The polypeptide cytokine interleukin-1 (IL-1) affects nearly every tissue and organ system. IL-1 is the prototype of the pro-inflammatory cytokines in that it induces the expression of a variety of genes and synthesis of several proteins which, in turn, induce acute and chronic inflammatory changes. Most studies on the biology of IL-1 have been carried out in animals, but human subjects have recently been injected with recombinant IL-1 and the results confirm IL-1 as being a mediator of disease as well as host defense. However, overproduction of IL-1 leads to debilitation of normal host functions; therefore, reduction of IL-1 synthesis or blockade of IL-1 activity becomes a target of therapy in many diseases. Agents for reducing the synthesis or antagonizing the effects of IL-1 have been sought, but the naturally occurring IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) has opened new experimental and clinical approaches. The ability of IL-1Ra to block IL-1 receptors without agonist activities has reduced the severity of diseases such as septic shock, lethal sepsis, inflammatory bowel disease, experimental arthritis, and the spontaneous proliferation of human leukemic cells.


This paper investigates the relationship of emotion regulation with gender, parenting style and academic performance among three and four- year- old preschoolers. It also looked at the coping strategies that children use in frustrating situations. Results show that emotion regulation affects a child's cognitive and socio-emotional development.


In order to explore the features of discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS in rural areas, a community-based intervention was carried out in two pilot communities of X County of Shanxi Province from September 2002 to October 2003. Methods Data were collected using qualitative methods (in-depth interview and focus group discussion) and anonymously structured questionnaires. Results (1) Severe discrimination against people infected with HIV/AIDS was revealed in the target communities. However, the response to HIV/AIDS was different in each community. (2) People were reluctant to disclose their HIV status or get tested for HIV, which endangered their sexual partners to contract HIV through unprotected sexual intercourses. (3) Attitudes towards people infected with HIV/AIDS varied. (4) Public education promoted a better understanding of HIV/AIDS which in turn improved community attitudes and behaviors towards people with HIV/AIDS. Conclusion HIV/AIDS-related discrimination undermines both individuals' and communities' responses to HIV/AIDS and may be a serious obstacle towards effective HIV/AIDS prevention and control.


Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the outcome of gastrocystoplasty and the effects of selective antral vagotomy (SAV) on the postprandial gastrin secretion from the antrum as well as on the acid secretion from the augmented bladder. Materials and Methods: In this study on 12 male pigs, we applied subtotal cystectomy plus gastric augmentation plus SAV to the study group and the same procedure without SAV to the control group. The animals were followed up for 3 months with respect to feeding, weight, and urine output. The urine pH levels and the gastrin levels of the pigs in the two groups were then followed up and compared. Results: The use of gastric segments in bladder reconstruction was found to be appropriate in terms of both gastric function and urinary system function. Nevertheless, regarding the effect of SAV, the differences between either the urinary pH levels or the gastrin levels of the pigs in the two groups were statistically significant. Conclusions: Although gastric segments in the bladder reconstruction were found to be appropriate in terms of both gastric function and urinary system function, SAV did not prevent postprandial gastrin secretion and the resulting increase of the urine acidity.


The relationship between animal rights organizations and the scientific community is often framed in adversarial terms. But over the past few years, organizations such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have sought a place in the scientific dialogue, by promoting the scientific merits of devising alternatives to animal testing. With both the U.S. and Europe modernizing chemical testing legislation, the field of toxicology is especially ripe for new techniques. Amy Clippinger, associate director of the PETA International Science Consortium, serves as president of the In Vitro & Alternative Methods Specialty Section of the Society of Toxicology (SOT)—the first PETA staff member to hold an executive position in the society. Alla Katsnelson talked to Clippinger about the changing landscape of acceptance for non-animal testing.


In January 2001, the Supreme Court decided Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, holding that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could not exercise jurisdiction over ponds at an abandoned gravel pit pursuant to its Migratory Bird Rule, an interpretive gloss on its regulatory interpretation of waters of the United States for purposes of section 404 of the Clean Water Act. For the first time in the Act's 30-year history, moreover, the Court gave substantive weight to the Act's inclusion of states as regulatory partners, refusing to accord the Army Corps Chevron deference on grounds that the Army Corps' interpretation of the Act pushed the Act to its constitutional limits, on both federalism and Commerce Clause grounds. This article argues that by emphasizing one sentence from the Clean Water Act's general purposes section, the Court displaced Congress' complex compromise between state and federal regulatory authority - a compromise that incorporates the variety of accepted state and federal interests in this country. If the Court had looked at the broader context of the Clean Water Act instead of just section 404, it would have noticed that Congress used the term navigable waters to recognize and preserve state authority over certain types of waters, rather than to undermine that authority in favor of federal regulation.


The possibility of noncompetitive behavior resulting from multimarket contact (i.e., mutual forbearance) has always been a source of concern among industrial organization economists and policy makers. The increasing global presence of multinational corporations has added a new dimension to the analysis of multimarket competition. Their growing influence on the world economy poses new questions about the effects of multinational competition on domestic welfare and the international competitiveness of domestic industries. Recent developments in the interface between industrial organization and international trade theories provide new research opportunities and may shed some light on the economic consequences of multinational competition and its policy implications. This paper outlines some of the major issues in the study of multinational competition and surveys recent theoretical and empirical studies of multinational and multimarket competition. It attempts to develop a conceptual framework whereby the nature of multinational competition in the food manufacturing sector can be analyzed. It is intended as a road map for on-going research.


As the use of ontologies expands, their visualization is becoming increasingly important. In this study, an ontology browser for visualizing the Trajectory Simulation ONTology (TSONT) was evaluated in terms of usability by considering its subdimensions, which are effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction. The methodology employed in this study for evaluating an ontology browser is reported along with the results of the evaluation. The TSONT browser is a tree-type ontology browser created to allow developers to visualize TSONT. Six ight simulation programmers with at least one year of experience participated in the study. The participants were given usability tasks and their voices and eye movements were recorded using a sound recorder and eye-tracker, respectively. The results not only showed that guidance and terminology in uence the efficiency, effectiveness, and user satisfaction of the ontology browser, but they also revealed important insights into the requisites of the general usability of ontologies, even in simple text-based interfaces.


Background: This study has aimed to evaluate the level of knowledge about the first aid process among the university students in Jordan. Methods: The study population consisted of students of the 14 scientific and unscientific faculties at Yarmouk University, Jordan. Data were obtained via questionnaires from 883 students. Results: The majority of participants were females (65.9%) with mean age (standard deviation) of 19.9 (2.6) years. Only 29.2% of students had previous first aid experience. When asked, only 11% of students knew the normal respiration rate of an adult in 1 min. Results revealed that female students, having previous first aid experience, and being a student of the health sciences and scientific colleges were the only factors had significant statistical associations with better level of first aid knowledge. Conclusions: The students' knowledge about first aid is not at an adequate level. It would be advisable that first aid course be handled as a separate and practical course at secondary school level.


OBJECTIVES
Contemporary dental radiology offers a wide spectrum of imaging methods but it also contributes to an increase in the participation of dental radiological diagnosis in the patient's exposure to ionizing radiation. The aim of this study is to determine the absorbed doses of the brain, spinal column, thyroid and eye lens for patients during panoramic radiography, cephalometric radiography and cone beam computed tomography (CBCT).

MATERIAL AND METHODS
The thermoluminescent dosimetry and anthropomorphic phantom was used for measuring the doses. The 15 panoramic, 4 cephalometric and 4 CBCT exposures were performed by placing high-sensitivity thermoluminescent detectors (TLD) in 18 anatomical points of the phantom.

RESULTS
The maximum absorbed dose recorded during performed measurements corresponds to the point representing the brainstem and it is 10 mGy. The dose value recorded by the TLD placed in the thyroid during CBCT imaging in relation to the panoramic radiography differs by a factor of 13.5.

CONCLUSIONS
Cone beam computed tomography, in comparison with panoramic or cephalometric imaging technique, provides higher radiation doses to the patients. Int J Occup Med Environ Health 2017;30(5):705-713.


A mobile robot with autonomous recognition and automatic clearing small advertisements on the ground is presented. It's the service-oriented robot for cleaning of small advertisements. The robot body is designed according to the design requirements of clearing and the control strategies for tracing and recognition small advertisements are proposed. The key issue of the robot is the hardware design for moving clean assisted by vision system and corresponding recognition methods. The results show the feasibility of the hardware structure, circuit design and program algorithm.


Aim and Motivation: This paper investigates the income and socio-economic effects on institutional long-term care demand (LTC) in Finland from an economics perspective. If lessons are learned from major contributors of care needs and costs then preventative measures can be designed to answer these challenges. The motivation for this paper is that LTC costs are expected to increase in Finland by 50 percent per annum in the next 25 years due to the doubling of the 65 years old population (by 2039). Aging of populations and workforce is a European wide phenomenon. Definitions: LTC for old age people is by definition care for chronic sickness and disability in the last years of life. It can be either formal or informal care (or both) delivered to a homelike environment (home care) or given at an institution (institutional care).Methods: The economics of LTC care are reviewed based on existing literature. Next the econometric and institutional context is described. A longitudinal competing risks and multinomial logit model are estimated. The two competing risks are institutional entry or death outside institution. Data: Finnish Health2000 individual level survey data from year 2000 linked with a day-by-day care register follow-up till end of 2010. The sample consists of N=3245 over 50 year old age population.Results: It is found that higher household (OECD) and personal income reduce demand for institutional LTC care controlling for health, functional capacity and key living habits. The difference between extreme income quintiles (lowest vs. highest) is 1,3 percent for men and 0,6 percent for women. This result suggests that institutional care may include disutility from a consumer preferences point of view. The highest risks of institutional LTC care are found among small income, single living and cognitively disabled highly aged people (over 80, 90 years old). Neurological diseases and cancer are the biggest risk factors of institutional entry. For deaths outside institution the biggest risks are dementia and cancer. ADL problems and old age frailty contribute to both competing risks.Policy conclusions: There are significant socio-economic inequalities in institutional LTC care entry. Prevention of neurological and living habits diseases (smoking, weight disorders) has potential for cost savings in institutional care services.


As people's living pace becoming faster and faster in modern society, a lot of machines which can substitute human beings, such as washing machine, dishwasher, have appeared. These machines can greatly save people the necessary labor times. The automatic cleaning wall mechanism which is studied in this paper belongs to a category of cleaning machine. It aims to clean the body cavity wall of a square. The primary research includes the mechanical structure design, the electrical control system design, and modal analysis for this mechanism in order to avoid resonance phenomena occurred between motors and bodies. At last, via experimental running, this mechanism can move forward according to our predetermined trajectory.


Background Austin health is a 600 bed tertiary hospital with a wide range of acute and sub acute services, including a number of specialist services. Many patients have extremely complex medical and ethical issues that are often raised during the care of these people. In order to address such concerns a 'clinical ethicist', who is an experienced doctor has been employed. Aim To perform a retrospective audit of consecutive cases referred to the clinical ethicist. Results 104 patients, mean age 66 (range 19–102), 64% male were seen. ▶ Reason for referral - (≥1 reason per patient). ▶ Unrealistic patient/family (34%). ▶ Poor or unrealistic medical assessment of situation (53%). ▶ Patient/family in need of advance care planning (44%). ▶ Outcome of referral – treatment related (≥ 1 per patient). ▶ Patient died or discharged (63%). ▶ Decision to limit treatment (64%). ▶ Advance care planning occurred (45%). ▶ Treating doctors ignored recommendation of clinical ethicist (5%). ▶ Outcome of referral – people related (≥1 per patient). ▶ Staff Education (71%). ▶ Improved staff morale (31%). ▶ Support of medical decision making (41%). ▶ Patient/family support (42%). Patient deaths were, on average 70 days (range 1–619) from initial referral. Conclusion Establishment of the clinical ethicist role has provided support and education to staff and patients. Although not specifically set up to focus on end-of-life decision making and care, the majority of patients seen have died. This role also has an important link in referring patients/families for advance care planning.


The relationships among social rank, basal cortisol concentrations, and social behavior were assessed in adult female cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis). Subjects were 157 unrelated, reproductively intact animals housed in 30 small groups. Rank determinations were made monthly. Blood samples were collected on two occasions, 4.5 and 7.5 months following initial group formation. Regular behavioral observations were conducted on a subset of animals over a period of 4 weeks, 9 months following group formation. Analyses revealed that serum cortisol values were significantly correlated across the two sampling periods, with no significant change in absolute values. While social rank was positively correlated across both samples, there was no relationship between rank and cortisol. However, dominant and subordinate animals did differ in the rates of performance of aggressive and submissive behaviors. These data suggest that social rank does not influence baseline serum cortisol in adult female cynomolgus monkeys, despite stability in measures of rank and cortisol and the presence of the usual behavioral differences between dominants and subordinates.


Catalogs of historically devastating earthquakes (e.g., Dunbar et al., 1992) contain an entry for an earthquake in Calcutta in 1737 that is held responsible for the loss of 300,000 lives, thus rendering it one of the three most disastrous earthquakes in history. Yet, evidence for a severe earthquake is weak, consisting of anonymous reports conveyed to Europe 6 months later by merchant ships returning from Bengal. Official accounts of the disaster submitted to the East India Company headquarters in London list 3000 fatalities and omit mention of an earthquake. If the 11 October 1737 Calcutta earthquake is to remain on lists of catastrophic earthquakes, the following issues need to be resolved: the discrepancy between the 1737 urban population of Calcutta (<20,000) and the number of claimed fatalities, the difficulty in distinguishing between damage from shaking and hurricane force winds and flooding that occurred during the same night, and the contradiction between the number of nocturnal deaths and the apparent earthquake resistance of hatched roof dwellings typical of eighteenth century rural Bengal. It is possible that earthquake damage may have been minimal or nonexistent.


This study proposes a comprehensive experiment-based method to determine stress field and slip lines in metal cutting process. The chip geometry and workpiece's strain and strain rate fields are determined using an in situ imaging technique. The two-dimensional (2D) heat transfer problem for the steady-state cutting process is solved to derive the cutting temperature, and the flow stresses of work material in the main deformation zone are calculated based on the plasticity theory. Furthermore, the stress field is comprehensively determined to satisfy the stress equilibrium, friction law along the tool-chip interface, and traction-free boundary condition along the uncut chip surface. In addition, slip lines in the main deformation zone are derived according to the direction of maximum shear stress without the assumption of perfect rigid-plastic material. The proposed method is validated by comparing the cutting forces calculated based on the obtained stress field with the experimental results.


The near-surface layer of the earth often causes serious degradation of seismic reflection images due to the irregularity of its thickness and composition. The effects include loss of signal bandwidth as well as phase/timing mismatch of specific reflection events between seismic traces recorded at neighbouring shot or receiver surface stations. In earlier work we have introduced interferometric methods to remove these effects, and have shown that what we term the 'raypath domain' is an effective one in which to work. We have demonstrated the methods on both synthetic and real data, but have not described the details. In this work, we present specific processing flows from the ProMAX processing environment and describe in detail how to apply raypath interferometry to a 2D seismic line.


This paper examines some of the developments and trends that affected the fluctuating relationship between state and voluntary provision of adoption services in England during New Labour' sterms of office. Using examples drawn from the work of one voluntary adoption agency (VAA), the paper explores the tensions within this relationship and the increase in state regulation of childcare services. It pays particular attention to the impact of equalities legislation on faith-based adoption agencies and to role of the inter-agency fee. The paper concludes by considering recent interventions in this area by the Conservative-led coalition government and their implications for VAAs.


Instruments with single-molecule level detection capabilities can potentially benefit a wide variety of fields, including medical diagnostics. However, the size, cost, and complexity of such devices have prevented their widespread use outside sophisticated research laboratories. Fiber-only devices have recently been suggested as smaller and simpler alternatives, but thus far, they have lacked the resolution and sensitivity of a full-fledged system, and accurate alignment remains a critical requirement. Here we show that through-space reciprocal optical coupling between a fiber and a microscope objective, combined with wavelength division multiplexing in optical fibers, allows a drastic reduction of the size and complexity of such an instrument while retaining its resolution. We demonstrate a 4 × 4 × 18 cm(3) sized fluorescence correlation spectrometer, which requires no alignment, can analyze kinetics at the single-molecule level, and has an optical resolution similar to that of much larger microscope based devices. The sensitivity can also be similar in principle, though in practice it is limited by the large background fluorescence of the commonly available optical fibers. We propose this as a portable and field deployable single molecule device with practical diagnostic applications.


Background: Hair and scalp dermoscopy, known as trichoscopy, has recently been used frequently in order to both diagnose and distinguish in various hair and scalp disorders as well as melanocytic lesions. This non-invasive, modern and comfortable method enables us for evaluating hair shafts such as broken hairs, tapering hairs, short vellus hairs, comma hairs, corkscrew hairs, and congenital hair shaft abnormalities; follicular and interfollicular epidermal changes such as yellow dots, black dots, white dots, peripilar sign, follicular openings; and vascular structures such as red dots and globules, twisted red loops, glomerular vessels, arborizing vessels and atypical red vessels. While yellow dots are more important features for alopecia areata, hair diameter variability is very specific for androgenetic alopecia. Comma hairs and corkscrew hairs were reported in patients with tinea capitis. Red dots and globules and twisted red loops are frequently seen in patients with scalp psoriasis, but not seborrheic dermatitis. Thanks to these dermoscopic features, as we can increase our likelihood of correct diagnosis, we can reduce the number of unnecessary scalp biopsies. Furthermore, we can use dermoscopy to evaluate follow-up treatment in diseases such as pediculosis capitis and tinea capitis. Consequently, hair and scalp dermoscopy is very simple, useful and timesaving method that can be easily used in daily practice.


This article considers the need for 'new relational modes' as means to produce a durably less destructive global society. Three unorthodox 'listening practices' (all from the field of psychotherapy) are selected for consideration: two from (different versions of) psychoanalysis, and a verbal method called 'rooted talking' from Biodynamic Body Psychotherapy. The practices are compared and contrasted, their conflict on the topic of 'empathy' identified, and a strategic truce proposed. The article establishes that the three practices are allied in their eschewal of 'meaning' and 'understanding' and in their critiques of meaning-centred communication. These critiques are then linked to Leo Bersani's critique of identity (personal, national, gendered etc.) as intrinsically destructive. The author argues that a culture of communication practices centred exclusively on meaning is dangerous, since our inherited field of meaning defines us in hierarchical binaries (e.g. white/black, man/woman) that divide, oppose and so embattle us. The author proposes that frequent practice of speaking and listening modes not centred on meaning would keep us mindful of the arbitrariness of all categories, while providing us with pleasures beyond the identitarian. Propagation of such practices beyond the institution of psychotherapy, therefore – as modes of everyday intercourse – may be of significant social value.


In this collage, I reflect on my Radical Dharma community gatherings and examine how they are helping me to (re)imagine community and connection during pandemic times. Using the theoretical frameworks of Critical Race Theory (CRT) (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001) and Dis/ability Critical Race Studies (DisCrit) (Annamma, Connor, & Ferri, 2013), I explore through my artwork the following questions: How is COVID-19 changing the way I, as a disabled Latina mother-scholar, relate to others in person and over digital space? Is physical distancing creating more social isolation and separation? Or is it paradoxically making me more attune to the pain, needs, and wants of my fellow beings on this planet? How does this ultimately impact my scholarship? Through the use of meditation, journaling, and reflecting on our virtual meetings, I tried to express within the collage our coming to terms with change and grief within the context of the pandemic and the current Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests on police brutality. I argue that we are in the midst of creating a virtual fugitive space (Stovall, 2015), where we can (re)imagine what community can look like post-pandemic through embodied contemplative practice and collective care (Piepzna-Samarasinha, 2018). We are using computer-mediated technology (e.g., Zoom, Slack, Teamwork Projects) to not only work on community mending (Ortiz, 2018) for communities of color, but also their (and our) liberation.


BACKGROUND
The ELAC2 gene has been proposed to be a prostate cancer susceptibility gene and is being referred to as HPC2, in part because three case-control studies suggested that two common polymorphisms (Ser217Leu and Ala541Thr) are associated with risk. However, four subsequent larger studies have not confirmed this association. In five of the seven total studies, subject selection was influenced by prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels. We examined the association and possible effect of subject selection in a larger study and a meta-analysis.

METHODS
In a population-based study in Australia, 825 case patients and 732 control subjects were genotyped for the Ser217Leu and Ala541Thr polymorphisms of ELAC2. Odds ratios (ORs) for prostate cancer were estimated by unconditional logistic and polytomous regression. A meta-analysis was conducted combining our data with those from seven published studies. The association of genotype with the logarithm of plasma PSA levels in control subjects was analyzed by linear regression.

RESULTS
The ORs for prostate cancer were 0.74 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.50 to 1.09) for Leu217 homozygotes and 1.01 (95% CI = 0.68 to 1.50) for Thr541 heterozygotes and homozygotes compared with Ser217 and Ala541 homozygotes, respectively. ORs were not changed by excluding control subjects with elevated PSA levels. Among control subjects, there were no statistically significant associations between genotype frequencies and PSA level for either polymorphism (both P>.4). The meta-analysis gave pooled OR estimates of 1.04 (95% CI = 0.85 to 1.26) for Leu217 homozygotes and 1.18 (OR = 0.98 to 1.42) for Thr541 homozygotes and heterozygotes.

CONCLUSION
There is no evidence that either ELAC2 polymorphism is associated with prostate cancer or PSA level.


Abstract Based on economizing resources (e.g., time, energy), leaders tend to develop different quality dyadic relationships (i.e., LMX, leader-member exchange differentiation) with different team members, which has several divergent consequences for team effectiveness and team performance. While initial findings indicate that LMX differentiation divides the team, where the high-quality relationship group (in-group) benefits from receiving the resources of the leader while the lower-quality relationship group (out-group) suffers from the resource constraints, this study focuses on how LMX differentiation is related to personal initiative, helpfulness, and proactive meeting interaction depending on group membership. According to a sample of 50 videotaped innovation team meetings (273 members, 50 leaders), the multilevel results supported the moderating role of group membership on the relationship between LMX differentiation and proactive behavior—whereas this relationship is negative for the out-group (apart from personal initiative, which was non-significantly related to LMX differentiation for the out-group), in-groups' proactive behavior increases as LMX differentiation increases.


Edge computing promises lower latency interactions for clients operating at the edge by shifting computation away from Data Centers to Points of Presence which are more abundant and located geographically closer to end users. However, most commercially available infrastructure for edge computing focuses on applications without shared state. In this paper, we present the Red Wedding Problem, a real-world scenario motivating the need for stateful computations at the edge. We sketch the design and implementation of a prototype database for operation at the edge that addresses the issues presented in the Red Wedding Problem and present issues around implementing our solution on commercial edge infrastructure due to limitations in these offerings.


The emerging population of heart failure with improved ejection fraction, characterized in this issue of Circulation by Basuray et al1for 3 heart failure centers, testifies to the cumulative benefit of therapeutic advances during the past 30 years. The initial triage for referral to heart failure centers, many of which were launched with the approval of cyclosporine in 1984, was an assumed "less than six months to live," derived from the classic Stanford experience in which most waiting transplant candidates who did not receive transplantation were dead within 6 months.2 Although the prognosis was not uniformly grim, most patients referred to transplant centers were dead within 1 to 2 years on the limited medical therapy of that time.

Article see p 2380

The direct vasodilators hydralazine and nitrates were the first proven in a randomized trial to improve outcomes in any heart failure population.3 Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors then were shown to improve outcomes in patients with myocardial infarction,4 asymptomatic and symptomatic chronic heart failure,5 and acute decompensated heart failure in hospital.6 In comparison with the hydralazine/nitrate regimens, the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors offered superior survival benefit for New York Heart Association class I to II ambulatory patients, but outcomes were equivalent for class III.7 Benefit was subsequently shown in hospitalized class IV patients for captopril over hydralazine, when both were titrated to the same hemodynamic goals achieved on intravenous nitroprusside and diuretics, usually requiring the addition of oral nitrates to both.8 Increasing survival for the heart failure center referral population could soon be attributed to both the increasing use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and the diminished use of type I antiarrhythmic therapy,9 which was being replaced by amiodarone.

During this time, experience was growing with β-blocker therapy, first used in Sweden …


Background Cardiogenic shock (CS) remains a major challenge in contemporary cardiology. Data regarding CS etiologies and their prognosis are limited and mainly derived from tertiary referral centers. Aims To investigate the current etiologies of cardiogenic shock and their associated short- and long-term outcomes in a secondary center without surgical back-up. Methods We performed an observational prospective monocenter study. All patients admitted for a first episode of CS related to left ventricular dysfunction were enrolled. The definition of CS was consistent with the European Society of Cardiology guidelines. Patients were followed for 6 months. Etiologies were analyzed, and survival rates derived from Kaplan-Meier estimates were compared with the log-rank test. Results Between January 2015 and January 2016, 152 patients were included. The first most common cause of CS was acute decompensation of chronic heart failure (CHF). Acute coronary syndromes (ACS) were the second most common cause of CS (35.4%). At one month, the all-cause mortality rate was 39.5% and was similar between ACS and CHF (43% vs 35%, respectively; p=0.7). In a landmark analysis between 1 and 6 months, we observed a significantly higher mortality in patients with CHF than in patients with ACS (18% vs. 0%; p=0.01). Conclusions In the present registry, acute decompensation of chronic heart failure was the most common cause of CS, while ACS complicated by CS was the second most common cause. Of importance, acute decompensation of CHF was associated with a significantly worse outcome than ACS in the long term.


In the US, relatively little research has been done in recent years to inform the development and implementation of cumulative impact assessment (CIA) policy. Past studies have primarily focused on the requirements and practices of the National Environmental Policy Act, but little is known about the challenges and opportunities relating to CIA practices at the state level. By analysing data from a national survey of state environmental review programme administrators, this study identified the inability of state programmes to facilitate CIA practices as a major barrier to effective implementation, particularly reflected by the perceived lack of explicit procedures and data for conducting CIA. Important strategies for improvement included adopting detailed guidelines specifying what to include in an assessment and developing institutional mechanisms to encourage state agency co-ordination. Some differences in perception were observed across programmes due to the different types of state-level environmental review frameworks within which cumulative impacts are assessed. In addition, administrators from programmes without CIA requirements seemed to overestimate the cost and time needed to implement CIA. Changing their perception may contribute to the adoption of CIA procedures in these states.


This paper focuses on a study of Tesco Plc conducted in 2011, in which we trained a multicultural team of nine Asian managers to become in-house ethnographers of Tesco UK for a 3-month period studying 52 stores in the UK with dual objectives of helping Tesco (1) to understand and evaluate the core practices that comprised the essence of Tesco's home country advantage, and (2) to identify sources of learning from Tesco's foreign subsidiaries to aid in reinvigorating its core in light of increasing competition in its home market. We believe that the strategic and training dimensions of this project constitute a new contribution to the field of organisational ethnography, particularly with regard to the use of a multinational ethnographic team of non-native speakers of English.


With the High Resolution Spectrograph aboard the Hubble Space Telescope we obtained high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N ≳ 200-600 per 17 km s-1 resolution element) spectra of narrow absorption lines toward the Wolf-Rayet star HD 50896. The ring nebula S308 that surrounds this star is thought to be caused by a pressure-driven bubble bounded by circumstellar gas (most likely from a red supergiant or luminous blue variable progenitor) pushed aside by a strong stellar wind. Our observation has shown for the first time that blueshifted (≈ 70 km s-1 relative to the star) absorption components of C IV and N V arise in a conduction front between the hot interior of the bubble and the cold shell of swept-up material. These lines set limits on models of the conduction front. Nitrogen in the shell appears to be overabundant by a factor 10. The P Cygni profiles of N V and C IV are variable, possibly because of a suspected binary companion to HD 50896.


We study the electrical and magnetic interaction in a low conduction regime for laterally as-grown defective single-walled carbon nanotube channel as functions of bias and gate voltage, combined with direct current and magnetic phase image by current-atomic force microscopy and magnetic force microscopy. For the SWNT field effect transistor at very low bias direct imaging of the current flow on the 0.9 and 2 nm diameter single-walled nanotube(SWNT) devices revealed that locally conducting islands occur along the SWNT channel, and become an origin of electrical behavior in the stage of minimal conduction. In contrast, the homogenous magnetic interaction along the as-laterally-grown individual SWNT channel observed by magnetic force measurements suggest a hint that as-grown single SWNT channel may be a reliable candidate for use in magnetoelectronics, regardless of whether clean or defective SWNT.


Literature shows that many curriculum reforms in higher education institutions fail because curriculum change sponsors fail to identify and plan effectively and proactively to deal with barriers to curriculum change as well as to harness enablers. One such critical reason why curriculum change sponsors such as academic middle managers fail to adequately plan to effectively deal with challenges to curriculum change as well as to maximize on the opportunities provided by enablers to successful curriculum change has been shown in literature as lack of knowledge. The above claim is further supported in other researches which show that for the majority of curriculum users, their understanding of curriculum and curriculum change is still at neophyte stage. This study therefore, supported by literature, wishes to lay claim to the fact that there are as many enablers as there are challenges to successful curriculum change in higher education which academic middle managers (AMMs) can take note of when planning as well as implementing curriculum change. In laying the foundation for this claim, this study examines the various enablers and challenges to successful curriculum change in higher education.


The paper presents a clinical case of jejunal duplication, a rare anomaly of the gastrointestinal tract. It describes an algorithm for hospital diagnostic and therapeutic measures. The capacities of radiodiagnostic studies, such as ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging, applied to this clinical case, are analyzed. The paper is supplemented by a concise review of the literature. An update suggests that there are diagnostic difficulties in this anomaly, even when a complete set of radiation techniques is applied and trained specialists participate.


Abstract Existential rules are a positive fragment of first-order logic that generalizes function-free Horn rules by allowing existentially quantified variables in rule heads. This family of languages has recently attracted significant interest in the context of ontology-mediated query answering. Forward chaining, also known as the chase, is a fundamental tool for computing universal models of knowledge bases, which consist of existential rules and facts. Several chase variants have been defined, which differ on the way they handle redundancies. A set of existential rules is bounded if it ensures the existence of a bound on the depth of the chase, independently from any set of facts. Deciding if a set of rules is bounded is an undecidable problem for all chase variants. Nevertheless, when computing universal models, knowing that a set of rules is bounded for some chase variant does not help much in practice if the bound remains unknown or even very large. Hence, we investigate the decidability of the k-boundedness problem, which asks whether the depth of the chase for a given set of rules is bounded by an integer k. We identify a general property which, when satisfied by a chase variant, leads to the decidability of k-boundedness. We then show that the main chase variants satisfy this property, namely the oblivious, semi-oblivious (aka Skolem), and restricted chase, as well as their breadth-first versions.


The productive potential of coalbed methane projects is controlled by pore and fissure characteristics, which are intrinsically related to coal petrology. This work attempts to identify the influence of petrographic factors on the development of pore and fissure systems in the southern Junggar Coalfield, Northwest China. Here, Middle Jurassic coal (lignite and subbituminous) petrology in coal seam No. 45 of the southern Junggar Coalfield (SJC) is studied with respect to the characteristics of pore and fissure structure with the aid of optical microscopes, scanning electron microscopy, mercury intrusion porosimetry, and nuclear magnetic resonance analysis. Maceral analysis shows coals at the SJC are dominated by vitrinite (38–87 vol %), with moderate quantities of inertinite (1–28 vol %) and liptinite (0.5–30 vol %). Decomposition of plants occurs under slightly oxic–anoxic conditions, with good tissue retention. Four types of coal facies are classified using petrographic indices, comprising (1) lower delta plain marsh, (2) lower delta plain fen, (3) upper delta plain wet forest swamp; and (4) piedmont plain moor. Pores and fissures are generally observed in telinite, collotelinite, fusinite, and semifusinite in SJC coals, indicating that the generation of pores and fissures is strongly influenced by coal macerals. Pore and fissure structures of coals in coal facies (1) appear weakly connected, whereas those in coal facies (2) reveal good connectivity. Coals in coal facies (3) and (4) show moderate connectivity between pore and fissure structure. Therefore, pore and fissure structures are significantly controlled by coal facies. This work provides practical recommendations and implementation methods for petrological studies in future coalbed methane exploration/development in the SJC. This study also serves to predict the physical properties of pores and fissures and interpret the control mechanism of coalbed methane production using coal petrology.


Cancer epidemiology in Japan has been led by the large-scale population based cohort studies. Permanent registration system has made follow-up easier and more efficient. Low cancer incidence and mortality rates led the researchers to investigate possible preventive factors in diet and life style, in addition to the study of risk factors. The on-going large sized prospective cohorts should be a fruitful resource for future cancer epidemiological studies. Various studies of cancer epidemiology are introduced from a methodological aspect. cancer Epidemiology, cancer Registry, Cohort study, Mass-screening, cancer prevantion J Epidemiol, 1996 ; 6 : S19-S29.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of complete excision of infiltrating carcinoma at stereotactic 11-gauge directional vacuum-assisted breast biopsy and to evaluate the feasibility of measuring tumor size in stereotactic biopsy specimens in infiltrating carcinomas that were percutaneously excised.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We performed retrospective review of 51 infiltrating carcinomas diagnosed using stereotactic 11-gauge directional vacuum-assisted biopsy that underwent subsequent surgery. For lesions yielding no residual infiltrating carcinoma at surgery, the maximal dimension of the tumor was measured in stereotactic biopsy specimens using ocular micrometry.

RESULTS
In 10 (20%) (95% confidence intervals, 9.8-33.1%) of 51 infiltrating carcinomas diagnosed at stereotactic biopsy, surgery revealed no residual infiltrating carcinoma. Complete excision of infiltrating carcinoma was more frequent if 14 or more specimens were obtained (32% versus 0%, p < .004), if the mammographic lesion was removed (35% versus 7%, p < .03), and if the mammographic lesion size measured 0.7 cm or less (50% versus 16%, p = .08). Tumor size in stereotactic biopsy specimens was within 3 mm of mammographic lesion size in six (60%) of 10 lesions, including five (71%) of seven masses and one (33%) of three calcification lesions, but was smaller than the mammographic lesion size in eight (80%) of 10 lesions.

CONCLUSION
Surgery revealed no residual infiltrating carcinoma in 10 (20%) of 51 infiltrating carcinomas diagnosed at stereotactic 11-gauge biopsy. Although tumor size can be assessed in stereotactic biopsy specimens in these lesions, such measurements may underestimate the maximal dimension of the tumor. Further study is needed to evaluate the usefulness of these measurements in guiding treatment decisions.


Deep learning models are rapidly gaining interest for real-world applications in behavioral health. An important gap in current literature is how well such models generalize over different populations. We study Natural Language Processing (NLP) based models to explore portability over two different corpora highly mismatched in age. The first and larger corpus contains younger speakers. It is used to train an NLP model to predict depression. When testing on unseen speakers from the same age distribution, this model performs at AUC=0.82. We then test this model on the second corpus, which comprises seniors from a retirement community. Despite the large demographic differences in the two corpora, we saw only modest degradation in performance for the senior-corpus data, achieving AUC=0.76. Interestingly, in the senior population, we find AUC=0.81 for the subset of patients whose health state is consistent over time. Implications for demographic portability of speech-based applications are discussed.


Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are growing exponentially. In 1993, the Yearbook of International Organizations listed 16,000 internationally recognized NGOs. By 2004, this number was 63,000. With this increase comes a staggering growth in the activities and intellectual output of NGOs working on a local and international level. As the mission of both libraries and NGOs increasingly intersect, these organizations must collaborate to provide essential services that revolve around the creation, dissemination, and storage of information. This volume's eight essays focus on collaborative work between NGOs and libraries in the study and resolution of global issues ranging from AIDS to food security, and social transformation.


The Rho family of GTPases consists of 20 members including RhoE. Here, we discover the existence of a short isoform of RhoE designated as RhoE α , the fi rst Rho GTPase isoform generated from alternative translation. Translation of this new isoform is initiated from an alternative start site downstream of and in-frame with the coding region of the canonical RhoE. RhoE α exhibits a similar subcellular distribution while its protein stability is higher than RhoE. RhoE α contains binding capability to RhoE effectors ROCK1, p190RhoGAP and Syx. The distinct transcriptomes of cells with the expression of RhoE and RhoE α , respectively, are demonstrated. The data propose distinctive and overlapping biological functions of RhoE α compared to RhoE. In conclusion, this study reveals a new Rho GTPase isoform generated from alternative translation. The discovery provides a new scope of understanding the versatile functions of small GTPases and underlines the complexity and diverse roles of small GTPases.


Teachers have certain expectations or standards for children's social behavior in mainstream classrooms. The purpose of the present study was to document regular education teachers' social behavior standards for a sample (N = 250) of mildly handicapped (LD, BD, and MR) and nonhandicapped students matched on sex and race. Using the teacher version of the Social Skills Rating Scale (SSRS-T), 125 teachers rated the importance of 50 objectively described social behaviors. Results of the teachers' ratings indicated that they valued academic-related social behaviors as more important to classroom functioning than peer-to-peer interaction behaviors. High rater agreement, as measured by rank-order correlations, was demonstrated between Black and White teachers (rho = .96) and male and female students (rho = .93). Rank-order correlations between each handicapped subsample and matched nonhandicapped subsamples were also high (rho ranged from .91 to .98). Thus, teachers' ratings of importance did not vary much as a function of student race, sex, or classification. These findings are discussed in the context of a "model behavior profile" expected for students in classrooms and the appropriate selection of target behaviors for intervention.


During the past few years, many organizations try to provide some of their services through their websites. This would help them provide fast and reliable services to various people around the world. In this paper, we present an empirical survey to measure the relative performance of a university website in Iran using Parasuraman's technological readiness index. The proposed study uses a standard questionnaire and distributes it among 387 active website users and the results are analyzed using structural equation modeling. The proposed study of this paper considers the effects of four factors including efficiency, accessibility, achievement and security on customer loyalty via two variables of trust and satisfaction. The results demonstrate that three components of trust, efficiency and achievement play essential role on customer loyalty.


Royal Air Force aircrew endured mental and physical stresses during bombing operations. Their chances of completing a tour of operations unscathed were around one in four, and many were aware the chances were slim. Some who refused to fly were accused of 'lacking moral fibre' (LMF). Although this was not a medical diagnosis it is frequently viewed through the lens of mental health and reactions to trauma and it has become a powerful and important cultural phenomenon. This article re-examines LMF in the culture of the wartime Royal Air Force, before considering how and why LMF is remembered by veterans and in popular histories since the war.


Control of machine learning models has emerged as an important paradigm for a broad range of robotics applications. In this paper, we present a sampling-based nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) approach for control of neural network dynamics. We show its design in two parts: 1) formulating conventional optimization-based NMPC as a Bayesian state estimation problem, and 2) using particle filtering/smoothing to achieve the estimation. Through a principled sampling-based implementation, this approach can potentially make effective searches in the control action space for optimal control and also facilitate computation toward overcoming the challenges caused by neural network dynamics. We apply the proposed NMPC approach to motion planning for autonomous vehicles. The specific problem considers nonlinear unknown vehicle dynamics modeled as neural networks as well as dynamic on-road driving scenarios. The approach shows significant effectiveness in successful motion planning in case studies.


This paper focuses on some properties of agreement inside the Noun Phrase, especially in what concerns adjectives and "adjectival quantifiers", based on spoken corpora of Brazilian Portuguese and of the five African varieties of Portuguese (with special attention to the Santomean variety). We present the most salient patterns of defective agreement, focusing especially in number agreement, and contrast our findings across varieties. Results clearly differ in terms of the agreement found in the left and in the right periphery of the noun, as other studies already pointed out. The "specifiers" of the noun and pre-nominal adjectives tend to carry the plural morpheme, while the noun itself and post-nominal adjectives are defective in number marks. We put forward some possible issues for the interpretation of these data: the distinction made by speakers between the functional and the lexical domain; the relation between defective agreement on head nouns and cases of bare singular nouns which might be interpreted in these contexts as kind terms; and, finally, the fact that indefinite quantifiers may combine with these bare singulars.


A model of a three-stage vertical market structure consisting of agricultural producers. an assembler, and a processor is developed to analyze the market incentives farmer cooperatives may have for integrating forward into processing activities and to evaluate the comparative impacts of cooperative forward integration on producers and consumers. Although forward integration by cooperatives generally provides benefits to both producers and consumers under fixed-proportions processing technology and constant assembly and processing costs. the existence of an integration incentive appears to depend upon the ability of the cooperative to restrict the raw product output of its producers to optimal levels.


Osteoarthritis and osteoporosis often coexist in postmenopausal women. The simultaneous effect of bone‐favorable high‐impact training on these diseases is not well understood and is a topic of controversy. We evaluated the effects of high‐impact exercise on bone mineral content (BMC) and the estimated biochemical composition of knee cartilage in postmenopausal women with mild knee osteoarthritis. Eighty women aged 50 to 66 years with mild knee osteoarthritis were randomly assigned to undergo supervised progressive exercise three times a week for 12 months (n = 40) or to a nonintervention control group (n = 40). BMC of the femoral neck, trochanter, and lumbar spine was measured by dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry (DXA). The biochemical composition of cartilage was estimated using delayed gadolinium‐enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) cartilage (dGEMRIC), sensitive to cartilage glycosaminoglycan content, and transverse relaxation time (T2) mapping that is sensitive to the properties of the collagen network. In addition, we evaluated clinically important symptoms and physical performance–related risk factors of falling: cardiorespiratory fitness, dynamic balance, maximal isometric knee extension and flexion forces, and leg power. Thirty‐six trainees and 40 controls completed the study. The mean gain in femoral neck BMC in the exercise group was 0.6% (95% CI, –0.2% to 1.4%) and the mean loss in the control group was –1.2% (95% CI, –2.1% to –0.4%). The change in baseline, body mass, and adjusted body mass change in BMC between the groups was significant (p = 0.005), whereas no changes occurred in the biochemical composition of the cartilage, as investigated by MRI. Balance, muscle force, and cardiorespiratory fitness improved significantly more (3% to 11%) in the exercise group than in the control group. Progressively implemented high‐impact training, which increased bone mass, did not affect the biochemical composition of cartilage and may be feasible in the prevention of osteoporosis and physical performance–related risk factors of falling in postmenopausal women. © 2014 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.


Proline-rich tyrosine kinase 2 (Pyk2) is a member of the focal adhesion kinase (FAK) family and is mainly expressed in neuronal and hematopoietic cells. As FAK family members are involved in signaling connections downstream of integrins, we studied the role of Pyk2 in complement-receptor 3 (CR3, also known as Mac-1, integrin αMβ2, CD11b/CD18)-mediated phagocytosis, a key process in innate immunity. Using 3 independent approaches, we observed that Pyk2 contributes to CR3-dependent phagocytosis by RAW 264.7 macrophages, but is dispensable for Fcγ receptor (FcγR)-mediated uptake. Reduction of Pyk2 expression levels via siRNA, the pharmacological inhibition of Pyk2 kinase activity as well as macrophage treatment with a cell permeable TAT fusion protein containing the C-terminus of Pyk2 (TAT-PRNK) significantly impaired CR3-mediated phagocytosis without affecting FcγR-mediated uptake. In addition, Pyk2 was strongly recruited to complement opsonized Escherichia coli and the pharmacological inhibition of Pyk2 significantly decreased uptake of the bacteria. Finally, CRISPR/Cas-mediated disruption of the pyk2 gene in RAW 264.7 macrophages confirmed the role of this protein tyrosine kinase in CR3-mediated phagocytosis. Together, our data demonstrate that Pyk2 selectively contributes to the coordination of phagocytosis-promoting signals downstream of CR3, but is dispensable for FcγR-mediated phagocytosis.


SUMMARY: The log survivor/time graph for mature cultures of one strain of Streptococcus faecalis was not always straight over its whole length. A preliminary period of slow death was frequently observed, and a final similar period less often. The log survivor/time graphs of young cultures varied in shape with age of culture and often showed an initial rapid death-rate, passing suddenly into a slower one. The heat resistance of three strains was considerably influenced by the age of the culture. Resistance, judged either by the Decimal Reduction Time or the time taken to reach 99.9% mortality, was increased by transfer to fresh medium and fell during the lag phase of growth, reaching a minimum as rapid reproduction began. A second maximum in heat resistance occurred when growth became slow: thereafter the resistance gradually fell to that of mature cultures. The incubation temperature affected the heat resistance of young cultures, the effect of high temperatures being particularly marked and resulting in increased resistance, except with cultures 1 hr. old or less.


The theory of the natural hedge states that agricultural yields and prices are inversely related. Actuarial rules for U.S. crop revenue insurance assume that dependence between yield and price is constant across all counties within a state and that dependence can be adequately described by the Gaussian copula. We use nonlinear measures of association and a selection of bivariate copulas to empirically characterize spatially-varying dependence between prices and yields and examine premium rate sensitivity for all corn producing counties in the United States. A simulation analysis across copula types and parameter values exposes hypothetical impacts of actuarial changes.


ABSTRACT Background: The prevalence of open angle glaucoma increases with age, with many patients also receiving medications for non-ocular systemic diseases. Little is known about how systemic medications impact on the need for adjunctive therapy with prostaglandin analogues (PGA). Objectives: To evaluate whether systemic medications for hypertension, cholesterol, or glucose influence the need for adjunctive intraocular pressure (IOP) lowering medications in patients using PGAs. Methods: Pharmaceutical records from the Québec prescription database provided a sample of patients receiving prescriptions for bimatoprost, latanoprost, or travoprost, from which subjects receiving ≥1 prescription for antihypertensives, antidiabetics. diuretics, and statins were identified. Chi-square tests compared proportions using PGAs to those using PGAs + adjunctive therapy, based on the use or non-use of systemic medications; a logistic regression was performed post hoc to adjust for gender and age. Results: Of the 8548 evaluated patients (all using PGAs); 2934 (34.3%) took none of the studied systemic drugs. For the 5614 patients taking systemic medications, significantly fewer (p < 0.001) required an additional IOP lowering medication if taking a systemic antihypertensive medication. The use of a statin or a diabetic medication, alone or in combination, in addition to a PGA, made no significant difference in the need for adjunct glaucoma therapy. Individual drugs associated with significantly less utilization of adjunctive glaucoma medications were calcium-channel blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), and combination antihypertensive therapies. Discussion: A profound association between systemic antihypertensive use and a reduced need for adjunct topical IOP lowering medications in patients using the same prostaglandin analogue for at least one year was found. Limitations: The use of a prescription claims database without patient compliance or patient outcomes may not reflect actual patient medication use. In addition, these findings may not be applicable to all patients initiating prostaglandin analogues. Conclusions: In this real-world population-based evaluation, a significant association exists between using systemic antihypertensive medications and reduced use of adjunctive IOP lowering therapies. These results confirm findings from previous studies suggesting an IOP lowering effect with systemic agents or some synergy with topical therapies.


Abstract : An industry-standard vector network analyzer system was used to measure the complex reflection and transmission coefficients of 12 different fine-grained soils over a frequency range of 45 MHz to 26.5 GHz. Measurement variables included sample temperature (10, 20, 30, and 40 C), the amount of distilled, deionized water added to each soil sample, and the dry density of the soil in each sample holder (an uncontrolled parameter because of the sample preparation procedure). Data are presented both as a function of frequency at fixed temperatures and moisture content and as a function of moisture content at fixed temperatures and frequencies. Complex results are expressed in numerous ways, including the real and imaginary parts of the complex relative dielectric constant, loss tangent, electrical conductivity (through its relationship to the imaginary part of the dielectric constant), phase velocity normalized to the speed of light in a vacuum, and power attenuation in decibels/meter. Data support earlier models of a critical moisture content. Furthermore, for all but the very lowest frequencies, the data demonstrate that the permittivity of the soils, when considered as a function of volumetric moisture content, can be viewed as independent of soil type. Low-frequency losses in the soil/water/air mixtures are attributed to Maxwell-Wagner effects and ionic conductivity. Soils containing expandable clays demonstrate losses due to bound water of hydration. High-frequency losses are the result of free water molecular dipole relaxation. While both bilinear and least-square polynomial fits to permittivity data for all soil types at selected frequencies are quite acceptable, exponential models do not fit the data well. (MM)


Although many studies have been carried out on the way the law understands and deals with the digital revolution and particularly the Internet, we are unaware of any studies on the data sphere creating a new "space" for the law. This article, written as a result of discussions between a computer scientist and a lawyer, intends to challenge the constructions of International and European law as this new subject emerges and to examine relationships able to be formed with the territories. First, we need to define what the datasphere is; and second, we will re-consider, by way of case study, four highly topical areas: A. Platform activity; B. The portability of digital content services in intellectual property law; C. The right to be delisted; and D. The transatlantic transfer of personal data.


The persistence of heat resisting lectins in foods pose serious health hazards and this has driven studies into finding suitable ways to attenuate their possible risks in foods that contain high levels such as beans. Many of the adverse effects of lectins are attributable to their binding to specific membrane-bound carbohydrates with unique structures. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the effects of the use of i§-radiated starches in inactivating lectins in five NULs flours, studied in an extruder serving as a bioreactor. Firstly, radiated starches were prepared using radiation doses from 3 kGy to 42 kGy. Defatted NULs flours were composited at 10% of the radiated starches in respect of the quantities of the native starches present. The composites were agitated in an extruder which operated within intrinsic temperature changes ranging from 2°C to 12°C. Residual lectins from the extrudates were quantified by ELISA analysis. Mamdani type fuzzy logic inference system was used to model the two input variables to predict the optimal lectin inactivation at 100% accuracy. While lectins from Canavalia sp. recorded 83.1% inactivation, lectins from Vigna sp. rather potentiated up to 44%. Thus, i§-radiated starches, incorporation into NULs flours during low temperature extrusion treatment, inactivated NULs lectins at varying degrees which were adequately predicted by the model.


In this paper, we provide analytical expressions of the Cramer-Rao bounds for the frequencies, damping factors, amplitudes, and phases of complex exponentials in colored noise. These expressions show the explicit dependence of the bounds of each distinct parameter with respect to the amplitudes and phases, leading to readily interpretable formulae, which are then simplified in an asymptotic context. The results are presented in the general framework of the polynomial amplitude complex exponentials (PACE) model, also referred to as the quasi-polynomial model in the literature, which accounts for systems involving multiple poles and represents a signal as a mixture of complex exponentials modulated by polynomials. This work looks further and generalizes the studies previously undertaken on the exponential and the quasi-polynomial models.


AIMS
The prospect of weight gain discourages many cigarette smokers from quitting. Practice guidelines offer varied advice about managing weight gain after quitting smoking, but no systematic review and meta-analysis have been available. We reviewed evidence to determine whether behavioral weight control intervention compromises smoking cessation attempts, and if it offers an effective way to reduce post-cessation weight gain.

METHODS
We identified randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared combined smoking treatment and behavioral weight control to smoking treatment alone for adult smokers. English-language studies were identified through searches of PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycINFO and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Of 779 articles identified and 35 potentially relevant RCTs screened, 10 met the criteria and were included in the meta-analysis.

RESULTS
Patients who received both smoking treatment and weight treatment showed increased abstinence [odds ratio (OR) = 1.29, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.01, 1.64] and reduced weight gain (g = -0.30, 95% CI = -0.57, -0.02) in the short term (<3 months) compared with patients who received smoking treatment alone. Differences in abstinence (OR = 1.23, 95% CI = 0.85, 1.79) and weight control (g = -0.17, 95% CI = -0.42, 0.07) were no longer significant in the long term (>6 months).

CONCLUSIONS
Findings provide no evidence that combining smoking treatment and behavioral weight control produces any harm and significant evidence of short-term benefit for both abstinence and weight control. However, the absence of long-term enhancement of either smoking cessation or weight control by the time-limited interventions studied to date provides insufficient basis to recommend societal expenditures on weight gain prevention treatment for patients who are quitting smoking.


Abstract Objective To assess whether distraction using music and/or video games influences timing of analgesia request and improves pain outcomes in women undergoing labor induction. Study Design A total of 219 pregnant women with singleton gestation undergoing labor induction with a Foley bulb (FB) at term were randomized to distraction with music and video games via iPod (n = 109) or no iPod (n = 110). The primary outcome was the time from FB placement to request for pain medication. Secondary outcomes included number of patients requesting pain medication within 6 and 12 hours, type of pain medication received, pain visual analog scale scores, and patient satisfaction. Mann–Whitney's, chi-square, Kaplan–Meier's curves, and Pearson's product moment correlation were used for statistical analysis (significance: p < 0.05). Results Baseline characteristics were similar between the two groups. There was no difference in the time from FB placement until pain medication request between the groups. There were no significant differences in secondary outcomes. Increased per cent time of iPod use correlated with a longer time until pain medication request (R 2 = 0.22, p = 0.03). Conclusion We were not able to show that distraction using music and video games delays timing of analgesia request or improve pain outcomes in pregnant women undergoing mechanical labor induction at term.


Introduction. An information overload can affect the reliability and work capacity of military operators, stimulate increasing their emotional negatively outlined strain. An objective availability of the psychoemotional overload in a modern person requires developing a new, more improved access to assessment of work reliability and new psychophysiological approaches to validation of modern technologies for psychophysiological assessment of reliability of an operator's performance in conditions of time deficiency. Purpose of the study is to reveal regularities and analyze psychophysiological patterns in changes of reliability of military operators' performance in processing the contradictory information in conditions of time deficiency. Materials and methods . Studies on reliability of the operator's performance in simulation of information flows with contradictory information were conducted in 2012–2013. A sample of the studied individuals covered 54 military man-operators, aged 22–25, being in the state of acute emotional strain, caused by a procedure on entering a higher military institution. A scale of subjective assessments of mental states (CMSA – current mental state assessment) has been used for studying the emotional status. A specially designed computer program has been developed for simulating the operator's performance in the information processing in conditions of time deficiency and which, with the given probability, is accompanied by constellations of certain events, contradicting with the given algorithm of the operator's performance. Results . An information overload in simulation of contradictory constellations significantly affects the emotional background of the studied persons by the majority of indicators. Two groups of operators have been distinguished with different levels of emotional strain and significantly different indices of reliability in operator's performance. The probability of an erroneous reaction after a fictitious signal on an erroneous action in persons with high emotional strain was higher, by 11,8 times, on the average, р < 0,001. Regulations for task performance for classification of operators on groups with high and low levels of reliability in processing the contradictory information have been developed. Conclusion . It is established that according to the state of high emotional strain military operators are differed both by the background indices of the emotional strain and by its characteristics after an information overload, accompanied by the maintenance of the imbalance in subjective assessments of mental states and after information strain. A hypothesis was formulated on the presence of nonlinear effects, similar to Broca-Sulzer phenomenon, in processing information messages, which affect significantly the reliability of the operator's performance. A method of psychophysiological assessment of reliability of the operator's performance in military servicemen has been developed, based on simulation of presentation of contradictory constellations (a clash effect by І. P. Pavlov), which can additionally formulate certain negative emotional states in processing intensive information flows. A significant difference has been revealed in reactions on a fictitious error in individuals with different emotional strain, which is characterized by a significantly high part (by 11, 8 times higher, р < 0,001) of the probability of occurrence a fictitious reaction after a fictitious signal on a erroneous action in individuals with high emotional strain. A model has been developed for supporting a physician's decision in assessing the reliability of the operator's performance by psychophysiological indices and criteria of referring a studied operator to groups with higher or low level of reliability in processing the contradictory information.


The beginning of the IIIrd millennium faces a more and more concrete threatening: exhaustion of Earth resources and the entrance in a state of collapse as long as the states of the world will not find,as soon as possible, some alternative resources that they can use in the most important fields of activities.Aeolian energy represents a solution in what concerns the exhaustion of resources of fossil fuels, but not only. Aeolian energy also represents an alternative in what concerns the protection of the surrounding environment, its noxious effects being incomparable smaller than the ones produces by conventional energy.As a response to this threatening of the IIIrd millennium, the states of the world will have to unite their forces in the activity of research and implementation of some sustainable alternatives, the most importantscope being the protection of the environment and of the finite resources of the Earth.


The conventional Verlet table neighbor list algorithm is improved to reduce the number of unnecessary interatomic distance calculation in molecular simulations involving many atoms. Both of the serial and parallelized performance of molecular dynamics simulation are evaluated using the new algorithm and compared with those using the conventional Verlet table and cell-linked list algorithm. Results show that the new algorithm significantly improved the performance of molecular dynamics simulation compared with conventional neighbor list maintaining and utilizing algorithms in serial programs as well as parallelized versions.


Previous to the performance of gastro-enterostomy for ulcer, we find the lesion practically always in the duodenum, pylorus, and lesser curvature. Following the operation, if a new ulcer occurs, it is practically always in the region of operative procedure, that is, in the jejunum, stomach, or on the rim of the anastomosis; occasionally a new ulcer occurs on an old suture line such as is found in the resected stomach. The location and the time of occurrence of the ulcers before and after gastro-enterostomies are so dissimilar that a different etiology is most strongly suggested. Reports of new peptic ulcers occurring after this operation must be carefully analyzed as such ulcers are generally the old ulcers reactivated, which had never healed, or are new ulcers in the region of previous surgical procedure. Can the latter be termed true peptic ulcers? Gastrojejunal is the adjective used to describe the ulcer which


Estimating 3D mesh of the human body from a single 2D image is an important task with many applications such as augmented reality and Human-Robot interaction. However, prior works reconstructed 3D mesh from global image feature extracted by using convolutional neural network (CNN), where the dense correspondences between the mesh surface and the image pixels are missing, leading to suboptimal solution. This paper proposes a model-free 3D human mesh estimation framework, named DecoMR, which explicitly establishes the dense correspondence between the mesh and the local image features in the UV space (i.e. a 2D space used for texture mapping of 3D mesh). DecoMR first predicts pixel-to-surface dense correspondence map (i.e., IUV image), with which we transfer local features from the image space to the UV space. Then the transferred local image features are processed in the UV space to regress a location map, which is well aligned with transferred features. Finally we reconstruct 3D human mesh from the regressed location map with a predefined mapping function. We also observe that the existing discontinuous UV map are unfriendly to the learning of network. Therefore, we propose a novel UV map that maintains most of the neighboring relations on the original mesh surface. Experiments demonstrate that our proposed local feature alignment and continuous UV map outperforms existing 3D mesh based methods on multiple public benchmarks. Code will be made available at https: //github.com/zengwang430521/DecoMR.


In the past decade, the focus of drug discovery has shifted from the traditional natural product research to synthetic medicinal chemistry approach. However, many are reverting back to using natural products resources, but this time taking advantage of the booming area of genome sequencing. Using bioinformatics, many novel compounds have been isolated, even from the "unculturable" microbes. However, not all genes can be translated into proteins, and not all proteins are active. Two polyketide synthase genes, MgPKS2 and MgPKS8, from the plant pathogen fungus Mycosphaerella graminicola were selected using bioinformatics approach, and were cloned and transformed into a heterologous host, Aspergillus oryzae M-2-3. The genes were linked with the enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) to detect formation of protein. The transformed MgPKS2 did not show the formation of the polyketide synthase enzyme but MgPKS8 did. The most possible reason for the negative result of MgPKS2 is incorrect intron splicing in Aspergillus oryzae M-2-3. MgPKS8 transformants were extracted and checked for production of new metabolites using LC-MS. However, none was detected. Some of the possible reasons for these results are the productions of new metabolites were below the detection level or, the polyketide need a special starter unit for biosynthesis or, incorrect protein folding. These results showed that this emerging method of natural product research has many hidden difficulties that should be shared amongst the natural product community.


In the fall of 2005, Brooklyn Law School's Writing Program significantly changed its approach to legal research instruction and entered a new era. In order to make our research lessons more effective and relevant to our students, we opted for a fully integrated approach in which we emphasized the importance of combining books, fee based legal research sources, and free Internet sources into a comprehensive research strategy. These changes acknowledge the realities of the computer age, the work place, and our students' own research experiences which are steeped in the Internet and computers. Eventually, we hope to make our students more discerning consumers of legal research and, ultimately, better analytical thinkers. With this new approach we expect that students will fully embrace all available tools while taking maximum advantage of all that today's computer technology has to offer legal research instruction. In this article, I first describe the growth of computer research technology at Brooklyn, some of the efforts we took to try to engage the students in traditional book research, and why we needed to make this latest change to the way we teach legal research. I then describe the changes we made to our legal research curriculum. My conclusion is that integrated legal instruction which acknowledges the realities of today's technology and computer culture engages our students, enhances our credibility as teachers, and, most importantly, produces willing and capable researchers who will consider all available resources ranging from books, to fee based computer research tools, to the Internet and its vast collection of free resources. Ultimately, we will then be able to focus on what is most important - synthesis and critical analysis of the law - so that students will become better analytical thinkers.


This Bachelor thesis deals with the definition of Intangible Assets in the context of financial reporting. The purpose is to integrate intangible assets into the balance sheet. After a thorough analysis of the ongoing research shows that there is general consensus concerning intellectual property, and general confusion concerning knowledge, information and organization capital. Some have what it takes to enter balance sheets, while others still lack a holistic concept that is generally accepted and fulfils the demand of accounting. Neither of them is reported according to the presently available and established knowledge. This thesis shows that a prerequisite for an improved reporting is the consequential extension of accounting principles for intangible assets. The fact that the term "intangible asset" became a gathering of all possible intangible phenomena demands counter-actions. One of its reasons is the demand for the measurement of relative performances of intangible assets. This thesis shows that reporting absolute figures for intangible assets does not stand in contrast with this, but can deliver the necessary data set for a holistic analysis that also deals with intangible assets.


strange resonances of intergenerational connection. "Bleach" is an autobiographical reflection that explores the strange resonances of intergenerational connection. The author considers how the memory of her grandmother—and the transmitted stories of her grandmother's own childhood—can be seen anew through her own apprehension of growing old. "As I nurse my own hair's / whitening, I coax age through / and out of me—my body, in time, entangling / these hard traces of the past." Integrating images of bleaching and stains, farming and public health, depression and growth, "Bleach" braids together past and present in its search for "lessons / on how to grow old."
In "Fire Fallow," the author draws on the conventions of prose poetry to explore the phenomenological nature of mental health and illness, burnout especially. Using the historical catastrophe of the volcanic eruption of Pompeii as a conceit, "Fire Fallow" explores the terrible paradoxical intimacies of creation and destruction, the chronic fiction of a work-life balance. Turning away from false comforts--the insufficient language of resilience, regrowth, and regarging--this poem grapples with the reality of health care work and life with a clear-eyed lesson: "What lights our way will burn our skin and scorch the earth."


This paper describes a massively parallel object relational (O/R) database used in an advanced development program to create a comprehensive medical information system called the National Medical Knowledge Bank (NMKB). This database, named the Teradata Object Relational Database (TOR), was developed for massive data warehouse applications in the multiple terabyte range. We present a brief discussion of the NMKB architecture, its healthcare applications, and the requirements of TOR to support the NMKB. We then concentrate on the architecture of TOR including scalability features, large object store, system and user defined functions, geo-spatial data types, and the internal indices required to support these features.


Background and Purpose—Endovascular treatment of atherosclerotic carotid artery stenosis may be an alternative to surgical endarterectomy. To evaluate the safety and efficacy of endovascular techniques, we conducted a systematic review of randomized studies that compared endovascular treatment with surgery for carotid stenosis. Methods—We searched the Cochrane Stroke Group trials register, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Science Citation Index for randomized trials of carotid angioplasty and/or stenting compared with surgery. We also contacted researchers in the field and balloon catheter and stent manufacturers. Results—Five trials involving 1269 patients were included. Analysis of 30-day safety data found no significant difference in the odds of treatment-related death or any stroke (odds ratio [OR], endovascular surgery, 1.33; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.86 to 2.04), death or disabling stroke (OR, 1.22; CI, 0.61 to 2.41), or death, any stroke, or myocardial infarction (OR, 1.04; CI, 0.69 to 1.57). At 1 year after randomization, there was no significant difference between the 2 treatments in the rate of any stroke or death (OR, 1.01; CI, 0.71 to 1.44). Endovascular treatment significantly reduced the risk of cranial nerve injury (OR, 0.13; CI, 0.06 to 0.25). There was substantial heterogeneity between the trials for 4 of the 5 outcomes. Conclusions—No significant difference in the major risks of treatment was found but the wide confidence intervals indicate that it is not possible to exclude a difference in favor of one treatment. Minor complication rates favor endovascular treatment. There is currently insufficient evidence to support a widespread change in clinical practice away from recommending carotid endarterectomy as the treatment of choice for suitable carotid artery stenosis. Patients suitable for carotid endarterectomy should only be offered stenting within the ongoing randomized trials of stenting versus surgery. (Stroke. 2005;36:905-911.)


Climate change and an increasing global population increase the pressure on the global community, in particular the Global North, to initiate drastic changes in mindset, lifestyle and resource management to sustain a habitable environment, to minimize natural hazards, and thereby, to protect those who are most vulnerable and least responsible for the current condition of our planet. Among others, the shift from fossil to renewable energy sources (renewables) plays a key role in transforming a high-carbon society into a zero-carbon one. The integration of renewables into existing energy systems or even the design of an energy system consisting of renewables only are still challenging tasks that require interdisciplinary research. Such research is conducted by the University of Cologne hosting the project Energy Transitions and Climate Change to support both specific and interdisciplinary research for investigating open questions and creating new ones related to renewable energies and climate change.

Here, results of an interdisciplinary study are discussed investigating the uncertainty of predicted energy systems in Germany based on the analysis of Reanalysis data. Among others, this uncertainty depends on the accuracy of estimated solar energy from photovoltaic panels and is most sensitive to changes in direct solar radiation. Hence, to assesses the uncertainty of predicted energy systems based on reanalysis data, the accuracy of the latter itself, especially estimated solar radiation, must be characterized well. Uncertainties in direct solar radiation in reanalysis data depend to high extent on the prediction of clouds, especially those clouds that are abundant and have a high albedo at visible wavelengths such as stratocumulus clouds (Sc). Thus, understanding their formation and evolution constitutes an important topic for renewable energy applications. To evaluate models and parameterizations implemented into reanalysis, accurate observations of Sc are necessary, which is the main topic of this work: how accurately can we retrieve the liquid water content (LWC) of warm low-level stratified clouds, in particular Sc, using ground-based remote sensing?

The three key publications of this cumulative thesis try to answer this question from different perspectives: Publication I evaluates the performance of a new W-band radar-radiometer (JOYRAD-94) that can be used to derive physical properties of clouds. It is shown, by comparing JOYRAD-94 to a co-located radar, that it is capable of measuring radar reflectivity at 94 GHz with an accuracy of about 0.5 dB. The comparison also revealed a new method to dealiase radar Doppler spectra using two co-located radars enabling cloud observations with both high vertical resolution and large unambiguous Doppler velocity. Additionally, JOYRAD-94 is equipped with a passive microwave radiometer (MWR) channel at 89 GHz enabling the retrieval of the liquid water path with an uncertainty of about 15 g/m² when the integrated water vapor is known with an accuracy of 2 kg/m² from an external source. Optimal beam matching between the radar and the radiometer of JOYRAD-94 is accomplished by receiving the active and passive signals over the same antenna. This is a novelty in ground-based remote sensing. The advantage of optimally matched beams for cloud remote sensing is discussed in Publication II that investigates how the accuracy of a commonly used LWC retrieval (henceforth StandFrisch), combining radar and MWR, changes when the instruments are displaced to each other, i.e. observe different cloud scenes. It is found that displacing the instruments by 10 m increases the relative retrieval uncertainty of retrieved LWC by 10 % in the entire profile. At 100 m displacement, the relative error reaches 30 %. Moreover, it is shown that studying LWC at cloud edges requires optimally matched beams, i.e. a displacement by 10 m does already yield unreasonable results. Publication III assess the accuracy of StandFrisch for various compositions of Sc. StandFrisch is capable of retrieving LWC in non-drizzling Sc. However, once drizzle is present, StandFrisch does not obtain reasonable estimates of LWC. Publication III provides a modification of StandFrisch, the ModFrisch, that allows retrieving LWC in both drizzling and non-drizzling Sc with an accuracy of 20 %.

The findings of the three publications increase the accuracy of a commonly used LWC retrieval technique for warm low-level stratified clouds and characterize the retrieval's uncertainties. Therefore this thesis makes an important contribution to better understand micro-physical processes in Sc, which drive cloud formation and evolution. Moreover, more accurate LWC profiles can help to improve the evaluation of models and their parameterizations, which are, for example, implemented in reanalysis data. Well characterized models and their data are inevitable for various applications such as weather and climate predictions, as well as estimating future energy systems.


This study investigated the relationship between teachers' educational beliefs and their perceptions about school climate. The study was designed as a correlational survey model. The sample included 357 teachers working in the central districts of Van province in 2019-2020 academic year. "Educational Beliefs Scale" and "School Climate Scale" were used as data collection tools. Correlational and regression analyses were carried out to explore the relationships among the study variables. According to the results, teachers' beliefs about contemporary philosophical approaches were strong. In terms of teachers' perceptions of school climate, all scores were close to each other, but higher scores were found in directive and supportive school climates. Results concerning the relationship between education beliefs and school climate showed that teachers having progressivist and existentialist education beliefs saw their schools as more supportive and directive while teachers having a reconstructionist educational philosophy perceived their schools as more directive and restrictive. Teachers adopting a perennialist educational belief interestingly described their schools as more supportive, directive and intimate. As expected, teachers who follow essentialist beliefs in education regarded their schools as more restrictive in terms of climate. The results of the study indicated that teachers' philosophical beliefs about education were, although at a low level, a significant predictor of their perception of school climate.


ABSTRACT This study focuses on the recovery of valuable metals, such as gold, silver, and copper, from the printed circuit boards of waste computers, using physical separation followed by leaching methods. Characterization studies revealed that resins and glass fibers were attached as grain together with base and precious metals. A hammer mill was employed as a second stage crusher to disintegrate the different components of the printed circuit board, thus improving the selectivity and recovery of metals. Separation studies using a laboratory-scale shaking table showed that 33% of the feed was removed as a light product and 96.8% of Au, 96.7% of Ag, and 97.7% of Cu were recovered in heavy fraction. Leaching the light fraction using 3 M H2SO4 and 0.33 M HNO3 at 80°C for two h resulted in greater than 90% extraction of Cu. Au and Ag were dissolved at room temperature with a leaching solution of 0.2 M S2O3 2-, 0.02 M CuSO4, and 0.2 M NH3.H2O, which provided a recovery of more than 59% of Au and 98% of Ag within eight h. Direct leaching tests using optimized conditions were also implemented on the crushed sample, and 45% of Au, 87.6% of Ag, and 70.8% of Cu were extracted.


An analysis of the microstructure of several modified bitumen shown by phase detection Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) is presented here. The phase detection and topographic AFM images, displayed three different types of microstructure: the so-called catana phase domains (beelike structures) dispersed in the peri-phase are present in most of the cases; para-phase domains are also observed in the neighbourhood of both catana and peri-phases. These results are consistent with the picture of bitumen as a heterogeneous mixture, as one should expect. The proportions of all these phases display a rather strong dependence on the nature of the modified bitumen considered, on the concentration of the modifier, as well as on the amount of aging of the mix.


Although mammalian tail length relative to body length is considered indicative of locomotor mode, this association has been difficult to quantify. This could be because the counterweight function of the tail might associate it more with body weight than body length. Alternatively, relative tail length might not be evolutionarily flexible owing to its integration with the remaining skeleton, particularly the spine. Using comparative analyses of morphological means and ranges in Australian marsupials, including the first co-assessment with body weight, our study supports the second hypothesis, i.e. tail length ranges within species, and tail lengths among species are explained better by body length than by body weight. However, all three variables do not differ in phylogenetic signal or rates of evolution. Associations of tail lengths with locomotion are limited, but suggest that scaling slopes, rather than intercepts, are responsible for limited divergence between relative tail lengths at different locomotor modes. This complicates (palaeo-)ecological interpretations of tail length further. We conclude that relative tail length is not a strong predictor of locomotor mode, probably owing to strong integration of tail and body length. The many well-documented bony and soft-tissue adaptations of tails are likely to be better suited to interpretations of locomotor adaptations.


Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer in women worldwide. In the last years, the contribution of nuclear medicine has grown based on the use of dedicated molecular breast devices for diagnosis and biopsy. Recent technical improvements have been achieved in order to increase the detection of smaller breast lesions using lower doses of radiotracers as well as to facilitate accurate biopsy sampling. Furthermore, new prototypes have been developed combining anatomic and functional imaging. Although the gamma-emitting 99m Tc-sestamibi ( 99m Tc-MIBI) and the positron-emitting 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose ( 18 F-FDG) are the most widely used radiotracers, several new tracers have been investigated to target more specific biologic features of BC like proliferation, angiogenesis and tumour receptor status. Dedicated molecular breast devices have been introduced as an adjunct imaging tool to mammography (MG) and ultrasound (US) in the clinical work-up for BC. Additionally, due to the increased interest in molecular tumour subtype analysis and ribonucleic acid (RNA)-based gene expression profiling tests in the routine clinical practice, a possible new clinical application of dedicated breast imaging concerns locally advanced BC, principally in order to visualise intra-tumour metabolic heterogeneity enabling selection of areas with highest tracer uptake (vital tissue) for core needle biopsy. Hence, it will be possible to more adequately tailor the individual treatment, also enabling therapy response monitoring. This review evaluates the current and future perspectives as well as the shortcomings of breast imaging using dedicated nuclear medicine devices.


Low-carbon tourism, as a new tourism type, is evolved from the background of the low-carbon economy. Located in the west part of Gansu Province, Gannan is endowed with favorably inborn conditions for the development of low-carbon tourism, for its economic development is comparatively backward and the amount of incoming tourists is limited. The paper made an analysis on the base of existing tourism circumstances in Gannan, the frailty of its ecological environment and the destruction made by the tourists to prove the idea that development and persistence of low-carbon tourism in Gannan will push the sustainable development of the tourism further in this area. At the end of this paper, several practicable suggestions are advanced for the development of low-carbon tourism in Gannan.