Recent years are seeing a sharp increase in the availability of personal omic (e.g. genomes, microbiomes) data to non-experts through direct-to-consumer testing kits. While the scientific understanding of human -omic information is evolving, the interpretation of the data may impact well-being of users and relevant others, and therefore poses challenges and opportunities for CSCW research. We identify the information, interaction, and sense-making needs of microbiomic data users, within the broader context of social omics - the sharing and collaborative engagement with data and interpretation. Analyzing users' discussions on Reddit's r/HumanMicrobiome, we identified seven user needs for microbiome data: reviewing an annotated report, comparing microbiome data, tracking changes, receiving personalized actionable information, curating and securing information, documenting and sharing self experiments, and enhancing the communication between patients and health-care providers. We highlight the ways in which users interact with each other to collaboratively make sense of the data. We conclude with design implications, including tools for better communication with care providers, and for symptom-centered sharing and discussion.


Hydrophobic bioactives can be more easily incorporated into food and have their bioavailability enhanced if nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) are used as carriers. In the present study, betacarotene-loaded NLC were produced by low emulsification using murumuru butter and a mixture of Span 80 and Cremophor RH40 as surfactants. Their average diameter was 35nm and alpha-tocopherol was required to protect the encapsulated b-carotene. Besides the evaluation of their physicochemical stability, NLC were submitted to dynamic in vitro digestion and cell viability assays with Caco-2 and HEPG cells. The bioaccessibility of beta-carotene in the dynamic system was about 42%. Regarding cell viability, results indicated NLC were toxic to the cell cultures tested. Such high toxicity is probably related to the type of surfactant used and to the extremely reduced particle size, which may have led to an intense and fast permeation of the NLC through the cells. ARTICLE HISTORY Received 1 October 2018 Accepted 14 February 2019


Abstract Objective : To evaluate the effectiveness of a health visitor led intervention for failure to thrive in children under 2 years old. Design : Controlled trial, randomised by primary care practice. Setting : Newcastle upon Tyne health district. Intervention : Structured health visitor management, with dietetic, paediatric, and social work input as required. Subjects : 229 children (120 in intervention practices and 109 in control practices) were identified as failing to thrive by population screening during the first 2 years of life. Follow up was by home visit of a research nurse and review of the childrens' records at age 3 years. Main outcome measures : Follow up weight and height and number of routinely collected weights. Results : 95 of the 97 families offered intervention completed at least the initial assessment. At follow up, 187 (82%) records were reviewed, and these suggested that 15 (16%) controls were lost to follow up immediately after the screening weight was taken compared with only one child in the intervention group. In the 134 (58%) families who consented to home visits, children in the intervention group were significantly heavier and taller and were reported to have better appetites than childen in the control group, although both groups were equally satisfied by the services they had received. When the children were last weighed, 91 (76%) in the intervention group had recovered from their failure to thrive compared with 60 (55%) in the control group (P<0.001). Conclusion : In failure to thrive, health visitor intervention, with limited specialist support, can significantly improve growth compared with conventional management.


To study the anti-athletic fatigue effects of saponins from American ginseng (SAG), male Kunming mice were randomized into 4 groups equally based on body weight after one week adoption, and they are: C group (control mice given distilled water for 14 days), LS group (mice treated SAG with 50 mg/kg for 14 days), MS group (mice treated SAG with 100 mg/kg for 14 days) and HS group (mice treated SAG with 200 mg/kg for 14 days). The C group was given distilled water and LS, MS; HS groups were given various doses of SAG (50, 100, 200mg/kg) for 14 consecutive days. The levels of lactate, serum urea nitrogen, liver glycogen, muscle glycogen, the swimming endurance time and body weight were determined before and after swimming test. Different doses of SAG significantly lengthened the swimming endurance time and increased the levels of liver glycogen and muscle glycogen, while reducing the levels of lactate significantly compared with control group, especially in the MS group. Our data demonstrated SAG has noticeable anti-athletic fatigue effect on mice. These effects were dosedependent, and the strongest effect on most biomarkers was seen with 100 mg/kg dose.


Resolving complexes of closely related and cryptic insect species can be challenging, especially when dealing with rare and protected taxa that are difficult to collect for genetic and morphological analyses. Until recently, populations of the genus Osmoderma (Scarabaeidae), widespread in Europe, were treated as a single species O. eremita (Scopoli, 1763) in spite of observed geographic variation in morphology. A previous survey using sequence data from the mtDNA cytochrome C oxidase I gene (COI) revealed the occurrence of at least two distinct lineages within this species complex: O. eremita in the west and O. barnabita Motschulsky, 1845, in the east. Interestingly, beetles confined to Sicily have been described as a distinct species, O. cristinae Sparacio, 1994, based on morphological traits. Only few Sicilian specimens were included in the former genetic analysis, and the results led to a still questionable taxonomic rank for these populations. To explore the robustness of the previous taxonomic arrangement for O. cristinae, a combination of genetic, morphological and pheromonal analyses was used. A 617-bp fragment of the COI gene, aligned with O. cristinae and O. eremita sequences already available in GenBank, showed a clear genetic divergence between the two species (interspecific mean distance = 6.6%). Moreover, results from AFLP markers sustained the distinction of the two species. In addition, geometric morphometric analyses of the shape of male genitalia revealed a clear differentiation between the two species. Via scent analysis and field trapping, we demonstrated the production of the sex pheromone (R)-(+)-γ-decalactone by males of O. cristinae, the attraction by conspecific individuals (mostly females) to this compound, and a lack of antagonistic effect of (S)-(-)-γ-decalactone. The fact that O. eremita and O. eremita use the same compound for mate finding suggests that this sex pheromone has not undergone a differentiation and probably the allopatry of these two species compensates for the absence of a mechanism to avoid cross-attraction. Our genetic and morphological data support the divergence of the two species and confirm the species status for O. cristinae, while sex pheromones are confirmed to be invariant among different species of the genus Osmoderma. (Less)


The 2-D numerical study is performed to analyses the flow characteristic behind the elliptical structure placed near the wall for three different gap ratios as 0.25, 0.5, and 1.0. Computational domain and model is initially validated with the unbounded flow over a cylinder without considering wall effect for Reynolds number of 3900. For flow over the cylinder with near wall, computational domain is modelled as Blasius profile is the input to the area of interest. At different gap ratios the effect of boundary layer on vortex shedding is studied with Reynolds number of 1440. By applying different turbulent model for analysis, study the variation in the results and suggest the suitable model for the present type of study. It has been observed that the wall effect is predominant in case of the gap ratio of 0.25 as compared to other gap ratios.


ABSTRACT The difference between the present dip of cross-beds, corrected for structural tilt, and the dip at the time of deposition provide a measure of sandstone compaction. Present cross-bedding dips in the Navajo sandstone by Kiersch suggest a most likely compaction of about 24 percent of the upper unit and about 27 percent of the lower unit.


Objective The aim of this study was to retrospectively characterize E. coli and K. pneumoniae isolates obtained from neonates during a suspected NICU outbreak of infection in Ha'il, Saudi Arabia during a period of one month (April 2014). Methods Antibiotic susceptibility patterns, molecular characterization for antibiotic-resistant genes (blaTEM, blaSHV, and blaCTX-M), and genotyping by PFGE and MLST were performed. Results A total of 24 E. coli and 48 K. pneumoniae isolates were cultured from neonates that had been admitted to the NICU. Among E. coli, the majority of isolates (19/24) were ESBL-positive and all of these nineteen (100%) harbored the CTX-M-15 gene. A total of 15% (3/19) were co-producers of CTX-M-15 and SHV-12, and 68.4% (13/19) were co-producers of CTX-M-15 and TEM-1. Among K. pneumoniae isolates, 87.5% (42/48) were ESBL positive with 92.85% (39/42) of these isolates containing the CTX-M-15 gene. A total of 97% (38/39) of K. pneumoniae were co-producers of CTX-M-15 and SHV-12, and 88% (37/42) were positive for TEM-1. Furthermore, 85.7% (36/42) K. pneumoniae were co-producers of CTX-M-15 and TEM-1. The majority of E. coli isolates (18/19 isolates) were grouped into two genetic clusters by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and all the isolates were found to be ST-131 type. In contrast, K. pneumoniae (31/42) isolates belonged to a single genotypic lineage, and all (100%) isolates belonged to the ST-14 type. Conclusion This is the first report of CTX-M-15-positive, ESBL E. coli, and K. pneumoniae isolates recovered from an outbreak in an NICU in Ha'il, Saudi Arabia. It is alarming to note the high rate of outbreak isolates with simultaneous production of CTX-M-15 and SHV-12 conferring high-level resistance to oxyimino-cephalosporins.


A full-scale on-site test represents an ideal way to check a hypothesis and to determine the real behavior of structures, especially in cases in which some uncertainties cannot be reduced otherwise. To perform the test successfully it is necessary to monitor the parameters that representatively describe the structural behavior. In the case of piles, axial compression, pullout, and flexure tests cover all load combinations that may appear in service. To assess the foundation performance at a semiconductor production facility, two sets of piles with three piles in each set were tested. The monitored parameters were average strains, registered in several segments over the whole length of each pile using long-gauge fiber optic sensors. This type of sensor, combined in appropriate topologies, gives rich information concerning the piles' behavior and soil properties. The monitoring method is presented and its performances through the results of the tests are discussed. This method allowed the determination of the Young modulus of the piles, the occurrence of cracks, the normal force distribution, and the ultimate load capacity in the case of axial compression and pullout tests, as well as the curvature distribution, horizontal displacement, deformed shape, and damage localization in the case of the flexure tests. Moreover, the pile–soil friction distributions, the quality of soil, and the pile tip force were estimated. The advantage of the presented method resides in the use of long-gauge sensors, which are insensitive to local structural defects like crack openings or air pockets and allow the collection of data on a global structural level and not on a local material level.


Abstract. The production of historical cartographies with the aid of digital tools has become in recent years a very active field of study, especially in urban heritage research. In this way, contributions from disciplines such as computer vision or remote sensing allow today to integrate data from various documentary records, enriching the available urban historiography, and enabling new readings on the relationship between historical cartography and contemporary sources of information. Despite this, little attention has been paid to the use of urban street photography, which continues to be used mostly to confirm or validate cartographic hypotheses, but not as a primary source of information. Among other causes, this is because there are no standardized procedures to extract the information directly from the photographs, nor with methods that allow addressing the divergences between captures from various locations and times. To overcome this situation, a new methodology is proposed to incorporate collections of historical photographs into a cartographic creation process, for the recovery and direct use of the information contained in them. Throughout a workflow, the proposal provides special support for two sub-processing steps: i) the possibility of comparatively studying the information from various photographs, and ii) the possibility of managing and taking into account the differences in dates between different shots. For this, the proposal transfers the recovered information from the photographs (in a 3D coordinate system) to a single cartographic representation (in a 2D coordinate system), to support that data management and decision making take place directly in the map view. This is intended to overcome the practice of using the map to 'pass clean' discoveries made with other means and to restore instead the notion of cartographic representation as a detection and direct investigation tool. The work considers the evaluation of the proposed method through the application in a case study. We worked with the restitution of the disappeared tram system of Santiago, Chile (1900–1945) through the cartographic representation of its extinct network of railway lines, of which only some isolated fragments remain. The visual documentation was provided by the Chilectra photographic archive (1921–27) – currently managed by the Photographic Archive of the National Library of Chile – which documented the extent of the tracks layout and its installation process (Figure 1a). Thus, around 200 scanned historical photographs were reviewed and processed with the proposed method, and their information made available to a cartographic production and management process (Figure 1b), based on the historical cartography of Santiago from Hidalgo et al (2011) and Salas (2012). Finally, the obtained data is evaluated (Figure 2), identifying scopes on the recovered information and on the characteristics that the photographs must meet in the first instance to be processed. The satisfactory results obtained show that the proposed approach and method allow historical photography to be used directly within a cartographic process, as a primary source of information. This reinforces the idea of the place that corresponds to these records within the spectrum of historiographic sources, along with textual, planimetric, and other descriptions of urban interest. Likewise, the work reflects on the approach that should prevail to use the map as a research tool, and on the possibilities that such a process opens, significantly improving the use of historical photography for the study of urban heritage with cartographic representations.


Each year, over 15 million people attend an emergency department in England and Wales.1 It has been estimated that 2.4% of attendances are because of chest pain,2 representing 360 000 emergency department attendances. Despite this, surprisingly little data have been published describing this problem. Studies typically report selected groups of patients, or retrospective audits of routinely collected data. Both approaches may lead to biased results. Accurate estimates of the size and nature of the problem are required to allow rational planning of services and to put the findings of research into context.

The ESCAPE (effectiveness and safety of chest pain assessment to prevent emergency admissions) randomised controlled trial of chest pain observation unit versus routine care3 required prospective identification of all patients attending with acute chest pain; it thus provided an ideal opportunity for a descriptive study of the health care burden created by this problem. We aimed to describe the clinical epidemiology of acute chest pain, the incidence of emergency department presentation and hospital admission, the proportion with ECG evidence of acute coronary syndrome (ACS), clinically diagnosed ACS, non-ACS, or undifferentiated chest pain, and variations in these parameters by hour of day and day of week.

The Northern General Hospital emergency department is the only adult department for the 530 000 population …


Growth and yield of soybean and blackgram, having determinate and indeterminate in flowering respectively, were compared under three water regimes. Under well-watered conditions, blackgram continuously produces flowers where under rainfed + irrigation and rainfed condition, two periods of flowering can be distinguished. While only one period of flowering was observed in soybean. The second flush of flowering of blackgram in rainfed and rainfed + irrigation areas occurred during high rain fall. Partial irrigation as much as 80 mm toward the end of pod filling in soybean did not give benefit to soybean, but irrigation stimulate flowering in blackgram and increase yield up to 25%. Thus indeterminate behavior might give higher yield under rainfed condition due to its flexibility of flowering.


Bioenergy sorghum is a drought-tolerant high-biomass C4 grass targeted for production on annual cropland marginal for food crops due primarily to abiotic constraints. To better understand the overall contribution of stem wax to bioenergy sorghum's resilience, the current study characterized sorghum stem cuticular wax loads, composition, morphometrics, wax pathway gene expression and regulation using vegetative phase Wray, R07020, and TX08001 genotypes. Wax loads on sorghum stems (~103-215 µg/cm2) were much higher than Arabidopsis stem and leaf wax loads. Wax on developing sorghum stem internodes was enriched in C28/30 primary alcohols (~65%) while stem wax on fully developed stems was enriched in C28/30 aldehydes (~80%). Scanning Electron Microscopy showed minimal wax on internodes prior to the onset of elongation and that wax tubules first appear associated with cork-silica cell complexes when internode cell elongation is complete. Sorghum homologs of genes involved in wax biosynthesis/transport were differentially expressed in the stem epidermis. Expression of many wax pathway genes (i.e., SbKCS6, SbCER3-1, SbWSD1, SbABCG12, SbABCG11) is low in immature apical internodes then increases at the onset of stem wax accumulation. SbCER4 is expressed relatively early in stem development consistent with accumulation of C28/30 primary alcohols on developing apical internodes. High expression of two SbCER3 homologs in fully elongated internodes is consistent with a role in production of C28/30 aldehydes. Gene regulatory network analysis aided the identification of sorghum homologs of transcription factors that regulate wax biosynthesis (i.e., SbSHN1, SbWRI1/3, SbMYB94/96/30/60, MYS1) and other transcription factors that could regulate and specify expression of the wax pathway in epidermal cells during cuticle development.


In this paper, we study the problem of exchanging knowledge between two knowledge bases (KBs) connected through mappings, with a special interest in exchanging implicit knowledge, not only data like in the traditional database exchange setting. As representation formalism we use Description Logics (DL) that exhibit a reasonable tradeoff between expressive power and complexity of reasoning. Thus, we assume that the source and target KBs are given as a DL TBox+ABox, while the mappings have the form of DL TBox assertions. We study the problem of translating the knowledge in the source KB according to these mappings. We define a general framework of KB exchange, and specify the problems of computing and representing different kinds of solutions, i.e., target KBs with specified properties, given a source KB and a mapping. We then develop first results and techniques and study the complexity of KB exchange for the case of DL-LiteRDFS, a DL that corresponds to the FOL fragment of RDFS.


Word vector representations are well developed tools for various NLP and Machine Learning tasks and are known to retain significant semantic and syntactic structure of languages. But they are prone to carrying and amplifying bias which can perpetrate discrimination in various applications. In this work, we explore new simple ways to detect the most stereotypically gendered words in an embedding and remove the bias from them. We verify how names are masked carriers of gender bias and then use that as a tool to attenuate bias in embeddings. Further, we extend this property of names to show how names can be used to detect other types of bias in the embeddings such as bias based on race, ethnicity, and age.


The equations for computing frequency and duration indices of generating capacity reliability in interconnected systems were developed in Part I1 of this series of papers. A basic assumption used in this development was that the load models in interconnected systems are stochastically independent. In actual practice, the load models may be independent or correlated depending upon factors such as the geographical location of the interconnected systems and the weather sensitivity of the loads. This paper shows how the equations developed in Part I can be extended to the case of perfectly correlated load models.


ABSTRACT Aim: The purpose of this study is to examine, identify and describe the factors that influence turnover intenion of nurses in Croatia. Methods: A qualitative descriptive phenomenological study was conducted in June 2018. The participants were 20 registered and full-time working nurses who were employed in different cities of the Republic of Croatia and in different health care institutions and in different areas of work. Data obtained from interviews were analyzed and interpreted using a content analysis approach. Results: Within data analaysis, four main themes were extracted as follows: Job satisfaction, Work motivation, Psychological factors - individual and Structural factors – working enviroment. Conclusion: Recognizing nursing challenges in healthcare system and the factors which influence the intention of nurses to leave can help to development of a clear strategy and retention measures according to factors that influence their turnover intention. Keywords: job satisfaction, work motivation, turnover intention, qualitative study, nurse


Within energy management systems, state estimation is a key function for building a network real-time model, which is a quasi-static mathematical representation of the current conditions in an interconnected network. The obtained model is dependent on the assumptions, and sensitivity analysis can be used to show how measurement schemes, transmission line modeling, and other parameters affect the quality of the state estimation solution. This paper provides expressions to compute all these sensitivities, and an example and a case study are used to illustrate them.


Muscle strains and contusions are extremely common in sport and account for significant time loss.1 2 The healing process can be slow, and reinjury is common.3 Recently there has been significant interest in the use of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) to enhance healing. In this issue, Mei-Dan et al (see page 618) discuss the biological background and clinical rationale for the use of PRP.4 This paper will address the use of PRP to enhance the speed and quality of repair in muscle injury.

When muscle is injured, capillary rupture and bleeding leads to a sequence of highly coordinated events. The first phase is the degeneration/inflammation phase and is characterised by the rupture of myofibrils and their ensuing necrosis. A haematoma forms between the stumps of the ruptured myofibrils, and inflammatory cells invade.3 Platelets arrive, adhere to the exposed collagen, become activated and immediately begin to release growth factors and cytokines further amplifying the inflammatory process. Neutrophils begin to migrate to the area and arrive as early as 1–2 h after injury.5

The neutrophils are phagocytic and contain over 40 hydrolytic enzymes. Their activation leads to phagocytosis of debris, and also to the release of oxygen free radicals and proteases. This release of toxic molecules from the neutrophils can lead to secondary damage to the muscle.2 5 6 In fact, the time of peak muscle injury correlates to the time of maximal neutrophil invasion and not to the initial injury.5 In …


This paper uses R6 to examine the effects of correlated input data on estimatesof failure probability. For 100% positive and 100% negative correlation between fracturetoughness and yield stress, the failure probability can be evaluated 'exactly' by integratingthe tails of distributions up to points which can be determined. Approximate estimates offailure probability are introduced, and shown to be upper and lower bound estimates for100% negative correlation. The 'exact' and approximate estimates of failure probabilityare compared with some Monte Carlo simulations for a flawed plate under membraneloading. For 100% negative correlation, the upper and lower bound estimates are close toeach other when the failure probability is low (~10-5).


The performance of radial inflow turbines, and specifically of turboexpanders for oil & gas applications, has been traditionally described in terms of efficiency versus velocity speed ratio (U/C) and discharge flow coefficient (Q/N). Especially in the testing phase, this latter parameter has been often preferred to the angle setting of moveable inlet guide vanes (IGV), which are standard equipment for most turboexpanders. In practice, the expander U/C has been often considered to give the performance backbone, while the Q/N ratio has been used for secondary corrections. Moreover, although the role of pressure ratio (PR) is recognized, its impact has been experimentally unexplored in those cases where testing facilities had capacity limitations. Eventually, in case of variable nozzles, the inlet flow capacity curve has been rarely included among the output performance variables, being the attention mainly focused on efficiency.
 In the present paper, beside an overview and an explanation of the physical meaning of traditional performance parameters, an alternative approach based on torque mapping versus U/C is introduced and discussed in detail. As a matter of fact, numerical and experimental data show smooth and regular trends when torque coefficient is used instead of adiabatic efficiency. Moreover, performance based on torque coefficient can be more conveniently extrapolated at extreme off-design conditions such as start-up (locked rotor condition) or full speed no load. The ease of extrapolation is particularly important for machine operability, which often requires accurate modeling of transient missions at very partial loads (as for instance during start-up or shut-down). Examples will be offered to show the advantages of torque coefficient representation and how sensitive this is to IGV setting and pressure.


A unique hybrid jetting system based on electrohydrodynamic and piezoelectric forces has been designed to verify the control of the drop velocity and to obtain ultrafine droplets with a high jetting frequency. Piezoelectric nozzles have been fabricated using silicon on insulator wafers and Pyrex glass employing a MEMS process and an anodic bonding process. The plate-type electrode and moving stage were used for the printing process. The droplet ejection mechanisms from the nozzle using the hybrid jetting system were captured by a high-speed camera synchronized with a trigger signal. The deformation of the meniscus and the jetting delay time in regard to the high operational firing frequency were investigated. It was found that controlling the droplet velocity without a change in the droplet volume and obtaining a smaller dot (59 µm in diameter) in hybrid printing mode compared with inkjet printing mode (151 µm in diameter) were possible. These results show this system's promising applicability to the fabrication of micro patterning for a wide range of printed electronics applications.


[1] We present observations of the auroral expansions during two substorms, focusing on multistage intensifications and the morphology of the poleward boundary, and relate these auroral observations to the local plasma convection and plasma sheet dynamics. The observations are made by meridian scanning photometers and an all-sky camera (ASC) at Ny Alesund, Svalbard (76° magnetic latitude (MLAT)), an ASC in Lovozero, Russia (64° MLAT), the International Monitor for Auroral Geomagnetic Effects (IMAGE) magnetometer chain in Svalbard and Scandinavia, the HYDRA instrument on Polar located at the inner edge of the plasma sheet, particle detectors on DMSP F13 and DMSP F14 traversing the ionospheric projection of the plasma sheet, and the CUTLASS Finland HF radar. In each substorm the aurora between 70° and 80° MLAT consisted of two branches separated by ∼5° in MLAT. The higher-latitude branch (at ∼75°–78°MLAT) was subject to a sequence of short-lived (∼1–2 min) intensifications, so-called "poleward boundary intensifications" (PBIs), recurring at ∼3-min intervals. Subsequent to each brightening, auroral forms traveled equatorward at a speed of ∼1.0–1.5 km s−1. On Polar the PBIs are related on a one-to-one basis with injections of electrons in the 5- to 20-keV energy range at the inner edge of the equatorial plasma sheet with predominantly a trapped distribution, delayed by ∼5 min. Electron precipitation within 60°–77° MLAT, corresponding to a large radial extent of the plasma sheet, is documented by DMSP flights in the 1800–2000 magnetic local time (MLT) sector. In discussing the branches of the high-latitude aurora within the context of current understanding of the relation of bursty bulk flows to substorm expansion phase dynamics, we note the following: (1) the initial auroral breakup located at 63°–64° MLAT near the equatorward edge of plasma sheet precipitation, which was followed by (2) two successive brightenings/auroral expansions appearing within 72°–74° MLAT/∼2100 MLT, separated by 14 min, (3) a 20-min-long brightening sequence in the poleward auroral branch (75°–78° MLAT), consisting of six discrete events (PBIs) within the boundary plasma sheet precipitation, and (4) the presence of auroral vortex motion/strong field-aligned current sheets in some of these PBIs, which were accompanied by (5) electron injections at the inner edge of the plasma sheet, (6) brightenings of the lower-latitude auroral branch when equatorward moving auroral forms (EMAFs/streamers) arrive there, and (7) localized bursts of equatorward ionospheric convection at speeds of 0.5–1 km s−1 in the latitude range of the EMAFs/streamers. The documented associations between PBIs/EMAFs, plasma sheet injections, and the local convection events are explained in terms of a substorm scenario involving bursty bulk flows in the late expansion phase.


Abstract:To help understand and counteract future agronomic challenges to farmland biodiversity, it is essential to know how present farming practices have affected biodiversity on Irish farms. We present an overview of existing research data and conclusions, describing the impact of crop cultivation on biodiversity on Irish arable farms. An extensive literature review clearly indicates that peer-reviewed publications on research conducted in Ireland on this topic are quite scarce: just 21 papers investigating the effect of conventional crop cultivation on Irish biodiversity have been published within the past 30 years. Principally, these studies have concluded that conventional crop cultivation has had an adverse impact on biodiversity on Irish farms, with 15 of the 21 studies demonstrating negative trends for the taxa investigated. Compared to other EU states, the relative dearth of baseline data and absence of monitoring programmes designed to assess the specific impacts of crop cultivation on Irish biodiversity highlight the need to develop long-term research studies. With many new challenges facing Irish agriculture, a research programme must be initiated to measure current levels of biodiversity on arable land and to assess the main farming 'pressures' causing significant biodiversity loss or gains in these systems.


In this work, measurements of activity concentration of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) isotopes and their related hazard indices for several materials such as crude oil, sludge and water in Ahdeb oil fields in Waste governorate using high pure germanium coaxial detection technique. The average values for crude oil samples were174.72Bq/l, 43.46Bq/l, 355.07Bq/l, 264.21Bq/l, 122.52nGy/h, 0.7138, 1.1861, 0.601 mSv/y, 0.1503mSv/y and 1.8361 for Ra-226, Ac-228, K-40, Ra eq, D, H-external and H-internal respectively. According to the results; the ratio between 238U to 232Th was 4, which represents the natural ratio in the crust earth; therefore, one can be strongly suggested that the geo-stricture of the Ahdeb oil fields dose not contents any kind of rocks. Although the results indicate the rising in the activity concentration of NORM isotopes, the national and international comparisons proved that it is still in the world range limits.


Prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α) and oxytocin have been used to improve reproductive performance in many mammalian species, including humans. The aim of the present study was to determine their effects on sperm quality when extended stallion semen was enriched with PGF2α or oxytocin. In this study, 16 healthy adult stallions, each 15-22 years old, were used. Five ejaculates from each stallion were collected with an artificial vagina during breeding season. Thereafter, gel-free semen was divided into 7 aliquots and diluted with an INRA96 semen extender. The following different treatments were evaluated: 3 with only PGF2α (10, 20, and 40 μg/mL) and 3 with only oxytocin (2, 3, and 4 IU/mL). Sperm quality was evaluated before and after applying the different treatments. In vitro addition of oxytocin to semen did not show improvement in any of the sperm quality parameters measured. However, sperm supplementation with 40 μg of PGF2α caused a significant increase (P < 0.05) in diluted semen motility. We concluded that the addition of PGF2α to elder stallions' semen may help maintain sperm motility. Future research might assess the effects of PGF2α on fertility. Our results were based on in vitro evaluations, and thus further fertility trials are required.


Faced with climate change one way of adaptation is to reach into the genetic resource of the so-called miner crops. These crops are thought to be more resilient to climate change while being more nutritious than the modern vegetables. It is vital to characterise these crops in order to gather information that will help in their widespread usage. The objective of this study was to morphologically characterise four morphs; three from Zimbabwe and one from Kenya under greenhouse conditions at the Crop Science Department of the University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe. This work assessed number of days to seedling emergence, number of days to flowering, number of leaflets/compound leaf and number of pods/plant and other parameters. The analysis of variance for all the traits exhibited significant differences (P=0.05). There was significant variation among spider plant morphs in plant height, petiole length, length of leaflet, fruit length, fruit width, days to seedling emergence, days to flowering, number of leaflets per compound leaf and number of pods per plant. Morphs from different locations exhibited variability for stem pigmentations. The Kenyan morph differed from the Zimbabwean morphs as it was smaller and produced a higher number of pods per plant. We recommend further studies to reveal the molecular markers associated with the morphological differences we observed.


In many real-life networks, such as urban structures, protein interactions and social networks, one of the key issues is to measure the centrality of nodes, i.e. to determine which nodes and edges are more central to the functioning of the entire network than others. In this paper we focus on betweenness centrality --- a metric based on which the centrality of a node is related to the number of shortest paths that pass through that node. This metric has been shown to be well suited for many, often complex, networks. In its standard form, the betweenness centrality, just like other centrality metrics, evaluates nodes based on their individual contributions to the functioning of the network. For instance, the importance of an intersection in a road network can be computed as the difference between the full capacity of this network and its capacity when the intersection is completely shut down. However, as recently argued in the literature, such an approach is inadequate for many real-life applications, as, for example, multiple nodes can fail simultaneously. Thus, what would be desirable is to refine the existing centrality metrics such that they take into account not only the functioning of nodes as individual entities but also as members of groups of nodes. One recently-proposed way of doing this is based on the Shapley Value --- a solution concept in cooperative game theory that measures in a fair way the contributions of players to all the coalitions that they could possibly participate in. Although this approach has been used to extend various centrality metrics, such an extension to betweenness centrality is yet to be developed. The main challenge when developing such a refinement is to tackle the computational complexity; the Shapley Value generally requires an exponential number of operations, making its use limited to a small number of player (or nodes in our context). Against this background, our main contribution in this paper is to refine the betweenness centrality metric based on the Shapley Value: we develop an algorithm for computing this new metric, and show that it has the same complexity as the best known algorithm due to Brandes [7] to compute the standard betweenness centrality (i.e., polynomial in the size of the network). Finally, we show that our results can be extended to another important centrality metric called stress centrality.


Put today's best approaches to work for your patients with this practical guide to cutting-edge psychopharmacologic and somatic treatments for psychiatric and neurologic conditions. Comprised of key chapters from the second edition of Stern et al.'s Massachusetts General Hospital Comprehensive Clinical Psychiatry, this user-friendly resource focuses on current psychotropic treatments, electroconvulsive therapy, and neurotherapeutics, making it an ideal quick reference for psychiatrists, psychologists, internists, and nurse practitioners.


The relevance of the study is reasoned by the modernization of professional education of social sphere's specialists, the leading strategy of which is formation of professional worldview as a system of professional ideals, intellectual and moral-emotional attitude to professional activities, readiness for life-long learning, self-organization and competitiveness on the labor market. Professional worldview as a system of internal determinants of human life leads to a reflexive and reasoned choice of value-activities orientations and life-affirming priorities. The purpose of this paper is to develop a managerial mechanism to form world view of the future specialist of social sphere. The leading method is the method of action research (AR), allowing to obtain new knowledge on the essence and structure of professional worldview, to identify the steps, to define principles, to clarify the objectives, methods, pedagogical conditions, criteria of formation of professional worldview of future specialists of social sphere. The paper reveals the essence and structure of professional world view, including epistemological (cognitive), axiological (values), congruent (principles, beliefs, orientation), praxes-logical (practice) components; identifies the stages (adaptive, explicit, productive) and defines principles of (creativity, acme-logical, the actuality, the subjective  integration, comparatives)  formation of professional worldview; refines objectives (the integration of the content of training; strengthening of integrative cooperation of vocational schools with social centers; proposes the development of scientific and methodological support of students' professional identification) clarifies methods (cognitive, motivational, professional activities), reveals teaching conditions (readiness of teachers to formation of students' professional worldview; integration of general and professional knowledge;  project-oriented form of vocational training),  identifies criteria (cognition, axiological, congruence, praxis-logical) of social sphere future specialists' professional world view formation.  The paper submissions can be useful for teachers of research universities, which train specialists for the social sphere; for centers of advanced training and retraining of personnel in the selection and structuring of the content for the advanced training of specialists of social sphere and science staff at research universities. Keywords: Professional Worldview, Professional Education, Specialists of Social Sphere, Management. JEL Classifications: A20, I21, I28


The aim of this work was to describe unique ultrastructural organization of the outer hair cell lateral wall. The molecular mechanism of electromotility is unknown but it is clear that the composition of plasma membrane, orientation of actin and spectrin molecules of the cytoskeleton and interaction between them could be important for the electromotile response of outer hair cells. Active cochlear mechanisms amplify movement along the basilar membrane and transmit mechanical information to the inner hair cell, thus improving audio perception capabilities in mammals. Outer hair cells have a complex trilaminar lateral wall composed of plasma membrane, highly organized cytoskeleton and subsurface cisternae, which form axial cylinders inserted into each other around the cell core. Recent discoveries have shown that a key component in the electromotility of outer hair cells is a motor protein prestin that is found in the cytoplasmic membrane of outer hair cells. Cytoskeleton nanostructure shows that it is not complete and uninterrupted, and is composed of separate domains, oriented to each other at different angles. Protein pillars are situated between the invaginations of the plasma membrane and actin filaments of the cytoskeleton. The innermost layer of the lateral cell is made up by subsurface cisternae associated with mitochondria.


In 2005, a bloom of the Diarrhoetic Shellfish Poisoning (DSP) causative agent Dino- physis acuta Ehrenberg in the Galician Rias Baixas (NW Spain) started in early August and reached maximum densities (up to 2 × 10 4 cell l -1 ) in mid November. A cell cycle study was carried out over a 22 h period on 9 and 10 November to describe the physiological status and the short-term variability in cell toxin quota of D. acuta at the time of the annual maximum of lipophilic toxins in shellfish. At that time, the population of D. acuta showed an extremely low division rate (μ = 0.03 d -1 ), a high frequency of dead cells (up to 15%) and cells with starch granules (up to 93%), and no evidence of recent mixotrophic behaviour. Still, the cells, which did not perform vertical migration, aggregated around salinity-driven density discontinuities in the top 5 m and had a high cell toxin quota (deter- mined by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry) for this species. A 3.5-fold difference was found between maximum (during the night) and minimum values of cell toxin quota. Okadaic acid (OA) was the predominant toxin and changes in cell quota of different toxins showed different daily pat- terns in the content of okadaiates and pectenotoxins; thus, the toxin profile is influenced by the time of sampling. Dissolved toxins (adsorbed by resins in passive samplers from 8 to 14 November) also reached annual maxima and reflected the vertical distribution of D. acuta cells. These results empha- size the need to parameterize physiological conditions and behaviour of Dinophysis populations dur- ing different phases of the population growth and hydrodynamic scenarios.


We analyze Hubble Space Telescope WFC3/H160-band observations of a sample of 48 Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array detected submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South field, to study their stellar morphologies and sizes. We detect 79% ± 17% of the SMGs in the H160-band imaging with a median sensitivity of 27.8 mag, and most (80%) of the nondetections are SMGs with 870 μm fluxes of S870 < 3 mJy. With a surface brightness limit of μH ∼ 26 mag arcsec−2, we find that 82% ± 9% of the H160-band-detected SMGs at z = 1–3 appear to have disturbed morphologies, meaning they are visually classified as either irregulars or interacting systems, or both. By determining a Sérsic fit to the H160 surface brightness profiles, we derive a median Sérsic index of n = 1.2 ± 0.3 and a median half-light radius of re = 4.4 kpc for our SMGs at z = 1–3. We also find significant displacements between the positions of the H160 component and 870 μm emission in these systems, suggesting that the dusty starburst regions and less-obscured stellar distribution are not colocated. We find significant differences in the sizes and the Sérsic index between our z = 2–3 SMGs and z ∼ 2 quiescent galaxies, suggesting that a major transformation of the stellar light profile is needed in the quenching processes if SMGs are progenitors of the red-and-dead z ∼ 2 galaxies. Given the short-lived nature of SMGs, we postulate that the majority of the z = 2–3 SMGs with S870 ≳ 2 mJy are early/mid-stage major mergers.


ABSTRACT A methodology using the standardised precipitation index is proposed to develop critical drought intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) curves. We define dry periods within which we recognise droughts of different durations. The most severe drought for each drought duration in each year is called the critical drought. The total probability theorem-coupled frequency analysis is used to determine the best-fit probability distribution function of drought severity, which is then converted to intensity. The generalised extreme value probability distribution function is found to best fit the critical drought severity. The methodology is implemented using monthly precipitation data for a meteorological station in Turkey. The critical drought intensity decreases linearly with increasing drought duration, whereas the return period increases exponentially when the drought becomes more severe. The site-specific IDF curves furnished with an empirical relationship between the intensity and return period allow one to characterise the drought not by an index-based intensity but by its return period. This kind of presentation is physically easier to understand, in particular for stakeholders and decision makers in practice.


To provide a comprehensive molecular phylogeny for peltigeralean fungi and to establish a classification based on monophyly, phylogenetic analyses were carried out on sequences from the nuclear ribosomal large (LSU) and small (SSU) subunits obtained from 113 individuals that represent virtually all main lineages of ascomycetes. Analyses were also conducted on a subset of 77 individuals in which the ingroup consisted of 59 individuals representing six families, 12 genera, and 54 species potentially part of the Peltigerineae/Peltigerales. Our study revealed that all six families together formed a strongly supported monophyletic group within the Lecanoromycetidae. We propose here a new classification for these lichens consisting of the order Peltigerales and two suborders-Collematineae subordo nov. (Collemataceae, Placynthiaceae, and Pannariaceae) and Peltigerineae (Lobariaceae, Nephromataceae, and Peltigeraceae). To accommodate these new monophyletic groups, we redefined the Lecanorineae, Pertusariales, and Lecanorales sensu Eriksson et al. (Outline of Ascomycota-2003, Myconet 9: 1-103, 2003). Our study confirms the monophyly of the Collemataceae, Lobariaceae, Nephromataceae, and Peltigeraceae, and the genera Nephroma, Sticta, and Peltigera. However, Leptogium, Lobaria, Pseudocyphellaria, and Solorina were found to be nonmonophyletic genera. Reconstruction of ancestral symbiotic states within the Peltigerales, using maximum likelihood (ML) and a Bayesian approach to account for phylogenetic uncertainty, revealed an evolutionary scenario in which bimembered associations with cyanobacteria were ancestral, followed by multiple independent acquisitions of green algae to form tripartite symbioses and rare subsequent losses of the cyanobiont to form bimembered symbioses with green algae.


In human genetics, we measure the strength of statistical evidence using a variety of maximized likelihood ratios, LODs, and empirical p values. I argue here that these statistics have highly undesirable properties as evidence measures when applied to complex disorders. Among other deficiencies, I show that when following up on an interesting finding, they will tend to erroneously indicate diminished evidence as more data are considered (e.g., the LOD will tend to go down at a linked locus as the sample size increases). This violates a fundamental assumption underlying standard linkage and association designs in which we first scan the genome for our best signals, and then follow up at those genomic positions with additional data. I argue here for a coherent theoretical approach to formalizing statistical evidence measures, and derive a set of minimal requirements that any evidence measure should meet, drawing heavily on an analogy with the thermometer. I speculate that measures of evidence that come closer to meeting these requirements will do a better job of finding and characterizing genes, and I propose an alternative evidence metric as a step in this direction.


Background The consequences of child sexual abuse (CSA) can be significant and can affect short-term and long-term mental, sexual and physical health. In order to offer timely and appropriate care for the child, early recognition of CSA is necessary. The lack of specific physical and psychological signs and barriers to abuse disclosure that these young victims face makes it difficult for medical and psychological professionals to recognise and confirm CSA signs. We aimed to validate the Sexual Knowledge Picture Instrument (SKPI) as a diagnostic instrument for CSA. Methods and analysis An observational study to quantify the intraobserver and interobserver reliability and diagnostic accuracy of the SKPI will be performed. A total of 250 subjects from three groups will be included in the study: (1) a group of suspected CSA victims, recruited from three academic paediatric hospitals; (2) a case group of (proven) victims of CSA, recruited in cooperation with the Dutch Police Vice Squad; and (3) a control group of children, recruited from preschools and primary schools. All children will be interviewed using the SKPI, and to investigate reliability, video recordings will be assessed and reassessed by the same and a different blinded rater, respectively. Within 1 year, the results of the SKPI will be compared with the conclusions from the independent child protective services or police reports. If necessary, the SKPI will be modified to improve its reliability and accuracy. Ethics and dissemination This validation study of the SKPI is necessary for obtaining a reliable diagnostic tool, which will enable medical and psychological professionals to detect CSA in young victims at an early age and start intervention/treatment. Trial registration number NL 50903.018.15.


This article offers an overview of the Desegregation of Virginia Education Project (DOVE), a nationally recognized oral history project in the United States, and discusses how the project was integrated into an elementary social studies methods course. The authors present an analysis of assignments that preservice teachers generated for this course, including final versions of the oral history projects and peer feedback. Our analysis of the final products and student feedback suggests that doing an oral history project allowed preservice teachers to gain new knowledge on the issue of school segregation and helped relate their learning to real world problems. However, preservice teachers also experienced challenges in creating their own narratives of the time period, failing to weave together individual stories and other historical evidence.


We revisit the cosmology of covariant Galileon gravity in view of the most recent cosmological data sets, including weak lensing. As a higher derivative theory, covariant Galileon models do not have a ΛCDM limit and predict a very different structure formation pattern compared with the standard ΛCDM scenario. Previous cosmological analyses suggest that this model is marginally disfavored, yet cannot be completely ruled out. In this work we use a more recent and extended combination of data, and we allow for more freedom in the cosmology, by including a massive neutrino sector with three different mass hierarchies. We use the Planck measurements of cosmic microwave background temperature and polarization; baryonic acoustic oscillations measurements by BOSS DR12; local measurements of H0; the joint light-curve analysis supernovae sample; and, for the first time, weak gravitational lensing from the KiDS Collaboration. We find, that in order to provide a reasonable fit, a nonzero neutrino mass is indeed necessary, but we do not report any sizable difference among the three neutrino hierarchies. Finally, the comparison of the Bayesian evidence to the ΛCDM one shows that in all the cases considered, covariant Galileon models are statistically ruled out by cosmological data.


Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a major health problem associated with excess morbidity and mortality. As the prevalence of this metabolic disorder is rapidly increasing and current treatment fails to stabilise the disease in most patients, prevention should be considered as a key objective in the near future. People who develop type 2 diabetes pass through a phase of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). Defects in the action and/or secretion of insulin are the two major abnormalities leading to development of glucose intolerance. Any intervention in the impaired glucose tolerance phase that reduces resistance to insulin or protects the beta-cells, or both, should prevent or delay progression to diabetes.Acarbose, miglitol and voglibose act by competitively inhibiting the alpha-glucosidases, a group of key intestinal enzymes involved in the digestion of carbohydrates. They decrease both postprandial hyperglycaemia and hyperinsulinaemia, and thereby may improve sensitivity to insulin and release the stress on beta-cells. These compounds do not induce hypoglycaemia and have a good safety profile, although gastrointestinal adverse effects may limit long-term compliance to therapy. The recent placebo-controlled prospective STOP-noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (STOP-NIDDM) trial demonstrated that acarbose 100mg three times daily reduces the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in patients with IGT (relative risk reduction of 25% after a mean follow-up of 3.3 years). The 6-year Early Diabetes Intervention Trial (EDIT), comparing the effect of acarbose 50mg three times daily to that of metformin, showed a trend to a positive effect of acarbose compared with placebo, in a mid-term 3-year analysis, which should be confirmed in the final analysis. To our knowledge, no such prevention intervention trials have been or are currently being performed with miglitol or voglibose. In conclusion, because of its absence of toxicity and its particular mechanism of action on gastrointestinal tract and indirect consequences on both insulin action and beta-cell function, acarbose may be used to prevent type 2 diabetes. If the ongoing EDIT trial confirms the positive results of the recent STOP-NIDDM trial, acarbose could be used, either as an alternative or in addition to changes in lifestyle, to delay development of diabetes in patients with IGT. However, the best dosage of acarbose for this specific indication remains to be specified, especially when all three important parameters, efficacy, tolerance and cost, are taken into consideration.


Emergent aquatic insects can be major conduits of resources moving from freshwater to adjacent terrestrial ecosystems. These allochthonous resources can influence the structure and function of adjacent ecosystems, yet their effect on arthropod consumer populations remains largely unknown. In this study, we investigated how flying adult midges influence terrestrial arthropod food webs in subarctic grasslands by blocking midge inputs over four years in 2 9 2-m plots near the shore of Lake M yvatn, Iceland, where midge abundances are naturally high. We examined responses of terrestrial arthropods by measuring their densities, community composition, and stable isotopes (dC) in midge-exclusion and open (control) plots. Cage treatments significantly reduced midge deposition into exclusion plots (99% reduction) relative to control plots but were designed to allow ground-active arthropods to move freely among plots. Predator densities (e.g., spiders and harvestmen) were on average 30% lower in exclusion plots relative to control plots, while no other trophic guild (detritivores, omnivores, or herbivores) showed a response to midge exclusion. As a result, blocking midges shifted arthropod communities toward a composition dominated by springtails, mites, and aphids relative to large predators such as wolf spiders and harvestmen. All trophic guilds (detritivores, omnivores, and predators), except for herbivores, were more depleted in dC in midge-exclusion plots, indicating an increased reliance on terrestrial (i.e., plant-based) resources when midge inputs were blocked. Arthropod predators were the only guild that had both a depleted dC and a negative density response to midge exclusion. Apart from predators, these results indicate a weak association between resource type (aquatic vs. terrestrial) and density responses across most arthropod guilds in this grassland system. Overall, our findings suggest that aquatic insect subsidies have significant effects on terrestrial arthropod communities, but predators appear most responsive to insect allochthony in subarctic grasslands.


This volume presents the state of the art with respect to the most important elements of the Bologna process. The reflections on the past are also used to fuel the debate on the next decade. In 2008, the Flemish Ministry of Education and Training invited the editors to produce a volume with chapters discussing topics that are deemed to be most salient in the coming decade. Based on a tentative list of themes to be covered initially suggested by the Ministry, the editors have solicited contributions from appropriate scholars, experts on the specific topics. As a result this volume contains a rich set of chapters which address the promises and perils of the Bologna process and its preliminary outcomes. A difficult task, given that the process is a target on the move and even changing in nature during the process. It is also a difficult task because evidence can be interpreted differently paving the way for new paradoxes and complex interactions between the actors in the field. Consequently we are faced with new questions every time we believe answers to old questions have been found. The contributors to the volume not necessarily agree in their analyses of the Bologna process, but there is – nevertheless – a fair amount of consensus. According to their analyses governance, quality, mobility and diversity are the topics that have been most important to the Bologna process in the past, and will be at centre stage in future discussions. The book is meant to be a reflective exercise for those involved – in whatever way – in the Bologna process (researchers, teachers, managers, political decision-makers). The material is also relevant to those outside of the countries currently subscribing to the Bologna process..


Intradermal administration of recombinant interferon gamma (rIFN-gamma) to lepromatous leprosy patients has converted the local histology toward a tuberculoid pattern. However, such changes have been confined to the site of injection. In contrast, in the present study, marked, intradermal accumulation of CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, and CD1a+ T cells and Leu- M5+ mononuclear phagocytes was induced at a distance from the sites of administration, in a dose-dependent manner, by 10 daily intramuscular injections of 10-30 micrograms rIFN-gamma/m2. Mononuclear cell infiltration began within 3 d of onset of rIFN-gamma therapy and persisted at least 8 wk. Intramuscular administration of rIFN-gamma to lepromatous patients receiving concurrent chemotherapy can safely induce widespread histologic features of an upgrading reaction.


This paper presents an original use of Twitter to interpret and rewrite the poems of Francesco Petrarca's Rerum vulgarium fragmenta (Rvf) implemented within the Oregon Petrarch Open Book OPOB). This activity was partially inspired by the idea of Twitterature developed by Alexander Aciman and Emmett Rensin; we believe with them that our digital time should develop new and more functional ways of addressing literary texts but at the same time we are convinced that the "burdensome duty of hours spent reading" cannot be eliminated. On the contrary, the new ways of reading in the digital era as we envisage them are the result and consequence of broader and deeper reading activities. We conceived the project of writing 366 tweets, out of the 366 poems that make the last form of Petrarca's Rvf, as the result of different philological activities, from reading the texts in the original language to consulting manuscripts, translations and intersemiotic renderings of the texts. Before writing the 140 characters that make one tweet we also elaborated paraphrases, summaries and keywords related to the individual poems. Students created the first version of the tweets during the 2011 UO seminar on Re-reading Petrarca's Rvf in the Digtal Era. The second version was elaborated in the context of a seminar on the same topic during Winter 2014. This paper presents the two versions of the Twitter Edition of Petrarca's Rvf now available in the OPOB and focuses on the philology connected to the latest edition that provided an English translation of the original tweets written in Italian. The actual Italian and English 366 tweets are published in the Appendix to the article.


OBJECTIVES
The objective of this study was to evaluate whether surface chemistry-controlled TiO2 nanotube structures may serve as a local drug delivery system for zoledronic acid improving implant-bone support.

METHODS
Twenty-four screw-shaped Ti implants with surface chemistry-controlled TiO2 nanotube structures were prepared and divided into a zoledronic acid-formatted test and a native control group. The implants were inserted into contra-lateral femoral condyles in 12 New Zealand White rabbits. Bone support was evaluated using resonance frequency analysis (RFA) and removal torque (RTQ), as well as histometric analysis following a 3-weeks healing interval.

RESULTS
Zoledronic acid-formatted TiO2 nanotube test implants showed significantly improved implant stability and osseointegration measured using RFA and RTQ compared with control (p < 0.05), and showed significantly enhanced new bone formation within the root of the threads compared with control (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
TiO2 nanotube implants may prove to be a significant delivery system for drugs or biologic agents aimed at supporting local bone formation. Additional study of candidate drugs/agents, optimized dosage and release kinetics is needed prior to evaluation in clinical settings.


The gene encoding the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been demonstrated as a candidate for Alzheimer's disease-related depression (AD-D) susceptibility. Additionally, an association between AD-D and the functional valine to methionine (Val66Met) polymorphism has been reported. The aim of this study was to assess the genetic contribution of other BDNF variants to AD-D. Two-hundred forty-five AD patients were divided into two subgroups according to the presence (AD-D) or the absence (AD-nD) of depressive symptoms. Four single-nucleotide polymorphisms within BDNF gene were considered, i.e., C270T, rs2049045 C/G, G196A (Val66Met), and G11757C. In our sample, 35.5% of patients (n = 87) reported AD-related depressive symptoms. The individual SNP analysis showed an association between G196A and G11757C genotypes and AD-D. Accordingly, considering the allele frequencies, BDNF 196*A allele was significantly overrepresented in AD-D compared to AD-nD (OR = 1.80, 95% CI = 1.19-2.72), as well as BDNF 11757*C allele (OR = 1.90, 95% CI = 1.25-2.90). Haplotype analyses revealed that the alleles at four loci (C270T, rs2049045 C/G, G196A, G11757C) interacted to further increase the risk of AD-D. Compared to the most common not-at-risk C-C-G-G haplotype, C-G-A-C (OR = 3.55, 95% CI = 1.44-8.76, P = 0.006) and C-C-A-C haplotypes (OR = 1.72, 95% CI = 1.03-2.87, P = 0.037) were overrepresented in AD-D. This study suggests that BDNF genetic variations play a role in the susceptibility to AD-related depression.


The feasibility of aerobic vessel composting and anaerobic digestion for the treatment of pulp and paper mill sludges were studied. The composting studies made use of primary and secondary sludge from a de-inking and paper mill. In six parallely aerated 500 1 vessels with various carbon : nitrogen (C:N) -ratios, the most optimal performance was obtained with C:N -ratios of c. 22–35, while higher and lower ratios delayed the temperature increase. With the optimal ratios, the thermophilic stage was reached within 36 h, and the stage lasted for about seven days. In the scale-up study (18 m 3 compost vessel), the thermophilic stage was reached within 24 h. An effective dehydratation of the mass was obtained as the total solids (TS) content of the compost increased from 31.3– to 63.8– within 21 days. The anaerobic digestion of pulp and paper mill sludges was studied using two mesophilic 5 1 digesters, their feed sludges consisting of a mixture of municipal sewage sludge and primary and secondary sludge from a pulp and paper mill. With this feed mixture and with a loading rate of about 1.0 kg volatile solids (VS)/m 3 d a removal of about 27 to 40– VS and methane production of about 180 1/kgVS added feed sludge were achieved during the 80 d study period. The study showed that pulp and paper mill sludges are amenable to both aerobic composting and anaerobic digestion.


The mouse model of pleurisy induced by carrageenan is characterized by a significant enhancement of cell migration due to neutrophils, 4 h after pleurisy induction. Forty-eight hours after pleurisy induction, a significant increase in cell migration due to mononuclear cells occurs. Recently, studies in our laboratory have demonstrated that cyclosporine A (CsA) inhibits leukocyte migration in the pleural cavity and lungs in the mouse model of pleurisy induced by carrageenan. In the present work we evaluated whether CsA was able to downregulate CD11a/CD18 adhesion molecule in the lungs, as well as TNF-α and IL-1β levels in the fluid leakage of the pleural cavity in this model. Our results showed that CsA significantly decreased CD11a/CD18 in the lungs, as well as TNF-α and IL-1β levels in the fluid leakage of the pleural cavity 4 h and 48 h after pleurisy induction. It is our hypothesis that the inhibitory effect elicited by CsA upon these adhesion molecules may be also be attributed to the downregulation of TNF-α and IL-1β cytokines.


Companies are eager to leverage social interactions among consumers by embedding social networking tools on their websites and actively integrating marketing actions with consumers' social activities. In this article, the authors investigate the impact of online social interactions on repeat usage behavior and the effectiveness of monetary incentives by formulating a model that parses out the effects of these individual factors. Using a unique data set from a wellness program, they find that online social interactions play a key role in driving repeat behavior, and after controlling for contemporaneous correlations from same-office friends, the social influence emanates even from distant friends working in different offices. The authors also find that monetary incentives have a significant impact on repeat usage and that ignoring this may overstate the impact of social influence. Furthermore, what-if scenario analyses show that social interactions are more effective than monetary incentives when both are present. The authors then explore social influence theories to understand the underlying process mechanisms that may operate in the repeat usage context. Using these findings, they offer strategic implications for marketing practice.


AIM
To evaluate the abrasivity of different toothpastes both quantitatively and qualitatively with a profilometer technique and to correlate these findings to the radioactive dentin abrasivity (RDA) value.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Acrylic plates were exposed to brushing in a brushing machine with 11 different toothpastes. The results were evaluated using a profilometer. A surface roughness value (Ra-value), that is, a qualitative measurement, and also a volume value, that is, a quantitative measurement, were calculated from the profilometer results. These values were then correlated to each other and to the RDA-value. A comparison between RDA, Ra and volume measurements was performed using linear fitting procedure.

RESULTS
The results showed that the correlation between RDA and Ra measurements was low (R(2) = 0.04) and also that the correlation between RDA and volume measurements was low (R(2) = 0.00002). Correlation between Ra and abraded volume was high (R(2) = 0.87).

CONCLUSIONS
It is important to consider not only the RDA-value when evaluating toothpaste abrasivity. From the profilometer results both a quantitative (volume) and qualitative (roughness) measurement of the abrasivity of a toothpaste can be obtained.


In Brazil there is a semi-arid region of the Bahia State where the transition between caatinga and cerrado prevails. The Bombacopsis retusa (Mart. & Zucc.) A. Robyns belongs to Bombacaceae family, and is frequent in this region. Fruit of Bombacopsis retusa have seeds edible by native fauna and appreciated as appetizer nut in small local villages. With the purpose of verifying the potential application of the oil of this species in different industrial segments, the crude oil of Bombacopsis retusa seeds was extracted with Soxhlet apparatus with 55.5% yield. The physical and chemical analyses to determine the oleochemical indices showed acid value of 0.09 mg KOH g, iodine value of 62.80 g I2 100 g, saponification index of 192.80 mg KOH g, refractive index (40°C) of 1.468 and a melting point of 43.90°C. To determine the fatty profile of this oil was applied the CG-DIC that revealed the predominance of palmitic (59.98%), oleic (19.25%) and linoleic (8.47%) acids, besides the saturated/unsaturated fatty acids ratio equal to 2.70. These results suggested that the oil of Bombacopsis retusa is a functional, sustainable and competitive raw-material to be used in agro-energy, food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.


FOR 25 YEARS the Videometrics conference series has been providing a unique forum for photogrammetry, computer vision, 2D and 3D image analysis and vision metrology researchers, developers and practitioners to present the latest advances in precise 3D measurement and accurate modelling from imaging and range sensors. Videometrics, Range Imaging and Applications XIV is part of the SPIE International Symposium on Optical Metrology and will be co-located with the Laser World of Photonics 2017. Dates: 26th to 29th June 2017; Location: Munich, Germany; Contact: Fabio Remondino: email@example.com; Mark Shortis: email@example.com; Website: http://spie.org/EOM17/conferencedetails/Videometrics


In the 21st century, Organization Development (OD) is expected to awaken and grow the minds, hearts and spirits of managers and their organizations. We suggest sacred and transcendental approach for the above matter, in particular taking the wisdom of Sufism. OD then is being seen as a
sacred sophialogical engagement with hikma as its base of action. Hikma is about putting/placing rightly thing at the right place in order for justices to prevail. It is also about taking actions of opposing stupidity and emotional disorders. Gulen noted that hikma begins with reflections, curiosity, understanding and zeal to study and search, and continues with obedience and worship, ending in spiritual pleasures and eternal happiness (saadah). A sophialogical engagement in the context OD is to bring practical wisdom (phronesis) as a moral goodness that connects knowledge and action. In enabling phronesis to be present, we suggest novelistic sacred inquiry is an instrument of practice.
Meanwhile ta'wil is being proposed as the method of knowing/understanding data. Ta'wil is best described as a kind of Islamic hermeneutics. In ta'wil, spiritual and worldly experiences are utilized, and both exoteric and esoteric are considered. The basic aim of ta'wil is to cross the line of literal/exoteric meaning for a greater understanding/knowing beyond the sensual perceptions. We
theorized two main axioms of ta'wil, namely active imagination and contemplation. Contextually, in this type of consultancy, consultants need to venture into nafsiology as part of their historicality of understanding. Nafsiology basically is a study that concerns with internal aspects of man. In this work we are emphasizing on nafs, qalb and ruh. In relation to the three compounds, being ghaflah
(forgetfulness/heedlessness/neglectfulness) is considered as functional illness that needs to be rectified, and we recommend tazkiya as hikma of normality under the rubric of sacred learning action. As tazkiya is a work of an adult knower, we theorized three grammars of organizing, namely
imagin.i.zation about the dynamics of order/disorder of the three compounds, reading and contemplating ayah (verbal and non-verbal signs) and eschatology as paradigm of living-life. Consultants in this regard must understand that the whole gamut mentioned above so far is to bring the desired future state of organizational well-being, saadah, within the reach of the acquired second. We present Gulenian dialogical Sufism as referential case study in the contemporary tradition.


Ghana has for several years been experiencing massive power blackouts popularly nicknamed 'Dumsor,' which means on and off in the Akan dialect. The role of electricity in Ghana's economy is prodigiously significant for growth and development. The purpose of the study was to explore the impact of power outage ('Dumsor') on the hotel industry in Ghana. The study adopted an explanatory research design covering a stratified sample of 100 drawn from 5, 4, 3 and 2 stars hotels across major cities in Ghana. A set of structured questionnaires was used to collect data and analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics. The validity/reliability test indicates that the questions were 89% reliable to be used for explanatory analysis of the study and achieved a response rate of 93%. There was a general outcry of unreliable power supply as majority of the respondents indicated the hotels experienced lights out intermittently and unannounced within a week for not less than 12 hours per day which has led to low productivity (86%). Also 92% of the respondents indicated that the effect of 'dumsor' has led to high production cost, high rate of redundancy of employees, an increase in maintenance cost, damage to plant/equipments/appliance and perishability of items. The five independent variables accounted for 90% of variations as a result of the power outages and were thus critical to the smooth operations of the hotel industry in Ghana. The study also revealed that an increase in power outages by one unit will increase and worsen the situation (redundancy, perishability of items, and cost of alternative power supply, damage to plant/equipment/appliances and maintenance cost) by 0.401, 0.228, 0.426, 0.218 and 0.316 respectively. To improve on this menace energy crisis, the government and stakeholders should put mechanisms in place to avert this energy canker. Government should have the political will and put incentives in the area of power generation to make it workable. Keywords : Hotel industry, power outage ('Dumsor'), power supply, explanatory research design and regression coefficients.


Opening night of "L.A. Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema" featured the screening of new prints of two films by Julie Dash, Daughters of the Dust (1991) and Four Women (1975). The series— organized by professors Allyson Field of UCLA and Jacqueline Stewart of Northwestern Univer- sity, with Jan-Christopher Horak, Director of the UCLA Film and Television Archive—comprises the first large-scale retrospective of the alternative black cinema movement in los angeles. The program is part of Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980, the unprecedented collaboration, initi- ated by the getty foundation, bringing together more than sixty cultural institutions from across southern california to tell the story of the birth of the los angeles art scene.


A growing family of random graphs is called robust if it retains a giant component after percolation with arbitrary positive retention probability. We study robustness for graphs, in which new vertices are given a spatial position on the $d$-dimensional torus and are connected to existing vertices with a probability favouring short spatial distances and high degrees. In this model of a scale-free network with clustering we can independently tune the power law exponent $\tau$ of the degree distribution and the rate $\delta d$ at which the connection probability decreases with the distance of two vertices. We show that the network is robust if $\tau 3$. In the case of one-dimensional space we also show that the network is not robust if $\tau<2+1/(\delta-1)$. This implies that robustness of a scale-free network depends not only on its power-law exponent but also on its clustering features. Other than the classical models of scale-free networks our model is not locally tree-like, and hence we need to develop novel methods for its study, including, for example, a surprising application of the BK-inequality.


Effective conservation of important bird areas requires insight in the number of birds an area can support, and how this carrying capacity changes with habitat modifications. When food depletion is the dominant mechanism of competition, it should in principle be possible to calculate the total time foragers can spend per patch from their functional response (intake rate as a function of food density). However, in the field there are likely to be factors modulating the functional response. In this study previously published results of experiments on captive Bewick's swans were used to obtain functional responses of swans digging for tubers of Fennel pondweed on different foraging substrates: sandy and clayey sediment, and in shallow and deep water. In a field study, four 250×250 m sections belonging to different types (sandy–shallow, clayey–shallow, sandy–deep and clayey–deep) were delineated. Here tubers were sampled with sediment corers in three years, both before and after swan exploitation in autumn, and swans were observed and mapped from a hide in two of these years. Giving-up tuber biomass densities varied among sections. Substitution of these giving-up densities in the derived patch-type-specific functional responses yielded the quitting net energy intake rates in the four sections. As expected from the marginal value theorem, the quitting net energy intake rates did not vary among sections. Moreover, the observed foraging pressure (total foraging time per area) per patch type was in quantitative agreement with the integrated functional responses. These results suggest that in spatially heterogeneous environments, patch exploitation by foragers can be predicted from their functional responses after accounting for foraging substrate.


In the previous paper it has been shown that the surfaces of articular cartilage in living mammals and birds are not smooth but are covered by a series of secondary irregularities and of 20 to 30 [km. tertiary undulations, both superimposed on the broad primary anatomical contours (Gardner and McGillivray, 1971). The experiments from which this evidence has been derived have drawn attention to a historical paradox: the conspicuous smoothness of articular cartilage, emphasized by William Hunter (1742-43), is evident grossly. Yet the scanning electron microscope quickly revealed that articular cartilage surfaces are irregular and that the surface irregularities are sufficiently large to be easily seen with a primitive compound microscope. Cartilage surfaces have been viewed with hand lenses since 1742 and with compound microscopes since 1820 or earlier. How is it that observers failed to note the small irregularities which exist upon all varieties of articular cartilage? To examine this question and the historical development of knowledge of articular surfaces is the object of this short historical review which should be read in conjunction with the earlier report (Gardner and McGillivray, 1971). Considerable effort was directed towards understanding the structure of articular cartilage by William Hunter (1742-43); the 19th century literature attests to a continued interest in this problem. The literature demonstrates clearly that early workers in cartilage histology were biased in their approach and that they were preoccupied with the questions: Is cartilage cellular? Is cartilage vascular or avascular? and Is the articular surface covered by a synovial membrane? A substantial number of 19th century workers, armed with compound microscopes fitted with the new achromatic objective lenses introduced in the 1820s, made detailed studies of sections of mammalian articular cartilage cut freehand with a razor or with the early Rutherford microtome. Until 1845 or thereabouts, these investigators were mainly concerned to establish whether articular cartilage was vascular, whether, as William Hunter (1742-43) and Benjamin Brodie (1813) believed, the cartilage surface was covered by synovial 'membrane', and whether cartilage possessed cells, a question which arose naturally from the promulgation of the cell theory (Schleiden, 1838; Schwann, 1847). Several of the early students of cartilage histology drew careful illustrations showing the detailed microscopic structure of hyaline cartilage. In a number of these illustrations, the cartilage surface, with its small tertiary undulations, was clearly depicted. The small prominences were shown to overlie zones in which flattened chondrocytes were situated immediately beneath the surface. Why then did these observers make no mention of surface structure, or question the superficial smoothness of the surface first seen en face in the fresh preparation, or even draw attention to the undulations shown in their own drawings'? The explanation, surely, is twofold. First, 18th and early 19th century students of cartilage structure were preoccupied with the debates on 'Cartilage Vascularity', on the 'Role of Chondrocytes', and, later, with 'Mechanisms of Cartilage Injury' (Axhausen, 1923; Pommer, 1927). Second, the surface of articular cartilage appeared and felt so smooth, and served its articulating function so efficiently, that to question this smoothness would have seemed the height of foolish scepticism. Hence the persistence of the view, restated as recently as 1969 (Davies, 1969), that the surface of articular cartilage is 'strikingly smooth'. Only one early author (Hammar, 1894) may be said to have offered explicit opinions which conform with those described in the previous report (Gardner and McGillivray, 1970). Hammar wrote 'Die Gelenkflache ist niemals glatt, erbietet aber uibrigens ein sehr wechselendes Aussehen. Selten ist es ein und dasselbe auf der ganzen Flache desselben Knorpels'. He went on to say: 'It (the joint surface) is frequently covered with shallow depressions'. And '... . the free edge of the cartilage is rarely smooth on vertical section'. In the older literature it is not always easy


To the Editor: —The canteen seems to be a live topic. It is well that it should be, for the discipline of the army depends in time of peace on the post canteen and its accessories, and discipline in times of peace predetermines effectiveness in actual service, and these, in the last analysis, determine the weal or woe, the eventual perpetuity of the government. Several times have I been tempted to join in the discussion but as often have deferred because public opinion, I believe, however created, has little influence with Congress in general legislation. The party or individuals with the "pull" in the congressman's district just prior to election determines the member's vote when safe in his seat; the same is true of the senator. Actual experience gained by observation is far superior to the wisest theory. During the war with Spain and subsequently I was detailed at a


Bone grafting materials are routinely utilized in the fields of dental and orthopedic medicine to augment lost or missing bone. While autogenous bone has been considered the gold standard for many years, a variety of alternatives have been proposed including allografts, xenografts and alloplasts to prevent the additional morbidity and limited supply for autografts. Xenografts have frequently been utilized in many countries due to their supporting osteoconductive potential as well as that in many countries, allografts are not permitted.
While typically all collagen and growth factors are removed during the processing of xenografts, recently the development of a natural bone mineral containing atelocollagen type I have been proposed utilizing atelopeptidation and lyophilization technologies modifying the collagen components of bone material within bone structure to non-immunogenic atelocollagen. This relatively novel processing technique does not use heat (thermal) processing when manufacturing which has been shown to negatively impact the natural crystalline micro-structure of hydroxyapatite, causing ceramization and destroying collagen components.
The lyophilization technique, involves the evaporation of water contained in a product by sublimation – a previously frozen material is placed in a vacuum, which turns the ice directly to vapor. This new processing technique for xenografts has been shown to preserve lyophilized collagen with lower humidity making the bone matrix hydrophilic. These bone grafts contain roughly 2% moisture, 65-75% hydroxyapatite, 25-35% atelo-collagen content and up to 0.1% non-collagenous proteins. Here we investigated these novel atelo-collagenized bovine bone mineral (ABBM) bone grafts using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and evaluated their bone regenerative potential in a rat femur animal model.


In this paper, we present a two-layer hierarchical mechanochemical model for self-reconfiguration of modular robots in changing environments. The model, which is inspired by the embryonic development of multi-cellular organisms and chemical morphogenesis, can autonomously generate and form different patterns for modular robots to adapt to environmental changes. Layer 1 of the model utilizes a virtual-cell based mechanochemical model to generate appropriate target patterns (i.e., chemical blueprints) for current environment. Layer 2 is a gene regulatory network (GRN) based controller to -coordinate the modules of modular robots for physically realizing the chemical target pattern defined by the first layer. This hierarchical mechanochemical framework is a distributed system in that each module makes decisions based on its local perceptions. To optimize pattern de-sign of modular robots, the covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategy (CMA-ES) is adopted to evolve the pattern parameters of the mechanochemical model. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed system is effective and robust in autonomously reconfiguring modular robots to adapt to environmental changes.


According to the academic service in the mission of poverty alleviation project followed under the Royal Initiative Project by Faculty of Science and Technology. To carry out an integrated mission relationship project to solve the problems of local people in the community area of Amphawa District, Samut Songkhram Province. There were two target mission area, including Bang Nan Lee subdistrict and Bang Khae subdistrict. The people in the area are mainly engaged in coconut farming and have general employment. Some people are unemployed because of the obligation to look after their families. Therefore, the Faculty of Science and Technology uses knowledge of the home economics program to train dessert making, using appropriate ingredients that simple production and economics. By teaching how to make Khanom Khai and Khanom Thong Moun. Because of the other occupants, the Faculty has unable to increase the extra income enough for the villagers. Implementation of an integrated mission of the project to solve the poverty of local people. The budget year 2019 was complete mission. It is necessary to check the said project. To dissolve the problems and obstacles of the project and to improve the project operations in the next year. The researcher sent the evaluation form to all 30 participants and returned the evaluation from to 23 people.The result was obtaining the data as follows total satisfaction, mean 4.85, total knowledge and understanding, mean 4.96, total applying knowledge to the utilization, mean 4.76. Meanwhile, this project was successfully and obtain the mean of the result close to the full score of 5.00. The results conclude that 23 participants agreed with this project could follow knowledge and application program for further.


Cystic Fibrosis is the most common life limiting genetic disease affecting Caucasians. The life expectancy of this cohort has increased and is predicted to reach retirement age. As most CF patients are diagnosed from birth, they undergo educational and management programs throughout their lives. However numerous studies have identified various knowledge gaps. This paper presents a scoping literature review of the available educational interventions for adult CF patients. This review follows the framework as outlined by Arksey et al. [9]. A search string is entered into four databases and the resulting literature is downloaded into the academic reference manager software, Mendeley version 1.16.1. The manuscripts are then subjected to title, abstract, and introduction refinement. The remaining manuscripts are then reviewed under the following headings: 1) Aims/Objective, 2) Patient Demographic, 3) Educational Focus, 4) Research Type Conducted, 5) Methodologies, 6) Results, and 7) Author Noted Limitations. Of the 3649 manuscripts, only eight remained after the refinement stages. A significant amount of the papers that were excluded focused on CF pediatric patients only. Of the remaining papers, four manuscripts focused solely on CF adults. Seven of the papers identified a range of issues with CF education, including anxiety, knowledge gaps, and a lack of educational teams. Five papers introduced an educational intervention, only one was for CF adults only. Two of the interventions were ICT based. Of the manuscripts, one intervention that targeted both children and adults was reported as being implemented into the hospital services long term. From the final papers reviewed, it is apparent that there appears to be an issue with adult CF education and knowledge gaps. With CF survival rates rising and a new aging CF population emerging, there is a need for educational programs and interventions to meet the changing needs of the CF adult population.


Drought is the most important limiting factor for crop production; it is becoming an increasingly severe problem in many regions of the world. Sorghum is among the most important forages used in arid and semi-arid regions of southeastern Iran, but its growth and yield is often constrained by water deficit and poor productivity of sandy soil. Irrigation water is becoming scarcer and more costly. The addition of water-saving superabsorbent polymer (SAP) in soil can improve soil physical properties, crop growth and yield and reduce the irrigation requirement of plants. This experiment was conducted on sorghum var 'Speedfeed' grass in Zahedan, Iran during 2009 and 2010 seasons. The experimental design was a split-plot with two factors including four irrigation regime (providing 40, 60, 80 and 100% from consumptive (ET crop) of sorghum) as main plots and four amounts of SAP (0, 75, 150 and 225 kg ha -1 ) as subplots in a completely randomized block design with three replications. Irrigation level and SAP had significant effects on number of leaves per plant, number of tillers per plant, leaf area index, leaf area duration, relative water content and dry matter. The results indicate that irrigation to meet 80% of the water requirement with 75 kg ha -1 SAP may provide a desirable dry matter.


Secretory component (SC) is an integral membrane glycoprotein of secretory epithelial cells which is responsible for the specific transport of polymeric Ig (PIg) to external mucosal surfaces. The ectoplasmic segment which binds polymeric Ig is comprised of five Ig-type domains. Chemically and enzymatically modified forms of the ectoplasmic portion of SC (FSC) were produced and tested for their ability to bind to PIgA and PIgM. Deglycosylated FSC bound specifically to PIg, indicating that N-linked carbohydrate moieties on FSC are not required for binding. Denatured, reduced, and alkylated FSC did not bind to PIgA, and bound to PIgM with significantly reduced affinity, suggesting that native conformation of the polypeptide backbone of SC was important to binding. Tryptic fragments of FSC which bound to PIg were isolated and identified to be derived from domain I of SC. Synthetic peptides comprising overlapping portions of domain I bound to PIg to varying degrees. The strongest affinity was demonstrated by a peptide comprised of residues 15 to 37 of SC. A comparison of the amino acid sequences of human, rabbit, and rat SC indicated that this region contained a high degree of residue identity (78%) and may represent a consensus sequence for binding of FSC to PIg. Importantly, the peptide comprised of residues 15 to 37 was also recognized by a monoclonal antibody, 6G11, which inhibited the binding of FSC to PIgA. These results demonstrate that the binding of human SC to PIg is critically dependent on a highly conserved peptide region within the first domain of SC centering at residues 15-37.