BACKGROUND
 Embodied conversational agents (ECAs) are animated computer characters that simulate face-to-face counseling. Owing to their capacity to establish and maintain an empathic relationship, they are deemed to be a promising tool for starting and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

 OBJECTIVE
 This review aimed to identify the current practices in designing and evaluating ECAs for coaching people in a healthy lifestyle and provide an overview of their efficacy (on behavioral, knowledge, and motivational parameters) and use (on usability, usage, and user satisfaction parameters).

 METHODS
 We used the Arksey and O'Malley framework to conduct a scoping review. PsycINFO, Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, and Scopus were searched with a combination of terms related to ECA and lifestyle. Initially, 1789 unique studies were identified; 20 studies were included.

 RESULTS
 Most often, ECAs targeted physical activity (n=16) and had the appearance of a middle-aged African American woman (n=13). Multiple behavior change techniques (median=3) and theories or principles (median=3) were applied, but their interpretation and application were usually not reported. ECAs seemed to be designed for the end user rather than with the end user. Stakeholders were usually not involved. A total of 7 out of 15 studies reported better efficacy outcomes for the intervention group, and 5 out of 8 studies reported better use-related outcomes, as compared with the control group.

 CONCLUSIONS
 ECAs are a promising tool for persuasive communication in the health domain. This review provided valuable insights into the current developmental processes, and it recommends the use of human-centered, stakeholder-inclusive design approaches, along with reporting on the design activities in a systematic and comprehensive manner. The gaps in knowledge were identified on the working mechanisms of intervention components and the right timing and frequency of coaching.


The availability of new and highly effective direct-acting antiviral treatments for the treatment of Hepatitis C virus infection created a new treatment paradigm for patients, and a significant budget constraint for health care payers. Many managed care organizations in the United States responded with the implementation of restrictive coverage policies, thereby limiting patient access to these new therapies. With many in the hepatitis C patient population unable to be treated, hepatitis C was poised to remain a significant public health issue. For this and other reasons, health care payers reevaluated their hepatitis C policies to allow coverage of a broader population. This positive change in hepatitis C access will likely result in a higher total pharmacy cost for the payer; however, this cost may potentially be offset in the future by reduced costs related to liver disease complications. To properly allocate the Medicaid budget for the 2018 calendar year, a budget impact model was developed. The objective of this model was to predict the number of hepatitis C patients treated in the year following a policy change, which allowed for the treatment of all patients. The modeling methodology utilized internal health plan pharmacy and medical claims data to describe the characteristics of the hepatitis C population over the past two years. Some input values were unable to be estimated using internal data; thus, relevant values from clinical literature were used. To account for uncertainty related to the variables, a sensitivity analysis was conducted to construct a realistic range of patients treated and associated pharmacy costs for 2018. The model predicted that 176 to 373 additional patients would be treated for hepatitis C, at an increased incremental pharmacy cost of $6,020,112 to $22,154,475 in 2018. Although the policy change will result in increased pharmacy costs for the Medicaid payer for 2018, it will improve patient access to treatment for this public health issue and may potentially decrease incidence and cost related to liver complications in the future.


Nowadays, consumers are becoming more and more demanding about the quality of the service that are offered to them. To meet these demands, companies do great efforts to offer a high and consistent level for their services. Such an objective can only be achieved if companies have internal capabilities to be, not only effective in delivering what is expected from them, but also efficient in the way their service is performed. It is intended with this work to implement EVA to a specific project using EVA as a methodology. The main conclusion is that EVA allows a more effective control of the development of projects. It can also be add that good planning and a well-defined organisation of projects are crucial for the quality of the information produced by EVA. It can also be said that EVA must be supported by a very strong method on cost data collecting. On the other hand, EVA has a very strong temporal limitation because it doesn't take into account the critical path of the project. Therefore, EVA must always be followed by a Gant graph. These conclusions are supported and commentated during this work.


A major goal of type 1 diabetes (T1D) research is development of state-of-the-art devices that recreate the human islet microenvironment to help elucidate the molecular and cellular mechanisms of beta cell loss due to autoimmunity. We recently reported a novel synthetic biomaterial technology to form hydrogels from a pair of oppositely-charged peptides that co-assemble into a network of interpenetrating β-sheet nanofibers. Here, we explored the potential of this biomaterial, referred to as "CATCH" for Co-Assembly Tags based on Charge complementarity, to serve as a 3D microenvironment for studies of the islet—immune cell interface within the context of human T1D. Supramolecular CATCH hydrogels offer a number of key advantages for engineering islet biomimetic microenvironments: 1) they are fabricated via self-assembly at neutral pH and 37°C; 2) require no chemical reaction to form; and 3) are intrinsically capable of installing folded proteins or peptides via covalent fusion to one of the synthetic peptides sequences. In initial experiments, we established that CATCH hydrogels are cyto-compatible with human beta cells via encapsulation of BetaLox5 cells (βL5), an immortalized human beta cell line, by demonstrating strong viability (Calcein-AM/Ethidium homodimer-1 stain) of encapsulated βL5 at 3 and 24 hours after gelation similar to βL5 seeded on 2D surfaces. CATCH gels also showed promise as a viable platform for interrogating the engagement of autoreactive immune cells with human beta cells. Engineered CD8+ human T cell avatars expressing human T cell receptors for the islet antigen pre-proinsulin co-embedded into CATCH hydrogels with βL5 cells show strong beta cell killing in 3D by T cells over an 18-hour period (assessed via loss of TMRM staining of mitochondrial membrane potential). These initial successes are guiding our development of CATCH hydrogels for further detailed 3D studies of islet—immune cell interactions relevant to human T1D. Disclosure M. Becker: None. D. Seroski: None. S. Stimpson: None. C.E. Mathews: None. G. Hudalla: None. E.A. Phelps: None.


Beam-column connection is one of the most important parts of steel ductile flexural frames, as the performance of frame is depending on connection's flexibility. The rigid steel connections with cover plate are one of the most common connections in Iran. Due to the importance of seismic resistant design, it is necessary to investigate their seismic performance. In this experimental research, three steel connection specimens with 1/2 scale with introduction of new T-shape plate were built based on Iran steel code to evaluate their seismic performance and the specimens were subjected to cyclic loading. The results indicated that specimen designed based on Iran steel code cannot satisfy all of rigid connection criteria, and also, the strength was increased up to 10% and ductility was decreased up to 18% by adding the plates. Plastic hinges were transmitted to flange of beams, and the collapse mechanism of connections were changed due to deleting groove welding, strength and ductility were decreased respectively. Review History: Received: 13 January 2017 Revised: 25 April 2018 Accepted: 26 April 2018 Available Online: 16 May 2018


Are the available water resources sufficient to produce food for the growing world population while at the same time meet increasing municipal, industrial and environmental requirements? Projections for the year 2025, presented by different research groups at the second World Water Forum in The Hague, show an increase in global agricultural water use ranging from 4 to 17%. Estimates for the growth of total withdrawals, including domestic and industrial sectors, vary from 22 to 32%. This range is the result of differences in model structure and assumptions. Although these analyses were instrumental in raising awareness concerning the extent of present and future water scarcity problems, they raise many questions, which remain largely unanswered. The questions relate to the impact of water‐ and food‐related policies on global and regional water scarcity, food production, environment and livelihoods through the year 2025. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) embarked on a joint modeling exercise to address these questions. This paper lays out the issues and discusses the methodology. During the 18th ICID Congress in July 2002 at Montreal, preliminary results will be presented. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


PKA is activated by β-adrenergic signaling induced elevation in intracellular cAMP and sequestered into proximity with its substrates by scaffold A-kinase anchoring proteins (AKAPs). PKARIα is a unique isoform of PKA as in response to oxidants it forms two inter-protein disulfide bonds between its regulatory subunits, which directly flank its interaction site with AKAPs. As such, it is probable that the oxidation of PKARIα affects its localization with AKAPs, therefore serving as a regulatory mechanism by which the kinase is targeted to its substrates. This thesis examines the interplay between β-adrenergic and oxidant induced PKARIα regulation and its impact on PKA substrate phosphorylation. In particular, regulation of the mitochondrial fission protein dynamin-related protein 1 (DRP1) is assessed as this is facilitated by the PKARIα scaffold protein Dual-AKAP1 (D-AKAP1).

PKARIα formed a disulfide-dimer during ex vivo Langendorff perfusions with H2O2, which was associated with its translocation to the insoluble fraction of cardiac homogenates. This model of PKARIα oxidation was then replicated in vivo in the context of starvation. In heart, 24 hours starvation increased PKARIα disulfide-dimer formation and PKA-substrate phosphorylation, as detected by a pan-specific "total" PKA substrate antibody, specific phosphorylation of DRP1-S637 was unchanged. In liver, 24 hours starvation increased PKARIα disulfide-dimer formation, which co-fractionated with D-AKAP1. DRP1 also formed higher molecular weight complexes consistent with its phosphorylation by PKA. Identifying whether these changes were mediated by PKARIα phosphorylation of DRP1 was not possible as the antibody failed to produce a specific phospho-signal in immunoblots from liver. Unexpectedly, PKARIα-C17S KI mice showed increased cardiac DRP1-S637 phosphorylation after starvation and also displayed a basal elevations in both PKARIα expression and "total" PKA-substrate phosphorylation

Langendorff perfusion experiments revealed that Na-pyruvate attenuates H2O2 induced cysteine oxidation. Physiologically this was evidenced by abolished responses in left ventricular end diastolic pressure (LVEDP) and coronary flow rate (CFR) in response to H2O2 in the presence of Na-pyruvate. PKARIα disulfide-dimer formation in response to H2O2 was not affected by elevating cAMP with the β-adrenergic agonist isoprenaline. H2O2 attenuated isoprenaline-induced elevations in "total" PKA-substrate phosphorylation which physiologically was reflected by blunted CFR, LVEDP and left ventricular end systolic pressure (LVSP) responsiveness to isoprenaline. However, using the PKARIα-C17S KI mouse these changes were seen to occur independently of PKARIα disulfide-dimer formation.

Taken together, the above findings indicate that PKARIα is modulated by both its oxidation to a disulfide-dimer and cAMP binding. However, the interplay between these two factors remains unclear as evidenced by a failure of cellular models to translate to ex vivo and in vivo scenarios. In the heart, starvation induced disulfide PKARIα does not appear to regulate DRP1. However in the context of liver, promising results indicate that starvation induced disulfide PKARIα may contribute to the protective effects of reduced mitochondrial fission through inhibition of DRP1.


Variable-axial fiber-reinforced composites allow for local customization of fiber orientation and thicknesses. Despite their significant potential for performance improvement over the conventional multiaxial composites and metals, they pose challenges in design optimization due to the vastly increased design freedom in material orientations. This paper presents an anisotropic topology optimization method for designing large-scale, 3D variable-axial lightweight composite structures subject to multiple load cases. The computational challenges associated with large-scale 3D anisotropic topology optimization with extremely low volume fraction are addressed by a tensor-based representation of 3D orientation that would avoid the 2π periodicity of angular representations such as Euler angles, and an adaptive meshing scheme, which, in conjunction with PDE regularization of the density variables, refines the mesh where structural members appear and coarsens where there is void. The proposed method is applied to designing a heavy-duty drone frame subject to complex multi-loading conditions. Finally, the manufacturability gaps between the optimized design and the fabrication-ready design for tailored fiber placement (TFP) is discussed, which motivates future work toward a fully automated design synthesis.


Most text-driven human motion generation methods employ sequential modeling approaches, e.g., transformer, to extract sentence-level text representations automatically and implicitly for human motion synthesis. However, these compact text representations may overemphasize the action names at the expense of other important properties and lack fine-grained details to guide the synthesis of subtly distinct motion. In this paper, we propose hierarchical semantic graphs for fine-grained control over motion generation. Specifically, we disentangle motion descriptions into hierarchical semantic graphs including three levels of motions, actions, and specifics. Such global-to-local structures facilitate a comprehensive understanding of motion description and fine-grained control of motion generation. Correspondingly, to leverage the coarse-to-fine topology of hierarchical semantic graphs, we decompose the text-to-motion diffusion process into three semantic levels, which correspond to capturing the overall motion, local actions, and action specifics. Extensive experiments on two benchmark human motion datasets, including HumanML3D and KIT, with superior performances, justify the efficacy of our method. More encouragingly, by modifying the edge weights of hierarchical semantic graphs, our method can continuously refine the generated motion, which may have a far-reaching impact on the community. Code and pre-training weights are available at https://github.com/jpthu17/GraphMotion.


Cardiac surgery associated acute kidney injury (CSA-AKI) is a significant clinical problem. Its pathogenesis is complex and multifactorial. It likely involved at least six major injury pathways: exogenous and endogenous toxins, metabolic factors, ischemia and reperfusion, neurohormonal activation, inflammation and oxidative stress. These mechanisms of injury are likely to be active at different times with different intensity and probably act synergistically. Because of such complexity and the small number of randomised controlled investigations in this field only limited recommendations can be made. Nonetheless, it appears important to avoid nephrotoxic drugs and desirable to avoid hyperglycemia in the peri-operative period. The duration of cardiopulmonary bypass should be limited whenever possible. Off-pump surgery, when indicated, may decrease the risk of AKI. Invasive hemodynamic monitoring focussed on attention to maintaining euvolemia, an adequate cardiac output and an adequate arterial blood pressure is desirable. Echocardiography may be useful in minimizing atheroembolic complications. The administration of N-acetylcysteine to protect the kidney from oxidative stress is not recommended. There is marked lack of randomised controlled trials in this field.


Knowledge of groundwater recharge (GR) is important for the effective management of water resources under semi-arid continental climates. Unfortunately, studies and data in Mongolia are limited due to the constraints in funding and lack of research infrastructures. Currently, the wide accessibility of freely available global-scale digital datasets of physical and chemical soil properties, weather data, vegetation characteristics, and depths to the water table offers new tools and basic information that can support low-cost physically based and process-oriented models. Estimates of GR over 41 study sites in Mongolia were obtained using HYDRUS-1D in a 2-m-thick soil profile with root depths of either 0.30 or 0.97 m by exploiting the daily precipitation and biome-specific potential evapotranspiration values. The GR simulated by HYDRUS-1D arrives at the water table and becomes the actual GR with a lag time that has been calculated using a simplified form of the Richards equation and a traveling wave model. The mean annual precipitation ranges from 57 to 316 mm year−1, and on average about 95% of it is lost by mean annual actual evapotranspiration. In the steppe region, the vegetation cover induces higher-than-normal actual transpiration losses and consequently lower GR. The mean annual GR rates span between 0.3 and 12.0 mm year−1, while travel times range between 4 and 558 years. Model prediction uncertainty was quantified by comparing actual evapotranspiration and GR with available maps and by a sensitivity assessment of lag time to the soil moisture in the deep vadose zone. The partial least squares regression (PLSR) was used to evaluate the impact of available environmental properties in explaining the 47.1 and 59.1% variability of the spatially averaged mean annual GR and travel time, respectively. The most relevant contributors are clay content, aridity index, and leaf area index for GR, and depth to the water table and silt content for the lag time. In data-poor, arid, and semi-arid regions such as Mongolia, where the mean annual GR rates are low and poorly correlated to precipitation, the ever-increasing availability of world databases and remote sensing products offers promise in estimating GR.


The author responds to the case scenario of Mr. X assuming that Mr. X is Hispanic/Latino. Factors important in counseling Hispanic/Latino clients are reviewed. The following models of racial and/or ethnic identity are reviewed: Racial/Cultural Identity Development model, (R/CID; Sue & Sue, 1990); counselor client interactional model (Helms, 1990, 1995); and the culturally specific and clinically derived Chicano/Latino ethnic development model (Ruiz, 1990). These models are applied to the case scenario of Mr. X in the areas of assessment and case conceptualization. Finally the reader is provided with counseling considerations that are guided by the use of the identity models. I am preparing myself for a new client, Mr. X, who is coming to see me for the first time in individual counseling. I know some things about him because of the intake paperwork he has filled out and through a call from a concerned faculty member in his department. In this article I walk you through how I will conceptualize and intervene with Mr. X using ethnic and racial identity development models. The first thing I notice is that Mr. X has checked off the box on the information form indicating that he is "Hispanic or Latino/a". This is definitely something that I am going to need to know more about. I often caution people to be careful about drawing any inferences from such a broad term such as Hispanic. What do I know about clients who indicate that they are Hispanic or Latino/a? I know that they are one of 32.8 million Americans who have origins in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Central America, South America, and the Spanish-speaking countries of the Caribbean (Therrien & Ramirez, 2000). That is about it. Often, the name or term a person chooses (or is given by others) for their background is reflective of how that person views themselves ethnically, culturally, socially, or politically. The term Hispanic is a controversial panethnic (Jones-Correa & Leal, 1996) description that can gloss over vital differences among millions of people (Fabrega, 1990). I am reminded of Caetano's (1986) strong statement that the label Hispanic is "misleading, stereotypical, and racist" (p. 332). This term can be seen as emphasizing White European (Spain and Portugal) heritage at the expense of indigenous, slave, mixed (mestizo), and non-European heritage. The terms Latino and Latina, which are Spanish words, have been seen as more inclusive and politically progressive terms, hence I will use the term Latino/a throughout this article. However, it should be noted that all of these terms define a group of people by the civilizations (Spanish and Roman) that colonized and oppressed them. Terms such as La Raza (the race) have been proposed to refer to Latino people in general, while a term such as Chicano, a term which is associated with sociopolitical and civil rights movement of the 1960s (McNeill, Prieto, Niemann, Pizarro, Vera & Gomez, 2001), has a very specific national, cultural, and political meaning specific to Mexican Americans. Garcia-Preto (1996) reminds us that many of the people who are referred to as Hispanic or Latino/a in the United States "in their countries of origin never will have described themselves in that way ... Proclaiming their nationality is very important to Latinos; it provides a sense of pride and identity that is reflected in the stories they tell, their music, and their poetry" (p. 142). Therefore it should not come as a surprise that some Latino people prefer to refer to themselves by their country of origin (e.g., Mexicano, Cubano). General terms such as Hispanic or Latino/a are an imposed and ascribed minority status that is often only salient in the larger political system of the United States. Although there may be governmentally sanctioned terms (i.e., the U.S. Census), there exists no empirical data to indicate which term is most accepted. In light of our discussion about ways to define oneself, I feel that it is important and culturally consistent (the Latino cultural preference for personalismo--personal attention) to introduce myself. …


Specifying the correctness of concurrent transactions contending to access a database is a crucial work. In this research, we adopt the serializability to be the correctness criterion for concurrent transactions accessing ordered data items. One of the most popular technique uses to test serializability is conflict graph. We add a realistic condition on the data items to show that the  corresponding conflict cyclicity can be reduced, in a way, to use temporal-logic-based verification approach in proving serializability.


Global climate is rapidly changing and its evidence is increasingly manifesting across various biological systems. For arthropods, several studies have demonstrated how changing climates affect their distribution through phenological and physiological responses, largely focusing on various organismal fitness parameters. However, the net-effect of changing climate among ecological communities may be mediated by the feedback pathways among interacting trophic groups under environmental change. For agroecosystems, the maintenance of the integrity of trophic interactions even under climate variability is a high priority. This is even more important in this era where there is advocacy for sustainable agriculture, with higher emphasis on environmentally benign methods. For this reason, pest management in food production systems using biological control (especially use of parasitoid antagonists) has come to the fore. In this review, we highlight how climate change may modify bottom-up and top-down factors among agroecosystems with a particular focus on plant-insect host-parasitoid tritrophic interactions. We also outline how habitat management may influence arthropod population dynamics and how it can be manipulated to improve on-farm climate resilience and parasitoid conservation. In addition, we also give an overview of the diversity of physiological responses among host insect and parasitoid populations and how this may influence their interactions. We wrap-up by highlighting how the application of knowledge of conservation biodiversity, designing of multifunctional resilient landscapes and evolutionary physiology of arthropods under thermal stress may be used to improve the fitness of mass-reared parasitoids (in or ex situ) for improvement in efficacy of parasitoids ecosystem services under thermally stressful environments


The primary goal of this research is to examine and analyse the cost readiness factor as it relates
to e-learning deployment in Kurdistan. The study will look at the cost efficiency and cost readiness factors
that influence the successful adoption of an e-learning system, and propose prospective and long-term
solutions that would go a long way toward overcoming cost obstacles in the future. The researchers used a
quantitative research method to determine the cost readiness of e-learning implementation. The participants
in this study were 516 people from Kurdistan's several private universities. The results demonstrated that
cost preparedness has a large predictive value for e-learning and will have a direct positive relationship
with it. The survey questions may not necessarily generalize to the greater community of instructors and
administrative personnel at private colleges, which is one of the study's limitations.


This paper makes two linked contributions. First, we argue that planning systems, instead of being correct (every plan returned achieves the goal) and complete (all such plans are returned), should be approximately correct and complete, in that most plans returned achieve the goal and that most such plans are returned. Our first contribution is to formalize this notion.

Our second aim is to demonstrate the practical importance of these ideas. We argue that the cached plans used by case-based planners are best thought of as approximate as opposed to exact, and also show that we can use our approach to plan for subgoals g1 and g2 separately and to combine the plans generated to produce a plan for the conjoined goal g1 Λ g1. The computational benefits of working with subgoals separately have long been recognized, but attempts to do so using correct and complete planners have failed.


A wall of a school building was treated with a moisture repellent containing a silicone resin and white spirit. In the temporal connection with this a child experienced an exacerbation of its bronchial asthma. Some weeks after the second application the users of the rooms complained about unpleasant odor and discomfort. As shown by analysis the white spirit containing aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons diffused through the 50 cm thick stone wall into the classrooms. Due to the considerable concentration of the pollutant a part of the building could not be used any longer. In Germany no guideline values exist for white spirit or any mixtures of hydrocarbons in indoor air for non-occupational workplaces. For the reopening of the rooms a target value of 300 μg VOC/m 3 was set. The incident shows that building materials can cause health problems and discomfort even if instructions of application are followed.


We use survey data to test whether it pays to cooperate in innovation activities with rivals (also referred to as coopetition) compared to other cooperative arrangements, notably with non-rival partners. Applying an ordinary least squares regression to a large sample of French firms (N = 2957), we found evidence of a positive and significant relationship between various forms of cooperation (with and without rivals) and firms' economic performance, measured by EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization). Results show that cooperation with rival and non-rivals taken together increases economic performance, but that the impact of cooperation with rivals is lower than the impact of cooperation with non-rivals. Estimation results suggest that reaping the full cooperation benefits is not automatic and requires precision dosing and management.


Fat embolism is defined as mechanical blockage of the vascular lumen by circulating fat globules. Although it primarily affects the lungs, it can also affect the central nervous system, retina, and skin. Fat embolism syndrome is a dysfunction of these organs caused by fat emboli. The most common causes of fat embolism and fat embolism syndrome are long bone fractures, although there are reports of its occurrence after cosmetic procedures. The diagnosis is made clinically, and treatment is still restricted to support measures. We report the case of a female patient who developed adult respiratory distress syndrome due to fat embolism in the postoperative period following liposuction and fat grafting. In this case, the patient responded well to alveolar recruitment maneuvers and protective mechanical ventilation. In addition, we present an epidemiological and pathophysiological analysis of fat embolism syndrome after cosmetic procedures.


Background Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) involves dysregulation of the complement system, but whether this also occurs in thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) remains unclear. Although these conditions are difficult to differentiate clinically, TTP can be distinguished by low (<10%) ADAMTS13 activity. The aim was to identify the differences in complement activation products between TTP and aHUS and investigate ADAMTS13 activity as a prognostic factor in aHUS. Methods We analyzed patients with thrombotic microangiopathy diagnosed as TTP (N=48) or aHUS (N=50), selected from a Korean registry (N=551). Complement activation products in the plasma samples collected from the patients prior to treatment and in 40 healthy controls were measured by ELISA. Results The levels of generalized (C3a), alternate (factor Bb), and terminal (C5a and C5b-9) markers were significantly higher (all P<0.01) in the patients than in the healthy controls. Only the factor Bb levels significantly differed (P=0.008) between the two disease groups. In aHUS patients, high normal ADAMTS13 activity (≥77%) was associated with improved treatment response (OR, 6.769; 95% CI, 1.605–28.542; P=0.005), remission (OR, 6.000; 95% CI, 1.693–21.262; P=0.004), exacerbation (OR, 0.242; 95% CI, 0.064–0.916; P=0.031), and disease-associated mortality rates (OR, 0.155; 95% CI, 0.029–0.813; P=0.017). Conclusion These data suggest that complement biomarkers, except factor Bb, are similarly activated in TTP and aHUS patients, and ADAMTS13 activity can predict the treatment response and outcome in aHUS patients.


Three Sister's House Of Beauty is one of the several business located at karangtengah cibadak sukabumi. This Business offers all things about skincare, makeup and fashion for youngest to the oldest especially for a man. In the process business activity, Three Sister's has implement strategic planning, but in this prospect the planning has a missed targeted so that it cannot be realized properly, the problems regarding data collection process of sold product and ordering data for customers sometimes just written, input into Ms.Word and Ms.Excel. In odd moment, Three Sister's share and promotion product on social media, the community of beauty have every rules if want post on group. So that, Three Sister's House of Beauty must planning of ISand IT strategies to be good business proces in future. The conclusion, strategic planning for implementing Enterprise Architecture is one of the best solutions for supports a business or organization. So with this, the author conducts research with the study of the Togaf ADM to support Sales Information Systems that are integrated, right on target, and support business processes in Three Sisters' House of Beauty.


Recently, nanopore sequencing has come to the fore as library preparation is rapid and simple, sequencing can be done almost anywhere, and longer reads are obtained than with next-generation sequencing. The main bottleneck still lies in data postprocessing which consists of basecalling, genome assembly, and localizing significant sequences, which is time consuming and computationally demanding, thus prolonging delivery of crucial results for clinical practice. Here, we present a neural network-based method capable of detecting and classifying specific genomic regions already in raw nanopore signals – squiggles. Therefore, the basecalling process can be omitted entirely as the raw signals of significant genes, or intergenic regions can be directly analysed, or if the nucleotide sequences are required, the identified squiggles can be basecalled, preferably to others. The proposed neural network could be included directly in the sequencing run, allowing real-time squiggle processing.


During 1993, an estimated $910 billion was spent on health care in the United States. Health care expenditures, as a whole, continued to show a slower rate of growth in 1993 than in 1992. The medical care Consumer Price Index rose 6.0 percent in 1993 and is projected to increase only about 5.7 percent in 1994. HMO enrollment increased 7.3 percent between 1991 and 1992, with an estimated 41.4 million participants. In terms of per capita spending, health care expenditures in the United States are more than twice the average for the 24 industrial nations that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). As the health care reform debates continue, evidence indicates that market forces are beginning to exert an influence on the health care sector of the economy. Further, regardless of what final form health care reform will take, the role of managed care will probably continue to increase.


To eliminate errors of 3-axis magnetoresistive magnetometer, according to its offset errors, sensitivity errors and non-orthogonal errors which specialty was considered, an error compensation model of magnetoresistive magnetometer was established. And the calculation method of the error compensation model, which did not need accelerometers, was proposed to correct the magnetometer errors. The results show the algorithm of error compensation model decrease the root mean square error of the magnetometer from 413nT to 82nT. Thus the 3-axis magnetoresistive magnetometer could fast and accurately measure the geomagnetic field.


We propose the implementation of spectral-amplitude-coding optical code division multiple access (SAC-OCDMA) as a contention resolution technique in optical burst switched (OBS) networks. The new system architecture is presented in details where an all-optical methodology for cancelling multiple access interference is proposed. Performance evaluation of the proposed system in both MAC and optical layers is introduced where the overall burst error rate of the system is evaluated in three cases: full, partial, and no code conversion capabilities taking into account the receiver dark current, thermal, and shot noises at the egress nodes. Our results reveal that a considerable improvement in the performance of each core node in the system is achieved by using SAC-OCDMA instead of WDM in the optical layer underneath an OBS based MAC layer. We also conclude that a slight increase in the employed number of code converters enhances the overall system performance noticeably. Finally, optimum values for the number of codes, which lead to minimum overall burst error rate, are reached at different traffic conditions.


Background: Assessment of educational courses has a critical impact on quality improvement in all curricula. Surveys aimed at alumni and graduating students may be useful for the evaluation of the program outcomes and revision. The aims of this study were to describe levels of competency of last year students of an Iranian dental school in the major skills needed for a new dentist and to investigate its relationship with background factors such as gender, marriage status, entrance exam score , entrance quotas and their economic status. Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive analytic study, 55 last year dental students filled out a valid and reliable questionnaire including demographic characteristics and 132 competencies that could be rated on a four point Likert's Scale. The data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA, independent-samples t-test and Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: Students' total competencies mean score was 47.48±2.03 out of 100. The lowest and highest score belonged to oral diseases diagnosis (%18.48) and Preventive dentistry (%66.06) respectively. The past dental hygiene students continued their education as a doctoral degree were more competent than the others but there were no significant differences between competency levels of other quotas. The competency score had no significant relationship with marriage and economic statuses of students as well as their entrance exam score. Conclusion: responses to the students' self-reported preparedness described the general state of competency of the last year dental students as fairly satisfactory. However, the theoretical backgrounds related to some subjects need to be more emphasized. Key words: Competency, Dentistry Students Education


: Validation of markers requires two different steps. The first one is the analytical validation including analytical procedures, definition of standard reference, and round-tests analysis. The second one is the assessment of the biological relevance of the selected marker. This biological relevance may be in the field of physiology to measure a physiological function, or in the area of pathology to measure a disease. Validation of markers is a time-consuming task that needs cooperation between laboratories. On the other hand a validated marker is a keystone for scientists to share their results and to explore more efficiently a given biological system.


A series of 5 experiments was conducted to test the general hypothesis that piglets subjected to intermittent suckling (IS, where piglets are temporarily separated from the sow during lactation) would have improved performance and gastrointestinal tract (GIT) structure and function after weaning compared with piglets weaned via conventional methods (abrupt weaning). It was also hypothesised that IS would not induce any additional stress or compromise piglet welfare before and after weaning, and that IS may in fact reduce the stress response immediately after weaning due to increased familiarity with creep feed and maternal separation. Piglets born to primiparous sows were the main focus of this thesis since they are lighter at birth, more susceptible to disease and generally have poorer performance than sow progeny, making them the most disadvantaged group at weaning. Separation times of 8 hours per day or 16 hours overnight were chosen for the IS regimen. Sugar absorption tests involving oral doses of mannitol, galactose and lactulose before and after weaning were used as markers of GIT tract absorptive capacity and permeability, and the stress response was assessed using a combination of neuroendocrine, immune, inflammatory and behavioural measures. Apart from a transient peak in cortisol and reduction in growth at the start of IS, the IS procedure was not associated with a chronic stress response. Onset of IS at an older age with an extended lactation (5 weeks instead of 4 weeks) markedly improved creep feed intake, post-weaning performance and galactose absorption in piglets born to primiparous sows. However, starting IS at 3 weeks with weaning at 4 weeks increased creep feed intake and post-weaning performance when progeny from multiparous sows were used and gave a varied response for primiparous sow progeny. Furthermore, IS in piglets born to primiparous sows had no effect on GIT permeability and did not attenuate post-weaning GIT structural changes, but rather advanced them as lactation progressed with IS piglets showing reduced absorption of mannitol and galactose before weaning. Longer separation times (16 hours versus 8 hours) had no impact on post-weaning performance or the stress responses, but did induce a more severe growth check at the start of IS.

To further attenuate the stress associated with weaning, co-mingling (CoM, preweaning socialisation of piglets from different litters) was explored. It was hypothesised that CoM would improve post-weaning performance and GIT function through the facilitation of social eating behaviour and reduced aggression, and that combining IS with CoM would improve these measures additively. While CoM did not affect performance before or after weaning, post-weaning aggression was reduced and CoM piglets had the smallest changes in mannitol absorption over the periweaning period indicative of a larger GIT surface area. The combination of IS with CoM in piglets from multiparous sows additively improved post-weaning performance in the first week after weaning, but only when familiar groups remained together. From the experiments conducted in this thesis, it was shown that IS can improve piglet adaptation to weaning in multiparous litters, however IS in piglets born to primiparous sows gave varied responses. Furthermore, better performance outcomes were achieved if piglets had the opportunity to socialise with non-littermates and remain in familiar groups after weaning. It was shown that oral dosing with various sugars could be used in vivo to assess post-weaning changes to the GIT.


This paper evaluates a well-known approach from the economic history literature that uses grain prices to shed light on interest rates. Although this method has been applied in influential work starting with McCloskey and Nash (1984) and has potentially wide applicability in situations where interest rates are not available, this paper provides the first analysis of how well the storage cost approach captures actual capital market performance on a number of different dimensions. Using matched data on bank interest rates and grain prices for early 19th century U.S. regions, we find that the storage cost approach is useful for quantifying the performance of capital markets. The storage cost approach captures well regional differences in market performance, also in comparison to interest rate figures derived from the prices of bills of exchange. The paper also assesses the storage cost approach's robustness to measurement error, incomplete information, outliers, and other factors.


Chronic wounds are an enormous burden to society, costing billions of dollars annually in the USA alone. Despite the extensive research into methods to heal chronic wounds, many remain unhealed for months to years. There is a need to focus on patient reported outcomes to improve quality of life in patients with non-healing wounds. Wound odor has a significant impact on patient quality of life; however, relatively little information is available on the management of wound odor. We review the current data available on wound odor and discuss the need for standardized objective measures of odor to improve research quality. An independent search of the PubMed and Embase databases was conducted using combinations of the following words or phrases: "wounds," "chronic wounds," "diabetic ulcers," "venous leg ulcers (VLUs)," "malignant ulcers," "odor," "odour," "smell," "malodor," "artificial olfaction," "electronic nose," and "e-nose." Article references were also searched for significance. There are few overall studies on wound odor, and fewer randomized controlled trials. Current trials on odor have consistent weaknesses such as subjective measures and poor methodology. No single odor treatment modality has been demonstrated to be widely effective for wound odor or superior to other methods. Future research should incorporate objective measures of odor such as electronic noses into clinical trials.


The paper aims at exploring further the potential of organic agriculture by increasing the knowledge about consumers' perceptions of organic products. The United States (Florida) and Poland are interesting examples in which the level of organic market development varies and this allows us to test whether consumer perceptions of organic food products vary with market development. A survey was conducted amongst students at the University of Florida (United States) and at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences-SGGW (Poland). The results obtained from an online survey were analysed through econometric modelling. The model used for this study was the ordered probability model, which was used to compare the frequency of organic consumption between the United States and Polish students. The findings indicate that students from the two countries have different perceptions of organic products. The less the market is developed (such as in Poland), the more important is basic knowledge about the products. With a higher level of market development (for example in the United States), consumers already have this basic knowledge about the products, such as origin or organic label, and are more focused on their qualities, such as taste or variety. These differences should be taken into account by states when developing policies on organic agriculture and healthy eating generally, and during the formulation of marketing strategies by companies interested in the growth of the organic market.


markdownabstractThe new professional role 'nurse practitioner' (in Dutch: verpleegkundig specialist) challenges nurses to distuinguish themselves from nurses educated at the Bacher level by the criteria: independency, expertise, and an active attitude to role development. A crucial aspect of their role is to transform clinical care for the better.

The qualitative studies described in this thesis showed that nurse practitioners gained a place in the medical care process next to physicians. They enacted the monitoring of patient's treatment as their prime responsibility. Most nurse practitioners prioritized treatment over daily life while moving patients' illness perceptions to the background of attention.

To develop a broader perception on professional responsibility, a thorough understanding of people's responses to changes in their health is a necessity for nurse practitioners. Advanced nursing implies meeting patient's needs with the use of theory, research evidence, observations and experience to tailor nursing practice in complex and challenging situations.


Umiat field in northern Alaska is a shallow, light-oil accumulation with an estimated original oil in place of more than 1.5 billion bbl and 99 bcf associated gas. The field, discovered in 1946, was never considered viable because it is shallow, in permafrost, and far from any infrastructure. Modern drilling and production techniques now make Umiat a more attractive target if the behavior of a rock, ice, and light oil system at low pressure can be understood and simulated. The Umiat reservoir consists of shoreface and deltaic sandstones of the Cretaceous Nanushuk Formation deformed by a thrust-related anticline. Depositional environment imparts a strong vertical and horizontal permeability anisotropy to the reservoir that may be further complicated by diagenesis and open natural fractures. Experimental and theoretical studies indicate that there is a significant reduction in the relative permeability of oil in the presence of ice, with a maximum reduction when connate water is fresh and less reduction when water is saline. A representative Umiat oil sample was reconstituted by comparing the composition of a severely weathered Umiat fluid to a theoretical Umiat fluid composition derived using the Pedersen method. This sample was then used to determine fluid properties at reservoir conditions such as bubble point pressure, viscosity, and density. These geologic and engineering data were integrated into a simulation model that indicate recoveries of 12%–15% can be achieved over a 50-yr production period using cold gas injection from five well pads with a wagon-wheel configuration of multilateral wells.


Copper has widespread use as engineering material, because of its structural and functional properties, notably high thermal and electrical conductivity. A major drawback of this base metal and its alloys is a relatively low hardness. This precludes its utilization in applications in which both high conductivity and high strength/hardness are needed, e.g. in injection moulds for plastics. Nanostructured metals and nanocomposites are ways to address the low hardness problem, provided the nanostructured material is thermally stable during processing and service. In the present research, composite powders, with 5 to 30 at % nanodiamond, were consolidated into bulk samples. The copper-nanodiamond composite powders were vacuum encapsulated and extruded at 600°C. A significant proportion of the initial hardness in the powders is retained after extrusion. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of the extruded material indicates good bonding between the nanodiamond particles and the copper matrix. Raman spectroscopy on the consolidated samples evidences the presence of graphite, possibly due to partial disintegration of ultradisperse nanodiamond agglomerates.


Consider a problem where 4k given vectors need to be partitioned into k clusters of four vectors each. A cluster of four vectors is called a quad, and the cost of a quad is the sum of the componentwise maxima of the four vectors in the quad. The problem is to partition the given 4k vectors into k quads with minimum total cost. We analyze a straightforward matching-based algorithm and prove that this algorithm is a 3 2 -approximation algorithm for this problem. We further analyze the performance of this algorithm on a hierarchy of special cases of the problem and prove that, in one particular case, the algorithm is a 4 -approximation algorithm. Our analysis is tight in all cases except one. 2012 ACM Subject Classification Mathematics of computing → Approximation algorithms


Heroin abuse and overdose are increasing at an alarming rate in the United States. Due to its relatively low cost and ease of availability, over a million people are abusing this agent. What is most disturbing is the fact that heroin-associated deaths have tripled over the past 5 years. While heroin has a major negative impact on the cardiopulmonary system, acute kidney injury (AKI) following heroin overdose is emerging as a major problem. AKI increases mortality and is a major cause of the development of chronic kidney disease and its antecedent long-term mortality. Timely diagnosis of AKI and its treatment reduces mortality. In this article, we present two cases (a 25-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman) of heroin-induced AKI. Both presented with altered mental status, respiratory depression and low blood pressure. AKI was diagnosed by the treating internist in a timely fashion and optimally treated in the 25-year-old man. In the 22-year-old woman who presented to the emergency department, AKI could not be recognized. She was discharged home after the management of overdose with resolution of pulmonary and neurological issues. Six days later, she returned to the emergency department with shortness of breath, volume overload, and severe acute tubular necrosis, required hemodialysis and left the hospital with serum creatinine of 2.5 mg/dL (estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) = 46 mL/min). At a 7-month follow-up, this patient continues to have eGFR of 45 mL/min (stage III chronic kidney disease). This article presents the mechanism of heroin-induced AKI as well as its management strategy and calls for heightened awareness for early diagnosis and prompt treatment. J Med Cases. 2017;8(10):305-310 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jmc2898w


The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) cases was on an increasing trend, including in Malaysia. The Malaysian Ministry of Health had implemented a range of measures, such as the use of masks and social distancing, to reduce the risk of transmission. Traditionally, newborns are evaluated for neonatal jaundice using visual assessment, a capillary heel prick and serum bilirubin (SB) sampling in primary health‐care clinics. This approach requires the physical presence of both parents and their newborns in the primary health‐care clinics, causing crowding and increasing the risk of COVID‐19 infections. To alleviate crowding, we implemented the transcutaneous bilirubin drive‐through (DT) service, which is an established, non‐invasive, painless and rapid method to determine the bilirubin levels. Throughout the screening, both parents and baby will be confined to their car. A total of 1842 babies were screened in our DT setting from April to July 2020. Of the total babies, 298 (16.1%) required venesection for SB measurement and 85 required admission for phototherapy. None with severe jaundice were missed since the implementation of this service. The average test duration per neonate was less than 5 min, while conventional venous bilirubin laboratory testing required an average of 1.5 h per neonate. The cost of the SB laboratory test and consumables was approximately USD 5 per test, with an estimated cost savings of USD 7720. DT screening may be introduced in health‐care settings to reduce crowding and eliminate the need of painful blood sampling in newborns.


In Europe about 2 million people work and live in two different countries. While at the European scale cross-border workers only account for a limited portion of the working-age population, in some regions cross-border work takes a huge importance. In these regions, cross-border work generates many impacts on local territories and on their inhabitants in terms of housing, mobility or purchasing power, especially because of the wide salary differentials between some borders regions, like between Switzerland and its neighbouring countries. Indeed, Switzerland is the country in Europe which hosts the largest amount of cross-border workers. Research on border regions focus mainly on the macroscopic aspects of cross-border relationships, such as economic integration or cross-border cooperation, leaving partly aside the effects that cross-border work has on territories or their inhabitants. Thus, this article looks at the link between cross-border work and the other aspects of daily life such as consumption or leisure and more generally living conditions in the trinational metropolis of Basel. For this purpose, we conducted a study with inhabitants of the metropolitan area of Basel, in which cross-border work is largely practised - using a mixed methods design; fifteen interviews were conducted, followed by a quantitative survey (1,615 individuals). Results show that working or not across the border, in Switzerland, has a large impact on living conditions and influences the intensity and/or the destination of cross-border practices (leisure and consumption). Whereas cross-border workers tend to favour Switzerland, this country is "financially less" accessible to the rest of the population. The analysis of the inhabitants' lifestyles also highlights two issues linked to cross-border work that the trinational metropolis of Basel faces and that may cause tension in the local population, i.e. 1) the highly differentiated living conditions between cross-border workers and the rest of the population 2) the large car use of cross-border workers. Received : 23 December 2016 Accepted : 26 February 2017 Published online : 02 May 2017


The article presents a searching-experimental Project "The Life of Remarkable Melodies" ("LRM"), the conception of which is based on the application of the didactic principle of multidimensionality to the phenomenon of the "musical image" in the form of specially selected and ranged creative arrangements and performances of remarkable melodies in assembly works — mono-anthologies, as well as on the technology of comparative music listening. According to the latter, the listener — the User of the "LRM" Project — intuitively emphasizes the distinctive features of the arrangement and specifies his or her preferences. The peculiarity of the "LRM" Project is in the convenient multipage interface and the exclusive title included in the text of Testimonial RU 2018612220: Instructional Program Complex "The Life of Remarkable Melodies." For the aggrandizement of demonstrativeness, the article makes use of didactic means of figurative visualization of knowledge, which would initiate a synesthetic perception of depicted informative and operative components, facilitating the process of operating it in the teaching process. In particular, a visual didactic directive is introduced of the logical-semantic type, the "Self-Effectivity of the User of the LRM Project," obtained by modeling information presented in a natural language. It realizes the conception of construction of semantic networks, moreover, the figurative form of the directive is provided by the graphics of a "solar" — radial type.


Abstract Sheep are important in the epidemiology of Toxoplasma gondii infection, but little is known of ovine toxoplasmosis in Brazil. Antibodies to T. gondii were assayed in sera of 495 sheep from 36 counties of São Paulo state, Brazil, using the modified agglutination test (MAT titer ≥1:25); 120 (24.2%) sheep tested positive. Samples of brain, heart, and diaphragm of 82 seropositive sheep were pooled, digested in pepsin, and bioassayed in mice. Toxoplasma gondii was isolated from tissue homogenates of 16 sheep, and the isolates were designated TgShBr 1–16. Six of the 16 T. gondii isolates killed 100% of infected mice. Results indicate that asymptomatic sheep can harbor mouse-virulent T. gondii; hence, they can serve as a source of infection for humans.


Secular variation in the heritability of educational attainment are proposed to be due to the implementation of more egalitarian educational policies leading to increased equality in educational opportunities in the second part of the 20th century. The action of effect is hypothesized to be a decrease of shared environmental (e.g., family socioeconomic status or parents' education) influences on educational attainment, giving more room for genetic differences between individuals to impact on the variation of the trait. However, this hypothesis has not yet found consistent evidence. Support for this effect relies mainly on comparisons between countries adopting different educational systems or between different time periods within a country reflecting changes in general policy. Using a population-based sample of 1271 pairs of adult twins, we analyzed the effect of the introduction of a specific educational policy in Spain in 1970. The shared-environmental variance decreased, leading to an increase in heritability in the post-reform cohort (44 vs. 67%) for males. Unstandardized estimates of genetic variance were of a similar magnitude (.56 vs. .57) between cohorts, while shared environmental variance decreased from .56 to .04. Heritability remained in the same range for women (40 vs. 34%). Our results support the role of educational policy in affecting the relative weight of genetic and environmental factors on educational attainment, such that increasing equality in educational opportunities increases heritability estimates by reducing variation of non-genetic familial origin.


An articulated tower is one of the compliant offshore structures connected to the sea-bed through a universal joint. This joint is subjected to reversal of shear stresses under random loading, which makes it vulnerable to fatigue damage. This paper describes a methodology for computation of reliability of universal joint of articulated offshore platform. The dynamic analysis of the tower has been carried out for eleven simulated sea state under wave alone and in combination with wind and wave. The response time histories so obtained are employed for reliability analysis of the joint. Fatigue criteria have been formulated using S-N curve and fracture mechanics approach. The crack in addition to the geometry, material, and loading of the joint are modeled as random variables to compute the reliability. The reliability analysis is carried out using Advanced First Order Reliability Method (FORM) and Monte Carlo Simulation technique. Important parametric studies have been carried out to obtain insight into the effect of important variables on the fatigue reliability. The effects of uncertainties in various random variables on articulated joint reliability are highlighted.


Many authors have reported on the evolution and trends of optometric education in Africa. Amongst these are articles on Optometry and optometric education in Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, and Ethiopia. This article reports the historical perspectives of optometric education in Ghana and the developments that have been made in the last 20 years. It also attempts to relate the stride made towards legal recognition of optometry in Ghana. In presenting this historical account, it is hoped that sometime in the future, one should be able to look back at the beginning of optometry training in Ghana and be able to measure the advancement or otherwise that have been made since its inception. (S Afr Optom 2011 70(3) 136-141)


2-[4-(Methylthio) phenyl] acetohydrazide (HYD) and 5-[4-(methylthio)benzyl]-4H-1,2,4-triazole-3-thiol (TRD) are compounds that contain methylthiophenyl moiety and substantially inhibit corrosion of zinc in acidic medium. The relationship between molecular structures and inhibition efficiencies of these intriguing inhibitors remains the subject of intense speculation, as introduction of thiophenyl group in strategic positions of many molecules alters their activity. We have performed density functional theory calculations at the B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level to analyze the inhibition mechanisms proposed for these compounds. In agreement with experiments, the results afford a full explanation of the highest efficiency observed for TRD in terms of electronic and structural characteristics.


A real time tunable electrooptic rf filter is demonstrated using a multichannel total internal reflection modulator to spatially filter the output of a Bragg cell. The demonstrated filter has a bandwidth to resolution ratio of 28. This ratio can potentially be increased to over 5000 with a like number of individually resolved frequencies.


We demonstrate that higher order bandgaps in all-silica Bragg fibers can have modes with four orders of magnitude lower confinement loss than those using the fundamental bandgap. A scheme for exploiting the higher order gaps for any specific wavelength via a global scaling of the fiber geometry is proposed. This approach provides lower losses than by reducing the confinement loss of the fundamental gap by scaling the core. Using a variety of modeling techniques, we have examined the band structure and guidance of idealized air-core all-silica Bragg fibers. It is demonstrated that the higher order, low loss, bandgaps analyzed here are uniquely accessible to single-material Bragg fibers, and are fundamentally different from the higher order gaps typically associated with depressed-index Bragg fibers such as the ldquoOmniguiderdquo fibers. Further analysis suggests that some of the key features of the guided modes of Bragg fibers can be understood by considering the properties of single hollow-core homogeneous dielectric waveguides (ldquoboreholesrdquo).


Cistanche phelypaea (L.) Cout. (Orobancaceae) was found parasitising the roots of the succulent shrublets Arthrocnemum macrostachyum (Moric.) K.Koch (Chenopodiaceae) in a coastal salt marsh in Qatar. Measurements were conducted to identify soil properties, host, and noninfected plants by soil excavations to expose the haustoria of the parasite attached to the host roots. The water potential, osmotic potential, pressure potential, and chemical analyses were determined in parasite, host, and noninfected plants. Crown diameter and dry mass of the host plants were smaller than in the noninfected plants. A gradient of water potential existed between the host root and the underground tuberous body of the parasite. Potassium was the major cation found in the parasite, while sodium was dominant in the host and noninfected plants. The nitrogen, soluble sugars, total amino acids, and starch contents of the parasite were higher than those of the host and noninfected plants. The high ratio of K+ to Ca2+ in the parasite indicates that it is phloem-feeding. The high nutrient element contents and metabolic products in the parasite are possibly related to the creation of osmotic and water potential gradients between the host and C. phelypaea.


Solvent-cast films from three polymers, carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), sodium alginate (SA), and xanthan gum, were prepared by drying the polymeric gels in air. Three methods, (a) passive hydration, (b) vortex hydration with heating, and (c) cold hydration, were investigated to determine the most effective means of preparing gels for each of the three polymers. Different drying conditions [relative humidity – RH (6–52%) and temperature (3–45°C)] were investigated to determine the effect of drying rate on the films prepared by drying the polymeric gels. The tensile properties of the CMC films were determined by stretching dumbbell-shaped films to breaking point, using a Texture Analyser. Glycerol was used as a plasticizer, and its effects on the drying rate, physical appearance, and tensile properties of the resulting films were investigated. Vortex hydration with heating was the method of choice for preparing gels of SA and CMC, and cold hydration for xanthan gels. Drying rates increased with low glycerol content, high temperature, and low relative humidity. The residual water content of the films increased with increasing glycerol content and high relative humidity and decreased at higher temperatures. Generally, temperature affected the drying rate to a greater extent than relative humidity. Glycerol significantly affected the toughness (increased) and rigidity (decreased) of CMC films. CMC films prepared at 45°C and 6% RH produced suitable films at the fastest rate while films containing equal quantities of glycerol and CMC possessed an ideal balance between flexibility and rigidity.


Massive haemorrhage from facial fractures is rare but the associated mortality rate is high. Here, we describe a case in which thromboelastometry [rotational thromboelastometry (ROTEM)]-guided administration of prothrombin complex concentrate and fibrinogen concentrate was effective in correcting coagulopathy in a 68-year-old man with serious craniofacial trauma and massive haemorrhage. The patient, a cyclist who collided with a car, was transferred to the emergency department of our hospital with signs of shock and significant bleeding from multiple fractures and soft tissue injuries to the face. Blood gas analysis and standard laboratory tests revealed the presence of anaemia and acidosis, and our massive haemorrhage protocol was initiated. E-FAST and total-body computed tomography scans excluded the possibility of bleeding from other sites. All efforts were directed towards stopping bleeding from craniofacial lesions, but the surgeon experienced difficulty in maintaining haemostasis. ROTEM analysis revealed severe coagulopathy and was indispensable in guiding transfusion: 2 g tranexamic acid, followed by 1000 IU prothrombin complex concentrate, 5 g fibrinogen and 2 U platelet concentrate. Two hours later, ROTEM analysis showed that coagulopathy had been corrected, and haemostasis was confirmed by cessation of bleeding. This report highlights the potential for using ROTEM to guide treatment with fibrinogen and prothrombin complex concentrates in the presence of profuse multifocal bleeding and severe coagulopathy.


Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is an acute or subacute disease that is almost invariably fatal if untreated. It is a rare disease in renal transplant recipients and frequently reported together with other infectious agents. A 39-year-old renal transplant patient was admitted to hospital for elective coronary surgery. In the post-operative period, he developed spiking fever and non-productive cough and his general condition deteriorated. While he was taking medication for non-specific pneumonia, a cavitary lesion occurred in his lung, and he had the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis and antituberculous treatment was started. Despite treatment, his fever continued. As the patient developed pancytopenia and splenomegaly, a bone marrow aspiration was done. Evaluation of bone marrow aspirate indicated Leishmania parasites. He was successfully treated with a more intensive liposomal amphotericin (L-AmB). Complete cure was achieved during follow-up period of 10 months without clinical relapse. In the existence of fever and long-standing pancytopenia, VL should be suspected although the patient had another proved infection and did not live or visit an endemic area. L-AmB usage can be safely preferred for treatment of selected renal transplant recipients with VL as first-line therapy.


Protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), a ubiquitously expressed Ser/Thr phosphatase is an important regulator of cytokine signaling and cell function. We previously showed that myeloid-specific deletion of PP2A (LysMcrePP2A-/-) increased mortality in a murine peritoneal sepsis model. In the current study, we assessed the role of myeloid PP2A in regulation of lung injury induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or bleomycin delivered intratracheally. LysMcrePP2A-/- mice experienced increased lung injury in response to both LPS and bleomycin. LysMcrePP2A-/- mice developed more exuberant fibrosis in response to bleomycin, elevated cytokine responses, and chronic myeloid inflammation. Bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) from LysMcrePP2A-/- mice showed exaggerated inflammatory cytokine release under conditions of both M1 and M2 activation. Notably, secretion of IL-10 was elevated under all stimulation conditions, including activation of BMDMs by multiple Toll-like receptor ligands. Supernatants collected from LPS-stimulated LysMcrePP2A-/- BMDMs induced epithelial cell apoptosis in vitro but this effect was mitigated when IL-10 was also depleted from the BMDMs by crossing LysMcrePP2A-/- mice with systemic IL-10-/- mice (LysMcrePP2A-/- × IL-10-/-) or when IL-10 was neutralized. Despite these findings, IL-10 did not directly induce epithelial cell apoptosis but sensitized epithelial cells to other mediators from the BMDMs. Taken together our results demonstrate that myeloid PP2A regulates production of multiple cytokines but that its effect is most pronounced on IL-10 production. Furthermore, IL-10 sensitizes epithelial cells to apoptosis in response to myeloid-derived mediators, which likely contributes to the pathogenesis of lung injury and fibrosis in this model.


The effect of high frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) with a subthreshold intensity on hemodynamic response in brain cortices (both motor and prefrontal cortices) was investigated using the functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) technique. FNIRS signals of the motor and prefrontal cortices were acquired in healthy volunteers (n=7) at rest and during rTMS intervention. A significant reduction in oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO) concentration during the entire stimulation process was observed from both motor and prefrontal cortices. Results showed that the fNIRS technique can provide a reliable measure of regional cortical brain activation that could be valuable in studying cortical excitability connectivity in combination with rTMS.


The physiological effects of furosemide, a new diuretic agent chemically related to thiazide diuretics, have been evaluated in seven normal subjects and in 39 patients with edema of varied origin.The compound exhibited an unusually broad dose-response curve so that increasing diuresis could be induced with oral doses of from 40 mg once daily to 600 mg three times daily. At the higher dosages furosemide was significantly more effective than conventional thiazide diuretics and exhibited an order of potency which can be achieved with ethacrynic acid.In many of its diuretic properties furosemide resembled thiazide agents. The natriuresis and diuresis which it produced was associated with a disproportionate loss of chloride and potassium and the consequent production of degrees of hypokalemic alkalosis.However, physiological studies indicate that furosemide is qualitatively and quantitatively more similar to ethacrynic acid than to thiazide agents. Thus, furosemide, like ethacrynic acid and unlike thiazide diuretics acted to interfere with both urinary concentration (TcH2O) during antidiuresis and to block urinary dilution (CH2O) during water diuresis. It also caused a negative urinary hydrogen balance during diuresis.The data suggest that furosemide acts to block sodium chloride reabsorption in the ascending limb of Henle's loop and in more cortical distal diluting segments. The magnitude of its effects suggests that it also may interfere with proximal sodium chloride reabsorption. Ion exchange sodium reabsorptive mechanisms appear unaffected and become overactive during drug administration thereby accounting for the observed increases in potassium and hydrogen ion excretions.Because of its properties furosemide was especially useful intravenously as an adjunct in the treatment of acute pulmonary edema and for oral maintenance therapy in the treatment of difficult or refractory edematous patients, many of whom exhibit associated electrolyte derangements or azotemias. In these difficult situations, for maximum diuresis and to avoid problems associated with K+, H+ and Cl- depletion, intermittent therapy added to a maintenance schedule which utilizes aldosterone antagonists or chloride and potassium supplements appears advisable.Furosemide, also like ethacrynic acid, was capable of adding to the natriuretic action of all other types of diuretic agents. This observation provides additional evidence for the existence of a number of different tubular transport processes located at different sites in the nephron which can participate in sodium conservation.


We report results from an experiment measuring the semiinclusive reaction {sup 2}H(e,e{sup '}p{sub s}) in which the proton p{sub s} is moving at a large angle relative to the momentum transfer. If we assume that the proton was a spectator to the reaction taking place on the neutron in deuterium, the initial state of that neutron can be inferred. This method, known as spectator tagging, can be used to study electron scattering from high-momentum (off-shell) neutrons in deuterium. The data were taken with a 5.765 GeV electron beam on a deuterium target in Jefferson Laboratory's Hall B, using the CEBAF large acceptance spectrometer. A reduced cross section was extracted for different values of final state missing mass W*, backward proton momentum p{sup {yields}}{sub s}, and momentum transfer Q{sup 2}. The data are compared to a simple plane wave impulse approximation (PWIA) spectator model. A strong enhancement in the data observed at transverse kinematics is not reproduced by the PWIA model. This enhancement can likely be associated with the contribution of final state interactions (FSI) that were not incorporated into the model. Within the framework of the simple spectator model, a 'bound neutron structure function' F{sub 2n}{sup eff} was extracted asmore » a function of W* and the scaling variable x* at extreme backward kinematics, where the effects of FSI appear to be smaller. For p{sub s}>0.4 GeV/c, where the neutron is far off-shell, the model overestimates the value of F{sub 2n}{sup eff} in the region of x* between 0.25 and 0.6. A dependence of the bound neutron structure function on the neutron's 'off-shell-ness' is one possible effect that can cause the observed deviation.« less


The Dolan Springs volcanic field (DSV), of northwestern Arizona, is dominated by andesite and basaltic-andesite flows and breccias, with minor amounts of basalt, rhyolite, and ash-flow tuff. Geochemistry is used here as a tool to evaluate the roles and contributions of the lithospheric and asthenospheric mantles to magmatism related to Miocene extension in the Colorado River extension corridor (CREC). The majority of synextensional volcanic rocks in the DSV are geochemically similar to regional trends, but rare tholeiitic basalts erupted near the end of extension. The tholeiites have trace element signatures similar to ocean island basalt (OIB), but have isotopic values indicative of a source in the lithosphere. The tholeiites represent the endpoint in a progressive decrease in the depth of lithospheric melting (22-8 Ma) that occurs just prior to the onset of asthenospheric volcanism at 6 Ma. Using geochemical arguments, models are presented here for trace element stratification in the lithospheric mantle and magma genesis in the CREC.


The data on the internal motion in the protein macromolecules and its relation to the function of various globular proteins which were obtained by studying the spin-lattice and spin-spin relaxation processes for the protein protons are reviewed. In dry proteins and polypeptides the types of the internal motion such as the methyl group rotation are observed which do not depend on free volumes within the globules. In the presence of water the oscillation motions of the molecular groups within the macromolecule are observed with frequencies lower 10(8) s-1 at negative temperatures and in the nanosecond range at room temperature. The rotation motions in serum albumin with frequencies 10(5)-10(6) S-1 and in RNAase with higher frequencies were registered. Comparative study of the spin-echo decay curves for protons of 7 enzymes and 5 non-enzymatic proteins, including the pair chymotrypsinogen-chymotrypsin, leads to the conclusion that more intense intermal motions occur in the enzyme macromolecules compared with nonenzymes. This conclusion corresponds to data achieved by other methods.


Autonomous vehicle (AV) technology has advanced rapidly in recent years with some automated features already available in vehicles on the market. AVs are expected to reduce traffic crashes as the majority of crashes are related to driver errors, fatigue, alcohol, or drugs. However, very little research has been conducted to estimate the safety impact of AVs. This paper aims to investigate the safety impacts of AVs using a simulation-based surrogate safety measure approach. To this end, safety impacts are explored through the number of conflicts extracted from the VISSIM traffic microsimulator using the Surrogate Safety Assessment Model (SSAM). Behaviours of human-driven vehicles (HVs) and AVs (level 4 automation) are modelled within the VISSIM's car-following model. The safety investigation is conducted for two case studies, that is, a signalised intersection and a roundabout, under various AV penetration rates. Results suggest that AVs improve safety significantly with high penetration rates, even when they travel with shorter headways to improve road capacity and reduce delay. For the signalised intersection, AVs reduce the number of conflicts by 20% to 65% with the AV penetration rates of between 50% and 100% (statistically significant at ). For the roundabout, the number of conflicts is reduced by 29% to 64% with the 100% AV penetration rate (statistically significant at ).


The electronic structure, stability, and hydrogen storage capacity of strain induced Mg functionalized silicene (SiMg) and silicane (SiHMg) monolayers have been studied by means of van der Waals induced first principles calculations. A drastic increase in the binding energy of Mg adatoms on both the monolayers under the biaxial symmetric strain of 10% ensures the uniform distribution of dopants over the substrates. A significant positive charge on each Mg accumulates a maximum of six H2 molecules with H2 storage capacity of 8.10% and 7.95% in case of SiMg and SiHMg, respectively. The average adsorption energy for H2 molecules has been found ideal for practical H2 storage materials.


This article presents a proposal for the organization of the Contextual Component in Functional Discourse Grammar. A guiding principle in this proposal is that, given the fact that Functional Discourse Grammar is a theory of grammar, the Contextual Component should provide the information that is necessary for a proper functioning of the grammar rather than aim at an exhaustive specification of all the information that plays a role in interpreting linguistic expressions. The Contextual Component contains situational and discursive information and is organized in different strata that correspond to the interpersonal, representational, morphosyntactic, and phonological levels of representation within the grammar. The contextual representations make use of the same formalizations as the corresponding linguistic representations, thus allowing for direct exchange of information between the Grammatical and the Contextual Components. Thus exchange of information is handled by an interface called the contextualizer. The article illustrates the functioning of this model by analyzing the role of contextual information with respect to three grammatical phenomena in three different languages: Unexpressed arguments in Turkish, English too, and answers to yes/no questions in European Portuguese.


Abstract We determined group composition and foraging mode in a wild population of rupicolous rainbow skinks (Mabuya margaritifer) on rocky outcrops in a humid savannah of South Africa and examined diet, sexual dimorphism, and life-history traits in museum material. We also field-tested lizards for prey chemical discrimination. Males were larger than females in both body and head size. Both sexes reached maturity at 68 mm SVL, and females produced clutches of 2–9 eggs. Males excluded other males from their home range but shared overnight crevices with 1–4 females and 1–6 juveniles. Mabuya margaritifer were ambush foragers when only the amount of time spent moving (8%) was considered; however, other variables such as moves per minute (1.3) and average speed (0.01 m/s) suggest an intermediate foraging mode between active and ambush foraging for the population studied. Lizards spent most time on rock (81.5%) but also moved into vegetation (7.9%) and along the rock-vegetation interface (10.6%). Both sexes spent similar amounts of time in these microhabitats and were observed feeding in all three. Diet was dominated by termites, and overlap in prey types between sexes was high. In experimental tests for prey chemical discrimination, lizards tongue-flicked rarely, giving no indication of an ability to discriminate prey chemicals. Also, lizards observed in the field during focal observations performed few tongue-flicks. Based on these results, sexual dimorphism is best explained by sexual selection via male contest competition and not by ecological niche divergence.


A parametrization of SU(3) shell-model spectroscopic factors for light nuclei is proposed. It is shown that spectroscopic factors, as calculated from first principles, can be reproduced nearly perfectly, including taking full account of the Pauli principle, without recurring to sophisticated microscopic procedures. The results show that microscopic spectroscopic factors follow a surprisingly simple pattern.


Bitter taste receptors (TAS2Rs) serve an important function during evolution. They are designed to detect toxic plant metabolites before ingestion. With respect to bitter taste receptors the genetic repertoire of animal species is highly diverse reflecting the species differences in their metabolic requirements, the variety of habitats and evolutionary history. Over the recent years, an incredible amount of data on human bitter taste receptor pharmacology, biochemistry and structural features has accumulated. It became apparent that TAS2R gene expression is not restricted to the oral cavity, but includes several nongustatory tissues, thus expanding the presumed roles of TAS2Rs. By comparing the bitter taste receptor genes of humans with our closest relative, the chimpanzee, we learn about some of the evolutionary forces that shaped the development of modern human beings. This article discusses the current knowledge on bitter taste physiology, TAS2R function and evolutionary conservation of human and chimpanzee TAS2R genes.

Key Concepts:

Taste physiology and hedonics of bitter taste appear similar in humans and chimpanzees.

Human bitter taste receptors can be grouped into generalists and specialists depending on their tuning breadth.

Similar to the human situation, bitter tasting abilities of the chimpanzee are in some instances individual.

Dynamic evolution of human and chimpanzee TAS2R genes is earmarked by regional diversification.

The rate of TAS2R gene pseudogenisation indicates relaxed evolutionary constraints in the primate lineage.

Keywords:

bitter taste receptor genes;
TAS2R;
taste;
dynamic evolution;
food selection


The systematic study of earnings management has now developed into a dynamic body of empirical literature. Despite a dynamic body of earnings management research that are well founded in economic theory, there have not been any attempts to take an integrated perspective (Beneish, 2001).This study integrates and well reconciles different research perspectives in the earnings management literature in attempt to provide a theoretical guidance for the future research. We first formulate a conceptual framework for understanding earnings management fundamental determinants based on market imperfection of information asymmetry and agency conflicts. We then highlight the arguments of opportunistic behaviour and signalling mechanism in order to address that earnings management is notnecessarily bad; it could be a device to enhance communication with external parties and improve internal efficiency. Finally, we review different managerial incentives that drive earnings management and we discuss the linkage between efficient contracting, opportunistic behaviour and signalling mechanism.


had shooting pains going into the fingers and up into the muscle at the back of the arm as well. He was seen at night and on examinationhad a temperatureof a6'5° C. (97'8° F.) and a pulse rate of 116. Therewas no increase in his jerks. He was given 500 United Statesof America units of antitetanic serum Into the left arm while the wound in the palm, in spite of looking ィ セ 。 ャ エ ィ y L was cleaned and opened up. The next day he reported that he had pain in the fingers and arm about 3 a.m., lasting longer, but not so severe. He thought also that he had some "pullings" in various parts of his other limbs. He had a big local reaction from the serum. He was given 1,500 units more of antitetanic serum (Commonwealth Serum Laboratories) the same morning. He rang up the next morning to report "no more of the pain" less local reaction with the serum, but general イ ・ 。 」 エ ゥ ッ セ of aches and pains. There were no further symptoms.


Natural languages are full of rules and exceptions. One of the most famous quantitative rules is Zipf's law, which states that the frequency of occurrence of a word is approximately inversely proportional to its rank. Though this "law" of ranks has been found to hold across disparate texts and forms of data, analyses of increasingly large corpora since the late 1990s have revealed the existence of two scaling regimes. These regimes have thus far been explained by a hypothesis suggesting a separability of languages into core and noncore lexica. Here we present and defend an alternative hypothesis that the two scaling regimes result from the act of aggregating texts. We observe that text mixing leads to an effective decay of word introduction, which we show provides accurate predictions of the location and severity of breaks in scaling. Upon examining large corpora from 10 languages in the Project Gutenberg eBooks collection, we find emphatic empirical support for the universality of our claim.


A combination of steady-state fluorescence, fluorescence lifetime measurements and the determination of time-resolved emission spectra were employed to characterize asphaltene toluene solutions. Lifetime measurements were shown to be insensitive to the source of asphaltene or the alkane solvent from which asphaltene was precipitated. This insensitivity suggests that either the composition of Athabasca and Cold Lake asphaltene is very similar or that the fluorescence behavior is dominated by the same subset of fluorophores for the different samples. These results highlight the limitations in using fluorescence to characterize asphaltene solutions. Different dependencies were observed for the average lifetimes with the asphaltene concentration when measured at two different emission wavelengths (420 nm and 520 nm). This result suggests that different fluorophores underwent diverse interactions with other asphaltene molecules as the asphaltene concentration was raised, suggesting that models for asphaltene aggregation need to include molecular diversity.


European film culture in the inter-war period has long been celebrated for fosterign the first wave of avant-garde filmmaking. But many studies have focused upon France, Germany and the Soviet Union, ignoring the activity of the film industry in Britain. This is the first book-length study of a number of currents which opposed mainstream filmmakin and which championed film as an intellectual, modern art. It traces the growth of new apporaches to film through exhibition and writing on cinema, and looks at how this cultural formation shaped filmmaking. As such, it takes an interdisciplinary approach in which a study of independent filmmaking in this era is firmly placed within a cultural context, linking the ways in which films were presented, received and produced.


The most Jewish of gospels in its contents and yet the most anti-Jewish in its polemics, the Gospel of Matthew has been said to mark the emergence of Christianity from Judaism. This text overturns the interpretation by showing us how Matthew, far from proclaiming the replacement of Israel by the Christian church, wrote from within Jewish tradition to a distinctly Jewish audience. Recent research reveals that among both Jews and Christians of the first century, many groups believed in Jesus while remaining close to Judaism. Saldarini argues that the author of the Gospel of Matthew belonged to such a group, supporting his claim with an informed reading of Matthew's text and historical context. Matthew emerges as a Jewish teacher competing for the commitment of his people after the catastrophic loss of the Temple in 70 C.E., his polemics aimed not at all Jews but at those who oppose him. Saldarini shows that Matthew's teaching about Jesus fits into first-century Jewish thought, with its tradition of God-sent leaders and heavenly mediators. In Saldarini's account, Matthew's Christian-Jewish community is a Jewish group, albeit one that deviated from the larger Jewish community.


The material dispersion of the [Ckmim][BF4] (k = 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10) family of ionic liquids is measured at several temperatures over a broad spectral range from 300 nm to 1550 nm. The experimental curves are fitted to a modified three-resonance Sellmeier model to understand the effects of temperature and alkyl chain length on the dispersion behaviour. From the parameters of the fitting, we analyze the influence that the different constituents of these ionic liquids have on the dispersion behaviour. In addition, a semi-empirical approach combining simulated electronic polarizabilities and experimental densities for predicting the material dispersion is successfully tested by using a direct comparison with the experimental results. The limitations of this method are analyzed in terms of the molecular structure of the ionic liquids. The results of this work aim to increase our knowledge about how the molecular structure of an ionic liquid influences its material dispersion. Understanding this influence is fundamental to producing ionic liquids with tailored optical properties.


OBJECTIVE: To describe the possible development of antiarrhythmic resistance to cifenline, an investigational Class I agent. METHODS: Forty patients with chronic ventricular premature depolarizations (VPDs) underwent dose-ranging studies with cifenline, an investigational Class I antiarrhythmic agent. Patients had a minimum of 30 VPDs/h detected by ambulatory electrocardiographic (ECG) monitoring over a 48-hour baseline placebo lead-in period. Twenty-two patients (55 percent) who initially responded received long-term cifenline therapy. Ambulatory ECG monitoring over 24 hours was repeated during active cifenline therapy at three-month intervals and during placebo reintroduction at six-month intervals. RESULTS: After an average follow-up of 28 months, VPD frequency during cifenline therapy was similar to that during initial baseline placebo therapy in 8 of the 22 patients (36 percent) who initially responded. Placebo reintroduction following cifenline failure showed a VPD frequency similar to that with active therapy. All patients had further cifenline dosage increases without success. Plasma cifenline concentrations increased in all patients and were in the high therapeutic range. All 8 patients were switched to other Class I antiarrhythmic agents with successful VPD suppression during treatment with the first alternative drug. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that antiarrhythmic resistance occurred with cifenline in these patients as (1) initial efficacy was established for a minimum of two years, (2) VPD frequency was similar during cifenline therapy and placebo reintroduction, (3) cifenline therapy failure continued despite further dosage titration, and (4) alternative Class I antiarrhythmic therapy was successful in all patients. Repeat intermittent ambulatory ECG monitoring is necessary not only to assess the continued need for antiarrhythmic drug therapy, but also to establish continued long-term efficacy.


Th is editorial is intended to frame the special issue of the Journal of Early Modern Studies devoted to Th e Circulation of Cosmographical Knowledge in Early Modern Europe . Providing early modern de fi nitions of cosmography and di ff erentiating between cosmography and geography, it takes stock of the latest scholarly publications on the subject and sheds light on the various contributions in this issue. In the presentation of the various sections, it emphasizes fresh perspectives and methodologies likely to open up new interpretive paths in the fi eld of cosmography


The bone marrow stroma maintains hematopoiesis and coordinately regulates regenerative responses through dynamic interactions with hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. Recent studies indicate that stromal components in the bone marrow of leukemia patients undergo a process of successive adaptation that in turn exerts dramatic effects on the hematopoietic stem cell compartment and promotes leukemic drug resistance. Therefore, functional changes in discrete marrow stromal populations can be considered an aspect of leukemia biogenesis in that they create an aberrant, self‐reinforcing microenvironment. In this review, we will describe the current understanding of the remodeling of the hematopoietic stem cell niche following invasion by leukemia cells. We place emphasis on existing evidence of how mesenchymal stem cells and their progeny facilitate neoplastic growth and describe available models and analytical techniques to understand the conversion of the niche toward disease persistence. Stem Cells 2018;36:304–312