This paper addresses the problem of low-cost PM10 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter <10 μm) street sweeping route. In order to do so, only a subset of the streets of the urban area to be swept is selected for sweeping, based on their PM10 emission factor values. Subsequently, a low-cost route that visits each street in the set is computed. Unlike related problems of waste collection where streets must be visited once (Chinese or Rural Postman Problem, respectively), in this case, the sweeping vehicle route must visit each selected street exactly as many times as its number of street sides, since the vehicle can sweep only one street side at a time. Additionally, the route must comply with traffic flow and turn constraints. A novel transformation of the original arc routing problem into a node routing problem is proposed in this paper. This is accomplished by building a graph that represents the area to sweep in such a way that the problem can be solved by applying any known solution to the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP). As a way of illustration, the proposed method was applied to the northeast area of the Municipality of Santiago (Chile). Results show that the proposed methodology achieved up to 37% savings in kilometers traveled by the sweeping vehicle when compared to the solution obtained by solving the TSP problem with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) - aware tools. Implications The exposure to PM10 has been shown to be harmful to human health. Street sweeping is an effective mitigating measure used to reduce the amount of PM10. This paper proposes a generic method to determine a low-cost PM10 sweeping route. This problem has seldom been studied in the literature, with only two previous papers focusing on solving it under very specific circumstances, which makes them not applicable to generic scenarios. By providing a generic method that solves the problem under different scenarios, it is expected to facilitate the decision-making process of environmental and other public agencies regarding the implementation of sweeping routes.


Rabies is a globally distributed virus that causes approximately 60,00 human deaths annually with >99% of cases caused by dog bites. Australia is currently canine rabies free. However, the recent eastward spread of rabies in the Indonesian archipelago has increased the probability of rabies entry into northern Australian communities. In addition, many northern Australian communities have large populations of free-roaming dogs, capable of maintaining rabies should an incursion occur. A risk assessment of rabies entry and transmission into these communities is needed to target control and surveillance measures. Illegal transportation of rabies-infected dogs via boat landings is a high-risk entry pathway and was the focus of the current study. A quantitative, stochastic, risk assessment model was developed to evaluate the risk of rabies entry into north-west Cape York Peninsula, Australia, and rabies introduction to resident dogs in one of the communities via transport of rabies-infected dogs on illegal Indonesian fishing boats. Parameter distributions were derived from expert opinion, literature, and analysis of field studies. The estimated median probability of rabies entry into north-west Cape York Peninsula and into Seisia from individual fishing boats was 1.9 × 10−4/boat and 8.7 × 10−6/boat, respectively. The estimated annual probability that at least one rabies-infected dog enters north-west Cape York Peninsula and into Seisia was 5.5 × 10−3 and 3.5 × 10−4, respectively. The estimated median probability of rabies introduction into Seisia was 4.7 × 10−8/boat, and the estimated annual probability that at least one rabies-infected dog causes rabies transmission in a resident Seisia dog was 8.3 × 10−5. Sensitivity analysis using the Sobol method highlighted some parameters as influential, including but not limited to the prevalence of rabies in Indonesia, the probability of a dog on board an Indonesian fishing boat, and the probability of a Seisia dog being on the beach. Overall, the probabilities of rabies entry into north-west Cape York Peninsula and rabies introduction into Seisia are low. However, the potential devastating consequences of a rabies incursion in this region make this a non-negligible risk.


Edward Hallett Carr's contribution to the study of Soviet history is widely regarded as highly distinguished. In all probability very few would argue against this assessment of his multi-volume history of Soviet Russia. For the majority of historians he pretty much got the story straight. However, for several years there was disagreement about his contribution to the analytical philosophy of history. His ideas were outlined in What is History? first published in 1961. For many today What is History? is the most influential book on history thinking published in Britain this century. For many years, however, the methodologically foundationalist wing of the history profession regarded the book as espousing a dangerous relativism. This has now all changed. Arguably the central ideas in the book constitute today's mainstream thinking on British historical practice. Most British commentators, if not that many in America, acknowledge the significance and influence of the book. (l ) In this review I want to establish why it is What is History? now occupies a central place in British thinking about the relationship between the historian and the past. I conclude that the important message of What is History? fundamentally misconceived though I believe it to be lies in its rejection of an opportunity to re-think historical practice. This failure has been most significant in rationalising the epistemologically conservative historical thinking that pervades among British historians today.


Anaerobes are prevalent on all mucosal surfaces and virtually all anaerobic infections are endogenous. Two thirds of anaerobic infections involve five anaerobic organisms or groups--the Bacteroides fragilis group, the Bacteroides melaninogenicus-Bacteroides asaccharolyticus group, Fusobacterium nucleatum, the anaerobic cocci, and Clostridium perfringens. Conditions that lower the oxidation-reduction potential and disrupt the mucosal surface (eg, vascular problems, malignant neoplasms, and surgery) lead to infection with anaerobes. Clues to anaerobic infection include foul odor, gas, tissue destruction, underlying malignant neoplasms, and the unique appearance of certain anaerobes on Gram's stain. Specimens must be collected to avoid normal flora and transported to the laboratory under anaerobic conditions. Therapy involves surgical débridement and drainage and the use of various antimicrobial agents. Antimicrobial agents must be used for extended periods to avoid relapse.


An analysis of treatment of 420 patients following distal (406) and proximal (14) resections of the stomach for gastroduodenal ulcers was made. No incompetence of the stump sutures of the duodenum, stomach and anastomoses was noted. The dumping syndrome was observed in 2.8%, reflux gastritis in 5.1% of the patients. Results of the surgical treatment of ulcer disease were improved by using original methods of distal resection of the stomach with the formation of an artificial constrictor of the gastric stump and a reflux esophagogastric anastomosis.


Road network patterns can affect traffic performance, travel behavior, and traffic safety. Thus, a deep understanding of the properties of different network patterns can provide useful guidance for design and improvement of road systems. The aim of this study is to build a relationship between graphical and topological features of road network patterns of traffic analysis zones (TAZ) and, on the basis of this relationship, to offer a measure that can quantitatively distinguish different graphical pattern types. Toward this goal, a topological analysis measure, centrality, is applied to investigate road network patterns metrically at the TAZ level. First, 662 TAZ road networks are classified according to the graphical features of the networks; then different graphical features are calculated for centrality indices including network degree centrality, network betweenness centrality, and network closeness centrality. It is concluded that the network betweenness centrality is the best measure to distinguish and describe various TAZ road network patterns. Finally, the problem of how to assign a road that happens to be on the border of two adjacent TAZs is studied. A measure that can quantitatively describe and represent different road network patterns is offered. This measure could be useful for further evaluation of the possible effects of TAZ road network patterns on transportation.


Context: Cancer as a life-threatening disease develops a range of existential challenges in persons. These challenges cause the patients to encounter some existential questions and tensions. This study method focuses on a person's experience about them. Aims: The aim of this study is to illuminate the meaning of existential challenges in patients with cancer in Iran. Subjects and Methods: A hermeneutic phenomenological approach, influenced by the philosophy of Ricoeur, was used to analyze the experiences of 10 Iranian patients with cancer. Data analysis was based on three stages of simple and fast understanding, structural analysis, and comprehensive understanding. Results: The present study showed that existential challenges in patients with cancer can be considered as getting out or remaining in the cage of inauthentic self. This theme consists of two subthemes "Being exposed to the light of awareness that revealed the cage of inauthentic self" and "The tension between getting out of the cage or remaining." First, being exposed to the light of awareness revealed the cage of inauthentic self which subjectively refers to the emergence of existential questions, the past, the fear of future, and the collapse of physical body identity. Second, the tension between getting out of the cage or still staying which is characterized by anger, denial, sense of loneliness, and depression. Conclusions: According to the results of this qualitative study, it is possible to form discussion groups with peers or have self-reflective practice teaching groups to reflect patients' questions and existential challenges. In this way, participants can express themselves, share their experiences, challenges, learn, and find the answers.


: To determine efficacy of acupuncture (AC) in combined treatment of chronic daily headache (CDHA), 90 patients with this disorder were studied, using clinico-neurologic tests. Severity of patient's state was evaluated with Clinical Global Impression (CGI) scale, including scoring of disease severity, global evaluation of the post treatment state dynamics and the index of therapeutic efficacy. Headache intensity was assessed with VAS. A state of functional activity of nociceptive and antinociceptive systems was studied, using nociceptive flexor reflex (NFR). For treatment, the patients were randomly divided into two clinically matched groups: group 1 received combined drug therapy, group 2--combined drug therapy and additional acupuncture course. The results revealed high efficacy of AC combined with drug therapy for CDHA treatment. Most efficient was use of AC in patients with significantly reduced activity of antinociceptive systems and presence of drug abuse allowing to reduce analgetics withdrawal time. Besides, more pronounced clinical effect of AC was obtained in patients with transformed migraine.


This article tests the assumption that youth's work attitudes are changing to reflect the restructured labour markets that often are taken as a characteristic of late-modernity. Comparing 1985 and 1996 cohorts of high school leavers in a Canadian city, we find that occupational aspirations increased significantly since 1985, especially among females, in ways consistent with employment trends in a service-based economy. However, the 1985 and 1996 youth cohorts wanted very similar conditions in a job, and in each cohort we observed significant gender differences. General attitudes towards work and education also remained fairly constant. We discuss the implications of these findings for school-work transition research and for larger debates about youth responses to conditions of late-modernity.


PURPOSE
Diet plays an important role in maintaining quality of life in ageing and can be influenced by sociodemographic factors. We aimed to describe dietary habits in a large population-based sample of elderly people and to explore how they may vary according to sex, age, educational level and lifestyle.

METHODS
9250 community dwellers aged 65 years and over recruited in three French cities were interviewed about their food habits with a brief frequency questionnaire. For each food considered, the subjects were classified as occasional or regular consumers. Quantities of alcoholic beverages consumed daily were also assessed. Dietary habits were compared for men and women separately according each sociodemographic factor.

RESULTS
Women were characterized by a more regular consumption of fruit and vegetables and drunk fewer alcoholic beverages. Older subjects ate meat, fish, cereals, raw vegetables and pulses less regularly. The proportion of regular consumers of fish, raw fruit, raw vegetables and cooked fruit or vegetables and the quantity of alcohol consumed increased with educational level. Subjects living alone were less regular consumers of almost all foods.

DISCUSSION
The results show that even in a sub-population of elderly people, dietary patterns can vary greatly according to several factors. Identifying such factors is of value for future analytic studies on nutrition and health in the elderly. In view of dietary recommendations advising a high consumption of fruit and vegetables, subjects living alone and people with a low educational level are particularly at risk and should be encouraged to eat more balanced meals.


Abstract A new second order Newton method for reconstructing the shape of a sound soft scatterer from the measured far-field pattern for scattering of time harmonic plane waves is presented. This method extends a hybrid between regularized Newton iterations and decomposition methods that has been suggested and analyzed in a number of papers by Kress and Serranho [Inverse Problems 19: 91–104, 2003, Inverse Problems 21: 773–784, 2005, J. Comput. Appl. Math. 204: 418–427, 2007, Inverse Problems 22: 663–680, 2006, Inverse Problems and Imaging 1: 691–712, 2007] and has some features in common with the second degree method for ill-posed nonlinear problems as considered by Hettlich and Rundell [SIAM J.Numer. Anal. 37: 587–620, 2000]. The main idea of our iterative method is to use Huygen's principle, i.e., represent the scattered field as a single-layer potential. Given an approximation for the boundary of the scatterer, this leads to an ill-posed integral equation of the first kind that is solved via Tikhonov regularization. Then, in a second order Taylor expansion, the sound soft boundary condition is employed to update the boundary approximation. In an iterative procedure, these two steps are alternated until some stopping criterium is satisfied. We describe the method in detail and illustrate its feasibility through examples with exact and noisy data.


We document experimentally how biased self-assessments affect the outcome of matching markets. In the experiments, we exogenously manipulate the self-confidence of participants regarding their relative performance by employing hard and easy real-effort tasks. We give participants the option to accept early offers when information about their performance has not been revealed, or to wait for the assortative matching based on their actual relative performance. Early offers are accepted more often when the task is hard than when it is easy. We show that the treatment effect works through a shift in beliefs, i.e., underconfident agents are more likely to accept early offers than overconfident agents. The experiment identifies a behavioral determinant of unraveling, namely biased self-assessments, which can lead to penalties for underconfident individuals as well as efficiency losses.


Objective Diagnostic imaging by CT colonography and capsule endoscopy is used to detect colonic lesions. Controversy exists regarding the work-up of subcentimetric lesions. The aim of this study was to identify risk indicators for advanced neoplasia (AN) in subcentimetric polyps. Design Colonoscopies were classified on the basis of the largest lesion found. AN was defined as high-grade dysplasia, villous histology, or cancer. Logistic regression models were developed to identify risk factors for AN, and validated on separate datasets. A risk index based on the logistic regression was generated, and the number needed to screen (NNS) to detect AN was determined. Results 1 077 956 colonoscopies identified 106 270 intermediate (5–9 mm) and 198 954 diminutive (≤4 mm) lesions; 13% of intermediate and 3.7% of diminutive lesions contained AN. The risk of AN was higher in intermediate than in diminutive lesions (OR 3.1; 95% CI 3.0 to 3.3). Age ≥85 versus <45 years was associated with ORs of 2.4 (95% CI 1.8 to 3.1) for intermediate polyps and 3.2 (95% CI 2.3 to 4.5) for diminutive polyps. Pedunculated versus sessile morphology was associated with a higher risk of AN in intermediate (OR 2.0; 95% CI 1.9 to 2.2) and diminutive (OR 3.5; 95% CI 2.9 to 4.1) lesions. In the combined analysis for subcentimetric lesions, ORs were 2.7 (95% CI 2.2 to 3.3) for age ≥85 versus <45 years, 1.1 (95% CI 1.1 to 1.2) for male sex, 1.6 (95% CI 1.4 to 1.7) for occult blood, 1.3 (95% CI 1.2 to 1.5) for overt blood in stool, 1.3 (95% CI 1.2 to 1.4) for more than four lesions, and 2.2 (95% CI 2.1 to 2.3) for pedunculated versus sessile lesions. At median risk index values, the NNS was 9.3 (95% CI 9.1 to 9.5) in individuals with intermediate lesions and 29.4 (95% CI 28.5 to 30.2) in those with diminutive lesions. Compared with the NNS of 15 of the whole cohort, the majority of intermediate, but a minority of diminutive, lesions were deemed at high risk of AN. Conclusion This study successfully identified risk factors and established a risk index for subcentimetric lesions. This has implications for the work-up of patients with subcentimetric lesions identified on diagnostic imaging.


Objective: To determine the effectiveness of an Educational Program in Enhancing Nurse's Knowledge about Occupational Health Hazards at Medical City Hospitals in Baghdad City.
Methodology: The present study employed a quasi-experimental design held at Medical City Hospitals in Baghdad City. A non-probability sample (convenience sample) consisted of (60) nurse. Data were collected by using a self-report questionnaire which consisted of six parts (a) socio-demographic characteristics (b) physical hazards knowledge (c) chemical hazards knowledge (d) biological hazards knowledge (e) psychological hazards knowledge and (f) mechanical hazards knowledge. Data were analyzed using the statistical package for social science (SPSS) for windows Version 24.
Results: There were statistically significant differences in nurses' knowledge about occupational health hazards (physical hazards, chemical hazards, biological hazards, psychological hazards, and mechanical hazards) in the study group through posttest I, posttest II.
conclusion: The occupational health hazards-based health education program was influential in enhancing nurses' knowledge related to occupational health hazards.
Recommendations: The researcher recommended the need to develop and carry out special educational programs for nurses to enhance their knowledge regarding occupational health hazards.


Clinical and pathophysiological evidences connect migraine and the cerebellum. Literature on documented cerebellar abnormalities in migraine, however, is relatively sparse. Cerebellar involvement may be observed in 4 types of migraines: in the widespread migraine with aura (MWA) and migraine without aura (MWoA) forms; in particular subtypes of migraine such as basilar-type migraine (BTM); and in the genetically driven autosomal dominant familial hemiplegic migraine (FHM) forms. Cerebellar dysfunction in migraineurs varies largely in severity, and may be subclinical. Purkinje cells express calcium channels that are related to the pathophysiology of both inherited forms of migraine and primary ataxias, mostly spinal cerebellar ataxia type 6 (SCA-6) and episodic ataxia type 2 (EA-2). Genetically driven ion channels dysfunction leads to hyperexcitability in the brain and cerebellum, possibly facilitating spreading depression waves in both locations. This review focuses on the cerebellar involvement in migraine, the relevant ataxias and their association with this primary headache, and discusses some of the pathophysiological processes putatively underlying these diseases.


Poorly understood situations give rise to poorly planned policies that are unlikely to achieve their objectives. Since Mexico differs from Colombia, a "Colombian" solution is unlikely to work. This paper seeks to correct this misunderstanding by identifying significant dissimilarities between Colombia and Mexico. The goal is to accentuate the differences between the two countries that refute the "Colombianization" hypothesis. The paper concludes with an assessment of policies that have been pursued in Colombia and suggested for Mexico; the prognosis for the future is not good.


This paper is part of the joint project between the Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs of the European Commission and the OECD's Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs on "Review of Labour Migration Policy in Europe".
This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union.
Grant: HOME/2013/EIFX/CA/002 / 30-CE-0615920/00-38 (DI130895)
A previous version of this paper was presented and discussed at the OECD Working Party on Migration in June 2015.The paper investigates the preferences and post-graduation mobility behaviour of international students, focusing on how the EU could succeed in attracting and keeping highly educated talent from across the globe. Providing their skills to European labour markets, graduates from outside the EU have a potential to enrich the supply of high-skilled labour. Seen as the 28 EU countries still constitute the most attractive destination area for studying abroad, the paper examines different calculation methods in order to generate stay rates for over 170 countries of origin.
Empirical results indicate that for the EU as a whole, aggregate stay rates from stayers from all non-EU source countries lie within a range of 16.4% and 29.1%. They are also typically very low among students from other OECD countries, and much higher for students from less developed or politically less stable countries. The paper concludes by recommending a catalogue of measures to boost the EU's attractiveness, and to increase stay rates. Proposed policy measures draw on a smooth labour market integration of international graduates, as well as on cultivating strong points of the European countries, such as: political stability and participation possibilities, reliable institutions and governance structure, as well as an innovative and competitive environment.


UNLABELLED
The clinical ability to alter dentofacial form requires an understanding of facial aesthetics. This is vital for any clinician involved in treatment that will alter a patient's dentofacial appearance, whether through orthodontics, facial growth modification, corrective jaw surgery or aesthetic dentistry. Part 1 of this article aims to cover the historical and theoretical aspects of facial aesthetics and their importance in contemporary dentofacial treatment. Part 2 will cover important aspects of the interview and clinical assessment of patients requiring alterations in their dentofacial appearance, including guidelines used in the assessment of facial proportions and symmetry.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE
These articles cover the theoretical and clinical aspects of facial aesthetics required by clinicians involved in the treatment of dentofacial deformity.


Prolonged low intensity galvanic currents produce scattered but sharply cicumscribed areas of destruction in the guinea pig cochlea. As well as providing opportunities for studying possible electrically-induced injuries during artificial auditory stimulation of the deaf, such preparations present an unusual opportunity to study the relations between patterns of compound auditory nerve action potentials and morphological changes, which could be useful in evaluating the various computer models of cochlear function at present being developed.


Study Design From a random population sample, those experiencing frequent headaches were identified. They were examined to determine how many fulfilled the 1990 international Headache Society classification criteria for cervicogenic headache. Objective To estimate the prevalence of cervicogenic headache in the general population and in the group experiencing frequent headaches. Summary of Background Data Only with the publication of the 1990 headache classification criteria did a generally accepted clinical definition of cervicogenic headache emerge. The prevaience of this form of headache has been estimated only in two highly selected in-clinic patient populations. No data exist regading the prevalence in representative unselected populations. Methods. A short questionnaire on headaches was mailed to 826 randomly selected residents of a midsized Danish town. A group of 57 individuale in the age range 20–59 years who reported having headache episodes on 5 or more days in the previous month were identified. Forty-five of the 57 were eventually interviewed and examined with respect to the IHS criteria for cervicogenic headache (the radiological criteria were omitted on ethical grounds). Results Of the 45 persons examined, eight fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for cervicogenic headache, equivalent to a prevalence in the headache group of 17.8% (95% confidence interval = 8%-32%). Conclusions Cervicogenic headache appears to be a relatively common form of headache, similar to migraine in prevaience.


OBJECTIVES
While hospital length of stay (LOS) has been used as a surrogate injury outcome when more detailed outcomes are unavailable, it has not been validated. This project sought to validate LOS as a proxy measure of injury severity and resource use in heterogeneous injury populations.

METHODS
This observational study used four retrospective cohorts: patients presenting to 339 California emergency departments (EDs) with a primary International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9), injury diagnosis (years 2005-2006); California hospital injury admissions (a subset of the ED population); trauma patients presenting to 48 Oregon EDs (years 1998-2003); and injured Medicare patients admitted to 171 Oregon and Washington hospitals (years 2001-2002). In-hospital deaths were excluded, as they represent adverse outcomes regardless of LOS. Duration of hospital stay was defined as the number of days from ED admission to hospital discharge. The primary composite outcome (dichotomous) was serious injury (Injury Severity Score [ISS] >or= 16 or ICD-9 ISS <or= 0.90) or resource use (major surgery, blood transfusion, or prolonged ventilation). The discriminatory accuracy of LOS for identifying the composite outcome was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Analyses were also stratified by age (0-14, 15-64, and >or=65 years), hospital type, and hospital annual admission volume.

RESULTS
The four cohorts included 3,989,409 California ED injury visits (including admissions), 236,639 California injury admissions, 23,817 Oregon trauma patients, and 30,804 Medicare injury admissions. Composite outcome rates for the four cohorts were 2.1%, 29%, 27%, and 22%, respectively. Areas under the ROC curves for overall LOS were 0.88 (California ED), 0.74 (California admissions), 0.82 (Oregon trauma patients), and 0.68 (Medicare patients). In general, the discriminatory value of LOS was highest among children, tertiary trauma centers, and higher volume hospitals, although this finding differed by the injury population and outcome assessed.

CONCLUSIONS
Hospital LOS may be a reasonable proxy for serious injury and resource use among injury survivors when more detailed outcomes are unavailable, although the discriminatory value differs by age and the injury population being studied.


Tumor necrosis factor- (cid:1) inhibits myogenesis through redox-dependent and -independent pathways. Am Physiol Physiol wasting accom-panies diseases that are associated with chronic elevated levels of circulating inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress. We previously demonstrated that tumor necrosis factor- (cid:1) (TNF- (cid:1) ) inhibits myogenic differentiation via the activation of nuclear factor- (cid:2) B (NF- (cid:2) B). The goal of the present study was to determine whether this process depends on the induction of oxidative stress. We demonstrate here that TNF- (cid:1) causes a decrease in reduced glutathione (GSH) during myogenic differentiation of C 2 C 12 cells, which coincides with an elevated generation of reactive oxygen species. Supplementation of cellular GSH with N -acetyl-l-cysteine (NAC) did not reverse the inhibitory effects of TNF- (cid:1) on troponin I promoter activation and only partially restored creatine kinase activity in TNF- (cid:1) -treated cells. In contrast, the administration of NAC before treatment with TNF- (cid:1) almost completely restored the formation of multinucleated myotubes. NAC decreased TNF- (cid:1) -induced activation of NF- (cid:2) B only marginally, indicating that the redox-sensitive component of the inhibition of myogenic differentiation by TNF- (cid:1) occurred independently, or downstream of NF- (cid:2) B. Our observations suggest that the inhibitory effects of TNF- (cid:1) on myogenesis can be uncoupled in a redox-sensitive component affecting myotube formation and a redox independent component affecting myogenic protein expression. cultured in growth medium (GM) consisting of low-glucose DMEM containing antibiotics (50 U/ml penicillin and 50 (cid:3) g/ml streptomycin) and 9% (vol/vol) FBS (all from Life Technologies, Rockville, MD). For experiments, 60-mm dishes (Becton-Dickinson Labware, Bedford, MA) were coated with Matrigel (Becton-Dickinson Labware), which contains collagen IV, laminin, heparin sulfate proteoglycan, and entactin. Plating on Matrigel resulted in enhanced and more consistent differentiation, compared with frequently used protocols that employ 2% horse serum-containing media (unpublished observation). Cells were plated at 10 4 /cm 2 and were cultured in GM for 24 h, allowing them to reach (cid:4) 60% confluency. To induce differentiation, cells were washed in Hank's balanced salt solution and cultured in differentiation media (DM) containing DMEM low glucose, antibiotics, and 0.5% heat-inactivated FBS. To study the effects on differentiation, one single dose of murine TNF- (cid:1) (Calbiochem, La Jolla, CA) was added to the culture dishes directly after induction of differentiation. To study the effects of oxidative stress per se, cells were treated with 20–200 (cid:3) M H 2 O 2 (Sigma), which was added as a bolus directly after induction of differentiation. Cells were examined with an inverted phase-contrast microscope (model CH40; Olympus, Melville, NY) equipped with a camera (Nikon N6000).


Recently, there has been a move towards K-8 schools as opposed to separate elementary and middle schools, especially among urban districts. In this paper, we examine the effect of enrollment in separate elementary and middle schools relative to enrollment in a K-8 school using longitudinal data from an anonymous district in the United States. The choice to enroll in a K-8 or separate elementary and middle schools is potentially endogenous. While previous research has taken steps to address the possible endogeneity when estimating the effects for separate middle schools, previous research has not addressed the possible endogeneity when examining the effect at the elementary level. Without generating an unbiased estimate during the elementary grades, we cannot fully understand the impact of policies that have shifted the grade arrangement of separate elementary and middle schools to K-8 schools. In this paper, we employ a research design that leverages the fact that the anonymous district closed several schools and rezoned their students to other schools with new boundaries. We compare students on the side of the new boundaries who are assigned to a separate middle or elementary school to students on the other side of the new boundaries who are assigned to a K-8 school. When taking into the consideration the effect at the elementary level, our results are much less supportive of a K-8 policy than previous research.


Highly siliceous ZSM-22 was synthesized under hydrothermal conditions with ZSM-22 seeds. Characterization by FT-IR and 1H and 29Si NMR spectroscopy confirms that due to the existence of defective sites in the siliceous ZSM-22, acidic silanol groups including vicinal silanol and silanol nests are detected. Acidic silanol groups are considered as the acid sites of siliceous ZSM-22. As a result, siliceous ZSM-22 shows much lower acid site density and lower acid strength than silica–alumina ZSM-22 which contains hydroxyl groups bridging Si and Al as acid sites. In n-dodecane isomerization, Pt/siliceous ZSM-22 shows much higher isomer selectivity than Pt/silica–alumina ZSM-22. Furthermore, a lower loading amount of Pt on siliceous ZSM-22 (about 0.2 wt% Pt) can lead to high isomer selectivity. Owing to the acidic silanol groups and the low acid site density of siliceous ZSM-22, a good balance between metal and acid function in Pt/siliceous ZSM-22 is achieved, which results in a lower allowable Pt loading value and higher isomer selectivity.


Biomass contributes a significant share of global primary energy consumption and its importance is likely to increase in future world energy scenarios. Current biomass use, although not sustainable in some cases, replaces fossil fuel consumption and results in avoided CO2 emissions, representing about 2.7 to 8.8 % of 1998 anthropogenic CO2 emissions. The global biomass energy potential is large, estimated at about 104 EJ/a. Hence, biomass has the potential to avoid significant fossil fuel consumption, potentially between 17 and 36 % of the current level and CO2 emissions potentially between 12 and 44 % of the 1998 level. Modern biomass energy use can contribute to controlling CO2 emissions to the atmosphere while fostering local and regional development. There is significant scope then to integrate biomass energy with agriculture, forestry and climate change policies. Further the advantages from utilization of biomass include: liquid fuels produced from biomass contain no sulfur, thus avoiding SO2 emissions and also reducing emission of N0x. The production of compost as a soil conditioner avoids deterioration of soil. Improved agronomic practices of well managed biomass plantations will also provide a basis for environmental improvement by helping to stabilize certain soils, avoiding desertification which is already occurring rapidly in tropical countries. The creation of new employment opportunities within the community and particularly in rural areas will be one of the major social benefits. The specific research work carried out in the areas of biomass production and utilization in less fertile areas will provide satisfactory answers to the double challenge of energy crisis and forced deforestation in the country and semi-arid and arid regions of Rajasthan. The possibility of conversion of biomass into liquid fuels and electricity will make it possible to supply part of the increasing demand for primary energy and thus reduce crude petroleum imports which entail heavy expenditure on foreign exchange. The families Euphorbiaceae ( Euphorbia antisyphilitica, E.tithymaloides, E. caducifolia E. royleana E. neerifolia etc. and Ascelpiadaceae ( Calotropis gigantea and C. procera ) which have been worked out in previous years ( Kumar, 2000) will form the basis for further studies.


In recent years, adductor canal block (ACB) has been introduced as an alternative for femoral nerve block with a great advantage of preserving or minimally reducing quadriceps strength. The technique is relatively easy and is performed under ultrasound guidance. Despite growing evidence regarding efficacy and safety of ACB following knee surgery, use of ACB is still limited to high volume orthopedic centers where trained anesthesiologists in regional anesthesia are available. In this editorial, we aim to briefly review current evidence about ACB.


An ONRS is a radar networking system consisting of multiple pulse compression radars with each transmitting a distinct coding signal exclusively from a group of orthogonal coding waveforms and equipped with a bank of parallel matched filters. The fundamental difference between ONRS and traditional netted radar systems is that ONRS is capable of operating as monostatic radars and multistatic radars simultaneously, to maximally increase the number of target echoes and thus to achieve much better radar performance through target information fusion processing. It has been further illustrated that the application of ONRS will not only significantly improve radar performance in target detection, measurement, and recognition, but also greatly enhance radar capabilities in countering anti-radar techniques such as ARM, high-speed highly-maneuvering targets, stealth targets, and electronic countermeasures. The key technologies and challenges for implementing ONRS have been identified as orthogonal coding signal design, interference rejection, overcoming Doppler shift effect, improving search efficiency, and optimizing ONRS configuration. An ONRS can be conveniently constructed from multiple slightly-modified monostatic radars, which renders the real-time formulation of m Ad-Hoc ONRS possible. Because ONRS is structurally compatible with traditional monostatic radar and have the potential to significantly improve radar performance, we expect that ONRS will become one of the most important forms of radar sensor in the near future.


This Second Edition has been expanded to two volumes, the first of which focuses on marine fish. Volume 1 reviews the important diseases of wild, captive, or cultivated fish species, fish immunology, the effects of disease on populations, and public health aspects of fish diseases. Fishery scientists and managers, marine biologists, marine ecologists, and marine aquaculturists will find this volume indispensable. "Principal Diseases of Marine Fish and Shellfish" examines: important diseases of marine fish and shellfish; the effects of disease on wild and cultivated populations of fish and shellfish; How fish and shellfish resist invasion by potential pathogens; the influence of coastal/estuarine pollution on fish and shellfish diseases; and, the public health implications of fish and shellfish diseases.


Abdominal pregnancy is a very rare and serious type of extrauterine gestation that accounts for approximately 0.003% of all ectopic pregnancies. Omental pregnancy, an extremely rare form of abdominal pregnancy, can be primary or secondary to a tubal pregnancy that aborts out of the fimbria and reimplants in the peritoneal cavity. We present an additional case of primary omental pregnancy at 12 gestational weeks presenting with symptoms of hemoperitoneum and acute abdomen.


Fitting of hearing aids with different technical parameters to a patient with dead regions The purpose of the study was to determine an optimal hearing aid fitting procedure for a patient with well diagnosed high-frequency 'dead regions' in both cochleas. The patient reported non-symmetrical hearing problems of sensorineural origin. For binaural amplification two similar independent hearing aids were used as well as a pair of dependent devices with an ear-to-ear function. Two fitting methods were used: DSLi/o and NAL-NL1, and four different strategies of fitting were tested: the initial fitting based on the DSLi/o or NAL-NL1 method with necessary loudness corrections, the second fitting taking into account all the available functions of hearing instruments, the third fitting (based on the second one) but with significantly reduced amplification well above one octave of frequency inside dead region, and the final fitting with significantly reduced gain slightly below one octave inside dead regions. The results of hearing aids fitting were assessed using an APHAB procedure.


The manufacturing industry must have manufacturing systems that deal with the agile response to the appearance and changing conditions.As biological organisms are quite capable of adapting to environmental changes and stimulus, bio-inspired concepts have been recognized much suitable for adaptive manufacturing system control. This paper, therefore, proposes a NeuroEndocrine-Inspired Manufacturing System (NEIMS) using the potential field concept. The proposed NEIMS control architecture is inherited from neuro-control and hormone-regulation principles to agilely deal with the frequent occurrence of unexpected disturbances at the shop floor level. Hormone-regulation can impel system to be equilibrium through a potential field approach. From the cybernetics point of view, the control model of NEIMS has been described in detail. And a test bed has been set up to enable the NEIMS simulation.


This article presents a conceptual history of representation in the political debates of the Polish émigré community in the period 1832–1846/48. As I argue, while the concept was present in the output of all political environments of the Polish Great Emigration, there were more discrepancies than similarities about how to understand it. As a result of debates about what the Polish diaspora in exile actually was and who had the right to represent it, the concept became a part and parcel of political frays. In this way, the right to use it—and consequently to represent the whole Polish community and Polish nation as well—occupied a central place in the evolution of the concept of representation.


Epigenetic alterations, including DNA methylation, histone modifications, and noncoding RNA expression, have been reported to play a major role in the genesis of lung cancer. DNA methylation, histone modifications, and RNA expression are epigenetic markers in assesment of early detection, prognosis and evaluation of treatment of lung cancer. In this rewiev we summarize the common epigenetic changes associated with lung cancer to give some clarity to its etiology, and to provide an overview of the potential translational applications of these changes, including applications for early detection, diagnosis, prognostication, and therapeutics.


AbstractThis paper deals with the solubility of urea in ethanol-water mixtures in mole fractions of ethanol between 0.0901 and 1.000 at temperatures ranging from 278.1 to 333.1K. The investigation of solubility contributes to research in many others fields of study in chemical engineering, since there are several studies where the solubility of urea and its behavior in solution influence the system. The experiment was carried out at constant temperature, stirring for 2 hours and then leaving the solution at rest for 2 hours. After collecting the data, the solubility of urea was calculated based on the gravimetric method. The experimental results obtained were correlated with the temperature of the solvents using three equations based on the literature. The three models demonstrated results in line with the experimental data. It was observed that adding ethanol to the water decreased urea solubility in all cases. The differences between the predicted and the experimental values were on average 4.7%.


Background: Shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) including N95 respirators are an urgent concern in the setting of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Decontamination of PPE could be useful to maintain adequate supplies, but there is uncertainty regarding the efficacy of decontamination technologies. Methods: A modification of the American Society for Testing and Materials standard quantitative carrier disk test method (ASTM E-2197-11) was used to examine the effectiveness of 3 methods, including ultraviolet-C (UV-C) light, a high-level disinfection cabinet that generates aerosolized peracetic acid and hydrogen peroxide, and dry heat at 70°C for 30 minutes. We assessed the decontamination of 3 commercial N95 respirators inoculated with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and bacteriophages MS2 and Phi6; the latter is an enveloped RNA virus used as a surrogate for coronaviruses. Three and 6 log10 reductions on respirators were considered effective for decontamination and disinfection, respectively. Results: UV-C administered as a 1-minute cycle in a UV-C box or a 30-minute cycle by a room decontamination device reduced contamination but did not meet criteria for decontamination of the viruses from all sites on the N95s. The high-level disinfection cabinet was effective for decontamination of the N95s and achieved disinfection with an extended 31-minute cycle. Dry heat at 70°C for 30 minutes was not effective for decontamination of the bacteriophages. Conclusions: UV-C could be useful to reduce contamination on N95 respirators. However, the UV-C technologies studied did not meet pre-established criteria for decontamination under the test conditions used. The high-level disinfection cabinet was more effective and met criteria for disinfection with an extended cycle.


Increased empathy and direct contact with users can provide a valuable resource for designers, who often design products for use outside their own experience. Learning design students to research, improve and incorporate empathic and emotional insights in their designs will give them the competitive edge that is necessary to place a 'rich' and viable product on the market. This statement is especially true for products that have a strong emotional impact on their users and observing bystanders.

This paper reports the results of a User Experience Design project, in which 65 third grade bachelor students Product Development at the Artesis University College of Antwerp participated.
During a 6-week project, students were challenged to develop a pleasurable dust mask, accompanying negative connotations had to be eliminated while motivational aspects had to be incorporated. The participating students worked out their individual concepts in a group process and were assigned to four specific target groups (personas): bike couriers, yourself within 40 years, children ages 3 to 7 and children aged 8 tot 13. Apart from the course structure and the associated teaching methods, the paper emphasizes the ways in which we tried to increase students' emotional awareness and empathy towards this potentially stigmatizing product and the total user experience of its wearer. The empathy enhancing activities were strategically incorporated in the course structure and enriched the design process on three occasions. Preceding the actual project, students were challenged by an immersive experiment in which they had to wear dust masks each time they went outdoors. The reactions of bystanders as well as their own practical and emotional experiences had to be visually reported. Three weeks in the project, direct contact with target users was established during a co-creation session with members of each of the 4 target groups. Concluding the project, recommendations for further development were gathered by confronting target users with the final propositions that were uniformly presented on storyboard concept cards. The use of these concept cards forced students to present their ideas in a clear and convincing manner, emphasizing on the main topics and user experience aspects of their designs. The empathy enhancing activities proved their value in the confrontations of our young designers with their own assumptions, which often were against the expectations of the target users. The overall set-up of the design exercise, the empathy enhancing activities together with the implementation of a qualitative and quantitative research phase, proved that students master both creative and research skills.


With the new advents of technology and the availability of microprocessors and minicomputers, parallel and distributed processing is gaining widespread acceptability. In such systems resources are shared among a number of processes. Accesses to the resources must be synchronized in order to guarantee proper operation of a system. In this research work, a measure, called maximal compatibility, is developed to measure the degree of concurrency (parallelism) a synchronization policy achieves. A set of accesses is considered compatible if it only contains accesses that are permitted to occur simultaneously. A policy is maximally compatible if it allows every compatible set of accesses to occur simultaneously and if the maximum number of requests is always satisfied without allowing incompatible accesses to occur simultaneously.


Cell migration is a key biological process with a role in both physiological and pathological conditions. Locomotion of cells during embryonic development is essential for their correct positioning in the organism; immune cells have to migrate and circulate in response to injury. Failure of cells to migrate or an inappropriate acquisition of migratory capacities can result in severe defects such as altered pigmentation, skull and limb abnormalities during development, and defective wound repair, immunosuppression or tumor dissemination. The ability to accurately analyze and quantify cell migration is important for our understanding of development, homeostasis and disease. In vitro cell tracking experiments, using primary or established cell cultures, are often used to study migration as cells can quickly and easily be genetically or chemically manipulated. Images of the cells are acquired at regular time intervals over several hours using microscopes equipped with CCD camera. The locations (x,y,t) of each cell on the recorded sequence of frames then need to be tracked. Manual computer-assisted tracking is the traditional method for analyzing the migratory behavior of cells. However, this processing is extremely tedious and time-consuming. Most existing tracking algorithms require experience in programming languages that are unfamiliar to most biologists. We therefore developed an automated cell tracking program, written in Java, which uses a mean-shift algorithm and ImageJ as a library. iTrack4U is a user-friendly software. Compared to manual tracking, it saves considerable amount of time to generate and analyze the variables characterizing cell migration, since they are automatically computed with iTrack4U. Another major interest of iTrack4U is the standardization and the lack of inter-experimenter differences. Finally, iTrack4U is adapted for phase contrast and fluorescent cells.


In this study, the relationship between emotional indomitableness and empathic skills of secondary school students and empathic skills according to some demographic variables of emotional indomitableness and lower dimensions of sensitivity, improvement and deterioration and empathic skills are intended to be examined. This study was conducted on 295 secondary school students, including 159 girls and 136 male students. How much the individual can control himself internally in the face of any event or situation that is difficult and disturbing his or her emotional balance, and the reasonable level of external reactions, shows the power of the individual's emotional indemnifying. In addition, the ability to express an individual's emotions correctly, to control emotions and to manage their emotions is very important for positive mental health, social harmony and personal harmony. Empathic skill is the ability of the individual to evaluate events and situations from someone else's point of view. As classically this term means the ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes. And that is important to be adopted among the students. Do secondary school students show a significant difference according to gender, age, class, income, number of siblings, number of children in the family, mother's education level and father's education level? In addition, one-way variance analysis (ANOVA), correlation and independent sample t test were performed for the analysis of this study. The sensitivity sub-dimension and empathic skills of secondary school students from the emotional indestructibility subdimensions; it was found to differ significantly according to gender. In this sense, it was found that the lower dimension of emotional indomitableness was higher than the sensitivity sub-dimension and empathic skills of the female students.


In this paper, the authors consider issues relating to hearing interpreter teams, and deaf-hearing interpreter teams. A small-scale investigation of team interpreting in Ireland was conducted, considering where interpreters are working throughout Ireland and in what settings they are operating as a team. An anonymous survey was circulated to the interpreters of Ireland. From this it was observed that hearing interpreters tend to be the lead parties in organising interpreter teams. Furthermore it is interesting to note that Deaf Interpreters (referred to as DIs) report rarely working as part of a team. There is very little guidance for DIs, which further disadvantages them, as they cannot then easily advocate for their own position in the Irish context. The authors concluded by stating the need for guidance policies and/or toolkits surrounding how to decide who should be on an interpreter team. This would be beneficial for all interpreters, interpreting agencies and any organisation looking to book interpreters, whether they be public bodies or private sector.


This research aims to determine the improvement in students' learning outcomes through the application of the demonstration method in the subject of Islamic Religious Education, specifically the topic of Funeral Prayer (Shalat Jenazah), in class XI Science at Muhammadiyah 2 Wuluhan High School. The research method used in this study is Classroom Action Research (CAR). The research was conducted from May 10, 2023, to May 25, 2023, in class XI Science at Muhammadiyah 2 Wuluhan High School. Data collection method was a test, and the instrument used was a student test sheet. Based on the research results obtained, student engagement increased during the implementation of the demonstration method. Specifically, the percentage of learning achievement in Cycle I was 77%, and in Cycle II, it increased to 85%. The conclusion drawn from this research is that teaching the demonstration method for the Funeral Prayer material showed that the application of the demonstration learning method led to an increase in students' learning outcomes, with a percentage increase in the pre-cycle, Cycle I, and Cycle II in each meeting, successfully meeting the completion criteria.


In 61 cases of suspected placenta praevia, plain roentgenograms were made according to gravitational methods advocated by Reid and Hodge. In 47 cases such roentgenograms alone correctly excluded the diagnosis of placenta praevia. Among the other 14, the roentgenographic findings indicated either a major or a minor degree of placenta praevia. In all but one of them, a sterile vaginal examination was carried out by the obstetrician in the operating room, with all personnel and equipment ready for immediate cesarean section if necessary. The combined roentgenologic and obstetrical procedure led to accurate and appropriate management in every instance. The combined approach requires no special equipment or injection procedure. The minimal exposure to ionizing radiation is considered to be justified because of the great immediate danger to both mother and fetus in placenta praevia.


Humanity has long been fascinated by the mysteries of bird and insect flight, but only recently have we developed the technologies required to understand the complex mechanisms at work. These mechanisms range from molecular interactions to the interactions between whole organisms, encompassing a great number of mechanical and energetic processes. Research into animal flight has made great progress over the past half-century thanks to developments in technology and methodology, allowing for greater insights into the metabolic, mechanical and aerodynamic processes central to animal flight. Currently, there is a good understanding of several of these components but the topic of animal flight has been explored with a rather piecemeal approach and a more integrative understanding of the mechanics and energetics of animal flight is required. The research presented in this thesis aims to bridge our understanding of the often separately analysed mechanical and energetic aspects of animal flight and address key gaps in the existing knowledge.
Many volant bird species exhibit asymmetrical wingbeat cycles such that the flight muscles spend relatively more time shortening than lengthening. Through the simultaneous determination of mechanical work generation and energy consumption in the mouse soleus during in vitro contraction cycles with asymmetrical length trajectories, we reveal that mechanical power production can be increased by increasing the proportion of the cycle spent shortening without sacrificing net muscle efficiency. These experiments also served to validate a methodology for estimating the net muscle efficiency of the avian pectoralis muscle.
The following experiments determined the mechanical power generation, muscular costs of contraction and muscle efficiency of the budgerigar pectoralis during a range of simulated flight speeds. The efficiency of avian flight muscle was previously unknown and unsubstantiated values had been used in common predictive models of flight energetics. It was found that avian flight muscle efficiency is approximately 21% during the downstroke and remains constant with flight speed, with muscular energy consumption and power generation sharing characteristics with whole-animal metabolic and mechanical power-speed relationships. The consequences of these findings for the estimation of energetic flight costs are discussed.
While respirometry serves as the gold standard for measuring metabolic expenditure during activity, accelerometry affords the potential for estimating the energetic costs of flight in birds in the field. However, there has been no calibration of the relationship between body acceleration and energy expenditure. By measuring energy consumption via respirometry and dynamic body acceleration in masked lovebirds during wind tunnel flights at a range of speeds, we determine the metabolic requirements of flight for a new avian species and validate the use of accelerometry for estimating energy expenditure and flight kinematics.
Finally, we examined the previously unexplored relationship between myoplasmic calcium ion concentration, contraction frequency, mechanical power and myofibrillar efficiency in asynchronous insect flight muscles. There is increasing evidence to suggest that calcium plays an important role in the modulation of mechanical power during flight in insects with asynchronous flight muscles. By simultaneously measuring mechanical power generation and ATPase activity of flight muscles from giant waterbugs (Lethocerus), we reveal a positively shifting relationship between increasing calcium concentrations and optimal frequency for generating power, but with no evidence of a shift in optimal frequency for muscle efficiency.
This research demonstrates scientific impact by improving our understanding of the factors that affect muscle efficiency, refining the models used to predict wild animal metabolism during flight, developing and validating existing experimental techniques for determining the costs of flight, and improving our understanding of how both mechanical and physiological factors can affect the mechanical and energetic performance of bird and insect flight muscles.


Severe emphysema developed in a white woman with a 26-pack-year history of tobacco use. Serum alpha(1)-antitrypsin levels were normal. A history of autoimmune hemolytic anemia, angioedema, low complement, and recurrent urticaria prompted an immunologic workup that ultimately led to a diagnosis of hypocomplementemic urticarial vasculitis syndrome. Treatment with oral prednisone and inhaled bronchodilators improved symptoms, but 4 months after diagnosis non-small cell lung cancer was discovered and she ultimately died. Hypocomplementemic urticarial vasculitis is an uncommon cause of precocious emphysema and has not previously been reported in a patient with bronchogenic carcinoma.


In the preceding pages we have presented evidence which we believe furnishes new light on the disease process in avian tuberculosis. From a well known strain of avian tubercle bacillus, A1, four variants have been dissociated, each manifesting distinct colony topography and physical and chemical characteristics. From these studies we have learned that the variants are sometimes unstable, not only in vitro but also in vivo, and that this characteristic is one of the prominent factors influencing both the advancement and retrogression of the disease. The four variants remain fairly stable in vitro provided they are cultivated on proper culture media. About 80 per cent smooth S and flat smooth F.S. colonies will develop true to type on egg media; and rough R and the chromogenic Ch when cultivated on gycerine agar media, in about the same percentage. An early non-specific eosinophilia followed inoculation, no matter which variant was used. This usually subsided by the 18th hour. The early stages of tubercle formation produced by all the variants appeared similar. First there appeared an aggregation of eosinophiles and their ingested bacilli within the tissues and then followed replacement by large mononuclear cells which wandered in and phagocyted both eosinophiles and bacilli. After the formation of tubercles composed only of large mononuclear cells, certain differences between the virulent and avirulent variants became apparent. There was also a direct relationship between the dosage and the extent of the disease. In our experience from 0.16 to 0.25 mg. gave the most uniform results. If S variant was used, the early non-specific eosinophilia was followed by a second rise which continued to ascend, running parallel with the total leucocyte count. There was a slow increase of monocytes and a corresponding decrease of lymphocytes. The microscopic lesions, 2 weeks after inoculation, were composed of irregularly shaped clumps of necrosing large mononuclear cells. The margins were clear-cut and bordered by few or no lymphocytic cells. By the 3rd and 4th weeks eosinophiles began to migrate into the centers of the tubercles and abscess formation became evident. Death usually occurred after 5 or 6 weeks, although this varied with the dosage. The appearance of the lesions suggested an acute "toxic" nature, as manifested (1) by marked enlargement of the spleen and liver, (2) by the short fatal course of the disease, which never became very extensive, (3) by the presence of few organisms within the tubercles, (4) by destruction of reticulum and (5) by the marked response of the blood leucocytes. After inoculation with F.S. variant the early non-specific eosinophilia disappeared, returning again at the terminal stage, 5 to 6 weeks later. The number of eosinophiles then ascended sharply, accompanied by a marked leucocytosis which continued until death. During this eosinophilia a monocytosis occurred and lymphocytes fell away rapidly. During the 2nd week, clumps of closely packed large mononuclear cells containing masses of phagocyted bacilli were seen. In the 3rd and 4th weeks there appeared a prominent peripheral zone of hyalin, collagenous-like material associated with an increased reticulum formation which apparently walled off the lesion. The bacilli within the tubercle multiplied rapidly, it seemed as though they were more resistant to destruction than the S organisms, perhaps due to their higher lipin content. As a result of their rapid increase, progression of the tubercle continued, with necrosis and abscess formation, accompanied by the dissemination of the organisms both locally and distantly to new uninvolved tissue. Wide extension of the disease followed due to the increase in numbers of bacilli, terminating with death usually during the 5th and 6th weeks. The manifestations of "toxin" damage shown in S disease were not so marked until the approach of the end-stage. We interpret the type of lesion produced by the F.S. variant as a foreign body tubercle to distinguish it from the acute "toxic" nature of the S. A quantitative chemical determination showed that this organism contained 20.14 per cent lipin whereas in the S variant it was only 15.03 per cent. Following inoculation with R variant the initial eosinophilia returned to normal within 24 hours. There was then an increase of both lymphocytes and monocytes, the latter exceeding the former for a time. Later, usually after the 2nd month, the lymphocytes again became predominant over the monocytes, approaching the normal base line. Eosinophiles failed to react. This blood picture indicated a successful resistance against the infecting organisms, and was supported by the pathological findings. None of the chickens of this group died during the period of study (79 days) although infecting doses of 0.25 mg. were used. Necropsies on four chickens revealed no macroscopic evidence of disease approximately 11 weeks after inoculation. Microscopic lesions were present in the spleen and liver of some cases. In chickens inoculated 11 weeks previously these tubercles consisted only of very small, discrete clumps of degenerating mononuclear cells often surrounded by a border of lymphocytes. Necrosis, abscess formation or caseation was not found. Their small size and appearance was evidence of their retrogressive character. Isolated giant cells were rarely seen. It was impossible to find bacilli within these tubercles. In one instance it was possible to show complete innocuousness of this organism in the tissues, as far as producing recognizable tuberculous lesions. Reticulum played little part in the development of the lesion and it was neither increased or destroyed. Following inoculation with the chromogenic Ch variant the initial eosinophilia declined by the 24th or 42nd hour count and from then on remained low. The lymphocytes showed little decrease. A prominent monocytosis of prolonged character usually occurred during the 3rd to 6th weeks and was then displaced by a return of the lymphocytes. By the end of the period of observation the differential count had closely approached the normal values. Again the blood picture was truly representative of the relatively benign character of the lesions. The tubercle formation, even after 93 days' duration of the disease, remained limited to small clumps of two or three large mononuclear cells showing some degeneration. Lymphocytic cells were usually present within and about the lesion. There was never any evidence of abscess formation or actual necrosis. Bacilli could not be found within these tubercles. The reticulum in relation to the lesion showed neither increase nor destruction. None of the chickens died though a dose of 0.5 mg. was used. In three chickens infected with S variant, the blood picture did not follow the pattern set by the others similarly inoculated. Either a high monocytosis replaced the usual eosinophilia, or there was a marked recession of the total leucocyte count followed by a return of lymphocytes towards normal percentage. The blood picture indicated the conversion of an acute process into a subacute or chronic affair. These chickens survived for 78, 79 and 110 days, respectively. An explanation for this occurred to us later when cultures recovered from them, instead of consisting of S colonies, showed the topography of the intermediate type, closely resembling the F.S. type. Evidently this was due to a reversion; i.e., a loss of virulence of the organism occurring within the animal body. At necropsy the spleen and liver were somewhat enlarged and contained prominent, discrete yellow nodules resembling small shot in their size and shape, which, in one case could be lifted from the tissue by the point of the knife. Microscopically, they possessed small centers of caseation surrounded by numerous giant cells and large mononuclear cells with a thick border of lymphocytic cells. This tubercle formation could not be classified in any special group as it was too sharply circumscribed and walled off by lymphocytic cells to be considered as truly malignant in nature as the S type of lesion. Even the younger tubercles in these cases, which consisted of clumped epithelioid cells with prominent lymphocytic cell borders, could not be called acute or "toxic" in character. At present we make only limited deductions from our observations. In the bacterial dissociation phenomenon we have at least a new line of investigation, and different variants of tubercle bacilli must be taken into consideration when planning new tuberculosis studies. With the stabilization of the human type variants, experiments such as reported here may bring about the proper clinical interpretation, of the course of human tuberculosis.


This paper presents a photo realistic visual speech synthesis method based on an audio visual articulatory dynamic Bayesian network model (AF_AVDBN) in which the maximum asynchronies between the articulatory features, such as lips, tongue and glottis/velum, can be controlled. Perceptual linear prediction (PLP) features from the audio speech and active appearance model (AAM) features from mouth images of the visual speech are adopted to train the AF_AVDBN model for continuous speech. An EM-based optimal visual feature learning algorithm is deduced given the input auditory speech and the trained AF_AVDBN parameters. Finally, photo realistic mouth images are synthesized from the learned AAM features. In the experiments, mouth animations are synthesized for 30 connected digit audio speech sentences. Objective evaluation results show that the learned visual features using AF_AVDBN track the real parameters much more closely than those from the audio visual state synchronous DBN model (SS_DBN, the DBN implementation of multi-stream Hidden Markov Model), as well the state asynchronous DBN model (SA_DBN). Subjective evaluation results show that by considering the asynchronies between articulatory features in the AF_AVDBN (as well between audio and visual states in the SA_DBN), the synchronization between the audio speech and mouth animations are well obtained. Moreover, since AF_AVDBN captures the dynamic movements of articulatory features and model the pronunciation process more precisely, the accuracy of the mouth animations from the AF_AVDBN is much higher than those from the SA_DBN and the SS_DBN models, very accurate, clear, and natural mouth animations can be obtained through the AF_AVDBN model and AAM features.


Abstract Complete T cell activation requires not only a first signal via TCR/CD3 engagement but also a costimulatory signal through accessory receptors such as CD2, CD28, or integrins. Focal adhesion kinase, pp125FAK(FAK), was previously shown to be localized in focal adhesions in fibroblasts and to be involved in integrin-mediated cellular activation. Although signaling through β1- or β3-integrins induces tyrosine phosphorylation of FAK, there has been no evidence that activation of T cells through the β2-integrin, LFA-1, involves FAK. We report here that crosslinking of LFA-1 induces tyrosine phosphorylation of FAK in PHA-activated T cells. Moreover, cocrosslinking with anti-LFA-1 mAb and suboptimal concentration of anti-CD3 mAb markedly increases tyrosine phosphorylation of FAK in an antibody-concentration-dependent and time-kinetics-dependent manner compared with stimulation through CD3 alone, which correlates well with enhanced proliferation of PHA-activated T cells. Furthermore, LFA-1β costimulation with CD3 induces tyrosine phosphorylation ofSykassociated with FAK. These results indicate, for the first time, that signals mediated by LFA-1 can regulate FAK, suggesting that LFA-1-mediated T cell costimulation may be involved in T cell activation at least partially through FAK.


Mutations that conferred sensitivity to the pyrophosphate analog phosphonoacetic acid in bacteriophage T4 DNA polymerase were identified. The mutations were loosely clustered in four regions of the gene. As found for herpes simplex virus DNA polymerase, T4 mutations that altered sensitivity to phosphonoacetic acid also altered sensitivity to nucleotide analogs. Some of the T4 DNA polymerase mutations also altered the ability of the enzyme to translocate from one template position to the next and affected DNA replication fidelity. Kornberg (A. Kornberg, Science 163:1410-1418, 1969) envisioned a DNA polymerase active center which accommodates primer terminus and template DNAs and the incoming nucleotide. Some mutations identified on the basis of sensitivity to phosphonoacetic acid may be part of such an active center because single amino acid substitutions simultaneously alter several DNA polymerase functions.


Cooling vests incorporated with phase change materials (PCMs) add extra insulation and restrict sweat evaporation. It is still unclear how much cooling benefit they can provide. The aim of this study was to investigate the torso cooling of the PCM vests in two hot environments: hot humid (HH, 34°C, 75% relative humidity (RH)) and hot dry (HD, 34°C, 37% RH). A pre-wetted torso fabric skin was used to simulate torso sweating on a thermal manikin. Three cooling vests incorporated with three melting temperatures (Tm) of PCMs were tested (Tm = 21°C, Tm = 24°C and Tm = 28°C). They were worn under a military ensemble (total thermal insulation 1.60 clo; evaporative resistance 0.0516 kPaċm2/W), respectively. In a HH environment all the three cooling vests provided effective torso cooling; in a HD environment the cooling benefit was negative. In both environmental conditions, the evaporative cooling was greatly restricted by the cooling vests. The study indicated that when wearing the protective clothing with the relatively low evaporative resistance and when sweat production was high, the cooling vests were effective in a HH environment, but not in a HD environment.


While a lot of technical data is available on the Web, conveying information about detailed procedures for the assembly and repair of complex machinery has so far been limited mostly to 2D drawings and textual content. In this paper we describe the technology behind our 3D Wiki, a system meant to address this problem. By blending the functionality of virtual worlds (3D visualization and navigation) with the benefits of social software (editability, traceability, and hyperlinking), the 3D Wiki can help users tasked with the remote maintenance and repair of technical equipment. Our environment provides a kind of "living technical manual", seamlessly blending spatial and textual content.


Comparatively little has been done concerning the listing or recording of the Amphibia and Reptilia of Ellis County, Kansas. What records there are of the species are for the most part unpublished. Early papers dealing with Kansas herpetology are few in number. Little has been done in Ellis and the surrounding counties, so there seems to be a need for such an ecological study as has been carried out in this paper "Notes on the Distribution of Amphibia and Reptilia of Ellis County, Kansas . \ The objectives kept in mind in preparing this report have been to attempt to show what kinds (species) of amphibians and reptiles are present within this area; the habitat distribution of each species; and the numbers of each species per habitat; and the relation of species to habitats.


Detection and Recognition of the surface roughness in the images is a topic which has received a lot of attention in the field of image processing. In this paper, a new non-contact measurement method of surface roughness, by texture analysis, is developed based on Charge Coupled Device (CCD) image in planning operations. The surface image of the workpiece is first acquired using the A102f CCD digital camera. The image captured will be converted to others kinds of images (Binary, and Gray scale) to be suitable for the detection algorithms used for the different types of surface. The main Image processing approaches is used such as Smoothing process, Noise reduction, Edge detection, Region Splitting, and Hough Transform etc. The predicted surface finish values using this measurement method are found to correlate well with the conventional stylus surface finish ( Ra ) values.


Purpose Intravesical protrusion of the prostate (IPP) can affect voiding. We evaluated the improvement in lower urinary tract symptoms and patient satisfaction after laser prostate photovaporization in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) patients with or without IPP. Materials and Methods This prospective study included 134 patients who underwent GreenLight HPS laser photoselective vaporization prostatectomy (PVP) between January 2010 and July 2011 patient. Preoperative IPP was evaluated by using the retroflexed view from flexible cystoscopy. evaluation included complete medical history, International Prostate Symptom Scores (IPSS), maximum flow rate (Qmax), postvoid residual (PVR), serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA), and transrectal ultrasonogram. Changes from baseline in Qmax, PVR, total IPSS, and IPSS subscores (voiding and storage) were analyzed at postoperative months 1, 3, and 6. Results The patients' mean age was 66.6±7.8 years. Mean serum PSA and prostate volume were 1.7±1.5 ng/mL and 42.9±16.7 g, respectively. No significant differences existed between the IPP and no IPP groups in preoperative prostate volume, total IPSS, PSA, or lasing time and energy. The mean follow-up duration was 6.2±1.9 months. IPP patients showed significant improvements in total IPSS and voiding subscores at months 1 and 3. Improvements in the quality of life score and storage subscore were not significantly different between the groups. Qmax was significantly improved at 6 months postoperatively in the IPP group versus the no IPP group. Conclusions Among patients who underwent PVP for BPH, the IPP group showed more symptom improvement, especially in voiding symptoms, than did the no IPP group. Preoperative cystoscopy is helpful for evaluating IPP and for anticipating postoperative outcome.


Four surveys (Jun'06 and Nov'06; Feb'07 and May'07) were carried out on the northeastern shelf of the Gulf of Cadiz (southwest Iberian Peninsula) to relate the spatio-temporal distribution of the carbon cycle parameters (dissolved inorganic carbon and dissolved organic carbon) to picophytoplankton biomass and community composition. In addition, the net ecosystem production and the picophytoplankton contribution to the air-sea CO 2 exchange process were investigated. The results showed that chlorophyll -a , carbon cycle parameters and picophytoplankton composition showed large seasonality, and the Guadalquivir Estuary plays an important role in the contribution of nutrient and suspended particular material over the year. Regarding picophytoplankton composition, the flow cytometry analysis demonstrated that Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus were the main populations in the studied area and their temporal and spatial distributions were complementary: the Prochlorococcus population showed its maximum concentration in May'07 and Jun'06 and in the surface oceanic water, whereas the Synechococcus population was at its maximum during Feb'07 and Nov'06, and off the Guadalquivir Estuary and Bay of Cadiz. In addition, a relationship between the studied parameters and the fugacity of CO 2 was also observed, suggesting that primary production is an important factor in the regulation of this parameter in the studied area. The calculated carbon budget showed that the area acts as a carbon sink on an annual basis.


We have previously used molecular modeling and normal-mode analyses combined with experimental data to visualize a plausible model of a transmembrane ligand-gated ion channel. We also postulated how the gating motion of the channel may be affected by the presence of various ligands, especially anesthetics. As is typical for normal-mode analyses, those studies were performed in vacuo to reduce the computational complexity of the problem. While such calculations constitute an efficient way to model the large scale structural flexibility of transmembrane proteins, they can be criticized for neglecting the effects of an explicit phospholipid bilayer or hydrated environment. Here, we show the successful calculation of normal-mode motions for our model of a glycine α-1 receptor, now suspended in a fully hydrated lipid bilayer. Despite the almost uniform atomic density, the introduction of water and lipid does not grossly distort the overall gating motion. Normal-mode analysis revealed that even a fully immersed glycine α-1 receptor continues to demonstrate an iris-like channel gating motion as a low-frequency, high-amplitude natural harmonic vibration consistent with channel gating. Furthermore, the introduction of periodic boundary conditions allows the examination of simultaneous harmonic vibrations of lipid in synchrony with the protein gating motions that are compatible with reasonable lipid bilayer perturbations. While these perturbations tend to influence the overall protein motion, this work provides continued support for the iris-like motion model that characterizes gating within the family of ligand-gated ion channels.


Soil erosion and sedimentation in watersheds are usually part of the information to be considered for soil and water conservation measures. Soil loss is generally estimated with models or measured with plot studies. Although fallout radionuclides (FRN) # methodology provides a powerful technique for predicting the impacts of proposed land management strategies on soil erosion and sediment yield within river basins and estimates erosion based on fallout radioisotopes (Cs-137, Pb-210, Be-7) radioactivity, it is rarely used in Turkey. The aim of this study was to determine soil losses from different land use types with FRN's methodology by using caesium-137 radionuclide in selected study sites around Pasakoy (shrub) and Esenceli (rangeland) villages in the environs of Omerli watershed. Bulk and 2 cm-depth incremental soil core samples were collected from the reference and sloping areas in both study sites. Soil losses varied from 0.49 to 23.22 t ha -1 yr -1 for shrub-covered sites and from 0.44 to 7.23 t ha -1 yr -1 for rangelands. The data show that soil loss from shrub-covered site was greater than acceptable tolerance limit (10 t ha -1 yr -1 ) for soils of the sites.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate whether intensive statin therapy in a managed-care setting produces greater clinical benefit than more moderate statin use.

METHODS
Adults hospitalized for a coronary heart disease (CHD) event were identified from a longitudinal database of pharmaceutical and medical claims. Propensity scores representing a patient's likelihood of receiving statin therapy were calculated. Statin-treated patients were those who received statin therapy within 30 days of hospital discharge after a CHD event, had been supplied with statin therapy for at least 10 days during the follow-up period, and received statin therapy for at least 10 days before the first recurrent CHD event. Standard or intensive statin therapy was identified according to low-density lipoprotein cholesterol reductions expected with statin dose. Patients in the standard and intensive groups were matched by propensity scores to patients not receiving statin therapy after discharge. Patients in the standard statin therapy group were also matched to patients who received intensive statin therapy. Mortality rates after hospital discharge were compared in all matched groups.

RESULTS
Patients treated with standard therapy experienced a 32% reduction in risk of death compared with patients not receiving statin therapy (P = 0.003). Patients who received intensive statin therapy after a CHD event experienced a 42% reduction in risk of mortality (P = 0.002) versus those not receiving statin therapy. Compared with standard therapy, intensive statin treatment further reduced the risk of death by 29% (P = 0.020).

CONCLUSIONS
High risk CHD patients benefit from intensive statin therapy in a real-world, managed-care cohort, confirming the results of randomized clinical trials.


Ovarian cycle in albino rats was applied to ascertain the problem of the relationship between the salivary and endocrine glands, and also of the extent of participation of individual components of the salivary glands with different functional orientation in the endocrine regulation of individual components of the salivary glands. The content of protein, mucopolysaccharides, DNA, and RNA, the activity of NAD- and NADP-diaphorase, alkaline phosphatase, malate and isocitrate dehydrogenase, alpha-leucine-aminopeptidase was studied. Cytospectrophotometric analysis showed that synchronous changes in the activity of the enzymes under study occurred in all the portions of the salivary glands, depending on the ovarian cycle phases. Of the four successive phases of the cycle the greatest activity of the enzymes and of the protein and mucopolysaccharide content was noted during the proestrus and metaestrus. Different metabolic processes were observed in the salivary ducts in comparison with other parts of the gland; this was apparently connected with peculiarities of the secretion and hormone production.


Grazing by livestock has a great influence on soil characteristics with major effects on soil carbon and nitrogen cycling in grazing lands. Grazing practices affect soil properties in different ways depending on the prescribed stocking rate and grazing periods. The new grazing system of short, intensive grazing followed by a long period of rest, referred to as time-controlled grazing (TC grazing), has become popular among many graziers in Australia and elsewhere. However, little research has been carried out on the impacts of this grazing system on the physical and chemical health of the soil. To address this issue, a comprehensive field study was carried out on a sheep-grazing property in the south-eastern region of Queensland, Australia, where the 2 grazing systems of continuous and TC grazing were compared. Results over the period 2001–2006 showed an increase in soil organic carbon and nitrogen in the areas with favourable soil condition compared with continuous grazing. There was also an increase in ground-litter accumulation over time and no compaction in TC grazing. Nitrate and extractable P concentrations were reduced by increased grass growth under TC grazing, which in turn decreased the contamination potential for downstream water bodies. This reduction was much more pronounced on a historical sheep aggregation camp, where a large amount of faecal material had been deposited prior to conversion to TC grazing. The smaller size of the paddocks, along with the long rest period provided by TC grazing in this area, are recognised to be the major contributors to both physical and chemical recovery of the soil after each grazing operation.


The whitefly, Bemisia tabaci from Homoptera order, has been a problem in chili cultivation for years. Insecticides have been and will likely remain the best alternative that can be used to solve whitefly infestation problem .The study was conducted to determine the efficacy of several insecticides against whitefly on chili plant (Capsicum annuum) from 'Kulai' 0630 cultivation in Malaysia. All management procedures are conducted as usual to imitate commercial plantation. The insecticides used in this study are Imidacloprid (Confidor 200SL) and Dinotefuran (Oshin 20WP). The effectiveness of each insecticide used being evaluated in term of the number of pest present on the crop plant before and after the application of insecticide. This experiment is conducted by using randomized completely block design (RCBD) with 3 treatments and 4 blocks/replications for each treatment amounting to 12 plot altogether. Each plot will be provided with 10 experimental units. Therefore, the total numbers of experimental units are 120 plants. From each sampling, only five leaves are taken from the middle level randomly, and there will be 600 ample from 10 times sampling. Sampling are done on the day prior the treatment, the day after treatment, then on day 3, 7 and 14 after treatment. Treatment are done twice, on day 75 after sowing and day 90 after sowing. The treatments used untreated water as a control. The control plot shown a linear reduction in the whitefly population mean from 5.5 to 2.5 for the first treatment. In plot treated with Imidac1oprid, the population mean of insect pest drop from 6.75 to 3 in the first day, and remain the same (1.75) for the three consecutive data collection day. Plot treated with Dinotefuran show a reduction from 5.75 before treatment to 3.75 on the first day and continue to drop in the third day to only 1.5. However from day 7 it start to rise back to 2.25 and 2.75 on the last day. In the second application, the mean number of insect pest also recorded to drop after treatment. In the control plot, insect population mean drop from 3 to 2.5 after treatment, continue to drop to 2.25 on the third day but rise up in the seventh day to 2.75, and 3 on the last day. A nearly same pattern is observed plot treated with Dinotefuran, drop down from 2.75 to 2 after treatment, and continue to drop to 1.5 in the third day and rise up to 1.75 on seventh day, thus remain the same till the end of the experiment. Imidac10prid had cause the insect population to decrease after treatment, from 2.25 to 1.25, however its number remain the same and only rise up again on the last day of the data collection to 1.5. The result obtained from this experiment had proved that chemical treatment can be used to control the population of insect pest, Bemisia tabaci as there is a reduction in the population of insect pest in the treated plot. Imidac10prid showed that it is more significant than Dinotefuran in controlling the population number of whitefly on chilly crop, provided the application must not be continuous. It have to be alternated with other pesticides with different mode of action, or else the whitefly may built resistant toward Imidac1oprid. Dinotefuran in the other hand are able to control the pest population in long term, however, as chilly usually grown as annual crop, Dinotefuran are not affective enough to control the pest population in limited time interval.


This paper presents an innovative design and fabrication workflow for a lightweight composite slab prototype that combines mineral foam 3D printing (F3DP) and concrete casting. Non-standardized concrete elements that are geometrically optimized for resource efficiency often result in complex shapes that are difficult to manufacture. This paper extends the research in earlier studies, showing that F3DP can address this challenge. F3DP is used to construct 24 stay-in-place formwork elements for a lightweight, resource-efficient ribbed concrete element with a 2 × 1.3 m footprint. This advancement highlights the improved robotic F3DP setup, computational design techniques for geometry and print path generation, and strategies to achieve near-net-shape fabrication. The resulting prototype shows how complex geometries that were previously cost-prohibitive can be produced efficiently. Discussing the findings, challenges, and future improvements offers useful perspectives and supports the development of this resourceful and sustainable construction technique.


Livestock business, ruminant in particular, has been growing rapidly with the increased demand of high quality food ingredient, such as meat and dairy products. However, digestion process in ruminants is relatively more complicated compare to other animals. Carbohydrate is the main energy source and fat as the alternate, both from vegetable and animal's fat. This study aimed to determine the effect of protected Indian sardine fish oil, palm oil, and palm kernel cake consumption on digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, and crude protein by rumen fluid of fistulae Ongole breed cattle. Latin square experiment design was applied on 3 treatments. Fermented rice straw (FRS), basal concentrate (BC), and protected materials of Indian sardine oil (ISO), palm oil (PO), and palm kernel cake (PKC) were used as feed ingredient. Treatments were: P1 = FRS 40% + BC 60 % (BC 95% + PO 5%) ; P2 = FRS 40% + BC 60% (BC 95 % + ISO 5%) ; P3 = FRS 40% + BC 60 % (BC 90% + PKC 10%). Analyzed parameters were intake and digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, and crude protein, and also digestible nutrient of organic matter (DN OM) and crude protein (DN CP). The results showed that average dry matter intake of P1, P2, P3 were 6108.77; 5965.87; 5686.78 (g/head/day), organic matter intake were 5658.19; 5569.29; 5603.11 (g/head/day), protein intake were 690.58; 829.84; 818.15 (g/head/day), dry matter digestibility were 54.55; 54.00; 54.23 (%), organic matter digestibility were 66.09; 66.59; 64.00 (%), crude protein digestibility were 81.77; 80.48; 79.73 (%), DN OM were 61.33; 62.06; 63.06 (%), and DN CP were 10.69; 10.34; 10.82 (%), respectively. Analysis of variance showed no significant difference between intake and digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, crude protein, DN OM, DN CP (P > 0.05) among treatments. It was concluded that consumption of 5% Indian sardine oil, 5% palm oil, and 10% palm kernel cake protected materials did not affect of dry matter, organic matter, and crude protein digestibility in fistulae Onggole Crossbreed rumen. Keywords: Ongole grade cattle, Indian sardine oil, palm oil, and palm kernel cake, digestibility


Objectives: Twin to twin transfusion syndrome occurs In 15% of monochorionic twin pregnancies. Untreated, TTTS has traditionally been quoted to have a mortality of nearly 100%. The aim of the project was the investigation of the most optimal way of the diagnostic and therapeutic procedure in pregnancies complicated with TTTS and show antenatal and postnatal follow-up with at least 12 months of age. Methods: 64 pregnant women with twin to twin transfusion syndrome were assigned to laser therapy using diode laser. They underwent laser procedure at mean gestational age of 22 weeks of gestation at Quintero stages II–IV. Fetal echocardiography was performed before and after laser procedure; chosen parameters characterizing pregnancy were detailed described and analysed. Results: Survival rate of at least one twin was observed in 48 cases /48/64/ /considering at least 12 months follow-up/and it was equal to 75%. Neurological complications were observed in 4% /3/64/ in neonates at 6 months of age. Conclusions: Currently, preferred and the only method, which touches the cause of disease is endoscopic laser coagulation of anastomoses.


1 Unless otherwise indicated, this report uses data available up to 3 October 2020. " The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic hit Latin America and the Caribbean in a period of economic, social and environmental vulnerability (ECLAC, 2020a). Tackling the health crisis —which has outlasted initial forecasts— and its deleterious economic and social effects will require political and social compacts built on broad multi-stakeholder participation that universalize social protection and health and, above all, refocus development on equality and on fiscal, production and environmental policies for sustainability. Compacts must be directed towards laying the foundations for a welfare state that, among other things, ensures universal access to health, redistributive taxes, increased productivity, better provision of public goods and services, sustainable management of natural resources and more substantial and diversified public and private investment.


This study examined the factors affecting sustainable trypanosomiasis control in parts of Kaduna State within the sub-humid savannah ecological zone of Nigeria. Focus group discussions were held with herdsmen and livestock owners (n=85). Questionnaire was administered to participants (n=25) and key-informants (n=5) were interviewed. Most respondents (80%) were Fulani by tribe who could read and write Hausa in Arabic text (ajami). Over 70% were permanent residents practicing transhumant animal husbandry. Animal trypanosomiasis (sammore), liverfluke (chiwon hanta), worm infestations (helminthosis), and foot and mouth disease (chiwon kafa baki) in Hausa and "boru" in Fulfulde were ranked in decreasing order of important livestock diseases mentioned. A trypanocide (in sachet) identified to be Berenil® was administered by livestock farmers themselves. Many livestock owners and some households had lost various numbers of cattle and herds because of animal trypanosomosis. Tsetse flies (kudan tsando) were said to be very common, yet many could not differentiate it from other haematophagous biting flies. During dry season, when forage and water shortage is imminent, there is migration to southern parts of  Nigeria. Annual herd movement to rangelands in nearby Bauchi State was due to perceived increased tsetse fly population in wet season. In addition, about 80% of arable land was used for crop cultivation. More awareness and preference for pour-on and aerial spraying were higher than the use of traps, target or screens. Rearing of trypanotolerant breeds and zero grazing was never practiced. A private-public partnership in tsetse and animal trypanosomosis control using commercially available trypanocides and insecticide is feasible and should be effectively explored. Any sustainable control strategy envisaged should recognize the level of awareness of the disease and vectors and willingness of grassroots stakeholders to participate and adapt the control methods. Keywords: Awareness, livestock, indigenous knowledge, socio-economics, trypanosomosis control, tsetse fly