Background. Tacrolimus (FK506) is effective for patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). However, there are few reports on tacrolimus therapy (TT) with respect to the relationship with endoscopic and clinicopathologic findings. Methods. Thirty patients with moderate/severe active UC refractory to or dependent on corticosteroid were treated with oral tacrolimus. The expression of ectopic MUC5AC in the colon was pathologically analyzed before and at 12 weeks after TT, evaluating the Mayo score and steroidsparing effects. Results. Both mean disease and endoscopic activity index scores were reduced at levels of statistical significance in 26 UC patients receiving more than one month of TT (P < 0.0001). The dose of prednisolone was reduced by a statistically significant amount (P = 0.00022), and 14 of the 26 patients (53.8%) had steroid-free status 12 weeks after TT. The decrease in ectopic MUC5AC expression in the mucous cells of the colon was significantly associated with endoscopic improvement of inflammation in the UC patients with TT (P = 0.043). Loss of ectopic MUC5AC expression was detected in all patients who had complete response. Conclusions. Tacrolimus appears to be effective for the treatment of moderate/severe UC patients. Loss of ectopic MUC5AC expression may be important for pathologic remission in the colon of UC patients.


This short paper presents a theoretical analysis that is intended to throw light on some issues related to the supply of vaccines in a context where producer countries are involved in armed conflicts. We present a simple model which combines elements of Hirshleifer-style economic analysis of conflict and microeconomic modelling of oligopolistic markets. In particular, we apply a simple Cournot duopoly model to two producer countries. Findings show that world supply of vaccines is indirectly and negatively affected by the existence of armed conflicts in a producer country that is involved in an armed conflict. Yet such negative impact on supply also increases the world price. In brief, participation of producer countries in armed conflicts turns out to be detrimental for global supply of vaccines.


User Mobility prediction represents a key component in assisting handoff management, resource reservation, and service preconfiguration. However, most of the existing approaches presume that the user travels in an a priori known pattern with some regularity; an assumption that may not always hold. This paper presents a novel framework for user mobility prediction that can accurately predict the traveling trajectory and destination using knowledge of user's preferences, goals, and analyzed spatial information without imposing any assumptions about the availability of users' movements history. This framework thus incorporates the notion of combining user context and spatial conceptual maps in the prediction process. The main objective of this notion is to circumvent the difficulties that arise in predicting the user's future location when adequate knowledge about the history of user's traveling patterns is not available. Using concepts of evidential reasoning of Dempster-Shafer's theory, the user's navigation behavior is captured by gathering pieces of evidence concerning different groups of candidate future locations. These groups are then refined to predict the user's future location when evidence accumulates using the Dempster rule of combination. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed framework.


We demonstrate and explain the surprising phenomenon of sign reversal in magnetic field amplification by the laser-driven implosion of a structured target. Relativistically intense laser pulses incident on the outer surface of a microtube target consisting of thin opaque shell surrounding a $\mu$m-scale cylindrical void drive an initial ion implosion and later explosion capable of generating and subsequently amplifying strong magnetic fields. While the magnetic field generation is enhanced and spatially smoothed by the application of a kilotesla-level seed field, the sign of the generated field does not always follow the sign of the seed field. One unexpected consequence of the amplification process is a reversal in the sign of the amplified magnetic field when, for example, the target outer cross section is changed from square to circular. Using 2D particle-in-cell simulations, we demonstrate that sign reversal is linked to the stability of the surface magnetic field of opposite sign from the seed which arises at the target inner surface during laser irradiation. The stability of the surface magnetic field and consequently the sign of the final amplified field depends sensitively on the target, laser, and seed magnetic field conditions, which could be leveraged to make laser-driven microtube implosions an attractive platform for the study of magnetic fields in high energy density plasma in regimes where sign reversal either is or is not desired.


The Neogene sedimentary succession of the Orava-Nowy Targ Basin directly overlies the Central Carpathian Paleogene Basin deposits, the Magura Unit, and the Pieniny Klippen Belt. It provides an excellent geological record that postdates the main Mesoalpine structural and geomorphological processes in the Western Carpathians. Sedimentological, petrographical and geochronological investigations have allowed for the re-examination of pyroclastic material, zircon dating, and a discussion on the relation of the Orava-Nowy Targ Basin to the exhumation of the Tatra Massif. The Bystry Stream succession is composed of NNW-inclined freshwater siltstones, sandstones and conglomerates. A few small, sometimes discontinuous, light grey intercalations of pyroclastic deposits and a single 1–2 m thick tuffite layer occur in the upper part of the succession. The tuffite contains an admixture of organic matter and siliciclastic grains (e.g., mica), suggesting that the volcanic ash fall was accompanied by normal deposition from weak currents. Sedimentation of deposits of the Bystry Stream succession took place in terrestrial settings, predominantly on floodplains and in rivers, in the vicinity of a hilly area supplying the basin with eroded material. The age of the tuffite layer from the Bystry Stream succession was determined at 11.87 +0.12/–0.24 Ma. The source of volcanogenic material in the tuffite was probably volcanic activity in the Inner Carpathians-Pannonian region, where effusive and volcanoclastic silica-rich rocks were being produced by extrusive and explosive activity ~12 Ma. Obtained result connects the development of the Orava-Nowy Targ Basin at ~12 Ma with the late stage of the main episode of the Tatra Massif exhumation between ~22–10 Ma.


: From 1st January 1988 to 31st September 1990 1.321 cases of eye injury were seen in our service. These cases represented 12.24% of our consultations: 911 males and 410 females. The average age was 27 years and there were two peaks of 0-9 years and 20-29. About half of those injured were students with fights constituting the principal cause of injuries. The left eye was more often affected than the right. The complications encountered were many and varied.


The homozygous parent strain of the P23H transgenic rat (developed as an animal model or retinal degeneration associated with human eye disease) was crossed with pigmented wild-type (Long Evans) rats. The pigmented offspring, heterozygous for the mutation in the rhodopsin gene, more closely resemble the human disease state. Single and paired-flash electroretinography was used to evaluate the retinal response to brief light flashes. A-wave amplitudes and sensitivity decreased with age up to 12 wks (the oldest rats currently in the colony); b-wave amplitudes and sensitivity were relatively preserved up to 12 wks. At 4 wks of age, the transgenic rats showed an earlier time to peak of the paired-flash-derived photoreceptor response, and a faster initial recovery from peak, when compared to age-matched wild-type.


The objective of this IPP is to make sure, that the Project respects the dignity, human rights, economies, and cultures of the indigenous peoples in the project areas and provides them equal and culturally appropriate benefits, which should be defined in free, prior and informed consultations. The IPP elaborates strategies on how this can be achieved and establishes detailed measures how to (a) avoid potentially adverse effects on the Indigenous Peoples' communities; or (b) when avoidance is not feasible, minimize, mitigate, or compensate for such effects. The Twa, Mbuti, Cwa and Aka are identified as the indigenous peoples of the DRC. The project specifies that: (a) where is it possible, all effort will be made to avoid physical involuntary displacement of population; (b) where there is no way to avoid the physical displacement , mitigation measure will be identified and developed so that affected population keep even better their livelihood and the initial production; (c) where, affected communities are obliged to change or restrict their access to natural resources within those prospected areas even if they are inside or nearby protected areas, they will actively be associated in the identification, implementation, recommended follow up of development actions process and mitigation measures, including with the national policy and the international standards even those of the World Bank and (d) where indigenous people are living within protected areas or nearby and use natural resources, mitigation measures and specific development decision will be taken to protect their culture, way of living their way of production. Yet, it is expected that the project will have the following negative aspects: 1) discrimination; 2) Physical or economical involuntary resettlement of people within existing and proposed protected areas through law and regulation enforcement through forest transformation in protected areas; access restriction to the consecrate sites; 3) Impoverishment due to restricted access to natural resource in existing and proposed protected areas and their buffer zones and loss of access to possible benefits from other forms or land use ; 4) No benefit sharing; and 5) No participation in decision making processes (Marginalization of the rural populations in general and indigenous peoples in particular in decision making, the elaboration and implementation of development plans and the monitoring and evaluation processes).


Indonesian government gives a high priority for the development and revitalization of cocoa production. In 2012/2013, production of cocoa in Indonesia reached 410,000 ton from 1,774,500 ha (about 231 kg ha -1 ), lower than Ghana which is 835,000 ton from 1,600,300 ha (about 521 kg ha -1 ). One of the constraints of cocoa production in Indonesia is pod rot disease caused by Phytophthora palmivora , which can reduce about 90% of production during wet season. Calcium polysulfide was suggested as one of the potential, cheap and save substance to control P. palmivora . The purpose of this study was to evaluate the calcium polysulfide potential to control the disease and its effect on the phyllosphere-fungal diversity. A positive correlation was found between concentration of calcium polysulfide and inhibition of fungal growth in the media. Otherwise, a negative correlation was found between concentration of calcium polysulfide and fungal biomass. Disease severity of cocoa treated by calcium polysulfide 80 mL L -1 every week was 11.67% significantly lower than control, i.e. 68.33%. Furthermore, it was also found that the index value of fungal diversity on the phylosphere decreased by increasing concentration and interval of  calcium polysulfide application. Keywords: Calcium polysulfide, Cocoa, Phytophthora palmivora .


It was established by us previously that mass reversible and irreversible dystrophy and death of neurons occur in the cortex and hippocampus of adult rats after acute hypoxic hypoxia. Transplantation of embryonic nervous tissue into the brain of rats exposed to hypoxia leads to partial normalization of the nervous tissue and brain cortex and to the reduction in the number of irreversibly degenerative neurons. The objective of the present work is to find out how this visually detected normalization of brain cortex is achieved: by means of elimination of dead neurons and preservation of normal ones or by means of compensatory-restorative processes on the cellular and intracellular levels. To elucidate this question, adult Wistar rats were subjected to acute hypoxic hypoxia and cortex tissue pieces of 19-day-old rat embryos were transplanted into their brain and the brain of intact rats. Intact and hypoxia-subjected rats served as a control. Parts of their brain were injured by puncturing with a syringe needle and injecting 0.01 ml of physiological solution. The rats were killed 4 and 100 days after the operation, their brains were examined histologically and the number of normal nerve cells and those with signs of irreversible and reversible dystrophy or compensatory restoration per 1,000 neurons was determined: uninucleolate, binucleolate, binuclear and paired morphologically similar nerve cells. It has been established that normalization of brain cortex in rats after hypoxia and transplantation occurs not only due to elimination of dead neurons and preservation of normal ones but mainly due to transition of reversibly degenerative neurons into the normal state and, probably, partly due to compensatory-restorative processes on the cell level. Transplantation has a stronger influence than a single injury of the brain.


For the past twenty years, significant progress has been made in both developing cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) technology and understanding assembled behavior of amphiphilic molecules. Cryo-TEM can provide high-resolution images of complex fluids in a near state. Samples embedded in a thin layer of vitrified solvent do not exhibit artifacts that would normally occur when using chemical fixation or staining-and-drying techniques. Cryo-TEM has been useful in imaging biological molecules in aqueous solutions. Cryo-TEM has become a powerful tool in the study of -assembled structures of amphiphiles in solution as a complementary tool to small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering, light scattering, rheology measurements, and nuclear magnetic resonance. The application of cryo-TEM in the study of assembled behavior of amphiphilic block copolymers, hydrogels, and other complex soft systems continues to emerge. In this context, the usage of cryo-TEM in the field of amphiphilic complex fluids and self-assembled nano-materials is briefly reviewed, and its unique role in exploring the nature of assembled structure in liquid suspension is highlighted.


A review concerning general characteristics of polylactic acid (PLA) and methods of its synthesis using renewable vegetable resources. Methods of PLA synthesis either by lactid acid polycondensation or by ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of lactide have been presented. For ROP method the polymerization mechanisms (cationic, anionic and coordinative) have been characterized and the effect of the type of catalyst used on the polymerization course and polymer properties have been detaily described. Preparation of lactide copolymers has been taken into consideration. The process of PLA degradation and directions of PLA applications have been discussed.


Given access to a machine learning model, can an adversary reconstruct the model's training data? This work studies this question from the lens of a powerful informed adversary who knows all the training data points except one. By instantiating concrete attacks, we show it is feasible to reconstruct the remaining data point in this stringent threat model. For convex models (e.g. logistic regression), reconstruction attacks are simple and can be derived in closed-form. For more general models (e.g. neural networks), we propose an attack strategy based on training a reconstructor network that receives as input the weights of the model under attack and produces as output the target data point. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our attack on image classifiers trained on MNIST and CIFAR-10, and systematically investigate which factors of standard machine learning pipelines affect reconstruction success. Finally, we theoretically investigate what amount of differential privacy suffices to mitigate reconstruction attacks by informed adversaries. Our work provides an effective reconstruction attack that model developers can use to assess memorization of individual points in general settings beyond those considered in previous works (e.g. generative language models or access to training gradients); it shows that standard models have the capacity to store enough information to enable high-fidelity reconstruction of training data points; and it demonstrates that differential privacy can successfully mitigate such attacks in a parameter regime where utility degradation is minimal.


As the world's living conditions deteriorate despite the precautions undertaken, there is need to reduce the construction industry's footprint. This paper aims to establish the principles for regenerative construction project management (RCPM). The regenerative approach has been assimilated into the project management concept considering construction project management requirements of the regenerative constructions, their need to be kept alive and in harmony with their location adapting changes in technology throughout their entire life. The research reveals that the RCPM requires changes in the current construction project management with respect to: the feasibility and processes; designers', project managers' and communities' roles; scope, complexity and focus of construction project management; contracts; and supply chain and material industry. The RCPM concept introduced in this paper allows the introduction of new concepts. This paper contributes to the body of knowledge as it is the first preliminary study on the RCPM concept and its principles.


Peripheral neuropathy is common in patients with Sjögren's syndrome (SS), but its precise prevalence is unknown. Most prior studies were conducted at neurology or rheumatology specialty clinics and likely selected for a more severely affected population. We evaluated 22 SS patients and 10 controls for evidence of neuropathy in an outpatient setting at a regional meeting of the Sjögren's Syndrome Foundation. We performed neurological examinations and nerve conduction studies (NCSs) and measured serum antinuclear antibody (ANA) and SS‐A and SS‐B antibody levels. Participants filled out a questionnaire pertaining to symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment. We found that signs and symptoms related to small axons were more common in patients with SS than in controls. Complaints of painful distal paresthesias in the feet were noted in 59% of patients but in only 10% of controls, and of abnormal sweating in 41% and 0%, respectively. Examination revealed decreased pinprick sensation in 64% of patients with SS, but in only 30% of controls. Overall, 45% of the patients but none of the controls were thought to have an isolated small‐fiber neuropathy. Large‐fiber dysfunction (as measured by testing vibration, deep tendon reflexes, and NCSs) was similar between the two groups. We conclude that small‐fiber neuropathy is common in patients with SS. Muscle Nerve 2006


Remote laboratories are getting very popular in engineering education programs. However, there are not many studies addressing the requirements and design issues of such laboratories. This paper discusses the results of a study of the requirements for developing a remote Radio Frequency (RF) laboratory for university students. This study draws on the perspectives of the students at the university, department of electrical engineering. The results are based on a research study established by 111 engineering students from France, Germany, Romania and Turkey. It investigates how students would like to use the technical content of a state of the art RF laboratory. The result of this study is also compared with the previous outcomes showing perspectives of the other learner groups of such laboratories; engineers and technicians in the technical colleges on the Radio Frequency (RF) domain. Considering the outcomes developed so far, some principles that need to be considered while designing and developing such a laboratory have been proposed. As a case study the proposed principles are implemented in a remote laboratory project. In this paper, the details of user requirements of such laboratories, the proposed principles and the implementation examples are all provided and discussed. Primarily, the general aim of this study is to guide remote laboratory platform developers towards the most effective design of their platforms.


Recent advances in single-cell omics and high-resolution imaging have provided unanticipated data resources for the elucidation of genes underlying the complex biological processes critical for organ formation and function. However, processing and integrating large amounts of single-cell omics and imaging data presents a major challenge for most researchers. There is a critical need for ready-to-use computational tools for data/knowledge integration and visualization. Here we present "Lung-at-a-glance", an easy-to-use web toolset for visualizing and interoperating complex omics and imaging data, providing an interactive web interface to bridge lung anatomic ontology classifications to lung histology and immunofluorescence confocal images, and cell-type-specific gene expression. "Lung-at-a-glance" contains three interactive components: 1) "Region at a glance", 2) "Cell at a glance" and 3) "Gene at a glance". "Lung-at-a-glance" and other newly developed web tools for lung-related data query, integration and visualization are publicly available on LGEA web portal v3 https://research.cchmc.org/pbge/lunggens/mainportal.html.


In this work a fast database correlation algorithm is proposed for the localization of mobile stations in wireless metropolitan area networks. The algorithm is entirely based on built-in functionalities of mobile nodes. The set of measured parameters used for localization is called radio-frequency fingerprint. To provide a position estimate, it is correlated with a database built from field measurements or propagation modeling. The latter alternative was selected, as it allows a less expensive and faster database update. A novel use of the round trip delay to reduce the correlation space and improve positioning accuracy is presented. Vehicular field tests and Monte Carlo simulations were conducted to evaluate the algorithm's accuracy in GSM and WCDMA cellular networks, respectively.


As part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) IV the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) will improve measurements of the cosmological distance scale by applying the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) method to quasar samples. eBOSS will adopt two approaches to target quasars over 7500 deg2. First, a "CORE" quasar sample will combine the optical selection in ugriz using a likelihood-based routine called XDQSOz, with a mid-IR-optical color cut. eBOSS CORE selection (to g < 22 or r < 22) should return ∼70 deg−2 quasars at redshifts 0.9 < z < 2.2 and ∼7 deg−2z > 2.1 quasars. Second, a selection based on variability in multi-epoch imaging from the Palomar Transient Factory should recover an additional ∼3–4 deg−2z > 2.1 quasars to g < 22.5. A linear model of how imaging systematics affect target density recovers the angular distribution of eBOSS CORE quasars over 96.7% (76.7%) of the SDSS north (south) Galactic Cap area. The eBOSS CORE quasar sample should thus be sufficiently dense and homogeneous over 0.9 < z < 2.2 to yield the first few-percent-level BAO constraint near z ¯ ∼ 1.5 . ?> eBOSS quasars at z > 2.1 will be used to improve BAO measurements in the Lyα Forest. Beyond its key cosmological goals, eBOSS should be the next-generation quasar survey, comprising >500,000 new quasars and >500,000 uniformly selected spectroscopically confirmed 0.9 < z < 2.2 quasars. At the conclusion of eBOSS, the SDSS will have provided unique spectra for more than 800,000 quasars.


Pairs of azimuthal intensity decrements at near-symmetric locations have been seen in a number of protoplanetary disks. They are most commonly interpreted as the two shadows cast by a highly misaligned inner disk. Direct evidence of such an inner disk, however, remains largely illusive, except in rare cases. In 2012, a pair of such shadows were discovered in scattered-light observations of the near face-on disk around 2MASS J16042165-2130284, a transitional object with a cavity ∼60 au in radius. The star itself is a "dipper," with quasi-periodic dimming events on its light curve, commonly hypothesized as caused by extinctions by transiting dusty structures in the inner disk. Here, we report the detection of a gas disk inside the cavity using Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations with ∼0.″2 angular resolution. A twisted butterfly pattern is found in the moment 1 map of the CO (3–2) emission line toward the center, which is the key signature of a high misalignment between the inner and outer disks. In addition, the counterparts of the shadows are seen in both dust continuum emission and gas emission maps, consistent with these regions being cooler than their surroundings. Our findings strongly support the hypothesized misaligned inner disk origin of the shadows in the J1604-2130 disk. Finally, the inclination of the inner disk would be close to −45° in contrast with 45°; it is possible that its internal asymmetric structures cause the variations on the light curve of the host star.


Background: The novel coronavirus infectious disease-2019 (COVID-19) is a global pandemic involving many countries and has affected more than seventy-nine million people worldwide, with greater than a million deaths in the current scenario. Aims: The aim of the study is to improvise perioperative obstetric healthcare in a tertiary healthcare center. Settings and Design: This is a retrospective case series of parturients infected with COVID-19. Materials and Methods: We present a case series of COVID-19–infected parturients. There is no evidence that pregnant women are more likely to become seriously affected by coronavirus, yet these groups of patients are vulnerable to infection. Hence, the objectives in the management of such patients which includes caring for the range of the asymptomatic to critically ill women in the peripartum period and protection of healthcare providers from exposure to the disease while treating them while treating them is of paramount importance. Results: There is limited literature available about the effect of this disease and the risk of complications in pregnancy. The variables affect the respiratory system and exacerbate the susceptibility to infections. This complicates or delays the diagnosis in COVID-19–infected parturients, which affect their clinical outcome. Thus, there is a need on focused and optimal management in a tertiary healthcare center. Of the total 109 lower segment cesarean section patients in our hospital, there were only two maternal and neonatal deaths among the 12 emergency cases performed. Conclusions: Collaborative efforts are imperative among experts such as anesthesiologists and obstetricians to tackle the impact of this disease. There must be surveillance systems in place for reporting maternal and fetal data during this pandemic.


Hamuli are hook-like setae on the anterior margin of the hind wing which interlock with the recurved posterior edge of the fore wing in the Hymenoptera during flight, making them functionally two winged. The possession of hamuli is an autapomorphy for the Hymenoptera. Three types of hamuli are distinguishable: basal hamuli, distal hamuli and secondary hamuli. Basal hamuli occur only in the Xyelidae, Pamphiliidae and Xiphydriidae. Secondary hamuli occur in two common forms in terms of their arrangement: openly spaced (dispersed) or clustered. Dispersed secondary hamuli are hypothesised as plesiomorphic and clustering is a putative synapomorphy for several groups within the order. Distal hamuli are present in all winged Hymenoptera. The presence of a modified and erect setal band opposing distal hamuli may be a synapomorphy for Chalcidoidea + Ceraphronoidea + Diapriidae + a new family to be described from New Zealand.


Early-phase reactions (EPRs) and late-phase reactions (LPRs) are characteristic features of bronchial asthma, although the pathogenetic mechanisms responsible for each of the responses are not fully defined. A murine model of EPRs and LPRs was developed to investigate the role of IL-5 and eosinophils in development of both responses. After initial intraperitoneal sensitization and airway challenge to ovalbumin (OVA), mice were provoked by additional exposure to OVA. An EPR, characterized by a transient increase in airway responsiveness, was observed 5-30 minutes after antigen provocation. This response was followed by an LPR that reached its maximum at 6 hours after challenge and was characterized by increased airway responsiveness and significant lung eosinophilia. The EPR was blocked by cromoglycate and albuterol, whereas the LPR was abolished by cromoglycate and hydrocortisone. Before provocation with allergen, administration of anti-IL-5 antibody prevented the influx of eosinophils into the lung tissue and abolished the LPR but not EPR. These results suggest that IL-5 and eosinophils are essential for development of the LPR, but not EPR, in this model.


This article is concerned with the interplay of young people's biographies and transforming landscapes in south-east Wales. In particular the article focuses on a South Wales Valleys town, Ebbw Vale, to explore how changes to a place can be understood in relation to, and alongside youth transitions. The article reports on the ways in which narratives of the transformation, redevelopment and regeneration of place sit alongside the biographical transformations of young people themselves, as they make their transitions into adulthood. The article draws on concepts borrowed from geography, anthropology and architecture to advance a sociological argument for the consideration of continuity and everyday registers of meaning as a way of understanding change – both to place and in young people's lives. The focus on a place which has undergone significant material, economic and landscape change enables the argument to be developed in relation to the transformation of communities and post-industrial economies. The article thus explores some of the connectivities between young people, locality, and (both imagined and real) biographical and material changes.


Differences in running mechanics between minimalist (MIN) and traditional (TRAD) running shoes have been the subject of much research in the last decade. More recently, ultra-cushioning (ULTRA) shoes featuring oversized midsoles have emerged and are growing in popularity. However, relatively little is known regarding how ULTRA shoes effect running mechanics. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare foot strike, leg stiffness, joint stiffness, and negative joint work when running in MIN, TRAD, and ULTRA shoes. Fifteen recreational runners ran on an instrumented treadmill in each shoe while their whole body kinematics were recorded using a 12-camera motion capture system. Foot strike pattern was quantified using the strike index (SI) and foot strike angle (FSA). Leg stiffness was calculated using a spring-mass model. Joint stiffness was calculated as change in joint moment relative to change in joint angle during the absorption period. Negative joint work was calculated by integrating the negative portion of the joint power curve. Differences between shoes were evaluated using a one-way repeated measures ANOVA. Results showed there were no differences between MIN and TRAD shoes for any of the dependent variables. In the ULTRA shoe, participants used a more pronounced rearfoot strike pattern. There were no differences in leg stiffness between shoes. Compared to the MIN and TRAD shoes, in the ULTRA shoes the ankle was stiffer and performed less negative work while the knee and hip were less stiff and performed more negative work. These findings suggest a reorganization of the neuromuscular control of the limb when running in ULTRA compared to MIN or TRAD shoes. This reorganization may have implications for running performance or injury prevention.


Drawing on ethnographic audience research carried out during 2013-2014, this article examines how young, urban, tertiary-educated Indonesians engage with the Indonesian horror genre. For most of these consumers, Indonesian horror films are the subject of ridicule and derision. With reference to Bourdieu's theories of taste and distinction, I illustrate how the imagined "mass audience" of Indonesian horror functions as a symbolic "other," emphasizing the cultural capital of more discerning, critical audiences. In exploring these audience members' critical engagement with Indonesian horror, I also apply recent theories of "anti-fandom" that have come out of US cultural studies. There are many resonances between Indonesian anti-horror sentiment and US anti-fandom, but also some important divergences. I use these gaps and disjunctures as a departure point for reflecting on some of the challenges and opportunities of working at the intersection of Asian studies, media studies and cultural studies in the contemporary scholarly context.


We studied the genetic architecture of common and rare diseases in order to gain more insight into the underlying etiology. In contrast to epidemiological studies, genetic variants are generally not subject to confounding, allowing us to test causal genotype-phenotype relationships. However, it has become increasingly clear that study sample sizes need to be large in order to achieve sufficient power to identify robust associations with disease. This thesis is divided into three parts. In part one, we studied the genetic associations for three immune-related diseases. We searched for genetic variants that cause birdshot choreoretinopathy, a rare eye disease with a strong HLA component, and showed that the HLA-A*29:02 allele is the principal effect with more than 95% of patients carrying this allele. In addition, we identified an association near ERAP2, which is a gene involved in antigen processing and presentation. Second, we compared the genetic basis for multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Combining data collected in almost 20,000 samples in total, we failed to observe evidence for a shared genetic background between these two devastating diseases. In part two, we studied the genetic basis of arterial calcification as a risk factor for coronary artery disease and myocardial infarction. We conducted a genome-wide association study on coronary artery calcification and aorta calcification, and demonstrated that three known loci associated with myocardial infarction are also involved in arterial calcification. In addition, many additional SNPs below genome-wide significance are also associated with coronary artery calcification, highlighting an important causal role for arterial calcification in the etiology of myocardial infarction. Part three includes four studies focusing on quantitative phenotypes derived from the electrocardiogram. We tested common SNPs for association with PR interval and with four correlated QRS measurements in meta-analyses containing up to 100,000 individuals, and identified in total more than 100 genomic loci. In a smaller sample of 30,000 individuals we illustrated that imputation of untyped SNPs using larger and more accurate panels allows us to identify even more loci. In the last chapter, we tested low-frequency coding variants for association with PR, RR, QT, and QRS intervals. Although the sample size of our cohorts was too small to identify significant association signals, this study taught us important lessons for association testing of rare DNA sequence variants. To conclude, we applied different analytical strategies to investigate the genetic architecture of common and rare diseases, testing both common and rare variation. The progress of the last years in the field of genetics has brought us a tremendous amount of information on disease biology. We predict that GWAS and sequencing-based studies will continue to identify more and more loci that can serve as valuable starting points for eventual prediction, prevention, and treatment of human disease.


Introduction: Meeting the changing demands in medical education requires implementation of
innovative teaching methods. Problem based learning (PBL) was introduced for the first time for
teaching Community Medicine at Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore. The objective of this study
was to obtain students' perception towards this learning experience so as to evaluate its potential
benefits.
Study Design: Cross sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: This study was done in a private medical college between June to
NovMethods: It was conducted among final year medical students. PBL was introduced to a randomly
chosen group of students and their perception towards this learning experience was obtained. The
assessment was done using a standardized questionnaire containing responses in a five point
Likert scale ranging from strongly agreement to strongly disagreement.
Results: Mean age of the 54 participants was 21.4±1.0 years. Majority were females 33(61.1%)
and were Indians 45(83.3%). Majority of students strongly agreed to most parameters under
application of knowledge base, clinical reasoning, decision making skills, self-directed learning and
collaborative work experience in PBL tutorials. Similarly feedback regarding standard of PBL
exercise, self/peer performance and facilitator performance in the PBL tutorials was strongly
agreed to be satisfactory by majority of participants. However 24(44.4%) of them found PBL to be
time consuming. Greater proportion of males felt that their contribution was not satisfactory during
sessions (p=0.049).
Conclusion: Students feedback towards PBL was found to be satisfactory in all aspects. Few
barriers like demotivation on the part of male participants needs to be resolved by facilitators so as
to improve output in PBL sessions.ember 2014.


Due to the growing demand for energy and impending environmental issues, fuel cells have attracted significant attention as an alternative to conventional energy technologies. As cost is the main inhibitor of this technology, low cost catalysts with high activity and stable catalytic performance are the key to large scale application of fuel cells. The development and recent advancements of Pt and Pt-based electrocatalysts are discussed in this review. Discussion is mainly focused on the structure and composition of Pt and Pt-based electrocatalysts, which significantly affect the catalytic activities and durability of fuel cell catalysts. The electrocatalysts including Pt single metal, Pt-based alloys (including noble alloys, non-noble alloys, metal oxide alloys, and non-metal alloys), and structure-controlled alloys (nanopolyhedra, nanodendrites, and hollow and core–shell structures) were discussed. The activity, stability, and efficiency of Pt and Pt-based catalysts for both the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) as well as the correlation between the catalytic performance, structure optimization, and composition modulation of catalysts are also discussed.


5973 The c-Met receptor and its ligand HGF have been shown to be upregulated in HNSCC tumors. c-Met can also have an activating tyrosine kinase domain mutation in HNSCC. SU11274 is a novel small molecule c-Met inhibitor. We evaluated HNSCC tumor samples from 10 patients by immunohistochemistry for c-Met, activated phospho-c-Met pY1003 and pY1234/1235, and HGF. Total c-Met expression was measured by immunoblot in 7 HNSCC cell lines. More than 75% of HNSCC tumor samples expressed both c-Met and activated phospho-c-Met - with pY1003 expression being more prominent than pY1234/1235. HGF expression was seen consistently primarily with cytoplasmic staining in the tumor. All 7 cell lines tested showed expression of c-Met. 5 HNSCC cell lines were treated with SU11274 (small molecule inhibitor against c-Met) at 2μM & 5μM and signaling pathways were examined using immunoblot analysis with various antibodies. 2 HNSCC cell lines were treated with HGF (40ng/ml & 80ng/ml), SU11274 (5μM), and combinations. Cell numbers were measured by MTT assays at 0h, 24h, 48h, and 72h. p-Tyr immunoblots showed activity of SU11274 resulting in a dose dependant decrease in phosphorylation of a number of proteins. Marked inhibition of c-Met signaling was documented in the presence of SU11274 with decreased levels of phospho-c-Met (both pY1003 & pY1230/1234/1235), phospho-Akt (pT308), phospho-Erk1/2 (pTpY185/187), phospho-p70S6K (pT389), and phospho-SHP2 (pY542) at 2μM and complete abrogation of signaling to baseline levels at 5μM. MTT survival assays showed that both 2 and 5μM of SU11274 lead to decreased cell growth in one of the tested HNSCC cell lines and abrogate HGF induced cell proliferation. c-Met signaling plays an important role in HNSCC growth and signaling. Inhibition of c-Met signaling by SU11274 leads to abrogation of respective signaling pathways and in certain HNSCC cell lines growth inhibition.


This paper is a comment on Ronald Gilson and Alan Schwarz "Constraints on Private Benefits of Control: Ex Ante Control Mechanisms versus Ex Post Transaction Review". Together with that paper it will appear in the Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics 169 (1) in 2013, in a special issue devoted to Behavioral Theory of Institutions. I argue that the arguments of Gilson and Schwarz are convincing, but that the underlying assumptions may be stronger than the authors suggest. In particular, the G&S paper adopts a US shareholder perspective on corporate governance and is based on standard rationality assumptions. In this comment, I discuss whether and to what extent the recommendations are relevant in the EU context and whether the paper's conclusions are robust when insights from behavioral economics are included.


This thesis is a study of a phenomenon in Swedish education: the RegionalDevelopment Centre (Regionalt utvecklingscentrum, RUC). Insetting up RUC, the Swedish state's original intention was to enhancecollaboration between teacher education and training, research andschool development. RUC was specified in the appropriation directionsfor Swedish higher education institutions (HEIs) that trained teachers in1997–2010. The purpose of this thesis is to clarify and analyse differinginterpretations and implications of RUC as a phenomenon and conceptualisethe task of addressing them in a changing education-policy context.Empirical sources for the study are central government publicationsand interviews with RUC representatives at 22 HEIs. This empiricalmaterial has been modified and analysed in four stages: a survey of RUCas a phenomenon, construal of 'ideal types' of RUC, testing of the construedideal types as analytical tools, and application of the construedideal types as analytical tools to gain an 'explanatory understanding' ofRUC. Through analysis of needs, actors and value, five ideal types empiricallybased on transcribed interviews are construed: the receiveroriented,trust-creating, region-boosting, conceptualising and salesorientedtypes. A model shows how these ideal types can be mutuallyunderstood and conceptualised. Examples are given, based on this model,of specific interpretations and implications that may fit each idealtype. RUC's legitimacy in 2012 still entails a marked emphasis on RUCas a receiver-oriented associate. Three aspects enhancing the likelihoodof RUC, in 2012, being deemed important to retain at an HEI appear tobe the HEI's goodwill towards RUC, its dependence on remits from theSwedish National Board of Education and schools' research needs. Focusingmore on RUC as the region-boosting partner would mean oncemore uniting RUC's role in teacher education with school developmentand research, but on the basis of 'common needs' within the frameworkof a distinct growth policy.


The molecular topology in the single-molecular nano-junctions through which the de Broglie wave propagates plays a crucial role in controlling the molecular conductance. The enhancement and reduction of the conductance due to constructive and destructive Quantum Interference (QI) in para and meta connected molecules respectively has already been well established. Herein, we investigated the influence of QI on spin transport in the molecular junctions containing organic radicals as magnetic centres. The role of the localized spins on the QI as well as on spin filtering capability is investigated employing density functional theory in combination with non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF-DFT) techniques. Various organic radicals including nitroxide (NO), phenoxy (PO) and methyl (CH 2 ) radicals attached to the central benzene ring of pentacene with different terminal connections (para and meta) to gold electrodes are examined. Due to more obvious QI effects, para connected pentacene is found to be more conductive than meta one. Surprisingly, on incorporating a radical centre, along with spin filtering, a significant quenching of QI effects is observed which manifests itself in such a way that the conductance of meta coupled radicals is found to be more than para by two orders of magnitude. The decoherence induced by radical centre is analysed and discussed in terms of spin-spin coupling of radical's unpaired electron with the tunneling electrons.


The Dannemora supracrustal inlier is located in the north-eastern part of the Bergslagen region in south-central Sweden and hosts the second largest iron ore deposit in the region. The metasupracrustal succession of the inlier consists of c. 1.9 Ga Palaeoproterozoic rocks that are mainly sub-alkaline, rhyolitic to dacitic, pyroclastic deposits, reworked pyroclastic deposits and metalimestone. It is c. 700–800-m thick and termed the Dannemora Formation. The formation is divided into lower and upper members and the former is in turn subdivided into subunits 1 and 2. The great thickness of individual pyroclastic deposits indicates deposition within a caldera. The rocks show characteristics of a pyroclastic origin by containing abundant pumice, cuspate and Y-shaped former glass shards, and fragmented crystals of quartz and subordinate feldspars. Scattered spherulites and lack of welding-compacted fiamme suggest that the lower member was slightly welded, where as the upper member contains sericite-replaced glass shards with preserved primary shapes indicating no welding. Undisturbed layers of ash-siltstone with normal grading and fluid–escape structures are attributed to subaqueous deposition below storm wave base in the eastern part of the inlier, where as erosion channels and cross-bedding in some of the volcaniclastic deposits imply deposition and reworking above wave base in the central part of the inlier. Epidote spots, previously interpreted as altered limestone fragments and an indicator for subaquatic deposition, are here reinterpreted as the result of selective alteration related to the intrusion of mafic dykes and to Ca release during dolomitisation of limestone.


Energy poverty is a global phenomenon, with varying intensity across countries. Electricity is unarguably an important source of energy essential in satisfying the demand for modern energy services for socio-economic well-being, households' productivity and economic development of a nation. Despite the abundance of energy resources in Nigeria, an estimated 113 million people, representing about 70 per cent of the population, lack access to electricity, while the remaining 30 per cent have only intermittent and unreliable access. The thesis identifies and examines the causes and consequences of energy poverty and the role of energy (specifically electricity) in poverty reduction and as an engine of households' economic growth and prosperity. The study provides a pragmatic methodology of Geographic Information System (GIS) as an interface between development studies and energy geography. The thesis contributes to energy geography and resource management based on the deprivation experienced by households attributable to the failure of the public energy service delivery system. The poor reliability of the grid-based system has created an ―energy services gap‖ that is met by alternative costly backup off grid-solution of self-generation of electricity. The use of generators in most households is now the mainstay of electricity provision and has become the electricity provider, while the electricity provider is now standby. Households are consequently climbing down the energy ladder because electricity that is at the top of the ladder is not always available. The socio-economic suppression, depression and deprivation along with the financial burden on households' income are the bane of energy poverty in the study area. The study establishes that access is not the problem in an urban area in Nigeria but the inadequacy and unreliability of electricity supply in substantial quantity and reliable quality. To promote living and economic growth, it is desirable that households have secure and affordable electricity.


Nowadays, consumers usually do not just consider the functional use of a product. At least equally important are the emotional experiences that are tied up with the product and that are sated with non-material elements of a product. Which non-material elements of a product are considered important by the consumer, depends on his or her personal values. Therefore, the identification of personal values assists in explaining the consumers' purchasing motives. Since personal values do not just influence a consumers' purchasing decision but vary between cultural circles, it is expected that cultural values lead to culture-specific consumption patterns. To analyse the coherences between cultural values and the consumer behaviour of a cultural circle, 40 female wine consumers, comprised of 20 German and 20 Ukrainian women, were interviewed on the basis of Means-End-Chain-Theory using laddering-interviews. The initial findings of this qualitative survey will be presented in this poster.


Fire produces changes in vegetation, soil, fauna, and water quality, and it can even modify atmospheric chemical composition. Changes in soil fertility, microorganisms and vegetation were evaluated after a fire in two municipalities in the State of Hidalgo, Mexico. Inside and outside the burned area, four 100 m2 plots were established. In each of the eight plots, soil samples were collected at two depths (0–5 and 5–20 cm) in the following areas: non-burned area (NBA); 15 days after fire (15DAF); and 12 and 24 months after the fire (MAF). Vegetation quantification was carried out at 30, 180 and 540 DAF. The results at 15DAF showed an increase of alkaline and metallic elements as well as pH in the surface layer, and this trend remained the same to 12MAF. There was greater Fe, Mn and Zn content in Zacualtipan and greater K, Ca, Mg and P in Singuilucan. At 24MAF, due to the nutrient requirements of the herbaceous and scrub growth, this effect was reverted. The fire reduced the organic matter (OM) and total nitrogen (TN) contents, without any recovery during the evaluated period. Bacteria showed greater mortality because of the fire: 76% and 50% at the Zacualtipan and Singuilucan sites, respectively. The canopy opening promoted a 50% increase of species in Zacualtipan. In conclusion, the fire temporarily increased soil fertility and the presence of herbaceous vegetation, but it reduced the bacteria and fungi populations.


The more we know about the catastrophic implications of climate change, the more fossil fuels are burnt in the world. How did we get caught up in this mess? This thesis returns to a crucial moment in the emergence of the fossil economy: the rise of steam-power. With the adoption of the steam-engine, fossil energy was first coupled to a process of self-sustaining growth, the new prime mover using coal to impel machines for commodity production. It happened in Britain; the cotton industry led the way. Before steam, up to the second quarter of the nineteenth century, British cotton manufacturers used water as their source of mechanical energy – so why did they shift from the one to the other? By examining the causes of the original transition from water to steam, we might come closer to an understanding of the mechanisms igniting – and perhaps still fuelling – the process now known as 'business-as-usual'. In line with Ricardian and Malthusian thought, is often argued that the turn to coal in the Industrial Revolution was motivated by a scarcity of energy. But a wide range of primary sources from the time suggest that the critical step from water to steam occurred in spite of water being an abundant and consistently cheaper alternative. Massive water reservoir schemes, by which the resources of Britain's rivers would be more fully and efficiently exploited, were floated in the years of the transition, but the cotton manufacturers failed to unite behind their architects: they could not stand the co-operation and collective planning required to benefit from the flow. Steam-power, on the other hand, offered a unique freedom to locate factories where production would be most profitable – above all, among dense supplies of labour-power. The flow of water was integrated in the landscape and could only be used on the spot, but the stock of coal was brought up from the underground and then circulated on the market, allowing manufacturers to congregate in the growing towns. Currents of water were subject to fluctuations in the weather. Up to the 1830s, proprietors of water-mills possessed a simple method for evening out such irregularities: when the current returned in full force, the operatives would work overtime until losses were regained. Restrictions on working-hours put an end to such practices. Meanwhile, steam-engines stood ready to revolve at any time of the day and could be speeded up at will: advantages highly cherished by manufacturers when the labour movement cut the working-day to ten hours. The steam-engine is the emblematic productive force of industrial capitalism, perceived by one brand of classical Marxism as the progenitor of capital. Others claim that it sprang from the ancient human ability to manipulate fire, triggering the geological epoch of our species, called 'the Anthropocene'. Against such theories, this thesis argues that certain relations of power and property called forth steam-power and gave birth to the fossil economy. Accumulation of capital through anarchic competition, in abstract space and abstract time, could not proceed on the basis of a flow of energy beyond the years 1825-1848, when British capitalism suffered its first structural crisis. Only a stock of fossil fuels could sustain the spiral, because it was buried at a remove from the landscape and the weather, amenable to concentration and acceleration, disembedded and divisible. Steam was thus a source of power in the dual sense of the term, advanced as such by its proprietors and fiercely resisted by the British working-class for over half a century. Are there any lessons to draw from that history? The thesis ends with some reflections on the obstacles for breaking out of the fossil economy today. (Less)


In this work, we study the one-dimensional stabilized Kuramoto Sivashinsky equation with additive uncorrelated stochastic noise. The Eckhaus stable band of the deterministic equation collapses to a narrow region near the center of the band. This is consistent with the behavior of the phase diffusion constants of these states. Some connections to the phenomenon of state selection in driven out of equilibrium systems are made.


The effect of TiO2 phase structure on the dispersion of Ru nanoparticles was investigated in this study. Rutile-type TiO2 (r-TiO2) appears to be a superior support to prohibit the aggregation of RuO2 during calcination in air. Compared with anatase-type TiO2 (a-TiO2) supported Ru nanoparticles (4.0 +/- 2.4 nm), r-TiO2 supported ones exhibited a narrower particle size distribution (1.1 +/- 0.2 nm). This unique property was attributed to a strong interaction between RuO2 and r-TiO2 in terms of the formation of the Ru-O-Ti bond, which was confirmed by X-ray absorption measurements and H2-TPR experiments. This strong interaction not only promotes to a great extent the highly efficient dispersion of Ru nanoparticles, but also prevents their aggregation. As a result, the Ru/r-TiO2 catalysts displayed a much higher activity and thermal stability than the Ru/a-TiO2 in the reaction of CO2 methanation.


The digital divide and/in e-government: a catch-22? The supply side shows an increasing emphasis on the electronic channel. Nevertheless, the digital divide still exists and imposes a constraint on the demand side. This article examines how public organizations can develop and expand their electronic service delivery without further deepening the digital divide. Based on case studies conducted in Flemish and Dutch public organizations, we show that a multichannel management can add up to a service delivery which favors all citizens, including the target groups of the digital divide. A multichannel strategy allows for a service delivery with added value, therefore having an intrinsic incentive to benefit all citizenry and striving for a high take-up of electronic services. Multichannel management can realize a public service delivery that is transparent, cost efficient, user-centered and effective.


Magnetic surveying is a widely used and cost-efficient remote sensing method for the detection of subsurface structures at all scales. Traditionally, magnetic surveying has been conducted as ground or airborne surveys, which are cheap and provide large-scale consistent data coverage, respectively. However, ground surveys are often incomplete and slow, whereas airborne surveys suffer from being inflexible, expensive and characterized by a reduced signal-to-noise ratio, due to increased sensor-to-source distance. With the rise of reliable and affordable survey-grade Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), and the developments of light-weight magnetometers, the shortcomings of traditional magnetic surveying systems may be bypassed by a carefully designed UAV-borne magnetometer system. Here, we present a study on the development and testing of a light-weight scalar field UAV-integrated magnetometer bird system (the CMAGTRES-S100). The idea behind the CMAGTRES-S100 is the need for a high-speed and flexible system that is easily transported in the field without a car, deployable in most terrain and weather conditions, and provides high-quality scalar data in an operationally efficient manner and at ranges comparable to sub-regional scale helicopter-borne magnetic surveys. We discuss various steps in the development, including (i) choice of sensor based on sensor specifications and sensor stability tests, (ii) design considerations of the bird, (iii) operational efficiency and flexibility and (iv) output data quality. The current CMAGTRES-S100 system weighs ∼5.9 kg (including the UAV) and has an optimal surveying speed of 50 km/h. The system was tested along a complex coastal setting in Brittany, France, targeting mafic dykes and fault contacts with magnetite infill and magnetite nuggets (skarns). A 2.0 × 0.3 km area was mapped with a 10 m line-spacing by four sub-surveys (due to regulatory restrictions). The sub-surveys were completed in 3.5 h, including >2 h for remobilisation and the safety clearance of the area. A noise-level of ±0.02 nT was obtained and several of the key geological structures were mapped by the system.


Geochemical fingerprinting is the use of chemical species to determine the source and alteration of natural waters that comprise various bodies of water. These chemical fingerprints are defined as specific patterns of chemical species unique to each body of water. This research examines the presence of which chemical species are most prevalent in lakes that are located on two distinct physiographic regions of Tennessee: the Highland Rim and the Cumberland Plateau, by analysis of samples via ICP-MS. Lakes from these regions of Tennessee were chosen due to differences in local geology and land use patterns that each respective lake have been subjected to since their inception. Grab samples were obtained from various areas of each lake in order to obtain a true identity of each respective reservoir. Different ratios of chemical species were then determined so that a comparative analysis could occur between each body of water. An analysis of the deionized water used in the dilutions, performed prior to analysis via ICP-MS, was also performed to confirm that differences in chemical species are present due to the differences in land use and geology that each lake is subjected to. These ratios of chemical species should indicate how local geology and land use patterns affect the chemical identity of natural waters within Middle Tennessee.


This paper reports on research designed to test the hypothesis that differences in peat composition will cause differences in amounts of N and P retained during contact with liquid swine manure (LSM) and liquid poultry manure (LPM). Peat types representing a wide range of properties were tested in order to establish which chemical and physical properties might be most indicative of their capacities to retain N and P from LSM and LPM. Eight-percent slurries (peat/LSM and peat/LPM) were measured for total nitrogen (TKN) and total phosphorous (TP) after 6, 24 and 96 hours. Tests were done to determine the TKN and TP contents of these peats, the LSM, and the LPM, both before and after they were mixed together. The N and P retention results revealed that most peats worked reasonably well at retaining N and P from either LSM or LPM. However, some peats were more effective than others. These peats also decreased the N and P levels in the liquid portion of the LSM. Peats with higher N retention capacities tended to have lower ash contents, but higher macroporosities and total cellulose contents. Peats with higher P retention capacities tended to have lower bulk densities, ash contents, total guaiacyl lignins contents, fulvic acids contents, but higher microporosities, macroporosities, H contents, and total cellulose contents. Peats with higher N and P retention capacities also had humic acid contents between 5–7%. The results of this study suggest that if these peats are used to reduce odors and N and P contamination, possible byproducts could be the production of odorless fertilizers.


The paper presents an overview of the present perception of bio-food labeling by consumers in Slovakia. Analyses were realized by the questionnaire survey organized in the period December 2009 to January 2010. In the survey, 388 respondents were interviewed. From the methodological aspect, basic approaches of descriptive statistics have been used, as well as methods of association measurement. The test of robustness tested Chi-Square statistic. The robustness have been judged based on the p-values. Correlations have been tested through the Contingency coefficient and Cramer´s V coefficient. The survey showed that dependency knowledge of logos was confirmed in terms of knowledge of bio-food, education, type of employment, study at FBP faculty and in terms of choice of organic foods by manufacturers. Students of FBP  knows more bio-food logos than other respondents. The second highest dependency was confirmed within selection of bio-food produced individual manufacturers.doi:10.5219/107


Objective To examine the extent to which the family influences individual use of general practitioner care. Design Retrospective cohort study of all consultations in one calendar year. Multilevel modelling was used to analyse contact frequencies of individuals within families within practices. Setting General practice in the Netherlands. Participants 42 262 families with children aged 2-21 years registered in 96 practices. Main outcome measures Family influence on individual frequency of contact with general practice and correlation in frequency of contacts between parents and children. Results After correction for patients' age and sex, analysis of siblings indicates that 22% of the variance in frequencies of contact can be ascribed to influence of the family. This means that contact frequencies of family members within families resemble each other, whereas differences in contact frequencies exist between families. Almost 6% of the variance refers to differences between practices and 73% of the variance refers to individual differences. The strongest correlations were found between mothers and children and between children. Conclusions The shared behaviour of


Bullying is a common occurrence in the United States that is experienced by the adolescent population. Bullying and suicidal behaviors are closely linked, and healthcare providers have a responsibility to be involved in the screening and management of bullying and suicidal behavior (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). Screening for bullying starting at six years of age is a recommendation by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The purpose of this research paper was to improve healthcare providers' screening of bullying and to improve the healthcare provider's ability to identify adolescents who are being bullied. The outcome of this project was to evaluate healthcare providers practices and perceptions on screening for bullying. In addition, the project was designed to determine if frequent screenings for bullying compared to annual screenings for bullying would assist providers in identifying adolescents who are being bullied or identifying bullies. The most significant finding of the study was that 100% of participants in the study agreed that bullying was an issue the adolescent populations faced. While the study had limitation with the sample size, the results indicate a need for further research on screening for bullying in the adolescent population. The findings of the study should be used to determine further research on how best practice guidelines for healthcare providers can lead to frequent screening for bullying in the adolescent population and to provide educational materials to assist providers in screening at-risk adolescents.


How does the Supreme Court actually decide difficult questions of constitutional law? Standard accounts point to a range of interpretive approaches such as originalism, common law constitutionalism, political process theory, interest-balancing, and constitutional pluralism. And once the list of commonly used interpretive approaches is set, normative debates often follow over which is best.

In this Article, I argue that another theory belongs on the list. In a surprising number of cases spanning a range of doctrinal areas such as Congress's Article I power, equal protection, substantive due process, presidential immunity, and the dormant commerce clause, the Court has decided hard constitutional questions using a kind of argument that has evaded scholarly attention thus far. Rather than relying on original meaning, precedent, or other common tools for discerning the Constitution's proper application, the Court has decided these cases on the basis of a raw, second-order consideration: which group, if the Court rules against it, would be better able to avoid the harm it would suffer? And in each case, the Supreme Court has consciously ruled against the best harm-avoider, trusting in that group's superior ability to protect its interests outside the courts. I call this approach "harm-avoider constitutionalism."

This Article uncovers harm-avoider constitutionalism as a distinct — and powerful — theory by which the Supreme Court decides hard cases. To be sure, the theory does not help in every case. But where it does, harm-avoider constitutionalism furthers significant virtues. It curbs judicial partisanship. It bolsters the Court's legitimacy by ensuring that losing groups have more effective responses to their defeats than attacking the Court. It encourages litigants to identify solutions rather than belittle their opponents. And it enables the Court to pursue an important, yet under-looked objective in hard cases: to do the least harm possible.


Cervical screening is effective in mitigating the morbidity and mortality of cervical cancer. However, the uptake of cervical screening is still unsatisfactory in many countries. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge and perception of rural Nigerian women about cervical cancer and screening. The study also investigated the predictors of cervical screening. A survey with interviewer administered questionnaires was conducted on 800 Nigerian women recruited from households in Ogun State by a multi-staged sampling method. Participants were aged 25 to 64 years. Proportion of respondents with very poor knowledge and poor perception about cervical cancer were 93.9 and 94%, respectively. Hence, it is not surprising that the uptake of cervical screening is abysmally low (3.9%). Age, knowledge and perception about cervical cancer were related to uptake of cervical screening; however, only perception about cervical cancer was found to predict the uptake of cervical screening. There is a need for deliberate multi strategy program to enhance cervical screening. The strategy must include creation of awareness, health promotion and education about cervical cancer and screening. The strategies should target improving the perception of women about cervical cancer and screening.


textabstractA significant portion of the computer files that carry documents, multimedia, programs etc. on the Web are identical or very
similar to other files on the Web. How do search engines cope with this? Do they perform some kind of "deduplication"?
How should users take into account that web search results are influenced by "deduplication"? We have investigated this
deduplication function of the Google Web search engine. The focus on Google Web Search is motivated by the high
popularity of this Web search engine. We developed a well-controlled experimental environment, with very similar test
documents on various Web server computers in two countries and with automated scripts on a client computer. We report here
the results of this investigation. We found that users may miss documents due to deduplication, and that it is not
straightforward to cope with this due to complications as follows. We observed various types of deduplication and in the
query result sets we noted changes/fluctuations over time. Part of these changes over time occurred only once in a series of
measurements, while others were continuous, persistent, and thus more significant. This work is also motivated by the
following: Variations in the contents of documents can be considered as small in deduplicating computer systems, which
leads to hidden documents, while the same small variations can create quite different meanings for a human user and reader.
This is probably the first investigation of deduplication in Web search from the user's point of view


A displacement-based, novel curved beam element is proposed for efficient and reliable analysis of frames composed of curved members. The accuracy of the proposed element is not controlled by the subtended angle of the element with the angle up to π. In contrast to the conventional method, the interpolation function for displacement is based on the infinitesimal straight beam sections extracted from the curved element. Consequently, the strain energy of the curved beam element can be integrated by the infinitesimal sections along the element length. The relationship between the displacements and the corresponding strains in the straight beam is simpler than that in the curvilinear co-ordinate description widely adopted by many researchers in their element derivations. This technique is formulated to avoid couplings between the tangential and radial displacement variables in the strain field and its successful utilization is also demonstrated herein. Furthermore, the relation between displacements and strains of the infinitesimal straight beam section is equivalent to that of the curved beam in the curvilinear co-ordinate description. Finally, the analysis results of several bench marked examples by the proposed curved beam element are presented. The results show the high accuracy and efficiency of the proposed element against the classical curved beam element.


Zingiber cassumunar Roxb. is one of the most widely cultivated species of Zingiberaceae family and commonly known as 'plai' in Thailand and 'bonglai' in Malaysia. cis-3-(3',4'-Dimethoxyphenyl)-4-[(E)-3''',4'''-dimethoxystyryl]cyclohex-1-ene (ZC-B11) is a phenylbutenoid dimer isolated from the rhizomes of Z.cassumunar. The objective of this study is to investigate the antiproliferative activities of this compound on human T-lymphoblastic cell line, CEMss and the mechanism by which apoptosis is triggered. In vitro cytotoxic effect of ZC-B11 was determined using MTT assay in several human cancer cell lines including leukemia (CEMss). ZC-B11 showed selectivity towards CEMss with an IC50 value of 7.11 ± 0.24 μg/ml. The antiproliferative activity of ZC-B11 was also tested against nontumorigenic human blood mononuclear cells and ZC-B11 does not show cell growth inhibition of human blood mononuclear cells (IC50 > 50 μg/ml).
Various microscopy techniques used in this study showed distinctive morphological changes corresponding to typical apoptosis. Cell cycle analysis revealed significant
(p < 0.05) S phase arrest in a time-depended manner whilst DNA fragmentation of ZC-B11 treated CEMss cells was detected using 1.2% agarose gel. Decrement of
mitochondrial membrane potential was also observed in treated CEMss cells in timedepended manner using the Rh123 staining. To evaluate further the mechanisms of apoptosis induction by ZC-B11 towards CEMss cells, screening of several proteins implicated to apoptosis induction were done using the human apoptosis proteome profiler array, in which, proteins such as Bax, caspase 3, cytochrome c and SMAC showed significant increase (p < 0.05) compared to untreated control cells, whilst proteins such as Bcl-2, HSP70 and XIAP decreased significantly. On the other hand,
caspase 8, p53 and BID remain unaffected (p > 0.05). Caspase bioluminescent assay and Western blot analysis were done to further confirm these results. Collectively,
results presented in this study demonstrate that ZC-B11 isolated from the rhizome of Z. cassumunar inhibited the proliferation of CEMss selectively, leading to the
programmed cell death via mitochondrial signaling pathway and has the potential to be developed as an antileukemic and chemotherapy agent.


The presence of quantum correlations in a quantum state is related to the state's response to local unitary perturbations. Such a response is quantified by the distance between the unperturbed and perturbed states, minimized with respect to suitably identified sets of local unitary operations. In order to be a bona fide measure of quantum correlations, the distance function must be chosen among those that are contractive under completely positive and trace preserving (CPTP) maps. The most relevant instances of such physically well-behaved metrics include the trace, the Bures, and the Hellinger distance. To each of these metrics one can associate the corresponding discord of response, namely the trace, or Hellinger, or Bures minimum distance from the set of unitarily perturbed states. All these three discords of response satisfy the basic axioms for a proper measure of quantum correlations. In the present work we focus in particular on the Bures distance, which enjoys the unique property of being both Riemannian and contractive under CPTP maps, and admits important operational interpretations in terms of state distinguishability. We compute analytically the Bures discord of response for two-qubit states with maximally mixed marginals and we compare it with the corresponding Bures geometric discord, namely the geometric measure of quantum correlations defined as the Bures distance from the set of classical-quantum states. Finally, we investigate and identify the maximally quantum correlated two-qubit states according to the Bures discord of response. These states exhibit a remarkable nonlinear dependence on the global state purity.


Spring mineral water might have the properties favourable to health, which should be assessed by clinical and pharmacological analyses. Efforts have recently been made to approach the study of the validity of spring mineral water curative therapies by advanced biochemical research on both animal models and humans. Owing to the paramount interest and the growing recent use of drinking mineral waters, a need for a rigorous scientific approach arises. The therapeutic action of drinking mineral waters has been demonstrated to have important biochemical implications. However, some adverse events during health resorts cure must be considered and investigated. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art on the biochemical studies related to the effects of drinking mineral water. In the light of the review of the literature on the matter, we conclude that further studies are necessary to avoid any possible implication for public health connected with mineral water misuse.


Ali A. Saeed College of Agriculture University of Al-Qassim AL khadhra' Abstract An in vitro experiment is conducted to study the effect of adding urea (0, 1.5 and 3% on dry matter, DM basis) and period of ensiling (15, 30, 45 and 60 days) on the quality and chemical composition of wheat straw (WS) silages. All samples are treated with 10% of molasses. Results have shown that the addition of urea at the lower rate alters the color of silages from yellow to greenish yellow with the appearance of fermented fruit odor in samples ensiled for 60 days, but doubling urea level alters the color to dark yellow and brown as the ensiling period is proceeded with the appearance of ammonia odor. The estimated Fleig points decline due to increasing the level of urea, but the proceeding of ensiling period increases these points. pH of silages are increased (P<0.01) due to urea treatment but it decreases (P<0.01) due to proceeding of ensiling period. Regarding the compositional changes, results have shown that the addition of urea decreases (P<0.01) crude fiber (CF) and nitrogen free extract (NFE) contents, but it increases (P<0.01) crude protein (CP) content. Proceeding ensiling period decreases (P<0.01) CF and increases CP (P<0.05) and NFE (P<0.01). Generally , better results are accomplished at the lower level of urea and 60 days of ensiling.


We numerically investigate the electromagnetic properties of tellurium dielectric resonator metamaterial at the infrared wavelengths. The transmission spectra, effective permittivity and permeability of the periodic tellurium metamaterial structure are investigated in detail. The linewidth of the structure in the direction of magnetic field Wx has effects on the position and strength of the electric resonance and magnetic resonance modes. With appropriately optimizing the geometric dimensions of the designed structure, the proposed tellurium metamaterial structure can provide electric resonance mode and high order magnetic resonance mode in the same frequency band. This would be helpful to analyze and design low-loss negative refraction index metamaterials at the infrared wavelengths.


Tumor initiating cells (TICs), responsible for tumor initiation, and cancer stem cells (CSCs), responsible for tumor expansion and propagation, are often resistant to chemotherapeutic agents. To find therapeutic targets against sarcoma initiating and propagating cells we used models of myxoid liposarcoma (MLS) and undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS) developed from human mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (hMSCs), which constitute the most likely cell-of-origin for sarcoma. We found that SP1-mediated transcription was among the most significantly altered signaling. To inhibit SP1 activity, we used EC-8042, a mithramycin (MTM) analog (mithralog) with enhanced anti-tumor activity and highly improved safety. EC-8042 inhibited the growth of TIC cultures, induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis and upregulated the adipogenic factor CEBPα. SP1 knockdown was able to mimic the anti-proliferative effects induced by EC-8042. Importantly, EC-8042 was not recognized as a substrate by several ABC efflux pumps involved in drug resistance, and, opposite to the chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin, repressed the expression of many genes responsible for the TIC/CSC phenotype, including SOX2, C-MYC, NOTCH1 and NFκB1. Accordingly, EC-8042, but not doxorubicin, efficiently reduced the survival of CSC-enriched tumorsphere sarcoma cultures. In vivo, EC-8042 induced a profound inhibition of tumor growth associated to a strong reduction of the mitotic index and the induction of adipogenic differentiation and senescence. Finally, EC-8042 reduced the ability of tumor cells to reinitiate tumor growth. These data suggest that EC-8042 could constitute an effective treatment against both TIC and CSC subpopulations in sarcoma.


The quality of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] seed at harvest is dependent on the field production environment during development, maturation, and storage on the plant. These investigations were conducted to evaluate the effects of field weathering after physiological maturity (maximum dry seed weight) on seed viability and vigor. Five production environments were compared for two cultivars ('Cutler 71' - 1973, 'Kent' and Cutler 71 - 1974 and 1975). Seed was hand-harvested at physiological maturity, harvest maturity (first time the seed dried to less than 14% moisture content), and at regular intervals for up to 3 months after harvest maturity. All seed were evaluated for viability (standard germination test) and vigor (accelerated-aging germination test). Physiological maturity occurred at a seed moisture content of approximately 55% for both cultivars. The time interval from physiological maturity to harvest maturity (desiccation period) ranged from 10 to 20 days and was closely related (R² = 0.88) to the mean open pan evaporation during the period. Seed viability and vigor were highest at physiological maturity and remained high (>80% germination) until harvest maturity for all but one production environment. Viability was maintained at these high levels for 1 to 2 months following harvest maturity for four of five production environments. However, seed vigor declined rapidly, reaching levels that were significantly (α = 0.05) less than those at harvest maturity within 4 to 39 days after harvest maturity. In four of the production environments, seed vigor reached a level of less than 50% germination within 1 month of harvest maturity. The time required for seed vigor to significantly decline following harvest maturity was closely related to mean air temperature (R² = 0.90), mean minimum relative humidity (R² = 0.94), and precipitation per day (R² = 0.75). The wide range in seed vigor observed shortly after harvest maturity emphasizes the importance of timely harvest of seed fields and evaluation of seed viability and vigor soon after harvest.


Greek political culture has been characterized by a tension between, on the one hand, modern institutions and the participant values these have instilled, and on the other hand, the traditional/parochial values of the past. This chapter aims to explain the ways in which the participant and parochial elements of Greek political culture have interacted with reference to four dimensions of political culture, including types of engagement, citizenship, and political equality, solidarity, and the politics of consensus, and finally social structures of co-operation. While the Greek political system proved surprisingly resilient during the post-dictatorship era, and Greece's membership of the European Union entailed a process of Europeanization, the 2008 eurozone crisis exposed its inherent tensions and systemic weaknesses, revealing its propensity for instability, extremism, and illiberalism. At the same time, however, the fragmentation of the party system and the entry of a few new political personnel have also facilitated the possibility for some reforms in the areas of human rights, minority policies, Church–State relations, and foreign policy. This suggests that political culture has also evolved, illustrating that, while as the literature argues, political cultures shape democratic institutions and to a great extent determine their stability, at the same time institutions also shape political cultures.


Bleeding from rupture of oesophageal varices is one of the most dreadful complications occurring in patients with cirrhosis.1 Therefore, many efforts have been made in pursuing new therapeutic strategies able to arrest variceal bleeding and prevent rebleeding. Over the last 20 years, these efforts allowed the reduction of the bleeding-related mortality of patients with cirrhosis from 40–50% to 15–20%.2 3 The result is good but still needs to be improved.

Mortality in patients with cirrhosis who bleed is closely related to failure either to control bleeding within the first 48 h or to prevent early rebleeding, which occurs within the first 5 days after the index bleeding episode has ceased.1 4 Most frequent causes of death are shock, terminal liver failure, renal failure, sepsis and multiorgan failure. In patients in whom the acute bleeding is arrested, the risk of developing one of these events is markedly increased by early rebleeding. For this reason, treatments which effectively prevent early rebleeding could also reduce in-hospital mortality.

The standard management of patients with cirrhosis with variceal haemorrhage includes adequate resuscitation, early administration of antibiotics to prevent bacterial infections, infusion of …


Epigenetics involves a series of mechanisms that entail histone and DNA covalent modifications and non-coding RNAs, and that collectively contribute to programing cell functions and differentiation. Epigenetic anomalies and DNA mutations are co-drivers of cellular dysfunctions, including carcinogenesis. Alterations of the epigenetic system occur in cancers whether the initial carcinogenic events are from genotoxic (GTxC) or non-genotoxic (NGTxC) carcinogens. NGTxC are not inherently DNA reactive, they do not have a unifying mode of action and as yet there are no regulatory test guidelines addressing mechanisms of NGTxC. To fil this gap, the Test Guideline Programme of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development is developing a framework for an integrated approach for the testing and assessment (IATA) of NGTxC and is considering assays that address key events of cancer hallmarks. Here, with the intent of better understanding the applicability of epigenetic assays in chemical carcinogenicity assessment, we focus on DNA methylation and histone modifications and review: (1) epigenetic mechanisms contributing to carcinogenesis, (2) epigenetic mechanisms altered following exposure to arsenic, nickel, or phenobarbital in order to identify common carcinogen-specific mechanisms, (3) characteristics of a series of epigenetic assay types, and (4) epigenetic assay validation needs in the context of chemical hazard assessment. As a key component of numerous NGTxC mechanisms of action, epigenetic assays included in IATA assay combinations can contribute to improved chemical carcinogen identification for the better protection of public health.


: 3 cases of endobronchial foreign body (EFB) in adult patients which main feature was a delay in diagnosis, are presented. The aspiratory accident was not well evaluated by the patients. There were several complications (hemoptysis, pneumonia, and empyema) during the interval from the aspiration to the extraction, these being the reasons for inducing diagnosis. The mechanism of aspiration and the treatment is discussed.


This paper considers the stable and quadratic finite-horizon optimal design problem of the linear state feedback controllers for the Takagi-Sugeno (TS) fuzzy-model-based control systems by integrating the stabilizability condition, the shifted-Chebyshev-series approach (SCSA), and the hybrid Taguchi-genetic algorithm (HTGA), where the stabilizability condition is proposed in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Based on the SCSA, an algorithm only involving the algebraic computation is derived in this paper for solving the TS-fuzzy-model-based feedback dynamic equations, and then is integrated with both the proposed sufficient LMI condition and the HTGA to design the stable and quadratic optimal linear state feedback controllers of the TS-fuzzy-model-based control systems under the criterion of minimizing a quadratic integral performance index, where the quadratic integral performance index is also converted into the algebraic form by using the SCSA. The presented new approach, which integrates the proposed LMI-based stabilizability condition, the SCSA and the HTGA, is non-differential, non-integral, straightforward, and well-adapted to computer implementation. The computational complexity may therefore be reduced remarkably. Thus, this proposed approach facilitates the design task of the stable and quadratic optimal linear state feedback controllers for the TS-fuzzy-model-based control systems. A design example of stable and quadratic optimal linear state feedback controller for the ball-and-beam system is given to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed new integrative approach


This project serves as a basis to investigate the performance of a PWM generator circuit. This is due to available PWM generation method cannot cover a wide operation frequency and wide duty cycle range. PWM signal had been used in various application including power system, communication and control systems. Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is a very efficient way of providing intermediate amounts of electrical power between fully on and fully off. A simple power switch with a typical power source provides full power only, when switched on. PWM is a comparatively-recent technique, made practical by modern electronic power switches. This project will focus on PWM generation in high frequency of 1 MHz. The aim of this work is to generate PWM signal at 1 MHz frequency with duty cycle ranging from 30 % to 70 %. During the process, various parameters like duty cycle, rise and fall time, and signal resolution is observed to determine the quality of PWM signal generated. From the findings, this work will determine the suitable conditions that can be implemented in suitable application using this PWM generation technique, intersective method.


It is my intention to muddy the waters of discussions of factionalism in the modern Mohawk Iroquois community of Kahnawake (Quebec) by dissecting a historic incident that stands at a crossroads of the history of factionalism in the community. The event concerns the arrival of the council government system in Kahnawake in 1889, which is construed by modern Kahnawake factions as resulting from a simple act of imposition of that system on the community by the Canadian state. This assumption of imposition, which is undermined somewhat by the extant records describing the incident and its aftermath, appears to be an important area of agreement between Mohawk (those characterized as traditional) and Mohawk (those deemed to have embraced the council system and thus moved away from tradition). That a single historical event, the 1889 imposition of council government, should be viewed so similarly and yet inform such apparently radically different political visions, hints at the complexity of history and the factionalist activity that it informs and encourages in Kahnawake. It also raises doubts about the oversimplification of Kahnawake factionalism in terms of the event and perception of imposition itself and its putative dichotomization of Kahnawake politics between those Mohawks who accepted council government and their Mohawk brethren who rejected it. It also suggests that the so-called lessons of history may tell us less about the past than about how past events may be shaped to reinforce or challenge a particular view of the future. In this light, historical facts may contribute more to an understanding of modern politics than a traditional past.


CAPTCHA is an automated test that humans can pass, but current computer programs can't pass any program that has high success over a CAPTCHA can be used to solve an unsolved Artificial Intelligence (AI) problem. The most widely used CAPTCHAs rely on the sophisticated distortion of text images rendering them unrecognizable to the state of the art of pattern recognition techniques, and these text-based schemes have found widespread applications in commercial websites like free email service providers, social networking sites and online auction sites. The increase in bots breaking CAPTCHAs shows the ineffectiveness of the text-based CAPTCHAs that are used on most websites and Webmail services today. Bots can easily read the distorted letters and words using optical character recognition (OCR) or break the CAPTCHA using a dictionary attack. The weakness of each CAPTCHA scheme is summarized; accordingly we make an approach to build our CAPTCHA method. Considering the case study results and including other points which may pose difficulty for the OCR systems,we proposed a new technique to build a CAPTCHA which is multi-modal (Picture and Text based). An image is being rendered on the screen and many text labels drawn over it. A user has to identify the correct name of the underlying image among the set of text labels that are scattered over it, in order to pass a human verification test. We also proposed to use cursive text instead of plain text labels.


BACKGROUND
The etiopathogenesis of chronic inflammation at the gastric cardia is still debated. It is suggested that carditis may be a finding of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) or it may occur as a result of the gastritis caused by Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection.

AIM
To examine morphological features of carditis, as well as the associations of carditis with Helicobacter pylori gastritis and oesophagitis as a marker of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Endoscopic biopsy specimens obtained systematically from oesophagus, cardia, corpus and antrum of 135 dyspeptic patients were retrospectively evaluated. In biopsies, we have searched for any correlations between clinical, endoscopic, and histological features.

RESULTS
Carditis was detected in 123 (91.1%) of the cases. The mean age of the carditis group was 47.9 years and the male-to-female ratio was 1.08:1. The relation of carditis with age and sex was not significant (p = 0.19 and p = 0.24, respectively). All cases of the carditis group had concomitant chronic gastritis. In these cases, chronic inflammation, degree of neutrophil-mediated activity and H. pylori colonisation were significantly correlated in cardia, corpus and antrum (p < 0.001). Intestinal metaplasia was observed in 14 cases (11.3%) and, was associated with H. pylori colonisation (p < 0.001). Microscopic oesophagitis detected in 37.7% cases also showed correlation with reflux symptoms and endoscopic oesophagitis but not carditis. When all cases with carditis were evaluated for H. pylori infection and oesophagitis, which are presumed risk factors for carditis, H. pylori infection appeared to be an independent risk factor for carditis (p = 0.012), while oesophagitis did not.

CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests that carditis is commonly found in patients presenting with dyspepsia and the histological features of carditis were similar to those seen in H. pylori gastritis in antrum and corpus. In addition, our data have also shown that carditis was significantly associated with H. pylori infection but not with symptoms or signs of GORD.


Existence of longitudinal and circular arterio-arterial anastomoses are stated, as well as various ways of outflow from the veins of the organs studied; this demonstrates essential compensatory abilities of this bed in blood supply regulation and draining at inflow and outflow from the microcirculatory system bed. Different topography of the arterial sources, venous plexuses, capillary fields allows to suppose different histophysiology of the tracheal zones mentioned: the anterior (laryngotracheal), middle and posterior (bifurcational). For the tracheal microcirculatory bed, metamerically repeated microcirculatory areas are peculiar. Distribution of the bronchial arteries takes place up to the terminal bronchi. In the area of the latter, anastomoses of the bronchial vessels with the pulmonary artery are observed.


Purpose: Grades III and IV haemorrhoids have been preferentially treated with surgery for years. The decision to pursue surgical therapy for haemorrhoids is based on the severity of symptoms and the traditional classification of haemorrhoid prolapse. In this study, an alternative technique known as hand-sewn haemorrhoidopexy (HHP) was conducted using a modified anoscope. Methods: A total of 51 patients requiring surgical treatment for grades III and IV prolapsing haemorrhoids were treated by HHP. Hospital stay duration, costs, time of work-off, operative time, wound healing-time, complications and outcomes were recorded after the operation. Results: Shorter wound healing-time and lower complication rates were observed after the patients were subjected to HHP. These patients also exhibited better tolerance for the operation and incurred significantly lower costs than patients who were treated with other therapies. Conclusions: Hand-sewn haemorrhoidopexy using is a safe, effective and painless surgical procedure to treat patients with grades III and IV or mixed haemorrhoids.


Abstract: Banking competition may enhance or hinder the financing of small and medium enterprises. Using a survey on the financing of such enterprises in China, combined with detailed bank branch information, we investigate how concentration in local banking market affects the availability of credit. We find that lower market concentration alleviates financing constraints. The widespread presence of joint-stock banks has a larger effect on alleviating these constraints, than the presence of city commercial banks, while the presence of state-owned banks has a smaller effect. (83 words)