Background subtraction is a typical method for moving objects detection. The Gaussian mixture model is one of widely used method to model the background. However, in challenge environments, quick lighting changes, noises and shake of background can influence the detection of moving objects significantly. To solve this problem, an improved Gaussian Mixture Model is proposed in this paper. In the proposed algorithm, Objects are divided into three categories, foreground, background and middle-ground. The proposed algorithm is a segmented process. Moving objects including foreground and middle-ground are extracted firstly; then foreground is segmented from middle-ground. In this way almost middle-ground are filtered, so we can obtain a clear foreground objects. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can detect moving objects much more precisely, and it is robust to lighting changes and shadows.


Process fragments provide reusable granules of business processes to enable process modeling based on existing knowledge. Current verification tools cannot deal with BPMN process fragments and support complete BPMN processes only. To enable verification for BPMN process fragments, we sketch how a single BPMN fragment can be completed to a BPMN process, where additional gateways and start events are added.


The theory of saturated formations introduced by Gaschutz 7 in 1963 is now an integral part of the study of finite soluble groups. Extensions of this theory have since been obtained by Stonehewer 18, for the class of periodic locally soluble groups with a normal locally nilpotent subgroup of finite index, and Tomlinson 21, for the class of periodic locally soluble FC -groups. In the latter case of course conjugacy of the various types of subgroups concerned is replaced by local conjugacy. Wehrfritz 23 also developed a theory of basis normalizers and Carter subgroups for the class of all homomorphic images of periodic soluble linear groups. Much of this work was unified in 1971 in paper by Gardiner, Hartley and Tomkinson 6. They introduced a class U periodic locally soluble groups and showed that it is possible to obtain a theory of saturated formations in any subclass of U which is closed under taking subgroups and homomorphic images. Their work covers all the previous theories except that for periodic locally soluble FC - groups •.

It is our aim to show that with a 'good' Sylow structure and a 'well behaved' group of automorphisms which permutes the Sylow structure transitively, a theory of saturated formations can always be constructed. The approach which we shall discuss gives a theory which covers all the previous theories including that for periodic locally soluble FC -groups.

This thesis is divided into two main parts and is organised as follows. In the next section we introduce our notation and terminology.

In part one, which forms the bulk of the thesis, we shall define axiomatically what we mean by 'good' and 'well behaved', and in so doing introduce a class W of periodic locally soluble groups. We shall consider a fixed, but arbitrary, QS -closed subclass K of W and a saturated K -formation 7 satisfying certain conditions, and show that any K-group G possesses a unique A(G) - transitive class of 7-projectors, where A(G) is a 'well behaved' group of automorphisms of G. In the final section of part one we extend the work of Chambers 4 to KA -groups, and in particular we characterize the 7-normalizers of KA -groups by the covering/avoiding property.

In part two, we introduce a class V of periodic locally soluble groups, where the automorphisms involved 'are the locally inner ones; this class properly contains the class of periodic locally soluble FC -groups. We define what we mean by a Fitting class7 of V-groups, and show that any V-group possesses a unique local .I conjugacy class of 7-injectors. This extends the work of Tomkinson 22, and we follow his techniques when proving the above. The final sections of part two concern normal Fitting classes of V-groups, where "re extend the work of Blessenohl and Gaschutz 2 and Lausch 15. ~ In particular we show that every non - trivial normal Fitting class of V-groups admits one and only one normal Fitting pair ( up to isomorphic Fitting pairs ).


Background: Many investigations into the determinants of hand hygiene (HH) behaviour have explored only individual predictors or were designed according to arguably overly simplistic models of behaviour. Consequently, important influences on HH behaviour, including habit and emotion, are sometimes neglected. This study is the first to employ the Theory of Interpersonal Behaviour as a comprehensive model for understanding the determinants of HH behaviour. Method: A self-report questionnaire was conducted with staff from two large UK veterinary referral practices. Participants (n = 75) reported their HH behaviour and responded to statements rating the importance of social norms, self-protection, patient protection, time pressures, access to equipment, habit and disgust, to their HH behaviour. Results: Regression analysis showed that, overall, determinants explained 46% of variance (p < .001) in self-reported HH behaviour, with time constraints being the strongest predictor (β = −.47, p < .001) followed by difficulty finding equipment (β = −.21, p = .05). Discussion: Time constraints may be the most important influence on HH adherence among the determinants investigated. Future researchers should consider employing theoretical models to aid a more comprehensive understanding of the psychology underlying HH adherence and HH interventions.


In the literature of International Relations the notion of coexistence is not understood as a question for world politics, despite the frequent irruption of issues of coexistence that constantly preoccupy international praxis. Rather, in theoretic terms coexistence is considered self-evidently as the composition of units, identified with co-presence in some spatial sense. This is evident, not from the explicit theorisation of coexistence as such, but from the ontological commitments of the discipline. The enquiry points toward the ontological centrality of the modern subject, whose key attributes are reason, self-mastery and control over others and itself, and which determines coexistence through 'a logic of composition.' The logic of composition reduces the multifarious relations of self and other to mere co-presence of already constituted subjects, that is, it occludes the constitutive role of the other in coexistence and for the 'subject' itself. Illustrating the interplay of subjectivity, composition and heteronomy in Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan and the work of David Campbell, the thesis turns to the phenomenology of Martin Heidegger in order to gain access to the heteronomy of entities. In his account of Being-in-the-world, it is argued, can be found an 'optics of coexistence' which enables a factically adequate understanding of coexistence. Such an optics reveals the self, not as autonomous and masterful, but as other-determined in its everydayness, and as uniquely appropriating this heteronomy in its process of becoming-proper. Existential heteronomy 'unworks modern subjectivity'. In this way, it forms the basis for the self's ethical comportment, a self which is an opening to otherness, and enables the articulation of a 'politics of non-self-sufficiency,' as a point of departure away from the subjective politics of self-sufficiency. Moreover, the diclosure of heteronomy disturbs the determination of coexistence as composition and points to community constitution through critique. Through what is called 'critical mimesis' community comes into being through the deconstructive retrieve of past possibilities inherited from past generations in process which is inclusive and critical. This is an account of communal constitution which is productive also in an era of global transformations, concerned with the destabilising effects of'globalisation.'.


Dielectrophoresis has proven to be an effective method for the separation of bioparticles such as cells. Nevertheless, the electric polarization induced by nonuniform electric fields leads to a dipole-dipole interaction between particles and therefore the formation of chains is likely to occur. In this paper, we will present an approach based on a drift-diffusion dynamics to quantitatively study formation and kinetics of particle-chains via the introduction of the particle stitching as chemical-like reactions. This approach will allow us to dynamically describe, in the framework of a numerical simulation, particle clustering, thus providing a suitable tool for reproducing data from dielectrophoretic experimental setup.


Entity linking, as one of the fundamental tasks in natural language processing, is crucial to knowledge fusion, knowledge base construction and update. Nevertheless, in contrast to the research on entity linking for English text, which undergoes continuous development, the Chinese counterpart is still in its infancy. One prominent issue lies in publicly available annotated datasets and evaluation benchmarks, which are lacking and deficient. In specific, existing Chinese corpora for entity linking were mainly constructed from noisy short texts, such as microblogs and news headings, where long texts were largely overlooked, which yet constitute a wider spectrum of real-life scenarios. To address the issue, in this work, we build CLEEK, a Chinese corpus of multi-domain long text for entity linking, in order to encourage advancement of entity linking in languages besides English. The corpus consists of 100 documents from diverse domains, and is publicly accessible. Moreover, we devise a measure to evaluate the difficulty of documents with respect to entity linking, which is then used to characterize the corpus. Additionally, the results of two baselines and seven state-of-the-art solutions on CLEEK are reported and compared. The empirical results validate the usefulness of CLEEK and the effectiveness of proposed difficulty measure.


To compare ordered water positions from experiment with those from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, a number of MD models of water structure in crystalline endoglucanase were calculated. The starting MD model was derived from a joint X-ray and neutron diffraction crystal structure, enabling the use of experimentally assigned protonation states. Simulations were performed in the crystalline state, using a periodic 2 × 2 × 2 supercell with explicit solvent. Water X-ray and neutron scattering density maps were computed from MD trajectories using standard macromolecular crystallography methods. In one set of simulations, harmonic restraints were applied to bias the protein structure toward the crystal structure. For these simulations, the recall of crystallographic waters using strong peaks in the MD water electron density was very good, and there also was substantial visual agreement between the boomerang-like wings of the neutron scattering density and the crystalline water hydrogen positions. An unrestrained simulation also was performed. For this simulation, the recall of crystallographic waters was much lower. For both restrained and unrestrained simulations, the strongest water density peaks were associated with crystallographic waters. The results demonstrate that it is now possible to recover crystallographic water structure using restrained MD simulations but that it is not yet reasonable to expect unrestrained MD simulations to do the same. Further development and generalization of MD water models for force-field development, macromolecular crystallography, and medicinal chemistry applications is now warranted. In particular, the combination of room-temperature crystallography, neutron diffraction, and crystalline MD simulations promises to substantially advance modeling of biomolecular solvation.


As aquaculture production expands, we must avoid mistakes made during increasing intensification of agriculture. Understanding environmental impacts and measures to mitigate them is important for designing responsible aquaculture production systems. There are four realistic goals that can make future aquaculture operations more sustainable and productive: (1) improvement of management practices to create more efficient and diverse systems at every production level; (2) emphasis on local decisionmaking, human capacity development, and collective action to generate productive aquaculture systems that fit into societal constraints and demands; (3) development of risk management efforts for all systems that reduce disease problems, eliminate antibiotic and drug abuse, and prevent exotic organism introduction into local waters; and (4) creation of systems to better identify more sustainably grown aquaculture products in the market and promote them to individual consumers. By 2050, seafood will be predominantly sourced through aquaculture, including not only finfish and invertebrates but also seaweeds.


BACKGROUND
There are more families with many children of only one sex than can be explained by unconditional probability.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Data from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway, covering more than 540,000 women with two, three and four births for the period 1967-2003, were used to study how the sex distributions of children already born affected the probability of a new birth and the sex of the next sibling.

RESULTS
Women with two children of the same sex had a higher probability of having more children compared to women with two children of both sexes (RR=1.14, (1.14-1.15)). This also applied to mothers with three children (RR=1.15 (1.13-1.17)). The probability was highest for mothers with boys only. Multiple births and parity affected the probability of giving birth to a boy versus a girl, but the sex composition of already born siblings had no influence.

INTERPRETATION
We have no evidence that some parents may have a probability of having a boy versus a girl that differs from the rest of the population. The fact that there are more siblings of only one sex is mainly behavioural; some mothers with only girls or only boys keep having more children in an attempt to receive a child of the opposite sex.


Oxidative stress is involved in chronic and acute pathologies: cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, neoplastic, inflammatory and infectious diseases. Clinical trials focused on prevention of cardiovascular and neoplastic diseases involving antioxidant supplementation have however provided predominantly negative obserations in large-scale studies. Screening of patient cohorts to assess baseline oxidative stress on the basis of a biomarker profile is decisive but lacking. For the first time, we evaluated the level of oxidative stress, testing more than 10 established biomarkers, in a comprehensive initial survey of 617 patients displaying chronic human pathologies. Multiple diseasespecific abnormalities were identified in plasma, whole blood and/or urine. This is the case for vitamins and oligo elements, vitamin C, vitamin E, β-carotene, selenium, zinc and copper; endogenous antioxidants such as reduced and oxidised glutathione, thiols, urate, and glutathione peroxidase activity, and a biomarker of oxidative DNA damage (8-hydroxy-2'-deoxy guanosine). The distinct biomarker profiles suggest the involvment of multiple forms of oxidative insults which arein some way partially specific to each pathological condition. This finding is in favor of the determination of an integrated score to combine contributions of distinct biomarkers, in order to screen patients presenting elevated levels of oxidative stress.


Background: Hypotension is a common side effect of spinal anesthesia for cesarean section with incidence of upto 71%. Various vasopressors are available for counteracting spinal hypotension each with different pharmacological profile. Norepinephrine is currently one of the feasible options for prophylaxis of spinal induced hypotension in patients undergoing cesarean section. Aims: To compare efficacy of phenylephrine and norepinephrine for reducing incidence of hypotension in patients undergoing cesarean section under spinal anesthesia and their effect on neonatal outcome. The primary outcome compared was incidence of hypotension (defined as fall in systolic blood pressure of >20% from the baseline value or a value <90 mmHg). The secondary outcomes noted were incidence of bradycardia, nausea, vomiting in the mother, and neonatal outcome. Methodology: A total of 80 singleton full term pregnant patients of American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) grade II scheduled for elective cesarean section were randomly assigned to 2 groups of 40 patients each. Group P received phenylephrine 50 mcg and Group N received norepinephrine 10 mcg as intravenous bolus over 1 min immediately after the patient had been made supine after giving spinal anesthesia. The vital parameters, adverse effects, and neonatal outcome were assessed and analyzed statistically. Results: Intraoperatively, norepinephrine group had a significantly higher mean heart rate than phenylephrine group. Neonatal outcome was similar in both the groups with respect to appearance, pulse, grimace, activity, and respiration (Apgar) scores and umbilical arterial pH. Conclusions: In cesarean section under spinal anesthesia, norepinephrine efficacy in rescuing maternal hypotension is similar to that of phenylephrine without obvious maternal or neonatal adverse outcomes and with a lower incidence of bradycardia.


Background: Levels of cTn (cardiac troponin) are frequently elevated in patients with heart failure (HF) and reduced ejection fraction (EF) and correlate with the risk for mortality. However, factors associated with high cTn concentrations and the association with cardiovascular events in patients with HF and preserved EF are unclear. Methods and Results: Of 1767 subjects with symptomatic HF with preserved EF from the Americas part of the TOPCAT trial (Treatment of Preserved Cardiac Function Heart Failure With an Aldosterone Antagonist Trial), 236 underwent baseline measurements of high-sensitivity (hs) cTnI using the Abbott Architect STAT assay. Baseline factors correlated with hs-cTnI levels were assessed in stepwise linear regression models and the association between hs-cTnI and adjudicated study outcomes was examined in Cox models. The median hs-cTnI concentration at baseline was 6.3 ng/L (interquartile range, 3.4–12.9 ng/L) with levels detectable in 99.2% of patients. Higher hs-cTnI concentrations were associated with male sex, black race, lower estimated glomerular filtration rate and higher NT-proBNP (N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide) levels. After multivariable adjustment, higher concentrations of hs-cTnI were associated with greater risk for the composite of cardiovascular death or HF hospitalization (69 events during mean follow-up 2.6±1.5 years): hazard ratio 1.42 (95% CI, 1.20–1.69), P<0.001 per doubling of hs-cTnI. Compared with those in the lowest quartile of hs-cTnI, patients in the highest quartile demonstrated a nearly 5-fold higher risk of cardiovascular death and HF hospitalization (hazard ratio 4.85 [1.99–11.83], P=0.001). There was no interaction between hs-cTnI and spironolactone treatment with regard to the primary composite end point (interaction P=0.94). Conclusions: In ambulatory patients with HF with preserved EF, levels of hs-cTnI are higher in male patients with black race, lower estimated glomerular filtration rate, and higher NT-proBNP. As in those with HF and reduced EF, higher hs-cTnI levels are independently associated with risk for cardiovascular death and HF hospitalization. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00094302.


Global software teams face challenges when collaborating over long distances, such as communicating changes in the project. During a four-month case study at IBM Ottawa Software Lab we observed the collaboration patterns of a multi-site development project team. In this period, we inspected project documentation, interviewed team leaders, attended project meetings, and spoke with developers to identify problems originated by the lack of awareness of changes related to the implementation of work items. Our observations show (1) that organizational culture has an effect on how developers are made aware; (2) that communication-based social networks revolving around particular work items are dynamic throughout development, and therefore awareness needs to be maintained in infrastructures of work; and (3) that information overload and communication breakdowns contributed to the generation of a broken integration build. We discuss these breakdowns in communication and implications for the design of collaboration tools that could mitigate these problems.


In this essay, I intend to argue that the concept of magic can be extended to cover an agent's use of works of art to influence her perceptions of herself and of reality. More specifically, I intend to argue that works of art can be used to create, confirm, or affirm normative identities, that is, conceptions of ourselves as standing in a special relationship to certain norms and values. My argument will include contributions to the discussion of magic as well as agency in art made by Robin Collingwood, Ernst Gombrich, and Alfred Gell. I will conclude by providing some examples of how perceptually magic uses of art can function to form normative identities. I will also say something about how to morally evaluate such uses of art.


Mentoring is an important relationship that can transform talented students into elite performers. There has been limited empirical study on the psychology of the mentoring relationship. Most of the research focuses on mentee benefits, while the motivation and interests of the mentee have been relatively neglected. This study analyzed archival interview records (N = 128) from three cohorts of academically talented students who had participated in a faculty mentorship program for six semesters. A mixed-methods analysis, guided by a grounded theory approach, was used to quantitize the qualitative data. Two themes emerged from the qualitative analysis. First, 1 in 4 of the students did not feel mentored for one of three reasons. Some students were mentored by faculty outside the program. Other students did not see the need for a mentor. The rest of the unmentored students were either unable or unwilling to identify another faculty mentor. Second, selecting a profession was related to the quality of their mentor relationship. Students who reported career certainty were more likely to report having a high-quality mentoring relationship. Great mentors provided career support to the students by involving them in research, taking them to conferences, and connecting them to other faculty. After quantitatively coding the qualitative data, multinomial logistic regression was used to predict student ratings of the quality of the mentor relationship from career certainty. Students were more likely to report a better mentor relationship as career certainty increased from no career plan to developing a career plan. Student career needs may influence mentor relationships with faculty and should be given greater consideration in mentoring practice.


Five major challenges in science communication

 This article gives an overview of five major challenges in the field of science communication – with a focus on the Dutch/Flemish situation and the role that communication scientists can play in tackling these challenges.

 The research field is fragmented and the balance between the practical and academic aspects of science communication can be improved.

 In policies there is a large emphasis on informing society, whilst science communication should also be a dialogue with society.

 Connecting with society is the third mission of universities, but reward systems for scientists who do this are rudimentary and should be improved.

 Incorrect science news is at least partly caused by universities sending out exaggerated press releases. Researchers should take responsibility for how their own universities communicate about their work.

 Social sciences and humanities are underrepresented both in science communication activities and science communication research and should be involved more.


Background Neonatal herpes infection can have devastating outcomes for otherwise healthy babies. In the UK, the stated incidence is low at 1.65 per 100 000 live births, which is in contrast with an incidence of 33 per 100 000 in the USA. We aimed to discover the current incidence of neonatal herpes infection in our tertiary service, determine the timing of presentations, and to consider which presenting features could be used for early recognition and prognostication. Methods All cases of neonatal herpes infection occurring in the last 8 years were reviewed, and those cases from an agreed population were used to calculate an incidence. The statistical associations between clinical features and death were examined. Findings There were 57 291 live births between 2006 and 2012. Nineteen cases were identified including 10 from the study population (17.5/100 000 live births). There were nine deaths, all presenting later than 6 days of age. Independent predictors of death were haemodynamic instability, coagulopathy, bleeding and central nervous system features at presentation. All presentations occurred within 2 weeks of birth and were varied and often non-specific. Interpretation Our incidence rate of 17.5 per 100 000 live births represents a significant increase and is much more in line with the higher incidence rates seen in the USA. The range of presentations shows the non-specific nature of this disease. We advocate a heightened awareness of this treatable disease in the UK, and encourage adoption of modern rapid diagnostic techniques and the wider inclusion of Aciclovir in treatment regimens for neonatal sepsis.


This paper describes an investigation of direct torque control for multi-phase permanent magnet synchronous motor drives. First, using the Multi-machine Multi-converter System concept, a multi-phase drive is divided into a set of fictitious one or two-phase drives. Each reference voltage vector of a fictitious drive is then computed with a simple direct torque control (DTC) algorithm. Finally, the voltage vector of the real machine is computed according to reference voltage vector of each fictitious drive. Experimental results are presented for a 750W five-phase permanent magnet drive prototype.


Soft-wing kites for airborne wind-energy harvesting function as flying tensile membrane structures, each of whose shape depends on the aerodynamic load distribution and vice versa. The strong two-way coupling between shape and loading poses a complex fluid-structure interaction problem. Since computational models for such problems do not yet meet the requirements of being accurate and at the same time fast, kite designers usually work on the basis of intuition and experience, combined with extensive iterative flight testing. This paper presents a fast aero-structural model of leading-edge inflatable kites for the design phase of airborne wind-energy systems. The fluid-structure interaction solver couples two fast and modular models: a particle system model to capture the deformation of the wing and bridle-line system and a 3D nonlinear vortex step method coupled with viscous 2D airfoil polars to describe the aerodynamics. The flow solver was validated with several wing geometries and proved to be accurate and computationally inexpensive for pre-stall angles of attack. The coupled aero-structural model was validated using experimental data, showing good agreement in the deformations and aerodynamic forces. Therefore, the speed and accuracy of this model make it an excellent foundation for a kite design tool.


We determine the retarded and advanced Green's functions and Hadamard parametrices in curved spacetimes for linearized massive and massless gauge bosons and linearized Einstein gravity with a cosmological constant in general linear covariant gauges. These vector and tensor parametrices contain additional singular terms compared with their Feynman/de Donder-gauge counterpart. We also give explicit recursion relations for the Hadamard coefficients, and indicate their generalization to n dimensions. Furthermore, we express the divergence and trace of the vector and tensor Green's functions in terms of derivatives of scalar and vector Green's functions, and show how these relations appear as Ward identities in the free quantum theory.


PWM technology has been widely used in motor drive systems today. To avoid the short-circuit condition, dead-time must be inserted to the PWM driving pulses. The addition of dead-time increases the harmonic of output voltage, makes the waveform of winding current more badly. The ripple of motor torque and speed is also increased by the addition of dead-time. The influence of dead-time is more remarkable while the motor speed is low, and so, greatly influence the low-speed working ability. This paper analyzes the influence of dead-time for low-speed motor drive in detail. The nonlinear phenomena in the motion of output voltage-vector, which affects the motorpsilas low-speed performance directly, is also indicated.


The magnetotransport behaviors of electron-doped colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) manganites La0.9Te0.1MnO3 have been investigated in external magnetic fields up to 4 T. The temperature dependence of the resistivity shows that the transport mechanisms of the sample below the metal-insulator transition temperature are attributed to the electron-phonon and magnon scattering behaviors. While the resistivity above Curie temperature (Tc=240 K) can be fitted with either polaron transport or variable-range hopping, and the fitting results are affected significantly by the magnetic fields. The electron spin resonance investigation indicated that there exist the ferromagnetic clusters up to 280 K in the paramagnetic phase of the sample. As a result, a possible correlation between the resistivty and phase separation is considered.


Purpose of Review: Neurodevelopmental disorders are a group of heterogeneous conditions characterized by a delay or disturbance in the acquisition of skills in a variety of developmental domains, including motor, social, language, and cognition. This article reviews the most commonly diagnosed neurodevelopmental disorders, which include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, global developmental delay, and intellectual disability and also provides updates on diagnosis, neurobiology, treatment, and issues surrounding the transition to adulthood. Recent Findings: Although symptoms emerge at discrete points in childhood, these disorders result from abnormal brain maturation that likely precedes clinical impairment. As a result, research has focused on the identification of predictive biological and behavioral markers, with the ultimate goal of initiating treatments that may either alter developmental trajectories or lessen clinical severity. Advances in the methods used to identify genetic variants, from chromosomal microarray analysis to whole exome sequencing, have facilitated the characterization of many genetic mutations and syndromes that share common pathways to abnormal circuit formation and brain development. Not only do genetic discoveries enrich our understanding of mechanisms underlying atypical development, but they also allow us to identify more homogeneous subgroups within this spectrum of conditions. Impairments do continue into adulthood, with challenges in the transition to adulthood including the management of comorbidities and the provision of educational and vocational supports. Summary: Advances in our understanding of the neurobiology and developmental trajectories of these disorders will pave the way for tremendous advances in treatment. Mechanism-based therapies for genetic syndromes are being studied with the goal of expanding targeted treatments to nonsyndromic forms of neurodevelopmental disorders.


Medical image processing involves using and examining 3D human body images, which are most frequently acquired through a computed tomography scanner, to diagnose disorders. Medical image process- ing helps radiologists, engineers, and clinicians better comprehend the anatomy of specific patients or groups of patients. Due to recent advancements in deep learn ing techniques, the study of medical image analysis is now a quickly expanding area of research. Interstitial Lung Disease is a chronic lung disease that worsens with time. This condition cannot be completely treated when the lungs have been damaged. Early detection, on the other hand, aids in the control of the disease. It causes lung scarring as a result. The first methodology characterizes lung tissue utilizing first order statistics, grey live occurrence, run length matrices, and fractal analysis. It was suggested by Uppaluri et al  in one instance. In the pre-processing step, patients' CT scans are presented using various color map models for better understanding of data-set. and also for determining the patients final Force Vital Capacity and Confidence values using a Pytorch model with leaky relu activation function. These variables can be used to determine whether a person has a disease. Segmentation is a crucial stage in employing a computer assisted diagnosis system to estimate interstitial lung disease. Accurate segmentation of aberrant lung is essential for a trustworthy computer-aided illness diagnosis. Using separate training, validation, and test sets, we proposed an efficient deep learning model using Unet architecture and Densenet121 to segment lungs with Interstitial Lung Disease. The proposed segmentation model distinguishes the exact lung region from the ct slice background. To train and evaluate the algo rithm, 176 sparsely annotated Computed Tomography scans were utilized. The training was completed in a supervised and end to end manner. Contrary to current approaches, the suggested method yields accurate segmentation results without the requirement for re-initialization. We were able to achieve an accuracy of 92.59 percent after training the proposed model with Nvidia's CUDA GPU.


Aims. Properly characterizing Fabry-Perot interferometers (FPI) is essential for determining their effective properties and evaluating the performance of the astronomical instruments in which they are employed. Furthermore, in two-dimensional spectrographs where multiple FPI are used in series, the actual distribution of plate separation errors will be crucial for determining the resulting transmission profiles. We describe techniques that address these issues utilizing the FPI of IBIS, a solar bidimensional spectrometer installed at the Dunn Solar Telescope. Methods. A frequency-stabilized He-Ne laser was used in three different optical layouts to measure the spatially-resolved transmission of the FPI. Analyzing the shape and wavelength shift of the observed profiles allows the characteristics of the cavity errors and the interferometer coating to be determined. Results. We have measured the spatial distribution of the large-scale plate defects, which shows a steep radial trend, as well as the magnitude of the small-scale microroughness. We also extracted the effective reflectivity and absorption of the coating at the laser line wavelength for both interferometers. Conclusions. These techniques, which are generally applicable to any Fabry-Perot interferometer, provide the necessary information for calculating the overall instrumental profile for any illuminated area of the interferometer plates. Accurate knowledge of the spectral transmission profile is important, in particular when using inversion techniques or in comparing observations with simulated data.


This paper examines interpretations of the drought problem in Brazil's northeast sertão during the First Republic. It compares analysis of drought as primarily a natural or climatic phenomenon – embraced by civil engineers working for the Inspetoria [Federal] de Obras Contra as Secas (IFOCS) – with analyses emphasizing social and political conditions that made drought a crisis for the sertanejo poor. The latter are evident in the report of doctors Belisário Penna and Artur Neiva describing their expedition through the sertão sponsored by IFOCS in 1912. This comparison allows for consideration of the intersection between natural (geographic, climatic) and social (political, cultural) factors that produced the region's periodic crisis. The analysis is informed by the work of social scientists who highlight the multidimensional causes underlying natural disasters in politically marginal communities. Technocrats' faith in the contextindependent utility of their expertise lay at the heart of IFOCS's ultimate failure to rescue sertanejos from famine, migration and poverty. Because the drought agency's technical personnel never had the political will or muscle to confront the social organization underlying the sertão's recurrent calamity, their ability to alleviate the human suffering that droughts precipitated was severely limited.


The SEC requires equity crowdfunding (ECF) companies to provide assured financial statements. Assurance can be provided with certification by management or an audit or review by an independent accountant. We utilize the ECF setting to examine whether voluntary assurance facilitates capital formation. We find that companies that provide either reviewed or audited financial statements during a capital campaign are marginally more likely to raise their target capital. They also raise more funds and attract more investors relative to companies that only provide management-certified financial statements. However, relative to reviews, audits are not associated with a greater likelihood of success in an ECF offering other than attracting more investors. Finally, we find that assurance is indirectly associated with a company's post-ECF survival and its ability to raise future capital. This suggests that assurance at the time of ECF has implications for a company's success beyond ECF.


Objectives: Psychological distress is an increasingly important public health problem and 12.3% of the population suffers from some form of mental illness. It is experienced as sadness, anxiety, fear and in extreme cases as psychotic symptoms. Psychological distress among university students is more compared to general population. This study was conducted to determine psychological distress and predictive factors in medical undergraduates and to compare them with two other main streams of undergraduate education, in University of Sri Jayewardenepura. Methods: A surveying method was adapted to select 408 final year students from all three faculties using the General Health Questionnaire 30 (GHQ - 30), an internationally accepted, nationally validated to determine psychological distress. Frequency tabulation and Chi-squared tests were used for analysis by SPSS (15). GHQ score of six (6) or more indicated distress. Results: Among the undergraduates, 240 (58.8%) had a score more than 6. The prevalence of stress was higher among medical students 95(62.5%), than Applied Sciences 69(60%) and Management students 76(53.5%). Age of students (p=0.015), effect of studies on personal life (p=0.025), responsibilities as a group leader (p=0.05) and transport and meals (p=0.006) were found as independent significant risk factors for distress. Student's gender (p=0.10), oral presentations (p=0.36) and continuous assessments (p=0.35) were not significantly associated with psychological distress.  Specific tasks during clinical appointments were identified as stressful by majority of medical students. Conclusions: High prevalence of psychological distress in undergraduates, especially among medical students is identified. The need for detailed assessment of stressors and coping strategies is highlighted and emphasizes the necessity of early interventions to prevent, long term psychological sequelae.


The stepwise stability constant values of Acetyl Salicylic Acid with Cu(II) and Zn(II) have been studied using pH measurements in 70% DMF- 30% water medium and 50% DMF-50% water. The values of proton- ligand stability constants and metal-ligand stability constants were calculated. The metal-ligand stability constant of binary complex was evaluated using Irving-Rossotti titration technique.


VI
Abstract
This Master's thesis was done for Borealis Polymers Oy in co-operation with Chalmers University of
Technology.
The research concentrated on the load of petrochemical waste waters. Borealis' Petrochemical plants consist of
cracker, butadiene, benzene, cumene and phenol plants. There are two waste water systems in Borealis Polymers
Petrochemical plants: phenolic waters (PW) and oily waters (OW) which were studied separately. The phenol
plant discharges its waste water to both systems, while other plants discharge only to OW-system.
The loads of waste waters were assessed with two methods. The first method was chemical oxygen demand and
the second method was to assess the quality of waste water streams from plants. Chemical oxygen demand
(COD) was studied with theoretical oxygen demand (ThOD) analysis. The quality of different waste water
streams were assessed by taking samples from waste waters generated in the plants.
In phenolic waters, the ThOD was mostly caused by methanol and phenol. In OW-system the contribution to
COD-load was divided more equally between all the components found in the waste waters. Petrochemical waste
waters contain a variety of different components, so ThOD analysis based only on known components did not
give a full answer how different sorts of chemicals contribute to COD. On average the determined ThOD was
one fifth of measured in COD in phenolic waters and one third of measured COD in oily waters.
In the phenol plant the load originated from the effluent stripper and methylhydroperoxide (MHP) reactor to the
phenolic waters. When the quality of waste waters was studied, the MHP-reactor was the main contributor to the
load to biological treatment feed, biolsy. It is recommended that the known components should be analysed also
from the outlet of the MHP-reactor continuously. The waste water from the MHP-reactor contained high
concentrations of cumene and phenol. Also because of the high phenol and cumene content of the water, it
should be treated either in effluent stripper or in the OW-stripper.
The cracker was responsible for benzene, toluene, xylenes and phenol load to oily waters system. The phenol
and aromatics were responsible for methanol, and total nitrogen load. The known components should be
continuously analysed from all the main waste water sources; the diluting steam generator, the NaOH and FCC
washing steps, the carbonyl wash, the OW-stripper and the ejector waters. The streams that contained high
hydrocarbon concentrations should be treated in OW-stripper and streams that contained phenol should be
treated in effluent stripper.
The reduction of load is difficult even impossible if the reduction concentrates only on the total load, measured
either from pit 27 in case of the OW-system or from the biolsy in case of phenolic waters. Firstly the variety of
components in the final stream increases because waste waters from different plants are aggregated. The
reduction of different kinds of components is difficult, because of different nature of components. In the final
stream also the components are diluted, which also makes the reduction of components more difficult. The
reduction of components can be more efficient if it is carried out at the origin of the load.


As romantic relationships begin and evolve, it is sometimes the case that partners are discrepant in their attraction to, love for, and commitment to each other. Data were collected from 460 undergraduates who completed a 40 item Internet survey on the various types of discrepancies and outcomes for their respective relationships. Results revealed that half of participants had been in a discrepant relationship in which they were more attracted to, in love with, and committed to their partner and half were less attracted, in love and committed than a partner in a current or past relationship. Men were significantly more likely than women to report that they had been in a discrepant relationship in which they were more in love with their partner. Being more attracted and less attracted, in love with, and committed was positively associated with infidelity. Depression was positively associated with being more or less attracted to, in love with and committed. Alcohol/drug use was positively associated with being more attracted and in love with a partner, as well as being less attracted and committed to a partner. Of discrepant relationships that ended, 45% were by the respondent, 20% mutually, and 11% by the partner. Of discrepant relationships that continued, 44% of the respondents reported that the discrepancies did not matter and that the respondents were happy despite the discrepancies.


4H-SiC metal-semiconductor field effect transistors (MESFETs) [1] were characterized at 25, 100, 150, 200, and 250 C and two-dimensional electro-thermal simulations [2] were performed to examine the effects of elevated device operating temperature and self-heating on DC and RF performance of the MESFETs. The gate and drain characteristics (Id-Vg & Id-Vd) were measured at room and elevated temperatures. The pinch-off voltage increased with temperature and drain voltage. The shift of the pinch-off voltage was more prominent at low temperatures (2 V from 25 to 100 C) than at high temperatures (negligible shift above 150 V). No short channel effects could be seen in drain characteristics due to the self-heating effects. The measured knee voltage and saturation current differed to some extent from the simulated values, which could be caused by the surface and the substrate traps that were not included in the simulations due to the difficulty to describe the temperature dependence of the trap behaviours. The current gain and power gain were measured as a function of frequency. Decrease of fT and fmax with increase of temperature was observed for both measurements and simulations. Higher fT and fmax were obtained from simulations than from the measurements. Traps and parasitics are believed to be the cause for the differences. A strong influence of contact resistance was seen on fT and fmax in the HF simulations.


OBJECTIVE
To derive and validate a prediction model for the development of ARDS in burn-injured patients.

SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA
Burn injury carries the highest incidence of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) among all predisposing conditions, but few studies exist on risk factors in these patients. Studies employing biomarkers and clinical risk factors for predicting ARDS mortality have recently been examined but none exist for onset of ARDS nor in patients with burn injury.

METHODS
This was a prospective multicenter study of 113 patients with isolated burn injury or inhalation injury. Clinical variables and plasma biomarkers representative of endothelial injury, epithelial injury, or inflammation were collected within 24 hours of admission. The most parsimonious model was chosen by considering discrimination, calibration, and model fit.

RESULTS
Among the biomarkers measured in patients with burn injuries, a one-standard deviation increase in log-transformed levels of the A2 domain of von Willebrand factor in the first 24 hours was most strongly associated with the development of ARDS (OR 7.72; 95% CI: 1.64-36.28, P = 0.03). Of candidate models, a 3-variable model with %TBSA, inhalation injury, and von Willebrand factor-A2 had comparable discrimination to more complex models (area under the curve: 0.90; 95% CI 0.85-0.96). The 3-variable model had good model fit by Hosmer-Lemeshow test (P = 0.74) and maintained similar discrimination after accounting for performance optimism (Bootstrapped area under the curve: 0.90; 95% CI: 0.84-0.95).

CONCLUSIONS
The 3-variable model with %TBSA, inhalation injury, and von Willebrand factor could be used to better identify at-risk patients for both the study and prevention of ARDS in patients with burn injury.


Abstract No Abstract Available. *From a thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, Tufts University School of Dental Medicine.


The clinically important polyene antibiotic amphotericin B, in combination with two antifungal imidazole compounds, clotrimazole and miconazole, was studied in vitro. With use of results of cytoplasmic leakage, metabolic heat output, and minimal inhibitory concentration studies, a definite antagonistic response was demonstrated. It is suggested that, if combined antifungal drug therapy is clinically indicated, the drug combination be tested against the isolate by the simple technique of measuring cytoplasmic leakage or by the more elaborate method of flow microcalorimetry.


We use the Spectrographic Areal Unit for Research on Optical Nebulae and Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph integral-field spectrographs to observe the active galactic nucleus (AGN) powered outflow in NGC?1266. This unusual galaxy is relatively nearby (D = 30?Mpc), allowing us to investigate the process of AGN feedback in action. We present maps of the kinematics and line strengths of the ionized gas emission lines Ha, H beta, [O?iii], [O?i], [N?ii] and [S?ii], and report on the detection of sodium D absorption. We use these tracers to explore the structure of the source, derive the ionized and atomic gas kinematics, and investigate the gas excitation and physical conditions. NGC?1266 contains two ionized gas components along most lines of sight, tracing the ongoing outflow and a component closer to the galaxy systemic, the origin of which is unclear. This gas appears to be disturbed by a nascent AGN jet. We confirm that the outflow in NGC?1266 is truly multiphase, containing radio plasma, atomic, molecular and ionized gas and X-ray emitting plasma. The outflow has velocities of up to +/- 900 km s-1 away from the systemic velocity and is very likely to remove significant amount of cold gas from the galaxy. The low-ionization nuclear emission region-like line emission in NGC?1266 is extended, and it likely arises from fast shocks caused by the interaction of the radio jet with the interstellar medium. These shocks have velocities of up to 800 km s-1, which match well with the observed velocity of the outflow. Sodium D equivalent width profiles are used to set constraints on the size and orientation of the outflow. The ionized gas morphology correlates with the nascent radio jets observed in 1.4 and 5 GHz continuum emission, supporting the suggestion that an AGN jet is providing the energy required to drive the outflow.


Purpose: To study the effects of different beam‐hardening filters on CTDIvol and low‐contrast image detectability in a CT scanner Methods: The default Molybdenum beam‐hardening filter of GE HiSpeed CT/i scanner was replaced with three different types of filters, having K‐edges in low, middle, and high diagnostic energy range. The thickness of each filter was chosen such that it approximated Molybdenum energy‐equivalent thickness for the simulated mean energy of X‐ray spectrum generated at 120 kVp. The scanner calibration routine was run for each filter prior to image acquisition to ensure optimal image quality (optimized signal‐to‐noise ratio, optimized contrast‐to‐noise ratio, and no noticeable ring artifacts). An ACR CT phantom was imaged under a routine axial head protocol to evaluate the CNR for a wide range of mAs. Next, the head dose phantom was scanned to obtain CTDIvol for the same mAs range. The beam quality was also recorded. Filters were compared according to measured CNR, and CTDIvol for the smallest mAs providing CNR > 1 (= 200 mAs). Results: Examination of CNRs indicates no significant difference among filters. Evaluation of NPS for raw images acquired from different filters will address the image noise. CTDIvol measurements indicate that the filters attenuate the beam differently due to their K‐edge energies, and copper, having a low‐energy K‐edge (= 8.98 keV), provides the minimum CTDIvol. Conclusion: CNR is a function of CTDIvol and better addressed when accompanied by CTDIvol. The current project has the potential for selecting a new beam‐hardening filter to possibly reduce patient dose without compromising low‐contrast detectability. This work is in progress to optimize CNR by investigating other available kVps, filters, measured energy spectra, NPS, and K‐edge effect.


Background Pn is a group of heterogeneous inflammatory diseases characterized by involvement of the subcutaneous fat (SF), locomotor system and viscera, and the number of panniculitis (Pn) cases is increasing in everyday practice of a rheumatologists. There are no specific scales available to assess efficacy of Pn therapy. EQ-5D, RAPID-3 and HADS validity, sensitivity and specificity were proven for some rheumatic diseases. Thus, evaluation of EQ-5D, RAPID-3 and HADS psychometric properties in Pn patients has become the objective of this study. Objectives Evaluate psychometric properties of questionnaires EQ-5D, RAPID-3 and HADS in Pn patients. Methods The study group included 83 Pn pts (80 females, 3males) aged 43,4±13,9 years with median disease duration of 5 [2;24] months who were at the record of V. A. Nasonova Research Institute of Rheumatology during 2009–2015 yy. All patients filled in EQ-5D, RAPID-3 and HADS questionnaires during the first and the control visits at 12 months. Questionnaires' sensitivity was assessed by comparing patient's answers and objective response to therapy measured by achievement of complete regression of the nodules on the control visit. The construct validity was measured based on correlation with "external criteria", including presence of arthritis and arthralgias, tenderness of nodules at palpation measured by VAS, ESR and CRP values. Results Positive dynamics (nodule regression) correlated with improved EQ-5D (EQ-5D-scale - p=0,005, EQ-5D-VAS - p=0,004) and RAPID-3 (p=0,0011). Median Δ EQ-5D and HADS-depression after therapy were 0,27 [0,12; 0,45] (p=0,005), and 2 [1;5] (p=0,13) scores, respectively, while average decline in RAPID-3 and HADS-anxiety scores after therapy was 9,2±5,2 (p=0,0011) and 4±3 (p=0,15), respectively. EQ-5D showed the greatest power in Pn patients' quality of life assessment. EQ-5D-scale and VAS-"thermometer" showed moderate correlation with nodule tenderness at baseline (r= -0,23, p=0,036) & (r= -0,45, p=0,0003), and control visits (12 months) (r= -0,38, p=0,0002) & (r= -0,41, p=0,0002); EQ-5D-scale showed moderate correlation with ESR and CRP values at the control visit (r= -0,23, p=0,03) & (r= -0,25, p=0,005), and EQ-VAS – with CRP value at 12 months (r= -0,33, p=0,002), demonstrating clear correlation with patient's objective health status and lab parameters values. Moderate correlation between functional RAPID-3 values and nodule tenderness at baseline (r=0,34, p=0,0015) and after 12 months (r=0,5, p<0,0001) are also indicative of close links between the questionnaire data and pts' objective health status. As for the HADS scale, moderate correlation was found only between HADS-depression and nodule tenderness at baseline (r= -0,24, p=0,026) and 12 months (r=0,28, p=0,014) visits. There were no other significant correlations identified. Conclusions EQ-5D and RAPID-3 questionnaires should be considered as valid and sensitive instruments for the assessment of the quality of life and efficacy of therapy in Pn pts. Disclosure of Interest None declared


With the shift to a data-driven society, data trading takes on a completely new significance. In the future, data marketplaces will be equivalent to other electronic commerce platforms such as Amazon or eBay. Just like any other online marketplace a data marketplace is a platform that enables convenient buying and selling of products--in this case "data". Metadata is data about data. Metadata plays a significant role in data trading, as it serves as an orientation for all involved parties in the data marketplace. A seller who wants to sell their data on the marketplace needs metadata to describe the selling offer, and the buyer can use it to search and identify relevant data. This paper outlines the significance of metadata in data trading on a data marketplace and classifies the levels of metadata. Moreover, in data trading metadata has also a significant role in determining the data quality. In this paper we also discuss the role of metadata in terms of data quality.


This paper considers the use of non-parametric system models for sequential state estimation. In particular, motion and observation models are learned from training examples using Gaussian process (GP) regression. The state estimator is an unscented Kalman filter (UKF). The resulting GP-UKF algorithm has a number of advantages over standard (parametric) UKFs. These include the ability to estimate the state of arbitrary nonlinear systems, improved tracking quality compared to a parametric UKF, and graceful degradation with increased model uncertainty. These advantages stem from the fact that GPs consider both the noise in the system and the uncertainty in the model. If an approximate parametric model is available, it can be incorporated into the GP; resulting in further performance improvements. In experiments, we show how the GP-UKF algorithm can be applied to the problem of tracking an autonomous micro-blimp.


Economists and legal scholars routinely posit an implicit contract between Japanese firms and their principal lender (called their "main bank"). Under this arrangement, the bank implicitly agrees to rescue the firm (through financial and managerial help) when times turn bad. Out of court, it rescues the firm from insolvency. Not only does it save the investments specific to the troubled firm, it lowers the use of costly bankruptcy proceedings and cuts the costs of those bankruptcy procedures firms do occasionally invoke. Given the creditor-shareholder conflicts of interest that arise as firms approach insolvency, such arrangements would seem unstable. Yet according to a long sociological tradition, conflicts of interest matter less in Japan than in the West. According to the emerging economic and legal tradition, Japanese economic actors do face those conflicts, but keep them in check through reputational concerns, close-knit ties, and government supervision. Using two datasets of troubled firms from the 1970s and 1980s, we ask whether Japanese main banks in fact rescue distressed borrowers. We find no evidence that they do: large Japanese firms fail; when large firms approach insolvency, main banks do not increase the share of the firm's debt they bear; stronger ties between distressed firms and their main bank do not facilitate loans; and troubled firms do not try to preserve their main bank relationship. All told, the claim that Japanese banks ever implicitly agreed to rescue firms is sheer myth. That Japanese banks let troubled firms fail is no recent development; it has been thus for decades. Conflicts of interest do indeed matter in Japan and long have. They matter enough to prevent precisely the incentive-incompatible rescue deals that scholars in the field so routinely posit.


Primary thyroid spindle cell tumors or spindle cell component in the thyroid tumors are very rare. The spin- dle tumor cells were positive for thyroid papillary carcinoma markers. So these tumors were diagnosed as spindle cell variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). To further delineate clinico-pathological features of primary thyroid spindle cell tumors and discuss differential diagnosis, we reported a 67-year-old man with a mass in the right thy- roid without clinical symptom. Microscopy revealed that an encapsulated tumor with lot criss spindle cells arranged in bundles. Nuclear grooves were easy to see and rare displayed pseudoinclusions. Immunohistochemical studied showed that the spindle cells were all strong positive for TTF-1, Pax-8, thyroglobulin. Rare follicular were seen in the periphery of the tumor near the thyroid tissue. The cells formed follicular but the spindle tumor cells were positive for pan-keratins. The pathological diagnosis was primary thyroid spindle cell tumors, suspected spindle cell variant of PTC. Primary thyroid spindle cell tumors were presence and without the unified name. The further reports and more discussion were need about these tumors.


Synthesizing novel views from a 2D image requires to infer 3D structure and project it back to 2D from a new viewpoint. In this paper, we propose an encoder-decoder based generative adversarial network VI-GAN to tackle this problem. Our method is to let the network, after seeing many images of objects belonging to the same category in different views, obtain essential knowledge of intrinsic properties of the objects. To this end, an encoder is designed to extract view-independent feature that characterizes intrinsic properties of the input image, which includes 3D structure, color, texture etc. We also make the decoder hallucinate the image of a novel view based on the extracted feature and an arbitrary user-specific camera pose. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our model can synthesize high-quality images in different views with continuous camera poses, and is general for various applications.


A convergent-beam electron diffraction (CBED) method is proposed for polarity determination, in which polarity is determined from the intensity asymmetry of any of the hkl–\overline h\overline k\overline l Friedel pairs appearing in a zone-axis CBED pattern with a symmetric arrangement of Bijvoet pairs of reflections. The intensity asymmetry occurs as a result of multiple scattering among Bijvoet pairs of reflections in the CBED pattern. The appropriate zone-axis orientations for polarity determination are deduced for 19 of the 25 polar point groups from symmetry considerations so as to observe Bijvoet pairs of reflections symmetrically in a single CBED pattern. These appropriate zone-axis orientations deduced for the 19 polar point groups coincide with nonpolar directions. This is because the nonpolar directions for these point groups are perpendicular to an even-fold rotation axis, which guarantees the symmetric arrangement of Bijvoet pairs of reflections with respect to the symmetry (m–m′) line in a CBED pattern taken along any of the appropriate zone-axis orientations. The m–m′ line in the CBED pattern is proved to be perpendicular to the trace of the even-fold rotation axis. On the other hand, if the nonpolar direction is either perpendicular to a mirror plane or parallel to a roto-inversion axis as in the four point groups m, 3m1, 31m, \overline 6, the nonpolar direction cannot be used as the appropriate zone-axis orientation for polarity determination because the Bijvoet pairs of reflections are not arranged symmetrically in the CBED pattern. The validity of the CBED method is confirmed both by experiment and by calculation of CBED patterns.


BACKGROUND
Chronic prurigo (CPG) is an inflammatory skin disease. Comorbidities including dermatological, cardiovascular, and psychiatric diseases have been reported in patients with CPG, however, the evidence has not been systematically evaluated. We aim to summarize the comorbidities, discuss underlying pathogenesis, and highlight the evaluation of CPG patients.

METHODS
We performed a systematic search using PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases for all articles reporting possible associated diseases with CPG. Pooled random-effects odds ratios (OR) with 95% CI were calculated.

RESULTS
A total of 17 studies were included in this systematic review. Statistically significant association(P<0.05) with CPG has been demonstrated with atopic diseases: atopic dermatitis (pooled OR, 10.91; 95% CI, 3.65-32.67), allergic rhinitis (2.66;1.12-6.27), asthma (3.23;1.55-6.74); infectious diseases: hepatitis B (pooled OR, 2.15; 95% CI, 1.11-4.14); endocrine diseases: diabetes (pooled OR, 4.93; 95% CI, 1.13-21.56), type 1 diabetes 2.46;2.16-2.81), type 2 diabetes (1.89;1.34-2.68), hyperlipoproteinemia (2.90; 1.61-5.22); cardiovascular diseases: heart failure (pooled OR, 4.13; 95% CI, 1.15-14.91), hypertension (3.17;1.56-6.45); respiratory system diseases: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (pooled OR, 3.19; 95% CI, 1.42-7.16); urinary system diseases: chronic kidney disease (pooled OR, 4.16; 95% CI, 1.79-9.66); digestive system disease: inflammatory bowel disease (pooled OR, 2.06; 95% CI, 1.26-3.36); and others: osteoporosis (pooled OR, 3.08; 95% CI, 1.70-5.59), thyroid disease (1.70;1.17-2.47).

CONCLUSION
CPG is associated with various systemic disorders. Recognition of comorbidities is critical to the appropriate management of affected patients.


Abstract The scale invariance of geological material and the consequent absence of a length scale on which to base the upscaling of measurements made on geological samples represent a serious challenge to the prediction of fluid behaviour in rock at economically interesting scales. Numerical simulation is an important tool for understanding constraints in this problem and current discrete fluid models in which complex boundary conditions can be represented have the potential for testing many possible upscaling schemes. At present, however, there are no accurate empirical data on the distributions of fluid velocities in complex, scale-invariant geometries, with which to validate such models. To address this, fluid velocity fields in complex 2D media with fractal heterogeneity were measured. Digital models of rock geometries were created and translated into physical form using electric discharge machining and stereolithography. These physical models were then enclosed between parallel sheets of glass and Perspex forming a Hele-Shaw cell which was permeated with water, doped with small neutrally buoyant spheres and pumped at accurately steady and reproducible velocities. Local velocity vectors were estimated by the analysis of sequential images captured using high-resolution video. Precision digital control systems were used to move the cell relative to the camera and repeated measurements allowed the construction of full 2D velocity fields. The accuracy of the technique was assessed by comparison between automated and manual measurements, confirming the accuracy over approaching three orders of magnitude in velocity. The results have been compared to the output of lattice Boltzmann (LB) simulations of flow in identical geometries, showing that the correlation between simulated and measured velocity fields is strongly dependent on the viscosity used in the numerical simulation. In particular, the LB scheme used in these tests is incapable of simulating correct viscosities for complex geometries. Some important effects are shown to be strongly viscosity dependent and it is concluded that some simulations may be able to predict the behaviour of high viscosity fluids only. Nonlinear effects between fracture and matrix flow are likely to be more important in these cases.


Public institutions and private companies both frequently rely on user surveys for a variety of assessments (e.g. equality issues or quality of work environment). However, many such surveys struggle to garner sufficient responses, especially when they ask about sensitive subjects (such as work harassment), which also makes them exist in a legal grey area when it comes to data protection laws. One important factor in this issue is the perceived threat of deanonymisation, compounded by the frequent lack of transparency on how the data is used. The proposals seeking to address this issue often focus on complex cryptography (e.g. homomorphic encryption), without addressing the fears of non-technical users. This paper explores a radically different approach which minimises data collection on multiple fronts, partially by limiting the power of survey organisers. By design, it prevents generic attempts to deanonymise participants as the server never stores even pseudonymised information. We also try to address questions of inclusivity, once again through a minimalist approach.


In this study, it is aimed to evaluate the effects of over tourism on the two touristic islands in Çanakkale, Bozcaada and Gökçeada, from the eyes of the local people. Overtourism emphasizes that an excessive number of tourists in a particular destination can have negative effects on society. In this study, the phenomenon of overtourism has been discussed on the basis of social carrying capacity and Doxey's irridex-tolarate model. In line with this purpose, the perception of the local people about the effects of tourism, problems caused by tourists and their attitudes towards tourists were evaluated with 260 data using the survey method. The data were analyzed by performing T-Test and regression analysis in the statistical package program. According to the research findings, although there is a positive perception towards tourism in the islands, there are also problems caused by tourism. It can be said that Bozcaada is experiencing an overtourism problem due to reasons such as being a small island compared to Gökçeada. It can be said that Gökçeada is at the first stage, at the satisfaction level, although it is thought Bozcaada is the satisfaction level of Doxey's model. With this study, the social carrying capacity of the two islands in Çanakkale has been put forward theoretically, and the local people's perception of overtourism has been discussed on the basis of the Doxey theory. So, in practice, sustainable tourism planning on the islands can be done by taking these findings into consideration.


Purpose - – Beer-bananas in Central Uganda are important for smallholder farmers' livelihoods, especially for those that process the banana into beer and spirits. The purpose of this paper is to understand how actors in the beer-banana value chain are affected and how they are managing disease has become an important issue since the outbreak of the bacterial banana disease Xanthomonas Wilt. Design/methodology/approach - – The authors conducted an exploratory study focusing on producers of beer-bananas; brewers and non-brewers, and on retailers in Central Uganda and in Kampala. The authors conducted surveys with these value chain actors and we used baseline data, collected through a household survey in the project sites. Findings - – Results showed that Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW) has drastically reduced productivity of beer-banana systems, resulting in reduced sales volumes of beer-bananas and processed products and consequently reduced incomes. Application of disease control measures was generally higher among those farmers that brew. Research limitations/implications - – This being an exploratory study, the samples for the different value chain actors were rather small. Future research should address: product quality and opportunities for differentiation; effects of beer-banana processing on rural communities; adoption of BXW control measures. Originality/value - – Beer-bananas are often neglected in research; this paper shows that is unfounded since beer-banana production and processing are important for many people's livelihood. More insight into what motivates farmers to control the disease is essential to protect these people's livelihoods.


This paper considers a epistemic game-theoretic model of group identification which describes the evolving process of a collective action rule of the members in a social group. Group identity describes that the solutions to "who we are'' and "what we are'' questions among the members in a group. Given a social group consisting its members, the group identity is a common action rule with respect to their rival group. Under the assumption of interaction costs and results of information convergence, we construct a knowledge foundation for group identity and group identification. Our results show that under a finite state space, group identification can be implemented among in-group members via finite information revision steps if the two conditions hold: (1) the members of a group can communicate with each other for increasing their knowledge, and (2) there is a nonzero cost generating by the interaction between ingroup members and outsiders. Furthermore, we show that on a probability space, a generalized group identification is equivalent to a discrete-time martingale process, which permits that group identification can be reached under the infinite state space.


This thesis seeks to destabilize many of the hierarchical boundaries established by the recent critical projects surrounding "female modernism" and "middlebrow" fiction by highlighting two authors, Antonia White and Emily Holmes Coleman, who have been neglected precisely because their works challenge the boundaries of these literary classifications. The thesis suggests that White's and Coleman's texts seemingly defy this categorization specifically through the portrayal of psychosis, the threat and experience of which permeates their texts and the way in which this impacts the construction of female subjectivity.
"Female modernism", "middlebrow" fiction, and "fictions of madness" often appear to be at odds with one another, but a close examination of White's and Coleman's texts suggests that these boundaries are not impermeable. Chapters One and Two seek to contextualize White's and Coleman's texts within these critical arguments and gesture towards the following chapters which demonstrate the extent to which these texts are specifically concerned with testing and exploring boundaries in the formation of female subjectivity, specifically through the experience of psychosis. It is their alternating acceptance of and challenge to these boundaries which contributes to the mis-placement of their texts within literary classifications.
Chapters Three, Four, and Five explore the fortification and dissolving of the boundaries of female subjectivities as represented in White's and Coleman's texts. Chapter Three examines the relationship between mother and daughter in the texts specifically through the process of maternity. It argues that the process of maternity challenges female subjectivity in such a way that is best understood if it is contextualized within Julia Kristeva's conception of the abject. Chapter Four addresses the textual representation of psychosis as a dissolution of subjectivity which is analysed using the theories of Luce Irigaray. Chapter Five acts as a counter-balance to this by exploring the ways in which female subjectivity is positively constructed in the texts, specifically through the presentation of Catholicism.
In combination, each of these thematic elements which explore and test various boundaries result in a body of texts which defy the boundaries of "female modernism", the "middlebrow", and "fictions of madness". The thesis concludes by suggesting that it is those texts which were written in the 1950s and therefore contain elements which are characteristic of the culture of that decade which present the greatest problem for the categorization of these texts. It suggests that the literature of this decade, particularly literature written by women, deserves greater consideration to separate it more fully from the existing literary classifications which struggle to contain it.


Marine reserves are widely used throughout the world to prevent overfishing and conserve biodiversity, but uncertainties remain about their optimal design. The effects of marine reserves are heterogeneous. Despite theoretical findings, empirical studies have previously found no effect of size on the effectiveness of marine reserves in protecting commercial fish stocks. Using 58 datasets from 19 European marine reserves, we show that reserve size and age do matter: Increasing the size of the no-take zone increases the density of commercial fishes within the reserve compared with outside; whereas the size of the buffer zone has the opposite effect. Moreover, positive effects of marine reserve on commercial fish species and species richness are linked to the time elapsed since the establishment of the protection scheme. The reserve size-dependency of the response to protection has strong implications for the spatial management of coastal areas because marine reserves are used for spatial zoning.


The microstructural evolution and grain refinement of Cu-Al alloys with different stacking fault energies (SFEs) processed by equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) were investigated. The grain refinement mechanism was gradually transformed from dislocation subdivision to twin fragmentation with tailoring the SFE of Cu-Al alloys. Concurrent with the transition of grain refinement mechanism, the grain size can be refined into from ultrafine region (1 m~100 nm) to the nanoscale (<100 nm) and then it is found that the minimum equilibrium grain size decreases in a roughly linear way with lowering the SFE. Moreover, in combination with the previous results, it is proposed that the formation of a uniform ultrafine microstructure can be formed more readily in the materials with high SFE due to their high recovery rate of dislocations and in the materials with low SFE due to the easy formation of a homogeneously-twinned microstructure.


We analyze the spatial relationship of relocated aftershocks to the principal rupture planes of the M w 7.3 1992 Landers mainshock from a structural point of view. We find that the aftershocks constitute primarily a several-kilometer-wide damage zone centered on the mainshock rupture planes. The intensity of damage decreases away from the principal faults. Less than half of the aftershocks occurred within 1 km of the mainshock planes, and perhaps only 5% of the aftershocks are candidates for rerupture of the mainshock faults. Moreover, it seems that aftershocks along the Landers rupture have b -values that correlate well with the complexity of the mainshock rupture. Low b -values occur along segments that are simple, whereas higher b -values correlate with sections that are more complex. Thus, structural complexity appears to correlate with a greater relative abundance of small earthquakes. These observations imply that aftershock populations reflect fault populations in the medium surrounding the principal faults rather than the behavior of the mainshock planes themselves.

Online material : Arcview information about the surface rupture of the Landers mainshock.


Christian Identity is a belief system so strange, indeed bizarre, that most  Americans who know anything about it dismiss it outright and relegate those  who believe it to the quaint and quirky fringes of the nation's religious  subcultures. How seriously, for example, can one take the notion that God created  Adam as a white man and that other races are sub-human? Or the belief that  the lost tribes of Israel traversed Europe, landed in Great Britain, and crossed  the Atlantic to inherit—as white Christian racialists—the promises of God? Or  that Jesus came only to reach out to and save this particular "Israel,"  comprised solely of white supremacists?  Little wonder that Americans do not take this ideology seriously, or that  American Christians and their church leaders pay it scant attention. An  occasional news story on the white supremacist movement may mention  Christian Identity, and most readers quickly recognize the obligatory  description of its basic racist and anti-Semitic beliefs.  In American history, and particularly in American Christian history, these  ideas are not as bizarre as they may seem at first glance.


Background. Routine vaccination against Streptococcus pneumoniae is recommended in Canada for infants, the elderly, and individuals with chronic comorbidity. National incidence and burden of all-cause and pneumococcal pneumonia in Canada (excluding Quebec) were assessed. Methods. Incidence, length of stay, and case-fatality rates of hospitalized all-cause and pneumococcal pneumonia were determined for 2004–2010 using ICD-10 discharge data from the Canadian Institutes for Health Information Discharge Abstract Database. Population-at-risk data were obtained from the Statistics Canada census. Temporal changes in pneumococcal and all-cause pneumonia rates in adults ≥65 years were analyzed by logistic regression. Results. Hospitalization for all-cause pneumonia was highest in children <5 years and in adults >70 years and declined significantly from 1766/100,000 to 1537/100,000 per year in individuals aged ≥65 years (P < 0.001). Overall hospitalization for pneumococcal pneumonia also declined from 6.40/100,000 to 5.08/100,000 per year. Case-fatality rates were stable (11.6% to 12.3%). Elderly individuals had longer length of stay and higher case-fatality rates than younger groups. Conclusions. All-cause and pneumococcal pneumonia hospitalization rates declined between 2004 and 2010 in Canada (excluding Quebec). Direct and indirect effects from pediatric pneumococcal immunization may partly explain some of this decline. Nevertheless, the burden of disease from pneumonia remains high.


A novel way to identify friction model and torque sensor parameters of a modular robot joint is proposed and experimentally studied in this paper. The identification method is based on a genetic algorithm (GA). A model based friction compensation method and a real coded GA are integrated in the proposed method, and then applied to an experimental modular robot joint with a harmonic drive and built-in torque sensor. The friction parameters, as well as the torque sensor gain and offset, are identified and used in the control system, and the position tracking error reduction is demonstrated with experimental results.


The Axhandle basin of central Utah is a piggyback basin produced by disruption of the proximal Sevier foreland basin by the Gunnison thrust system during Late Cretaceous time. Alluvial and lacustrine fill of the basin, represented by the North Horn Formation, ranges in age from 75 to 51 Ma. The eastern basin margin is defined by a system of west-verging thrust faults that were active episodically during North Horn deposition. Along this margin, well-exposed strata, 10 km wide and 1.2 km thick, displays striking changes in adjacent depositional facies, sediment provenance, and sediment dispersal directions. Two-dimensional mapping and precise paleomagnetic dating of these strata provide evidence for deciphering the evolution of and controls upon deposition in the basin. Sediment accumulation rates in the eastern part of the basin alternated between times of rapid aggradation and times of incision or nondeposition with a cyclicity of 5–8 m.y. This alternation was caused by the interaction of flexural lithospheric subsidence and uplift of the basin by the underlying Gunnison thrust system. Competition between the relative rates of these processes also determined the nature of depositional facies in the basin, such that active uplift of the basin margin did not correspond to a unique facies type. Uplift of the basin margin on thrust structures of the Gunnison system is associated with two different types of sedimentologic response: (1) channel-belt incision during and after the formation of well-drained, mature paleosols on interfluves; and (2) deposition of lacustrine, palustrine, and poorly drained flood-plain sediment. The former response probably resulted from rapid uplift of the basin during times of low rates of regional subsidence, whereas the latter resulted from basin uplift during times of greater regional subsidence. Lack of correspondence between basin-margin uplift and load-induced subsidence indicates that motion on the Gunnison thrust and loading by out-of-sequence thrusting within the Sevier orogenic belt were out of phase. Channel deposits that mark the position of major fluvial systems are stacked vertically within the basin. North of this stacked channel system, fluvial channels are rare, and deposits of the basin are dominated by overbank and lacustrine facies associations. Fluvial incision of the eastern basin margin apparently fixed the position at which rivers flowed across the basin-bounding uplift and into the adjacent foreland. The observed concentration of channel deposits within the basin persisted for >24 m.y. This long-term feature may have been caused by pinning of drainage paths either where rivers crossed the western basin margin or at a reentrant in the interior of the thrust belt. This study demonstrates that structural controls may fix the location where major rivers drain from a thrust belt through significant periods of thrust belt evolution.


Chinese made eye shadows (cosmetic commonly used by women and children) were analysed to determine the levels of heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cr, Co, and Mn) in the products. Different samples of eye shadow were randomly selected from products available in the shops at Zaria, Kano and Kaduna markets in Nigeria. After digestion with concentrated acids (HNO3 and HCl), concentrations of the selected heavy metals were determined in triplicate using a flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Nickel, copper, zinc, cobalt and manganese were detected in all the colours of eye shadow in varying concentrations. Chromium was also detected in all the colours except one (Diamond pink). The regulations relating to cosmetics products gave no limit values for toxic elements such as metals occurring as impurities in cosmetics products. However, it has been proposed that the levels of nickel, cobalt and chromium should preferably be less than 170 μgg-1 and Lead should not exceed 20 μgg-1. 85% of the colours have Ni and Co concentrations above 170 μgg-1 but Cr concentrations were below this limit in all the colours. Only 2 brands (3 colours) have lead content higher than 20 μgg-1. 7 out of 20 colours (35%) of the brands of eye shadows contain cadmium at low concentrations. It is obvious from the present study that the use of facial cosmetics like eye shadow exposes users to low levels of heavy metals.


Weaver Syndrome is a low frequency syndrome caused by mutations in the EZH2 gene. Individuals with Weaver Syndrome have similar physical abnormalities as well as overall low cognitive functioning, motor deficits, and difficulties with independent living skills. This is a case study that presents the neurocognitive profile of n 11 year old female diagnosed with Weaver Syndrome. This was the child's first neuropsychological evaluation following a long-standing history of concerns regarding her cognitive abilities, academic achievement, and independent living skills. Results of the evaluation revealed extremely low range cognitive functioning, as well as below age expectation performance across a majority of cognitive domains. While the child's neurocognitive profile was similar to prior research regarding cognitive outcomes in children with Weaver Syndrome, additional research on the neurocognitive profile of children with Weaver Syndrome is indicated.


In this paper, we propose a reliability-oriented design of a linear generator-based prototype of a wave energy conversion (WEC), useful for the production of hydrogen in a sheltered water area like Mediterranean Sea. The hydrogen production has been confirmed by a lot of experimental testing and simulations. The system design is aimed to enhance the robustness and reliability and is based on an analysis of the main WEC failures reported in literature. The results of this analysis led to some improvements that are applied to a WEC system prototype for hydrogen production and storage. The proposed WEC system includes the electrical linear generator, the power conversion system, and a sea-water electrolyzer. A modular architecture is conceived to provide ease of extension of the power capability of the marine plant. The experimental results developed on the permanent magnet linear electric generator have allowed identification of the stator winding typology and, consequently, ability to size the power electronics system. The produced hydrogen has supplied a low-power fuel cell stack directly connected to the hydrogen output from the electrolyzer. The small-scale prototype is designed to be installed, in the near future, into the Mediterranean Sea. As shown by experimental and simulation results, the small-scale prototype is suitable for hydrogen production and storage from sea water in this area.


Error control codes are now successfully applied to computer systems and communication systems. When we consider some types of computer words or communication messages, the information in some part of the word is more important than the other. Address and control information in computer words and communication messages and pointer information in database words are good examples. The more important the part of the word is, or the less reliable the part is, the more strongly it should be protected from errors. Based on this, this paper proposes a new class of codes, called unequal error control codes, which have some unequal error control levels in the codeword, that is, have some distinct code functions in the codeword and protect the part of the word from errors according to its importance or reliability level. From a simple and practical viewpoint, this paper adopts the model of the codeword which includes two unequal levels: one having strong error control level in some part of the codeword, called fixed-byte, and the other having relatively weak error control level outside the fixed-byte. This paper deals with three basic unequal error control codes. For all types of codes, the paper clarifies necessary and sufficient conditions and bounds on code length and demonstrates code construction method of the optimal codes and evaluation of these codes from the perspectives of error correction/detection capability and decoder hardware complexity.


The sea otter (Enhydra lutris) is an amphibious marine mammal that is vulnerable to coastal anthropogenic disturbance. Effective management of noise-generating activities within sea otter habitats requires information about hearing that is presently unavailable for this species. As an initial step toward describing the auditory capabilities of sea otters, we used a controlled exposure approach to conservatively estimate the aerial frequency range of hearing in four captive individuals. The study was designed to determine which frequencies were audible to each animal rather than to quantify auditory sensitivity. To this end, the sea otters were intermittently exposed to relatively highamplitude tones between 0.063 and 45.3 kHz— and to blank "control" events—during periods of sustained rest. Positive responses to both the sound exposure trials and the control trials were scored by experimentally blind observers and used to determine statistically reliable detections at each frequency. The widest confirmed hearing range measured for the sea otters was 0.125 to 32 kHz. Our results indicate that sea otters can detect a broad range of airborne sounds, similar to many terrestrial carnivores that have been studied. These are the first hearing measurements obtained for this species, and the results are relevant to improving understanding of sea otter acoustic communication, evolutionary biology, and behavioral ecology, as well as in supporting ongoing conservation efforts. This method can be adapted to examine the acoustic detection capabilities of species for which little data are available and for which conventional audiometry may prove challenging.


Emerging communication practices in digitally mediated professional settings have changed the paradigm of current workforce requirements. This paper presents the results of a survey on the way people communicate virtually in the workplace and the specific needs that have been detected concerning virtual communication practices. The survey itself was carried out within the context of CoMoViWo, a European Erasmus Project which involves the participation of five European countries. Specifically, the current study carries out a contrastive analysis of the results of the needs analysis of Spanish and Finnish users of digital communication tools. The data obtained from the study highlights the differences found with regard to the communicative strategies preferred by the virtual workers of both countries. Although they all need to communicate formally on most online tools, Spanish workers prefer more informal registers in emails and social networking than Finnish virtual workers. Also, Spanish speakers manifest a greater need than the Finnish interviewees for improving strategies involving greetings, virtual presentations and negotiating. On the other hand, Finnish speakers perceive they only need to develop strategies in managing and/or hosting virtual group interactions. The study has implications, and should contribute to the development of learning modules to train future employees to communicate successfully in an increasingly globalized world that is engaged daily in virtual communication.


This bibliography includes the most important basic sources for accounting and auditing information in the Gelman Library. Addiitional relevant taxation information can be found in the University's Jacob Burns Law Library.


In this paper, intergranular microfracture evolution in polycrystalline brittle materials is simulated using a cohesive grain boundary integral formulation. A linear cohesive law is used for modelling multiple microcracking initiation and propagation under mixed mode failure conditions, encountering the stochastic e=ects of the grain location, morphology and orientation. Furthermore, in cases where crack surfaces come into contact, slide or separate, fully frictional contact analysis is performed.


Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA

Background: GNAS, a gene encoding G-protein stimulating alpha subunit, is frequently mutated in pancreatic intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs) that are indolent neoplasms secreting abundant mucin and are considered to be one of precursors of pancreatic cancer. GNAS mutation is not found in conventional ductal adenocarcinomas of the pancreas or pancreatic cystic neoplasms except IPMN. Mutated GNAS is supposed to upregulate intracellular cAMP and activate GPCR pathway, however, its phenotype in pancreatic ductal cells is unknown.

Methods: To determine the functional significance of GNAS mutation, we examined in vitro phenotypes of cells of pancreatic ductal lineage, HPDE, PK-8, PCI-35, and MIA PaCa-2, with exogenous expression of either wild-type or mutated (R201H) GNAS. cAMP assay, real time PCR for mucin gene expressions, serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) with pathway analysis using KEGG, colony formation assay and MTT assay for proliferation, and flow cytometry for cell cycle were performed. Interactions between GPCR, MAPK and PI3K pathways for expression of mucin genes were also determined.

Results: The exogenous GNAS induced increasing of intracellular cAMP, however, the degree of increasing appeared to be cell-type specific. The exogenous GNAS showed no obvious cell-growth promotion or cell cycle alterations but suppressions of proliferation and survival of some cells. In SAGE analysis, the exogenous GNAS induced varying degrees of alterations in global gene expression profiles. PK-8 exhibited drastic alterations in the gene expression profile, which indicated that it was most sensitive to the mutated GNAS among the cells examined. Moreover, the exogenous GNAS upregulated expression of MUC2 and MUC5AC in PK-8 and HPDE. On the other hand, PCI-35 and MIA PaCa-2 cells exhibited modest change of gene expression profiles and downregulation of mucin genes. Pathway analysis revealed that mutated GNAS altered expression of genes involved in PI3K and MAPK signaling pathways. Furthermore, the experiments using MAPK and PI3K inhibitors clarified that these signaling contributed mucin gene expressions as GPCR did, however, their roles for mucin gene expressions were diverse and cell-type specific.

Conclusion: Mutated GNAS found in IPMNs can extensively alter gene expression profiles, including expression of mucin genes, with the interaction with MAPK and PI3K pathways in pancreatic ductal-lineage cells, which may determine the characteristic phenotype of the neoplasm.

Citation Format: Hirotake Komatsu, Naoaki Sakata, Takeshi Aoki, Fuyuhiko Motoi, Takeshi Naitoh, Yu Katayose, Shinichi Egawa, Michiaki Unno, Toru Furukawa. A GNAS mutation found in pancreatic intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms changes mucin gene expression and gene expression profiles. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 4407. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-4407


The utility of specific assay of urinary catechols in pheochromocytoma diagnosis was examined by reviewing our data on the investigation of pheochromocytoma in a population of 2476 patients investigated over a six-year period. We used specific gas-chromatographic/mass-spectrometric (GC/MS) analysis for the simultaneous measurement of norepinephrine, dopamine, and the neuronal metabolites 3,4-dihydroxyphenylglycol (DHPG) and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) in all samples; the last two years of data collection (from 1101 patients) also included the specific GC/MS assay of epinephrine. The importance of assaying epinephrine as well as norepinephrine was shown by these latter data. During this latter period, 19 of 1101 patients were found to have pheochromocytoma; of these, nine had tumors that exclusively secreted norepinephrine, six had tumors that exclusively secreted epinephrine, and four exhibited excess production of both norepinephrine and epinephrine. Neither dopamine nor DOPAC was useful in the diagnosis of pheochromocytoma. A substantial proportion of patients may have uniquely epinephrine-secreting pheochromocytomas, previously considered a rarity. Thus we recommend that the biochemical testing for pheochromocytoma include the specific measurement of both norepinephrine and epinephrine.