted AI proliferation.


Since the 1950s, the U.S. Public Health Service (and subsequently the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) has conducted a cohort study of more than 4000 uranium miners on the Colorado Plateau (CP) in the southwest United States. These miners were obtaining raw uranium to supply the U.S. nuclear weapons industry from the 1940s to the late 1980s. Initially, researchers administered questionnaires and physical examinations among the miners (both white and American Indian), who are a subset of a much larger group of miners employed during the cold war era. Thousands of measurements were made of radon progeny in hundreds of mines over a period of decades. Since the 1970s, the CP cohort has been followed for mortality and morbidity outcomes and smoking assessment. The unique features of the CP cohort include its high doses, extensive dosimetry, near-complete smoking information, and long follow-up. The cohort has contributed extensively to knowledge of lung cancer risk from radon exposure, including understanding of inverse dose-rate effects, changes in risk with time since exposure, and the form of interaction with smoking. As of the last follow-up in 2005, 75% of the cohort was deceased. Despite the anticipation that lung cancer rates would decline in the late follow-up, published findings suggest that attributable risk of lung cancer continues to be high in the cohort, particularly for miners who smoked little or not at all. The form of interaction of radon dose with smoking appears to remain sub-multiplicative but super-additive. Outcomes other than lung cancer, such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and some forms of renal disease, have shown associations with radon exposure. With a final wave of follow-up, the CP cohort continues to provide key information to support the development of protective standards to minimise lifetime lung cancer risk from occupational radon exposure.


Abstract Why do parasites harm their hosts? The general understanding is that if the transmission rate and virulence of a parasite are linked, then the parasite must harm its host to maximize its transmission. The exact nature of such trade-offs remains largely unclear, but for vertebrate hosts it probably involves interactions between a microparasite and the host immune system. Previous results have suggested that in a homogeneous host population in the absence of super- or coinfection, within-host dynamics lead to selection of the parasite with an intermediate growth rate that is just being controlled by the immune system before it kills the host (Antia et al. 1994). In this paper, we examine how this result changes when heterogeneity is introduced to the host population. We incorporate the simplest form of heterogeneity—random heterogeneity in the parameters describing the size of the initial parasite inoculum, the immune response of the host, and the lethal density at which the parasite kills the host. We find that the general conclusion of the previous model holds: parasites evolve some intermediate growth rate. However, in contrast with the generally accepted view, we find that virulence (measured by the case mortality or the rate of parasite-induced host mortality) increases with heterogeneity. Finally, we link the within-host and between-host dynamics of parasites. We show how the parameters for epidemiological spread of the disease can be estimated from the within-host dynamics, and in doing so examine the way in which trade-offs between these epidemiological parameters arise as a consequence of the interaction of the parasite and the immune response of the host. Corresponding Editor: H. Ochman


relationship between water hardness and cardiovascular mortality. The efficiency of absorption of lipid from the gut is partly dependent on the bile salts. Increasing concentrations of calcium may interfere with the detergent action of the bile salts and with micelle formation. Oral calcium is known to reduce serum lipids1 and increase faecal bile acid and faecal total fat excretion.2 Total intake of calcium in hard-water areas may be as much as 20% higher than intake in soft-water areas. This could explain the observations of Stitt3 and Elwood4 that calcium concentrations in water supplies are negatively correlated with cholesterol levels and cardiovascular mortality. G H B MARTIN


Urea transport in the proximal tubule is thought to occur by passive diffusion through the lipid bilayers of the cell membranes. The lipid composition of cell membranes changes during maturation and may directly affect urea permeability of proximal tubule membranes. The present study examined the maturation of urea transport in rabbit renal brush border membrane vesicles (BBMV). BBMV from adult and neonatal (9- to 11-d-old) New Zealand white rabbits were loaded with 500 mM urea and mixed with an iso-osmotic mannitol solution using a stop-flow instrument. Vesicle shrinkage, due to efflux of urea, was followed with light scattering and urea permeability was calculated from an exponential fit of the data. Urea permeability was significantly lower in the neonatal BBMV than the adult at 25°C (0.34 ± 0.04 × 10-6 versus 0.56 ± 0.03 × 10-6 cm/sec; p < 0.001, n = 7) and 37°C (0.45 ± 0.04 × 10-6 versus 0.66 ± 0.03 × 10-6 cm/sec; p = 0.001, n = 7). There was no effect of 250 µM phloretin on urea permeability in either adult or neonatal BBMV at either temperature. The activation energy for urea diffusion was higher in the neonatal than the adult BBMV. Because the maturational increase in urea permeability could potentially be due to a sodium-dependent urea transporter in the adult BBMV, the sodium dependence of urea uptake in adult BBMV was examined. There was no difference in urea permeability in the presence or absence of 20 mM NaCl. Permeability of the lipid-soluble molecule, glycerol, was also found to be the same in the neonatal and adult BBMV. Urea transport in the apical membrane of neonatal and adult proximal tubules is not phloretin sensitive, a finding consistent with diffusion of urea via the lipid bilayer. The rate of urea diffusion is lower in neonatal membranes and may be an important factor in overall urea excretion. This may also play a role in developing and maintaining a high medullary urea concentration and thus the ability to concentrate the urine during renal maturation.