Modern Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) provides flexible access to data center resources on demand in an elastic fashion to meet the highly variable workload requirements of cloud applications. Cloud providers aim to provision resources as efficiently and as quickly as possible to their consumers. However, the lack of information about the hosted applications and their workloads makes it hard for cloud providers to anticipate the future resource demands of their customers so that they can plan the capacity of their infrastructure. Cloud providers can receive arbitrary requests for allocating resources on-the-fly in a completely unpredictable manner. Given this unpredictability, it may happen that providers might not be able to provision the requested resources quickly enough, or in the worst case, they might ran out of capacity and may not be able to satisfy their customers resource demands. To address these concerns, in this paper we propose a new resource reservation mechanism, based on the concept of soft reservations, addressing the issue of uncertainty and lack of information concerning the expected future customer workloads and corresponding resource demands. The proposed resource reservation mechanism makes it possible for cloud providers to better plan the capacity of their infrastructure and continuously optimize the placement of virtual machines on physical nodes thus improving the infrastructure cost and energy efficiency. It also takes into account the uncertainty of resource demand estimations and enables proactive online capacity planning resulting in cost benefits for both cloud providers and cloud customers.


This paper proposes a new chevron type bi-stable MEMS actuator using hinges and coupling bar for the improvement of the stable latch-up operation. The thickness of the hinge is determined as 2.6 /spl mu/m oriented in the diagonal direction based on the analytical results for the buckling actuation with low voltage operation. The proposed equivalent stiffness modeling is in a good agreement with the FEA using ANSYS. Considering the effect of the hinge thickness reduction into the equivalent stiffness modeling, the operation performance is analyzed. The voltage required for the bi-stable actuation is also calculated, which predicts 36.1 V and 37.4 V as the voltages of the forward and backward actuation for the stroke 60 /spl mu/m, respectively.


The distribution of the threatened ant Dinoponera lucida is limited to the south of the State of Bahia, farthest east of Minas Gerais and north of Espirito Santo, Brazil. Recent cytogenetic studies carried out in 15 sites distributed along the range of the ant indicated high chromosome number variation in the popula- tions of Bahia, 2n=106 to 120 chromosomes, while the populations of Espirito Santo presented a constant number, with 2n=118 chromosomes. This study aimed at describing the banding pattern of D. lucida chromosomes, in some populations of Espirito Santo and Bahia, applying the Hsc-FA technique (secondary constriction heterochromatin-associated bands by fl uorescence using acridine) and identifying the nucleolar organizing region (active NORs) impregnated with AgNO 3 which is especially important for the cytogenetic characterization of a species. The utiliza- tion of these two techniques showed positive interstitial markings on the region of the long arm of the pair AM t , similar to those obtained with the CMA 3 fl uorochrome and with the FISH technique complementing the cytogenetic data of this species.


Can recent developments in video projection techniques aid us in finding new ways of expressing our creativity and creative audio-visual works on a new surface other than the screen? Video Mapping is one of the newest video projection techniques that are used to turn almost any surface into a dynamic video display. The aim of video mapping is to create a physical illusion of images by combining audio-visual elements. Most of the mapping projects are used in fashion shows, corporate events, concerts and theatrical performances. Lately a new trend of video mapping system is being used on architectural and historical structures, buildings and displayed in public spaces to reach a wider audience. This paper will focus on 3 aspects of video mapping and its application; 1) the technical aspects of video mapping and its tools. 2) the conceptual development of the project YEKPARE and the application of video mapping on Haydarpasa Terminal within the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture events. 3) the feedback from the audiences who have experienced the performance and the effects of video mapping.


1. From evidence already available, it is clear that malnutrition is rife in two widely separated centres of Central and South Africa (Kenya and Johannesburg). It is postulated that malnutrition, with local clinical variations, affects the majority of the indigenous inhabitants from the equator to the Transvaal. Until further surveys are made in the intervening districts, a dogmatic statement about the whole area cannot be made. It is suggested that malnutrition is a cause of the indifferent attainments of the Bantu race. 2. The food of the Rhodesian native has been examined in some detail. It is clear, both from Government documents and direct observation, that the diet eaten by many natives is unsatisfactory. Even the official mining rations are inadequate. Moreover, a large percentage of natives exist on allowances inferior to this scale. 3. Sixty-five per cent of Rhodesian natives show clinical, signs of malnutrition. It is considered that this estimate is conservative. 4. The vitamin A content of many African diets falls below any of the recommended minimum prophylactic doses. Diseases usually attributed to vitamin A deficiency are common in Southern Rhodesia: (a) Bitot's spots, night-blindness and xerophthalmia are frequently seen at the three ophthalmological clinics maintained by the Government Medical Service. (b) Phrynoderma is found in 37 per cent of normal natives. This condition has been observed in association with avitaminosis A, scurvy and chronic starvation. A limited investigation was carried out on the therapeutic effects of vitamin A and ascorbic acid. It was shown that these substances are curative in some cases and of no benefit in others. The aetiology of phrynoderma is complex, individual idiosyncrasy is probably a factor in its development. 5. Thiamine deficiency is uncommon and unimportant in Southern Rhodesia. 6. Pellagra and ariboflavinosis are considered together. The characteristics of these diseases are present in a minimal form in a large percentage of normal Africans. The theme of this discussion is that these syndromes are not to be regarded as specific deficiencies of certain vitamins, but manifestations of an acute episode in the process of chronic malnutrition. 7. Kwashiorkor is not only Rhodesia's most serious nutritional problem, it is a common cause of death in African children. A great many infants pass through a subclinical phase of this disease; the apparent recovery is not complete, and permanent damage is done to the tissues. The modern aetiology incriminates a high calorific diet containing inadequate proteins. The African methods of infant feeding are particularly suitable for the development of Kwashiorkor. 8. The only sources of vitamin C for many employed natives are meat and kaffir beer. The fact that so many Africans maintain health on these low intakes is practical proof that the minimum protective dose of ascorbic acid required to prevent scurvy is very small. Certain aspects of scurvy were investigated: i. Scurvy is a common and important disease in Southern Rhodesia. ii. There is no real difference in the clinical picture of the European and African disease. iii. Vitamin P is of no therapeutic value in the treatment of scurvy. iv. The association of avitaminosis C with tropical myositis was not established. 9. For practical purposes, vitamin D deficiencies do not occur in Southern Rhodesia.


Purpose Timely recanalization during endovascular procedures for acute ischemic stroke can be challenging in cases with large clot burden as those encountered in the terminal internal carotid, T- or L-type occlusion. Methods A novel but simple technique to achieve fast reduction in clot burden in stroke patients with occlusion of the internal carotid artery termination is described where manual suction using a 60 ml syringe applied through an 8-French Balloon guide catheter positioned in the cervical carotid vasculature with proximal flow arrest allows subsequent revascularization of the residual middle cerebral artery clot. Results The use of manual suction through balloon-tipped guide catheter in ICA L- or T-type occlusion is illustrated. This resulted in significant reduction of the clot burden and facilitated further interventions leading to full recanalization. Conclusion Manual suction using 60 ml syringe through balloon guide catheter is a useful and feasible technique that facilitates thrombectomy of large burden cerebral clots. Competing interests None.Abstract E-077 Figure 1


BACKGROUND
Reamed intramedullary nailing is the current gold standard for the treatment of diaphyseal fractures of the femur and tibia. Current concepts of orthopedic damage control surgery for patients with multiple injuries have placed an emphasis on appropriate surgical timing, limiting blood loss, and the duration of the initial operative procedure(s). Proponents of unreamed nailing have stated that reaming places polytraumatized patients "at risk," in part because it adds to the length of the surgical procedure and may exacerbate the severity of a patient's pulmonary injury. The purpose of this study was to determine how many minutes reaming actually takes and what percentage of operative time reaming comprises during intramedullary nailing of femoral and tibial shaft fractures.

METHODS
Intraoperative timing data were collected prospectively on a total of 52 patients with 54 fractures (21 femoral and 33 tibial) who underwent reamed intramedullary nailing of acute closed or open femoral or tibial shaft fractures over a 10-month period. Total operating room, surgical, and reaming times were collected.

RESULTS
The average reaming time for femur and tibia fractures was 6.9 minutes and 7 minutes, respectively. On average, reaming accounted for 4.9% of the surgical time and 3.2% of the total operating room time for femur fractures and 4.9% of the surgical time and 3.4% of the total operating room for tibia fractures.

CONCLUSION
Our results show that reaming comprises a small percentage of the operative time and the total time a patient spends in the operating room.


The period 1250-1300 witnessed the emergence of a corpus of musical theory which was to provide a framework for most of the important treatises composed during the following centuries. One aspect of the theory is examined here: the analysis of scale (intervals and combinations of intervals); and on the basis of this examination an attempt is made to present a coherent picture of one aspect of musical practice: the modal system. The introduction discusses the relationship between Arabian and Persian music, and describes briefly the attitudes towards music prevalent in Islamic society and their effect upon the literature. Part 1 presents a critique of the preconceptions involved in the analysis of intervals, and an annotated transcription of the species and fixed scales recorded during the period. Part 2 begins by examining the various groups to which the modes were assigned in order to ascertain whether they can be justified on purely structural grounds. Consideration of the criteria employed in determining grades of consonance is followed by a discussion of the modal system in terms of basic units and the ways they combine. Comparison between two accounts of the system suggests a pattern of historical development; and also that the earlier account misrepresents certain features. Part 3 continues the examination of the later eiccount. Further material from this is given, revealing a second set of unit combinations which is compared and contrasted with the first. Finally, the examples of notation are transcribed and briefly discussed. The relevant texts are presented in part 4.


Tongues of Egyptian lizards Chalcides ocellatus and Chalcides sepsoides are investigated under scanning and transmission electron microscope. Their tongues are divided into tip, anterior, middle and posterior regions. In C. ocellatus, the tip region is bifurcated and protected with strong, non-papillosed, keratinized epithelium. The lingual papillae are separating with wide trenches except in the middle region. Papillae of the anterior and posterior regions have serrated and imbricated ends oriented in the posterior direction. The surface epithelia is studded by tiny or reticular microvilli. Ultra-sections show that the imbricated portions have goblet cells rich in numerous secretory granules. The lamina propria of each papilla is provided with striated muscle fibers. The distribution and orientation of the lingual muscle fibers prove that the tongue is adapted for snipping, masticate and swallowing their praise. In C. sepsoides tongue, the tip region is slightly bifurcated. All lingual papillae have different shapes with narrow moats separating between them. Those of the anterior and posterior regions have free ends overlapped towards the anterior or posterior directions, respectively, while that of the middle region is not imbricated. The surface epithelia of the tongue has dispersed or aggregated microvilli. In the tongue of the C. sepsoides, new structures are described for the first time. At its ventral aspect, there is an accessory lingual muscle formed of numerous muscle fibers orient to the vertical, transverse or longitudinal directions. These orientations prove that the tongue is able to mash and suck the prey's sherbets. At the end of the posterior region, there is a ciliated concave depression hosting a laryngotracheal organ, which has T-shaped crevice precedent by large fleshy highly ciliated lip supported by inflexible folds.


Optical communication channels are ultimately quantum-mechanical in nature, and we must therefore look beyond classical information theory to determine their communication capacity as well as to find efficient encoding and decoding schemes of the highest rates. Thermal channels, which arise from linear coupling of the field to a thermal environment, are of particular practical relevance; their classical capacity has been recently established, but their quantum capacity remains unknown. While the capacity sets the ultimate limit on reliable communication rates, it does not promise that such rates are achievable by practical means. Here we construct efficiently encodable codes for thermal channels which achieve the classical capacity and the so-called Gaussian coherent information for transmission of classical and quantum information, respectively. Our codes are based on combining polar codes with a discretization of the channel input into a finite "constellation" of coherent states. Encoding of classical information can be done using linear optics.


The movement of urea across plasma membranes is modulated by facilitated urea transporter proteins. These proteins are the products of two closely related genes, termed UT-A (Slc14a2) and UT-B (Slc14a1). By genomic library screening and P1 artificial chromosome "shotgun" sequencing, we have determined the structure of the mouse UT-A gene. The gene is >300 kb in length, contains 24 exons, and has 2 distinct promoters. Flanking the 5'-region of the gene is the UT-Aalpha promoter that regulates transcription of UT-A1 and UT-A3. The second promoter, termed UT-Abeta, is present in intron 13 and regulates transcription of UT-A2. cAMP agonists (100 microM dibutryl cAMP, 25 microM forskolin, 0.5 mM IBMX) increased the activity of a 2.2-kb UT-Aalpha promoter construct 6.2-fold [from 0.026 +/- 0.003 to 0.160 +/- 0.004, relative light units (RLU)/microg protein] and a 2.4-kb UT-Abeta promoter construct 9.5-fold (from 0.020 +/- 0.002 to 0.190 +/- 0.043 RLU/microg protein) above that in untreated controls. Interestingly, only the UT-Abeta promoter contained consensus sequences for CREs and deletion of these elements abolished cAMP sensitivity. Increasing the tonicity of culture medium from 300 to 600 mosmol/kg H(2)O with NaCl caused a significant increase (from 0.060 +/- 0.004 to 0.095 +/- 0.010 RLU/microg protein) in UT-Aalpha promoter activity but had no effect on the UT-Abeta promoter. A tonicity-responsive enhancer was identified in UT-Aalpha and is suggested to be responsible for mediating this effect. Levels of UT-A2 and UT-A3 mRNA were increased in thirsted mice compared with control animals, indicating that the activities of both promoters are likely to be elevated during prolonged antidiuresis.


Increasing numbers of overweight and obese children resulting from sedentary and abundant lifestyles are a health concern in Hong Kong and other affluent communities around the globe. The importance of physical activity is well documented for health and wellbeing, with sedentary behavior emerging as an independent risk factor for chronic diseases and mortality. In this study, Pender's Health-Promotion Model informed the development of an intervention program aimed to engage junior high school students in increased physical activity, specifically brisk-walking. The model set out to motivate participants to engage in behaviors to enhance their health across the life span, including developing self-efficacy with regard to brisk walking. The intervention featured four stages. First, participants were provided with information about the benefits and in stage two were trained in the technique of brisk walking. Next they engaged in the brisk walking program and in stage four were encouraged to serve as health ambassadors by introducing brisk walking and its associated benefits to others, thereby exercising peer influence to diffuse the practice of brisk walking more widely among members of the community. Motivational strategies were used as incentives in the program, including the involvement of a popular singing band to award certificates at the completion of the program. This 7-week intervention program including a 4-week brisk walking component was conducted in a high school context with 71 participants. Data were collected to enable paired-sample t-tests to be conducted to statistically analyze the data at pre- and post-intervention. Findings indicate significant differences among the mean Body Mass Index (BMI), Waist-to-Hip Ratio (WHR), knowledge and attitudes of the participants at pre- and post-intervention. These findings suggest that the intervention was effective as a strategy to reduce sedentary behavior with the concomitant effect of positive shifts in measurable indicators and attitudes.


Green criminology is a special criminology branch, whose subject matter is environmental crime and phenomena alike (green crime), whereas ecofeminism is a socio-political movement/ideology with the fundamental premise about the conceptual links between the oppression of nature and the oppression of woman, but as well about the links among many other oppressive systems. This work takes ecofeminist theory as a perspective of green criminology, and, exploring the phenomenon of green crime within global aspect, its etiology, as well as vicitimological data, answers the most relevant criminological questions: Who? What? Where? When? How? and Why?. Ecofeminist theory, as is proven in this work, represents the most adequate perspective of green criminology, for it provides the most accurate insights into the issues of phenomenology, etiology, and victimology of green crime, particularly regarding the factors of this type of crime, and recognition of, and help to, its victims. One of the primary matters herein is providing the answer to the question of why many ecologically harmful activities are not recognized as criminal, and what would the legislative reform be like with the aim of recognizing, criminalizing, and preventing these activities. The dissertation sets, too, a new scientific approach/orientation, i.e. points to the reforms within criminological research with the objective of suppressing and preventing of, and consciousness raising about, the phenomenon in question. The dissertation as well provides certain pragmatical solutions and proposals, in relation to suppression and prevention of green crime. Green crime develops as one of the most serious transnational types of crime, so that the study, suppression, and prevention thereof requires exactly this kind of reformative approach.


Language teacher education research has convincingly shown that teaching placements can function as an opportunity for pre-service teachers to connect the theoretical knowledge acquired at university with actual classroom practices. Despite the extensive body of empirical research that has been generated in different foreign language education contexts, the Greek context still remains under-investigated. The purpose of the current qualitative and longitudinal study—framed within Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA)—is to explore how seven pre-service language teachers of Greek as a Foreign Language (L2) reflect on their professional learning, development and growth as a result of their teaching placement at a language school in Barcelona, Spain. Their perceptions were gathered before and after their placements through questionnaires and interviews. Results showed that participants perceived their placement as crucial for their professional learning and development. They regarded reflective practices as having played a key role in their growth as teachers and professionals. The study concludes by discussing some implications for the design and development of L2 Greek teacher education programs.


This paper reports results from an analysis of interviews and surveys with computational modelers. The interviews involved asking participants if they felt that modelers should follow a code of ethics. The survey included the Schwartz Value Survey and questions about experiences with and views on codes of ethics. The paper identifies two key themes from the interview data: being faithful to the reality and values of users and that codes of ethics should be developed from the bottom-up. The paper also identifies statistically significant differences between the values of modelers who are aware of and have read existing codes of ethics and who believe that modelers should follow a code of ethics and modelers with contrasting experiences and views, in terms of sixteen basic human values. The study enriches understanding of the complex relationships between codes of ethics and individuals' values.


Abstract Picaria is a traditional board game, played by the Zuni tribe of the American Southwest and other parts of the world, such as a rural Southwest region in Sweden. It is related to the popular children's game of Tic-tac-toe, but the 2 players have only 3 stones each, and in the second phase of the game, pieces are slided, along specified move edges, in attempts to create the three-in-a-row. We provide a rigorous solution, and prove that the game is a draw; moreover our solution gives insights to strategies that players can use.


This study investigates L1-L2 convergence among bilinguals at an intermediate (CEFRB2) level of L2 proficiency, focusing on the clausal packaging of Manner and Path of motion. Previous research has shown cross-linguistic differences between English and Japanese in this domain (Allen et al., 2003; Kita & Özyürek, 2003, though note Brown & Gullberg, in press.). We compared descriptions of motion from monolingual English and Japanese speakers to L1 and L2 descriptions from Japanese users of English as a second (ESL) and foreign (EFL) language. Results showed no significant difference between the monolinguals, who predominately used single-clause constructions packaging Manner and Path. However, bilinguals, both ESL and EFL speakers of English, used significantly more multi-clause constructions in both their L1 and L2. Following Pavlenko (2011a), findings are interpreted as evidence for L1-L2 convergence. We discuss potential bidirectional cross-linguistic influences underpinning the L1-L2 convergence and implications for the restructuring of bilingual systems.


The seasonal dynamics of tick Amblyomma cohaerens on naturally infested cattle in Jimma Zone was studied from September 1998 to September 2000 using fifty cattles in five Localities. Monthly tick counts were made for two consecutive years. Although, Amblyomma cohaerens infestation occurred throughout the year, it was greater at the beginning and end of the rainy season. High humidity and temperature were the factors that influence the seasonal variation.Th e study on the host preference of different blood groups showed that host selection and specificity correlate with the abundance and distribution of the tick. These have been reflected by the presence of more tick in highbred cattle than the indigenous Zebu .


We estimate the evolution of the conditional joint distribution of economic and financial conditions. While the joint distribution is approximately Gaussian during normal periods, sharp tightenings of financial conditions lead to the emergence of additional modes. The U.S. economy has historically resolved quickly to the "good" mode, but we conjecture that poor policy choices could lead to prolonged periods of multimodality. We argue that multimodality arises naturally in a macro-financial intermediary model with occasionally binding intermediary constraints.


Under a context of transmission open access, a methodology to define a common transmission trunk system using economic and technical criteria is proposed. A transmission trunk system is defined as a unique and common system constituted by electrical lines and substations that are economically efficient and necessary to allow the development of an electrical market and the supply of demand in the respective electrical system at a minimum cost and in an efficient manner. The principles of cooperation and interaction between agents that are the base for the cooperative games theory are used. Simple games and the Shapley value approach are used. The proposal responds to the need to identify a common main system, common to supply and demand agents, needed in system open access schemes in electricity markets


Background—The aim of the present study was to establish whether isolated neonatal mammalian cardiomyocytes were capable of downregulating energy-using processes other than contraction while maintaining metabolic stability when oxygen availability was reduced. Methods and Results—Metabolic response of cardiomyocytes was investigated under moderate (5 to 6 mmol/L) and severe (2 to 3mmol/L) forms of hypoxia. Cells exposed to oxygen concentrations of 5 to 6 mmol/L exhibited rates of oxygen consumption, which were decreased to 64% of normoxic rates. Rates of cellular energy usage were decreased because this reduced rate of oxygen consumption was not associated with either decreased intracellular ATP and phosphocreatine concentrations or a compensatory switch to glycolysis. When cells were exposed to oxygen concentrations of 2 to 3 mmol/L, rates of oxygen consumption decreased to 9% of normoxic rates. This decreased rate of oxygen consumption was associated with energetic stress, because a significant switch to glycolysis occurred and intracellular phosphocreatine concentrations were decreased by 40%. Rates of cellular energy usage were further decreased as indicated by stable intracellular ATP concentrations. Conclusions—Our results suggest that isolated cardiomyocytes are capable of downregulating energy-consuming processes other than contraction when oxygen supply is decreased. Regions of myocardial tissue are also capable of downregulating metabolic activity during ischemia by shutting down contractile activity (myocardial hibernation). We suggest that metabolic downregulation associated with myocardial hibernation may not be exclusively due to reduced rates of contractile activity. Other energy-using processes (eg, protein synthesis, mRNA synthesis, ion channel activity, and proton leak) may also be shut down. (Circulation. 2000;102:3124-3129.)


AuScope aims to establish world-class research infrastructure to enable the characterisation of structure and evolution for the Australian continent. AuScope's Simulation, Analysis and Modelling capability makes it possible to draw together geological data-products and analysis software, for the purpose of developing quality scenario models.This allows researchers to test geological hypotheses and to answer large-scale "what-if " questions relevant to Australia's geological resources.This 2010 demonstrator an example "what-if" scenario. The model below shows the geothermal potential of New South Wales' Gunnedah basin combining information from over 150 exploration holes, and all available geophysical data. It shows the temperature of the Lachlan-foldbelt basement beneath the thick sedimentary cover of particular interest to Dr Craig O'Neill's research group. The demonstrator embeds a 3D model into the pdf, to enable interaction.


Owing to the supposed risks of reoperation, carotid stenting has been proposed as a treatment for carotid restenosis. The purpose of this study is to determine the safety and efficacy of carotid reoperation. From March 1988 to March 1997, 40 patients, 18 men and 22 women (mean age: 65 years) underwent a total of 43 redo carotid procedures by our group. Two patients had both sides repaired and one required a second reoperation. Symptomatic recurrent carotid stenosis (>70%) was the indication in 25 reoperations and asymptomatic high-grade stenosis (>80%) was the indication in 18. The initial operation in 35 reoperations was carotid endarterectomy (CEA) with primary closure and in eight it was CEA with a prosthetic patch. The interval to recurrence was less in the 24 reoperations in patients who had myointimal hyperplasia (21 months) compared with 17 reoperations in patients with recurrent atherosclerosis (90 months). The other two reoperations were for an intimal flap 2 months after the original CEA, and for operative dilation of fibromuscular dysplastic bands missed on magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), distal to the site of a previous CEA. The technique of reoperation included redo CEA in two, CEA with vein patch in eight, CEA with prosthetic patch in 22, vein interposition graft in five, and prosthetic interposition graft in five. In addition, operative dilation with an arterial dilator was used in one reoperation. No perioperative strokes or deaths occurred other than one patient who died from cardiac complications following combined CEA and coronary artery bypass grafting. Operative morbidity consisted of pneumonia in one patient, reversible cranial nerve injury in four, and hematoma requiring evacuation in two. During follow-up (mean: 34 months), carotid occlusion resulted in a mild stroke in one patient, there were 10 late deaths not related to carotid disease, one patient required a reoperation, and three patients were lost to follow-up. The authors conclude that reoperation for recurrent carotid stenosis, using standard vascular techniques, is both safe and effective; it should continue to be the mainstay of treatment when intervention is required.


The depolarization ratios for the first hyperpolarizabilities of para-, meta-, and ortho-nitroanilines have been calculated in gas and solution phases. The results resolve ambiguities in the interpretation of experimental results for these quantities, and pinpoint the actual problems in previous simulations. It is argued that extraction of individual components of β of low symmetry molecules from experimental depolarization measurements alone is difficult, and that the support from simulations to extract the proper information is indispensable in most cases.


At the end of an immune response, activated lymphocyte populations contract, leaving only a small memory population. The deletion of CD8(+) T cells from the periphery is associated with an accumulation of CD8(+) T cells in the liver, resulting in both CD8(+) T cell apoptosis and liver damage. After adoptive transfer and in vivo activation of TCR transgenic CD8(+) T cells, an increased number of activated CD8(+) T cells was observed in the lymph nodes, spleen, and liver of mice treated with anti-TNF-alpha. However, caspase activity was decreased only in CD8(+) T cells in the liver, not in those in the lymphoid organs. These results indicate that TNF-alpha is responsible for inducing apoptosis in the liver and suggest that CD8(+) T cells escaping this mechanism of deletion can recirculate into the periphery.


We investigated the effect of contextual cuing (M. M. Chun & Y. Jiang, 1998) within the preview paradigm (D. G. Watson & G. W. Humphreys, 1997). Contextual cuing was shown with a 10-item letter search but not with more crowded 20-item displays. However, contextual learning did occur in a preview procedure in which 10 preview items were followed by 10 new items. Repeating the new items alone did not generate contextual learning, but repeating the preview items alone did, as long as they had a consistent spatial relation with the target. This was not merely due to the onset of the preview items being associated with the target location. No learning effect took place with a preview of homogeneous items that competed less for selection with new stimuli. The results provide evidence for old items being processed in preview search and providing a context for subsequent search of new items.


Transaction costs are a large proportion of the cost structure along the value chains of most industries, especially the food and beverage industries. Competition forces industries to structure their value chains to minimise transaction costs but, in agriculture, this process is commonly impeded by government intervention. In Australia, this has resulted in severe distortions to the structure of most agricultural industries. The wine industry, particularly in South Australia, has avoided or overcome these distortions more effectively than most and its current international competitiveness is the result. The paper proposes an analytical framework for assessing industry structure, describes the Australian wine industry in those terms and draws implications for other food and beverage industries.


In image-based relighting, a pixel is associated with a number of sampled radiance values. This paper presents a two-level compression method. In the first level, the plenoptic property of a pixel is approximated by a spherical radial basis function (SRBF) network. That means that the spherical plenoptic function of each pixel is represented by a number of SRBF weights. In the second level, we apply a wavelet-based method to compress these SRBF weights. To reduce the visual artifact due to quantization noise, we develop a constrained method for estimating the SRBF weights. Our proposed approach is superior to JPEG, JPEG2000, and MPEG. Compared with the spherical harmonics approach, our approach has a lower complexity, while the visual quality is comparable. The real-time rendering method for our SRBF representation is also discussed.


ABSTRACT This article examines the role of the third sector and civil society in addressing the inadequacies of state policies on migration in Europe. It centres on the Imam Hussain Blood Donation Campaign (IHBDC), a faith-based, third sector organisation which is established by second and third generation of Shia Muslim British citizens. The study utilises ethnography and interviews with all of the main figures of the IHBDC activists and many donors across England and Scotland. There are two analytic goals for this study. First, it re-examines the gift-relationship theory of Richard Titmuss on using blood donation as a policy tool. Secondly, it explains how a religious narrative can shape the civic engagement of children of migrants and help them in negotiating their sense of identity in the British context. The idea is that religiously reinforced civic engagement empowers them in their transition to establishing a unique European Shia identity.


Education should spearhead and reform or reconstruct communities so that they become better. Islamic education must be directed to the fulfillment of philosophical ideals (self strength) so that it has a faith-based self quality. The education of the modern world must be able to integrate all the elements of values that exist in life, have worldly and finality aspects so that in their development these two aspects are equally running and can create an accountable education. This is an explorative descriptive qualitative research that describes philosophical views and thoughts about the reconstruction of Islamic education according to Muhammad Iqbal. The Finding this research Muhammad Iqbal views that now is the time for Muslims to reconstruct their thinking in various fields, including the field of Islamic education which aims to form human beings (real people) with human criteria that have strength, broad insight, fair deeds and have wise policies so that being a human being in the Qur'an is mentioned as a perfect being.


In this paper we study classes of graphs with three types of edges that capture the modified independence structure of a directed acyclic graph (DAG) after marginalisation over unobserved variables and conditioning on selection variables using the �� -separation criterion. These include MC, summary, and ancestral graphs. As a modification of MC graphs we define the class of ribbonless graphs (RGs) that permits the use of the �� -separation criterion. RGs contain summary and ancestral graphs as subclasses, and each RG can be generated by a DAG after marginalisation and conditioning. We derive simple algorithms to generate RGs, from given DAGs or RGs, and also to generate summary and ancestral graphs in a simple way by further extension of the RG-generating algorithm. This enables us to develop a parallel theory on these three classes and to study the relationships between them as well as the use of each class.


Functional comparison and alignment of Protein Interaction Networks (PINs) will enable a better understanding of cellular organization and processes. Gene Ontology (GO) provides a structured standard vocabulary of functional terms of gene products, and has been used to measure the functional similarity between proteins. In this study, we propose an algorithm to measure the functional similarity between PINs based on GO. The algorithm simultaneously takes the PIN's network topology and semantic similarity of the component proteins into account. We employ the algorithm to measure the similarity between pathways present in the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database and cluster the pathways according to similarity. The results show great consistency with the function of these pathways.


Microseismic monitoring during a massive hydraulic injection experiment was performed in the Yufutsu gas field, JAPAN in May 2005. The reservoir is naturally fractured granite and overlaying conglomerate located at around 4 km depth. The monitoring network consisted of four deep stations and three shallow stations. 35 mutiplet groups were extracted from 3700 of microseismic events observed by the deep stations. We relocated these multiplets using the precise phase picking and the pseudo 3D velocity model. Location uncertainties of less than 20 m were small enough to delineate the fracture systems and the two dominant strikes of N-S and NE-SW were interpreted from the principal directions and the locations of the multiplet clusters. Furthermore, the focal mechanisms of the representative events of the every multiplet groups were constrained by the grid search technique performed on the observed P-wave polarity and S-wave polarization. The N-S and ENE-WSW dominant fracture systems are also estimated by the mechanisms. These dominant fracture orientations are consistent with the most likely orientations of shear slippages in the stress condition around the injection well, which is a strike-slip stress regime whose maximum horizontal stress axis is in NNE-SSW direction.


The little owl Athene noctua is a widespread species in Europe. This mainly sedentary owl experienced reduction in population sizes in some areas due to habitat loss and modification of the landscape. To assess the genetic structure of the populations of western and central Europe, we analysed 333 specimens from 15 geographical areas at 13 microsatellite loci. Statistical analyses and Bayesian clustering procedures detected two major genetically distinct clusters, the first distributed from Portugal to the Czech Republic and the second from the Balkans to Italy. The second cluster was further split into three groups, located in Italy, Sardinia and the Balkans. These groups match four previously-described mtDNA haplogroups, and probably originated from the isolation of little owl populations in Sardinia and in three glacial refugia (Iberia, south Italy and Balkans) during the ice ages. High genetic admixture was recorded in central and northern Europe, probably as a consequence of the expansion from the refugia during interglacial. The main colonization route originated from the Iberian Peninsula towards central and northern Europe. Contact zones with colonization events from Italy and the Balkans were detected respectively in northern Italy and central Europe. Genetic indices show the existence of moderate levels of genetic variability throughout Europe, although evidence of recent evolutionary bottlenecks was found in some populations. Estimation of migration rates and approximate Bayesian computations highlighted the most likely phylogeographical scenario for the current distribution of little owl populations.


Abstract These recommendations update the February 25, 2000 guidelines developed by the Public Health Service for the use of zidovudine (ZDV) to reduce the risk for perinatal human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) transmission.* This report provides health-care providers with information for discussion with HIV-1 infected pregnant women to enable such women to make an informed decision regarding the use of antiretroviral drugs during pregnancy and use of elective cesarean delivery to reduce perinatal HIV-1 transmission. Various circumstances that commonly occur in clinical practice are presented as scenarios and the factors influencing treatment considerations are highlighted in this report. It is recognized that strategies to prevent perinatal transmission and concepts related to management of HIV disease in pregnant women are rapidly evolving. The Perinatal HIV Guidelines Working Group will review new data on an ongoing basis and provide regular updates to the guidelines; the most recent information is available on the HIV/AIDS Treatment Information Service (ATIS) website (http://www.hivatis.org). In February 1994, the results of Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group (PACTG) Protocol 076 documented that ZDV chemoprophylaxis could reduce perinatal HIV-1 transmission by nearly 70%. Epidemiologic data have since confirmed the efficacy of ZDV for reduction of perinatal transmission and have extended this efficacy to children of women with advanced disease, low CD4+ T-lymphocyte counts, and prior ZDV therapy. Additionally, substantial advances have been made in the understanding of the pathogenesis of HIV-1 infection and in the treatment and monitoring of HIV-1 disease. These advances have resulted in changes in standard antiretroviral therapy for HIV-1 infected adults. More aggressive combination drug regimens that maximally suppress viral replication are now recommended. Although considerations associated with pregnancy may affect decisions regarding timing and choice of therapy, pregnancy is not a reason to defer standard therapy. The use of antiretroviral drugs in pregnancy requires unique considerations, including the potential need to alter dosing as a result of physiologic changes associated with pregnancy, the potential for adverse short- or long-term effects on the fetus and newborn, and the effectiveness for reducing the risk for perinatal transmission. Data to address many of these considerations are not yet available. Therefore, offering antiretroviral therapy to HIV-1-infected women during pregnancy, whether primarily to treat HIV-1 infection, to reduce perinatal transmission, or for both purposes, should be accompanied by a discussion of the known and unknown short- and long-term benefits and risks of such therapy for infected women and their infants. Standard antiretroviral therapy should be discussed with and offered to HIV-1-infected pregnant women. Additionally, to prevent perinatal transmission, ZDV chemoprophylaxis should be incorporated into the antiretroviral regimen.


Efforts to engineer novel membrane materials with enhanced anti-fouling and comprehensive properties as well as highly selective separation abilities are hampered by the lack of effective imprinted cavities and structure stability. In this work, a novel multi-component metal–organic nanocomposite imprinted membrane (MMO-MIM) has been prepared by integrating a bioinspired metal–organic methodology with the secondary surface sol–gel imprinting technique. The synthesis pathway of MMO-MIM involves two steps: initially, a self-polymerized polydopamine process followed by hydrolysis with ammonium fluotitanate on the surface of the PVDF membrane, a surface-initiated sol–gel imprinted procedure is then conducted on the obtained bio-adhesive nano-sized TiO2 surface system for the fabrication of MMO-MIM. Attributed to the formation of the multilayered membrane structure, stronger fouling resistance and largely enhanced adsorption capacities have been obtained in this case. Meanwhile, the as-prepared MMO-MIM not only exhibits rapid adsorption dynamics, but also possesses excellent separation performance (βMMO-MIM/MMO-NIM and βm-cresol/2,4-DP are higher than 2.6 and 4.0, respectively) of templates. In addition, all synthesis procedures were conducted in aqueous or ethanol solution at ambient temperature, which was environmental friendly for scaling up without causing pollution.


Partial shading in photovoltaic modules is an important reliability and performance concern for all photovoltaic technologies. In this paper, we show how cell geometry can be used as a design variable for improved performance and resilience towards partial shading in monolithic thin film photovoltaic (TFPV) modules. We use circuit simulations to illustrate the geometrical aspects of partial shading in typical TFPV modules with rectangular cells, and formulate rules for shade tolerant design. We show that the problem of partial shading can be overcome by modifying the cell shape and orientation, while preserving the module shape and output characteristics. We discuss two geometrical designs with cells arranged in radial and spiral patterns, which (a) prevent the reverse breakdown of partially shaded cells, (b) improve the overall power output under partial shading, and (c) in case of spiral design, improve the module efficiency by reducing sheet resistance losses. We compare these designs quantitatively using realistic parameters, and discuss the practical approaches to their implementation.


The regression QSAR models were built to predict the antimicrobial activity of new thiazole derivatives. Compounds with high predicting activity were synthesized and evaluated against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and fungi. 1,3-Thiazole-4-ylphosphonium salts 4 and 5 displayed good antibacterial properties and high antifungal activity. The predictions are in a good agreement with the experiment results, which indicate the good predictive power of the created QSAR models.


The use of Twitter as a tool for mobilisation has made digital social and political activism a growing area of interest in communication research. Scholars have underscored the effectiveness of Twitter in galvanising the opinion of broad sectors of the public and expressing the indignation of average citizens on issues of social concern (Bruns et al., 2015; Martínez, 2017). The rise of feminist social media activism has prompted a number of studies on the feminist movement's use of hashtags to foster online conversations on specific issues (Jinsook, 2017; Turley & Fisher, 2018; etc.). This article examines the correlation between the degree of ideological commitment amongst social media users and the nature of their Twitter conversations on a given issue. The analysis focuses on Twitter conversations generated by feminists, influencers, journalists and politicians in reaction to the controversial sentencing of the Wolf Pack (La Manada) –a gang of men involved in a sexual assault perpetrated during the San Fermín festival in Pamplona. Big data techniques were used to explore the nature of messages containing four highly charged hashtags central to feminist discourse on this issue: #YoSiTeCreo (Yes, I believe you), #HermanaYoSíTeCreo (Yes, sister, I believe you), #Cuéntalo (Talk about it) and #NoEstásSola (You are not alone). Our findings indicate that the levels of ideological commitment of Twitter users participating in what was essentially a feminist conversation varied to an extent that impeded serious interaction amongst them, either online or offline. From the perspective of communication strategy, feminist hashtag activism would appear to be an intermediate step in a longer process of creating a higher consciousness regarding gender equality issues in Spain.


Online health communities (OHCs) are the platforms for patients and their care-givers to search and share health-related information, and have attracted a vast amount of users in recent years. However, health consumers are easily overwhelmed by the overloaded information in OHCs, which makes it inefficient for users to find contents of their interest. This study proposes a framework for content recommendation by analyzing user activities in OHCs that utilizes social network analysis and text mining technology. We model users' activities by constructing user behavior networks that capture implicit interactions of users, based on which closely related users are detected and user similarities are calculated. Text analysis are performed using topic model to select the threads for final content recommendation. Based on the data collected from a famous Chinese OHCs, we expect that our model could achieve promising results.


Characterization of individual cell types is fundamental to the study of multicellular samples such as tumor tissues. Single-cell RNAseq techniques, which allow high-throughput expression profiling of individual cells, have significantly advanced our ability of this task. Currently, most of the scRNA-seq data analyses are commenced with unsupervised clustering of cells followed by visualization of clusters in a low-dimensional space. Clusters are often assigned to different cell types based on canonical markers. However, the efficiency of characterizing the known cell types in this way is low and limited by the investigator[s] knowledge. In this study, we present a technical framework of training the expandable supervised-classifier in order to reveal the single-cell identities based on their RNA expression profiles. Using multiple scRNA-seq datasets we demonstrate the superior accuracy, robustness, compatibility and expandability of this new solution compared to the traditional methods. We use two examples of model upgrade to demonstrate how the projected evolution of the cell-type classifier is realized.


A general security proof of continuous variable (CV) measurement device independent (MDI) quantum key distribution (QKD) should not be automatically reduced to the analysis of one-mode Gaussian attacks (in particular, independent entangling-cloner attacks). To stress this point, the present work provides a very simple (almost trivial) argument, showing that there are an infinite number of two-mode Gaussian attacks that cannot be reduced to or simulated by one-mode Gaussian attacks. This result further confirms that the security analysis of CV-MDI-QKD must generally involve a careful minimization over two-mode attacks as originally performed in (Pirandola et al, 2015 Nature Photon. 9, 397–402; arXiv:1312.4104 (2013)).


Background
Research linking depression to mortality among people living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLWH) has largely focused on binary "always vs never" characterizations of depression. However, depression is chronic and is likely to have cumulative effects on mortality over time. Quantifying depression as a cumulative exposure may provide a better indication of the clinical benefit of enhanced depression treatment protocols delivered in HIV care settings.

Methods
Women living with HIV (WLWH), naive to antiretroviral therapy, from the Women's Interagency HIV Study were followed from their first visit in or after 1998 for up to 10 semiannual visits (5 years). Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale. An area-under-the-curve approach was used to translate CES-D scores into a time-updated measure of cumulative days with depression (CDWD). We estimated the effect of CDWD on all-cause mortality using marginal structural Cox proportional hazards models.

Results
Overall, 818 women contributed 3292 woman-years over a median of 4.8 years of follow-up, during which the median (interquartile range) CDWD was 366 (97-853). Ninety-four women died during follow-up (2.9 deaths/100 woman-years). A dose-response relationship was observed between CDWD and mortality. Each additional 365 days spent with depression increased mortality risk by 72% (hazard ratio, 1.72; 95% confidence interval, 1.34-2.20).

Conclusions
In this sample of WLWH, increased CDWD elevated mortality rates in a dose-response fashion. More frequent monitoring and enhanced depression treatment protocols designed to reduce CDWD may interrupt the accumulation of mortality risk among WLWH.


Creation of nulls in specified directions is desirable in order to reduce the effect of interfering signals. But in large antenna arrays there possibility of getting a fault from some of the radiating elements can not be denied. In such a situation, the pattern of the array get distorted mostly with an increasing sidelobe level and removable of the null from its desired position. In this paper a method using particle swarm optimization(PSO) is developed to maintain the null position of the failed antenna array.


Principles of financial provision of the military forces Starting point of the financial provision of the military forces is a system of financial management in the Ministry of Defense, which should ensure the effective management of resources for security and defense, by fulfilling its functions, giving an idea of its elements. The elements of the financial management system cover the processes of planning the budget by individual programs and by paragraphs of the Unified Budget Classification (UBC), the ongoing management of the budget through the year, the management of payments through the System for Electronic Budget Payments (SEBRA) the management of investment costs and cost of material and technical supply during the accounting year, accounting and analysis, and financial management and control. Depending on the powers of officers allocating budgetary credits, the responsibilities and obligations in the allocation and management of budgetary resources and increasing cost effectiveness, the System for financial management in MoD operates on three levels. At the first level stays the Minister of Defense, as senior budgetary credits allocating officer, assisted by the Planning, Programming and Budget and Finance directorates. The function of the Minister of Defense, as primary budgetary credits allocating officer on organizing the processes of planning, programming and budgeting defense resources, shall be carried out by the Director of Planning, Programming and Budget directorate. The functions of budget implementation and execution of payments as well as the current budget implementation according to the State Budget Act are carried out by the Director of Finance directorate. On the second level stay the secondary budget allocating officers to the Minister of Defense, appointed by a Decree of the Council of Ministers (CoM) and the third level comprises the budget allocating officers of a lower level, such as military units. The mechanisms of budgetary funding of the secondary budget allocating officers and the operations of the MF in accordance with the mission, their objectives and tasks, are determined annually by Budgetary Guidelines for spending the budget. According to the doctrine of financial provision, a major source of financial resources for the activities in the field of defense, is the state budget and other sources provided by law or act of the MoD. Other sources comprise own income, target funds, regulated by decisions of the Parliament and normative acts of the Council of Ministers, and programs with external financing or foreign participation.


Introduction: Daratumumab (DARA) is a human IgG1κ monoclonal antibody that binds with high affinity to a unique epitope on CD38. DARA monotherapy has shown promising activity in relapsed and/or refractory multiple myeloma (MM) patients with a median of 5 prior lines of therapy in two clinical studies (Study GEN501; Lokhorst HM. J Clin Oncol. 2014;32 Suppl:abstr 8513 and Study MMY2002; Lonial S. J Clin Oncol. 2015;33 Suppl:abstr LBA8512). The aim of this analysis was to identify proteins indicative of DARA9s multiple mechanisms of action (MOA) and potential predictive pharmacodynamic response markers. A broad aptamer based proteomics platform (SomaSCANTM) evaluated clinical serum samples at study entry and during treatment to determine proteins and biological pathways associated with DARA MOA or clinical response. Methods: All patients were treated with 16 mg/kg DARA and whole blood samples were collected at baseline and after 8 weeks of treatment. Blood samples were processed for serum and stored frozen until batch analysis. Profiling of 1129 serum proteins was performed using the SOMAscan assay. Patients were classified based on overall best response: responders (stringent and complete responses, very good partial and partial responses), stable disease (stable disease or minimal response) and non-responders (progressive disease). Differential level testing included application of the Wilcoxon rank sum test and Limma for responder versus non-responder analysis, and ANOVA for repeated-measures with post-hoc test validation, Wilcoxon signed rank and Friedman tests for baseline versus on-treatment analysis. Results: In MMY2002 at baseline, 51 proteins were significantly different between responders and non-responders. Many have known associations with MM or CD38, and interestingly a subset is associated with T-cell biology. We recently observed that DARA induces a multi-factorial T-cell response in patients including CD8+ T-cell expansion and activation, and increased clonality. Proteins differentially expressed between responders/non-responders at baseline included tumor necrosis factor subfamily 8 (TNFSF8/CD30L), TNFSF9/CD137L, macrophage stimulating 1 (MST1), interleukin-1B (IL1B), cadherin 1 (CDH1) and cadherin 3 (CDH3). Protein profiles were evaluated at baseline and at 8 weeks (Cycle 3 Day 1) to study pharmacodynamic changes. Significant treatment-induced changes were identified in 142 proteins. Of particular interest were the 60 proteins that changed differentially over time in responders vs non-responders. Proteins associated with MM tumor load, such as beta-2-microglobulin [B2M], and immunoglobulins decreased in responders and increased in non-responders. Novel MM therapeutic targets such as signaling lymphocyte activation molecule F7 [SLAMF7] (i.e. CS1) and B-cell maturation antigen [BCMA] decreased in responders and increased in non-responders during DARA treatment. Many proteins associated with immune or T-cell response were also significantly changed by DARA treatment, including TNFRSF1B, CD163, TNFRSF25, TLR2, CCL5, IL5RA, FCGR2A, ICOS, Granzyme B, and programmed cell death ligand 1 [PD-L1] many of which were differential between responders and non-responders. Differential level testing of GEN501 samples identified a small set of proteins that were significantly altered by DARA treatment over time. Many of these proteins overlapped with those identified in the MMY2002 analysis, increasing confidence in the statistical results. Conclusions: This exploratory serum proteomic analysis identified proteins that were differentially expressed between responders and non-responders at baseline, including proteins associated with immune response and T-cell biology (TNFSF8/CD30L, TNFSF9/CD137L, IL1B). In addition, significant differential changes in protein expression between responders and non-responders after DARA treatment were seen. Many of these are associated with MM tumor load (BCMA, immunoglobulins, SLAMF7, and B2M) and decreased in responders and increased in non-responders. In addition, proteins related to T-cell activity, immune checkpoints and immune response (TNFRSF1B, CD163, TNFRSF25, TLR2, CCL5, IL5RA, FCGR2A, ICOS, Granzyme B, PD-L1) also showed changes associated with DARA treatment, supporting the recent findings that DARA induces a T-cell response in MM patients that may contribute to clinical response. Disclosures Casneuf:Janssen: Employment. Lysaght:Immuneering Corp: Employment, Other: Stockholder. LeFave:Immuneering Corp.: Employment. Bald:Janssen: Employment. Weiss:Janssen and Millennium: Consultancy; Janssen and Onclave: Research Funding. van de Donk:Janssen Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding; Amgen: Research Funding; Celgene: Research Funding. Lokhorst:Amgen: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria, Research Funding; Genmab: Honoraria, Research Funding. Ahmadi:Janssen: Employment.


Objectives
Salivary α- amylase (AMY1) is responsible for the breakdown of starch into oligosaccharides, tri and di-saccharides giving a start to the starch digestion in the oral cavity on food consumption. Several studies recently reported contradicting results regarding the link between AMY1 copy numbers (CNs) and obesity and type 2 diabetes.Objective: We investigated whether CN in the AMY1 gene was associated with differential anthropometrics and glycaemic outcomes in obese individuals who underwent a dietary plan varying in macronutrient intake, as a part of weight loss and weight maintenance program. We also investigated whether there existed an interaction between nutrient intakes and AMY1 CNs and if AMY1 CNs have influence on body weight, body composition and glycemic trajectories during dietary interventions.

Methods
Using the Paralogue Ratio Test, we accurately measured the AMY1 CNs in 761 obese individuals from the Diogenes study. Subjects underwent first an 8-week low-caloric diet (LCD, at 800 kcal/d) and those achieving >8% weight loss were then randomized to a 6-month weight maintenance dietary (WMD) intervention. The association between AMY1 CNs and weight- and glycemic- parameters was tested at baseline and following each intervention phase (LCD, WMD) with the use of linear mixed effect models adjusting for gender, age, center and total energy intake.

Results
At baseline, a modest association between AMY1 CN and BMI (P = 0.04) was observed. AMY1 CN was not associated with baseline glycemic variables. Additionally, AMY1 CN was not associated with anthropometric or glycemic-outcomes following either LCD or WMD. Interaction analyses between AMY1 CN and nutrient intake did not reveal significant association with any clinical parameters (at baseline and following LCD or WMD) or when testing gene x WMD interactions during the WMD phase.

Conclusions
In the absence of association with weight trajectories or glycemic improvements, the AMY1 CN cannot be considered as an important biomarker for response to a clinical weight loss and weight maintenance programs in overweight/obese subjects.

Funding Sources
European Commission, Food Quality and Safety Priority of the Sixth Framework Program (FP6-2005-513946), Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.


Plants that have experienced several exposures to dehydration stress show increased resistance to future exposures by producing faster and/or stronger reactions, while many dehydration stress responding genes in Arabidopsis thaliana super-induce their transcription as a 'memory' from the previous encounter. A previously unknown, rather unusual, memory response pattern is displayed by a subset of the dehydration stress response genes. Despite robustly responding to a first stress, these genes return to their initial, pre-stressed, transcript levels during the watered recovery; surprisingly, they do not respond further to subsequent stresses of similar magnitude and duration. This transcriptional behavior defines the 'revised-response' memory genes. Here, we investigate the molecular mechanisms regulating this transcription memory behavior. Potential roles of abscisic acid (ABA), of transcription factors (TFs) from the ABA signaling pathways (ABF2/3/4 and MYC2), and of histone modifications (H3K4me3 and H3K27me3) as factors in the revised-response transcription memory patterns are elucidated. We identify the TF MYC2 as the critical component for the memory behavior of a specific subset of MYC2-dependent genes.


Seawater aging-dominated delamination failure is a critical design parameter for marine composites. Modification of matrix with nanosized reinforcements of fiber-reinforced polymer composites comes forward as an effective way to improve the delamination resistance of marine composites. In this study, we aimed to investigate experimentally the effect of halloysite nanotube nanoreinforcements on the fracture performance of artificial seawater aged basalt–epoxy composites. For this, we introduced various amounts of halloysite nanotubes into the epoxy and the halloysite nanotube–epoxy mixtures were used to impregnate to basalt fabrics via vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding, subsequently. Fracture performances of the halloysite nanotubes modified epoxy and basalt/epoxy composite laminated were evaluated separately. Single edge notched tensile tests were conducted on halloysite nanotube modified epoxy nanocomposites and the average stress intensity factor (KIC) was increased from 1.65 to 2.36 MPa.m1/2 (by 43%) with the incorporation of 2 wt % halloysite nanotubes. The interlaminar shear strength and Mode-I interlaminar fracture toughness (GIC) of basalt–epoxy hybrid composites were enhanced from 36.1 to 42.9 MPa and from 1.22 to 1.44 kJ/m2, respectively. Moreover, the hybrid composites exhibited improved seawater aging performance by almost 52% and 34% in interlaminar shear strength and GIC values compared to the neat basalt-epoxy composites after conditioning in seawater for six months, respectively. We proposed a model to represent fracture behavior of the seawater aged hybrid composite based on scanning electron microscopy and infrared spectroscopy analyses.


Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was caused by a novel type of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) It was originated in Wuhan, China in December 2019 It spreads rapidly all over the world since respiratory virus infection can occur through many easy ways (e g contact, droplet spray, aerosol) and besides, asymptomatic people also have contagiousness So far, there have been 23,491,520 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 809,970 deaths, reported to World Health Organization (WHO), which declared it as a significant threat to global health Fever, fatigue, and dry cough are the commonly observed symptoms in the patients In COVID-19, the main affected system is respiratory system and some cases demonstrate a rapid progression to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), while other organs are less involved Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor-virus association is essential and responsible for the development of the disease SARS-CoV-2 causes deaths through its severe effects on the respiratory system


This article describes how the election and investiture of a chief rabbi in 2002 created a unique space for Turkish Jews to debate the meaning of democracy. I document current Turkish Jewish discourses about democracy by combining ethnographic observations of the election season with an analysis of the production and reception of local narratives (speeches, news articles, and interviews) about the process. I then analyze the election and inauguration as a "politics of presence" in which democracy is seen not only as a practice through which to debate ideas but a discursive move to represent collective difference in the public sphere. As such, this article contributes to discussions about the performative nature of minority politics and how these alternative discursive spheres relate to the broader contexts in which they occur.


Increasing usage of nitrogen fertilizer for food production has resulted in severely environmental problems of nutrients enrichment. This study aimed to examine the response of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) to a long-term nitrogen fertilization in Tibetan alpine meadow. The abundance and composition of both AOB and AOA were assessed using quantitative real-time PCR, cloning and sequencing techniques based on amoA gene under different fertilization gradient (0, 30, 60, 90, and 120 g m−2 year−1). Our results showed that, abundances of AOA amoA genes (ranging from 1.48 × 109 to 2.00 × 109 copies per gram of dry soil) were significantly higher than those of AOB amoA genes (1.25 × 107 to 2.62 × 108 copies per gram of dry soil) under fertilization scenario. The abundance of AOB amoA genes increased with increasing nitrogen fertilization, whereas fertilization had little effect on AOA abundance. Sequences of clone libraries of the different treatments revealed that AOB communities were dominated by representatives of Cluster 4, constituting 48.94–64.44% in each clone library. Sequences of Clusters 9, 1 and 2 were prevalent in soils under higher fertilization. All archaeal amoA sequences recovered were affiliated with the soil/sediment clade and marine sediment clade, and no significant difference was observed on the community structure among different fertilization treatments. Variations in the AOB community structure and abundance were linked to ammonium-N and soil pH induced by different fertilization treatments. These results showed that the abundance and structure of the AOB community respond to the fertilization gradient, not AOA.


Multi-instance learning (MIL) considers input as bags of instances, in which labels are assigned to the bags. MIL is useful in many real-world applications. For example, in image categorization semantic meanings (labels) of an image mostly arise from its regions (instances) instead of the entire image (bag). Existing MIL methods typically build their models using the Bag-to-Bag (B2B) distance, which are often computationally expensive and may not truly reflect the semantic similarities. To tackle this, in this paper we approach MIL problems from a new perspective using the Class-to-Bag (C2B) distance, which directly assesses the relationships between the classes and the bags. Taking into account the two major challenges in MIL, high heterogeneity on data and weak label association, we propose a novel Maximum Margin Multi-Instance Learning (M3I) approach to parameterize the C2B distance by introducing the class specific distance metrics and the locally adaptive significance coefficients. We apply our new approach to the automatic image categorization tasks on three (one single-label and two multi-label) benchmark data sets. Extensive experiments have demonstrated promising results that validate the proposed method.


Recent studies have shown that reinforcement learning (RL) models are vulnerable in various noisy scenarios. For instance, the observed reward channel is often subject to noise in practice (e.g., when rewards are collected through sensors), and is therefore not credible. In addition, for applications such as robotics, a deep reinforcement learning (DRL) algorithm can be manipulated to produce arbitrary errors by receiving corrupted rewards. In this paper, we consider noisy RL problems with perturbed rewards, which can be approximated with a confusion matrix. We develop a robust RL framework that enables agents to learn in noisy environments where only perturbed rewards are observed. Our solution framework builds on existing RL/DRL algorithms and firstly addresses the biased noisy reward setting without any assumptions on the true distribution (e.g., zero-mean Gaussian noise as made in previous works). The core ideas of our solution include estimating a reward confusion matrix and defining a set of unbiased surrogate rewards. We prove the convergence and sample complexity of our approach. Extensive experiments on different DRL platforms show that trained policies based on our estimated surrogate reward can achieve higher expected rewards, and converge faster than existing baselines. For instance, the state-of-the-art PPO algorithm is able to obtain 84.6% and 80.8% improvements on average score for five Atari games, with error rates as 10% and 30% respectively.


The State represents a central concept and a basic subject of international law. In order to function and engage in treaties and relations with other states in a growing globalized world, the State must be accepted and treated as independent by other states. But independence alone is not enough. Declaring independence is typically a unilateral act undertaken by one entity. Hence, there are states in the world today that are independent; however, their international subjectivity is not recognized. This makes their position and ability to engage in the international sphere more complex. As a result, authorities look into ways of bypassing formal recognition. Joining international organizations becomes one alternative. This article explores the quest of Kosovo to join international organizations as a way to secure recognition and statehood. It begins with the United Nations, and briefly analyses the diplomatic efforts of Kosovar governments to accede. The focus of this article however, will be more specifically on Kosovo's application to join UNESCO, the United Nations' cultural organization, the Council of Europe and international sports federations, for this process will shed light on several important legal and political aspects of recognition: the application procedure, the political interests of states, the lobbying and securing of states' support in an entity's bid to obtain a seat at the organization. Membership in UNESCO is rightfully seen as a gateway to reach to a seat at the United Nations, while bypassing unilateral recognitions granted by states individually. While membership in international organizations will not imply recognition of international subjectivity for a new entity, in practical terms, it offers to achieve what recognition promises. Kosovo has been able to sit at the same table with its regional counterparts and has been able to participate and share in various regional initiatives. As an initial phase of normalization of relations with Serbia, this represents a solid step forward. At a later stage, it could serve as an incentive, or even better as a catalyst to speed up securing full-fledged statehood.


A major challenge in language acquisition is progressing from one-to-one form-meaning associations to expressing a particular meaning through multiple forms (Andersen, 1990). Variationists focused on language acquisition follow the tenet of tracking development in not only rates of use of a particular variant but also the independent factors that condition such use (Bayley & Tarone, 2012). Future-time expression provides an interesting test-case for the acquisition of variation in Spanish since numerous forms are used in this temporal context, including the morphological future ire 'I will go', periphrastic future voy a ir 'I am going to go', and present indicative voy 'I go'. Although recent work has considered to what extent classroom learners use and select the aforementioned forms in variable contexts (e.g., Gudmestad & Geeslin, 2013; Kanwit, 2017), research in this vein has not integrated pedagogical interventions, despite increasing calls for instruction on sociolinguistic variation (Geeslin with Long, 2014; Gutierrez & Fairclough, 2009). With this gap in the literature in mind, the present study investigates the development of sociolinguistic competence (Canale & Swain, 1980) in six Spanish classes through either traditional instruction, an explicit intervention in which students received instruction regarding general trends in overall rates of use of future-time forms and the effects of independent variables on such use (e.g., temporal distance, the presence of temporal adverbs, formality), or the explicit instruction coupled with spiraling activities to reinforce instructed concepts. We present longitudinal data collected at four points throughout a semester-long course from 54 participants by means of five tasks: oral and written production tasks, a contextualized preference task, a metalinguistic awareness task, and a self-reflection task. Results indicate that students in the instruction groups demonstrated more target-like rates of use and selection and sensitivity to independent linguistic factors when compared to the control group. The responses of the instruction groups in the metalinguistic task were informed by the cognitive explanations of why the future variants are differentially preferred. Overall, the current dissertation provides evidence that the pedagogical intervention implemented is effective in raising sociolinguistic competence, as seen in learners' variable expression of the Spanish future across tasks.


The case of Bali bombing on October 12, 2002 forces the government of Indonesian Republic to apply the bill number 16, 2003 to all the suspects (masykur Abdul Kadir). In this case, the suspect claims for judicial review to the great constitution on the application of that bill since the suspects regard that the application of that bill is clearly adapt the retroactive principle (it is decreasing).
This study focuses on the research problem: 1. Is the great constitution decision on the case number 13/PUU-1/2003 appropriate? 2. How is the implementation of a quo decision on the development of crime law in Indonesia?
This study uses juridical-normative method in which the data collection method is in the form of the tracing process of law constitution through the related books on the problem discussed. The material and the book sources are gotten from the electronic and the printed media as well. The decision taken by the great constitution on the case number 13/PUU-1/2003 is taken as the primary data. And the data will be analyzed descriptively.
In the decision, the great constitution bases its decision on the law of crime law and the bill of Indonesian of 1945 of bill number 281 verse (1). Due to today, there are still many the pros and cons on the case of Bali bombing which is considered the extra ordinary crime.
In conclusion, the great constitution has launched the decision which is based on the law of crime law on the case number 13/PUU-1/2003 by canceling the implementation of bill number 16 on the 2003 year since this is clearly adapt the retroactive principle since t will position the law supremacy in danger. It s suggested that it is not necessary to be decreased since the case has already break the law number 340 of crime law and this is implemented 200 times due to the 200 death in that incident in which it can not be classified into extraordinary crime.
Key words: decision, implementation, retroactive principle.


Several new statistical tools and analytical frameworks have been recently developed to measure countries' and sectors' involvement in global value chains. Such a wealth of methodologies reflects the fact that different empirical questions call for distinct accounting methods and different levels of aggregation of trade flows. In this article, we describe icio, a new command for the computation of the most appropriate measures of trade in value added as well as participation in global value chains. icio follows the conceptual framework proposed by Borin and Mancini (2019, Policy Research Working Paper WPS 8804; WDR 2020 Background Paper, World Bank Group), which in turn extends, refines, and reconciles the other main contributions in this strand of the literature. icio is flexible enough to work with any intercountry input–output table and with any level of aggregation of trade flows.


Application information service based on customer relationship management is a research for make application models for information service for IBI Darmajaya students. Now IBI Darmajaya will realize of vision and mission, creativity in various shape, one of it can do with making one models of information service academy activity and non academic for students. The mature of plan very important with notice all part in IBI Darmajaya and students. Information service will increase the service and accommodation interest of IBI Darmajaya and can identification all aspect of information for students. And data for used is students part because related of academic activity and non academic of students, and then with System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) method have 4 fundamental step, planning, analysis, and design with UML then bring out information based on Customer Retalationship Management (CRM) as very well.


BACKGROUND
The number, size, and histologic features of distal colorectal adenomatous polyps have been reported to correlate with the risk of developing proximal colon cancer. To investigate this putative relationship further, we evaluated the frequency of distal colorectal neoplastic polyps in patients with colon cancer located proximal to the splenic flexure.

METHODS
All cases of colorectal adenocarcinomas treated at a tertiary referral center and Veterans Affairs hospital between 1979 and 1992 were identified by International Classification of Diseases coding and review of pathology and colonoscopy reports. The medical records of patients with documented cancers proximal to the splenic flexure were examined for the presence, location, size, and histopathologic features of synchronous neoplastic lesions found at colonoscopy.

RESULTS
Among 634 patients with colorectal cancer identifiable by location, 172 had proximally located tumors. Of these, 60 patients were excluded because of lack of complete colonoscopy or because surgical resection was performed elsewhere. Forty percent of the remaining 112 patients for whom data could be evaluated demonstrated neoplastic lesions in addition to the proximal cancer. The colon was devoid of "sentinel" neoplasia distal to the splenic flexure and descending colon-sigmoid colon junction in 69% and 72% of patients, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
The majority of proximal colon cancers are not associated with distal sentinel lesions. We surmise that flexible sigmoidoscopy will fail to find evidence of neoplasia in at least 25% of patients with prevalent colon cancers.


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 The present paper will review Romanian psychology publications and will put a particular emphasis on both the process and current conditions of publishing psychology materials in this country. The article will be structured around three main sections. First, in order to have a broad image of how psychology developed as a science and the challenges it had to face in Romania, a short description of the general context will be offered. The body of the paper will present the key Romanian psychology journals along with other sources, like magazines or online materials, portraying the series of opportunities authors have nowadays to publish their work. The discussion will include high-rated academic journals, academic journals that are edited by universities or professional associations, as well as magazines offering more "popular" versions of psychology. A particular interest will be given to student journals since they represent a niche in the field and emerged from the students' need to make their voice heard and to prepare for an active professional life as future psychologists. One such initiative will be discussed at length: the case of Europe's Journal of Psychology, an online open access publication edited by a group of volunteers originally from the University of Bucharest. In the end, a section will be dedicated to the synthesis of the main advantages and disadvantages of the Romanian psychology publishing system and the ways in which a European Publication Platform could answer the needs of both authors and readers in Romania and not only. Key words: psychology; scientific communication; journals; information dissemination; online publishing; open access; Romania


SARS-CoV-2 enters the host cell through the ACE2 receptor and replicates its genome using an RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase (RDRP). The functional RDRP is released from pro-protein pp1ab by the proteolytic activity of Main protease (Mpro) which is encoded within the viral genome. Due to its vital role in proteolysis of viral polyprotein chains, it has become an attractive potential drug target. We employed a hierarchical virtual screening approach to identify small synthetic protease inhibitors. Statistically optimized molecular shape and color-based features (various functional groups) from co-crystal ligands were used to screen different databases through various scoring schemes. Then, the electrostatic complementarity of screened compounds was matched with the most active molecule to further reduce the hit molecules' size. Finally, five hundred eighty-seven molecules were docked in Mpro catalytic binding site, out of which 29 common best hits were selected based on Glide and FRED scores. Five best-fitting compounds in complex with Mpro were subjected to MD simulations to analyze their structural stability and binding affinities with Mpro using MM/GB(PB)SA models. Modeling results suggest that identified hits can act as the lead compounds for designing better active Mpro inhibitors to enhance the chemical space to combat COVID-19.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.


The objectives of these studies were to predict the effects of roasting and extrusion temperatures of whole soybeans (SB) on intestinal protein digestibility in cattle. Intestinal digestibility was assessed with a two-stage in vitro or in situ ruminal incubation/precision-fed cecectomized rooster bioassay. In Exp. 1, whole SB (raw SB or SB roasted to 141, 149, or 157 degrees C exit temperature from a commercial roaster and steeped for 30 min) were incubated in strained ruminal fluid and McDougall's buffer (50:50) at 39 degrees C for 16 h. In Exp. 2, SB (ground raw SB or SB extruded at 116, 138, or 160 degrees C) were placed in polyester bags (20 x 30 cm) and suspended in the ventral rumen of steers for 16 h. Lyophilized residue of the in vitro or in situ incubations and samples of raw SB and most extensively heated SB (roasted SB at 157 degrees C or extruded SB at 160 degrees C) for each respective experiment were crop-intubated to cecectomized roosters. Total excreta were collected for 48 h after intubation and lyophilized, and amino acid (AA) concentrations were determined. In Exp. 1, total AA digestibility was 61.6 and 84.5% for unincubated whole raw SB and 157 degrees C roasted SB, respectively, and 66.2, 88.9, 91.3, and 91.6% for in vitro residues of whole raw SB and SB roasted at 141, 149, and 157 degrees C, respectively. Trypsin inhibitor (TI) activity was 20.09, 1.69, 1.54, and 1.84 mg/g fat-free DM for unincubated whole raw SB and 141, 149, and 157 degrees C roasted SB, respectively, and 30.84, 1.01, .90, and .26 mg/g fat-free DM for in vitro residues of whole raw SB, 141, 149, and 157 degrees C roasted SB, respectively. In Exp. 2, total AA digestibility was 68.5 and 87.7% for unincubated ground raw SB and 160 degrees C extruded SB, respectively, and 81.9, 91.3, 89.7, and 89.4% for in situ residues of ground raw SB and 116, 138, and 160 degrees C extruded SB, respectively. Trypsin inhibitor activity was 17.61, 4.89, 4.08, and 1.56 mg/g fat-free DM for unincubated ground raw SB, 116, 138, and 160 degrees C extruded SB, respectively, and 3.62, .59, .55, and .21 mg/g fat-free DM for incubated ground raw SB, 116, 138, and 160 degrees C extruded SB, respectively. Heat treatment by roasting and extrusion improved AA digestibilities of SB, but there were no differences detected among the roasting or extrusion temperatures. Ruminal fermentation did not eliminate the negative effects of TI activity on intestinal digestibility of AA in whole SB but did reduce TI activity in ground SB.


Nonenzymatic glucosylation of lysine residues of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) was shown to occur in vitro. Most of the incorporated glucose was localized to apoprotein A-l, but other apoproteins were glucosylated as well. Glucosylated high-density lipoproteins (glcHDL) had enhanced electrophoretic mobility on agarose. With increasing amounts of glucose incorporated there was a proportionate increase in the rate of clearance of glcHDL when injected intravenously into guinea pigs. When 60% of lysines were derivatized, clearance of glcHDL was 60% faster than that of control HDL. When as few as 2% of lysines were glucosylated, there was still an 8% increase in the rate of clearance. Uptake of glcHDL by macrophages was not increased. The accelerated clearance of glcHDL from plasma may be relevant to the decreased HDL levels observed in diabetic subjects.


Facing the fourth industrial revolution, autonomous mobile robots are expected to play an important role in the production processes of the future. The new Logistics League Sponsored by Festo (LLSF) under the RoboCup umbrella focuses on this aspect of robotics to provide a benchmark testbed on a common robot platform. We describe certain aspects of the integrated robot system of our Carologistics RoboCup team, in particular our reasoning system for the supply chain problem of the LLSF. We approach the problem by deploying the CLIPS rules engine for product planning and dealing with the incomplete knowledge that exists in the domain and show that it is suitable for computationally limited platforms.


Coronavirus, a large family of viruses, causes illness in both humans and animals. The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) came up in Wuhan in December 2019. This deadly COVID-19 pandemic has become very fast-spreading and currently present in several countries worldwide. The timely detection of patients who have COVID-19 is vitally important. To this end, scientists are working on different detection methods.In this paper, a grid search (GS) and pre-trained model aided convolutional neural network (CNN) model is proposed to detect COVID-19 in X-Ray images. In the proposed method, the GS method is employed to optimize the hyperparameters of CNN, which directly affects classification performance. Three pre-trained CNN models (GoogleNet, ResNet18 and ResNet50), which can be used for classification, feature extraction and transfer learning purposes were used for transfer learning in this study. The proposed method was trained using the training and validation subdatasets of the collected dataset and detail evaluations are presented according to different performance metrics. According to the experimental studies, the best results were obtained with the GS and ResNet50 aided model.


We report an enzyme immunoassay procedure for methotrexate measurement that takes less than 3 h to perform. beta-D-Galactosidase (EC 184.108.40.206) from Escherichia coli was conjugated to methotrexate by means of the mixed anhydride reaction. Bound and free labeled drug were separated by a preincubated cubic complex of first and second antibody. The enzyme activity of the bound fraction was measured with o-nitrophenyl-beta-D-galactopyranoside as substrate. The standard curve covered the range 1 to 10 micrograms of methotrexate per liter. One microgram of methotrexate per liter inhibited binding of the tracer by 17%. The assay is specific for methotrexate in the presence of folinic acid (citrovorum factor), folic acid, tetrahydrofolic acid, and other methotrexate metabolities. Intra- and inter-assay CVs were less than 5 and 10%, respectively. Results obtained with this enzyme immunoassay method agreed well with those obtained with an established radioimmunoassay method.


Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) has been reported to be a potent mitogen for Swiss 3T3 cells made quiescent by growth to saturation density in high serum, and its activity is further potentiated by high levels of insulin, which alone have little effect. We show here that this is not the case for sparse 3T3 cells made quiescent by plating in low serum. Under these conditions, insulin alone is at least as effective as PDGF and frequently more so. Together, the response is no more than additive at best, and in many cases less than additive, the combined effect being no greater than for insulin alone. Instead, we find that optimal mitogenic stimulation requires the additional presence, besides PDGF and insulin, of hydrocortisone, prostaglandin E1 and an unidentified, non-dialysable component contained in serum treated with dithiothreitol (DTT) to inactivate endogenous growth factors. Interestingly, overnight pretreatment of the cells with hydrocortisone alone potentiates the subsequent response to PDGF + insulin, i.e. pretreatment induces a long-term memory that persists after the removal of the hydrocortisone from the medium. In short-term (24h) thymidine incorporation assays, the combination of PDGF, insulin, hydrocortisone, prostaglandin E1 and DTT-serum, is as effective as optimal levels of whole serum, but is unable to sustain longer-term proliferation (measured over 6 days). For this, high- and low-density lipoproteins, fibronectin and, to some extent epidermal growth factor (EGF), are also necessary.


Transient impairment of consciousness frequently prompts the patient to consult a neurologist or a cardiologist. Detailed medical history and physical examination allow to distinguish fainting from epileptic seizure, metabolic or psychogenic events. We report the history of an 83-year-old woman who presented a transient loss of consciousness.The vascular, investigation demonstrated a subocclusive stenosis of one of the internal carotid arteries. We shall consider the differential diagnosis of transient impairment of consciousness and discuss the relationship between fainting and carotid artery disease.


Among the procedures of intraoperative control of revascularisation the simple method of probe passage for determination of technical mistakes during anastomoses is very valuable. More informative is the measurement of bypass-flow using an electromagnetic flowmeter. We compared this method with the results of intraoperative angiography, which is performed in our hospital routinely for immediate control of revascularisation. A comparison of 214 veins demonstrated a good statistically significant correlation between run-off and bypass-flow. The quality of the anastomosis can only be judged by intraoperative angiography and does not correlate with a low bypass flow. According to these measurements it was necessary in four cases to perfrom an intraoperative reintervention.


Human neutrophils (polymorphonuclear leukocytes [PMNs]) generate inflammatory responses within the joints of gout patients upon encountering monosodium urate (MSU) crystals. Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) are found abundantly in the synovial fluid of gout patients. The detailed mechanism of MSU crystal–induced NET formation remains unknown. Our goal was to shed light on possible roles of purinergic signaling and neutrophil migration in mediating NET formation induced by MSU crystals. Interaction of human neutrophils with MSU crystals was evaluated by high-throughput live imaging using confocal microscopy. We quantitated NET levels in gout synovial fluid supernatants and detected enzymatically active neutrophil primary granule enzymes, myeloperoxidase, and human neutrophil elastase. Suramin and PPADS, general P2Y receptor blockers, and MRS2578, an inhibitor of the purinergic P2Y6 receptor, blocked NET formation triggered by MSU crystals. AR-C25118925XX (P2Y2 antagonist) did not inhibit MSU crystal–stimulated NET release. Live imaging of PMNs showed that MRS2578 represses neutrophil migration and blocked characteristic formation of MSU crystal–NET aggregates called aggregated NETs. Interestingly, the store-operated calcium entry channel inhibitor (SK&F96365) also reduced MSU crystal–induced NET release. Our results indicate that the P2Y6/store-operated calcium entry/IL-8 axis is involved in MSU crystal–induced aggregated NET formation, but MRS2578 could have additional effects affecting PMN migration. The work presented in the present study could lead to a better understanding of gouty joint inflammation and help improve the treatment and care of gout patients.