REACH requires prenatal developmental toxicity (PDT) testing for substances registered in the EU at a volume of ≥100 tonnes/year. One of the consequences is that many petroleum substances (PS) will need to be tested for their potential adverse effect on prenatal development according to the current OECD 414 testing guidelines. This will involve a huge number of experimental animals and a considerable amount of resources. Therefore, the application of in vitro alternative testing strategies may reduce the animal experimentation and resources needed to study PDT potencies of PS. Furthermore, since some PS with high concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) may induce PDT whilst their gas-to-liquid (GTL) analogues, which are synthetic products completely devoid of aromatics, do not induce PDT, it was hypothesized that PDT observed for some PS is caused by certain types of PAH in these products. This hypothesis was tested in the present thesis using a battery of in vitro alternative assays. Chapter 1 provided background information and presented the aim of the thesis. In addition, the selected test substances and in vitro alternative assays used in the present thesis were also introduced. In total, 19 samples derived from 6 PS and 2 GTL product categories were tested. These samples were selected because i) they represent a series with a systematic variation in PAH content, being substances containing a range of 3- to 7-ring PAHs including extremes regarding their PAH content (with and without PAHs) and ii) in vivo PDT data for these product categories were available, enabling in vitro-in vivo comparisons. The selected in vitro alternative assays were presented, including the embryonic stem cell test (EST), the zebrafish embryotoxicity test (ZET), and a panel of CALUX reporter gene assays. Finally, the general outline of the thesis was also provided. Chapter 2 assessed the applicability of the EST to evaluate in vitro embryotoxic potencies of the DMSO extracts of 9 PS (varying in their PAH content, from 5 PS categories) and 2 GTL products (containing no PAHs) as compared to their in vivo potencies. All DMSO-extracts of PS induced a concentration-dependent inhibition of ES-D3 cell differentiation into beating cardiomyocytes at non-cytotoxic concentrations, and their potency was proportional to their 3- to 7-ring PAH content. In contrast, both GTL extracts, which are completely devoid of PAHs, tested negative in the EST. When the EST results were compared to in vivo PDT data of the corresponding PS, a good correlation was found between in vitro and in vivo results (R2: 0.97). Overall, the EST showed able to evaluate the in vitro embryotoxicity of PS, within and across categories, a result for the in vitro assay that was in line with the in vivo PDT data. The results also supported the hypothesis that PAHs are the primary inducers of the PDT resulting from PS exposure. In Chapter 3, the role of endocrine- and dioxin-like activity in the developmental toxicity of PS extracts was investigated using a panel of Chemical Activated LUciferase gene eXpression (CALUX) assays. The same set of samples as in Chapter 2 was tested in the panel of CALUX assays that included agonist and antagonist assays for the androgen, estrogen-α, progesterone, and thyroid-β receptor, and also for the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR). All DMSO-extracts of the PS showed strong AhR agonist activity and weak antiprogesterone, antiandrogen, and estrogenic activities. Only minor effects were seen for thyroid-related and antiestrogenic activity with some products. PS that are grouped in the same class induced similar luciferase expression profiles, suggesting a class specific signature of effects. None of the GTL products showed a meaningful interaction with the selected receptors, thus testing negative in all CALUX assays applied. The AhR-mediated activity of the PS correlated best (R2: 0.80) with the in vitro PDT potency of the corresponding PS as quantified previously in the EST, suggesting an important role of the AhR in mediating this effect. In conclusion, a high potential for endocrine and dioxin-like activity of some PS extracts was elucidated, which correlated with their in vitro PDT, and was driven by the type and level of PAHs present in the PS extracts. The prominent AhR-mediated activity as induced by the PS extracts tested could be one of the underlying mechanisms of PDT by these substances. Chapter 4 investigated the usefulness of both the EST and the AhR CALUX assay to evaluate the in vitro PDT potency of an additional series of DMSO-extracts of HFOs, heavy PS containing mainly 3- to 7-ring PAHs, and one HRBO, a highly refined mineral oil that contains no aromatics and no PAHs. All DMSO-extracts of HFOs, but not of the HRBO, resulted in inhibition of ES-D3 cell differentiation in the EST and induced AhR-mediated activity in the AhR CALUX assay, and these potencies were was shown to be proportional to the amount of 3- to 7-ring PAHs they contain. Co-exposure of ES-D3 cells (EST) or H4IIE.luc cells (AhR CALUX assay) with the selected DMSO-extracts of PS and the AhR antagonist trimethoxyflavone (TMF), successfully counteracted the PS-induced inhibition of ES-D3 cell differentiation into cardiomyocytes as well as the AhR-mediated induction of gene expression by these substances. Moreover, also for this series of PS a good concordance was obtained when comparing the EST results with available in vivo PDT data. Altogether, the resulting data corroborate the hypothesis that PS-induced PDT is induced mainly by their 3- to 7-ring PAH content and that the observed PDT is partially mediated via the AhR. In Chapter 5, the applicability of the ZET to evaluate developmental toxicity potency of the same set of samples as tested in Chapter 2 and 3 (DMSO-extracts of 9 PS and 2 GTL products) was investigated. All PS extracts, varying in PAH level and content, were able to inhibit the development of zebrafish embryos in a concentration-dependent manner and this potency could be associated with the amount of 3-5 ring PAHs they contain. On the contrary, DMSO-extracts of both GTL products, with no aromatics, showed no effect at all in the ZET. The potencies obtained in the ZET moderately correlated with those previously reported for the EST (R2: 0.61) and the AhR CALUX assay (R2: 0.66), while the correlation with potencies reported in in vivo studies were higher for the EST (R2: 0.85) than the ZET (R2: 0.69). Combining the results obtained from the EST (Chapter 2), AhR CALUX assay (Chapter 3), and ZET (Chapter 5) ranked and clustered the test substances in line with their in vivo potencies and chemical characteristics. It was concluded that the ZET did not outperform the EST as a stand-alone assay for testing PDT of PS but confirms the hypothesis that PAHs are the major inducers of PDT by some PS, and that the ZET is a useful addition to a battery of in vitro tests able to predict the in vivo PDT of PS. In Chapter 6 we combined an exogenous biotransformation system, using hamster liver microsomes, with the EST to compare the in vitro PDT potency with and without bioactivation of two model 5-ring PAHs, benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) and dibenz[a,h]anthracene (DBA), and of PAH containing PS and GTL base oil (GTLb) extracts. In the absence of bioactivation, DBA, but not BaP, inhibited the differentiation of ES-D3 cells into beating cardiomyocytes. Upon bioactivation, BaP induced in vitro PDT, while its major metabolite 3-hydroxybenzo[a]pyrene was shown to be active in the EST as well. This indicates that BaP needs metabolic activation to exert its in vitro embryotoxic effect. The PS-induced PDT in the EST was not substantially changed following bioactivation, implying that metabolism may not play a crucial role for PS to exert their in vitro PDT effects. GTL extracts tested negative in the EST, with and without bioactivation. Altogether, although some PAH constituents require metabolic activation to be able to induce PDT, some do not and this latter also appeared to hold for the (majority of) the PS constituents responsible for the in vitro PDT of these complex substances. Chapter 7, first presented an overview of the results and main findings, which was combined with a general discussion of the data obtained and with future perspectives for follow-up studies to be performed in the near future. It was concluded that PAHs present in PS are the major inducers of PDT caused by these substances and that this was successfully and adequately assessed using several in vitro alternative assays, including the EST, ZET, and AhR CALUX assay. The results obtained in Chapter 2, 4, and 5 of the thesis were used in a QSAR (quantitative structure activity relationship) approach to predict the in vivo PDT of a series of PS based on their PAH content. More PS extracts, ideally from different PS categories than those tested in the present thesis, should be tested to broaden the applicability domain of the proposed assay battery and the related QSAR approach for PDT testing of PS UVCBs in the future.


Although recognized as a significant force in crystal engineering, halogen bonding (XB) has been scarcely investigated in "bottom-up" approaches towards organic electronics. We report, herein, the use of a thiophene-based building block, pyridyl-thiophene (Pyr-T), to achieve an assembly driven by XB and π–π stacking interactions with iodopentafluorobenzene (IPFB). Spectroscopic and thermal analysis of the co-crystal provide indirect evidence of the assembly. The combined effects of XB and π–π stacking are confirmed experimentally via X-ray crystallography. Density functional theory (DFT) computations support experimental observations. The results of the study speak to the use of halogen bond driven self-assembly in organic electronic device application.


The modulation of phosphosphingolipid synthesis by vitamin K depletion has been observed in the vitamin K-dependent microorganism, Bacteriodes levii. When cultured briefly without the vitamin, a reduction occurred in the activity of the first enzyme of the sphingolipid pathway, 3-ketodihydrosphingosine synthase. In this report, 16-day-old mice were treated with the vitamin K antagonist, warfarin. Brain microsomes from these animals showed a 19% reduction in synthase activity. Mice treated with warfarin for 2 weeks showed a major reduction in sulfatide level (42%), with a lesser degree or no reduction in levels of gangliosides and cerebrosides. In further experiments, mice were treated with warfarin for 2 weeks and a group was then injected with vitamin K1 (aquamephyton) for 3 days. Enzyme activity returned to a normal level within 2-3 days. Sulfatide levels had increased 33% in the vitamin K-injected group and ganglioside levels also increased, where levels of cerebrosides and sphingomyelin declined. Sulfatide synthesis determined by [35S] sulfate incorporation, showed a 52% increase in incorporation following administration of vitamin K for 3 days. These results suggest a role for vitamin K in the biosynthesis of sulfatides and other sphingolipids in brain. This putative role could be by post-translational protein modification analogous to the role of vitamin K in other systems.


Absctract : Antiseptic Activity, Kemangi Leaf- Cytrus Hystrix Leather, Gel Antiseptic (Hand Sanitizer). It is known kemangi leaf had contained saponins, flavonoids and tannins that benefit as antibacterial, while in research by Susanti, 2010 had proven that leather of Citrus hystrix contained essential oil as antibacterial and used as antiseptic in pharmaceutical case. So, to get the optimal formula as hand sanitizer or antiseptic gels used combination two extracts kemangi leaf and Citrus hystrix leather. This research is an experimental research with Post Test Control Group Design to analyze antiseptic activity using the Replica methods with to account the number of colonies of microorganism. Statistic test to the number of colonies of microorganism with Anova Test one way that confidence level 95% and obtained significance 0,000 the result P < 0,05 and continued to Tukey HSD test that confidence level 95%. The result statistic tes showed that have significan differences between negative control with the formula of gel antiseptic combination extract of kemangi leaf and extract Cytrus hystrix leather, so this formula have activity as antiseptic. The most effective variation concentration is concentration extract of kemangi leaf 75% and extract Cytrus hystrix leather 25%. Keywords : Antiseptic Activity, Kemangi Leaf- Cytrus Hystrix Leather, Gel Antiseptic (Hand Sanitizer)
 Link OJS 3 artikel UJI EFEKTIVITAS SEDIAAN HAND SANITIZER KOMBINASI EKSTRAK DAUN KEMANGI (OCIMUM SANCTUM L) DAN EKSTRAK KULIT JERUK PURUT (Citrus hystrix)


In order to improve the dynamic characteristics of crossbeam of heavy NC gantry moving boring & milling machine, the ribbed slab structure of beam were analyzed and optimized with the finite element analysis software, and the comprehensive optimization method of the number, size and layout of ribbed slab were putted forward based on the classification of ribbed slab structure. According to the result of the finite element analysis, the internal type and horizontal spacing of ribbed slab are optimized to get the best number, spacing, thickness and height of ribbed slab; Under the required intensity, stiffness and stability conditions materials are distributed reasonably to reduce beam weight which make little deformation and the uniform stress distribution. The comprehensive optimization method study has reference value for ribbed slab structure design.


A Novel virus, coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), in 2019 from Wuhan, China which is globally expanded, causing the severe acute respiratory syndrome. Coronavirus is transmitted human to animal or human to human through airborne droplets. Coronavirus causes respiratory infections like pneumonia, cold, sneezing and coughing, while in animals, it causes diarrhoea and upper respiratory diseases. The virus outbreak has been declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization (WHO), Since Covid -19 rapidly spread throughout the world from the Hunan seafood market at Wuhan, South China. The virus enters into the human cell through the membrane ACE-2 exopeptidase receptor. WHO and ECDC guided to stay away from a public place and close contact with contaminated individuals and pets. Coronavirus (2019-CoV), first and foremost, was isolated on 7th January 2020 at Wuhan market China. Here we have encapsulated the current clinical features data to guide budding Covid-19 about the Prevention, Diagnosis, Treatments and Prevention. Throughout the world, the disease has caused a range of degrees of sickness. The patient manifests various symptoms, usually Fever, Cough, Sore throat, Breathlessness, Fatigue. We collected the data from various, articles Research Report, and WHO guidelines in this review. It is necessary to give awareness to the readers that new data is updating nearly every hour regarding clinical characteristics, diagnosis, treatment strategies, and outcomes COVID-19. The disease is being treated through general treatment, symptomatic treatment, using some antiviral drugs, oxygen therapy and altering the immune system. WHO declared the SARS-Cov-2 virus in March 2020 as a global pandemic. It is necessary to identify the major causes and detach the suspected people from the confirmed cases of COVID-19 to prevent the possible transmission of infection to other patients and health care staff. It will be possible to assess this global disaster's full health, social and economic impact only when the pandemic ends. This review represents a picture of the current state of the treatment for Covid-19.


The authors have conducted a Phase II trial to evaluate orally administered dibromodulcitol in the treatment of 40 evaluable patients with recurrent medulloblastoma, ependymoma, and malignant astrocytoma. Ten of 20 patients harboring medulloblastoma responded to therapy with a median time to tumor progression (MTP) of 40 weeks, and four of 20 patients had no sign of progression of disease 4 years after treatment was begun. The MTP for all 12 patients with ependymoma was 30 weeks. Nine of these 12 patients had stabilization of their disease with an MTP of 67 weeks; three of these 12 patients had no signs of progression for 1 to 3 years after treatment was begun. Of six patients harboring supratentorial gliomas, none responded to dibromodulcitol. Two patients, one with a primitive neuroectodermal tumor and the other with a metastatic carcinoma of the breast, had stabilization of disease for more than 4 and 2 years, respectively.


Eighty-six isolates of Erwinia salicis, the causal agent of watermark disease of willow, were obtained from culture collections and collected from various willow plantations in south-east England. These isolates were characterized by their reaction in a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, by enzyme electrophoresis, and for lysis by a panel of five bacteriophage. Eighty-one isolates had similar characteristics and clustered at a level of similarity of at least 60%. Five isolates were found to have less than 20% similarity to the other E. salicis. Antiserum raised against E. salicis (NCPPB 2535) was found to be specific to E. salicis and did not cross-react with other bacteria tested. No geographical clustering of electrotypes was found: however, Dutch and English isolates could be distinguished by bacteriophage typing. The local distribution of electrotypes collected from diseased trees suggests that the bacterium is spread via the propagating material and that tree to tree spread is rare.


With crowd logistics becoming a crucial part of the last-mile delivery challenge in many cities, continued participation of crowd workers has become an essential issue affecting the growth of the crowd logistics platform. Understanding how people are motivated to continue their participation in crowd logistics can provide some clarity as to what policies and measures should be undertaken by the industry to support its further growth. Using the Push–Pull–Mooring (PPM) theory, we developed a research model to explain the factors influencing crowd workers' participative behavior. Survey data from 455 crowd workers were analyzed using SmartPLS3.0 software. The results show monetary rewards and trust have a significant positive impact on the willingness of crowd workers to continue participating in crowd logistics, while work enjoyment from previous work and entry barriers for work have a significant negative impact. Trust plays an intermediary role between monetary incentives and crowd workers' willingness to continue participating. Based on the findings of this study, we recommend that crowd logistics platforms should offer reasonable monetary incentives and keep these under constant review, build a high degree of trust and cooperation with their crowd workers, and initiate activities geared towards promoting satisfaction at work.


The economic impact of seedborne bacterial diseases on rice production provides a major motivation for research on seed health. This paper reports on the endophytic growth of a rifampicin-marked strain of the seedborne rice pathogen Pseudomonas fuscovaginae. The bacterium was found in most tested seeds indicating that, even without visible discolouration, seed transmission is possible. Crushed discoloured seeds contained more bacterial cells than did non-crushed discoloured seeds. These bacteria were released during seed soaking, contaminating clean seed and lowering seed germination. Cells of a rifampicin-resistant strain of P. fuscovaginae, which had been inoculated onto rice seeds, were subsequently recovered from different growth stages and from different rice tissues, thereby indicating endophytic colonization. These results have implications for seedling establishment, as symptomless seeds do not assure disease-free seeds, and the presence of seedborne bacteria results in poor germination and poor seedling establishment. Elimination of seedborne bacteria by soaking in sodium hypochlorite can increase seed germination. This could be used in developing control strategies, and, if practised regularly, reduce entry of seedborne disease- causing organisms into crops, resulting in lower disease pressure.


Background The signs and symptoms of sinonasal sarcoidosis are diverse and nonspecific. It easily mimics more common sinonasal disorders such as allergic rhinitis, bacterial sinusitis, and atrophic rhinitis. The purpose of this study was to develop a classification system of sinonasal sarcoidosis that will help serve as a guide for both diagnosis and treatment. Methods A retrospective chart review was performed of all patients diagnosed with sinonasal sarcoidosis from 1974 to 2013. A PubMed literature review of all published case series of sinonasal sarcoidosis was also reviewed. Results The charts of 14 patients with biopsy-proven sinonasal sarcoidosis were reviewed. Follow-up time ranged from 6 months to 28 years. Presenting signs included hypertrophic mucosa, nasal polyps, crusting, nasal enlargement, and destructive processes. Eight patients underwent medical management alone and six patients underwent endoscopic sinus surgery. Five of the six patients were successfully treated with surgery. On review of the literature, 256 cases of sinonasal sarcoidosis were found, of which 43 patients underwent surgery. Clinical outcomes of the patients who underwent surgery were not consistently reported. Conclusion Based on critical analysis of the clinical presentation of sinonasal sarcoidosis in our case series and on review of the literature, sinonasal sarcoidosis can be classified into four subgroups: atrophic, hypertrophic, destructive, and nasal enlargement. Each subgroup responds differently to treatment and has its own differential diagnosis. Surgery is only indicated for a select group of patients and the vast majority of patients benefit from medical management alone.


Outdoor recreation settings, such as swimming pools, provide a promising venue to assess UVR exposure and sun protection practices among individuals who are minimally clothed and exposed to potentially high levels of UVR. Most studies assessing sun exposure/protection practices rely on self‐reported data, which are subject to bias. The aim of this study was to establish the feasibility of conducting a multimethod study to examine the validity of self‐reported measures within a swimming pool setting. Data were collected from 27 lifeguards, children and parents in Hawaii. Each participant filled out a survey and a 4 day sun habits diary. On two occasions, researchers assessed observable sun protection behaviors (wearing hats, shirts, sunglasses), swabbed the skin to detect the presence of sunscreen, and subjects wore polysulphone dosimeters to measure UVR exposure. Overall, observed sun protection behaviors were more highly correlated with diary reports than with survey reports. While lifeguards and children reported spending comparable amounts of time in the sun, dosimeter measures showed that lifeguards received twice as much UVR exposure. This study demonstrated the feasibility of implementing a multimethod validity study within a broader population of swimming pools.


In the fringe-scanning methods such as the three- and four-bucket methods, the phase of a reference wave is generally changed at equal intervals from 0 to 2π. In practice, however, it is difficult or almost impossible for some interferometers, such as the dynamic zone plate interferometer, to realize an equal phase shift and to make a full scanning of 2π, which are necessary for discrete Fourier transform analysis. We show that even in such a case, phases in an interferogram can be obtained by using a Fourier analysis in a continuous space, and we analyze the accuracy of the phase determination in case of additive noise.


The study was aimed to provide basic information regarding reproductive status of Gaddi sheep reared by nomadic tribe of Himachal Pradesh. Female genitalia of Gaddi sheep (n=190) were collected from unorganized abattoirs around Palampur over a period of one and half years. Out of total genitalia examined, 80.53% were grossly normal and 19.47% had one or more genital abnormalities. Genital abnormalities were categorized as ovarian (5.26%), uterine (10.53%) and miscellaneous (3.68%). Amongst ovarian abnormalities are follicular cysts (3.16%) and ovaro-bursal adhesions (2.10%), which were recorded in Gaddi ewes. Uterine abnormalities include hydrometra (4.74%), pyometra (2.63%), mucometra (2.10%), endometritis (0.53%) and mummification (0.53%). Miscellaneous abnormalities include parovarian cysts (2.10%), parasitic cysts (1.05%) and nodules on both uterine horns (0.53%). Among the genital abnormalities in sheep, highest incidence (24.32%) was observed with hydrometra and lowest (2.7%) with each of endometritis, mummification and nodular growth on both uterine horns. Thus the uterus (54.07%) was most commonly affected, followed by the ovary (27.02%) and miscellaneous (18.91%) in ewes. In present study, 8.95% pregnant sheep were also slaughtered, with fetal age in majority of cases two months or less on the basis of CRL measurement which represents a huge economic loss.


The 12 new rare-earth tellurides Ba(2)MLnTe(5) (M = Ga and Ln = Sm, Gd, Dy, Er, Y; M = In and Ln = Ce, Nd, Sm, Gd, Dy, Er, Y) have been synthesized by solid-state reactions. The two compounds Ba(2)GaLnTe(5) (Ln = Sm, Gd) are isostructural and crystallize in the centrosymmetric space group P1, while the other 10 compounds belong to another structure type in the noncentrosymmetric space group Cmc2(1). In both structure types, there are one-dimensional anionic (1)(∞)[MLnTe(5)](4-) chains built from LnTe(6) octahedra and MTe(4) (M = Ga, In) tetrahedra, but the connectivity between the LnTe(6) octahedra and MTe(4) tetrahedra is different for the two structure types. On the basis of the diffuse-reflectance spectra, the band gaps are around 1.1-1.3 eV for these compounds. The Ba(2)MLnTe(5) (M = Ga and Ln = Gd, Dy; M = In and Ln = Gd, Dy, Er) compounds are paramagnetic and obey the Curie-Weiss law, while the magnetic susceptibility of Ba(2)InSmTe(5) deviates from the Curie-Weiss law. In addition, electronic structure calculation on Ba(2)MYTe(5) (M = Ga, In) indicates that they are both direct-gap semiconductors with large nonlinear-optical coefficients.


OBJECTIVE: Although ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a major cause of nosocomial infection, its role in the prognosis of patients remains undefined. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of VAP on the clinical evolution of patients. METHODS: This was a prospective cohort study involving 233 patients on mechanical ventilation (VAP group, n = 64; control group, n = 169). Primary outcomes were time on mechanical ventilation (TMV), time in ICU (TICU), overall length of hospital stay (LHS) and in-ICU mortality. Secondary outcomes were in-hospital mortality, microbiological profile, prior use of antibiotics and risk factors for VAP acquisition. RESULTS: Control and VAP group outcomes were, respectively, as follows: median TMV (days), 9 (interquartile range [IQR]: 5-15) and 23 (IQR: 15-37; p < 0.0001); median TICU (days), 12 (IQR: 8-21) and 27 (IQR: 17-42; p < 0.0001); median LHS (days), 33 (IQR: 18-64) and 46 (IQR: 25-90; p = 0.05); and in-ICU mortality, 38% (95% CI: 31-45) and 55% (95% CI: 42-67; p = 0.02). VAP was a predictor of in-ICU mortality (OR = 3.40; 95% CI: 1.54-7.48). TMV (OR = 2.27; 95% CI: 1.05-4.87) and prior use of antibiotics (OR = 1.07; 95% CI: 1.04-1.10) were risk factors for VAP. VAP did not affect in-hospital mortality. Acinetobacter spp. was the most common isolate (28%). Inappropriate empirical antibiotic therapy was administered in 48% of cases. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, there was a high incidence of infection with resistant bacteria and inappropriate initial antibiotic therapy. Long TMV and prior use of antibiotics are risk factors for VAP.


With rising frequency of bariatric surgery, the common adverse effects of that procedure is more frequently encountered. Our patient unluckily developed pulmonary embolism after 3 months of bariatric surgery and that clinic picture was aggravated with proximal lower extremity weakness and numbness. Electromyography performed on admission revealed asymmetric polyradiculopathy with axonal degeneration, whereas somatosensory evoked potentials showed no tibial peripheric and cortical responses. Although we found no sign of malabsorption (except 25 OH vitamin D deficiency), the history of weight loss of 70 kg within 3 months after the surgery led us to the diagnosis of nutritional polyneuropathy. On the other hand, neuropathic pain in our patient responded well to pregabalin and, after strengthening of muscles via rehabilitation, the patient gained independent mobility again. Turk J Phys Med Re hab 2012;58:151-3.


This study assessed the population density and structure of marula (Sclerocarya birrea) in the Gonarezhou National Park (GNP) and adjacent areas, southeast Zimbabwe. Data were collected from 15 belt transects using a stratified random sampling technique (with study sites located in the northwestern Gonarezhou National Park, adjacent communal and resettlement areas) in November 2014. The study results showed that marula tree and shrub densities were highest in the Gonarezhou National Park compared to the communal and resettlement areas. The diameter size class generally showed a reverse J shape in all the land use categories implying that there was a high regeneration and low recruitment into mature marula trees. Anthropogenic uses and herbivory may likely have influenced the density and population structure of marula in the study area. Thus, continuous monitoring and adaptive management is essential in ensuring that marula species is not locally extirpated in areas of high use or damage.


The purpose of this study is to define, observe and evaluate appraising of children's own compositions in music lessons in one Secondary Comprehensive School with children aged 11 to 16 years where the researcher is also a teacher of music in the school. Through an action research framework, teaching strategies are adapted progressively to improve the learning situation that allows pupils to appraise most effectively and purposefully. The findings demonstrate different levels of talk in children about their composing work that represent their developing skills of critical thinking and analysis. From these a typology of levels of appraising is drawn up. The findings suggest that as children engage and empathise with their music compositions affectively, they appear to be able to talk more confidently about their work. The study considers whether, as children make sense of their work, they are able to understand more than their talk reveals. The need for musical vocabulary, the role of the teacher in nurturing appraising of composing work in the classroom and the role of conceptual understanding are other issues which are considered. It is suggested in the findings that as pupils develop their appraising skills to higher levels of performance, they also become effective, reflective practitioners. The research sees both the teacher researcher and the pupils engaging in appraising as reflective practitioners.


Background: Urinary tract infection is one of the most common bacterial infections in human being. The causative agent of UTI varies from place to place and they also vary in their resistance pattern. Objective: This study was conducted to know the most common causative agents, determine distribution and resistance pattern of bacterial strains isolated from patients with UTI from a tertiary care hospital of Central India. Materials and Method: Urinary isolates from symptomatic UTI patents were identified by conventional methods. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed by Kirby Bauer's disk diffusion method. Results: Of the 1800 tested samples, 696 samples showed growth of organisms among which the most prevalent were E.coli (60%), followed by Klebsiella species (10.4%).The majority of isolates were from female patients of reproductive age group. E.coli and Klebsiella spp. showed high resistance to Ampicillin, Third generation cephalosporin (3GC) and Norfloxacin and best sensitivity for Imipenem and Nitrofurantoin. Among gram positive bacteria high resistance was observed against Penicillin and Ampicillin and all isolates were sensitive to Vancomycin. Conclusion: This study revealed that UTI is more common in females particularly in reproductive age group. E.coli was the predominant bacterial pathogen. Urinary pathogens showed resistance to commonly used antibiotics like Ampicillin, 3GC and Norfloxacin. As good sensitivity was seen for Nitrofurantoin in all organisms, it can be used for empirical treatment against UTI.


: The dynamical competition between the chemical mixing forced during energetic particle irradiation and thermally activated decomposition can lead to the stabilization of self-organized steady states in alloy systems comprised of immiscible elements. Continuum modeling and atomistic simulations predicted the stabilization of steady-state nanoscale compositional patterns for a well-defined range of ballistic mixing frequencies normalized by the irradiation-enhanced thermal atomic jump frequencies. Irradiation-induced compositional patterning has now indeed been observed experimentally, but a quantitative comparison has been lacking because models and simulations have relied on a simplified treatment with a fixed point defect concentration. We overcome here this limitation by using a kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) code that includes the production, recombination, and elimination of point defects at sinks, as well as the chemical mixing forced by ballistic replacements. By varying the sink density and their efficiency, the temperature range of stabilization of steady-state compositional patterns is investigated in model binary alloys for point defect regimes dominated by either recombination or elimination on sinks. We find that in the sink regime, compositional patterning can be extended to remarkably high temperatures. The results are discussed by analyzing the relative diffusivities of A and B species, and their dependencies on temperature.


This could well be the most important book ever reviewed in this journal. Certainly its lesson is trenchant for every Fellow the the Academy. The author, a lawyer, details an account of a criminal case which began in 1955 with the rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in Canton, Ill. As absorbing as Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, he recounts the happenings from the time of the murder until the case against the convicted murderer is closed 16 years later. The story starts with the suspect coerced into a confession and continues with suppressed and falsified evidence by the prosecution, the defense being denied access to evidence or reports, a criminalist falsely testifying in court, an unstable and unreliable witness helped by the prosecution to render perjured testimony, and the suspect being convicted and sentenced to death.


Pen-based user interfaces are becoming ever more popular. Gestures (i.e., marks made with a pen to invoke a command) are a valuable aspect of pen-based UIs, but they also have drawbacks. The challenge in designing good gestures is to make them easy for people to learn and remember. With the goal of better gesture design, we performed a pair of experiments to determine why users find gestures similar. From these experiments, we have derived a computational model for predicting perceived gesture similarity that correlates 0.56 with observation. We will incorporate the results of these experiments into a gesture design tool, which will aid the pen-based UI designer in creating gesture sets that are easier to learn and more memorable.


Author(s): Liu, Yu-Hsin | Advisor(s): Lo, Yu-Hwa | Abstract: This thesis focuses on two areas in silicon photodetectors, the first being enhancing the sub-bandgap light absorption of IR wavelenghts in silicon, and the second being intrinsic signal amplification in silicon photodetectors. Both of these are achieved using heavily doped p-n junction devices which create localized states that relax the k-selection rule of indirect bandgap material. The probability of transitions between impurity band and the conduction/valence band would be much more efficient than the one between band-to-band transition.The waveguide-coupled epitaxial p-n photodetector was demonstrated for 1310 nm wavelength detection. Incorporated with the Franz-Keldysh effect and the quasi-confined epitaxial layer design, an absorption coefficient around 10 cm-1 has been measured and internal quantum efficiency nearly 100% at -2.5V.The absorption coefficient is calculated from the wave function of the electron and hole in p-n diode. The heavily doped impurity wave function can be formulated as a delta function, and the quasi-confined conduction band energy states, and the wave function on each level can be obtained from the Silvaco software. The calculated theoretical absorption coefficient increases with the increasing applied bias and the doping concentration, which matches the experimental results.To solve the issues of large excess noise and high operation bias for avalanche photodiodes based on impact ionization, I presented a detector using the Cycling Excitation Process (CEP) for signal amplification. This can be realized in a heavily doped and highly compensated Si p-n junction, showing ultra high gain about 3000 at very low bias (l4 V), and possessing an intrinsic, phonon-mediated regulation process to keep the device stable without any quenching device required in today's Geiger-mode avalanche detectors.The CEP can be formulated with the rate equations in conduction bands and impurity states. The gain expression, which is a function of the primary photocurrent and related to the phonon absorption time, predicts the same trend of the gain increasing with temperature and decreasing with increasing primary photocurrent.


Presence of normal plasma cells (PCs), hemodilution of bone marrow aspirate, and changes in the immunophenotype are important considerations in minimal residual disease (MRD) assessment in multiple myeloma (MM). We evaluated 124 subjects-107 with MM, 11 with Hodgkin lymphoma, and 6 allogeneic stem cell transplantation donors-for the immunophenotype of neoplastic, reactive, and normal PCs respectively. Of the patients with MM, 36 were evaluated for MRD and 23 for a change in immunophenotype after chemotherapy. The immunophenotype of normal and reactive PCs was similar and differed from that of neoplastic PCs with respect to CD19, CD45, CD56, CD52, CD20, and CD117. At least 2 antigens were aberrantly expressed in all cases and 3 in 90.7% of MM cases. A change in the immunoprofile of PCs was observed in 18 (78%) of 23 cases. By using flow cytometry, we detected MRD in all samples, and a neoplastic PC index (percentage of neoplastic PCs/total bone marrow PCs) of less than 30 could differentiate immunofixation (IFx)- from IFx+ samples (complete and partial responders, respectively).


Health-care professionals are increasingly relying on wound cultures as part of their clinical assessment. Tissue viability nurses in the UK use wound swabbing as the standard specimen-taking technique, but others are used globally and there is no worldwide standard. This study compares two wound culture techniques in uninfected chronic wounds of active and former injection drug users seeking care through a civic needle exchange mobile wound clinic. For each wound, two sampling approaches were applied during the same visit: swab culture and curetted tissue culture. A total of 12 chronic wounds were assessed among 9 patients, including 19 swab cultures and 19 tissue cultures. These 38 cultures grew a total of 157 individually identified bacterial organisms, including 27 anaerobic organisms (17.2%), 63 Gram-positive species (40.1%), and 67 Gram-negative species (42.7%). The swab technique yielded a greater percentage recovery rate of anaerobic (55.6%), Gram-positive (52.4%), and all species (51.6%) compared to tissue culture (P>0.05). Recovery of common wound species, such as methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the same using either method (50.0%). Swab and curetted tissue cultures yielded similar recovery rates for common wound bacteria. Therefore, swabs (including a vacuum transport container) may offer an advantage in the recovery of anaerobes. Based upon this analysis, the swabbased culture method for chronic wounds currently used in the UK is reasonable.


Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases are generally incurable and often difficult to diagnose accurately. Yet early and accurate diagnosis of a neurodegenerative disease can potentially contribute to more effective treatment. Hence research efforts are moving towards early identification of high risk subjects and prevention of disease progression with biomarkers. Unfortunately dementia and biomarker studies are hampered by variables such as drop outs, challenges in comparing data sets, discordant biomarker sets, availability of histopathological confirmation at death, validity of cognitive testing, and nonlinear fluctuations in cognitive domains as disease progresses in vivo in subjects. This chapter is an assessment of the challenges in the early diagnosis of dementia, as well as a presentation of the issues faced in conducting dementia and biomarker studies.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the informativeness of magnetic resonance venography (MRV) in the diagnosis of different types of inferior vena cava (IVC) obstruction.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
56 patients with IVC obstruction underwent MRV scans. These scans were evaluated for morphology of the obstruction and compared with digital subtraction angiography (DSA) images.

RESULTS
Using DSA, we determined that 47 patients had complete obstruction and 9 had partial obstruction. MRV scans revealed 6 cases of partial obstruction. Using MRV, we determined the morphology of the proximal and distal ends of the complete obstructions in the IVC. We classified our observations into cone, plateau, and irregular subtypes. Both DSA and MRV scans were compared to assess the consistency between two methods. MRV demonstrated high sensitivity (100%) for diagnosing a complete obstruction of the IVC, and its specificity was 66.7%. The positive and negative predictive values of MRV were 94% and 100%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
MRV imaging is a valuable alternative to DSA for detection of obstructions in the IVC in Budd-Chiari syndrome, particularly in the distal end, which could expedite the decision making for interventional treatment programmes. However, MRV imaging is less suitable for observing the morphology of the proximal ends of obstructions due to the limitations of the scanning plane and the influence of pseudo shadows.


This paper analyzes how involved students retrospectively evaluate the participation in mini-companies in Swiss higher secondary schools. These mini-companies are entrepreneurial projects situated in the field of business education, which require real investments and active marketing measures on a small scale. The cross-sectional study is based on a survey concerning the Company Program of "Young Enterprise Switzerland" (YES). The theoretical framework has been derived from a discussion of different pedagogical concepts of project learning. The analysis is guided by a structural equation modelling approach. Overall, the data show a high level of expected benefits. These expectations correspond with a positive assessment of cooperative efforts during the project and with positive views concerning the social function of entrepreneurship for the public weal.


Abstract. The topography of cliffs and steep slopes must be measured to acquire additional information for landscaping, visualizing changes and taking precautions against natural hazards. The Earth topography has been measured predominantly with photogrammetry, terrestrial/aerial laser scanning or other traditional measurement techniques. The stereo photogrammetry necessitates greater effort to obtain a three-dimensional (3D) model of the imaged surface. Meanwhile, terrestrial or aerial laser scanning can collect high-density measurements of spatial data in a short time. However, the costs of implementing laser scanning instruments are very high. Furthermore, conventional measurement techniques that use total stations require immense effort to collect complete 3D measurements of cliffs. On the other hand, dense image based point cloud using multi-view photogrammetry based on structure from motion (SfM) algorithm is much more effective than the others for measuring the Earth topography. In this study, the cliff topography of an old quarry located in the state of Selcuklu of Konya Province in Turkey was measured by multi-view photogrammetry. The cliff has a continuous length of approximately 600 metres and a height of 25 metres in some places. The 3D model of the cliff was generated with the image based dense point cloud of multi-view photogrammetry. Then 3D dense point cloud model was registered into a local georeference system by using control points (CPs). Because of the long line measurement area, number and localization of the CPs is very important for achieving a high-accuracy to registration into georeferenced system. The registration accuracies were evaluated for different number and distribution of the CPs with the residuals on the check points (ChPs). The high accuracy registration was acquired with uniform distributed 3 and 8 CPs as the residuals of 24.08 cm and 23.03 cm on the ChPs respectively. The results indicated that 3D measurement of long line cliffs can be performed using multi-view photogrammetry, and the registration should be made with the uniform distributed CPs. In addition, a texture-mapped 3D model and orthophoto images of the cliff surfaces were created for detailed visualization.


SUMMARY: The life-cycle of actinophage MSP 2 in host Streptomyces venezuelae s13 was divisible into distinct stages by manipulating the cultural conditions and by the use of certain chemical compounds. Two types of attachment were observed: reversible and irreversible. Reversible attachment occurred instantaneously and was relatively independent of temperature and phage concentration. The controlling variables in extent of adsorption were the amount of host mycelium and ionic content of the medium. Irreversible attachment was time dependent and temperature dependent. Addition of acriflavine allowed phage attachment and injection to occur, but suppressed some stage of intracellular growth or maturation. Acriflavine prevented formation of viable phage, but phage components were demonstrated immunologically and electron-microscopically. Chilling of phage-infected cultures allowed lysis to proceed, with release of preformed phages; but no new phages were formed. These results indicate that the life-cycle of actinophage MSP 2 is experimentally separable into attachment, injection, growth, maturation and lysis.


Background: Majority of the patients presenting to emergency department (ED) have pain. ED oligoanalgesia remains a challenge. Aims: This study aims to study the effect of implementing a protocol-based pain management in the ED on (1) time to analgesia and (2) adequacy of analgesia obtained. Settings and Design: Cross-sectional study in the ED. Methods: Patients aged 18–65 years of age with pain of numeric rating scale (NRS) ≥4 were included. A series of 100 patients presenting before introduction of the protocol-based pain management were grouped "pre-protocol," and managed as per existing practice. Following this, a protocol for management of all patients presenting to ED with pain was implemented. Another series of 100 were grouped as "post-protocol" and managed as per the new pain management protocol. The data of patients from both the groups were collected and analyzed. Statistical Analysis Used: Descriptive statistical tests such as percentage, mean and standard deviation and inferential statistical tests such as Pearson coefficient, Student's t-test were applied. Differences were interpreted as significant when P < 0.05. Results: Mean time to administer analgesic was significantly lesser in the postprotocol group (preprotocol 20.30 min vs. postprotocol 13.05 min; P < 0.001). There was significant difference in the pain relief achieved (change in NRS) between the two groups, with greater pain relief achieved in the postprotocol group (preprotocol group 4.6800 vs. postprotocol group 5.3600; P < 0.001). Patients' rating of pain relief (assessed on E5 scale) was significantly higher in the postprotocol group (preprotocol 3.91 vs. postprotocol 4.27; P = 0.001). Patients' satisfaction (North American Spine Society scale) with the overall treatment was also compared and found to be significantly higher in postprotocol group (mean: preprotocol 1.59 vs. postprotocol 1.39; P = 0.008). Conclusion: Protocol-based pain management provided timely and superior pain relief.


The primary cardiac lymphoma (PCL) is an extremely infrequent tumor suffered by immunocompetent patients with a difficult diagnosis and slow progress leading to a serious prognosis and few therapeutically possibilities. It's a primary-cardiac non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) in a patient of 46-year-old, immunocompetent, who started with a congestive heart failure and atrial flutter. Some examinations were carried out such as a transesophageal echocardiography (TEE), a computed tomography (TC) and a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and an intracardiac tumor placed in the interauricular septum was detected. The diagnosis was based on a pleural fluid cytological examination. It was decided to follow a chemotherapy treatment and the autologous peripheral blood stem cells transplantation was carried out. The patient remains in full remission thirty-six months after diagnosis and twenty-nine months after the autotransplant. Our clinical experience indicated that an early and accurate diagnosis combined with the appropriate and aggressive antilymphoma therapy can thus help in obtaining a long survival in patients with PCL.


There is a kind of misunderstanding between the common way of art presentation in galleries and museums and the very emerging artistic forms, directly on electronic media (e.g. net art or virtual sculpture). Though the galleries and museums are getting on-line these days, still they treat the artists and artworks in an old-fashioned way. Even the progressive net-galleries are founded just on a simple point & click navigation which is hostile to both artists and audience. eGaLab (electronic gallery and laboratory) for virtual art reflects today's status under which the artists create and present their artworks. It introduces an intuitive approach in the field of virtual environments and communities oriented to visual arts and artistic collaboration. eGaLab combines and transforms the advantages of collaborative virtual environments with the traditional aspects of artistic creation and presentation. In this paper we describe architecture of the eGaLab platform. We describe its networking part based on a concept of General Variables (GV) and discuss several implementation issues related to its specific character.


Background Identification of genital herpes can have important implications for clinical management of HIV infected patients, immunosuppressed individuals, pregnant women, and individuals with HSV seronegative partners. This study was performed to establish preliminary performance characteristics for the newly developed cobas® HSV-1/2 Test by evaluating analytical sensitivity and specificity, specimen stability, and clinical performance compared with the BD ProbeTec™ HSV-1/2 Test. Methods Analytical sensitivity was determined using viral culture spiked into a contrived background matrix at predetermined concentrations. Nine levels of viral target were evaluated using the prototype cobas® HSV-1/2 Test. These viral culture panels were also used to assess analytical sensitivity compared to the BD ProbeTec™ HSV-1/2 Test. Preliminary exclusivity of the cobas® HSV-1/2 Test was evaluated with other herpes family viruses (n = 7) and a collection of microorganisms that might be found in lesion swab specimens (n = 31). We also evaluated clinical lesion swab specimens (collected in UVT media for the BD Test and MSwab Media for the cobas® Test). Transport and storage stability of anogenital lesion swab samples collected in MSwab media was assessed by testing specimens stored at RT, 2–8C and –20C. Results The cobas® HSV-1/2 test displayed excellent analytical sensitivity of 150 vp/mL (HSV 1) and 100 vp/mL (HSV-2). When compared to the BD ProbeTec™ HSV-1/2 Test, superior sensitivity was observed for both HSV-1 and HSV-2 with the cobas® HSV-1/2 Test. Exclusivity studies showed no cross reactivity. The cobas® HSV-1/2 Test showed excellent performance with lesion swab specimens, observing a sensitivity and specificity of 100% and 100% for HSV-1 and 100% and 94% for HSV-2, respectively. Preliminary specimen stability studies for routine laboratory workflow indicate favourable performance. Conclusion The cobas® HSV-1/2 test, run on the fully automated cobas® 4800 system, exhibited excellent preliminary performance characteristics, suitable for identifying low concentration HSV-1 and HSV-2 from anogenital lesions.


Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a highly debilitating disease with significant health impacts worldwide. It is a chronic and relapsing inflammatory skin disease which often poses a life-long burden for the affected individuals. AD has been a difficult disease to treat as it manifests with a wide spectrum of clinical phenotypes and the current clinical management strategies are non-specific. Therefore, it is imperative to identify specific immunological pathways that could be targeted to treat this disease. Previous studies have documented that AD disease progression is precipitated by a combination of skin barrier dysfunction, itch and immune dysregulation that are responsible for AD progression. However, the precise role of effector cells and cytokines have not been fully elucidated. To address this, I established a clinically relevant model of AD, using the vitamin D analogue, MC903. This MC903 model closely resembles the AD phenotype in patients, including inflammatory parameters, barrier dysfunction, itch, and histopathological characteristics, providing a novel platform to evaluate targets for the treatment and prevention of AD. Furthermore, this model exposed the cells and cytokines that are critically associated with disease severity, including eosinophils, mast cells, TSLP, IL-4 and IL-9, but not CD4+ T cells. The instrumental role of these effector cells and cytokines was established by their stepwise depletion or blockade. Indeed, functional eosinophil depletion via the use of inducible eosinophil (iPHIL) mice significantly ameliorated AD pathology, most notably itch. Similar results were obtained after blockade of the IL-4/IL-13 axis by genetic deletion of STAT6. The clinically more relevant use of soluble inhibitors targeting IL-9 and CRTh2 (in a prophylactic and therapeutic setting, respectively), both resulted in a substantial reduction in AD phenotype. In summary, this body of work led to the identification of key disease-initiating and effector cells and molecules that represent attractive targets for the treatment of AD.


This article, an exploratory one, aims to present a theoretical construction that connects the space concept to value society`s identity and memory, through heritage education. Space is considered a society product and is constantly being modified by it. On this relation some spots are overlayed and a new landscape emerges. The landscape and its special elements are analysed as witnesses of the past time lived in this society. In this essay a theoretical body is defined to configure its changes on a time period, allowing by the context understanding the comprehension of this evolution. Heritage education is approached when considering the landscape/space context of this object of study, which means, the cultural heritage. This study aims to contribute for a deeper and more holistic society comprehension, as well as to appreciate its legacy, the tourist attractions.


Abstract Cyclostome bryozoans are present in 83 samples collected as part of the Panama Paleontology Project (PPP) and representing sediments deposited during the Miocene-Pleistocene in several basins on the Caribbean and Pacific sides of the Central American Isthmus. Preliminary study has resulted in the identification of 23 species. Most of these are left in open nomenclature and assigned questionably to genera, pending detailed study and comparison with cyclostomes previously described from this region and elsewhere. Maximum sample diversity is 13 species and median diversity two species. An equal number of species is present in the Caribbean and Pacific basins. The cumulative collection curve for the PPP cyclostome samples shows a flattening, implying that further sampling will not increase diversity substantially. About 11 percent of calcareous species in the PPP bryozoan fauna are cyclostomes, the remainder being cheilostomes. This relatively small value is consistent with anecdotal data for Recent bryozoans which suggest a decrease in the proportion of cyclostomes within bryozoan faunas from high to low latitudes. Species with erect colonies dominate among the cyclostomes, in contrast with the PPP cheilostomes in which encrusting species greatly outnumber erect species.


In the digital age, companies are expected to connect with customers and run IT in simpler, more agile ways. In addition, companies need to provide accessible new channels for customers and suppliers, develop applications quickly, and optimize their use of the cloud and their data. Although IT complexity can hinder these efforts, there's a common perception that the problem resolves itself once a company starts down the digital path. Companies look at digital start-ups and see that they have managed to be nimble without simplifying. For many businesses, this begs a question: Is simplification still necessary in the digital era?


Finding and choosing the right supervisor is an essential task for students about to embark on a PhD program. In this paper the authors discuss the students' and supervisors' expectations of professional supervisor-student relationships. Students will expect that their supervisors guide them in a customised/tailored way; are available when needed; are open, supportive, reliable, trustworthy, clear in the relationships, and friendly; are constructively critical; have a good knowledge of their research area; structure tutorials so that ideas can be exchanged relatively easy; have sufficient interest in their research; and are sufficiently involved in their success to help them get a good job. Supervisors will expect that their students are independent and interested in the research; produce work that is more than a first draft; report all relevant issues when discussing the research with them in regular meetings; and follow the advice that has been agreed upon in a meeting. Throughout the paper the authors draw upon their own experiences as students and later supervisors.


The current spectral shapes in the Turkish Seismic Code (TSC) are based on broadly described geological conditions, ignoring fault distance or magnitude dependencies on spectral ordinates. To address this deficiency, a data set created from a suite of 112 strong ground motion records from 57 earthquakes that occurred between 1976 and 2003 has been used to develop horizontal attenuation relationships for Turkey. This way it is possible to construct hazard-consistent design spectra for any national seismic region. The results are compared with the site-dependent spectral shapes of the Uniform Building Code (UBC) and the current TSC. It is shown that corner periods are consistent with those of UBC. TSC yields wider constant spectral acceleration plateau. Design spectra in both of these documents are conservative if the ground motion library that we used in deriving the spectral shapes is taken as representative. The results of this study enable site-distance–magnitude-specific design spectra suitable as a tool both for deterministic (scenario earthquakes) and probabilistic seismic hazard assessments.


A triple-band stubby antenna, fed by a coaxial probe, and a tuning technique are proposed for operating at PCS, IMT-2000, and Bluetooth bands. The proposed antenna, shielded by the antenna cover, consists of two radiating elements. The impedance matching and bandwidth for the proposed antenna are mainly affected by the length of the ground patch at the bottom of a small substrate. By properly choosing the size of the ground patch, the resonant frequencies can be easily adjusted, and a wide impedance bandwidth of 59.7% (|S/sub 11/| < -10 dB), which covers the Korean PCS (1750-1870 MHz), IMT-2000 (1920-2170 MHz), and Bluetooth (2402-2483.5 MHz) can be achieved. An omnidirectional radiation pattern is obtained, and a peak antenna gain of about 3 dBi or more is measured. The electrical characteristics of the proposed antenna make it attractive for use in mobile handset applications.


In a context of high productivity, eggs' quality assessment is necessary for enhanced safety and quality assurance towards the consumers and feedback for producers. The quality assessment of eggs and egg products is performed using destructive and time-consuming methods, therefore the use of rapid tools becomes mandatory, especially in the case of a high production rate. Near Infrared (NIR) spectroscopy is considered a very reliable and rapid technique with large use in food industry. At the farm level, NIR spectroscopy technique would be an interesting tool to determine the chemical and physical properties of eggs, eggshell and internal quality and, moreover, this information may help the layer farm manager when a problem occurs in the flock. Its application in the egg industry is aimed at the quality changes in eggs during storage and quality assessment of the egg products, through the compositional analysis. It is possible and in some cases successful the prediction and/or determination of different parameters such as: protein, total lipid and total solids content (for liquid egg products), polyunsaturated fatty acids (for freeze-dried egg yolk), moisture, fat and protein content (for spray-dried whole eggs). In addition, for the white colored shell eggs, the detection of blood and meat spots is also successful. Further studies with NIR and near infrared hyper spectral imaging system (NIR-HSI) are needed in this direction, as the results obtained until now are very promising for the development of a rapid tool for quality assessment of eggs and egg products.


The appropriation of a civilisational context of Islam or "Islam Hadhari" in Malaysia is based on the Islamic reality of a comprehensive human, social and national development and importantly, as a reference of the magnanimity of the Muslim polity to the rest of the world. Amongst its objectives are to produce individuals with spiritual, intellectual, moral and competitive strengths, as well as the innovation and competency to solve challenges with reason and practicality under the guidance of wisdom and peace. The principles of this policy includes a government which stands for justice and integrity, a balanced development of the economy, quality of life, a people with a sense of freedom, championing the rights of women and minority groups, moral and cultural strength, environmental conservation as well as military capabilities.


Recent work has formalized the explanation process in the context of automated planning as one of model reconciliation - i.e. a process by which the planning agent can bring the explainee's (possibly faulty) model of a planning problem closer to its understanding of the ground truth until both agree that its plan is the best possible. The content of explanations can thus range from misunderstandings about the agent's beliefs (state), desires (goals) and capabilities (action model). Though existing literature has considered different kinds of these model differences to be equivalent, literature on the explanations in social sciences has suggested that explanations with similar logical properties may often be perceived differently by humans. In this brief report, we explore to what extent humans attribute importance to different kinds of model differences that have been traditionally considered equivalent in the model reconciliation setting. Our results suggest that people prefer the explanations which are related to the effects of actions.


Legitimacy can be understood as the social acceptance of actions or institutions and is a vital resource for the sustained survival of companies in competitive environments. Legitimacy is subjectively perceived and ascribed to institutions and activities in processes of social construction. In recent times organizational legitimacy has been maintained primarily by either adapting to the social expectations of the company's environment or by actively influencing the expectations of relevant stakeholder groups by means of advertising, public relations or strategic manipulation. During the process of globalization, however, companies are facing situations of increased complexity and heterogeneity in their environments so that the legitimacy strategies of adaptation and strategic manipulation may easily fail. In such situations, companies have to build on a third strategy, moral reasoning, in order to (re-)establish their legitimacy. However, moral reasoning cannot completely substitute both the other legitimacy strategies. We suggest that in order to survive in complex and competitive environments companies have to establish the organizational capacity to activate all of the three legitimacy strategies. In the present paper will develop a theoretical framework for three legitimacy strategies and their organizational implementation. We will build upon systems theory and empirical evidence from exemplary case studies.


Prenatal exposure to tobacco and marijuana can affect infant size and behavior, according to a recently published study. Plus: Is HT-NIPT cost-effective for guiding postpartum use of anti-D? Also: A recent study shows that lesbian and bisexual (LB) women have a greater likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D) than their heterosexual counterparts.


John Buchan was a noted novelist of Empire, yet his short stories on Imperial subjects and settings have rarely received critical attention. A careful reading of his shorter fiction reveals an alternative commentary on Empire that has been ignored. The works discussed problematize the common assumption that Buchan's views on Empire in his fiction are Victorian, by showing that he replaced the nineteenth-century model of Imperial rule by military force with the importance of the administrator and the knowledgeable man on the ground. The first part of this essay will survey Buchan's trajectory as a writer of Empire, in fiction and journalism, and discuss two key Edwardian short stories, 'The Kings of Orion' (1906) and 'The Grove of Ashtaroth' (1910), to illustrate how Buchan used Imperial themes to advocate the benefits of colonial rule. An extended analysis of Buchan's short story 'A Lucid Interval' (1910) and its publishing, political and social history forms the second part of the essay, since this story offers an unusual insight into the complexity of British imperial ideology in the early twentieth century. Buchan's political narrative uses the then common assumption of racial superiority to engage with complex ideas about the ethics of state politics and the feudal relationships that Imperialism promoted. It is his only attempt to write from the perspective of a non-white character, deploying the Indian Ram Singh's legitimate objections to make a party-political point against Liberalism in favour of Imperialist Conservatism. The story associates 'civilisation' with Imperial values, making anti- Imperialist thinking a form of anarchism. Its plot enacts anarchist views in the heart of the political establishment, to show their effect on the Imperial project as a whole. 'A Lucid Interval' is read as an investigation into the ethics of Imperial politics, and the essentially feudal basis for Imperial power relationships, today one of the principal objections to Imperialism as a system of governance. Buchan's use of humour undercuts the extremes of ideological arrogance that he assigns to the politicians. They utter expressions of their own power and position without truly comprehending what they are saying.


1. The usefulness of the radiomicrometer in titration work has been pointed out. The authors suggest that light titration may also be used where a reaction mixture changes its absorption in the (near) infra-red. 2. The applicability of this method to the starch-iodine reaction has been demonstrated.


The surface mounting of electronic component is the major manufacturing technology for the electronic products in the last decade. The surface mounting technology (SMT) is an assembly process that assembles the surface mountable component (SMC) and the printed circuit board (PCB) together. The SMT mounter is an automatic assembly machine that processes the SMT assemblies in terms of the optical positioning and robotic handling. The SMT assembly consists of calibrating printed circuit board (PCB); vacuuming components form feeder stations; compensating the orientation of the vacuumed surface mountable component (SMC); and finally placing SMC chips on the PCB. In order to increase the throughput, the synchronous batch vacuuming of SMC components is designed. In addition, different types of component feeding and mixing in each batch increase the difficulties of finding the best component mounting sequence. In this paper, the optimal component placement scheduler is desired to perform higher assembly performance and to reduce the cycle time. The proposed optimal component placement scheduler is developed based on the rule based heuristic search approach. In addition, to evaluate the cycle time of each heuristic search, the route oriented Petri nets (ROPN) based SMT assembly models are constructed. The optimal component placement scheduler can be further determined in terms of evaluating the ROPN SMT assembly models. Finally, the practical test PCB board data is discussed in this paper.


Thirty-nine healthy subjects were examined before and after a stay at 5,360 m by ophthalmoscopy and by retinal photography. Twenty of them were also tested for visual acuity, scotomata, and capillary leakage. Vascular engorgement and tortuosity and disc hyperemia were seen in all subjects at altitude and are a "normal" response to hypoxia. Twenty-two (56%) of the subjects had retinal hemorrhages and one showed "cotton-wool spots". These changes are abnormal reactions and are considered high-altitude retinopathy. After maximal exertion on a cycle ergometer, fresh hemorrhages were observed in seven of 34 subjects. The incidence of hemorrhage associated with exercise was significantly greater than predicted. Fluorescein leakage was noted after exercise in eight of 20 persons tested and was associated with exercise-induced hemorrhages. Two persons developed premacular hemorrhages.


A low-voltage, current-reused, quadrature voltage controlled oscillator (QVCO) and divide-by-4 frequency divider (FD4) architecture is presented for the first time. The proposed architecture features compact and low voltage operation by the proper stacking of a ring-type injection locked FD4 and a back-gate coupled QVCO. This design lowers the power consumption and eliminates the need of high frequency divider as well as buffering stage. The circuit has been implemented in 0.18-μm triple-well CMOS process. Experimental results show a phase noise level of -114.1 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset from carrier (2.2 GHz). This chip occupies a core area of 0.9×0.35 mm2 and consumes 2.7 mA from a 1.3 V power supply.


In self-excited induction machines, a power generating mode of operation can often be attained only by precharging at least one of the capacitors connected to the windings. The paper shows how a carefully derived state-space model with nonlinear magnetic characteristics enables the assessment of all possible operating regimes including their stability properties. In particular, the analysis reveals the possible existence of an unstable operating regime, which creates a barrier that must be overcome through precharged capacitors. In such case, the analytical results of the paper yield a simple formula that predicts the voltage needed to trigger self-excitation. Close to the boundary, voltages can be generated for extended periods of time before growing to a stable operating regime, or collapsing to zero. Experimental results validate the results of the paper on the transient properties of self-excited induction generators.


This paper presents a general method for obtaining the exact power spectra of generic time hopping modulated signals. Based on a point process approach, it provides simpler proofs for existing results and a powerful rigorous and at the same time systematic tool for computing the spectra of more complex time-hopping models. Spectrum formula are easy to understand and the contribution of each component of the model appears explicitly


Leaf area index (LAI) is a key parameter used to describe vegetation structures and is widely used in ecosystem biophysical process and vegetation productivity models. Many algorithms have been developed for the estimation of LAI based on remote sensing images. Our goal was to produce accurate and timely predictions of grassland LAI for the meadow steppes of northern China. Here, we compare the predictive power of regression approaches and hybrid geostatistical methods using Chinese Huanjing (HJ) satellite charge coupled device (CCD) data. The regression methods evaluated include partial least squares regression (PLSR), artificial neural networks (ANNs) and random forests (RFs). The two hybrid geostatistical methods were regression kriging (RK) and random forests residuals kriging (RFRK). The predictions were validated for different grassland types and different growing stages, and their performances were also examined by adding several groups of vegetation indices (VIs). The two hybrid geostatistical models (RK and RFRK) yielded the most accurate predictions (root mean squared error (RMSE) = 0.21 m2/m2 and 0.23 m2/m2 for RK and RFRK, respectively), followed by the RF model (RMSE = 0.27 m2/m2), which was the most accurate among the regression models. These three models also exhibited the best temporal performance across the duration of the growing season. The PLSR and ANN models were less accurate (RMSE = 0.33 m2/m2 and 0.35 m2/m2 for ANN and PLSR, respectively), and the PLSR model performed the worst (exhibiting varied temporal performance and unreliable prediction accuracy that was susceptible to ground conditions). By adding VIs to the predictor variables, the predictions of the PLSR and ANN models were obviously improved (RMSE improved from 0.35 m2/m2 to 0.28 m2/m2 for PLSR and from 0.33 m2/m2 to 0.28 m2/m2 for ANN); the RF and RFRK models did not generate more accurate predictions and the performance of the RK model declined (RMSE decreased from 0.21 m2/m2 to 0.32 m2/m2).


The Citarum River is one of the most polluted rivers in the world because of the inadequate waste management system and community ignorance. Plastic is one of the contaminants in the Citarum watershed. In general, plastics less than 5 mm in size are defined as microplastics. Microplastics are persistent and harm the environment. This article aims to determine the potential for pollution and distribution of microplastics in freshwater systems, especially in the Citarum watershed area. Using a combination of literature study methods with Geographical Information Systems (GIS) analysis, this article explains that microplastic contamination has occurred along the Citarum watershed from upstream to downstream, found in water and sediment and fish samples. Facilitated by their small size and high stability in the environment, microplastics can move from the aquatic environment into the food chain and cause longterm damage. This case causes a severe threat to the quality of freshwater in the Citarum watershed. Therefore, this article can be used as a reference for managing pollution in the Citarum watershed area.


2 Abstract: In this paper, the 32 channel WDM system at 20 Gb/s has been investigated for the different channel spacing. The performance has been analyzed on the basis of dispersion. The comparison of BER, Q-factor and eye opening for WDM and DWDM systems at different dispersion is done. It is observed that at different dispersion 2-10 ps/nm/km the 32 × 20 Gb/s WDM system provides better results than the 32 × 20 Gb/s DWDM (dense wavelength division multiplexing) system in the presence of nonlinearities. The analysis is done using OptiSystem 7.0 simulator.


The Catholic Lusatian Sorbs are today the most important element of the Sorbian ethnic group and their national culture. After the Reformation, they found themselves in a minority and in a highly negative situation. For the Catholic Sorbs, the opening of the Lusatian Seminary in Prague in 1728 was a significant source of strength and encouragement. Over the nearly two centuries of its existence, the Lusatian Seminary became a national institution for Catholic Sorbs, and Prague was considered their second capital after Budyšin (Bautzen). The Sorbian seminarians, who usually attended the German grammar school in Prague's Lesser Town before going on to study theology at the city's university, were taught by leading figures of Czech science such as Josef Dobrovský, Václav Hanka, Karel Jaromír Erben, and the Slovak Martin Hattala. The Sorbs thus received their education not only in their native language but also expanded their knowledge of other Slavic tongues. The seminary and the Sorbian youth association Serbowka, founded in Prague in 1846, significantly helped to spread education among the Sorbs, to strengthen their Slavic identity, and to develop their efforts at a national revival. Over its nearly 200-year-existence, the Lusatian Seminary was attended by many leading figures of the Sorbian national revival, including Slavist, magazine editor, and leading figure of the Sorbian national revival Jan Pětr Jordan; priest, editor, linguist, and long-standing chairman of the Maćica Serbska Michał Hórnik; and author and editor Jakub Bart-Ćišinski, considered the most important Sorbian poet.


Polyaniline has been the oldest among all the conducting polymers. The unique properties of conducting polymers not only provide great scope for their applications but also have led to the development of new models to explain their observed properties. Polyaniline has rapidly become the subject of considerable interest for physicists, chemists and material scientists. In this paper we have carried out the Scanning Electron Microscopy characteristics of Polyaniline thin films doped with different concentrations (15% & 30%) of the dopants like Potassium Bromide and Picric Acid. The films has been prepared by using Vacuum Evaporation Technique and then characterized for SEM studies by using Scanning Electron Microscopy unit. The SEM study reveals that the grain size increases with the increase in the concentration of the above said dopants which in turn increases the crystallinity of the material. This behavior ensures its application in the optoelectronic devices.


The wide spread use of online recruitment services has led to information explosion in the job market. As a result, the recruiters have to seek the intelligent ways for Person-Job Fit, which is the bridge for adapting the right job seekers to the right positions. Existing studies on Person-Job Fit have a focus on measuring the matching degree between the talent qualification and the job requirements mainly based on the manual inspection of human resource experts despite of the subjective, incomplete, and inefficient nature of the human judgement. To this end, in this paper, we propose a novel end-to-end A bility-aware P erson-J ob F it N eural N etwork (APJFNN) model, which has a goal of reducing the dependence on manual labour and can provide better interpretation about the fitting results. The key idea is to exploit the rich information available at abundant historical job application data. Specifically, we propose a word-level semantic representation for both job requirements and job seekers' experiences based on Recurrent Neural Network (RNN). Along this line, four hierarchical ability-aware attention strategies are designed to measure the different importance of job requirements for semantic representation, as well as measuring the different contribution of each job experience to a specific ability requirement. Finally, extensive experiments on a large-scale real-world data set clearly validate the effectiveness and interpretability of the APJFNN framework compared with several baselines.


Aqueous electrochemical conversion of CO2 with renewable energy is a sustainable pathway to produce carbon-neutral fuels and address the growing crisis of global warming. A key challenge in the field of electrochemical CO2 reduction (CO2R) is the design of catalytic materials featuring high product selectivity, stability, and a composition of earth-abundant elements. In this work, we demonstrate anion exchange as a promising strategy to achieve synergistic catalysis via secondary coordination sphere interactions between the catalyst and the support. We encapsulate an anionic cobalt porphyrin-based electrocatalyst, with a single-molecule dispersion, into a cationic porous polymer skeleton, and construct a class of electrocatalysts to convert CO2 to CO with remarkable activity, selectivity and durability. Detailed examination of CO2R revealed selectivity for CO production in excess of 83% and stability over 7 hours with a per-site turnover frequency of 1.4 s−1. In situ spectroelectrochemical measurements using surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy (SEIRAS) provided insights into the capability of the cationic polymer framework to control the interactions of intermediates with groups in close proximity via modifying the secondary coordination sphere interactions around the active sites. Our findings highlight the importance of a rationally designed electrocatalyst/solid support interface and offer a paradigm to integrate catalytically active components and develop efficient electrocatalytic systems via marrying the catalyst and support, and creating synergy.


This article presents a study of 16 scholarly blogs with the aim to gain an in-depth understanding of what characterizes blogging as part of the scholarly communication. Eight blogs from high energy physics (HEP) and eight from digital history were closely followed. The analysis was made by employing an analytical framework based on genre theory. The results reveal common communicative purposes in the scholarly blogs; there are many similarities in form features and content, which also relate to the purposes of the blogs. In addition, the context in which the blogs are situated is based both in the blogging researchers' epistemic cultures and in their knowledge about blogging practices. A conclusion is that the scholarly blogs is an addition to the landscape of scholarly communication, including communication with the public, and that the scholarly blogs contribute to our understanding of how research is done.


Abstract We show that the class of strongly jump-traceable c.e. sets can be characterised as those which have sufficiently slow enumerations so they obey a class of well-behaved cost functions, called benign. This characterisation implies the containment of the class of strongly jump-traceable c.e. Turing degrees in a number of lowness classes, in particular the classes of the degrees which lie below incomplete random degrees, indeed all LR-hard random degrees, and all ω-c.e. random degrees. The last result implies recent results of Diamondstone's and Ng's regarding cupping with superlow c.e. degrees and thus gives a use of algorithmic randomness in the study of the c.e. Turing degrees.


Abstract This study evaluated the adhesion of conventional and self-adhesive resin cements to indirect resin composite (IRC) using different surface conditioning methods. Cylindrical IRC specimens (N = 192) were randomly assigned to four surface conditioning methods (n = 8 per group): (a) Control group, (b) Hydrofluoric acid, (c) Tribochemical silica-coating, and (d) 50 μm Al2O3 air-abrasion. Specimen surfaces were finished using silicon carbide papers up to 600 grit under water irrigation, rinsed and dried. Direct composite blocks were bonded to IRC specimens using three conventional resin cements (Multilink, Panavia F2.0, and Resicem) and three self-adhesive resin cements (RelyX U100, Gcem, Speed Cem). Specimens were subjected to shear bond strength test in a Universal Testing Machine (0.5 mm/min). Failure types were categorized as mixed, adhesive and cohesive. Data were analyzed using 2-way ANOVA and Tukey's tests. Two-parameter Weibull modulus, scale (m) and shape (0) were calculated. The bond strength results (MPa) were significantly affected by the surface conditioning method (p < 0.0001) and cement type (p < 0.001). For Panavia F2.0, Resicem, air-abrasion with 50 μm Al2O3 significantly increased the results (22.6 ± 6.5, 26.2 ± 6.5, respectively) compared to other conditioning methods (13.6 ± 1.4–21.9 ± 3.1) but for Multilink, hydrofluoric acid etching (20.5 ± 3.5) showed significantly higher results (p < 0.01). For the self-adhesive resin cements, air-abrasion with 50 μm Al2O3 significantly increased the results compared to other conditioning methods, except for RelyX U100 (p < 0.05). After air-abrasion with Al2O3, Gcem, (11.64), RelyX U100 (9.05), and SpeedCem (8.29) presented higher Weilbul moduli. Exclusively cohesive failure in the IRC was observed with RelyX U100 and Speedcem after Al2O3 air-abrasion.


Public health has historically been concerned with eliminating factors associated with disease, disability, and early mortality, whereas leisure studies has emerged from the need to create and manage recreational opportunities and promote leisure activities and experiences. Coincidently, both fields have progressed toward an appreciation of the role of active leisure in enhancing a population's health and well-being. Factors associated with making choices to be physically active in leisure time are complex and multidimensional. This paper provides historical perspectives from public health and leisure studies (i.e., parks and recreation), describes models used to understand physically active leisure from both fields, and suggests direction for future collaborative research between public health and parks, recreation, and leisure researchers.


Aims: BEAWARE investigated the pattern of first-line bevacizumab early interruption in the Italian real-world setting of metastatic colorectal cancer. Methods: A total of 386 patients were followed for 15 months after first-line chemotherapy + bevacizumab start. The rate of bevacizumab interruption for progression or adverse drug reactions (ADRs) constituted the primary endpoint. Results: A total of 78.2% of patients interrupted bevacizumab: 56.6% for progression, 7.3% for ADRs, and 36.1% for other reasons. Median treatment duration was 6.7, 2.5, and 4.6 months, respectively. Median progression-free survival was 10.3 months; however, 35.8% of patients were not progressed and were thus censored at the data cutoff of 15 months, while 21.8% were still receiving bevacizumab. Patients discontinuing for progression/ADRs more frequently had metastases in >1 site (p = .0001), and a shorter median progression-free survival (6.9 vs 13.9 months, p < .0001). Conclusions: In Italy, first-line bevacizumab is interrupted mainly for progression, only 7.3% due to adverse events, and about one third of cases for other reasons. In clinical practice, the attitude to treat until progression as per guidelines might be implemented. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01609075


: The ability of a pituitary extract to induce ovulation and the effect of multiple ovulations on pregnancy rate and incidence of multiple fetuses were studied in seasonally anovulatory mares. The extract induced ovulation in 95% of mares having a greater than or equal to 25 mm follicle at the onset of treatment and in 64% the ovulations were multiple. The extract was less effective when the largest initial follicle was less than 25 mm. Approximately 50% of the treated mares that ovulated did not become pregnant or enter prolonged dioestrus before returning to an anovulatory condition. In treated mares with one ovulation the pregnancy rate (33%) was lower than in controls (60%) and was further reduced in mares with greater than 2 ovulations. There was a pronounced discrepancy between the number of palpated conceptuses and number of palpated ovulations. Only one conceptus and one fetus was found on Days 28 and 50, respectively, in every pregnant mare (11 treated, 1 control) in which multiple ovulations were palpated.


Recognition of the circuit-breaker's (CB) vital role in reliable operation and protection of power systems (i.e., during energization, disconnecting loads, and clearing faults), helps to understand the requirement and importance of its maintenance management as well as maintenance scheduling. Condition-based maintenance (CBM), employing online monitoring (OLM) of CBs, has been long reported as the most practical maintenance policy on the power system CBs. There are a large number of CBs in a power system to be monitored; however, to address the financial limitations for OLM implementation (in utilities), a method will be proposed to find the most critical breakers for enforcing effectively the CBs CBM planning in this power system. This paper employs some qualitative and quantitative criteria to develop this method. While, the former criterion is deals with through assessing the condition of CBs through fuzzy sets theory. And the latter criterion is dealt with through the evaluation of CBs' influence on the overall system reliability (through introduced indices). This method is applied on a sample transmission substation with a breaker-and-a-half configuration. Numerical analysis of this simulation results demonstrates how this method can be employed to prioritize the CBs for OLM.


Oncolytic adenoviruses are able to replicate selectively in cancerous but not normal human cells and are under investigation as potential cancer therapeutics. Unfortunately, mice are poor model systems for therapy with replication competent adenoviruses because murine cells are generally unable to produce infectious viral progeny. In order to model oncolytic adenovirus treatment, researchers have used human tumor xenografts that support viral replication in immunodeficient mice. Because xenografts require an immunodeficient host, xenograft model systems do not reflect a host9s adaptive immune response against the virus and cannot model the potential for an immunostimulatory virus to induce an anti-tumor immune response. Using the tumor-selective oncolytic adenovirus TAV-255 previously developed in our laboratory, we find that the murine lung adenocarcinoma cell line LKR-13 supports adenoviral infection and generates infectious viral progeny. Western blotting showed that LKR-13 cells express the coxsackie and adenovirus receptor (CAR) to allow viral infection, and that infected cells express the viral protein E1A. MTT assays, crystal violet staining, and clonogenic assays showed that TAV-255 kills LKR-13 cells in a dose-dependent and time-dependent manner with similar potency and latency of infection as a panel of human cancer cell lines, with more than 50% cell death of murine LKR-13 cells and various human cancer cells (T1, 882 and A549) within 6 days of infection at a multiplicity of infection of 10. It produces infectious progeny from LKR-13 cells at titres similar to other human cancer cell lines. Other tested murine cancer cell lines do not share these features; for example, the CT-26 colon cancer cell line does not express CAR and is resistant TAV-255 infection, while the murine sarcoma cell line F244 is readily infected by adenovirus and produces the viral protein E1A but does not produce infectious progeny. Based on these in-vitro findings, we investigated LKR-13 cells as an in-vivo model system for replicating oncolytic adenoviruses. The LKR-13 cell line is derived from 129/Sv mice, and using fully immunocompetent 129/s4 mice, subcutaneous injection of 5x106 LKR-13 cells led to tumor formation in all injected mice. Intratumoral injection of 3x107 plaque forming units of TAV-255 in established tumors (greater than 200 mm3) caused a significant reduction in tumor growth: Eight days after treatment, tumors in mice treated with TAV-255 were 339 mm3 +/- 26 mm3 (n=3), and tumors in mice treated with PBS were 578 mm3 +/- 49 mm3 (n=5) (p=0.013). This model system represents the first fully immunocompetent mouse model for cancer treatment with replicating oncolytic adenoviruses, and will be useful to study the therapeutic effect of oncolytic adenoviruses in general and particularly immunostimulatory viruses designed to evoke an anti-tumor immune response. Citation Format: Lingzhi Zhang, Farah Hedjran, Christopher Larson, Min Yan, Tony Reid. A novel immunocompetent murine model for replicating oncolytic adenoviral therapy. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: The Translational Impact of Model Organisms in Cancer; Nov 5-8, 2013; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2014;12(11 Suppl):Abstract nr B50.


An innovative mixed-methods approach to exploratory focus group design is presented using a case study conducted with smallholder rice farmers in Vietnam. Understanding human decision-making under the uncertainties of a complex and changing social and environmental context requires a flexible yet structured and theoretically grounded approach. Using Bayesian belief networks as the architecture of our model allows the study to incorporate both qualitative and quantitative data, the former gathered at this stage in a participatory focus group setting and the latter to be collected in a subsequent survey. This framework further lends itself well to incorporating systematic behavioral approaches to decision-making analysis using Ajzen's theory of planned behavior framework, a symbiosis that remains underexplored in the literature. The visual nature of the networks makes them easily accessible to participants, and the proposed technical solutions to field implementation are flexible, inexpensive, and shown in practice to mitigate issues of co-moderating discussion across language barriers. The tools and methods described are transparent, reproducible in comparative contexts, and transferable to a range of research topics and questions.


Background Outbreaks of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) in kidney transplant recipients are frequently reported worldwide. However, the general guidelines propose only short-term prophylaxis with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole after kidney transplantation. We experienced 3 PCP outbreaks in the last 10 years despite providing the recommended prophylaxis. The purpose of this study was to find a prophylaxis regimen that could successfully prevent future PCP outbreaks in immunosuppressed kidney transplant recipients. Methods Occurrence of PCP at our hospital since 2004 was reviewed. A total of 48 cases were diagnosed from July 2004 through December 2014. Genotypes of P. jirovecii were determined in these cases. Results Three PCP outbreaks by 3 different genotypes of P. jirovecii in each outbreak occurred with 2-year intervals in last 10 years. Molecular analysis showed that each intraoutbreak was caused by identical P. jirovecii, whereas interoutbreaks were caused by different genotypes. Although short-term prophylaxis was provided to all kidney recipients after each outbreak after identification of a single PCP case, additional outbreaks were not prevented because the universal prophylaxis had already been completed when new case of PCP emerged. Conclusions The contagious nature of P. jirovecii allows easy development of outbreaks of PCP in immunosuppressed kidney transplant recipients. Although the universal short-term prophylaxis is effective in controlling ongoing outbreak, lifelong prophylaxis of kidney transplant recipients should be considered to prevent new outbreaks.


The high drop-out rate and modest outcome for men in treatment for intimate partner violence (IPV) have highlighted the question of how therapists can establish an effective working alliance with these clients. The aim of this study was to conceptualize the variety of ways in which male clients using violence against a female partner might present themselves to form a working alliance that might appeal to them. We studied how 20 men voluntarily in individual IPV treatment contributed at the beginning of therapy to forming an alliance with therapists skilled in such treatment. The first therapy session in 10 drop-out and 10 completed cases was transcribed verbatim and analyzed qualitatively, following guidelines drawn from the constructionist grounded theory. The analysis resulted in a conceptual model of gateways and invitations to an alliance. Gateways are themes that have the potential to open a path toward collaboration on personal change. Each of the three gateways identified, comprised solide and weak invitations to an alliance: (a) presenting reasons for seeking treatment—as their own choice, as avoidance, or as a mistake; (b) presenting notions of change—as their own need to change their violent behavior, as ambivalence toward the project, or as a need to change the partner; and (c) disclosing and describing violence—as a personal narrative, as a scene, as a fragment of their life, or as something else. Implications for therapists' understanding of clients' motivational goals, negotiation of alliance, and disclosure of violence early in therapy are discussed.