The upsurge in drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) is an emerging global problem. The increased expression of the enhanced intracellular survival (Eis) protein is responsible for the clinical resistance to aminoglycoside (AG) antibiotics of Mycobacterium tuberculosis . Eis from M. tuberculosis (Eis_Mtb) and M. smegmatis (Eis_Msm) function as acetyltransferases capable of acetylating multiple amines of many AGs; however, these Eis homologues differ in AG substrate preference and in the number of acetylated amine groups per AG. The AG binding cavity of Eis_Mtb is divided into two narrow channels, whereas Eis_Msm contains one large cavity. Five bulky residues lining one of the AG binding channels of Eis_Mtb, His119, Ile268, Trp289, Gln291, and Glu401, have significantly smaller counterparts in Eis_Msm, Thr119, Gly266, Ala287, Ala289, and Gly401, respectively. To identify the residue(s) responsible for AG binding in Eis_Mtb and for the functional differences from Eis_Msm, we have generated single, double, triple, quadruple, and quintuple mutants of these residues in Eis_Mtb by mutating them into their Eis_Msm counterparts, and we tested their acetylation activity with three structurally diverse AGs: kanamycin A (KAN), paromomyin (PAR), and apramycin (APR). We show that penultimate C-terminal residue Glu401 plays a critical role in the overall activity of Eis_Mtb. We also demonstrate that the identities of residues Ile268, Trp289, and Gln291 (in Eis_Mtb nomenclature) dictate the differences between the acetylation efficiencies of Eis_Mtb and Eis_Msm for KAN and PAR. Finally, we show that the mutation of Trp289 in Eis_Mtb into Ala plays a role in APR acetylation.


Mobile handsets have evolved from voice transmission devices to sophisticated digital assistants permanently connected to the Internet. These handsets now include hardware attachments that let users capture images and video and accurately track handsets' positions. These new features combined with the terminals' data transmission capabilities support a rich multimedia interaction model that enables users to share digital assets directly from their mobile devices. We call this model the Personalized Group Wide Web. PGWW aims to provide a flexible, simple, and efficient mechanism to enable next-generation cell phone users to share their digital assets. Increasingly sophisticated handheld devices provide an appropriate infrastructure to host a highly dynamic wireless WWW variant. This variant uses a flexible middleware infrastructure to overcome handset heterogeneity and resource limitations.


An oxide based two phase nanocomposite electrolyte (Ce0.9Gd0.1O2) was synthesized by a co-precipitation method and coated with Yttrium oxide (Y2O3). The nanocomposite electrolyte showed the significant performance of power density 750mW/cm(2) and higher conductivities at relatively low temperature 550 degrees C. Ionic conductivities were measured with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and DC (4 probe method). The structural and morphological properties of the prepared electrolyte were investigated by means of High Resolution Scanning Electron Microscopy (HRSEM). The thermal stability was determined with Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). The particle size was calculated with Scherrer formula and compare with SEM results, 15-20 nm is in a good agreement with the SEM and X-ray diffraction (XRD) results. The purpose of the study to introduce the functional nanocomposite materials, for advanced fuel cell technology (NANOCOFC) to meet the challenges of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC).


Expanded perlite (EP) modified titanium dioxide (TiO2) with different loading times were prepared by Sol-Gel method. Photocatalytic degradation kinetics of Rhodamine B (RhB) in polluted water by the materials (EP-nanoTiO2), as well as the effects of different loading times and the initial concentration of RhB on photocatalysis rate were examined. The catalytic activity of the regenerated photocatalyst was also tested. The results showed that photocatalyst modified three times with TiO2 had the highest catalytic activity. Degradation ratio of RhB by EP-nanoTiO2 (modified three times) under irradiation for 6 h were 98.0%, 75.6% and 63.2% for 10 mg/L, 20 mg/L and 30 mg/L, respectively.The photocatalyst activity has little change after the five times recycling, and the degradation rate of RhB decreased less than 8%. The reaction of photocatalysis for RhB with irradiation time can be expressed as first-order kinetic mode within the initial concentration range of RhB between 10mg/L and 30 mg/L. EP-nanoTiO2 photocatalyst has a higher activity and stability to degrade RhB in aqueous solution.


Lacking or deficient description of sampling and analytical quality often occurs in scientific publications involving human biomonitoring. In the present issue of this journal, Gerhardsson et al (1) presents an evaluation of publications on reference values for lead in blood. The authors found only 10 out of more than 1000 papers published between 1980 and 1994 which fulfilled a strict set of evaluation criteria. The expanding number of scientific publications reporting levels of trace elements in human tissues and biological fluids should provide for improved possibilities to define absorbed individual doses in, for example, occupational exposures. In many situations, however, this is difficult because of the lack of access to information about expected "normal" or reference values from occupationally unexposed persons. This problem increases when occupational exposures decrease, as many have done recently, subsequent to the identification of related risks. One main reason for decreasing concentrations in occupationally exposed persons thus is decreased exposure in the industrial environment. Are reported decreases in "normal" or reference values also explained by decreased exposures? Yes, but only partly. Reported "background" concentrations of such potentially toxic elements as lead, nickel, chromium, and cadmium in occupationally unexposed persons have decreased substantially, sometimes by a factor as large as 1000 (eg, chromium). The reasons for this decrease in reported concentrations are many, and some have not become obvious until a systematic and critical evaluation of published data has been undertaken. Several scientists have identified problems in sampling and analysis, but a systematic approach was not taken until an international group of scientists working under the name TRACY (2) was formed on the initiative of the Scientific Committee on Toxicology of Metals within the International Commission on Occupational Health and the Commission on Toxicology within the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. In addition to the TRACY evaluations of published data, the Commission on Toxicology has recently published "Sample Collection Guidelines for Trace Elements in Blood and Urine" (3). Evaluations by the TRACY Group (1, 2, 4--7) have shown that there are different reasons for the decreases reported for the various elements. It has, for example, become obvious that most of the decrease in the reported concentrations of nickel and chromium in serum are related to improved control of sampling contamination (stainless needles). For nickel in serum, a measurement increasingly used to evaluate absorbed doses in industrial workers, values reported for occupationally unexposed persons have decreased substantially during the last decade (4), and this decrease has probably been mainly due to improved control over contamination during sampling. However, even for values reported more recently, sufficient control over this error has not always been achieved, and this factor still plays a role in influencing reported values (4). The same situation may be true for chromium (5), and, in addition, several other factors can be expected to influence the values of these two elements. Before analytical and contamination factors are under control, it is not possible to identify other factors, such as dietary intake and internal exposures from prosthetic devices, that are likely to influence the values (5). As pointed out by Gerhardsson et al in this issue (l), the decreases for lead are only to a limited degree related to contamination problems in sampling, and most of the decrease is actually related to decreased exposure of the general public. This critical evaluation according to the TRACY protocol has indicated that, for lead in blood, several factors are important, such as age, gender, ethnicity, food, drinking and smoking habits, hobbies, season and year of sampling, residential area, and geographic location. Since lead in blood is dependent on exposure time and is area specific, it is obvious that it is not possible to present a general overall reference value for lead in the blood of nonoccupationally exposed populations. Instead, it is obvious that the values obtained from occupationally exposed persons must be compared with those of reference groups displaying the same general characteristics as the occupationally exposed group, except for the occupational exposure. It has been attempted, within the framework of the TRACY criteria, to define more generally applicable reference values. A description of prerequisites and methods, taking cadmium in blood as an example, has been presented by Alessio et al (6). It was obvious however that also for that element all available data could not be accommodated into one common range but that consideration needs to be taken of smoking habits, since they influence blood cadmium values substantially. In addition, specific consideration was necessary for certain areas of the world where dietary cadmium intake is higher than elsewhere. As pointed out in the evaluation of lead (1), geographic variation may be common, and, for most elements, reference values applicable in large geographic areas may not be possible to define. For cadmium, no important temporal variations could be demonstrated, like those shown for lead. For selenium, however, important annual differences have been shown to exist, depending on fluctuations in dietary intake (7). The evaluation for selenium further demonstrated the usefulness of the TRACY criteria also for an essential element, and it is expected that further evaluations of other essential elements may be forthcoming. A main conclusion from the TRACY project, so far, is that there are too few publications that contain adequate descriptions of sampling and analysis and therefore only a very small proportion of published data is useful for a discussion of true reference values when strict criteria are applied. This small amount of data makes it easy to select the papers that fulfill the criteria and also to select reliable values, but for several elements the possibilities to identify true factors including variations in background exposure are seriously limited because errors in sampling (including contamination) obscure such variation. It seems obvious that there is still a need for continuous critical evaluation of published data on trace elements in human biomonitoring, and the TRACY project can be expected to produce interesting reports in the future. It seems peculiar that, in spite of seemingly adequate peer review in reputable journals, so many papers have been published which lack appropriate documentation of quality control. This lack may be due to the editorial policies of some scientific journals according to which authors are discouraged from presenting full population descriptions, sampling details, and analytical performance data in a single manuscript. Editors would be well advised to change such policies and pay more attention to these quality aspects when evaluating and accepting manuscripts for publication.


Over the past decades, physics-based simulation has become an established method for the animation of passive phenomena, such as cloth, water and rag-doll characters. The conception that physics-based simulation can also be used for animating actively controlled characters dates back to the early stages of computer animation, and has incited many research papers since. However, commercial animation frameworks still resort to kinematics-based approaches when it comes to animating active virtual characters. To understand this reservation, it is important to recognize the scope and complexity of controlling simulated characters. Just like with real-world characters, the pose of a physics-based character is controlled indirectly, through forces and torques generated by actuators that reside inside the body. As a result, the global position and orientation of a physics-based character cannot be controlled directly, but only through deliberate manipulation of external contacts. This poses a direct challenge to basic tasks such as balance and locomotion – a challenge that has no equivalent in traditional kinematics-based animation. Instead, it bears a much closer relation to humanoid robotics and control theory. In addition to these control challenges, physics-based virtual characters should also behave in a way that is visually appealing. In order to look natural, the motion of a character must respect the same biological constraints that are present in natural beings. Recently, researchers have begun incorporating such constraints into their character models, based on results from biomechanics research. This trend is gradually changing the direction of physics-based character animation research, and is further broadening its scope. To implement all these aspects into a robust and flexible framework has proven to be a daunting task. However, recent trends show a renewed interest in physics-based character animation. After decades of floundering, the field is maturing, with many recent publications demonstrating tremendous progress in both robustness and visual quality. As such, physics-based character animation remains an exciting research topic that is likely to play an increasingly important role in computer animation in the years to come. This thesis describes various elements involved in animating virtual characters using physics-based simulation. The first part contains a thorough review of several fundamental aspects of physics-based character animation, including modeling, simulation and control. The second part describes the results of research on how simulation and modeling techniques can be used for the assessment of different aspects of motion, without the use of a control strategy. The third part of this thesis describes two novel control methods for physics-based characters. The first method controls physics-based bipeds in a simulated environment, based on a variety of reference motions. The second method is a muscle-based control strategy for simulated bipeds, in which both the muscle routing and control parameters are optimized. This thesis concludes with a summary and an overview of possible directions for future research.


The Films of Scotland Committee (1938 and 1954-82) produced one hundred and sixty eight documentaries on Scotland and Scottish life; "The Films of Scotland Documentaries" presents the story of that Committee and the films it produced, illustrating that story with stills and QuickTime movie extracts. The Committee's work dominated Scottish film production for almost thirty years, and the institutional formation and mode of operation of the Committee allows us to pose a series of questions about the relations between film and cultural policy, nationhood, and tourism.

The site is structured into six parts, reached through the menu bar above: History outlines the formation of the Committee and its place in Scottish film production; Timeline chronicles the work of the Committee, the films it produced and the touring seasons it organised; Citizenship examines the Committee's commitment to "the national interest", and its relation to the mechanics and legitimation of state authority; The Face of Scotland examines the construction of national identity in one of the earliest films produced by the Committee; The Travelogue maps out the generic conventions of the genre that constituted almost half of the films produced by the second Committee; and Resources includes a full reading list, a filmography with links to all the film extracts featured on the site, and access to SCRAN's searchable database on Scottish culture.


Author(s): Pontrelli, Samuel | Advisor(s): Liao, James C | Abstract: Harnessing the adaptive nature of cell metabolism presents an opportunity to understand the function of biological systems, how they adapt, and how they may respond when challenged. It also stands as a tool that can aid in restoring impaired metabolic function caused by engineering microbial production. Many studies have demonstrated the ability of the cell to overcome metabolite auxotrophies and have elucidated underlying mechanisms. However, these studies have primarily focused on mechanisms that directly replace mutant function. In this work, we first aim to expand this view by evolving and elucidating more complex adaptive mechanisms. As an example, we used a ΔpanD strain of E. coli, a β-alanine auxotroph, to demonstrate that entire metabolic pathways can evolve to repair auxotrophy. Using directed strain evolution, we showed that E. coli successively evolved three distinct metabolic pathways to synthesize β-alanine. The first involved significant rewiring and repurposing of the uracil synthesis and degradation pathways. The second relied on a gain-of-function mutation in ornithine decarboxylase (SpeC) which altered substrate and reaction specificity. The third pathway emerged that relies on synthesis of polyamines.This work also serves as a demonstration of how metabolism can be evolved to overcome impaired metabolic function that may be incurred through engineering microbes for production. As an example, we focused on a modified strain of E. coli that is capable of producing high titers of butanol in rich media using an anaerobic, growth-coupled, modified Clostridial CoA-dependent pathway. For unknown reasons, strain modifications impaired metabolic function. Using directed strain evolution, a strain was acquired that has improved growth, titers and butanol yields. We further identified several mutations that adapted energy and carbonvimetabolism and optimized expression of pathway enzymes. These works collectively demonstrate the elucidation of adaptive mechanisms of cell metabolism and further, they demonstrate applications in strain engineering.


Yearly, thousands of plant extracts are screened for biochemical effects in vitro, often with little regard to the medium used or the presence of unabsorbable large molecular weight chemicals. Here, dealcoholized red wine was separated by ultrafiltration, and each fraction was investigated for effects on endothelial cell eicosanoid release. Following a 20 min incubation with cells, medium containing either 0.6% whole red wine or the large components of 0.6% red wine had more 6-ketoprostaglandin F1-α and thromboxane B2 than control medium. Sample medium containing only the small components of 0.6% red wine had increased 6-ketoprostaglandin F1-α. The small red wine components were more effective in plasma and in whole blood than in culture medium. Therefore, we conclude that the potential for differential effects of medium type and small and large extract components should be considered in the design or interpretation of data from investigations into biological effects of plant extracts. Keywords: Ultrafilt...


Ecological restoration, particularly in urban contexts, is a complex collective decision-making process that involves a diversity of stakeholders and experts, each with their own perceptions about what landscapes should and can look like, how to get them to the desired state, and on what timeline. CoDMER can be used to investigate how structural and behavioral factors can influence collective decision making processes and outcomes in the context of ecological restoration. It is informed by existing literature on collective decision making and empirical data from the Chicago Wilderness region.


We analyse a model of binary opinion dynamics in which iterative discussions take place in local groups of individuals and study the effects of random deviations from the group majority. The probability of a deviation or flip depends on the magnitude of the majority. Depending on the values of the flip parameters which give the probability of a deviation, the model shows a wide variety of behaviour. We are interested in the characteristics of the model when the flip parameters are themselves randomly selected, following some probability distribution. Examples of these characteristics are whether large majorities and ties are attractors or repulsors, or the number of fixed points in the dynamics of the model. Which of the features of the model are likely to appear? Which ones are unlikely because they only present as events of low probability with respect to the distribution of the flip parameters? Answers to such questions allow us to distinguish mathematical properties which are stable under a variety of assumptions on the distribution of the flip parameters from features which are very rare and thus more of theoretical than practical interest. In this article, we present both exact numerical results for specific distributions of the flip parameters and small discussion groups and rigorous results in the form of limit theorems for large discussion groups. Small discussion groups model friend or work groups - people that personally know each other and frequently spend time together. Large groups represent scenarios such as social media or political entities such as cities, states, or countries.


In the February 2014 issue of the EC Tax Review, the author compared the anti-avoidance legislation in the mayor EC Member Countries Germany, France, United Kingdom and Italy and suggested some international tax planning strategies - without regard to transfer pricing (part 1). The author now considers transfer pricing involving these mayors EC Member Countries Germany, France, United Kingdom, and Italy and suggests further transfer pricing strategies also with regard to the up-to-date CIT rates in OECD countries (part 2). As stated, despite continuous instability in the European Community (EC) its mayor countries Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Italy exhibit continuously economic growth and stability. According to the International Monetary Fund these European countries have - in this order - the highest gross domestic product in the European Community in 2012. In this article transfer pricing rules of - according to the gross domestic product - the four most important EC Member Countries will be reviewed with reference to the OECD's perspective of Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) and to the up-to-date tax differential to the thirty-four OECD Member Countries. The pivotal question is, to what extent can internal tax planning with mayor EC Member Countries be optimized by inclusion of transfer pricing. This article outlines the primary corporate objective and key concepts of international tax planning with regard to transfer pricing and discusses the corporate income tax burden in the thirty-four OECD Member Countries analysing the tax differential as incentive in relation to transfer pricing, the reduction in ETR as the primary corporate objective and key concepts and the he importance of current and reliable information. After that transfer pricing in the mayor EC Member Countries Germany, France, United Kingdom, and Italy is presented and transfer pricing strategies with relation to mayor EC Member Countries are developed. Afterwards this is evaluated from the OECD's perspective of BEPS. Finally the concluding remarks are presented.


Cyprichromis coloratus, a new cichlid species, is described based on 41 type specimens from the Zambian coast of Lake Tanganyika. It differs from Cyprichromis microlepidotus by having fewer scales in the longitudinal line (41-44 v. 59-70 in C. microlepidotus) and upper lateral line (31-36 v. 47-59), from Cyprichromis leptosoma by more dorsal-fin spines (14-15 v. 11-13 in C. leptosoma) and longitudinal line scales (41-44 v. 38-40), from Cyprichromis pavo by fewer dorsal-fin spines and soft rays (29-31, usually 30, in total v. 30-32, usually 31, in C. pavo), and from Cyprichromis zonatus by shallower body depth [24-0-28-5 (26-4 ±1-1) % of standard length v. 24-5-30-5 (28.4 ±1-3) % in C. zonatus] and smaller eye [eye length 25-2-30-9 (27-2 ± 1-1) % of head length v. 27·9-33·3 (30·2 ± 1·2) %]. The new species is also separable from C. microlepidotus, C. pavo and C. zonatus by absence of distinct small spots on the body (v. pearl grey and yellowish small spots along scale rows on body at least in males of C. microlepidotus and C. pavo), its distinct dichromatism (particularly on the caudal fin) between males of the same population (v. dichromatism absent in C. zonatus) and absence of vertical bands (v. three or four distinct vertical bands beneath dorsal fin base in live males of C. zonatus). Cyprichromis coloratus n. sp. also exhibits sexual dimorphism, females having a larger head and males having longer pelvic fin, differences which are discussed in relation to reproductive behaviour. A key to the five species of Cyprichromis is included. A lectotype is designated for Cyprichromis leptosoma.


"Mexico has seen drastic changes in the population's reproductive behavior due mainly to a rapid increase in the use of contraceptive methods and lower fertility rates. In order to analyze the factors contributing to this decrease, the study examines variations in desired family size between 1976 and 1986, using Bongaarts' methodology." The data are from both surveys and censuses and are for the period 1976-1986. (SUMMARY IN ENG)


Surge happens when the mass flow rate reduces to a certain value in the centrifugal compressor and pipe network system. Surge will cause fatal damage to the centrifugal compressor. So researchers need to capture the surge fluctuation in the compressor and pipe system by methods. These works can research more details of surge. This study takes an attempt to use the CFD method with a plenum model to investigate the surge fluctuation in a centrifugal compressor and pipe system. Using the three dimensional transient numerical simulation, authors obtain the low frequency fluctuation of the mass flow rate and the total pressure at the diffuser outlet over simulation time. The flow field in the impeller and the diffuser passage are also obtained in the simulation. Authors take more detail researches on the surge fluctuation by the flow field result. By changing the plenum volume and the compressor operating point, authors compare and analyze the surge fluctuation under different operating conditions. The changing plenum volume has great influence on the mass flowrate fluctuation and the total pressure fluctuation. Only rotating stall will occur when connecting a smaller capacity pipe network. But the rotating stall will lead to the surge of the system when connecting a larger capacity pipe network. The decreasing mass flow rate has little influence on the fluctuation frequency but the fluctuation amplitude increases. It is verified that the surge in the compressor system is much more serious when connecting a larger capacity pipe system or decreasing the centrifugal compressor operating mass flowrate.


Thymidine kinase activity is known to increase in BHK 21 cells infected with herpes simplex virus type 1 (Klemperer et al. 1967). Moreover, there is now evidence showing that this is a virus-specified enzyme (Klemperer et al. 1967; Buchan & Watson 1969; Buchan et al. 1970). We now report a similar increase in thymidine kinase activity in BHK 21 cells infected with herpes simplex virus type 2. The pH optima are the same for both enzymes. The growth kinetics are similar and the type 2 virus always induces at least as much enzyme activity as the type 1 and usually up to twice as much. There are striking differences in the stability and serological specificity of the two enzymes.
Infected BHK cell extracts were prepared and the thymidine kinase activity measured by the method of Klemperer et al. (1967). Briefly, BHK cells were infected with herpes simplex virus at a multiplicity of infection of 10 to 20 p.f.u./cell.


Diet composition is the major factor influencing the fatty acid composition of products derived from ruminants. Thirty 7-month-old, Barbados Black Belly × Malin crossbred male sheep were used for the trial to determine the effects of dietary supplementation of oil palm (Eleis guineensis) frond (OPF) on the fatty acid profiles of rumen fluid, muscle tissue and blood lipid parameters. Treatment diets were control diet (CON group, n=10), 25% OPF pellet in diet (% w/w) (HAF group, n=10) and 50% OPF pellet in diet (OPF group, n=10). After 100 days of feeding, eight sheep from each group were slaughtered for sampling of rumen fluid and muscle tissues. The CON group showed fluctuating and increasing total saturated fatty acid (SFA) concentrations in the rumen liquor compared to the OPF group and differed significantly ( P <0.05) at different times of measurement. The SFA in the longissimus dorsi , psoas major , gluteus medius , Semimembranosus and triceps brachii muscles of the CON group were also significantly (P<0.05) higher than the OPF group. For all muscles, C18:3n-3 fatty acid was significantly higher (P<0.05) in the OPF group than in the CON group with minimal impact on the C18:2n-6 and total PUFA n-6. The HDL-Cholesterol values of the OPF group was almost 40% higher than those of the CON group (P ˂ 0.05). The results demonstrated a feasible way to alter the fatty acid composition of mutton based on feeding practices using indigenous fiber source.


Despite high prevalence of mental health problems among university students, there's a gap between the need for help and the actual treatment received. This study investigated disclosure on distress and hazardous alcohol use and help-seeking behavior in a sample of 1,791 students of a Dutch university of applied sciences. Students' perceived public and personal stigma, and attitudes towards disclosure and help-seeking were assessed as possible predictors of disclosure and help-seeking behavior. Results of the analysis of variance and logistic regression analysis indicated that perceived public and personal stigma did not predict disclosure and helpseeking behavior, but that attitudes towards disclosure and help-seeking did. Students with both distress and hazardous alcohol use have the least tendency to disclose their problems to family, friends or classmates, but at the same time they do tend to seek help. Disclosure and seeking help for mental health challenges are health promoting competencies that seem to need more attention in university students. Although further research needs to validate these findings, it is recommended to promote disclosure and help-seeking among students by investing in mental health literacy programs, to educate students about mental health issues, raise awareness on available mental health services and their potential benefits.


Submerged entry nozzle (SEN) bottom structure plays an important role in determining the flow pattern in continuous casting process. This work applies a water model to evaluate the pointed-bottom, flat-bottom and recessed-bottom nozzle performance in ultra-thick slab mold. The jet properties and surface flow are compared for the three kinds of nozzles quantitatively. The results show that flat-bottom and recessed-bottom nozzles are similar in flow pattern, but the pointed-bottom nozzle has smaller jet angle, thinner flow pattern, larger surface asymmetry rate, and higher surface flow intensity.


beauty of its " guileless workmanship," a work which will survive " aere perennius " long after unworthy vituperation has been forgotten.' We have no hesitation in assenting to this view rather than to the other. Dr. Weymouth has had the advantage of twenty years' acquaintance with Tregelles while his work was in progress. He, therefore, speaks with some authority when he suggests what would have been the verdict of Tregelles, if he had had all the evidence which is now available. By a change of type in the foot-notes he lets us know the cases in which Tregelles, and Lachmann before him, arrived at a decision upon evidence which would now be considered as defective. In all such esses their authority is obviously of less weight. This is a further advantage which Weymouth's edition has over Scrivener's.


In order to utilize germplasm resources more efficiently for peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) genetic improvement, a core collection of 576 accessions and a primary mini core collection of 298 accessions were developed previously from a collection of 6839 cultivated peanut lines stored at the Oil Crops Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences at Wuhan. For an efficient evaluation and characterization of the most useful agronomic and disease-resistant traits, an even smaller collection of peanut accessions that represent a spectrum of phenotypes could be more desirable. For this reason, a mini-mini core collection with 99 accessions from the core accessions was developed based on the analysis of 21 morphological traits. It was demonstrated that there were no significant differences between the core and mini-mini core collections in 20 out of the 21 morphological traits studied. Further, the mini-mini core collection captured the ranges of all of the 21 traits displayed in the core collection. The newly developed mini-mini core collection was assessed for resistance to bacterial wilt disease caused by Ralstonia solanacearum. Two accessions showing a high level of resistance to bacterial wilt were identified, demonstrating the usefulness of the mini-mini core collection. The mini-mini-core collection provides a more efficient means of germplasm evaluation and will be resequenced as part of the International Peanut Genome Consortium sequencing project at the UC-Davis Genome Center.


After the start of heroin (diacetylmorphine)‐assisted treatment to a selected group of chronic treatment‐resistant heroin‐dependent patients in the Netherlands, we reported about work‐related eczema and positive patch tests to heroin in some nurses and nasal and respiratory complaints. To investigate the prevalence of heroin contact allergy, we started a questionnaire‐based study with follow‐up by allergological examinations. Of 120 questionnaires sent, 101 (84%) was returned: 67 from nurses and 34 from other employees. Of 101 workers, 38 (38%) had reported work‐related complaints: 33 of 67 (49%) nurses and 5 of 34 (15%) other employees. Patch tests to heroin were performed in 24 nurses and were positive in 8 (33%). All the 8 had eyelid or facial eczema and, in 6, accompanied by mucosal or respiratory complaints. The prevalence of heroin contact allergy in this study was 8% (8/101) among all employees and 12% (8/67) among nurses. Respiratory and mucosal complaints could not be ascribed to a contact allergy, and in these cases, serum was analysed for specific immunoglobulin E to heroin. A type 1 allergy to heroin could not be shown. These complaints are possibly due to the histamine‐liberating effect of heroin, to atopic constitution, to a combination of these factors or – less likely – to other non‐allergic factors.


The temporal evolution of the microstructure resulting from phase separation into Fe-rich (α), Cr-rich (α¢), and Fe(Ti,Al) (β¢) phases of a Fe-20Cr-6Al-0.5Ti alloy has been analyzed by thermoelectric power measurements (TEP). The early stages of decomposition and the evolution of the three-dimensional microstructure have been analyzed by atom probe tomography (APT). The roles of Cr, Al, and Ti during the decomposition process have been investigated in terms of solute partitioning between the phases. Analysis of proximity histograms revealed that significant Al and Ti partitioning occurs, which is consistent with theoretical calculations. The results indicate that as the α-α¢ phase separation proceeds, Al and Ti are rejected into the α phase, which causes the β¢ phase to nucleate on the surface of the α¢ phase.


The use of De Donder relations is addressed for analysis of reaction schemes to describe the kinetics of overall reactions. These relations provide a simple means of determining the number of kinetic parameters required to calculate the overall reaction rate. These kinetic parameters for gaseous reactions are controlled by quasi-equilibria between the reactants and/or products of the overall reaction with the transition states of the elementary steps, and they are not determined by the properties of the stable reaction intermediates. For surface reaction schemes, one additional kinetic parameter is required for each stable surface species that becomes abundant on the surface. De Donder relations offer a rigorous approach for assessing whether a reaction scheme contains a rate determining step, and they provide a convenient means of deriving a series of rate expressions for cases where specific steps are assumed to be rate determining. In addition, these relations make it possible to calculate the maximum rate at which a given transition state may contribute to the overall reaction rate, providing a necessary condition for assessing the participation in the overall reaction scheme of transition states identified by quantum-chemical calculations.


Linear sketching and recovery of sparse vectors with randomly constructed sparse matrices has numerous applications in several areas, including compressive sensing, data stream computing, graph sketching, and combinatorial group testing. This paper considers the same problem with the added twist that the sparse coefficients of the unknown vector exhibit further correlations as determined by a known sparsity model. We prove that exploiting model-based sparsity in recovery provably reduces the sketch size without sacrificing recovery quality. In this context, we present the model-expander iterative hard thresholding algorithm for recovering model sparse signals from linear sketches obtained via sparse adjacency matrices of expander graphs with rigorous performance guarantees. The main computational cost of our algorithm depends on the difficulty of projecting onto the model-sparse set. For the tree and group-based sparsity models we describe in this paper, such projections can be obtained in linear time. Finally, we provide numerical experiments to illustrate the theoretical results in action.


Realizing high-quality epitaxial transition metal oxide thin films on Si, glass or arbitrary substrates is promising to offer novel features and high performance for devices in electronics, optoelectronics, sensors and so on. In this thesis, the manipulation of transition metal oxide thin film orientations, both out-of-plane and in-plane directions, on arbitrary substrates is studied by two methods: oxide nanosheets and single crystal substrates with a sacrificial layer. Regarding the first approach using oxide nanosheets, they can serve as templates for the thin film growth of transition metal oxides in one preferred out-of-plane orientation, enabling the free choice of substrates for both fundamental studies and practical applications. The reasons are that atomic-flat oxide nanosheets have a wide range of lattice constants and various 2D lattice symmetries, and they are easily deposited on any substrate surfaces through solution-based Langmuir-Blodgett technique. Concerning the second approach using single crystal substrates, the epitaxial lift-off of single crystalline oxide perovskite thin films with different orientations is realized using sacrificial layers deposited on single crystal substrates.


This paper intends to elucidate challenges in some aspects of the hardware design of future generation computers. We use a system model, a stack of integrated circuit cards cooled by a dielectric coolant (FC77). A set of equations is developed to describe the relationships between the system throughput, the volume, the power consumption, and those concerning the details of internal organization such as signal and power line dimensions and coolant path width. The calculated values of throughput, volume, and power are projected on a state point in a graph of the figures-of-merit pair, the computational density, and the computational efficiency. By manipulating the empirical parameters imbedded in the model, the state point is steered to follow the evolutionary line that runs through the points corresponding to the existing supercomputers of several generations. Then, calculation is extended on state points for future prospective computers with target system throughputs. The results point to the needs for research and development effort on thermal management and materials development. As for thermal management of exa- and zeta-scale computers, we need to refocus heat transfer research. Coolant channels will have very large length-to-width ratios (several thousand), while the heat flux on the channel surface is quite low. Micro-fluidics to guarantee stable coolant flow in such long micro-channels will be of primary importance in place of the means to deal with high heat flux. We also need to develop novel materials for signal transmission lines and cooling, particularly in the development of zeta-scale computers.


A growing number of students globally are enrolling in distance education programs and it is becoming important now, more than ever before, to design curriculum that reflects educational principles, represents elements of engagement and pedagogy and meets institutional and industry requirements. In doing so, it is vital to design contemporary curriculum that ensures these outcomes are attained. This paper adopts a narrative and integrative approach to advance the understanding of curriculum design practices, with particular relevance to distance education. In order to effectively design curriculum, this paper views the role of the educator as a conductor, technician and choreographer. Finally, a triad has been proposed comprising of pedagogy, technology and an engaged community of learners as a basis for ensuring curriculum meets contemporary practices.


This study evaluated the concurrent ef fects of diet (standard AIN-76A, restricted AIN-76A and high-fat diet) and moderate rotating-drum treadmill ex ercise on the incidence of 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)an- thracene-induced mammary carcinomas in virginfemale BALB/cMed mice free of murine mammary tumor virus. Exercise significantly reduced food consumption in the groups fed the standard diet and high fat diet. Although food consumption varied widely, final body weight was similar in all groups. Exercise had no effect on mammary tumor incidence in the standard diet-fed groups (without exercise, 47%; with exercise, 45%); however, exercise reduced mammary tumor incidence in the other groups as follows: restricted diet/no exercise, 28%; restricted diet/with exercise, 13%; high fat diet/no exercise, 31%; high fat diet/with exercise, 19%. Restricting food intake reduced mammary tumor incidence, but had no effect on body weight. Although energy intake was related to mammary tumor incidence, neither body weight nor di etary fat predicted tumor incidence. J. Nutr. 121: 1883-1888, 1991.


Example weighting algorithm is an effective solution to the training bias problem, however, most previous typical methods are usually limited to human knowledge and require laborious tuning of hyperparameters. In this paper, we propose a novel example weighting framework called Learning to Auto Weight (LAW). The proposed framework finds step-dependent weighting policies adaptively, and can be jointly trained with target networks without any assumptions or prior knowledge about the dataset. It consists of three key components: Stage-based Searching Strategy (3SM) is adopted to shrink the huge searching space in a complete training process; Duplicate Network Reward (DNR) gives more accurate supervision by removing randomness during the searching process; Full Data Update (FDU) further improves the updating efficiency. Experimental results demonstrate the superiority of weighting policy explored by LAW over standard training pipeline. Compared with baselines, LAW can find a better weighting schedule which achieves much more superior accuracy on both biased CIFAR and ImageNet.


Introduction: The best food for the infant is breastmilk as it provides the nourishment in the first year of life. Greater chances of survival are seen more in breastfed children as compared to artifically fed child. But today in many affluent societies, breast feeding appears to have become a lost art. Objectives: To assess the breast feeding practices and to educate the mothers about the importance of breast feeding and its advantages. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in a District Hospital, Koppal. A total of 110 women were included in the study and data was collected using a structured questionnaire for a period of three months from January 2018 to March 2018. Data was entered in Microsoft excel and descriptive proportions were used to analyze the data. Results: Among 110 women who participated in the study 63.7% belonged to 17-21 years age; about 60.9% belonged to lower middle and lower class (60.9%). Gradutaes were 6.4% and more than half of them are living as nuclear family. Majority were from rural background (79%) and 88% had delivered at an institution. 56% women delivered normally and birth spacing of more than 2 years was seen in 77% women. Babies who were fed within 30 minutes after birth were 25% and 65% exclusively breastfed their infants upto 6 months. Colostrum feeding was observed in 83% women while pre-lacteal feed was seen in 17% women. Conclusions: We can conclude from this study that mothers had an average knowledge about breast feeding but had poor feeding practices. It is necessary to educate all the mothers about breastfeeding and its importance.


The Winter World Masters Games (WWMGs) are a large sports event for 30+-year-old athletes. As there are neither competitive qualification requirements for participants, nor entrance fees for spectators, the event can be considered as a participatory sports tourism event rather than a spectator event. In 2020, the WWMGs were staged in Innsbruck, Tyrol. In this study, we estimate the payoff of the event for the regional economy by assessing the impacts generated by participant spending and organizational expenditure. Furthermore, we discuss the peculiarities of the masters sports concept. Our empirical work is based on three distinct analyses: (1) economic impact analysis of participant spending, (2) cost-benefit analysis of organizational resource flows, and (3) discussion of impacts with experts in a focus group setting. Our results support the previous findings that masters sports events attract rather affluent and consumption-oriented participants. Indeed, the WWMGs were found to have a regional economic impact of €6.18 million and an estimated yield of €4.40 for each publicly subsidized euro. For an audience interested in the economic impact of events, this paper presents a novel method for handling non-normal expenditure distributions and adds to the understanding of how visitor segmentation can be utilized in an assessment of event impacts.


Chemosensation, the sense of smell and taste, allows animals to assess the chemical properties of their environment. They use it to identify food sources, avoid harmful substances, find mating partners, escape from predators and to find places suitable for their offspring. We employed the tobacco hawkmoth Manduca sexta (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) to study the molecular basis of chemosensation in the context of the insect's environment. Therefore, we generated RNAseq data sets of several chemosenory tissues in several physiological states of M. sexta. We used this data to correct the gene models generated by an automated annotation pipeline as part of the M. sexta genome project to build a reference set of chemosensory receptor genes. This gene set will facilitate future Lepidoptera genome projects. We used the corrected and several new gene models to find sex specifically expressed genes and to characterize the chemosensory repertoire of larvae. Thus, I could formulate hypotheses about their role in the life of female and male moths as well as larvae. We report expression of chemosensory receptors in the ovipositor. Furthermore, we identified putative olfactory sensilla on the ovipositor and using electrophysiological recording we identified ligands which could be important for oviposition site selection. In a third study, we challenged M. sexta larvae by rearing them on host and non- host plants. We checked the expression of detoxification, immune system related and chemosensory genes to assess the ability of M. sexta larvae to adapt to their environment. This thesis provides insights into the molecular basis of chemosensation in different ecological contexts, following the life cycle of a lepidopteran species from mating and oviposition throughout the larval stage. The principles studied here in M. sexta can be applied and generalized to other insects and will facilitate further research in chemical


Forecasting is used for decision making and unreliable predictions can instill a false sense of condence. Traditional time series modelling is astatistical art form rather than a science and errors can occur due to lim-itations of human judgment. In minimizing the risk of falsely specifyinga process the practitioner can make use of machine learning models. Inan eort to nd out if there's a benet in using models that require lesshuman judgment, the machine learning models Random Forest and Neural Network have been used to model a VAR(1) time series. In addition,the classical time series models AR(1), AR(2), VAR(1) and VAR(2) havebeen used as comparative foundation. The Random Forest and NeuralNetwork are trained and ultimately the models are used to make pre-dictions evaluated by RMSE. All models yield scattered forecast resultsexcept for the Random Forest that steadily yields comparatively precisepredictions. The study shows that there is denitive benet in using Random Forests to eliminate the risk of falsely specifying a process and do infact provide better results than a correctly specied model.


Background
The pathogenesis and mechanism research of corneal neovascularization is of important significance for the prevention and management of corneal neovascularization. Some relative researches are being performed on non-corneal neovascularization-derived vascular endothelial cells, so the results are affected to a certain extent.

Objective
This study was to isolate and culture vascular endothelial cells from experimental corneal neovascularization tissue and detect the expression of chemokine receptors in vitro.

Methods
Corneal neovascularization models were established on 10 SPF male BALB/c mice with the age of 7-8 weeks by sticking the filter papers with NaOH on the central corneas, and then the immunofluorescence technique was use to assay the CD31 expression in corneal flatmount 2 weeks after modeling. Corneal pieces were made in 2 weeks after alkali burn and then were digested by collagenase type D. Vascular endothelial cells were isolated from neovascularized tissue by affinity purification using magnetic beads coated with anti-CD31. The cells were cultured on fibronectin-coated walls and then identified by immunocytochemistry. Reverse transcription-PCR was employed to detect the expressions of chemokine receptors in the cells. The use and care of the animals complied with ARVO Statement and this experimental procedure was approved by Soochow University Animal Care Committee.

Results
Corneal neovascularization occurred at 7 days and peaked at 2 weeks after modeling, and immunofluorescence exhibited the green network-like fluorescence for CD31 antibody in corneas. The cells grew against the wall 2 hours after culture with the polygon shape and large dimension, and the growth obviously quickened after passage. The cultured cells showed the positive response for CD31 antibody, showing the brown dye in cytoplasm, in contrast, the expression of CD31 was absent in corneal stromal cells. Chemokine receptors were positively expressed in the cells with the strongest expression levels in CCR1, CCR2, CCR3 and CCR4 mRNA and the weakest expression levels in CCR9, CXCR4 and CXCR5 mRNA, while CXCR3, CCR6, CCR10 and CX3CR1 mRNA were expressed with the moderate intensity.

Conclusions
Vascular endothelial cells can be obtained from experimental neovascularized corneas by affinity purification and express chemokine receptors, which facilitate the study of their biological properties.

Key words:
[Key words]Endothelial cells/corneal neovascularization-derived; Cells, cultured; Corneal neovascularization/chemically induced; Receptors, chemokine; Diseases models, animal; Mice, inbred BALB/c


In Romania, after the breakdown of the communist regime, collective farms were replaced by a large number of small-scale private farms. Although cooperation seems to be a favorable choice for these smallholders, it did not develop so far. This paper explores the factors that determine the intention formation of Romanian fruit and vegetable farmers to join marketing cooperatives in the form of so-called Producer Groups. Our theoretical framework refers to Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior, modelled by a Structural Equation Model. Intention formation is mainly influenced by expectations for better prices and easier access to capital. Perceived family support is another significant factor while confidence in own capabilities and resource endowment do not seem to play an important role. The level of distrust is generally high, but not significant as a driver of the intention to cooperate in PGs.


Abstract.
 Four rare Pennsylvanian (Stark Shale: Pennsylvanian, Missourian [ =Kasimovian]) coleoids from Nebraska and Iowa, which are preserved as flattened partial phragmocones and body chambers associated with three-dimensionally fossilized ink sacs, are herein described as Pabianiconus starkensis new genus new species, Nebraskaconus whitei new genus new species, and Starkites compressus new genus new species. One specimen that is missing most of the phragmocone, is provisionally assigned to Donovaniconus. The fossils are assigned to the Coleoidea because of the presence of ink-filled sacs in the body chamber region of the conch. Additionally, eight fragmented and flattened phragmocones and body-chamber clusters with similar morphologies, including some with ink fragments and arm hooks, are assigned to the Coleoidea, but are not named because of their fragmentary condition. On most of the eight specimens, the shell material is associated with other unidentified finely macerated material, which suggests these fossils are probably either ejectoid masses or coprolites from coleoid predators and/or scavengers. However, the new genera named above appear to have been deposited as complete animals, based on the presence of the ink-filled sacs that are in the body chambers. With their body chamber and phragmocone morphologies, these rare coleoid taxa provide valuable information about conch variability within the Carboniferous evolutionary radiation of coleoids.


Abstract. Many former estimates of regional scale C sequestration potential have made use of linear regressions based on long‐term experimental data, whilst some have used dynamic soil organic matter (SOM) models linked to spatial databases. Few studies have compared the two methods. We present a case study in which the potential of different land management practices to sequester carbon in soil in arable land is estimated by different methods. Two dynamic SOM models were chosen for this study, RothC (a soil process model) and CENTURY (a whole ecosystem model with a SOM module). RothC and CENTURY are the two most widely used and validated SOM models worldwide. A Geographic Information System (GIS) containing soil, land use and climate layers, was assembled for a case study in central Hungary. GIS interfaces were developed for the RothC and CENTURY models, thus linking them to the spatial datasets at the regional level. This allowed a comparison of estimates of the C sequestration potential of different land management practices obtained using the two models and using regression based approaches. Although estimates obtained by the different approaches were of the same order of magnitude, differences were observed. Some of the land management scenarios studied here showed sufficient C mitigation potential to meet Hungarian CO2 reduction commitments. For example, afforestation of 12% current arable land could sequester 0.042–0.092 Tg yr–1 in the soil alone, or 0.285–0.588 Tg C yr–1 in both soil and biomass; 1990 level CO2 emissions for the study area were 4.7 Tg C with a corresponding reduction commitment of 0.282 Tg C. It is not, however, suggested that this is the only, or the most favourable way, in which to meet the commitments.


Objectives
Energy-dense meals consumed in restaurants may be contributing to the nation's obesity epidemic. To help Americans make healthier food choices at restaurants, the display of nutrition information on menus has emerged as a nationwide initiative. A large percentage of Americans consume foods from either fast-food or full-service restaurants daily, therefore, a strategy to address the obesity epidemic is to look for trends among adults between the use of nutrition information in restaurants and their body mass index (BMI). Therefore, the objective of this analysis was to evaluate the association between use of nutrition information in restaurants and BMI in the US.

Methods
Data collected from the 2013-2014 NHANES survey was used for this analysis. We used responses to the question on use of nutrition information in restaurants to make purchasing decision. This was associated with BMI, categorized as healthy weight (18.5 to less than 25 kg/m2) or as overweight/obese (equal or greater than 25 kg/m2), using multiple logistic regression, crude and adjusting for age and gender.

Results
A total of 1238 individuals ages 18-65 responded the question about using nutrition information on menu for deciding which foods to purchase in a restaurant. A total of 44.5% reported using menu for making such decisions. Overweight/obese was found in 69% of participants. Use of the nutrition information for buying decisions in restaurants was not associated with lower risk of obesity (OR: 1.208, 95% CI: 0.947, 1.541). Similar results were seen when we adjusted for age and gender (OR: 1.148, 95% CI: 0.892, 1.473).

Conclusions
Use of the nutrition information to make buying decisions in a restaurant was not associated with obesity in this cross-sectional analysis using NHANES data. This could be explained by the fact that the individuals who are using the nutrition information to make purchasing decisions are overweight/obese at the time of the survey and are actively trying to make healthier choices. Longitudinal studies are needed to confirm these results.

Funding Sources
Florida International University internal funds.


The rise of inflation in 2021 and 2022 surprised many macroeconomists who ignored the earlier surge in money growth because past instability in the demand for simple-sum monetary aggregates had made these aggregates unreliable indicators. We find that the demand for more theoretically-based Divisia aggregates can be modeled and that their growth rates provide useful information for future nominal GDP growth. Unlike M2 and Divisia-M2, whose velocities do not internalize shifts in liabilities across commercial and shadow banks, the velocities of broader Divisia monetary aggregates are more stable and can be reasonably empirically modeled in both the short run and the long run through the COVID-19 pandemic and to date. In the long run, these velocities depend on regulatory changes and mutual fund costs that affect the substitutability of money for other financial assets. In the short run, we control for swings in mortgage activity and use vaccination rates and an index of the stringency of government pandemic restrictions to control for the unusual effects of the pandemic. The velocity of broad Divisia money temporarily declines during crises like the Great and COVID Recessions, but later rebounds. In each recession monetary policy lowered short-term interest rates to zero and engaged in quantitative easing of about $4 trillion. Nevertheless, broad money growth was more robust in the COVID Recession, likely reflecting that the banking system was less impaired and could promote rather than hinder multiple deposit creation. Partly as a result, our framework implies that nominal GDP growth and inflationary pressures rebounded much more quickly from the COVID Recession versus the Great Recession. We consider different scenarios for future Divisia money growth and the unwinding of the pandemic that have different implications for medium-term nominal GDP growth and inflationary pressures as monetary policy tightening seeks to restore low inflation.


We estimate the long-run reactions of private consumption in Malaysia to crises, economic leadership, information and communications technology (ICT), and other key determinants using time series econometrics. This study covers the quarterly sample from 1990:Q1 to 2020:Q4. We find that Malaysia's private consumption and its key determinants are cointegrated, demonstrating that a reliable long-run private consumption function can be estimated. We find that both economic and health crises, namely the Asian financial crisis in 1997/98, SARS and COVID-19 pandemic are likely to reduce private consumption in Malaysia. However, the long-run estimation results show that ICT and economic leadership are positively related to consumption. Therefore, policymakers should set the goal of encouraging the development of ICT infrastructure and good economic leadership in order to promote private consumption, which eventually sustains long-term economic growth and development.


Despite the general agreement that clouds cool the earth-atmosphere, there are substantial differences in estimated magnitudes of the annual global mean of cloud radiative forcing. Recent estimates of globally averaged net cloud radiative forcing range from [minus]2 to [minus]27 W m[sup [minus]2]. The reasons for these differences have not been clarified in spite of the important role of clouds in maintaining global heat balance. Here, three estimation methods [Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE), Regression I, and Regression II] are compared using the same data source and analysis period. Intercomparison has been done for the time period of February and March 1985 over which major satellite radiation budget and cloudiness datasets (ERBE radiation budget, Numbus-7, and ISCCP cloudiness) are contemporaneous. The global averages of five sets of net cloud radiative forcing by three independent methods agree to within 3.5 W m[sup [minus]2]; four of five cases agree to within 1 W m[sup [minus]2]. This suggests that differences in published global mean values of net cloud radiative forcing are mainly due to different data sources and analysis periods and a best estimated annual mean among all previous estimates appears to be the ERBE measurement, that is, [minus]17.3 Wm[sup [minus]2]. In contrast tomore » the close agreement in the net cloud radiative forcing estimates, both longwave and shortwave cloud radiative forcing show more dependence on the chosen method and dataset. The bias of regression-retrieved values between Nimbus-7 and ISCCP cloud climatology is largely attributed to the difference in total cloudiness between two climatologies whereas the discrepancies between the ERBE and regression method appear to be, in part, due to the conceptually different definition of clear-sky flux. 32 refs., 5 figs., 2 tabs.« less


Targeted quantification of proteins is a standard methodology with broad utility, but targeted quantification of glycoproteins has not reached its full potential. The lack of optimized workflows and isotopically labeled standards limits the acceptance of glycoproteomics quantification. In this paper, we introduce an efficient and streamlined chemoenzymatic synthesis of a library of isotopically labeled glycopeptides of IgG1 which we use for quantification in an energy optimized LC-MS/MS-PRM workflow. Incorporation of the stable isotope labeled N-acetylglucosamine enables an efficient monitoring of all major fragment ions of the glycopeptides generated under the soft collision induced dissociation (CID) conditions which reduces the CVs of the quantification to 0.7-2.8%. Our results document, for the first time, that the workflow using a combination of stable isotope labeled standards with intra-scan normalization enables quantification of the glycopeptides by an electron transfer dissociation (ETD) workflow as well as the CID workflow with the highest sensitivity compared to traditional workflows., This was exemplified by a rapid quantification (13-minute) of IgG1 Fc glycoforms from COVID-19 patients. Graphic Abstract


The present study was undertaken to explore the antidiabetic potentials of ethanolic extract of unriped fruits of ficus Recemosa L. (EEFFR) on Alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Hyperglycemia induces the generation of free radicals which can affect antioxidant defenses and induces oxidative stress leading to diabetes associated complications. The diabetes was induced by intraperitoneal injection of ice-cold aqueous Alloxan monohydrate at dose of 150 mg/kg body weight. After a daily single oral administration of the EEFFR at 400 mg/kg for 28 days starting from study protocol, the blood glucose, serum glutamate pyruvate transferase (SGPT), serum glutamate-oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT), total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride (TG), total insulin, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and C-reactive protein (CRP), superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels were assessed. The results obtained from the study suggested that administration of EEFFR at 400 mg/kg significantly reduced the blood glucose, SGPT, SGOT, TC, TG and CRP, SOD, total insulin and glycosylated hemoglobin. The results obtained were comparable to that of standard glibenclamide. The TC, TG and CRP, HbA1c, SOD and total insulin serum level was significantly altered in diabetic control group but, it was significantly decreased in extract treated groups and standard glibenclamide treated group. During this study protocol, we found that novelty alteration in level of total insulin and HbA1c. The finding obtained suggested that EEFFR act at cellular level modulating the pathways responsible diabetes and associated complications.  The results obtained suggest that the EEFFR significant potential for management of diabetes and associated complications.


Research on psychological contracts suggests that employees' affective and behavioral reactions to breach may be influenced by their sensitivity to equity.The equity sensitivity concept, a refinement of Adam's equity theory,postulates that individuals have varying levels of threshold to fair and unfair situations. It proposes that individuals differ in their reaction to under- and over-reward situations. At both ends of the continuum are benevolents, individuals having preferences for under-reward situations, and entitleds, individuals who place greater value on outcomes they receive rather than their contributions. This study integrates psychological contract breach and equity sensitivity in an effort to better understand how the interactive effects of these variables influence employee outcomes. We hypothesized that entitled individuals will have lower affective commitment and greater decrease in civic virtue behavior than benevolent individuals following a contract breach. A survey was administered to 185 sales personnelof eight pharmaceutical organizations. We used hierarchical multiple regression as our data analytic tool in order to retain the continuous natureof the variables and increase statistical power to detect interaction effects.We found support for most of our predictions. Psychological contract was negatively related with civic virtue behavior and affective commitment. Equity sensitivity also moderated the relationship between breach and civic virtue behavior. Both entitleds and benevolents reported a significant decrease in civic virtue behavior. However, the negative effects of breach were stronger for the entitleds.


In the Indonesian legal system, local political parties introduced and allowed in Aceh province along with the enactment of Law No. 11 Year 2006 on Governing Aceh (UUPA). UUPA has set a lot of things related to local political parties, including the definition, formation, principles, objectives, and functions, rights and obligations, prohibitions, membership and sovereignty of members, financial sanctions, to the supervision of local political parties. Development of local political parties in Aceh province represents a new chapter in the development of democracy in Indonesia. Implementation of the UUPA associated with local political parties, the government has issued Government Regulation No. 20 Year 2007 on Local Political Parties in Aceh. In line with the Government of Aceh has prepared regulations related to local political parties, among them the Aceh Qanun No. 8 of 2007 on Financial Aid to Political Party and Local Political Parties and Aceh Qanun No. 3 of 2008 on political parties and the setting of local political parties in the regulation of central government and local government regulations indicate the existence of local political parties in the Indonesian legal system.


When managers show their individual commitment to quality service, frontline hotel personnel follow them. Managers who reveal an empowering leadership style and are dedicated to service quality establish an environment, which leads staffs to share the values within an organization. Some researchers describe empowerment as a way of experiencing self-efficacy by the employee via conditions, which foster powerlessness and via their removal by both informal techniques and formal organizational practices. This study is intended to show the effects of different leadership styles on different managerial levels. It incorporates the information obtained from the study carried in 10 nations; 5 developed and 5 developing countries.


Background Women with pre-gestational diabetes experience an increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcome, but there are limited data on recurrence of adverse outcome. This study examined recurrence of adverse outcome in a cohort of women with pre-gestational diabetes from Northern England. Methods 221 women with pre-gestational diabetes and with a first and second pregnancy during 1996–2008 were identified from the Northern Diabetes in Pregnancy Survey. Rates of adverse outcome (fetal loss at any gestation, major congenital anomaly, or infant death) for each pregnancy and recurrence rates were determined using descriptive approaches. Predictors of adverse outcome were examined by logistic regression. Results 69 (31%) first pregnancies ended in adverse outcome, including 14 (6%) with congenital anomalies, 52 (24%) additional fetal losses and 3 (1%) additional infant deaths. 41 (19%) second pregnancies ended in adverse outcome, significantly less than the rate among first pregnancies (p=0.002), including 21 (10%) with congenital anomaly, 19 (9%) additional fetal losses, and 1 (<1%) additional infant death. 21 (10%) women experienced an adverse outcome in both pregnancies. Adverse outcome in the first pregnancy was associated with more than double the risk of an adverse outcome in the second pregnancy (RR=2.3 (95% CI 1.3 to 3.9)). Compared to those with no history of adverse outcome, women with recurrent adverse outcomes were more likely to be from an ethnic minority background (p=0.01). Conclusion The overall risk of adverse pregnancy outcome is lower in second pregnancies than first, but history of an adverse outcome increases the risk in the second pregnancy.


We compared three methods for estimating the location of a radiotransmitter, based on bearings to the transmitter from three radio receiving towers. One was to estimate transmitter locations from the arithmetic averages of the (Cartesian) coordinates of the three points of intersection of the bearings (Arithmetic Average method). The Priddel method is similar but uses the midpoint of the shortest side of the triangle formed by the three bearings when this side is less than half the length of each of the other two sides. The Lenth method is based on a probabilistic model of the system and uses the maximum likehood estimates of transmitter locations. No significant differences in accuracy were found between the Priddel and Lenth methods, but both were superior to the Arithmetic Average method. Estimates of transmitter locations were more accurate: (1) when three rather than two bearings were obtained; (2) for fixed rather than hand-held transmitters; (3) for hand-held transmitters than for transmitters on the backs of birds. By excluding cases where fewer than three simultaneous bearings were recorded, and those in which the bearing triangle was relatively large, the average distance between estimated and true locations of transmitter-carrying birds was estimated to be 15 m when the birds were on our study grid. This is small relative to the dimensions (330 by 330 m) of the grid. Accuracy was lower for birds that were off the grid.


: A clinicobiochemical study of 10 patients with tumors of the chiasmal sellar region and 8 healthy persons using the i. v. glucose tolerance test (IGTT) made it possible to reveal disorder of pancreatic alpha- and beta-cell function in the patients with tumors. A distinct picture of the chiasmal sellar process with the involved hypothalamus was clinically determined in all the patients. Radioimmunoassay of immunoreactive insulin, glucagon, C-peptide and glucose revealed fasting hyperinsulinemia in the presence of both hypo- and hyperglycemia. The latter was accompanied by a raised level of glucagon in the blood. The IGTT revealed in the patients with tumors of the chiasmal sellar region hyperreactivity of beta-cells and a decrease in the sensitivity of alpha-cells to glucose as well as glucose tolerance that may be both regarded as pathogenetic factors of the development of a prediabetic condition in such patients.


Hybridizing energy systems using storage devices has gained popularity in transportation and distributed electric power generation applications. Traditionally, several independent power electronic converters (PECs) were utilized in such practices. Due to their reduced part count, double-input (DI) PECs prove to be a promising choice in hybridizing energy systems. A few topologies for multi-input converters have been reported in the literature; however, there is no systematic approach to synthesize them. Furthermore, all possible topologies are not completely explored, and it is difficult to derive new converters from existing topologies. Therefore, in this paper, a systematic approach to derive DI converters by using a single-pole triple-throw switch as a building block is presented.


agents. The glass abrasive sludges were mixed with expanding agents and compacted into pellets. These pellets were sintered in the range of 700-900oC for 20min. The sintered porous materials had a surface layer with smaller pores and inner parts with larger pores. The surface layer and pores controlled the absorption ratio and physical properties. As the expanding agent fraction and the sintering temperature increased, the porosity and pore size increased. The porous materials with Fe2O3 and graphite as the expanding agents had a low absorption ratio of about 3% or lower while the porous material with CaCO3 as the expanding agent had a higher absorption ratio and more open pores.


This Article examines Congress's decades-long attempt to ensure that securities class action lawsuits of national importance are litigated in federal courts. The intent is limiting strike suits. Congress attempted to curtail strike suits through the enactment of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act ("PSLRA"). The PSLRA required heightened pleading requirements to ensure the validity of federal securities class actions. Instead of solving the dilemma, plaintiffs circumvented the PSLRA by bringing fraud cases as state law claims. To combat the circumvention of the PSLRA, Congress enacted the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act ("SLUSA"). SLUSA federally preempted state law claims based on alleged misrepresentations, untrue statements, or omissions of material facts, requiring them to be brought in federal court. However, SLUSA did not address the concurrent jurisdiction provision of the Securities Act of 1933. This created an anomaly whereby many federal claims under the 1933 Act were brought in state courts, while state fraud claims were required to be brought in federal court. Congress could have addressed this enigma when it enacted the Class Action Fairness Act ("CAFA"). Instead, CAFA, which reformed class actions generally, exempted most securities class actions from its rules. In 2018, the Supreme Court decided Cyan v. Beaver County and allowed 1933 Act claims covered by SLUSA to continue to be brought in state courts. The Court was silent on non-covered securities. This Article recommends how Congress can accomplish its goal of forcing important securities class actions into federal courts.


Objective: The aim of this study was to develop and validate analytical methods for determining methamphetamine in saliva using gas chromatographytandemmass spectrometry (MS).Methods: The chromatography conditions were DB MS-5 capillary columns with a length of 30 m, inner diameter of 0.25 mm, mobile phase of Heliumgas 99.999%, flow rate of 0.8 mL/min, detection of MS at m/z values of 58.00 and 91.00, respectively, and ephedrine HCl as the internal standard.Results: The validation of analytical methods for methamphetamine satisfies the validation criteria by the EMEA Guidelines 2011. Bioanalyticalmethods obtained were linear in the concentration range from 15.0 to 300.0 ng/mL with r>0.9999. Sample preparation was done using liquid–liquidmicroextraction with cyclohexane, supernatant residue was dried and reconstituted with approximately 100 μL of methanol.Conclusion: The method was successfully applied to saliva samples of methamphetamine users with levels in the range of test.


Heavy drinking puts college students at risk for academic failure, alcohol use disorders, and even death. Although several interventions have proven moderately successful, overall rates of collegiate heavy drinking and consequences have significantly increased since 1998, as interventions may not adequately address underlying reasons for drinking. Research has consistently shown that college students who drink primarily to regulate emotions (i.e., internal drinking motives) are heavier drinkers, experience more consequences, and are likely to continue drinking heavily after college. Further, internal drinking motives are indicative of emotion dysregulation and associated personality traits. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is empirically supported and includes a group-based component designed to teach concrete behavioral emotion regulation, mindfulness, and distress tolerance skills. DBT skills training alone has been shown to reduce substance abuse and binge eating and is a promising, but untested, strategy for reducing collegiate alcohol abuse. The aims of the current study were threefold: (a) examine the efficacy of a DBT-based emotion regulation skills training (ERST) as an intervention for college student drinking, (b) examine theoretically-informed mechanisms of change (i.e., changes in mindfulness, emotion regulation, and distress tolerance), and (c) examine intervention moderators (i.e., gender, readiness to change, and internal drinking motives). After completing pre-test measures, college students reporting two or more heavy drinking episodes during the past month were randomly assigned to an ERST or assessment-only control (AO) condition. ERST participants completed a single 3-hour group session of ERST within 7 days of completing pre-intervention measures and all participants completed two additional assessments. The current study found that ERST participants showed significantly greater reductions in heavy drinking and alcohol-related consequences relative to AO control participants. Contrary to hypotheses, intervention participation did not increase hypothesized mechanisms of change (i.e., mindfulness, emotion regulation, or distress tolerance) although emotion regulation and distress tolerance moderated intervention efficacy. Finally, ERST participation appeared to serve as a protective factor against heavy drinking and consequences for internally motivated drinkers. Overall findings provide preliminary support for the feasibility of ERST as a new intervention for reducing problematic drinking by college students and suggest future directions for mechanisms of change and moderation hypotheses.


In forensics, body fluid identification plays an important role because it aids in reconstructing a crime scene. Therefore, it is essential to develop simple and reliable techniques for body fluid identification. Nucleic acid aptamers are useful tools in analytical chemistry that can be used to improve conventional forensic analytical techniques. They have numerous advantages over antibodies including their low cost, long shelf life, and applicability for chemical modification and PCR amplification. A DNA aptamer against a human prostate-specific antigen (PSA), which is a well-known protein marker for semen identification in forensics, has been reported previously. In this study, as a proof-of-concept for nucleic acid aptamer-based identification of body fluids, we developed a technique of aptamer-based PSA assays for semen identification that employed enzyme-linked oligonucleotide assay (ELONA) and real-time PCR. We evaluated their sensitivity and specificity for semen compared with those for blood, saliva, urine, sweat, and vaginal secretion. The assays have equivalent procedures compared to enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; their results were consistent with those produced by the conventional immunochromatographic assay. The minimum volume of semen required for detection was 62.5 nL in ELONA and 5 nL in real-time PCR, making this assay applicable for semen detection in actual criminal investigation. Aptamers can be a cost-effective and versatile tool for forensic body fluid identification.


Context. Within the Babcock-Leighton framework for the solar dynamo, the strength of a cycle is expected to depend on the strength of the dipole moment or net hemispheric flux during the preceding minimum, which depends on how much flux was present in each hemisphere at the start of the previous cycle and how much net magnetic flux was transported across the equator during the cycle. Some of this transport is associated with the random walk of magnetic flux tubes subject to granular and supergranular buffeting, some of it is due to the advection caused by systematic cross-equatorial flows such as those associated with the inflows into active regions, and some crosses the equator during the emergence process. Aims. We aim to determine how much of the cross-equatorial transport is due to small-scale disorganized motions (treated as diffusion) compared with other processes such as emergence flux across the equator. Methods. We measure the cross-equatorial flux transport using Kitt Peak synoptic magnetograms, estimating both the total and diffusive fluxes. Results. Occasionally a large sunspot group, with a large tilt angle emerges crossing the equator, with flux from the two polarities in opposite hemispheres. The largest of these events carry a substantial amount of flux across the equator (compared to the magnetic flux near the poles). We call such events cross-equatorial flux plumes. There are very few such large events during a cycle, which introduces an uncertainty into the determination of the amount of magnetic flux transported across the equator in any particular cycle. As the amount of flux which crosses the equator determines the amount of net flux in each hemisphere, it follows that the cross-equatorial plumes introduce an uncertainty in the prediction of the net flux in each hemisphere. This leads to an uncertainty in predictions of the strength of the following cycle.


Various stakeholders associated with the mining sector have voiced concerns over current or projected skill and labour shortages that might affect output and productivity within their industry. In this context, policies that facilitate the recruitment and retention of women have been discussed as presenting an opportunity through which to address labour shortages and, in doing so, to enhance equity by improving women's employment in Australia's most highly paid industry. In this paper, we use information contained in company reports to the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) to assess recent reported actions by the mining industry to enhance the recruitment and retention of women employees. We find considerable shortcomings in available data, coupled with little evidence of coordinated or concerted industry activity to deal with issues that might assist with promoting women's participation in the industry.


Two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures currently have attracted much attention in widespread research fields where semiconductor materials are key. With the aim of gaining insights into photocatalytic materials, we use density functional theory (DFT) calculations within the HSE06 functional to analyze the evolution of optoelectronic properties and high-frequency dielectric constant profiles of various 2D MoO3-xSx/MoS2 heterostructures modified by chemical and physical approaches. Although the MoO3/MoS2 heterostructure is a type III heterojunction associated with a metallic character, we found that exchanging the terminal oxo atoms of the MoO3-xSx single layer (SL) with sulfur enables shifting its CB position above the VB position of the MoS2 SL. This trend gives rise to a type II heterojunction where the band gap and charge transfer within the two layers are driven continuously by the S concentration in the MoO3-xSx SL. This fine-tuning leads to a versatile type II heterostructure proposed to provide a direct Z-scheme system valuable for photocatalytic water splitting.


We study a class of torsion-free sheaves on complex projective spaces which generalize the much studied mathematical instanton bundles. Instanton sheaves can be obtained as cohomologies of linear monads and are shown to be semistable if its rank is not too large, while semistable torsion-free sheaves satisfying certain cohomological conditions are instanton. We also study a few examples of moduli spaces of instanton sheaves. 2000 MSC: 14J60; 14F05


To describe the structure of a system, the UML Class Diagram yields the means-of-choice. Therefor, the Class Diagram provides concepts like class, at- tribute, operation, association, generalization, aggregation, enumeration, etc. When students are introduced to this diagram, they often have to solve exercises where texts in natural language are given and they have to model the described systems. When analyzing such exercises, it becomes evident that certain kinds of phrases de- scribing a particular concept appear again and again contextualized to the described domain. In this paper, we present an approach which allows the automatic generation of tex- tual specifications from a given Class Diagram based on standard phrases in natural language. Besides supporting teachers in preparing exercises, such an approach is also valuable for various e-learning scenarios.


This paper presents work-in-progress for the development of a semi-automatic methodology for the analysis of shifts in narrator profile in translated fiction. Such a methodology is developed for a comparative quantitative analysis of electronic source and target texts organized in a parallel corpus. The first and main part of this paper presents the theoreti-cal motivation for the organization of two systems of categories focusing on the relationship between the two discursive centres involved in reported speech - narrator and character (but also quoter and quotee in other text types) - by developing the proposals of dialogistic/intertextual and attitu-dinal positioning in Appraisal Theory. The second part of this paper ana-lyses a selection of examples illustrative of such cate gories, and presents and comments the results of the comparative quantitative analysis of Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist and eight European Portuguese translations for juvenile and adult readerships. This comparative analysis proves the methodology operative and shows evidence of two tendencies: 'levelling-out' and 'explicitation', which, although elsewhere identified as trans-lational universals, may here be identified as norms because they correlate with the independent variable target readership. The purpose of developing this methodology is to help describe the way interlingual translation may transform narrator profile as well as contribute to the formulation of trans-lational norms.


Germination tests were conducted on the seeds of three species of Tephrosia (T. bracteolata, T. candida, and T. linearis) to investigate potential seedling establishment and possible pre-treatments to improve seed germination. Pre-culture treatments were: i) No treatment (control), ii) rubbed in sand paper, iii) soaking in boiled water for 30 seconds, iv) for 3 minutes, v) for 5 minutes, vi) soaking in concentrated sulphuric acid, and vii) soaking in water for 24 hours. After treatment, a total of two hundred and fifty seeds (5 replicates each of 50 seeds) were cultured on moist filter paper for 15 days. Cumulative percentage germination, percentage dormant seeds and germination rates were calculated. Seeds of all the species of Tephrosia exhibited innate dormancy at varying levels, but most pronounced in T. linearis. Soaking seeds in boiled water for 30 seconds to 5 minutes resulted in higher seed germination (p<0.05) than other pre-culture seed treatments in all the genotypes. Percentage hard seeds were also minimal in seeds treated this way, indicating effective dormancy alleviation in Tephrasia by these treatments. From the trial, soaking seeds in boiled water for 30 seconds is recommended as treatment of Tephrosia seeds to enhance germination and optimal potential seedling establishment.


The oil and gas industry is characterized by
unpredictable boom and busts cycles. Companies must manage capacity
to be able to quickly meet increasing demand during boom cycles and
survive when oil prices go down. During this time, companies resort
to in-house sourcing ("Make") or buying externally ("Buy") from
suppliers, whichever is rational. Since 2014, the oil field
services industry has been in a period of recession, and oil prices
have dropped significantly. The company's sourcing team asked us to
analyze the Make-vs.-Buy scenarios. Our research has two primary
objectives. First, to provide a methodical understanding of key
Make-vs.-Buy decision factors for optimized capacity management
during an upturn. Second, to develop a 2x2 assessment model that
can assist in making the Make-vs.-Buy decision once the recession
is over and prices have returned to a normal index. We interviewed
research company personnel to get a better sense of their
hypotheses: first, quantities ordered vary with boom/bust cycles;
second, external pricing rises during boom cycles and falls during
bust cycles; third, internal sourcing has a unified price that does
not change with the boom/bust cycle. We tested the company's
hypotheses with a limited set of product data but could not verify
them. To better assess the situation, we researched the factors
considered by theorists when making a Make-vs.- Buy decision. Based
on this research, we identified four assessment criteria  –
strategic, technological, market and economic factors  – that are
intrinsic as well as extrinsic to the company throughout the entire
decision making process. Furthermore, we created a model to test
boom and bust circumstances and provide a better testing mechanism
for boom and bust cycles.


Helical motions, known as Langmuir circulation, are a key physical process in the upper ocean but have not yet been incorporated into ocean models. Here, surface mixed layer deepening by Langmuir circulation was added to that due to convection or velocity shear; Langmuir circulation is more important than shear if the velocity difference across the mixed-layer base is less than about 1 percent of the wind speed. In an upper ocean data set, evidence was found for the deepening of the mixed layer by both mechanisms. Thus, Langmuir circulation influences upper ocean diurnal and seasonal changes in stratification.


Experiments have been carried out at temperatures of 263° C and higher between oxygen adsorbed as atoms on the silver catalyst, and ethylene, ethylene oxide and acetaldehyde. The course of reaction was followed by measuring the change in pressure, and analyses of the products were made by micro-fractionation of the gases at low temperatures. In the reaction of ethylene with an oxygen-covered catalyst, the absence of an induction period in the pressure-time curve showed that oxidation of ethylene to carbon dioxide and water by a route not through ethylene oxide is possible. The reaction of acetaldehyde with the oxygenated catalyst was too fast to measure. The reactions of ethylene oxide were found to be complex, and reaction occurred both with the oxygenated and the clean catalyst. On a clean catalyst, ethylene oxide was simultaneously isomerized to acetaldehyde and converted back to ethylene and adsorbed oxygen; the acetaldehyde and adsorbed oxygen then reacted to form carbon dioxide and water. Both ethylene oxide and acetaldehyde, but not ethylene, were adsorbed with decomposition to form a non-volatile layer on the catalyst. This was composed of carbon, hydrogen and possibly oxygen, combined in indefinite and varying proportions. The kinetics of the reaction between ethylene and the adsorbed oxygen layer were measured. Throughout the course of any one reaction, the rate of oxidation to carbon dioxide was proportional to the square of the concentration of adsorbed oxygen, but the velocity constant depended on the initial concentration. The apparent energy of activation was 10 kcal. It is thought that when ethylene reacts with a single adsorbed oxygen atom, ethylene oxide is produced, and that with a pair of adsorbed oxygen atoms, intermediates such as formaldehyde are produced which react rapidly to form carbon dioxide and water.


Hyperuricemia (HUA) is considered a potent risk factor for the development of gout, renal failure, and cardiovascular disease. The current project was designed to use stevia (Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni) byproduct, named stevia residue extract (STVRE), for the treatment of HUA. Male Kunming mice were divided into six groups: normal control, model control, positive control (allopurinol, 5 mg per kg body weight [bw]), STVRE-1 (75 mg per kg bw), STVRE-2 (150 mg per kg bw), and STVRE-3 (300 mg per kg bw). HUA was induced by the administration of potassium oxonate (100 mg per kg bw), fructose (10% w/v), and yeast extract (100 mg per kg bw) for 8 weeks. STVRE significantly (p < 0.05) decreased uric acid (UA) production and ameliorated UA excretion by interacting with urate transporters. The STVRE remarkably attenuated oxidative stress mediated by UA and downregulated inflammatory-related response markers such as COX-2, NF-κB, PGE2, IL-1β, and TNF-α. Furthermore, STVRE also reversed HUA-induced abnormalities in kidneys compared with the MC group. The results of our study suggest that STVRE has potential to attenuate hyperuricemia and renal protective effects, and may be used as a natural supplement for the possible treatment of UA-related disorders.


We investigated the effects of seawater equilibrated with CO2-enriched air (2000 ppm, pH 7.4) on the early development of the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis. Mussel embryos were incubated for 144 h (6 d) in control and high-CO2 seawater to compare embryogenesis, larval growth and morphology with ordinary light, polarized light, and scanning electron microscopy. Embryogenesis was unaffected by exposure to high-CO2 seawater up to the trochophore stage, but development at the trochophore stage was delayed when the shell began to form. All veliger larvae of the high-CO2 group showed morphological abnormalities such as convex hinge, protrusion of the mantle and malformation of shells. Larval height and length were 26 ± 1.9% and 20 ± 1.1% smaller, respectively, in the high-CO2 group than in the control at 144 h. These results are consistent with our previous findings of CO2 effects on early development of the oyster Crassostrea gigas, although the severity of CO2 damage appears to be less in M. galloprovincialis, possibly due to differing spawning seasons (oyster: summer; mussel: winter). Results from this and the previous study indicate that high CO2 (2000 ppm) interferes with early development, particularly with larval shell synthesis, of bivalves; however, vulnerability to high CO2 differs between species. Taken together with recent studies demonstrating negative impacts of high CO2 on adult mussels and oysters, results imply a future decrease of bivalve populations in the oceans, unless acclimation to the predicted environmental alteration occurs.