Scalable systems for automated driving have to reliably cope with an open-world setting. This means, the perception systems are exposed to drastic domain shifts, like changes in weather conditions, time-dependent aspects, or geographic regions. Covering all domains with annotated data is impossible because of the endless variations of domains and the time-consuming and expensive annotation process. Furthermore, fast development cycles of the system additionally introduce hardware changes, such as sensor types and vehicle setups, and the required knowledge transfer from simulation.To enable scalable automated driving, it is therefore crucial to address these domain shifts in a robust and efficient manner. Over the last years, a vast amount of different domain adaptation techniques evolved. There already exists a number of survey papers for domain adaptation on camera images, however, a survey for LiDAR perception is absent. Nevertheless, LiDAR is a vital sensor for automated driving that provides detailed 3D scans of the vehicle's surroundings. To stimulate future research, this paper presents a comprehensive review of recent progress in domain adaptation methods and formulates interesting research questions specifically targeted towards LiDAR perception.


Three degrees of stenosis were produced in the femoral and carotid arteries of twenty-six adult dogs. Minimum stenosis caused neither proximal nor distal dilatation. Moderate stenosis, defined by the presence of a distal thrill and bruit, always produced post-stenotic dilatation. Severe stenosis, with a marked decrease or absence of distal. pulsation caused temporary proximal dilatation. The arteries were painted with a radi-opaque paste which did not change their elastic properties and allowed daily measurements of arterial diameter. Radiograms showed that if turbulence was present, the artery usually started to dilate within twenty-four hours, reached a steady state within ten days, and then remained essentially unchanged for up to ten months. The dilatation was fusiform, and usually extended for 1.75 to 2.0 cm distal to the end of the band. Frequency analysis of the murmurs showed a wide frequency spectrum with no resonant points and no components over 1500 cycles/ sec. This type of sound is more likely to be produced by turbulence than by cavitation or vortex formation. Dye injection in a model showed a random dye distribution starting a short distance distal to the constriction. Analysis of pressure-volume diagrams from these arteries35 suggested that the dilatation was due to a weakness of the arterial wall in the poststenotic segment.


Restructuring is suspected to be influencing perception of job insecurity. The jobinsecurity will have a negative impact on job satisfaction, organization commitment, and even turnover intention. When insecurity is conceived within someone's perception, it will lower his or her job satisfaction and also commitment on the company. This research was conducted upon service (bank) and manufacturing companies which had run restructuring in the last four years. It involved 216 respondents with 78.2% of response rate. Simple regression and hierarchical regression analysis were used to analyze the data.An interesting finding of this research is that restructuring conducted in bank andmanufacturing companies has been found out to be having no influence on turnover intention. On the other hand, job insecurity perception does not influence job satisfaction, commitment, and turnover intention. In addition, this research came to a conclusion that organization commitment is an mediating variable between job satisfaction and turnover intentionKeywords: restructuring, job insecurity, job satisfaction, organization commitment, turnover intention, survivor.


Abstract
 Using household data from urban Ethiopia, we provide an empirical test of the economic theory of Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCAs) and identify the impact of ROSCAs and member characteristics on participation and volume of saving. Unlike other studies, we account for the endogeneity of all ROSCA variables. Muslims, individuals who live in richer households, the self-employed, private sector employees and households with large numbers of women are more likely to join ROSCAs. A robust finding is that the savings are significantly affected by the characteristics of the members but not that of the informal saving institution. Some policy implications are discussed.


Developmental and Epileptic Encephalopathies (DEEs) occur in childhood and are associated with severe epileptic seizures and neurological impairment. The aim of this study was to combine quantitative and qualitative methodologies to comprehensively describe factors related to quality of life, impact on the family and psychosocial factors in parents of children with TSC, STXBP1 and SYNGAP1 variants.A convergent parallel mixed design including parents of children with DEE. In the cross-sectional study, 20 parents (10STXBP1, five SYNGAP1, five TSC) were given questionnaires on quality of life, impact on the family and psychological factors. In the descriptive qualitative study, in-depth interviews were conducted with 18 parents (nine STXBP1, five TSC, four SYNGAP1) using a semi-structured questionnaire. A thematic analysis was carried out. The results of the two studies were combined by showing similarities and differences through tables, figures, accounts, and joint displays.In terms of quality of life, the integrated results were consistent in highlighting the importance of family interaction, although in the qualitative section the influence of the relationship between the children's siblings, the relationship with health professionals and the difficulties in obtaining public aid were highlighted. In terms of impact, the integrated results show that the illness has a significant impact on the family; the financial burden is highlighted, and the experience of the illness is discussed in depth. Finally, the psychological aspects, symptoms such as anxiety, stress and strain, were consistent. Most of the participants reported sleep disturbance, as identified in the questionnaire, although not mentioned in the interviews.The combined results of the mixed method provide an in-depth analysis of the impact of DEEs on parents of children with STXBP1, SYNGAP1 and TSC.


The case of German chancellor Angela Merkel's rhetoric is remarkable: Amidst the Eurozone crisis, she deployed the slogan of "TINA" (There is no alternative), suggesting a lack of choice and a confined room for manoeuvre. Referring to economic necessity and European obligations, her government poorly explained the processes behind the Greek bailout (Schmidt 2014; Seville 2016). The government's crisis management appeared as a technocratic style of governance and stimulated claims for more democratic participation, open debate, and for a priority of domestic interests. Consequently, the right-wing party "Alternative fur Deutschland" (AfD) started out as a populist opposition against the project of a European currency. The party gradually transformed into a fierce opposition against cosmopolitan and emancipatory values (Franzmann 2017). Yet, the beginning of the AfD displays difficulties for a populist discourse seeking to formulate an alternative to policies once legitimized as rational, binding, and self-evident.
Besides populist opposition, journalists, public intellectuals and politicians alike have denounced the prevalent political discourse and, in particular, Angela Merkel's rhetorical shortcomings ever since 2010. In my paper, I argue that the public scandalization of TINA-discourse and the rise of a populist party on the right have triggered a change of discourse in Germany. Since the high tides of the Eurozone crisis, subsequent governments have tried to avoid TINA-rhetoric – depoliticisation itself has become a salient issue in the political debate. Strikingly, we witness a self-referential discourse on the intricacies of political discourse. The "threat" of right-wing populism has underpinned this politicised discursive constellation. But does it affect the political legitimation of elected policymakers so far or do we see new discursive alliances and antagonisms that menace to cut short democratic debates? In answering these questions, I will highlight the pitfalls of discursive depoliticisation in the age of populism.


Plants synthesise an extraordinary array of natural products that usually do not play a role in their growth and development, and thus are traditionally referred to as secondary metabolites. However, recent advances in plant sciences have revealed that these compounds not only function in response to environmental stimuli, but also play more basic roles in plant growth. Secondary metabolites have several important roles in plants: they protect against herbivores and microbial infection and act as signals for symbiotic bacteria and mycorrhiza, attractants for pollinators and seed-dispersing animals, allelopathic agents in natural habitats, physical and chemical barriers to abiotic stressors such as UV and evaporation and endogenous regulators of plant growth hormones. Many secondary metabolites are also useful for mankind as dyes, essential oils, flavouring agents, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, tanning agents and so on. Rapid advances in the metabolic engineering and synthetic biology of secondary metabolites have revealed novel physiological roles of these secondary metabolites in plants.

Key Concepts:

Plants synthesise a vast array of natural products (secondary metabolites) in response to environmental stimuli.

Secondary metabolites have several important roles: they protect against herbivores and microbial infection and act as attractants for pollinators and seed-dispersing animals, allelopathic agents in natural environments and endogeneous regulators of plant growth.

Secondary metabolites are synthesised from primary metabolites such as acetate, pyruvate, and amino acids, and are mainly classified into three major groups; the terpenoids, the phenolics (mainly phenylpropanoids) and alkaloids.

Keywords:

secondary metabolites;
natural products;
biosynthesis;
accumulation;
taxonomy;
raison d'etre;
metabolic engineering;
environmental response


Background: Hypomagnesaemia has been reported to occur with increased frequency in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus; it is frequently overlooked and undertreated. Hypomagnesemia has also been associated with diabetic retinopathy.
Aims: The present study was conducted with an objective to evaluate the serum magnesium and fasting blood glucose in type 2 Diabetes mellitus cases and compare them with controls. The present study also attempts to evaluate the possible relationship between diabetic retinopathy and serum magnesium levels.
Material and Methods: A total of 120 subjects were included in this study and divided into 3 groups. The study group consisted of 40 patients that are type 2 diabetes and retinopathy and the control groups consisted of 40 patients with type 2 diabetes without retinopathy and 40 healthy subjects respectively. Both cases and controls were subjected to estimation of biochemical parameters.
Results: There is significant difference between levels of serum magnesium levels among diabetics without complications and healthy subjects. The mean serum magnesium levels among the above groups are 1.79±0.15 mg/dl and 2.25±0.16 mg/dl respectively (p<0.001). There is also significant difference between levels of serum magnesium levels among diabetic retinopathy patients and diabetics without complications i.e.1.62±0.13mg/dl and 1.79±0.15 mg/dl respectively (p<0.001).
Conclusion: The serum magnesium levels were significantly lower in patients with diabetic retinopathy compared to diabetics without complications.


The General Harvard History Collection consists of selected sources relating to life at Harvard from the 17th to the early 21st century. This guide serves as a quick reference for chronological browsing of the collection. Check HOLLIS+ for more sources.


The Land Surface Albedo (LSA) was estimated in the broader Mediterranean area, on an 8-day basis, for the period 2001–2012. MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) albedo product parameters, at 1 km × 1 km spatial resolution, were used. LSA changes during the above study period were also estimated, based on annual average values. Results revealed increasing LSA trends dominating in the Levant region and decreasing in NW Africa, of the order of 3.3% and −6.6%, respectively, while mixed signs were observed in southern Europe. Three factors that can determine the LSA changes were investigated: land cover changes, rainfall changes and Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT) spatio-temporal variability. The analysis made clear that land cover and rainfall changes affect LSA at local and regional scales, while the effect of AOT was not important. Land cover changes revealed deforestation hot spots, where LSA was increased by 13%–14%, while an increase in rainfall over many areas in NW Africa appears to have caused a corresponding decrease in LSA by over 5%. These findings highlight the importance of a global and continuous LSA monitoring at both regional and local scales, which is necessary for both climate monitoring and modeling studies.


In this paper, we describe a new method to generate a smooth algebraic spline (AS) approximation of the molecular surface (MS) based on an initial coarse triangulation derived from the atomic coordinate information of the biomolecule, resident in the Protein data bank (PDB). Our method first constructs a triangular prism scaffold covering the PDB structure, and then generates a piecewise polynomial F on the Bernstein-Bezier (BB) basis within the scaffold. An ASMS model of the molecular surface is extracted as the zero contours of F, which is nearly C1 and has dual implicit and parametric representations. The dual representations allow us easily do the point sampling on the ASMS model and apply it to the accurate estimation of the integrals involved in the electrostatic solvation energy computations. Meanwhile comparing with the trivial piecewise linear surface model, fewer number of sampling points are needed for the ASMS, which effectively reduces the complexity of the energy estimation.


We introduce unsupervised techniques based on phrase-based statistical machine translation for grammatical error correction (GEC) trained on a pseudo learner corpus created by Google Translation. We verified our GEC system through experiments on various GEC dataset, includi ng a low resource track of the shared task at Building Educational Applications 2019 (BEA 2019). As a result, we achieved an F_0.5 score of 28.31 points with the test data of the low resource track.


The official control of animal proteins in feed is focused on the prevention of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (mad cow disease). The current legislation of the European Union is planned to avoid the feeding of animal by-products to the same species as its origin (ban of cannibalism, or species-to-species ban). With respect to the official control, the circumscription of the term species in legislation should be defined, and species-specific markers should be available. Markers will include primer sets, antibodies, near-infrared profiles or visual characteristics. The method of classical light microscopy is currently the only accepted method in the framework of the official detection of animal proteins. Besides the necessary development of complementary methods, either as stand alone methods or in combination, the visual characteristics used for a microscopic examination of meat and bone meal particles should be fully explored. Multivariate analysis of a range of characteristics of lacunae in bone fragments revealed that discrimination is possible between mammalian and avian bone fragments. Translation to features for every day practical use should be carried out very carefully, and only comprehensively collected information on a range of features will give a first indication of the source. Characteristics of hairs and feather filaments can be used to identify the origin of animal particles. An in situ identification method has been developed for antibody conjugation with troponin I in muscle fibers on a microscopic slide. A proof of principle is presented. Interlaboratory transferability and validation have still to be achieved. The development and testing of light microscopy markers in the framework of the SAFEED-PAP project revealed that a fine tuning of existing microscopic characteristics appears to be possible.


Marvin is amazed when he goes home with Casey Happleton one day after school and discovers that she lives in an old fire station. But that's not all that surprises him. Casey has a secret she wants to share - a crystal with super magical powers. A crystal that makes all your wishes come true. Can it be real or could she be casting her own spell on him?


There is increasing awareness and international support for rebuilding states that have gone through conflict. Third-party interventions in bringing peace to countries that have emerged from civil wars have been channeled through a fundamental concept known as liberal peacebuilding. Liberal peacebuilding, even though it faces much criticism, has been a prominent strategy for third-party intervention in post-war countries since the end of the Cold War. This paper deals with the liberal peacebuilding process in Sierra Leone, after its decade-long brutal civil war. The focus lies on Dr Roland Paris' institutionalization before liberalization (IBL) peacebuilding strategy, its strengths and shortcomings, and its contributions to sustaining peace in Sierra Leone since the end of the war in 2002. Arguing that the IBL strategy has helped to maintain peace in Sierra Leone after ten years of civil war, the paper analyzes how peacebuilding has been implemented in post-war Sierra Leone under the six different pillars of the IBL strategy.


High-quality 3D reconstruction of large-scale indoor scene is the key to combine Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (SLAM) with other applications, such as building inspection and construction monitoring. However, the requirement of global consistency brings challenges to both localization and mapping. In particular, significant localization and mapping error can happen when standard SLAM techniques are used when dealing with the area of featureless walls and roofs. This paper proposed a novel framework aiming to reconstruct a high-quality, globally consistent 3D model for indoor environments using only a RGB-D sensor. We first introduce the sparse and dense feature constraints in the local bundle adjustment. Then, the planar constraints are incorporated in the global bundle adjustment. We fuse the point clouds in a truncated signed distance function volume, from which the high quality mesh can be extracted. Our framework leads to a comprehensive 3D scanning solution for indoor scene, enabling high-quality results and potential applications in building information system. The video of 3D models reconstructed by the method proposed in this paper is available at https://youtu.be/DWMP4YfeNeY.


BACKGROUND
A limited number of approved therapeutic options are available to metastatic medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) patients, and the response to conventional chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy strategies is inadequate. Sporadic and inherited mutations in the tyrosine kinase RET result in oncogenic activation that is associated with the pathogenesis of MTC. Cabozantinib is a potent inhibitor of MET, RET, and vascular endothelial factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2), as well as other tyrosine kinases that have been implicated in tumor development and progression. The object of this study was to determine the in vitro biochemical and cellular inhibitory profile of cabozantinib against RET, and in vivo antitumor efficacy using a xenograft model of MTC.

METHODS
Cabozantinib was evaluated in biochemical and cell-based assays that determined the potency of the compound against wild type and activating mutant forms of RET. Additionally, the pharmacodynamic modulation of RET and MET and in vivo antitumor activity of cabozantinib was examined in a MTC tumor model following subchronic oral administration.

RESULTS
In biochemical assays, cabozantinib inhibited multiple forms of oncogenic RET kinase activity, including M918T and Y791F mutants. Additionally, it inhibited proliferation of TT tumor cells that harbor a C634W activating mutation of RET that is most often associated with MEN2A and familial MTC. In these same cells grown as xenograft tumors in nude mice, oral administration of cabozantinib resulted in dose-dependent tumor growth inhibition that correlated with a reduction in circulating plasma calcitonin levels. Moreover, immunohistochemical analyses of tumors revealed that cabozantinib reduced levels of phosphorylated MET and RET, and decreased tumor cellularity, proliferation, and vascularization.

CONCLUSIONS
Cabozantinib is a potent inhibitor of RET and prevalent mutationally activated forms of RET known to be associated with MTC, and effectively inhibits the growth of a MTC tumor cell model in vitro and in vivo.


We complete the reformulation of the holographic correspondence as a highly efficient renormalization group (RG) flow that can also determine the UV data in the field theory in the strong-coupling and large-$N$ limit. We introduce a special way to define operators at any given scale in terms of appropriate coarse-grained collective variables, without requiring the use of the elementary fields. The Wilsonian construction is generalized by promoting the cutoff to a functional of these collective variables. We impose three criteria to determine the coarse-graining. The first criterion is that the effective Ward identities for local conservation of energy, momentum, etc. should preserve their standard forms, but in new scale-dependent background metric and sources which are functionals of the effective single-trace operators. The second criterion is that the scale-evolution equations of the operators in the actual background metric should be state-independent, implying that the collective variables should not explicitly appear in them. The final required criterion is that the end point of the scale-evolution of the RG flow can be transformed to a fixed point corresponding to familiar nonrelativistic equations with a finite number of parameters, such as incompressible nonrelativistic Navier-Stokes, under a certain universal rescaling of the scale and of the time coordinate. Using previous work, we explicitly show that in the hydrodynamic limit each such highly efficient RG flow reproduces a unique classical gravity theory with precise UV data that satisfy our IR criterion and also lead to regular horizons in the dual geometries. We obtain the explicit coarse-graining which reproduces Einstein's equations. In a simple example, we are also able to construct a low-energy effective action and compute the beta function. Finally, we show how our construction can be interpolated with the traditional Wilsonian RG flow at a suitable scale and can be used to develop new nonperturbative frameworks for QCD-like theories.


In this paper a novel approach to mimic through numerical simulation Cycle-to-Cycle (CCV) Variations of the combustion process of Spark Ignition (SI) engines is described. The proposed methodology allows to reproduce the variability in combustion which is responsible for knock occurrence and thus to replicate the stochastic behaviour of this abnormal combustion phenomenon. On the basis of the analysis of a comprehensive database of experimental data collected on a typical European downsized and turbocharged SI engine, the proposed approach was demonstrated to be capable to replicate in the simulation process the same percentage of knocking cycles experimentally measured in light-knock conditions, after a proper calibration of the Kinetics-Fit (KF), a new phenomenological knock model which was recently developed by Gamma Technologies. Finally, the capability of the proposed methodology, coupled with the usage of the KF knock model, to correctly identify the Knock Limited Spark Advance (KLSA) on the basis of the CCV-replicating model was assessed over a wide range of different operating conditions, thus confirming its reliability and robustness


A "ventral" auditory pathway in nonhuman primates that originates in the core auditory cortex and ends in the prefrontal cortex is thought to be involved in components of nonspatial auditory processing. Previous work from our laboratory has indicated that neurons in the prefrontal cortex reflect monkeys' decisions during categorical judgments. Here, we tested the role of the superior temporal gyrus (STG), a region of the secondary auditory cortex that is part of this ventral pathway, during similar categorical judgments. While monkeys participated in a match-to-category task and reported whether two consecutive auditory stimuli belonged to the same category or to different categories, we recorded spiking activity from STG neurons. The auditory stimuli were morphs of two human-speech sounds (bad and dad). We found that STG neurons represented auditory categories. However, unlike activity in the prefrontal cortex, STG activity was not modulated by the monkeys' behavioral reports (choices). This finding is consistent with the anterolateral STG's role as a part of functional circuit involved in the coding, representation, and perception of the nonspatial features of an auditory stimulus.


Abstract. It is a matter of current study to determine potential
climate changes in different parts of the world, especially in regions like
a basin which has the potential to affect socioeconomic and environmental
issues in a defined area. This study provides a comparison between several
climate change indices trends of two very different basins in Mexico, one
located in the northern arid region (the Conchos River basin) and the other
in the southern humid area (the Usumacinta River basin). First, quality
control, homogenization, and completion of the missing data were applied
before calculating the climate change indices and their respective trends
for the combined period 1961–1994. A clear warming signal was found for the
two basins in addition to an increment in the DTR, in agreement with other
studies in Mexico. Also, the Conchos River basin was found to be more humid
and the Usumacinta River basin drier, in accordance to a supposed seesaw
behavior indicated in previous analysis.


Our goal is to understand human language use and create systems that can use human language fluently. We argue that to a achieve this goal, we must formulate all of the problems for language use from morphology up to pragmatics using the same cognitive substrate of reasoning and representation abilities. We propose such a substrate and described systems based on it. Our arguments, results with real-world systems and ongoing work suggest that the cognitive substrate enables a significant advance in the power of cognitive models and intelligent systems to use human language.


Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is the most frequent hereditary inflammatory disease characterized by self-limited recurrent attacks of fever and serositis. The aim of the current study is to determine the frequency of the mutations in 365 suspected FMF patients and to reveal whether there is a correlation between genotype and phenotype of these patients. All patients were clinically examined according to Tell-Hashomer FMF criteria and were screened genetically in terms of common 12 Mediterranean fever gene (MEFV) mutations. Various point mutations were detected in 270 (74%) patients. The most frequent mutation was M694V (26.85% of the alleles) and was followed by E148Q (15.55%), M680I (G/C) (9.62%) and V726A (7.96%). Patients who bear M694V homozygous mutation had most severe disease phenotype and high risk for amyloidosis (P = 0.04). Our results indicate that Sivas population has a wide range of heterozygous mutated carriers of MEFV gene and there is a high frequency of E148Q allele when compared to the other Mediterranean groups.


Poetic Inquiry invites people to return to the thousand-yearlong scholarly activity, namely writing original poetry. It encourages multiple possibilities of combining lexical thinking, poetry composition, and translation. In an attempt to revive the glory of writing, Poetic Inquiry appeals to a broader readership of scholarly works. This article explores my scholarly and daily life and seeks to learn by writing original poems. It also analyzes how I translate my Chinese poetry into English. With poetic works, I travel across languages, time, and space toward a better understanding of myself and the world.


Mexico has a long-standing history of programs and policies oriented to improve the nutrition of vulnerable groups. However, malnutrition represents one of the main public health challenges in Mexico. This article provides a historic perspective of the main strategies, programs and policies that have been carried out in Mexico, as well as a detailed analysis of their design, implementation, and selected results. Finally, some critical issues related to food policies implemented in Mexico are identified. The English version of this paper is available at: http://www.insp.mx/salud/ index.html


OBJECTIVE
The objective of our study was to compare the diagnostic accuracy of IV contrast-enhanced 64-MDCT with and without the use of oral contrast material in diagnosing appendicitis in patients with abdominal pain.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We conducted a randomized trial of a convenience sample of adult patients presenting to an urban academic emergency department with acute nontraumatic abdominal pain and clinical suspicion of appendicitis, diverticulitis, or small-bowel obstruction. Patients were enrolled between 8 am and 11 pm when research assistants were present. Consenting subjects were randomized into one of two groups: Group 1 subjects underwent 64-MDCT performed with oral and IV contrast media and group 2 subjects underwent 64-MDCT performed solely with IV contrast material. Three expert radiologists independently reviewed the CT examinations, evaluating for the presence of appendicitis. Each radiologist interpreted 202 examinations, ensuring that each examination was interpreted by two radiologists. Individual reader performance and a combined interpretation performance of the two readers assigned to each case were calculated. In cases of disagreement, the third reader was asked to deliver a tiebreaker interpretation to be used to calculate the combined reader performance. Final outcome was based on operative, clinical, and follow-up data. We compared radiologic diagnoses with clinical outcomes to calculate the diagnostic accuracy of CT in both groups.

RESULTS
Of the 303 patients enrolled, 151 patients (50%) were randomized to group 1 and the remaining 152 (50%) were randomized to group 2. The combined reader performance for the diagnosis of appendicitis in group 1 was a sensitivity of 100% (95% CI, 76.8-100%) and specificity of 97.1% (95% CI, 92.7-99.2%). The performance in group 2 was a sensitivity of 100% (73.5-100%) and specificity of 97.1% (92.9-99.2%).

CONCLUSION
Patients presenting with nontraumatic abdominal pain imaged using 64-MDCT with isotropic reformations had similar characteristics for the diagnosis of appendicitis when IV contrast material alone was used and when oral and IV contrast media were used.


To date social science studies on male views of infertility in developing countries are rare. Concerning treatment seeking , literature assessing men ́s behaviour from a biomedical point of view underlines bad male compliance with diagnosis and treatment, particularly if men are assumed to be the reason for unwanted childlessness. Summarizing the results of an anthropological research project on infertility and ART in Mali with regard to men this article shows that infertility is a complex problem configuration. Various factors such as the prevailing popular narrative to blame women for involuntary childlessness, alternative social solutions (polygyny), the double threat of demasculisation by male factor infertility and the reproductive aim to continue the patrilineage prefigure which options seem better or worse for men. Given this Malian background, on the one hand, biomedical infertility care renders men vulnerable for public disgrace due to possible evidence of male infertility causes, and thus block avenues for social solutions. On the other hand, biomedical means especially ART increase hope for own biological children, but the outcome of these cost intensive options even if available are not at all certain. In such situations men may prefer not to be involved in biomedical treatments at all and to hide behind the stigmatization of their wives, in order to avoid the risk of being exposed to public disgrace and double demasculinisation in terms of sexuality and of authority over women.


The PRDM9 protein controls the reshuffling of parental genomes in most metazoans. During meiosis the PRDM9 protein recognizes and binds specific target motifs via its zinc-finger array, which is encoded by a hypervariable minisatellite. To date, PRDM9 diversity has been little studied outside humans, wild mice and some domesticated species where evolutionary constraints may have been relaxed. Here we explore the structure and variability of PRDM9 in samples of the minke whales from the Atlantic, Pacific and Southern Oceans. We show that minke whales possess all the features characteristic of organisms with PRDM9-directed recombination initiation, including complete KRAB, SSXRD and SET domains and a rapidly evolving array of C2H2-type-Zincfingers (ZnF). We uncovered eighteen novel PRDM9 variants and evidence of rapid evolution, particularly of DNA-recognizing positions that evolve under positive selection. At different geographical scales, we observed extensive PRDM9 diversity in Antarctic minke whales (Balaenoptera bonarensis), that conversely lack observable population differentiation in mitochondrial DNA and microsatellites. In contrast, a single PRDM9 variant is shared between all Common Minke whales and even across subspecies boundaries of North Atlantic (B. a. acutorostrata) and North Pacific (B. a. scammoni) minke whale, which do show clear population differentiation. PRDM9 variation of whales predicts distinct recombination initiation landscapes genome wide, which has possible consequences for speciation.


Aluminum (Al) toxicity is the main yield-limiting factor for maize growing on acid soils of tropical regions. This experiment was conducted to screen maize ( Zea mays L) genotypes under Al stress in culture solution. The experiment was arranged in a split plot design with three replications. The main plots were Al concentrations (0, 2.5, 5 10, 20, and 40 ppm Al), and the sub plots were 22 maize genotypes. The results indicated that the genotype AMATL-(HS).C2, SATP-(S2)-C6-S0, MRSS-1(S1).C1-29-1, and MRSS-1(S1).C1-57-1 were more tolerant to Al-toxicity than the other genotypes including Antasena. The growth of Al-tolerant genotypes under low concentration of Al (2.5 ppm Al) was stimulated. The Concentration of 5 - 10 ppm Al in nutrient solution was adequate to separate genotypes between tolerant and sensitive genotypes in screening maize genotypes under Al stress. Relative net root length and relative root length were the best variable to be used as Al-tolerance indicators. Key words: Maize, Al-tolerance,   Al-toxicity


Background Platinum-based combination chemotherapy after surgery is considered a standard treatment; therefore, any recent drug development should be new, effective, and low toxic, and should have a synergistic effect with platinum. This study aimed to observe the growth of SKOV3 cells after treatment with cisplatin by combining with carbobenzoxy-L-leucyl-L-leucyl-L-leucinal (MG132) and to investigate the effect of the relationship between MG132 and cisplatin combination. Materials and Methods Cell growth was detected by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium assay after treatment with MG132 at 0.5, 1.5, 2.5, 3.5, and 5.0 μg/mL concentrations for 24, 48, and 72 hours; with cisplatin at 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0 μg/mL concentrations; and with combination with MG132 at 1.5 μg/mL for 24 hours. The apoptotic rates of cells were detected by a flow cytometer after cisplatin treatment at 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0 μg/mL concentrations and that combined with MG132 at 1.5 μg/mL concentration for 12, 24, and 36 hours. A total of 20 BALB/c (nu/nu) female nude mice (age, 4–6 weeks; body weight, 17–19 g) were divided into 4 groups: control, MG132, cisplatin, and combination groups. The expression of Caspase3 and Beclin1 was detected by Western blot analysis and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction after treatment with 3.0 μg/mL of the cisplatin group and combined treatment with 1.5 μg/mL of MG132 group for 24 hours, respectively. Results Methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium assay demonstrated the inhibitory rates, and the flow cytometery showed that the apoptotic rates in the combination group were higher than those in the cisplatin group (P < 0.01). Western blot analysis and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction detected that Caspase3 and Beclin1 at a relative quantity in the combination group were higher than those in the cisplatin group (P < 0.05). Conclusions MG132 has a synergistic antitumor effect by combining with cisplatin, and it is expected to be an effective antitumor drug for platinum-resistant refractory ovarian cancer.


Sea level rise is undoubtedly one of the most threatening consequences of climate change. The impact of sea level rise will be strongly felt in northern Australian coastal regions, where a rapid rising of sea levels is causing an increase in the frequency and severity of storm surge events. This dissertation investigates two main objectives: (1) the short-term local sea level variability associated with tropical cyclones, and (2) the long-term regional sea level variability and trends for the northern coasts of Australia. This study uses 21 years of sea level observations from multiple satellite altimetry missions (e.g., TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, and Jason-2) and 14 tide gauges. First, it focuses on the analysis of the Non-Tidal Sea Level component of Sea Level Anomalies (SLAs), which theoretically only contains the storm surge level, and is constructed by removing the mean sea surface and ocean tides from sea level observations. The SLAs are analysed using the Power Spectral Density method to explore the tidal features in the study area. This concludes that the pointwise response method provides better ocean tidal corrections than the global tidal models, which were available at the time of this study, due to the complexity of the study area. Then, a multivariate regression (MR) model is used to predict sea level variations using both altimetry and tide gauge data. The modelled solution provides sea level predictions at the times of interest, which can be used to monitor extreme sea level events. To overcome the drawback that the MR model cannot model the non-linear variations, a new method has been developed to investigate non-linear components of sea level through the rebuilding the model using a state-of-the-art Multivariate Adaptive Regression Spline (MARS). The comparison results show that MARS can, in general, explain 62% of sea level variance while MR only accounts for 45% of the variance, suggesting an improved sea level prediction from MARS. Comparison results also indicate that the cyclone-induced surge peaks predicted by the MARS model agree well with those observed at independent validating tide gauges. Finally, to achieve the second objective, sea level observations from both datasets are used to characterise sea level trends and interannual variability over the study region. The results show that the interannual sea level fingerprint in the northern Australian coastline is closely related to El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) events. The rate of sea level rise (6.3 ± 0.4 mm/yr) estimated from tide gauges is slightly higher than (6.1 ± 0.3 mm/yr) from altimetry in the period of 1993-2013, which varies with the length of the time interval. This study also provides a novel framework for examining the significance of sea level trends by applying the non-parametric Mann-Kendall test, which is of significance in interpreting sea level trends. Recommendations for further research are to improve the altimetry sea level measurement close to the coastline using re-tracking techniques and to investigate the potential capability of monitoring coastal sea level from new satellite altimetry data, such as Jason-CS, Jason-3, CryoSat and Saral/AltiKa. An improved understanding of sea level rise and storm surges will be helpful in evaluating the coastal flooding scenario in the high flooding risk regions.


Increasingly, spatial econometric methods are becoming part of the standard toolkit of applied researchers in agricultural, environmental and development economics. Nonetheless, applications in discrete-choice settings remain few and despite its appeal, applications of the Bayesian paradigm in these settings are still fewer. We provide a primer to the Bayesian spatial probit with the objective of making accessible to non-users a class of iterative estimation methods that have become fairly routine in Bayesian circles, offer an extremely powerful addition to applied researchers toolkits, and are essential in Bayesian implementation of spatial econometric models. We demonstrate the methods and apply them to estimate the 'neighbourhood effect' in high-yielding variety (HYV) adoption among Bangladeshi rice producers. We estimate the strength of this relationship using a standard, spatial probit model and compare the policy conclusions with and without the neighbourhood effect included. © 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.


Tablet formulation of the crude aqueous extract of the leaves of Vernonia galamensis, used for the treatment of diabetes mellitus in folk medicine was carried out using the wet granulation method. The dried extract is deliquescent and hygroscopic, therefore efflorescent diluents were carefully selected for the formulation. Aim: To establish suitable diluents and binders for good quality tablet formulation of the deliquescent extract of Vernonia galamensis. Materials and Methods: The selected diluents and binders were; calcium phosphate (Hopkins and Williams, UK), aerosil 200 (GmbH, Meggle, Germany) and avicel PH 101 (FMC Corporation, USA), polyvinylpyrrolidone (BDH chemicals Ltd, Poole, England), maize starch and gelatin (May and Baker, Germany). Crushing strength, friability, disintegration and dissolution times of tablets were determined as specified in BP 2007. The mechanical strengths of tablets were assessed using the crushing strength-friability, disintegration time ratio (CSFR:DT) and the drug release properties using dissolution times. Statistical analysis: GraphPad Prism version 5.03 software was used. Results and conclusion: Drug release profiles show that only formulations containing calcium phosphate as diluent and polyvinylpyrrolidone as binder met the BP 2007 specification for uncoated tablets, which states that 70% of the active medicament should be released within 45 min.


High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) analyses are used to show that supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) using carbon dioxide is an effective means of extracting a range of components from feverfew samples. It was found that the specific compositions of solvent extracts and SFE extracts are different. The amounts of the presumed active ingredient parthenolide have been confirmed to be very variable. Feverfew seeds were particularly rich in parthenolide, while dried powdered samples contained less and, in one case, none at all. The tunability of SFE has been demonstrated, and it was shown that successive extractions at 100 and 200 atm separate the extracted components into two mutually exclusive groups, with important implications for simplifying subsequent analyses.


Vascular parkinsonism (VP) is a poorly defined entity which has clinical, and perhaps pathological, overlap with other diagnoses. Although classical VP involves lesions of the basal ganglia, the majority of cases actually show diffuse subcortical white matter changes (SCWMC) on imaging. The exact pathologies of these white matter changes are debated and likely heterogeneous, but are generally thought to represent areas of chronic or recurrent partial ischemia. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) drainage is the treatment for NPH and has been reported to improve symptoms in some patients with idiopathic NPH and associated SCWMC. To determine whether historical, clinical, or radiographic factors predict improvement in VP patients after CSF drainage, we removed 35–40 ml of CSF via lumbar punctures (LP) from 40 patients and compared responders with nonresponders for a variety of demographics, clinical features, and blindly interpreted magnetic resonance images (MRI). Fifteen patients (37.5%) reported "significant and irrefutable" gait improvement after LP. Twelve (30.0%) reported no effect and 13 (32.5%) reported mild or very transient improvement. Timed gait in a subset of patients improved (P < 0.05) immediately after LP. Clinically, improvement after CSF removal was predicted by any positive response to levodopa (P < 0.001), the lack of vertical gaze palsies (P < 0.05), the lack of a pure freezing gait (P < 0.05), and the lack of hypotensive episodes (P < 0.05). Blinded MRI interpretation did not find features which clearly predicted response. Some patients diagnosed with VP improved after LP. Clinically, these patients tended to resemble idiopathic PD, whereas nonresponders more closely resembled progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). These results warrant further investigation and also raise the possibility of testing CSF drainage in patients with idiopathic PD complicated by SCWMC. © 2001 Movement Disorder Society.


in the vaccinated group (period not stated). The difference in favour of B.C.G. is almost the maximum possible, but for the period of automatic selection even that maximum is less than three times its standard error. As a matter of fact, the data given suggest that some of the vaccinated who died were really infected after vaccination, but the probability is not one which can be admitted in selection of statistical material. The correct verdict on Levine and Sackett's analysis is that it has, at best, doubtful significance, but that what admissible evidence it presents is in favour of B.C.G.-I am, etc., Cardif. W. H. TYTLER. RERENCES 1 Amer. Rev. Tuberc., 1946, 53, 517. 2 J. Pediat., 1945, 26, 470.


The aim of monitoring patients is to detect organ dysfunction and guide the restoration and maintenance of tissue oxygen delivery. Monitoring is a crucial part of the care of the critically ill patient in the emergency department as the physiological response to critical illness is linked strongly to outcome. As it is important to appreciate the limitations of monitoring systems and monitored data, and to understand that invasive monitoring may be hazardous, this review concentrates on the techniques used to monitor critically ill patients in the emergency department. End tidal carbon dioxide monitoring, pulse oximetry, arterial blood pressure monitoring, central venous pressure monitoring, continuous central venous oxygenation saturation monitoring, temperature monitoring, and urine output are discussed. Practitioners should be familiar with the physiology and technology underlying these monitoring techniques and be aware of the pitfalls in interpretation of monitored data.


A study was carried out on the discomalleolar ligament by dissection of adult human cadavers. The ligament corresponds to the most internal portion of the superior lamina of the temporomandibular joint capsule. It extends from the posterointernal portion of the temporomandibular joint disc, penetrates the petrotympanic fissure and reaches the malleus of the middle ear. Because of its morphology and anatomical arrangement the discomalleolar ligament should be considered as an intrinsic ligament of the temporomandibular joint and distinguished from the tympanic portion of the sphenomandibular ligament (anterior ligament of the malleus).


Background/Objectives: The main objective is to design and develop a clustering algorithm for finding similar sub sets from crime data. This paper focuses a method for developing an algorithm and modify the existing technique in three ways, such as i) new attribute weightage scheme instead of IGR, ii) suitability to mixed data and iii) using FCM-based clustering instead of k-means. Methods/Statistical analysis: Generally, the effectiveness of clustering algorithm is completely based on distance matching that finds the similarity between data records and centroid. Giving equal importance for all the attributes is not much effective in clustering process. Instead, attribute weightage could be included in distance matching. A weight vector is generated based on mutual information. The method for attribute weightage is common for both numerical and categorical data. Finally, the grouping of similar sub sets is done based on FCM-based clustering procedure in which the distance matching is carried out based on the attribute weights. Findings: The experimental analysis has done using crime and hepatitis datasets where the performance of the proposed clustering algorithm has been analyzed. Results show that proposed FCM method has good accuracy than the AK-mode. Application/Improvements: Proposed method plays an important role in crime domain for better prediction. Type II fuzzy can also be used for better closeness analysis.


Background The type I interferon (IFN-I) family of cytokines is thought to play a central role in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and therapeutic approaches to down-modulate this pathway have demonstrated clinical efficacy. The IFN-I pathway is composed of multiple closely related IFN-α subtypes and single functional molecules for IFN-β, IFN-ε, IFN-κ and IFN-ω. Some members of the IFN-I family are thought to contribute to SLE pathogenesis, while others may be more relevant for host defense. We developed a fully-human monoclonal antibody (CNTO 6358) to selectively neutralise the predominant soluble IFN-Is expressed in SLE, while retaining the functions of IFN-β. Here we demonstrate in vitro bioactivity using endogenous SLE patient-derived IFN-I preparations, including immune complexes and serum/plasma from racially diverse SLE populations, providing evidence that the neutralisation and potency profile of CNTO 6358 may enable potent suppression of IFN-Is prevalent in SLE without suppression of other IFN-Is more essential for other host defense processes. We further describe an in vitro assay that may enable the prediction of responders and non-responders with CNTO 6358, providing a transformational framework for SLE precision medicine. Materials and methods Pooled SLE serum and plasma or conditioned media from cells exposed to pooled SLE patient immune complexes or recombinant human IFN-Is were utilised as stimuli in an ISRE reporter gene assay (RGA) in the presence of CNTO 6358 or control. SLE patient whole blood was incubated in vitro for 24 hours in the presence or absence of CNTO 6358 and the impact of inhibitor treatment on gene expression was determined by RNA-Seq relative to untreated healthy donor samples. Results IFN-I activity present in plasma and serum preparations from multiple SLE cohorts and activity present in conditioned media from PBMCs exposed to SLE patient immune complexes was neutralised to levels seen in healthy control samples. The in vitro addition of CNTO 6358 to blood from individual SLE patients enabled the identification of donors having robust normalisation of baseline elevated IFN-I signature gene expression and those having moderate to minimal transcriptional changes. Conclusions CNTO 6358 exhibited potent neutralisation of multiple SLE patient-derived IFN-I preparations, demonstrating a bioactivity profile targeting the most prevalent IFN-I subtypes elevated in SLE patients, while preserving the functionality of other IFN-Is which may be more important for host defense. Furthermore, our in vitro assay and in silico methodologies may enable prediction of responders to our treatment, providing a transformational framework for SLE precision medicine.


A technique to perform nanofatigue experiments was developed. This technique utilizes a depth-sensing nanoindenter with harmonic force. The nanofatigue behavior of 20 nm thick amorphous carbon coatings was studied. The contact stiffness was monitored continuously throughout the test. The abrupt decrease in the contact stiffness indicates fatigue damage has occurred. The critical load amplitude, below which no fatigue damage occurs, was identified. It was found that the filtered cathodic arc coating exhibits longer fatigue life than a direct ion beam coating. Failure mechanisms of the coatings during fatigue are also discussed in conjunction with the hardness, elastic modulus, and fracture toughness, as well as deposition processes. The dynamic nanoindentation fatigue test used in this study can be satisfactorily used to simulate and study damage at the head–disk interface.


Background The emergence, accumulation and spread of HIV-1 drug resistance strains in Africa could compromise the effectiveness of HIV treatment programs. This study was aimed at determining the incidence of virological failure and acquired drug resistance mutations overtime and identifying the most common mutational pathways of resistance in a well characterized HIV-1C infected Ethiopian cohort. Methods A total of 320 patients (220 ART naïve and 100 on first lines ART) were included and followed. ART initiation and patients' monitoring was based on the WHO clinical and immunological parameters. HIV viral load measurement and genotypic drug resistance testing were done at baseline (T0-2008) and after on average at a median time of 30 months on ART at three time points (T1-2011, T2-2013, T3-2015). Findings The incidence of virological failure has increased overtime from 11 at T1 to 17 at T2 and then to 30% at T3. At all time point's almost all of the patients with virological failure and accumulated drug resistance mutations had not met the WHO clinical and immunologic failure criteria and continued the failing regimen. A steep increase in the incidence and accumulation of major acquired NRTI and NNRTI drug resistance mutations have been observed (from 40% at T1 to 64% at T2 and then to 66% at T3). The most frequent NRTIs drug resistance associated mutations are mainly the lamivudine-induced mutation M184V which was detected in 4 patients at T1 and showed a 2 fold increase in the following time points (T2: n = 8) and at (T3: n = 12) and the thymidine analogue mutations (such as D67N, K70R and K219E) which were not-detected at baseline T0 and T1 but were increased progressively to 10 at T2 and to 17 at T3. The most frequent NNRTIs associated mutations were K103N, V106M and Y188C. Conclusions An upward trend in the incidence of virological failure and accumulation of NRTI and NNRTI associated acquired antiretroviral drug resistance mutations are observed. The data suggest the need for virological monitoring, resistance testing for early detection of failure and access for TDF and PI containing drugs. Population-level and patient targeted interventions to prevent the spread of mutant variants is warranted.


South America is home to the highest freshwater fish biodiversity on Earth1,2. The hotspot of species richness is located in the western Amazon Basin, and richness decreases downstream along the Amazon River towards the mouth at the Atlantic coast (Fig. 1b, c)3,4, which contradicts the positive relationship between stream size and biodiversity that is commonly observed in river systems across the world5,6. We investigate the role of river rerouting events caused by Andean mountain building and repeated episodes of flooding in western Amazonia in shaping the modern-day richness pattern of freshwater fishes in South America. To this end, we combine a reconstruction of river networks following Andean surface uplift since 80 million years ago with a mechanistic biological model simulating dispersal, allopatric speciation and extinction over the dynamic landscape of rivers and lakes. We show that the numerous small river rerouting events in western Amazonia resulting from mountain building produced highly dynamic riverine habitats that caused high diversification rates, shaping the exceptional present-day richness of this region. The history of marine incursions and lakes, including the Miocene Pebas megawetland system in western Amazonia, played a secondary role. This study is a major step towards the understanding of the processes involved in the interactions between the solid Earth, landscapes, and life of extraordinary biodiverse South America.


OBJECTIVES To assess the reactions of people with insulin-treated diabetes (ITD) to the results of the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A leaflet documenting the purpose and results of the DCCT was circulated to all 771 patients ages 15–60 years with ITD attending our clinic. Patients were invited to complete and return a questionnaire on their responses. RESULTS Of 550 respondents, 330 felt encouraged to improve glycemic control. Female respondents (P = 0.003) and younger age-groups (15–25 years, P = 0.001) were most likely to want to improve control. Patients with long duration of diabetes (> 20 years, P = 0.00001), hypoglycemia unawareness (P = 0.0001), or previous severe hypoglycemia (P = 0.001) were less likely to want to improve their control. Fear of hypoglycemia concerned all age-groups, whereas female respondents were most likely to be worried about the potential for weight gain (P = 0.00006). CONCLUSIONS Knowledge of the results of the DCCT encourages significant numbers of patients to want to improve glycemic control. Fear of hypoglycemia and, in women, weight gain may prove significant impediments to the clinical implementation of the results of the DCCT.


Gary Vaynerchuk has captured attention with his pioneering, multi-faceted approach to personal branding and business. After primarily utilizing traditional advertising techniques to build his family's local wine business into a national industry leader, Gary rapidly leveraged social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook to promote Wine Library TV, his video blog about wine. As his viewership swelled to over 80,000 a day, and the wine business grew to over $60 million a year, he began making national TV appearances including the "Today Show", "Late Night With Conan O'Brien", and "Ellen", consulting for Fortune 100 companies, and giving keynote speeches around the world. Gary's dual identity as both business guru and wine guy has made him the 'Social Media Sommelier'.


A supersonic axisymmetric mixed compression air intake has been experimentally studied in a wind tunnel at three free-stream Mach numbers of 1.8, 2.0 and 2.2 at zero degrees angle of attack. Shadowgraph flow visualization has been used as well as the pressure transducers. By applying a suction slot over the external compression surface upstream of the throat, the effects of changing the area of the bleed entrance and exit on the intake performance parameters such as mass flow ratio, total pressure recovery, flow distortion and bleed mass flow ratio have been investigated. The results showed that by increasing the area of the bleed entrance, total pressure recovery increases in critical and subcritical conditions and if simultaneously the area of the bleed exit increases, the pressure recovery will be further improved, especially in subcritical condition. The results also indicated that if the area of the bleed entrance becomes very large, it can have an adverse effect on the intake performance, especially in the critical condition even worse than the no bleed case. However, using a large bleed entrance can postpone the buzz onset at off-design conditions. Review History: Received: Revised: Accepted: Available Online:


In our article, inverse kinematic problem of a plasma cutting robot with three degree of freedom is solved using artificial neural networks. Artificial neural network was trained using joint angle values according to cartesian coordinates (x, y, z) of end point of a robotic arm. The Levenberg–Marquardt training algorithm was applied to educate artificial neural network. To validate the designed neural network, it was tested using a new test data set which is not applied in training. A simulation was performed on a three-dimensional model of MSC.ADAMS software using angle values obtained from artificial neural network test. It was revealed from this simulation that trajectory of plasma cutting torch obtained using artificial neural network agreed well with desired trajectory.


We discuss metric, algorithmic and geometric issues related to broadly understood
complexity of high dimensional convex sets. The specific topics we bring up include metric
entropy and its duality, derandomization of constructions of normed spaces or of convex bodies,
and different fundamental questions related to geometric diversity of such bodies, as measured
by various isomorphic (as opposed to isometric) invariants.


Background Lyme disease is an illness caused by the spirochete Borrrelia burgdoferi. NICE guidance suggests an approach to diagnosis resting on clinical presentation, presence in an epidemiologically plausible area, and positive serology. It is however, well documented that serological diagnostics in European Lyme disease is problematic. There is a movement for Lyme advocacy, a voice that emphasises the poor diagnostics in this infection. With the spotlight on Lyme disease, we are increasingly seeing patients presenting in Northern Ireland across a broad range of specialities. Currently there is minimal data looking at the local epidemiology of Lyme disease. We present previously unpublished data looking at the demographics of those testing positive for Borrelia burgdoferi antibodies. Methods We collected data from all patients tested for Lyme disease in Northern Ireland from 2013–2018. We excluded negative results. A randomised selection of 300 cases were chosen. We recorded patient age, gender, origins of testing, home postcode, tick bite history, relevant travel history, duration of symptoms, timings of testing, antibody results including confirmatory testing and treatment. Results Of the 300 selected patients 241 (80 %) were IgM positive and 83 (30 %) IgG positive using DiaSorin, Liason CLIA. The average age of presentation was 39 years old. There was a predominance of females tested (62%). 32 % of tests originated in primary care. Of the IgM positives only 41 (17 %) were confirmed by C6 peptide or lineblot in the reference laboratory (RIPL, Porton Down). The results highlight the likely low seroprevalence of Lyme disease in Northern Ireland.


In order to evaluate the alleviative effect of crocin on diabetes mellitus and its
kidney complications, the serum levels of glucose, insulin, urea, creatinine and β2M were examined in
healthy and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats after crocin administration.
Materials & Methods: In this study 45 rats were divided into 9 groups (5 each) of healthy control,
diabetic control, diabetic treatment with crocin (two dose of 10 and 40 mg/kg) and diabetic positive
treatment (with insulin 5 mg/kg) in a period of 20 days.
Results: The results indicated that the serum levels β2M, urea and creatinine significantly increased in
diabetic rats. However, in groups receiving crocin with the dose of 10 and 40 mg/kg the serum levels of
β2M were significantly lower than the control diabetic rats showing beneficial effect of crocin
preventing diabetic nephropathy. Although the serum levels of urea and creatinine decreased in crocin
receiving groups but they did not reach to a significant level.
Conclusion: Finally, crocin decreased the serum levels of β2M, glucose, urea and creatinine in diabetes
mellitus causing a protective effect on the disease and its kidney complications. It seems the beneficial
effect of crocin was modulating with stimulatory insulin secretion and ameliorative insulin resistance
effects


This paper deals with the use of feedback control to prevent hysteresis and surge in axial-flow compressors. We present a dynamic output-feedback controller that semiglobally stabilizes every rotating stall equilibrium, and a range of axisymmetric equilibria of the Moore-Greitzer model for axial-flow compressors. The dynamic controller combines a two-state-variable-feedback backstepping controller from the literature with a nonlinear, reduced order, high-gain observer that estimates the mass flow through the compressor from measurements of the pressure rise across it. Given an equilibrium and a compact inner bound on the domain of attraction, we use Lyapunov techniques to compute an explicit lower bound on the observer gain such that the specified equilibrium is asymptotically stable for the closed-loop system, with a domain of attraction that contains the specified inner bound. We use a numerical example to illustrate how the inner bound on the domain of attraction can be specified so that the closed-loop compressor does not exhibit hysteresis and surge oscillations even in response to changes in the throttle setting that are dictated by large and sudden changes in the desired operating point. Simulation results are used to demonstrate the absence of hysteresis and surge in the closed-loop compressor dynamics.


This study makes use of the framework of social capital to explain the post-socialist governance model and characteristics of local governments in contemporary China. The incident of Tieben in April 2004 is selected as an example to explain how the local government developed social capital using informal mechanism and policy networks to facilitate economic development and to enhance government performance, thereby forming the so-called post-socialist local regime. During the incident of Tieben, the local government collaborated with real estate developers and financial institutions. Farmers were excluded from this plan and their interests were sacrificed. This study uses the concept of bonding social capital to explain this model. The model worked on the basis of the close relationship between specific groups rather than general trust and public participation. The majority of relevant studies, on the other hand, show that instead of bonding social capital, bridging social capital is a better means to resolve the conflicts among numerous sub-groups with vested interests, and to facilitate favorable economic and social performance. This paper hence contends that, although a local government may stimulate the development of social capital, the use of this governance model excludes the participation and deprives the rights of some groups such as farmers, thereby negating the positive results of social capital development. Consequently, such model cannot provide a useful guide for optimizing local government performance.


Neuropsychiatric symptoms are well recognized in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), with depression and anxiety often reported. The authors' clinical observations suggested emotional lability might also be a noteworthy symptom. In a consecutive series of systemic lupus erythematosus clinic attendees the authors therefore measured depression, anxiety, and emotional lability. Additionally, based on reports linking emotional reactivity and transient mood changes to alterations in early attentional processes, the authors investigated event-related potential indices of preattentive and early orienting responses to auditory stimuli (N1, MMN, P3a and P3b). The authors observed that 15 of 32 participants with systemic lupus erythematosus had high lability scores and, comparing event-related potential measures between the high and low lability subgroups, noted that those with greater emotional lability demonstrated reduced response latencies in N1 and MMN paradigms.


Purpose: Numerous studies have shown that crestal bone resorption around the implant was related to the location of the implant abutment junction(IAJ). Recently it was hypothesized that platform switching termed the inward horizontal repositioning of the IAJ might limit bone resorption around the implants. The purpose of this clinical study was to evaluate the effect of platform switching on crestal bone resorption. Materials and Methods: The crestal bone loss of 65 external hex implants in 26 patients were radiographically measured at crown placement and follow-up examinations. 23 standard implants(non-platform switching group, NP) were connected with the matching abutments and 42 wide implants(platform switching group, PS) were connected with the 1 mm smaller diameter abutments. Results: There was significant difference of crestal bone loss between NP group and PS group. For implants in the NP group, mean crestal bone loss was 1.18±0.68 mm at crown placement and 1.42±0.41 mm at follow-up. The meal bone loss in PS group was 0.47±0.52 mm at crown placement and 0.60±0.65 mm at follow-up. When the crestal bone changes according to placement depths of implants were compared, subcrestal position of IAJ had a sig- nificantly less bone loss in PS group, but it was not in NP group. Conclusion: Within the limits of the present study, it was concluded that platform switching technique might decrease crestal bone loss around the implants. Additionally, when the IAJ of implant was placed 1 mm deeper in the alveolar bone, the effect of platform switching on bone loss was enhanced. (J Korean Acad Periodontol 2008;38:135-142)


A transplantable, DMBA induced breast cancer cell line originating in Wistar Furth (WF) rats was passed in vivo to examine its immunogenic characteristics, responsiveness to irradiation, and the effect of marrow transplantation. Transplantations were performed using marrow from isogeneic WF, allogeneic Lewis (Le), or immunized isogeneic WF rats. Methodologic system components included tumor challenge with 1 × 106 tumor cells, irradiation at a dose of 950 cGy, and infusion of 1 × 107 marrow cells obtained from donors. Nine rats treated with radiation alone died with marrow aplasia in 9 days. Rats challenged with tumor and no therapy died of tumor progression between 22 - 24 days (avg 22.66 ± 0.82, n = 15). Tumor-bearing WF rats treated with isogeneic marrow recovered marrow but died between 29-46 days (avg. 36.44 ± 3.4, n = 18) of tumor growth. WF rats transplanted with Le marrow showed full marrow, delayed tumor growth, but died of GVHD between 21-30 days (avg 26.06 ± 3.63, n = 17). A concurrent control study was carried out to evaluate the effect of administering isogeneic marrow from donors immunized with irradiated tumor cells. Donor resistance to tumor was confirmed following 8 weekly immunizations with irradiated tumor cells. Table 1 shows results of isogeneic immune marrow compared to isogenic and allogeneic grafts. Table 1 Tumor Responses in WF Rats Receiving Isogeneic, Allogeneic and Isogeneic Immune Marrow Cells Autografting resulted in minimal impact on survival and no cures, analogous to clinical trial findings. In contrast, significant tumor growth was inhibited (p ≤ .001) when allogeneic grafting was performed. However, when allogeneic transplants were performed GVHD was the major cause of death. The infusion of isogeneic marrow from immunized WF donors resulted in tumor regression without GVHD in all recipient rats (p ≤ .002). We conclude that this model demonstrates evidence of independent graft versus tumor effects in a solid tumor setting and may be useful in exploring cellular infusion approaches to immunogenic tumors.


What library resources or services are available to you after you graduate from the University of Oregon? How can it help you with finding information about finding a job, getting a job, and being successful at that job.


To explore the mechanism of interleukin-lbeta (ll.-lf~) in the onset of seizure and the effect of I1.-1~ on the expression of adenylyl cyclase (AC) in rats with seizure induced by I.-glutamate. Experimental rats were first injected with II.-1[? and then l.-glutamate (a dose under the threshold) was injected into the right lateral ventricle. The rats were sacrificed 4 h after the onset of epileptic activity and examined for changes in behavior, immunohistochemistry and compared with those with seizure induced by L-glutamate alone. It was found that the expression of AC in hippocampal and neocortex of rats with seizure induced by II.-ll3 and 1.-glutamate were stronger than that of control group (P<:0.05), without significant difference found between the L-glutamate group and 1L-I~? plus I.-glutamate group in the expression of AC, the latent period and tile severity of seizure. When lI.-ra were given (i. c. v. ) first, there was no epileptic activity and the expression of AC did not increase. There were no differences in the expression of AC of rats with IL-lra and that of control rats. But when 2 methyl-2-(carhoxycyclopropyi)giyeine (MCCG) was given (i. c. v. ) first, the strongest expression of AC, the shortest latent period and the the most serious seizure activities were observed. The results indicated that IL-1[? could facilitate the onset of epilepsy induced by L-glutamate through II.-1R, metabotropic glutamate receptors might work with IL-1R and the increased expression of AC might he involved in the process.


Clinical use of neurotoxins from Clostridium botulinum is well established and is continuously expanding, including in treatment of pain conditions. Background: The serotype A (BoNT/A) has been widely investigated, and current data demonstrate that it induces analgesia and modulates nociceptive processing initiated by inflammation or nerve injury. Given that data concerning the serotype B (BoNT/B) are limited, the aim of the present study was to verify if also BoNT/B is able not only to counteract neuropathic pain, but also to interfere with inflammatory and regenerative processes associated with the nerve injury. Methods: As model of neuropathic pain, chronic constriction injury (CCI) of the sciatic nerve was performed in CD1 male mice. Mice were intraplantarly injected with saline (control) or BoNT/B (5 or 7.5 pg/mouse) into the injured hindpaw. For comparison, another mouse group was injected with BoNT/A (15 pg/mouse). Mechanical allodynia and functional recovery of the injured paw was followed for 101 days. Spinal cords and sciatic nerves were collected at day 7 for immunohistochemistry. Results and Conclusions: The results of this study show that BoNT/B is a powerful biological molecule that, similarly to BoNT/A, can reduce neuropathic pain over a long period of time. However, the analgesic effects are not associated with an improvement in functional recovery, clearly highlighting an important difference between the two serotypes for the treatment of this chronic pain state.


Virtual Reality (VR) technology holds promise as a virtual prototyping tool for mechanical assembly; however, several developmental challenges still need to be addressed before virtual prototyping applications can successfully be integrated into the product realization process. This paper describes the development of SHARP (System for Haptic Assembly & Realistic Prototyping), a portable VR interface for virtual assembly. SHARP uses physically-based modeling for simulating realistic part-to-part and hand-to-part interactions in virtual environments. A dual handed haptic interface for realistic part interaction using the PHANToM® haptic devices is presented. The capability of creating subassemblies enhances the application's ability to handle a wide variety of assembly scenarios. Swept volumes are implemented for addressing maintainability issues and a network module is added for communicating with different VR systems at dispersed geographic locations. Support for various types of VR systems allows an easy integration of SHARP into the product realization process resulting in faster product development, faster identification of assembly and design issues and a more efficient and less costly product design process.


We argue that organizational imprinting theory provides an important causal mechanism and originating source for numerous behaviors which are applicable to several research literatures. We briefly explain the imprinting process, how the imprinting process can be informed by other theories, and how imprinting may be better utilized than some frameworks such as inertia or social embeddedness to understand the initiation of firm behavior. We follow with examples from organizational behavior, organizational change and learning, entrepreneurship, and mergers & acquisitions where imprinting theory could be used to explain observed behaviors along with potential avenues and ideas for future research in these literature streams. We end with suggestions for research in different international contexts since the imprint mechanism and effect may be more pronounced in such conditions.


HOX genes encode transcription factors known to play a major role in patterning the main body axis of vertebrate embryos from the gastrulation stage onward. A few studies have provided evidence that some HOX genes might be expressed before implantation in mammalian embryos. Translation of maternally inherited transcripts is regulated by modifications of the poly(A) tail length until embryonic genome activation (EGA), occurring during the 4th cell cycle in the bovine. The objective of this work was to establish the expression pattern of various HOX genes and to study the polyadenylation of their transcripts during oocyte maturation and early embryonic development. Pools of 20 bovine oocytes before and after in vitro maturation and 20 in vitro-produced embryos at different stages of development up to the blastocyst stage were collected. Three to 12 pools were used for each stage. RNA was extracted and reverse transcribed (RT) using random hexamers. Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) was performed to establish expression profiles of 4 HOX genes: HOXD1, HOXA3, HOXB9, and HOXC9. Two distinct patterns of expression were observed. First, relative amounts of HOXD1, HOXA3, and HOXC9 were lower in morulae and blastocysts than in oocytes. On the other hand, relative expression of HOXB9 increased between the 5 to 8 cell stage and the morula stage (Mann-Whitney, P < 0.05). Those expression patterns were not modified when embryos were cultured in presence of α-amanitin, a RNA polymerase II inhibitor, indicating the maternal origin of the transcripts until EGA. Total amount of mRNAs, estimated by RT-qPCR with random hexamers, was stable for all studied genes during oocyte maturation. The relative amount of polyadenylated GAPDH mRNAs, estimated by RT-qPCR with poly(dT), decreased greatly in mature oocytes compared with immature oocytes indicating massive deadenylation of those transcripts. The relative amount of polyadenylated HOXC9 transcripts decreased slightly but significantly during oocyte maturation (Mann-Whitney, P < 0.05).The relative amount of polyadenylatedm RNAs corresponding to HOXD1, HOXA3, and HOXB9 was stable during oocyte maturation. This indicates that those transcripts escape the default deadenylation pathways followed by housekeeping genes. This experiment has been repeated 3 to 4 times. In conclusion, we confirmed the presence of HOXD1, HOXA3, HOXB9, and HOXC9 transcripts in bovine oocytes and early-stage embryos. Their role during oocyte maturation and the first stages of embryonic development will be investigated through loss of function studies.


The appearance of creativity in animal behavior and, as its peak expression, human inventiveness, presented a major breakthrough in the evolution of life. It enabled for much faster adaptation and enhanced survival potential in changing environments. In addition, it also brought improvements based on a society rather than an individual. More complex solutions based on teamwork could emerge and advances could be passed on to the whole population in the same generation. For this creative activity to be possible the ability to make new associations and hypothesis was needed, which seems to require some degree of conscious processing as detailed below. In addition, collaborative efforts depend upon a sufficiently sophisticated communication system, which could also require some conscious activity. Therefore, it seems plausible that creativity was a remarkable advantage that was selected for, taking with it language and consciousness


Organisations need a structured approach for managing the design of their electronic product support systems (PSSs) since, although technology can assist users with faster information retrieval, if the information is incorrect, the technology could actually increase the error rate. We present an approach for the semantic design and analysis of PSSs as part of a systematic methodology for the development of optimal PSSs. A semantic data model for PSSs is proposed based on an information usage analysis. This analysis aims at abstracting the intended purpose for the product information, the supported user tasks, and the functional characteristics of the product information elements. These abstract views are combined together into an activity-based semantic network and set of rules and constraints, which are then mapped into a database schema. This mapping creates a knowledge base that preserves the data semantics, which can then be used by authors in order to implement the PSS. A Web-based technical manual, which is a special type of PSS, is used in order to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed semantic data model.


THE PREOCCUPATION of the late nineteenth-century medical researchers with germ theory has been generally acknowledged. "With the work of Pasteur and Koch, . there penetrated rapidly into all fields of medicine the idea that infinitely small beings, endowed with special pathogenic qualities, played a pre-eminent role in producing many diseases. The new concept made such a great impression that for a while it was believed that the cause of all diseases could be ascribed to microbes alone .... Almost completely dominant, bacteriology at this period became the centre and goal of medical investigation."I However, accepting germ theory involved much more than simply discovering that various diseases were caused by specific micro-organisms. Its adoption entailed fundamental changes in the concept of disease, in approaches to nosology and diagnosis, and in standards of explanation in medical science. If we adopt this broader perspective, our current understanding of vitamin deficiency diseases can be seen as a direct consequence ofthe changes resulting from the adoption of germ theory.2 In this essay I will argue that Freud's early work in psychopathology constitutes another ramification of the basic research strategy of germ theory. The theoretical connexions between germ theory and Freud's early work seem to have been entirely ignored. To take one prominent example, a great part of Ellenberger's The discovery of the unconscious is "devoted to authors and systems of thought, which . . . could be called sources or precursors of Freud." In a twelve-page summary he gives "a succinct list of these sources, insofar as they are known today." The list includes more than two dozen persons and movements but germ theory is not mentioned.3 By ignoring the connexion between Freud's work and germ theory, one overlooks those aspects of Freud's work that show it to be both fundamentally different from the work of nearly all his immediate predecessors who wrote on psychopathology, and fundamentally allied to work that was being carried out on infectious diseases.


Mesothelioma is a rare thoracic malignancy with a dismal prognosis. Current treatment options are scarce and clinical outcomes are rather disappointing. Due to the immunogenic nature of mesothelioma, several studies have investigated immunotherapeutic strategies to improve the prognosis of patients with mesothelioma. In the last decade, progress in knowledge of the modulation of the immune system to attack the tumor has been remarkable, but the optimal strategy for immunotherapy has yet to be unraveled. Because of their potent antigen-presenting capacity, dendritic cells are acknowledged as a promising agent in immunotherapeutic approaches in a number of malignancies. This review gives an update and provides a future perspective in which immunotherapy may improve the outcome of mesothelioma therapy.


In a common agency game, several principals try to influence the behavior of an agent. Common agency games typically have multiple equilibria. One class of equilibria, called truthful, has been identified by Bernheim and Whinston and has found widespread use in the political economy literature. In this paper we identify another class of equilibria, which we call natural. In a natural equilibrium, each principal offers a strictly positive contribution on at most one alternative. We show that a natural equilibrium always exists and that its computational complexity is much smaller than that of a truthful equilibrium. To compare the predictive power of the two concepts, we run an experiment on a common agency game for which the two equilibria predict a different equilibrium alternative. The results strongly reject the truthful equilibrium. The alternative predicted by the natural equilibrium is chosen in 65% of the matches, while the one predicted by the truthful equilibrium is chosen in less than 5% of the matches.


About 80% of people around the world suffer from iron deficiency, and doctors suggest taking over-the- counter supplements. However, dietary iron comes in two main forms: heme and non-heme. Both affect the carefully held balance of bacteria in our gut differently. This project studied the influence of heme and non-heme iron on the growth of pathogenic Serratia marcescens and non-pathogenic Escherichia coli bacteria. We hypothesized that the growth of bacteria would increase as the iron concentration rose, with the influence of heme iron being stronger than that of non-heme iron, as numerous previous studies have found that heme iron is more readily absorbed. In the growth medium, we grew E. coli and S. marcescens separately in no-iron control plates, increasing concentrations of heme or non-heme iron, or 0.5 μg/mL Ciprofloxacin, an antibiotic that kills bacteria. Then, we grew the bacteria together in a moderate concentration of non-heme or heme iron to test species competition. The results largely confirmed the hypothesis. In higher iron concentrations, both heme and non-heme iron elevated bacterial growth, suggesting that a greater quantity of free iron promotes bacterial growth. However, in the highest iron concentration of heme or non-heme iron, bacterial growth decreased, as overabsorption caused cytotoxicity. Heme iron plates had a higher bacterial growth than non-heme iron plates likely due to better iron absorption. The large magnitude by which the growth of S. marcescens was increased by heme iron in comparison to E. coli demonstrates the potential dangers of overconsumption of heme iron and suggests that some pathogenic bacteria can conduct iron absorption more efficiently. As ingesting too much iron can lead to dysbiosis and intestinal diseases, the conclusion of this study makes an important contribution to the relative safeties of heme and non-heme iron consumption.


Informal economic activities are an important source of jobs in the region. The question as to how this phenomenon should be interpreted and the nature of its implications are, however, a subject of controversy. Some analysts regard the existence of the informal economy as a consequence of insufficient economic growth; they contend that it represents a survival strategy and, as such, an involuntary refuge for the poor. Others argue that it is the result of changes in the labour market brought about by government regulation and see it as offering attractive job alternatives that may yield a higher income than many wage-earning positions. The aim of this article is to set forth information that will help determine whether poverty really is associated entirely with the informal sector or whether the wage-labour sector also contributes to poverty in the region and, if so, to what extent. An effort is also made to ascertain what proportion of informal workers are in fact poor. For purposes of this analysis, members of the informal sector are defined here as own-account workers and unpaid family workers, workers in microenterprises (defined as production units that employ no more than five people);, and people who perform domestic work. One of the main conclusions presented in the article is that while most poor people belong to the informal sector of the economy, this does not mean that all informal workers are poor.


[This book] responds to changes in the way food preparation is being taught both in industry and in schools and colleges. Its focus is on doing what to do, how to do it, and why. It is designed to train beginning students in the principles, techniques, and skills needed to prepare food for production.... Cooking becomes not a bewildering succession of individual recipes but a fascinating series of elaborations on a few simple themes.


Developing a successful university–school partnership has been a topic for research since the early 1900s. In this case study, faculty members at one university in the southern United States believes they may have found one possible answer. This university has been working toward forming a partnership with three local schools to bring about transformative change to the schools and the community. Through this collaboration, faculty members sought to intentionally trouble the pervasive top-down approach many universities take when communicating with schools and to disrupt the savior complexes that often center on these efforts. Instead, by starting to identify the community needs, listening intently to the community desire for future changes in local schools, and working in solidarity with the community, sustainable partnerships were formed, and meaningful change has already happened in the short term.
 Creating multi-layered relationships rooted in a commitment to culturally relevant/responsive and sustaining pedagogy, the partnerships began with a shared vision between the university and the schools to work collaboratively, responding to the individual needs of each school and the surrounding community. The university faculty members committed to working in and with the community understand that centering the culture of the community in all partnership discussions was tantamount to their success, demonstrating that cultural relevance should not be confined to the walls of the university classroom, but rather, should be a guiding principle in all interactions between universities, local schools, and communities. The success of these partnerships, and the strong relationships built as a result, has created a possible model for future university–school partnerships.


Recent studies of spatially explicit metapopulation models have shown the existence of complex transient behaviour (supertransients and mesotransients) characterized by spontaneous changes in the system's dynamics after thousands or hundreds of generations, respectively. Their detection in simple ecological models has been taken as evidence that transient dynamics may be common in nature. In this study, we explore the generality of these phenomena in a simple one-dimensional spatially explicit metapopulation model. We investigate how frequently supertransient behaviour emerges in relation to the shape and type of the dispersal kernel used (normal and Laplace), system size, boundary conditions and how sensitive they are to initial conditions. Our results show that supertransients are rare, are heavily affected by initial conditions and occur for a small set of dispersal parameter values, which vary according to kernel type, system size, and boundary conditions. Similarly, mesotransients emerge over a very narrow range of dispersal parameter values and are rare under all circumstances. Thus, transient dynamics are not likely to be either common or widespread in simple models of ecological systems.


The magnitude and brutality of the internal armed conflict of Guatemala led to its becoming infamous worldwide. Although the militarized state became a monster that brutalized many different groups, indigenous communities suffered at a rate far greater than the Ladino or non-indigenous population. It is pertinent to note that the term "Ladino" in Guatemala has a long and complex history that stems from the colonial period. Its meaning has morphed through time, from being used by colonial authorities to define indigenous peoples fluent in the conqueror's language—Spanish—to its current meaning that defines all peoples, from white to mestizo, who are not part of the elite class and do not identify as indigenous. It is important to note that while not a formal social scientific term, "Ladino" was included in the latest Guatemalan census (2018) and, as posited by social scientists, is a contested term the meaning of which might continue to change. Nevertheless, the dichotomy of Ladino and indigenous has underscored issues of power and wealth in Guatemalan society since the early colonial period and continues to do so.
 During the bloodiest years of the conflict, the military stepped up its repression and violence, leading to a series of massacres and displacements of tens of thousands of highland villagers and the razing of hundreds of communities. The focus on indigenous ethnicities as a factor of war allowed the massacres to be categorized as a genocide. What often gets lost in the recount is the historical foundations that made such atrocities possible. The cost of the war in Guatemala is ongoing and immeasurable. However, partial approximations can be made in both human and economic costs. What remains clear is that the war came at a great cost to future Guatemalan generations, as its repercussions continue to impact Guatemalan society.


Background Patients with co-occurring behavioral health and chronic medical conditions frequently overuse inpatient hospital services. This pattern of overuse contributes to inefficient health care spending. These patients require coordinated care to achieve optimal health outcomes. However, the poor exchange of health-related information between various clinicians renders the delivery of coordinated care challenging. Health information exchanges (HIEs) facilitate health-related information sharing and have been shown to be effective in chronic disease management; however, their effectiveness in the delivery of integrated care is less clear. It is prudent to consider new approaches to sharing both general medical and behavioral health information. Objective This study aims to identify and describe factors influencing the intention to use behavioral health information that is shared through HIEs. Methods We used a mixed methods design consisting of two sequential phases. A validated survey instrument was emailed to clinical and nonclinical staff in Alabama and Oklahoma. The survey captured information about the impact of predictors on the intention to use behavioral health data in clinical decision making. Follow-up interviews were conducted with a subsample of participants to elaborate on the survey results. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze survey data. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes from the interviews. Results A total of 62 participants completed the survey. In total, 63% (n=39) of the participants were clinicians. Performance expectancy (β=.382; P=.01) and trust (β=.539; P<.001) predicted intention to use behavioral health information shared via HIEs. The interviewees (n=5) expressed that behavioral health information could be useful in clinical decision making. However, privacy and confidentiality concerns discourage sharing this information, which is generally missing from patient records altogether. The interviewees also stated that training for HIE use was not mandatory; the training that was provided did not focus specifically on the exchange of behavioral health information. Conclusions Despite barriers, individuals are willing to use behavioral health information from HIEs if they believe that it will enhance job performance and if the information being transmitted is trustworthy. The findings contribute to our understanding of the role HIEs can play in delivering integrated care, particularly to vulnerable patients.


Presented in this article is a new accurate tool swept volume generation algorithm based on a generalized cutter for five-axis NC simulation and verification. Based on the surface envelope theory and the differential geometry, using analytical method, the strict deduction process of critical curve equation and swept envelope equation for generalized cutter are given. The motion feature of the cutter in five-axis machining is analyzed and the moving frame is established; Then, the detailed solving method of the cutter's velocity is presented. Further, the accurate swept volume expression method and generation algorithm for generalized cutter are achieved. At last, the correctness and efficiency of the algorithm is verified by a fillet-end cutter's experimental result.


Four hundred and fifty skeletons were examined, and age changes in the bony vertebral end-plates were grouped into six categories. The predominant patterns of each phase from infancy to senescence are presented. The formation of ridges and sulci that form peripherally are similar to those appearing in other epiphyses and may provide translational stability. When osteophytes appear with maturation, they are separated from the fused ring apophysis by a distinct sulcus.