The effects of the surface roughness on electro-deposition properties of the special nickel electroplating coating for the 45# steel were investigated. The results indicate that the surface roughness has great effects on the corrosion resistance and the surface hardness of the coating, the adhesion force between the coating and the substrate. Among the three 45# samples with different surface roughnesses, the sample with moderate surface roughness (Ra≈0.1um) has the relatively higher corrosion resistance, surface hardness and adhesion force than the samples with higher and lower surface roughness.


We introduce a general construction of fully simulatable oblivious transfer based on lossy encryption. Furthermore, we extend the common definition of lossy encryption by introducing the notion of computationally lossy encryption. If the cryptosystem used is computationally lossy, our general construction yields oblivious transfer protocols with computational security for both parties. Otherwise, when regular statistically lossy cryptosystems are employed in this construction, it yields oblivious transfer protocols with statistical security for the sender. The construction introduced in this paper is realizable from rerandomizable, homomorphic and lossy cryptosystems in general. Thus, it yields specific constructions based on different assumptions, such as DDH, LWE and McEliece. Moreover, it proves the equivalence of fully simulatable oblivious transfer and lossy encryption.


Study of the Tuolumne Intrusive Series, a concentric texturally and compositionally zoned plutonic sequence in the eastern part of Yosemite National Park, was undertaken to develop and test a model for the origin of comagmatic plutonic sequences in the Sierra Nevada batholith. The granitoid units that make up the sequence are progressively younger and more felsic inward. The bulk of the rocks are granodiorite, but the outermost formation is quartz diorite, and the innermost one is granite porphyry. The compositional gradient changes both gradually within formations and abruptly between them. The change is greatest in the outer 1 km and lower toward the center of the sequence. Hornblende and biotite, abundant in the marginal rocks, decrease rapidly inward for 1 km as K-feldspar and quartz increase, but farther inward, they decrease slowly. The most conspicuous chemical changes are shown by the elements that are enriched in the mafic minerals. The compositional zoning indicates that with decreasing temperature, the sequence solidified from the margins inward. Solidification was interrupted repeatedly by surges of fluid core magma. The magma eroded the adjacent solidifying rock, and it expanded the area of the magma chamber at the exposed level by crowding the wall and roof rocks outward and upward and by breaking through the solidifying carapace into the wall rocks. The compositional zonation resulted from crystal fractionation that could have involved (1) preferential accretion of crystalline material present in the magma to the margins of the magma chamber, thus displacing the melt phase progressively inward, and/or (2) downward settling of crystals, probably accompanied by upward movement of melt and volatiles; the residual magma solidifying to form the granitoids. Although either mechanism can explain the observed relations, they lead to very different interpretations of the composition of the magma when the first exposed granitoids solidified at the margins of the magma chamber and as the sequence solidified inward.


ABSTRACT Persistent viral infections are a major health concern worldwide. During persistent infection, overwhelming viral replication and the rapid loss of antiviral T-cell function can prevent immune-mediated clearance of the infection, and therapies to reanimate the immune response and purge persistent viruses have been largely unsuccessful. Adoptive immunotherapy using memory T cells is a highly successful therapeutic approach to eradicate a persistent viral infection. Understanding precisely how therapeutically administered memory T cells achieve clearance should improve our ability to terminate states of viral persistence in humans. Mice persistently infected from birth with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus are tolerant to the pathogen at the T-cell level and thus provide an excellent model to evaluate immunotherapeutic regimens. Previously, we demonstrated that adoptively transferred memory T cells require recipient dendritic cells to effectively purge an established persistent viral infection. However, the mechanisms that reactivate and sustain memory T-cell responses during clearance of such an infection remain unclear. Here we establish that therapeutic memory T cells require CD80 and CD86 costimulatory signals to efficiently clear an established persistent viral infection in vivo. Early blockade of costimulatory pathways with CTLA-4-Fc decreased the secondary expansion of virus-specific CD8+ and CD4+ memory T cells as well as their ability to produce antiviral cytokines and purge the persistent infection. Late costimulation blockade also reduced virus-specific T-cell numbers, illustrating that sustained interactions with costimulatory molecules is required for efficient T-cell expansion. These findings indicate that antiviral memory T cells require costimulation to efficiently clear a persistent viral infection and that costimulatory pathways can be targeted to modulate the magnitude of an adoptive immunotherapeutic regimen.


Chemiluminescence (CL) is an index of both the generation of and reactions mediated by O2-. and 1O2. The tumor promoter, 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA), is a potent stimulator of CL by human polymorphonuclear leukocytes; treatment with TPA (100 ng/ml) provokes a CL response that peaks within five min and persists for over 30 min. The response is proportional to concentration over the range of one to 100 ng/ml. The ability of different phorbol diesters to stimulate both CL and O2-. production correlates with their relative activities as tumor promoters in vivo. Non-phorbol diester tumor promoters such as iodoacetic acid, anthralin, and tween 60 are inactive in this system. The TPA-mediated stimulation of CL can be inhibited by retinoids; cells preincubated for 15 min with 100 microM retinoic acid show only a marginal CL response to TPA. Addition of retinoic acid to resting polymorphonuclear leukocytes results in a transient burst of CL without concomitant O2-. release, observations indicative of an excitable substrate. A similar CL response is seen when retinoic acid is incubated with potassium superoxide in a cell-free system. 5,6-Epoxyretinoic acid, and even more effective inhibitor of TPA-stimulated CL than retinoic acid when added simultaneously with TPA, does not undergo these two CL reactions. Thus, it appears that retinoic acid may undergo oxidative activation to a species that exert enhanced antipromoter activities. Polymorphonuclear leukocytes provide a useful system for exploring the roles of reactive oxygen species in the mechanism of action of both TPA and retinoic acid.


We previously reported the group of aroma constituents that characterize the odor of sencha (green tea made from leaves) which is similar to but distinct from the odor of commercially available matcha (Japanese green tea made from powder).This study, investigated whether the group of aroma compounds contributing to this matcha-like odor is present in all green tea cultivars and products. Crude sencha teas made from the 'Yabukita', 'Sayamakaori', 'Samidori', and 'Ujimidori' cultivars, and teas prepared by different processes (hojicha and unkacha), were investigated. These green tea leaves had a common matcha-like odor originating from a group of identical constituents. Commercially available matcha were studied as the source of the standard odor. The extracts obtained from matcha were separated into groups with different odors by fractional distillation. Chemical and analytical methods showed that the group of key compounds producing the matcha-like odor included a minute quantity of several aliphatic aldehydes. Many aldehyde proton signals were observed by 1H NMR and some aldehydes were detected by mass spectroscopy. It was concluded that a matcha-like odor that contained some aliphatic aldehydes was the base note of green tea leaves, indicating the importance of the matcha-like odor to green tea's odor character.


This paper proposes a low-power CAM using pulsed NAND-NOR match-line and charge-recycling search-line. The pulsed NAND-NOR match-line not only significantly reduces the match-line power by activating only a few match-lines by using NAND cells for several bits but also achieves high speed by using NOR cells for most bits. The charge-recycling search-line driver reduces the search-line power by recycling the charge of search-lines without precharging. The CAM chip with 128/spl times/32 bit is fabricated in a 0.25-/spl mu/m CMOS process with 2.5 V. It dissipates 17.2 fJ/bit/search. It consumes 31% power of the dynamic NOR-type CAM.


A cDNA clone with 53% amino acid identity to the human type II sodium-dependent phosphate transporter (NaPi-3) was isolated from human small intestine and lung. Functional characterization in Xenopus laevis oocytes showed this cDNA to encode a sodium-dependent phosphate transporter. The electrogenic response is similar to that found in other type II transporters but an inverse pH dependence was observed. By Northern blot, a 4.2-kb transcript was found to be abundantly expressed in lung and, to a lesser degree, in several other tissues of epithelial origin including small intestine, pancreas, prostate, and kidney. This transcript encompasses a 2.073-kb open reading frame which is most closely related (78% amino acid identity) to the mouse sodium-dependent phosphate transporter IIb isoform. This novel transporter, designated human NaPi-3b (Genbank AF111856), appears to be an isoform of the mammalian renal type II co-transporter family.


Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating disorder that is clinically characterized by a comprehensive cognitive decline. Accumulation of the amyloid‐beta (Aβ) peptide plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of AD. In AD, the conversion of Aβ from a physiological soluble monomeric form into insoluble fibrillar conformation is an important event. The most toxic form of Aβ is oligomers, which is the intermediate step during the conversion of monomeric form to fibrillar form. There are at least two types of oligomers: oligomers that are immunologically related to fibrils and those that are not. In transgenic AD animal models, both active and passive anti‐Aβ immunotherapies improve cognitive function and clear the parenchymal accumulation of amyloid plaques in the brain. In this report we studied effect of immunotherapy of two sequence‐independent non‐fibrillar oligomer specific monoclonal antibodies on the cognitive function, amyloid load and tau pathology in 3xTg‐AD mice. Anti‐oligomeric monoclonal antibodies significantly reduce the amyloid load and improve the cognition. The clearance of amyloid load was significantly correlated with reduced tau hyperphosphorylation and improvement in cognition. These results demonstrate that systemic immunotherapy using oligomer‐specific monoclonal antibodies effectively attenuates behavioral and pathological impairments in 3xTg‐AD mice. These findings demonstrate the potential of using oligomer specific monoclonal antibodies as a therapeutic approach to prevent and treat Alzheimer's disease.


Health Technology Assessment (HTA) has emerged as an important tool to support healthcare decision-makers to make rational reimbursement decisions, with the ultimate purpose of promoting an efficient healthcare system.
HTA agencies continue to review their methodology and refine processes and procedures to improve their practice. For pharmaceutical companies, HTA needs to be embedded from development to jurisdictional submission to HTA agencies. Interactions between HTA agencies and companies through the form of early scientific advice have been increasingly used to support evidence generation during development, in order to improve market access. Multi-stakeholder interactions between regulator, HTA agencies and companies need to be further mapped out and evaluated to assess the current experience, uptake, and value of such activities.
This research is aimed to evaluate the HTA practice of pharmaceutical companies to enable better decision-making during development and at launch, examine the processes and performance of HTA agencies, and promote good practice across both stakeholders through self-improvement and interactions.
The finding in this thesis has demonstrated a continuous evolution of HTA agencies throughout product lifecycles to support drug development, improve their methodology and processes, and engage in interaction with regulators and peer HTA agencies. By establishing a systematic framework to benchmark the organization and milestone performance of HTA agencies, we provided a baseline and tool to assess the evolvement of HTA. We also observed a mindset change within companies to embed HTA considerations during drug development, in order to improve the jurisdictional submission and proactively promote good HTA practice.
Future opportunities for research can be built on this thesis in the context of lifecycle HTA. For example, indicators can be established to measure the interactions between agencies through development to review and assessment of new medicine. The agency benchmarking framework can be utilised as a foundation for capacity building for emerging HTA agencies, tracking and improve performance metrics and ensuring a good practice of HTA.


Snow slab avalanches are believed to begin by the gravity-driven shear failure of weak layers in stratified snow. The critical crack length for shear crack propagation along such layers should increase without bound as the slope decreases. However, recent experiments show that the critical length of artificially introduced cracks remains constant or, if anything, slightly decreases with decreasing slope. This surprising observation can be understood in terms of volumetric collapse of the weak layer during failure, resulting in the formation and propagation of mixed-mode anticracks, which are driven simultaneously by slope-parallel and slope-normal components of gravity. Such fractures may propagate even if crack-face friction impedes downhill sliding of the snowpack, indicating a scenario in which two separate conditions have to be met for slab avalanche release.


Open Science principles have been a critical driver for change in scholarly communication. Opening up research publications has led to encouraging rates of growth of Open Access but it has now become evident that true and system-wide change will only come if all the publishing components are open, including those at the production stages. We are seeing a growing demand to know more about how research papers qualify for publication and if we wish to engender more trust in scholarly outputs – trust within the scholarly communication community and trust of the wider public – we should listen carefully and seek to act on these demands. However, when an entire system has been fixed in its ways for many years, it is not easy to shake things up. In short, while it may be reasonable to ask for changes, not all of these will be welcomed or be embraced.Peer review is one of these publishing components. Regardless of the types and forms in each publication venue, it supposedly ensures that the intellectual work of an author has been checked, improved and qualified for publication after constructive dialogue among all participants; the author, the editor and the reviewers. We recognise it as an important process that validates the quality of a publication, which can be trusted by the reader and – as trusted – will be used in solving research problems and sometimes underpin changes in public policy. While the principles of peer review are still valid, in an Open Science system the current closed and entirely opaque operation of this system seems obsolete and even vicious. Masked by anonymisation and based on linearity this very regulated dialogue serves largely the prestige of publishing venues and individuals. Changes are needed, but we should acknowledge beforehand that changing peer review is a challenging exercise. The issues around peer review are complex, requiring alternative management of both the processes and the actors.


Blood coagulation is initiated when plasma factor VII(a) binds to its essential cofactor tissue factor (TF) and proteolytically activates factors X and IX. Progressive inhibition of TF activity occurs upon its addition to plasma. This process is reversible and requires the presence of VII(a), catalytically active Xa, Ca2+, and another component that appears to be associated with the lipoproteins in plasma, a lipoprotein-associated coagulation inhibitor (LACI). A protein, LACI(HG2), possessing the same inhibitory properties as LACI, has recently been isolated from the conditioned media of cultured human liver cells (HepG2). Rabbit antisera raised against a synthetic peptide based on the N-terminal sequence of LACI(HG2) and purified IgG from a rabbit immunized with intact LACI(HG2) inhibit the LACI activity in human serum. In a reaction mixture containing VIIa, Xa, Ca2+, and purified LACI(HG2), the apparent half-life (t1/2) for TF activity was 20 seconds. The presence of heparin accelerated the initial rate of inhibition threefold. Antithrombin III alpha alone had no effect, but antithrombin III alpha with heparin abrogated the TF inhibition. LACI(HG2) also inhibited Xa with an apparent t1/2 of 50 seconds. Heparin enhanced the rate of Xa inhibition 2.5-fold, whereas phospholipids and Ca2+ slowed the reaction 2.5-fold. Xa inhibition was demonstrable with both chromogenic substrate (S-2222) and bioassays, but no complex between Xa and LACI(HG2) could be visualized by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Nondenaturing PAGE, however, showed that LACI(HG2) bound to Xa but not to X or Xa inactivated by diisopropyl fluorophosphate. Thus, LACI(HG2) appears to bind to Xa at or near its active site. Bovine factor Xa lacking its gamma-carboxyglutamic acid-containing domain, BXa(-GD), through treatment with alpha-chymotrypsin, was used to further investigate the Xa requirement for VIIa/TF inhibition by LACI(HG2). LACI(HG2) bound to BXa(-GD) and inhibited its catalytic activity against a small molecular substrate (Spectrozyme Xa), though at a rate approximately sevenfold slower than native BXa. Preincubation of LACI(HG2) with saturating concentrations of BXa(-GD) markedly retarded the subsequent inhibition of BXa. The VII(a)/TF complex was not inhibited by LACI(HG2) in the presence of BXa(-GD), and further, preincubation of LACI(HG2) with BXa(-GD) slowed the inhibition of VIIa/TF after the addition of native Xa. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that inhibition of VII(a)/TF involves the formation of a VIIa-TF-XA-LACI complex that requires the GD of XA.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS).


: Since the biological effects of carrageenan were reviewed in 1972 by Di Rosa it has become clear from a large number of reports that this algal polysaccharide markedly influences immune responses. Profound suppression of immunity evidenced by impaired antibody production, graft rejection, delayed hypersensitivity and anti-tumour immunity, has been observed in carrageenan-treated animals and the immunodepressive ability of carrageenan confirmed by in vitro studies. Efforts at analysis of carrageenan-induced immune suppression have focussed on the selective cytotoxic effect of this agent on mononuclear phagocytes. Faith in the ability of carrageenan to eliminate those cells has led to its use in examination of the role played by mononuclear phagocytes in various aspects of immune reactivity. This review documents and discusses the effects of carrageenan on immune responses and assesses the value of carrageenan as a useful tool in both current and future work aimed at broadening our knowledge of mechanisms underlying immune reactions.


Abstract We describe a method to perform per-pixel divisions using graphics hardware, with a simple iterative algorithm. In the worst case, the number of rendering passes is 17 for approximate divisions, and 18 for accurate divisions. The algorithm can be used for 3D vector normalization, evaluating complex lighting models, and image reconstruction.


The contention of Maddrell (1981) that the rate of fluid secretion by insect Malpighian tubules is much slower than the rate of primary urine production (glomerular filtration rate) of vertebrates is valid only when the comparison is made with mammals and birds. Fishes and reptiles have filtration rates similar to or even slower than the rates observed in insects. Calculations of the concentration or dilution work involved in primary urine production show that the (weight-specific) energy requirement of the insect excretory system is similar to or surpasses that reported for reptilian, and even mammalian, kidneys. Because the energy demand of any excretory system is small when compared to the resting metabolism of the entire organism, it is likely that selection pressures acted less on a reduction of energy expenditure for excretion and ionic regulation than on the adaptations to the demands of specific environments and life styles, leading to diversified specializations of excretory (and regulatory) mechanisms.


Studies have shown that modern periodontal therapies are effective in maintaining a healthy natural dentition as well as controlling periodontal disease. Numerous treatment strategies and various techniques have been designed & described to treat periodontal disease. Most of these procedures had drawbacks which were identified, leading to the modifications of the original techniques which lead to better treatment options, but still very less emphasis has been laid on failures. Without a regular program of clinical re-evaluation, plaque control, oral hygiene instructions, and reassessment of biomechanical factors the benefits of treatment are often lost and inflammatory disease in the form of recurrent periodontitis may result. So, this review describes the most common failures noticed in periodontal therapies and also discusses the possible solutions to reduce the incidence of failures in periodontal therapy. Key words: Periodontal therapy; risk factors; failures. DOI: 10.3329/bjms.v9i4.6680 Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol.09 No.4 July 2010 pp.193-198


The two leading theoretical approaches to tort law — economic analysis and corrective justice — are blind to distributive considerations. Moreover, even the main distributive approaches to tort law — loss-spreading and fairness — fail to emphasize egalitarianism as a distributive consideration. This article argues that egalitarianism should influence the normative evaluation of one's conduct as negligent or not. It first explains why normatively negligence law should be sensitive to the egalitarian concern, suggesting three different accounts for this claim, based on needs, equality, and desert as criteria for distribution. Second, it argues that egalitarianism is commensurate with the basic understanding of negligence law as reflecting corrective justice and notions of fault. The notion of fault is, therefore, reformulated from within, in order to accommodate egalitarianism. Third, I maintain that in order for egalitarianism to accommodate notions of corrective justice, egalitarian concerns should matter also at the stage of the standard of care. While the egalitarian concern can and should be integrated into the duty stage, I argue that such integration is insufficient. A correct and full understanding of the egalitarian concern and the tort of negligence requires a conclusion that the normative evaluation of one's action as negligent or not cannot be separated from the distributive results that this action entails. The egalitarian concern works at the duty stage as an excuse for not imposing liability for wrongful activity. In contrast, at the standard stage, it works as a justification that turns an otherwise wrongful activity into a legitimate one. My claim is that morally we should usually expect more care from the better-off than from the disadvantaged. Findings of negligence are based on the failure to balance properly between one's interests and those of another. In deciding to what extent the defendant should burden herself in order to prevent a loss to potential victims, one morally relevant criterion is the relative ability of the injurer and victim to bear precaution costs and expected accident loss, respectively.


CD4+ T cells are important mediators in the pathogenesis of autoimmunity and would therefore provide ideal candidates for lymphocyte-based gene therapy. However, the number of Ag-specific T cells in any single lesion of autoimmunity may be quite low. Successful gene transfer into autoantigen-specific CD4+ T cells would serve as an ideal vehicle for site-targeted gene therapy if it were possible to transduce preferentially the small number of autoantigen-specific T cells. In this study we have demonstrated that retroviral infection of CD4+ lymphocytes from either autoantigen-stimulated TCR transgenic mice, or Ag-activated immunized nontransgenic mice, with a retroviral vector (pGCIRES), resulted in the transduction of only the limited number of Ag-reactive CD4+ T cells. In contrast, polyclonal activation of the same cultures resulted in transduction of non-antigen-specific lymphocytes. Transduction of Ag-reactive CD4+ T cells with pGCIRES retrovirus encoding the regulatory genes IL-4 (IL4) and soluble TNF receptor (STNFR) resulted in stable integration and long-term expression of recombinant gene products. Moreover, expression of the pGCIRES marker protein, GFP, directly correlated with the expression of the upstream regulatory gene. Retroviral transduction of CD4+ T cells targeted specifically Ag-reactive cells and was cell cycle-dependent and evident only during the mitosis phase. These studies suggest that retroviral transduction of autoantigen-specific murine CD4+ T cells, using the pGCIRES retroviral vector, may provide a potential method to target and isolate the low frequency of autoantigen-specific murine CD4+ T cells, and provides a rational approach to gene therapy in animal models of autoimmunity.


. The concomitant occurrence of retroperitoneal fibrosis (RF) and Riedel's thyroiditis is reported in two patients, one of whom presented with anuria. The etiology is discussed, and it is concluded that immunological mechanisms with arteritis might be of importance. The associations between Riedel's thyroiditis, RF, mediastinal fibrosis, slcerosing chol-angitis, retroorbital fibrosis and fibrosis in other organ systems are thought to be different manifestations of a so-called multifocal idiopathic fibrosclerosis. The benefical effect of glucocorticoids in early stages of the disease is mentioned.


DOI:  http://dx.doi.org/10.5915/42-1-5197 Umbilical cord blood (UCB) is a very valuable source of both hematopoietic and pluripotent stem cells. It is a readily available, easily collected source that does not cause inconvenience or harm to the donor. It has been shown to be useful in the treatment of several neoplastic and non-neoplastic serious diseases. UCB transplants have been proven to be life saving in many of these conditions. It results in better survival rates and less GVHD than the traditional treatment with bone marrow transplants. It probably can fill the gap that is caused by the lack of a suitable bone marrow match. There is no ethical or moral objection to its use. UCB donation should be encouraged. UCB can be collected and cryopreserved for at least 15 years in blood banks, which can be public and private. The pros and cons of each type are described. The family, when donating cord blood, has to choose which type it prefers. Detailed and balanced information should be given to the parents by their healthcare providers before they make that decision. Health authorities should support the development of the public banks because by their nature they do not make money and they provide the much needed help for those who cannot afford private banking. Ethical concerns including proper informed consent, linkage of the donor to the donated units, truth in advertising by the private banks and distributive justice are discussed. Also discussed is the question of the appropriateness of selective conception of a baby to be a potential donor.to come


The strength of program static analysis techniques lies on its ability to detect faulty behaviors
prior to the execution.
This ability requires that the analysis process foresees any possible runtime scenario. A task which is even more complex in the case of concurrent programs, because of the number of alternatives introduced by the usual nondeterminism.

In this particular case, some of the most common faulty behaviors are those about erroneous usage of resources, presence of deadlocks and data race conflicts.

Behavioral type systems for programming languages provide a strong mechanism for reasoning on programs actions at static time. In this thesis we discuss two static analysis techniques based on this approach.

The first one, targets the resource usage in an ad-hoc
language with full-fledged operations for acquiring and releasing virtual machines. The second one,
targets the deadlock analysis of Java programs.

In both cases we provide a formal proof of correctness, along with prototype implementations that allow practically to test the feasibility of these solutions. These prototypes have also allowed assessing these techniques against others existing in the literature obtaining very encouraging results.


William James originally published The principles of psychology in 1890 (1), a culmination of years of research that summarized the state of knowledge in the nascent field of psychology. An early chapter is devoted to "Habit," a reflection of James's belief that the most important aspect of brain function is the basic tendency of our nervous system to form stimulus-response associations based upon past experience. James admonished his reader to "make our nervous system our ally instead of our enemy" by understanding and exploiting this principle of brain function. In a similar spirit of pragmatic demystification, Sandra Aamodt and Sam Wang have written Welcome to your brain, an owner's manual for the engine between our ears.

Aamodt and Wang draw upon a wealth of experience in basic research in neuroscience. Aamodt became an editor at a leading journal in the field, Nature Neuroscience, following her doctoral and postdoctoral work studying molecular signaling during the development of the auditory and visual systems. Wang is currently an associate professor of neuroscience at Princeton University and has published papers on topics ranging from synaptic plasticity to the evolution of brain structure. Through these complementary backgrounds, and presumably wide-ranging personal interests, the authors bring an admirable breadth of knowledge to their first book. The product is an entertaining collection of detailed anecdotes from a wide range of topics in neuroscience and a coherent synthesis of disparate research fields for a general audience.

Welcome to your brain loosely borrows the organization typical of many neuroscience textbooks, beginning with basic cellular function and building toward an understanding of how interacting networks of neurons produce sensation and behavior. It is always challenging to assess the appropriate level of detail to provide in everything from teaching an undergraduate course to writing a general text. Cellular neuroscience and the physiological properties of neurons make this challenge more difficult because they are far removed from the experiences of the average reader. At times, the early chapters felt hurried, and the introduction to basic concepts was a bit disappointing, especially coming from two neuroscientists with a background in physiology.

Once the subject moves on to sensory systems, the book picks up steam and finds a rhythm as a readable and entertaining text. There is enough explanation for a reader with little or no prior science background to learn about how the brain works. A great strength of the book is that it contains enough detailed asides for readers with a more extensive background in science to enrich their understanding of those everyday experiences subjected here to detailed biological explanation. The authors' conversational, humorous, and intimate voice wavers somewhat, but often gives the feel of an informed tour guide who favors common sense and reasonable explanations over excessive demonstrations of erudition — a Garrison Keillor for the neuroscience crowd.

Like a good owner's manual, the coverage is as close to exhaustive as one might hope for in a concise text. However, as is also true of a manual, a reader with avid interest will at times be disappointed by the lack of depth. Of particular frustration is the omission of a reference list. This choice may reflect the authors' desire to create an introductory text that is not intimidating, yet other authors of popular neuroscience texts (David Linden and Antonio Damasio come to mind) provide well-organized reference sections. Such lists not only provide a service to the reader, but also lend credibility to the authors. A skeptical reader may rely upon such demonstrations of credibility in a text that spends a good deal of time debunking popular misconceptions about scientific results. Indeed, by failing to direct the reader to primary research, the authors risk the possibility that some of the anecdotes and speculation in this book will lead to misconceptions in need of their own debunking.

The bookshelf of popular neuroscience texts is beginning to runneth over. This collection can tend toward myopathy as the admirable motive to write about what one knows best leads to a text that reduces the brain to a single fundamental function. Welcome to your brain represents a refreshing departure from this trend. It provides a wide-ranging introduction to the brain that does an excellent job of summarizing our current understanding and providing a sober assessment of the places where research falls short. I suspect, however, that our debt to the book will not be to the compendium of interesting details, but rather to the authors' belief that a little education about brain function can help one think more clearly about debates that cross scientific lines into social policy. Their restatement of the nature versus nurture debate, for example, as a question of using social policy to create an environment that maximizes genetic potential is incisive and provides something missing from an owner's manual: insight.


Intersex and the controversial term DSD (Disorders/Divergence of Sex Development; coined in 2006) refer to numerous variations in the gendered body, from invisible elements such as genetic markers to facial hair. If we include all of the medically coded variations in the gendered body, one in every 2000 individuals (or more) is Intersex in some way. Since the 1800s Intersex variations have been increasingly subject to medical scrutiny, and from the 1950s many children with these physical variations have been subject to potentially damaging cosmetic surgery without full-disclosure and informed consent. For the majority of this medical history, Intersex medical treatment has focused on social aspects of gender appearance and behavior, while others issues that might impact the functioning of the organism appeared to be a secondary concern. In the 1990s activist groups began to protest this medical approach, attempting to bring their experience and perspectives to light. While small steps have been taken towards informing parents and patients about diagnosis and medical procedure, there is still quite a lot of controversy surrounding the subject. We will take a look at what aspects of the gendered body are subject to medical scrutiny, how this diagnostic area has expanded, and the corresponding medical protocol. We will also address what human rights concerns have been raised by patient associations and/or social activist groups.


Relation Structure - Fracture Resistance in Process of Estimate the Weldability of Low Alloy Steels: Part I The relationship between microstructure and mechanical properties of structural materials is still relevant problem in the theory of materials science and mechanical engineering. The question is how the macro-mechanical parameters can be derived from the microscale mechanisms taking into account local structural heterogeneities. Another question is how to make quantitative descriptions of the strength and toughness properties of welded joints made of non-matching weld metal. These problems are the objects of welding and mechanical investigation and they are related to estimation of weldability. The results of this study concern the evaluation stress state at interface of the under- and overmatched weld joints. After formulating a simplified model of under- and overmatched weld joints an analysis was made of stress at interface for the cases of perpendicular and non - perpendicular orientation of the zones (soft - layer and hard - layer) relative to the load action direction under tension.


Citrus is an important commercial crop around the globe including Pakistan that is being attacked by various pathogens including Citrus tristeza virus (CTV). The present study was carried out to investigate the molecular identification and characterization of the most lethalCitrus tristeza virus (CTV) from the major citrus producing region of Punjab (Pakistan). The total RNA from different varieties of sweet oranges, mandarins, grapefruits, lemons, limes, kumquats and important rootstock was extracted to be used as template for PCR using primers for the universal coat protein detection of CTV. Total RNA was extracted from the sweet oranges, mandarins, grapefruits, lemons and limes, kumquats and important rootstock varieties, which were then converted to cDNA to be used as a template in a conventional PCR using primers for the universal coat protein detection of CTV.A total of 250 samples were screened out of which 25 (10%) samples were found positive. The number of positive samples from each group includes20/100 sweet oranges, 2/70 mandarins, 1/32 lemon and limes and grapefruit 2/30 were observed. The results from the analysis of the PCR assay confirmed the presence of CTV as the gene fragment was amplified from by PCR at desired size of 672bp.The desired PCR amplified product was ubjected to Sanger sequencing and phylogenetic relationship using MEGA 7.0. showed 99% homology with the aligned American isolates.The amplified product was then sequenced and analyzed phylogenetically using MEGA 7.0 that showed 99% homology with American isolates.Hence the study proved to produce a significant preliminary data showing the current status of CTV that can be used for the creation of a pathogen tested citrus germplasm program for citrus growers in Pakistan. This study was conducted to evaluate the current CTV status of the citrus germplasm collection of a citrus research institute in Punjab, Pakistan, in order to produce preliminary data that can be used for the creation of a pathogen-tested citrus germplasm program for the citrus growers in Pakistan.


This chapter examines some of the central issues associated with voting and electoral systems, along with the functions of legislatures. It begins by discussing the two paradoxes of voting. First, the huge number of citizens in any modern state means that no individual's vote is likely to make the difference between two or more choices, making it potentially 'irrational' for any individual to bother to vote at all. Yet votes make democracy possible. The second voting paradox concerns the difficulty of relying upon votes to determine the objective preferences of the public. The chapter proceeds by considering measures that aim to establish quotas to increase gender equality in legislative recruitment. It also describes different types of legislatures and the internal structure of legislatures. Finally, it analyses trends in the backgrounds of legislators in various countries, specifically focusing upon the criticism that they constitute a 'political class'.


Background:
 Chronic inflammation plays a role in the pathogenesis of hypertension. Among the subsets of T lymphocytes, T regulatory lymphocytes (Tregs), which are immune suppressors of inflammatory responses, are reported to prevent angiotensin II (AngII)-induced hypertension and vascular injury. We hypothesized that Tregs play a critical role in the development and maintenance of hypertension. The aim of the present study was to determine whether Tregs are decreased in genetically hypertensive rats at both prehypertensive and established ages compared with those in normotensive rats, and if so, to examine whether blockade of brain AngII type 1 receptors (AT1R) affects Tregs in hypertensive rats.

 Methods and Results:
 We examined Tregs in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRSP) at prehypertensive (5 week old) and established ages (12 week old) and age-matched normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY). In both SHRSP and WKY, the transcription factor forkhead box P3 (Foxp3) mRNA expression levels were greater in the spleen than in other organs. However, Foxp3 mRNA and protein expression levels in the spleen were significantly lower in SHRSP than in WKY (Foxp3 mRNA: 0.47±0.03 vs. 1.02±0.03, protein: 0.39±0.02 vs. 0.66±0.03, n=6 for each, p<0.05). Flow cytometric analysis revealed that CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ cells (Tregs) in the spleen were significantly lower in SHRSP than in WKY (%Foxp3+ gated on CD4+CD25+ cells in the spleen; 45.4±1.4 vs. 58.1±2.0, n=3 for each, p<0.05). In addition, CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ cells in the spleen were lower in prehypertensive SHRSP, but not in the thymus. In hypertensive SHRSP, intracerebroventricular infusion of AT1R blocker (losartan, 1mg/kg/day for 2 weeks) reduced blood pressure and 24-hour urinary norepinephrine excretion, and upregulated Foxp3 mRNA expression levels in the spleen (0.44±0.04 vs. 0.31±0.02, n=3-4, p<0.05, vs. vehicle-treated SHRSP).

 Conclusion:
 Our findings indicate that splenic Tregs are reduced in SHRSP at both prehypertensive and established hypertensive stages. These alterations may contribute to the development and maintenance of hypertension. Central sympathoinhibition increases the reduced splenic Tregs in SHRSP suggesting interaction between sympathetic hyperactivity and Tregs.


Interpersonal therapy (IPT) has been identified as an effective treatment for bulimia nervosa that does not focus on bulimic symptoms. Rather, a detailed assessment culminating in an "interpersonal inventory" identifies core associated interpersonal problem(s) that become the focus of treatment. For that reason, IPT may be particularly helpful for clients who have become "stuck" in their eating disorder for reasons associated with problematic relationships. IPT is also helpful for clients who may benefit from a therapy that offers some structure, focus, and containment without clear behavioral directives. This article describes the theoretical background, structure, and technical aspects of IPT and presents a bulimia nervosa case in which IPT was used effectively, in part due to a "goodness of fit" between the issues presented by this particular client and the treatment model. The case also illustrates IPT's approach to handling resistance and therapist/client relationship issues.


Free vibration analysis of arbitrarily laminated plates of quad, penta and hexagonal shapes, which have combinations of clamped, simply supported and free edge conditions is performed. The finite element formulation is based on first and higher order shear deformation theories to study the free vibration response of thick laminated composite plates. A finite element code is developed incorporating shear deformation theories using an 8-noded serendipity element. The effect of plate shape, arbitrary lamination and different edge conditions on natural frequencies and mode shapes are investigated. A systematic study is carried out to determine the influence of material orthotropy and aspect ratio on free vibration response. For various cases, the comparisons of results from present study showed good agreement with those published in the literature.


The imperative for participation in social work education has led to consideration of the ways in which service users' and carers' voices can best be heard by students. At Glyndŵr University, this debate has resulted in the development of a service user and carer-led module which will introduce students to a variety of creative approaches as a way of telling narratives of experience. In preparation for the module, a pilot project was run to assess the particular benefits of using animation for this purpose. This reflective case study describes the experiences of a social work student who worked with a carer to make a short animated film. It articulates the ways in which theoretical teaching was brought to life by working intensively. It demonstrates that creative approaches can offer a constructive means of addressing the need to cater for diverse learning styles. In addition, it adds weight to the argument that service users' and carers' experiential knowledge should be taken as seriously as other forms of knowledge.


Aims. We analyze optical and X-ray observations of GRB 050904 obtained with TAROT and SWIFT. Methods. We perform temporal and spectral analysis of the X-ray and optical data. Results. We find significant absorption in the early phase of the X-ray light curve, with some evidence (3 σ  level) of variability. We interpret this as a progressive photo-ionization. We investigate the environment of the burst and constrain its density profile. We find that the overall behavior of the afterglow is compatible with a fireball expanding in a wind environment during the first 2000 s after the burst (observer frame). On the other hand, the late (after 0.5 days, observer frame) afterglow is consistent with an interstellar medium, suggesting the possible presence of a termination shock. We estimate the termination shock position to be $R_{\rm t} \sim 1.8 \times 10^{-2}$ pc, and the wind density parameter to be $A_* \sim 1.8$. We try to explain the simultaneous flares observed in optical and X-ray bands in light of different models: delayed external shock from a thick shell, inverse Compton emission from reverse shock, inverse Compton emission from late internal shocks or a very long internal shock activity. Among these models, those based on a single emission mechanism, are unable to account for the broad-band observations. Models invoking late internal shocks, with the inclusion of IC emission, or a properly tuned very long internal shock activity, offer possible explanations.


Recent studies demonstrate a pivotal role for bone morphogenic protein-6 (BMP6) and matriptase-2, a protein encoded by the TMPRSS6 gene, in the induction and suppression of hepatic hepcidin expression, respectively. We examined their expression profiles in the liver and showed a predominant localization of BMP6 mRNA in nonparenchymal cells and exclusive expression of TMPRSS6 mRNA in hepatocytes. In rats fed an iron-deficient (ID) diet for 24 hours, the rapid decrease of transferrin saturation from 71% to 24% (control vs ID diet) was associated with a 100-fold decrease in hepcidin mRNA compared with the corresponding controls. These results indicated a close correlation of low transferrin saturation with decreased hepcidin mRNA. The lower phosphorylated Smad1/5/8 detected in the ID rat livers suggests that the suppressed hepcidin expression results from the inhibition of BMP signaling. Quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed no significant change in either BMP6 or TMPRSS6 mRNA in the liver. However, an increase in matriptase-2 protein in the liver from ID rats was detected, suggesting that suppression of hepcidin expression in response to acute iron deprivation is mediated by an increase in matriptase-2 protein levels.


The methodological approach to data collection and analysis in Mediterranean bottom trawl surveys has changed considerably since their beginnings in the mid-1980s. The introduction of new technologies in surveys greatly improved knowledge on trawl underwater geometry, but also raised a question on the reliability of the data obtained. The most commonly used trawl monitoring systems in the Mediterranean use the constant speed of sound when calculating horizontal distance from one sensor to another. However, the speed of the sound in seawater is not constant because it depends on water temperature, pressure, and salinity. This is known to affect the performance of the horizontally transmitting sonars, and it is reasonable to assume that unless it is properly compensated for, the readings from trawl monitoring systems can be incorrect, resulting in biased swept area estimates, and hence potentially producing bias in abundance estimates. In the knowledge that speed of sound depends on temperature, salinity and pressure, the Del Grosso (1974) equation was used to calculate the compensation coefficient for a series of theoretical depth and temperature data. A simple model is proposed in the current paper for the manual correction of the horizontal net opening and swept area estimates. Temperature and depth data obtained from the MEDATLAS project are used to show seasonal and spatial variation in the near-bottom speed of sound, and the results demonstrate that, unless compensated for properly, the error in the horizontal net spread ranges from –1.5% to 2.9%.


Fe-25wt%Cr alloys were fabricated by combining Powder Metallurgy (PM) with hot-forging treatment, and their oxidation behavior at 1100°C in air was investigated systematically by using XRD, SEM and EDS, respectively. The results showed that a composite oxidation scale containing both Cr2O3 and FeCr2O4 formed on the surface of as-forged Fe-25wt%Cr alloys after oxidation at 1100°C in air for 100 hours. The oxidation process of Fe-Cr alloys could be obviously divided into two different stages, and the kinetics of two-stage oxidation agreed well with the parabolic law. The first could be corresponding to the formation of protective Cr2O3 layer, while the second could be thought as the growth of FeCr2O4 and the further oxidation of the inner Cr2O3 oxidation scale. The faster oxidation rate in the second stage could be attributed to both the diffusion of iron ions rapider than that of Cr in the Cr2O3 layer and the fast transport velocity of oxygen ions along the cracks.


Flavin C4a-OO(H) and C4a-OH adducts are critical intermediates proposed in many flavoenzyme reaction mechanisms, but they are rarely detected even by rapid transient kinetics methods. We observe a trapped flavin C4a-OH or C4a-OO(H) adduct by single-crystal spectroscopic methods and in the 1.86 A resolution X-ray crystal structure of choline oxidase. The microspectrophotometry results show that the adduct forms rapidly in situ at 100 K upon exposure to X-rays. Density functional theory calculations establish the electronic structures for the flavin C4a-OH and C4a-OO(H) adducts and estimate the stabilization energy of several active site hydrogen bonds deduced from the crystal structure. We propose that the enzyme-bound FAD is reduced in the X-ray beam. The aerobic crystals then form either a C4a-OH or C4a-OO(H) adduct, but an insufficient proton inventory prevents their decay at cryogenic temperatures.


Chlorofluorocarbons, CFCs, were developed in the late 1920s for use as safe refrigerant alternatives to sulphur dioxide and ammonia. They were welcomed by industry because of their low toxicity, chemical stability, low flammability, low cost and ease of synthesis. They found wide application as refrigerants, blowing agents, propellants and cleaning agents. Over more than 40 years, applications of CFCs expanded into a wide variety of areas, and grew into a multibillion-dollar industry. Unfortunately, CFCs are not ecologically benign. It became increasingly clear that CFCs were responsible for ozone depletion. In the early 1970s the leading manufacturers of CFCs met to discuss the possible environmental impact of their products. This case study uses a problem based learning approach to take students through the development of replacements for CFCs from the 1970s to today. They investigate the background to the CFC problem and consider data that leads to the decision to investigate possible replacements. They must select and design replacement molecules (HFCs), devise syntheses and then consider the challenge to develop the replacements in a socio-economic and political framework. They also consider the problems posed by existing CFCs, the 'fridge mountain' and possible disposal and containment alternatives. The case study brings the story up to date with an investigation of the problems now being associated with HFCs and the search for new alternatives. This activity successfully teaches applied and 'green' chemistry via a real life context. The chemistry encountered is of an applied/industrial nature and is set in a socioeconomic context. The influence of political pressures is also brought in when appropriate. Because the activity adopts a problem based approach it is also successful in developing a range of transferable skills, particularly problem solving, teamwork plus verbal and written communication.


We are grateful to the editors of the Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly for allowing us to put together this special edition on 'Law and Emotions'. But what is so special about it? The very existence of such a field of study may appear at first sight to be counterintuitive; as has been so often pointed out, law and emotion have traditionally been seen as polar opposites, the former being based on 'reason' and the latter on 'feeling'. However, this has been shown to be a false dichotomy in a number of respects, being an accurate reflection neither of the way the law is structured and administered, nor of the way emotion works, nor indeed of the way humans live. Indeed, such is the influence of emotion on human behaviour that the relevance of emotion to law has been said to be 'a point so obvious as to make its articulation seem almost banal'. Be that as it may, the study of law and emotions, though now reasonably well established in America, is less familiar to students and practitioners of law, or indeed academics working in the area, on this side of the Atlantic, and this collection is therefore designed to provide an insight into the subject.


A conventional stethoscope (an acoustic stethoscope) is an acoustic medical device that is always used for preliminary examination of patients with any heart abnormalities. The main disadvantage of acoustic stethoscope is its dependence on how to use it and the experience of the examining physician. This paper presents a simple electronic stethoscope design in Phonocardiograph system that is free from subjectivity of doctors or other medical personnel. This electronic stethoscope is made sensitive in order to capture as many acoustic signal as possible from the activities of the human body, especially the heart and lungs. The design of this electronic stethoscope consists of chest piece, a pipe with proper acoustic impedance, mic condenser, mic preamp, and battery. The output of the mic preamp is connected to the mic channel on the laptop. The recording signal then processed separately. The repeatability of output signal was investigated in this paper. The signal was analyzed by using the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). The result showed that the frequency responsea of the output signals are consistent, hence the instrument is reliable. Furthermore, the frequency response of the system with filter that connecting chest piece and mic condensor were also investigated.


Cloud computing is an upcoming field having lots of scope and research areas. In this age of technology everything from our home to office is done in the cloud and it is the future of technology. There are so many research has been done in this field to improve the quality of service. In this paper, we propose a model for deploying cloud computing applications on indexed cluster. The proposed model is a hybrid cluster approach which controls the cloud operations. The cloud manager will allocate a VM within the CLUSTER in such a way that it will save the power to a greater extent while maintain the latency and also maintains the efficient utilization of the CLOUD resources.


Abstract. Electromagnetic induction (EMI) is used widely for hydrological and other environmental studies. The apparent electrical conductivity (ECa), which can be mapped efficiently with EMI, correlates with a variety of important soil attributes. EMI instruments exist with several configurations of coil spacing, orientation, and height. There are general, rule-of-thumb guides to choose an optimal instrument configuration for a specific survey. The goal of this study was to provide a robust and efficient way to design this optimization task. In this investigation, we used machine learning (ML) as an efficient tool for interpolating among the results of many forward model runs. Specifically, we generated an ensemble of 100 000 EMI forward models representing the responses of many EMI configurations to a range of three-layer subsurface models. We split the results into training and testing subsets and trained a decision tree (DT) with gradient boosting (GB) to predict the subsurface properties (layer thicknesses and EC values). We further examined the value of prior knowledge that could limit the ranges of some of the soil model parameters. We made use of the intrinsic feature importance measures of machine learning algorithms to identify optimal EMI designs for specific subsurface parameters. The optimal designs identified using this approach agreed with those that are generally recognized as optimal by informed experts for standard survey goals, giving confidence in the ML-based approach. The approach also offered insight that would be difficult, if not impossible, to offer based on rule-of-thumb optimization. We contend that such ML-informed design approaches could be applied broadly to other survey design challenges.


A five year audit of tuberculosis notifications for the three Auckland health districts revealed that 10.7% of notifications were the result of contact screening procedures. Most notifications from this source were children (73.2%) up to 16 years of age. By far the greatest yield from contact screening procedures was among contact of patients with infectious pulmonary tuberculosis (whose sputum is smear positive on direct microscopy): 78.8% of cases found by contact procedures were contacts of these infectious patients. The yield was particularly high for children who were close contacts of these cases: 23.8% of such children were considered to be infected by tubercle bacilli compared with only 1.1% of children who were casual contacts of these infectious cases. Few adults were found by contact procedures because: (a) only those with pulmonary disease were found, whereas among children all those who had been infected, the majority of whom had not developed tuberculous disease (so-called primary occult tuberculosis) were found, and (b) many adult contacts of smear positive pulmonary index cases were not followed with chest radiographs for long enough: only one half had six months of surveillance. By restricting contact screening procedures to contacts at highest risk the workload could be substantially reduced with minimal reduction in the yield of new cases.


OBJECTIVE
Socioeconomic and cultural factors influence breast cancer prognosis. The effect of these factors on breast cancer was evaluated among women who live in Gaziantep and its surroundings.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
female patients who were admitted to Gaziantep University Oncology Hospital with a diagnosis of breast cancer between October 2006-July 2013 were included in the study. The effects of socio-demographic characteristics on clinical-pathological features were evaluated.

RESULTS
The mean age of 813 women was 48.8 years. The majority were premenopausal women. Advanced stage disease on diagnosis was detected more in our region. The rate of breast cancer with unfavorable prognostic features was higher among patients who were illiterate, with low economic income and residing in rural areas.

CONCLUSION
Socioeconomic-cultural factors influence the biology and clinical course of breast cancer among women who live in Gaziantep province.


This article reports the design of a novel finite-time robust nonlinear controller for the synchronization of two identical chaotic spacecraft. The proposed controller does not cancel nonlinear terms appearing in the chaotic spacecraft dynamics. Avoiding the cancelation of the nonlinear terms of the plant by the controller makes the closed-loop robust stable in the presence of uncertainties in the chaotic spacecraft parameters; this concept blooms base for the design of computationally efficient simple control law. The proposed finite-time robust nonlinear controller (1) synchronizes two nearly identical chaotic spacecraft in finite-time duration, (2) expedites the convergence of errors vector to zero without oscillation, and (3) eradicates the effects of external disturbances. Analysis based on the Lyapunov second theorem proves that the synchronization error converges fast and verifying the closed-loop's robust global stability. The finite-time stability technique affirms the convergence of the synchronization error to zero in settling time. This research article also studies the effects of the exogenous disturbances and the controller parameter's slowly smooth variations on the closed-loop performance. The controller parameter variation analysis sets the procedure for tuning the controller parameters. The computer-based simulation results validate the theoretical findings and provide a comparative performance analysis with the other recently proposed synchronization feedback controllers. This article uses Mathematica 12.0 version in the Microsoft 10 environment for all the simulations.


Sherwood, R. J. (1972).Brit. J. industr. Med.,29, 65-69. Evaluation of exposure to benzene vapour during loading of petrol. The exposure of three workers to benzene vapour has been determined by personal air sampling, and has been related to their intake (assessed by sampling exhaled breath), and to their metabolism of benzene (evaluated from the concentration of phenol in urine.) The results obtained agree in general with those already published in the literature and with a preliminary experimental exposure undertaken as part of the development of techniques. The two loaders who handled the loading arms were exposed to mean concentrations of 1·6 and 2·5 p.p.m. over the 5-hour period of loading. The probability of their exposure to concentrations greater than 25 p.p.m. was about 0·1 and 1%. The weigher working between the tracks was exposed to a mean concentration of 20 p.p.m. over the same period and had a total exposure of 114 p.p.m.-hour. Samples of exhaled breath taken at the end of work showed 0·14 and 0·18 p.p.m. benzene for the loaders and 0·84 p.p.m. for the weigher. The following morning the latter showed 0·19 p.p.m. Urine samples taken from the loaders at the end of work contained 12 and 25 mg/l total phenol and for the weigher 83 mg/l. The following morning the phenol was not above natural levels in the loaders' urine, and was 38 mg/l in a sample from the weigher. It is suggested that any or all of the methods developed for this study could be used in conjunction with appropriate clinical studies to provide a more quantitative basis for determining the hazard of occupational exposure to benzene.


Recent advancements in vision foundation models (VFMs) have opened up new possibilities for versatile and efficient visual perception. In this work, we introduce Seal, a novel framework that harnesses VFMs for segmenting diverse automotive point cloud sequences. Seal exhibits three appealing properties: i) Scalability: VFMs are directly distilled into point clouds, obviating the need for annotations in either 2D or 3D during pretraining. ii) Consistency: Spatial and temporal relationships are enforced at both the camera-to-LiDAR and point-to-segment regularization stages, facilitating cross-modal representation learning. iii) Generalizability: Seal enables knowledge transfer in an off-the-shelf manner to downstream tasks involving diverse point clouds, including those from real/synthetic, low/high-resolution, large/small-scale, and clean/corrupted datasets. Extensive experiments conducted on eleven different point cloud datasets showcase the effectiveness and superiority of Seal. Notably, Seal achieves a remarkable 45.0% mIoU on nuScenes after linear probing, surpassing random initialization by 36.9% mIoU and outperforming prior arts by 6.1% mIoU. Moreover, Seal demonstrates significant performance gains over existing methods across 20 different few-shot fine-tuning tasks on all eleven tested point cloud datasets.


Archaeological explorations along the North Sinai corridor unearthed two locally manufactured (fragmentary) vessels of early 19th Dynasty "beer jars" stamped with the cartouches of Seti I alongside a hieroglyph of a ship. A second example of a royal ship with the throne names of Seti I and Haremhab was recorded on an Egyptian amphora handle from a New Kingdom fortress elsewhere in this region. This evidence provides a new addition to the known list of royal ships or navel units as well as attesting to the deployment of marine contingents in land-based military activities on the "Ways of Horus" in North Sinai. These sealings contribute to a better understanding of imperial organization of the "Ways of Horus" system during the reign of Seti I and seemingly shed new light on the role played by Haremhab in reshaping Egypt's foreign policy. DOI:10.2458/azu_jaei_v07i1_oren


Computed tomography is an imaging process that uses x-ray equipment to create detailed scans, of areas inside the body. A picture created during computed tomography process shows the organs, bones, and other tissues in a thin "slice" of the body. Computed tomography is used in cancer diagnosis in many different ways to detect abnormal growths, helps to diagnose the presence of a tumor, provides information about the stage of cancer, determines exactly where to perform a biopsy procedure. The x-rays, gantry around the head, chest or another body part, helps to make a three-dimensional image that is much more detailed than pictures from other x-ray machines. Computed tomography imaging involves the use of x-rays, which are a form of ionizing radiation. Exposure to ionizing radiation is known to increase the risk of cancer. The aim of this study was to assess the radiation exposure received during computed tomography in a representative sample of patients.


Abstract Layered double hydroxide (LDH) compounds are characterized by structures in which layers with a brucite-like structure carry a net positive charge, usually due to the partial substitution of trivalent octahedrally coordinated cations for divalent cations, giving a general layer formula [(M1-x2+Mx3+)(OH)2]x+. This positive charge is balanced by anions which are intercalated between the layers. Intercalated molecular water typically provides hydrogen bonding between the brucite layers. In addition to synthetic compounds, some of which have significant industrial applications, more than 40 mineral species conform to this description. Hydrotalcite, Mg6Al2(OH)16[CO3]·4H2O, as the longest-known example, is the archetype of this supergroup of minerals. We review the history, chemistry, crystal structure, polytypic variation and status of all hydrotalcite-supergroup species reported to date. The dominant divalent cations, M2+, that have been reported in hydrotalcite supergroup minerals are Mg, Ca, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu and Zn; the dominant trivalent cations, M3+, are Al, Mn, Fe, Co and Ni. The most common intercalated anions are (CO3)2-, (SO4)2- and Cl-; and OH-, S2- and [Sb(OH)6]- have also been reported. Some species contain intercalated cationic or neutral complexes such as [Na(H2O)6]+ or [MgSO4]0. We define eight groups within the supergroup on the basis of a combination of criteria. These are (1) the hydrotalcite group, with M2+:M3+ = 3:1 (layer spacing ~7.8 Å); (2) the quintinite group, with M2+:M3+ = 2:1 (layer spacing ~7.8 Å); (3) the fougèrite group, with M2+ = Fe2+, M3+ = Fe3+ in a range of ratios, and with O2- replacing OH- in the brucite module to maintain charge balance (layer spacing ~7.8 Å); (4) the woodwardite group, with variable M2+:M3+ and interlayer [SO4]2-, leading to an expanded layer spacing of ~8.9 Å; (5) the cualstibite group, with interlayer [Sb(OH)6]- and a layer spacing of ~9.7 Å; (6) the glaucocerinite group, with interlayer [SO4]2- as in the woodwardite group, and with additional interlayer H2O molecules that further expand the layer spacing to ~11 Å; (7) the wermlandite group, with a layer spacing of ~11 Å, in which cationic complexes occur with anions between the brucite-like layers; and (8) the hydrocalumite group, with M2+ = Ca2+ and M3+ = Al, which contains brucite-like layers in which the Ca:Al ratio is 2:1 and the large cation, Ca2+, is coordinated to a seventh ligand of 'interlayer' water. The principal mineral status changes are as follows. (1) The names manasseite, sjögrenite and barbertonite are discredited; these minerals are the 2H polytypes of hydrotalcite, pyroaurite and stichtite, respectively. Cyanophyllite is discredited as it is the 1M polytype of cualstibite. (2) The mineral formerly described as fougèrite has been found to be an intimate intergrowth of two phases with distinct Fe2+:Fe3+ ratios. The phase with Fe2+:Fe3+ = 2:1 retains the name fougèrite; that with Fe2+:Fe3+ = 1:2 is defined as the new species trébeurdenite. (3) The new minerals omsite (IMA2012-025), Ni2Fe3+(OH)6[Sb(OH)6], and mössbauerite (IMA2012-049), Fe63+O4(OH)8[CO3]·3H2O, which are both in the hydrotalcite supergroup are included in the discussion. (4) Jamborite, carrboydite, zincaluminite, motukoreaite, natroglaucocerinite, brugnatellite and muskoxite are identified as questionable species which need further investigation in order to verify their structure and composition. (5) The ranges of compositions currently ascribed to motukoreaite and muskoxite may each represent more than one species. The same applies to the approved species hydrowoodwardite and hydrocalumite. (6) Several unnamed minerals have been reported which are likely to represent additional species within the supergroup. This report has been approved by the Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification (CNMNC) of the International Mineralogical Association, voting proposal 12-B. We also propose a compact notation for identifying synthetic LDH phases, for use by chemists as a preferred alternative to the current widespread misuse of mineral names.


Background :  Islands are particularly sensitive to biological invasions. The arrival of humans with their cohort of accompanying species has been cited as one of the primary causes for ecosystem change. Question : The introduction of these non-native species has been largely responsible for the tragic disappearance of native island biota and the dismantling of island ecosystems worldwide. Methods: Ordination analyses to determined changes in native and exotic species composition along the period analysed.  Results: Mean temperature on the island of Tenerife has increased by around 0.6 o C in the last 70 years, while minimum temperature has risen by approx.  1.5 o C. Despite overall warming being milder than in the northern hemisphere, owing to the more sensitive biota these changes may have a strong influence on biodiversity. In addition, socioeconomic indicators have also changed significantly over the last 70 years with consequences for nature conservation. In this study, we analyse which parameters are best placed to explain the increase of introduced species, not just in terms of species richness, but also in species composition. We restrict the study to thermophile invasive and introduced species, as they respond more rapidly to climate change. Conclusions: We found that socioeconomic aspects of development are important elements that relate closely to the increase in richness and changes in species composition for native as well for introduced species. In the case of invasive species richness, the average minimum temperature is the most closely related variable. However, mean temperature anomalies did not reveal any relationship with these changes.


Evolutionary Algorithms have been extensively used for solving stochastic, robust, and dynamic optimization problems of a high complexity. Selection mechanisms play a very important role in design of Evolutionary Algorithms, as they allow identifying the parent chromosomes, that will be used for producing the offspring, and the offspring chromosomes, that will survive in the given generation and move on to the next generation. Selection mechanisms, reported in the literature, can be classified in two groups: (1) parametric selection mechanisms, and (2) non-parametric selection mechanisms. Unlike parametric selection mechanisms, non-parametric selection mechanisms do not have any parameters that have to be set, which significantly facilitates the Evolutionary Algorithm parameter tuning analysis. This study presents a comprehensive analysis of the commonly used non-parametric selection mechanisms. Comparison of the selection mechanisms is performed for the machine scheduling problem. The objective of the presented mathematical model is to determine the assignment of the arriving jobs among the available machines, and the processing order of jobs on each machine, aiming to minimize the total job processing cost. Different categories of Evolutionary Algorithms, which deploy various non-parametric selection mechanisms, are evaluated in terms of the objective function value at termination, computational time, and changes in the population diversity. Findings indicate that the Roulette Wheel Selection and Uniform Sampling selection mechanisms generally yield higher population diversity, while the Stochastic Universal Sampling selection mechanism outperforms the other non-parametric selection mechanisms in terms of the solution quality.


Cross-national research on African electoral politics has argued that competition increases the prospects for pre-election violence. However, there is a dearth of systematic research on the effect of political competition on pre-election violence at the subnational level. We theorize that in African democracies characterized by competition at the national level but low subnational competitiveness (polarization), violence is often a manifestation of turf war and a tool to maintain and disrupt political territorial control. Consequently, contrary to expectations derived from the cross-national literature, pre-election violence is more likely in uncompetitive than competitive constituencies. Locally dominant as well as locally weak parties have incentives to perpetrate violence in uncompetitive constituencies. For locally dominant parties, violence is a tool to shrink the democratic space in their strongholds and maintain territorial control. For locally weak parties, violence can disturb the dominance of the opponent and protect their presence in hostile territory. We hypothesize that pre-election violence will be particularly common in opposition strongholds. In such locations, ruling parties can leverage their superior repressive resources to defend their ability to campaign, while the opposition can use their local capacity to reinforce the politics of territoriality. We test our hypotheses with original constituency-level election violence data from the 2016 Zambian elections. Data come from expert surveys of domestic election observers and represent a novel way of measuring low-level variations in election violence. Our analysis shows patterns of pre-election violence consistent with our theory on pre-election violence as a territorial tool.


Background and Objectives
Clinical decision support systems (CDSS) hold promise to influence clinician behavior at the point of care in nursing homes (NHs) and improving care delivery. However, the success of these interventions depends on their fit with workflow. The purpose of this study was to characterize workflow in NHs and identify implications of workflow for the design and implementation of CDSS in NHs.

Research Design and Methods
We conducted a descriptive study at 2 NHs in a metropolitan area of the Mountain West Region of the United States. We characterized clinical workflow in NHs, conducting 18 observation sessions and interviewing 15 staff members. A multilevel work model guided our data collection and framework method guided data analysis.

Results
The qualitative analysis revealed specific aspects of multilevel workflow in NHs: (a) individual, (b) work group/unit, (c) organization, and (d) industry levels. Data analysis also revealed several additional themes regarding workflow in NHs: centrality of ongoing relationships of staff members with the residents to care delivery in NHs, resident-centeredness of care, absence of memory aids, and impact of staff members' preferences on work activities. We also identified workflow-related differences between the two settings.

Discussion and Implications
Results of this study provide a rich understanding of the characteristics of workflow in NHs at multiple levels. The design of CDSS in NHs should be informed by factors at multiple levels as well as the emergent processes and contextual factors. This understanding can allow for incorporating workflow considerations into CDSS design and implementation.


Abstract We present petrological investigations and mineral chemistry of several Tethyan ophiolites to reveal the occurrence, origin, and fate of water in podiform chromitites. The results show that clinopyroxene and olivine in chromitites have H2O contents of 801–366 and 53–17 ppm, respectively. The highest water contents of olivine occur in massive chromitite and the lowest always in the clinopyroxenebearing ores because much of the available hydrous fluids was taken up by the clinopyroxene during crystallization. The major and trace elemental and Li isotopic compositions of clinopyroxene associated with chromite and olivine in podiform chromitites indicate formation from a mixture of surface hydrous fluids on chromite grains and evolved melts from which olivine crystallized. The hydrous fluids initially originated from dehydration of a subducting slab as revealed by Li isotopic compositions of clinopyroxene and olivine in the chromitites. High fluid/rock ratios facilitated concentration of chromite to form chromitite, suppressing crystallization of olivine. The hydrous fluids that were collected on the chromite grain surface during crystallization allowed chromite grains to rise via decreasing density in the form of bubbles, thus promoting their gathering and concentration. The fate of these hydrous fluids depends on ambient physical and chemical conditions. Mostly they hydrate adjacent olivine grains in the chromitite or penetrate the surrounding dunite envelope. In some cases, the fluids dissolve into silicate melts to produce water-bearing clinopyroxene and/or hydrous minerals, such as amphibole, or infiltrate silicate and chromite grains to form inclusions, which may exsolve later in the form of mineral lamellae. Our investigations provide direct natural evidence for the presence and importance of water in the formation and evolution of chromite deposits, as inferred by earlier experimental studies.


Prior approaches to generating diverse plans in domain-independent  planning seek out variations on plan structure such as actions or  causal links used, or states entered.  Measuring such syntactic  differences between plans can be misleading because syntactically  different plans can be semantically identical.  We develop a  landmark-based plan distance measure that captures semantic  differences between plans.The landmark-based distance measure focuses on the disjunctive landmarks  satisfied by each plan.  We develop a  simple algorithm for finding diverse plans that is based upon the LAMA planner.  We illustrate that, in comparison with plan distance  measures,  landmark-based plan distance is  not as susceptible to including irrelevant or redundant actions in  plans to increase plan distance. Through extensive empirical evaluation, we find that  high landmark distance between plans implies high action set  distance, but not vice versa.  Landmark-based plan distance overcomes some of the weaknesses of syntactic plan distance measures and can be used to find plan sets that are both landmark diverse and action set diverse.


Introduction Cognitive impairment (CI) can present in 40%–70% of MS patients and in the early stages of the disease. The Brief International Cognitive assessment for MS (BICAMS) is a brief, practical and potentially universal battery for cognitive assessment in MS. Aim To correlate cognitive function with clinical parameters as disease type, EDSS, and disease duration Methods The cognitive function was measured with the validated to the Greek population BICAMS tool, which consists of the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), the Greek Verbal Learning Test (GVLT) and the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R). Results 36% patients classified as impaired according to the BICAMS battery. Progressive types of disease had worst scores than the relapsing in the SDMT (MD=1.73; 95% CI: 0.46, 3.0; p=0.009), GVLT (MD=1.77; 95% CI: 0.82, 2.72; p=0.001) and BICAMS z-score (MD=1.39; 95% CI: 0.54, 2.24; p=0.002). The two groups were also different in EDSS (p Discussion Early management of CI can lead to improvement in the patient's quality of life. Progressing types of the disease might benefit from early cognitive assessment in the disease course.


This paper aims at demonstrating the possibility of merging data from various medium-resolution spaceborne sensors to produce a consistent time series of surface bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) and albedo products. The spectral, directional, temporal, and spatial aspects of the multisensor fusion are presented. Emphasis is then given on the spectral normalization for the fusion of Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer Instrument (MERIS) data with Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and VEGETATION (VGT) data. Two methods are evaluated: a simple statistical method, which relies on a linear regression using all the available spectral bands, and a more innovative method called the spectral mode method, which is based on the restitution of the surface spectral signature by a combination of universal spectral functions. Analysis with Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) hyperspectral data and satellite products reveals that the spectral mode method is more efficient. This approach is used to merge top-of-canopy bidirectional reflectances from MERIS and VGT for the restitution of BRDF and albedo over a subset of West Africa. Compared to the products obtained with MERIS alone, the fusion with VGT demonstrates an improvement of the spatial coverage and a reduction of product uncertainty by about a third


ABSTRACT The UL24 gene of herpes simplex virus type 1 is conserved across many herpesviruses, but its protein product has not been identified. We expressed the UL24 gene in insect cells from a recombinant baculovirus and used the resulting protein to raise a rat antiserum. In immunoblotting experiments, this antiserum recognized a 30-kDa protein in lysates from infected cells. The identity of this species as UL24 was confirmed by using a virus encoding a truncated form of UL24. On the basis of biochemical fractionation of infected cells, UL24 appeared to be predominantly nucleus associated, especially at later times in infection. Although certain UL24 transcripts exhibit early kinetics, UL24 protein accumulated at later times in infection and levels were decreased sixfold in the presence of the viral DNA synthesis inhibitor phosphonoacetic acid; thus, UL24 was expressed with leaky-late kinetics. The entire UL24 open reading frame is encoded by mRNAs with two different 5′ ends. A mutation that eliminates the more abundant transcripts that originate at the first transcription start site resulted in a 10-fold reduction in the level of UL24 expressed but did not eliminate expression. Thus, the less abundant transcripts originating at the second transcription start site can evidently be translated, although transcripts originating at the first start site appear to be the major contributors to the expression of UL24. We conclude that UL24 is a bona fide herpes simplex virus type 1 protein that associates primarily with nuclei and whose expression is regulated at multiple levels.


Abstract A new dinoflagellate cyst, Pterocysta cruciformis Rochon gen. et sp. nov., is described from glacial Late Pleistocene sediments of the southwestern Black Sea and the central Marmara Sea. Pterocysta cruciformis is distinguished by a S‐type paratabulation, the cruciform shape of the endocyst and the presence of a prominent narrow wing‐like periphragm on the ventral side. Similarities between Pterocysta cruciformis and other camocavate cysts are discussed. The new species is associated with cold climatic conditions and probably indicates brackish to fresh water conditions.


It is shown that the NMR reciprocity theorem is a variant of a problem considered by Lorentz in 1895. This formulation is quite general and applies to electric-dipole-based as well as coil-based or resonator-based magnetic resonance probes. The reasoning is related to, but different from, the proof of the reciprocity theorem for radiofrequency networks and for transmit/receive antenna systems in telecommunications. The signal-to-noise ratio of the NMR experiment is also discussed in very general terms.


Orthopaedic infections are associated with a high morbidity, often requires an aggressive antibiotic therapy. Bone infections remmains a serious therapeutic challenge and increasing resistance has complicated the management of infections. Delayed or ineffective treatment causes significant morbidity in terms of pain, loss of function and the need for further surgery and antibiotics. To study the aerobic bacteriological spectrum and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of isolates of orthopaedic wound infections. We performed a retrospective review of clinical and microbiological data sets using the access database of patients admitted in orthopedic ward for one year from august 2015 to july 2016. Out of 196 samples, 144(73.46%) yielded pure growth, 42(21.42%) mixed growth, 10(5.1%) showed no growth. Out of 230 bacterial strains isolated 112(48.69%) were Staphylococci and 118(51.3%) were Gram negative bacilli. Among the Staphylococcus spp, MRSA (50%), MSSA (33.9%), MSCONS (9%) and MRCONS (7.1%). Susceptibility pattern of MRSA isolates were 68% to cotrimaxozole, 43% to clindamycin,29% to erythromycin, 18% to gentamycin and all MRSA strains were sensitive to Vancomycin and Linezolid. Among Gram negative bacilli, Pseudomonas (25.4%), Escherichia coli(22%), Enterobacter (22%), Klebsiella (15.3%), Citrobacter (8.4%), Acinetobacter (3.3%) and Proteus (3.3%). Pseudomonas strains showed100% sensitivity to imipenem, 87% to piperacillin-tazobactum,73% to amikacin,66% to cefotaxime,47% to ciprofloxacin,27% to gentamycin. Knowing the prevalence and the antibiotic susceptibility pattern of the isolates, helps us to guide the clinician to select the most appropriate antibiotics thereby preventing indiscriminate use of antibiotics. K e y w o r d s


Objective. We analyzed 9 cases by immunohistochemical studies in order to elucidate the mechanisms of cartilage destruction in relapsing polychondritis (RP), which often involves the external auricle and respiratory tract through immunological disorder. Methods. Cartilage tissues were obtained during surgical operations. Cell species in the granulation tissues, especially near the cartilage, were identified by cell-surface markers [CD3, CD4, CD8, CD20, CD45 (LCA), and CD68]. The proteolytic enzymes expressed in the cells in the perichondral granulation and in chondrocytes themselves were analyzed by immunohistochemical studies using anti-matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) -1, -3, -8, -9, and -13, and cathepsin D, K, L, and elastase antibodies. Apoptosis and nitric oxide (NO), an apoptosis-related factor, were also examined using ApopTag and antinitrotyrosine antibody, respectively. Results. Among cell species that infiltrated in perichondral granulation, LCA, CD68 (monocytes/macrophages), and CD4 cells were dominant in number; MMP-8, MMP-9, and elastase were expressed only in the perichondral granulation; whereas MMP-3 and cathepsin K and L were detected in both chondrocytes and granulations. Out of 9 cases examined, 6 revealed apoptotic cells in excess of 50% of chondrocytes. There was a strong correlation between the number of apoptotic cells and the number of MMP-3-positive (r = 0.83) and cathepsin K-positive cells (r = 0.92). Abundant NO-expressing cells were observed in the chondrocytes in degenerated cartilage, similar to apoptosis. Conclusion. Cartilage destruction in polychondritis is induced not only by perichondral inflammation, but also by intrinsic factors expressed in chondrocytes themselves, including certain kinds of proteolytic enzymes and apoptosis.


Background: Dental caries has become a disease of public health  significance with dietary and hygiene practices being identified has major contributors. The extent of this burden is poorly explored among the adolescents in Nigeria. This study examines the association between oral hygiene, dental caries and nutritional status of in-school adolescents in Ibadan.Methodology: This cross-sectional study involved 663 in-school  adolescents from two randomly selected public secondary schools in  Ibadan metropolis. Data collected include demographic data,  anthropometric indices (weight and height), oral hygiene status and dental caries. An intra-oral examination was conducted to assess oral hygiene and dental caries, while BMI-for-age was computed using WHO Anthroplus. Descriptive and inferential statistics was performed to determine the association between oral hygiene, dental caries and nutritional status.Results: The mean age of the adolescents was 14.6±1.6years. The prevalence of oral hygiene and dental caries were 21.3% and 14.7% respectively. Sugary drinks and chocolate beverages were commonly consumed by 59.7% and 71.3% of the respondents respectively. Majority (78.0%) had normal nutritional status while 21.0% of the respondents were underweight and about 1% were either overweight or obese. No significant association was found between oral hygiene practice and nutritional status and also between dental caries and nutritional status.Conclusion: This study has revealed poor oral hygiene and relatively high prevalence of dental caries among the adolescents. There is the need for nutrition, oral and health education programs in secondary schools targeting the improvement of oral hygiene ultimately prevention of dental caries.Key words: Oral hygiene, Dental caries, Nutritional status, Adolescents


BACKGROUND
Early referral of patients with end-stage renal disease to a nephrologist is associated with lower morbidity and mortality after initiating dialysis therapy; earlier referral may have better results. The aim of the study is to prospectively determine the impact of earlier referral to a nephrologist on renal damage progression of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) with early nephropathy.

METHODS
Fifty-two patients (27 patients, early nephropathy [EN]; 25 patients, overt nephropathy [ON]) from a primary health care unit were referred to a nephrologist (study cohort); 65 patients (34 patients, EN; 31 patients, ON) from another health care unit remained treated by only family doctors (control cohort). Both cohorts were followed up for 1 year.

RESULTS
Delta (final-baseline) in serum creatinine levels was maintained better by the nephrologist in the EN (study, 0.02 mg/dL versus control, 0.13 mg/dL [2 versus 11 micromol/L]; P = 0.02) than ON group (study, 0.15 mg/dL versus control, 0.25 mg/dL [13 versus 22 micromol/L]). In concordance, glomerular filtration rate was maintained better by the nephrologist in EN (study, 3.2 mL/min/1.73 m2 versus control, -13.3 mL/min/1.73 m2 [0.05 versus -0.22 mL/s/1.73 m2]; P = 0.01) than ON patients (study, -9.8 mL/min/1.73 m2 versus control, -10.9 mL/min/1.73 m2 [-0.16 versus -0.18 mL/s/1.73 m2]). Albuminuria increased more in patients treated by family doctors in the EN (study, 30 mg/d versus control, 116 mg/d; P < 0.05) and ON groups (study, 160 mg/d versus control, 623 mg/d). The nephrologist controlled systolic blood pressure better in both the EN (study, -3 mm Hg versus control, 2 mm Hg; P < 0.05) and ON groups (study, -19 mm Hg versus control, 5 mm Hg; P < 0.05); diastolic blood pressure had a similar pattern. The nephrologist significantly increased (P < 0.05) the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, and statins and discontinued nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs more than family doctors (study, 42%, 43%, 39%, and -11% versus control, 17%, 4%, -7%, and 27%, respectively). Glycemic and lipid control and stopping smoking were not attained by either the nephrologist or family doctors.

CONCLUSION
Earlier referral of patients with DM2 to a nephrologist was associated with better renal function preservation, which was significantly more evident in the EN than ON group. The nephrologist obtained better blood pressure control, more frequently used angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, and statins; and discontinued nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs more than family doctors. However, metabolic control and stopping smoking were not attained by either the nephrologist or family doctors.


The residual power of deltametrine FW (25 mg 1 .a/m2) was evaluated and compared to that of DDT (2 g i.a./m2) by means of biological tests. The different kinds of material used in constructing houses in Amazonia, such as: masonry, wood, and wattle and daub, were used. Data from logistic regression showed that the drop in mortality, the inclination of the curve in relation to time, was similar for the two insecticides in the first samples. The negative coeficient for the variable, months after application, confirmed a reduction in the activity of both insecticides. Wooden and wattle walls showed positive and negative coeficiencies respectively from the beginning. The wooden walls retained a residual effect but the wattle walls were shown to be the least indicated for the application of insecticides The experiments demonstrated a more prolonged residual effect for deltametrine as compared to DDT, and that insecticides work better on brick and cement and wooden walls than they do on wattle and daub constructions. For these reasons, it would be necessary to spray brick and cement walls every 8 months, wooden ones every 9 months and wattle constructions every 7 months to control the vectors of malaria.