This study aimed to analyze and relate the population interest through information search trends on Nutrition and Healthy Diet (HD) with the Occupational Health (OH). Ecological and correlational study of the Relative Search Volume (RSV) obtained from Google Trends query, segmented in two searched periods concerning antiquity; date of query: 20 April 2021. The RSV trends for the analyzed three Topics were: Nutrition (R2 = 0.02), HD (R2 = 0.07) and OH (R2 = −0.72). There was a good positive correlation between Nutrition and OH (R = 0.56, p < 0.001) and a moderate one between HD and OH (R = 0.32, p < 0.001). According to seasons, differences were verified between RSV means in the Topics HD (p < 0.01) and OH (p < 0.001). Temporal dependence was demonstrated on Nutrition searches (Augmented Dickey–Fuller = −2.35, p > 0.05). There was only a significant relationship between the RSV Topic HD (p < 0.05) for the Developing and Least Developed countries. The data on the analyzed RSV demonstrated diminishing interest in the search information on HD and OH as well as a clearly positive trend change in recent years for Nutrition. A good positive correlation was observed between the RSV of nutrition and OH whereas the correlation between HD and OH was moderate. There were no milestones found that may report a punctual event leading to the improvement of information searches. Temporal dependence was corroborated in the RSV on Nutrition, but not in the other two Topics. Strangely, only an association was found on HD searches between the Developing and Least Developed Countries. The study of information search trends may provide useful information on the population's interest in the disease data, as well as would gradually allow the analysis of differences in popularity, or interest even between different countries. Thus, this information might be used as a guide for public health approaches regarding nutrition and a healthy diet at work.


In the tropical and subtropical regions of eastern Australia multidecadal periods of floods and droughts have major economic and environmental consequences. Due to the short duration of instrumental rainfall records in this region the temporal pattern
of these extreme events is poorly understood. Subtropical Southeast Queensland (SEQ) is one area that frequently experiences floods and droughts and is lacking in both instrumental rainfall records and sources of proxy data. There are old growth forest stands found in National Parks where dendroclimatology, the reconstruction of climate using tree-rings, can be applied. Tree rings have been widely utilized in temperate environments to provide annually-resolved centennial-scale climate information. However, in tropical and subtropical regions dendroclimatology has been underutilized, as many species in these regions are difficult to analyse. These species have short life-spans, poorly preserved timber, and are believed to exhibit numerous ring anomalies making dating of ring series difficult. Due to this, few species have been analysed for relationships between tree growth and climate. Recent reviews of both tropical and Australian dendrochronology have suggested that if a multi-technique approach is applied more species could be found suitable for use in reconstructing climate. This thesis first reviews the dendroclimatological history of Australia evaluating 36 studies across the continent that examined tree and shrub species for growth-climate
relationships. This review showed that all four climate zones of Australia; temperate, arid, tropical, and subtropical, contained species that had the potential to provide high-quality, long-term climate reconstructions in areas under represented by
instrumental data. Only four climate reconstructions have been developed in Australia. In all of these studies a combination of traditional ring-width measurements and modern analysis techniques allowed for the reconstructions to be developed. Several species located in SEQ had been assessed for growth-climate relationships and were found to grow as a result of rainfall conditions, with trees in the Araucariaceae family demonstrating the most potential. These trees are longer lived than most tropical/subtropical species, are known to put on annual rings, and grow as a result of environmental conditions which led them to be targeted in this thesis. Secondly, to test the spatial patterns of SEQ rainfall the instrumental data network was evaluated with Pearson correlation analysis undertaken on 140 rainfall stations active during 1908 to 2007. Stations are clustered into groups that correlate at r = 0.80, 0.85, and 0.90 levels. The pattern produced indicates that rainfall across SEQ is not uniform with correlated groups being separated by the Great Dividing Range with both coast-inland and north-south separations. To determine the effect this spatial variability has on the spatial applicability of rainfall reconstruction, the 140-year Toona ciliata tree-ring width record developed by Heinrich et al. (2009) is compared with the different rainfall groups and subgroups observed across SEQ.
The rainfall reconstruction is found to best represent the spatial subgroups within which it is contained rather than representing the entire regional rainfall network. This suggests that several sites within SEQ need to be targeted to develop rainfall
reconstructions for the region. Consequently three spatial distributed sites are targeted within SEQ with cores
collected from Araucaria cunninghamii trees in D'Aguilar and Lamington National Parks and Araucaria bidwillii trees in Bunya Mountains National Park. These Araucariaceae cores are assessed for ring anomalies though the application of visual ring dating with false, faint, locally absent, and pinching rings found to be present in both species. However, through the use of bomb-pulse radiocarbon dating of A. cunninghamii samples anomalous rings are identified and annual growth patterns determined. Dendrometers are installed at the Lamington and Bunya Mountains sites to determine the exact growth-climate relationships for these species in SEQ. The amount of growth experienced by these trees is driven by annual rainfall while minimum temperatures are shown to be influencing the start and conclusion of the growth seasons. These results suggest that annual rainfall can be
reconstructed from Araucariaceae trees when dating is verified using radiocarbon dating to account for ring anomalies. Two statistically significant rainfall reconstructions developed from A. cunninghamii trees are then presented. The first is a 69-year rainfall reconstruction for Brisbane developed from the D'Aguilar site. The trees at this location are all found to exhibit faint, indeterminate ring boundaries making them unsuitable for traditional visual ring-dating. A new method is presented using x-radiographs and density patterns scanned using an Itrax core scanner to build this reconstruction. Thirty-nine 12mm cores from twenty trees have their ring boundaries identified on the Itrax produced images based on features visible in the radiographs and the density patterns. Bombpulse radiocarbon dating is performed to verify the chronology. Climate response function analysis demonstrates that growth in driven by Austral annual (June-May) rainfall. The second reconstruction is a 164-year record developed from eighteen trees located in Lamington National Park. A field sampling strategy is applied where multiple cores are collected from the upslope, downslope, and across-slope sides of the study trees to help eliminate anomalous ring issues identified as being prevalent in these species. This chronology is then developed using traditional visual ring identification complemented by bomb-pulse radiocarbon dating to verify and correct the ring counts. Climate response function analysis indicates that Austral annual (June-May) rainfall is driving growth in these trees. Comparisons to both a Brisbane rainfall station (located about 100km from the Lamington site) and a station local to Lamington are undertaken with the rainfall signal at the local site more closely related to tree growth. Drought conditions are well represented by this chronology. The El Nino Southern Oscillation is found to be driving rainfall for the Lamington area but only since the 1940s.


Resiliency has been examined in past research using a scale for children and adolescents, called the Resiliency Scales for Children and Adolescents (RSCA; Prince-Embury, 2006, 2007). This scale is based on a three-factor model for resiliency that includes Sense of Mastery, Sense of Relatedness, and Emotional Reactivity (Prince-Embury, 2006, 2007). The RSCA has recently been revised for young adults, by developing the Resiliency Scale for Young Adults (RSYA). The RSYA is a 50-item self-report measure, with each item rated on a scale from 0 = Never ; to 4 = Almost always . The current study is a replication of a study by Prince-Embury et al. (2016) that presented psychometric support for the RSYA. A sample of first year undergraduate students at Western University (similar to the sample collected in the 2016 study), were administered the online RSYA at two time points during the Fall 2016 semester. The current study examines the internal consistency and the test-retest reliability of this measure, as well as replicating various analyses completed in the 2016 study. The results supported the internal consistency and also the test-retest reliability of the RSYA, which also showed negative relationships with stress, anxiety, depression and a positive relationship with life satisfaction. This scale holds promise for further studies of resiliency in young adults.


Researchers from New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medicine performed a retrospective review of 77 patients (mean age 12.2) to assess the performance of MRI in differentiating perforated from non-perforated appendicitis. The researchers reviewed the records of the pediatric patients who had undergone contrast-enhanced MRI and subsequent appendectomy, with surgicopathological confirmation of perforation. Appendiceal diameter and the following 10 MRI findings were assessed: • Appendiceal restricted diffusion • Wall defect • Appendicolith • Periappendiceal free fluid • Remote free fluid • Restricted diffusion within free fluid • Abscess • Peritoneal enhancement • Ileocecal wall thickening • Ileus The results showed that of the 77 patients, 22 had perforation. These 22 patients had a larger mean appendiceal diameter or 12.3 mm and mean number of MRI findings (5.0) than the non-perforated group, which had a mean appendiceal diameter of 8.6 mm and a mean of 2.0 MRI findings. Abscess, wall defect and restricted diffusion within free fluid had the greatest specificity for perforation (1.00, 1.00, and 0.96, respectively) but low sensitivity (0.36, 0.25, and 0.32, respectively). The receiver operator characteristic curve for total number of MRI findings had an area under the curve of 0.92, with an optimal threshold of 3.5. A threshold of any four findings had the best ability to accurately discriminate between perforated and non-perforated cases, with a sensitivity of 82% and specificity of 85%. The researchers concluded that use of contrast-enhanced MRI can help differentiate perforated from non-perforated appendicitis. The presence of multiple findings increases diagnostic accuracy, with a threshold of any four findings optimally discriminating between perforated and non-perforated cases.


Abstract Execution of construction projects in an efficient and effective way is a core competency of project-based organizations. Evaluation of project success plays a key role in improving project management competency. Project success is an elusive topic and goes beyond project management success and traditional criteria. The lack of an agreed definition and a set of criteria for construction project success have long been the reasons for failing to evaluate success. The main possible causes for such disagreement would be the abstract nature of the concept itself and studies including different industry projects and different participants' viewpoints with different priorities. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to define construction project success and to develop a framework with a practical set of measurement criteria to evaluate the same. This study has followed the Systematic Review Approach recommended by Tranfield et al. (2003). The recommended check-list by Saunders et al. (2007) was used to ensure the criticality of the review. A definition for Construction Project Success and ten criteria – subjective and objective have been identified. The criteria are Time, Cost, Quality, Safety, Client's Satisfaction, Employees' Satisfaction, Cash-flow Management, Profitability, Environment Performance and Learning and Development. The paper stresses the need for a long-term perspective rather than having a short-term perspective of Construction Project Success. Further, it has disentangled complications in literature over some criteria such as Quality and Satisfaction. Employee Satisfaction and Learning & Development have been completely overlooked as a result of short term perspective. Criteria should facilitate measuring project success during the execution stage as well as at the end of the project. It is recommended that, through the studies of relationships between critical success factors and success criteria a stronger model to ensure project success could be established. Proposed framework will be tested in Sri Lankan context in future and findings would be added to the project management body of knowledge. Proposed framework will be instrumental for filling the existing empirical gaps. Keywords: Construction Industry, Project Management, Success Criteria, Project Success, Success Measurements


Dry land has wide and diverse agroecosystem, which potential as growth source to produce dietary crops (foodstuff). The objective of the research was to study the appropriate managerial technique of cropping system for rice and corn to increase production and income of the farm operation in dry land during dry season. The research was conducted on dry land during dry season (DS) I in 2018 at Jatisari Village, Arjasa Subdistrict, Situbondo Regency, on the area of 10,000 m2 width. The research used Randomized Block Design with 4 treatments and 6 replications, includes : (a) Upland rice (20 cm x 20 cm), (b) Upland rice largo super (40 cm x 20 cm x 10 cm), (c) Upland rice largo super (40 cm x 20 cm x 10 cm) + corn (160 cm x 40 cm), and (d) Corn (75 cm x 20 cm). Results of the research showed that the intercropping system between upland rice largo super and corn produced higher yield, 8,151 kg/ha DGH and 2,092 kg/ha grains of corn. Besides that, yield of corn trimming was 2,446 kg/ha fresh biomass. The increase production of intercropping upland rice largo super with corn has increase income of the farmers, IDR. 41,923,100 with R/C ratio 3.25, so that it is economically feasible.


On June 22, 1969, just before noon, an oil slick and assorted debris under a railroad trestle on the Cuyahoga River caught fire. The fire attracted national media attention, and helped prompt the passage of federal environmental laws. A river on fire was a symbol of earth in need of repair, and federal regulation was the reparative tool of choice. Much of the Cuyahoga story is mythology, however, a fable with powerful symbolic force. The river did burn in 1969 - as it and other rivers had burned many times before - and today the Cuyahoga and many U.S. rivers are far less polluted. But so much else of what we "know" about the 1969 fire is simply not so. The conventional narratives, of a river abandoned by its local community, of water pollution at its zenith, of conventional legal doctrines impotent in the face of environmental harms, and of a beneficent federal government rushing in to save the day, is misleading in many respects. This paper revisits the context and history of the legendary Cuyahoga River fire to reveal a more complex story about the causes and consequences of various institutional choices in environmental law. The aim is to provide additional perspective to the questions of institutional choice which underlie environmental policy, and to suggest that the decision to reallocate primary authority over water quality to the federal government was neither inevitable nor an unmitigated blessing.


Translation has now developed to the process in which translation is acknowledged as a key dimension of social life. At the same time, a translation approach to social praxis demands that we rethink basic premises of the social sciences. Taking translation as a key dimension of sociality means regarding difference as primary, and forces us to focus on the exchanges and interconnections between and across different contexts. What stands out are the multiple contextual involvements of social actors. This paper views translation as interactive and the influences of the factors of social life to translation. Based on the distinction between implicit and explicit levels of social translation, it explores the potentialities of translation as a way of reaching out to others.


The Cobar mining field, New South Wales, consists of three types of deposits: copper + gold-rich ones, 0 to 18 km south of Cobar (Central, The Peak, and Coronation-Queen Bee areas); copper + lead + zinc-rich ones, 10 km north of Cobar (C.S.A. mine); and silver + lead + zinc-rich ones, 40 km north of Cobar (Elura mine). All deposits are hosted by folded and cleaved Early Devonian thin-bedded turbidites and lie oblique to bedding. Previous ideas of ore genesis have varied from epigenetic (by early workers) to remobilized syngenetic by more recent ones.The copper + gold deposits discussed here are structurally controlled and lie in zones of silicification on or adjacent to major faults. With the exception of minor, massive lead-zinc mineralization, mineralization occurs in veins (generally in quartz veins) and as disseminations in silicified rock. In the Central area deposits, mineralized veins are north-northwest-trending steeply east-dipping, northwest-trending steeply east-dipping, and subhorizontal. The steep north-plunging shape of the orebodies reflects maximum dilation at the intersection of the north-northwest-trending and northwest-trending sets of veins.Surface veins around deposits of the Central area have been grouped into six geometric sets, with formation taking place over a prolonged history during the D 1 deformation of the surrounding sediments. This implies that the vein-style mineralization is epigenetic in origin and that it resulted from precipitation from hydrothermal fluids circulating through major faults and adjacent fractures connected to those faults.


The effect of the plant growth regulator PGR-IV on cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) was evaluated in field experiments in up to eight locations, for three years (1995-97) in Greece. Seedcotton yields were increased by up to 20 % in most locations, compared to the control. The mean yield increase in all locations and years was 4.9%. This was correlated with increases in boll retention, number of sympodia with two bolls and total boll number per plant. Late PGR-IV applications had no significant effect on seedcotton yield, compared to the PGR-IV treatment with three applications. No effect was found in plant height and fiber quality parameters. It is concluded that PGR-IV can increase seedcotton yield by affecting plant performance.


Amphotropic recombinant retroviruses were generated carrying sequences encoding human adenosine deaminase (ADA). Transcription of the human ADA gene was under control of a hybrid long terminal repeat in which the enhancer from the Moloney murine leukemia virus was replaced by an enhancer from the F101 host-range mutant of polyoma virus. Hemopoietic stem cells in murine bone marrow were infected with this virus under defined culture conditions. As a result, 59% of day-12 colony forming unit spleen (CFU-S) stem cells became infected without any in vitro selection. Infected CFU-S were shown to express human ADA before transplantation and this expression sustained upon in vivo maturation. Mice transplanted with infected bone marrow exhibited human ADA expression in lymphoid, myeloid, and erythroid cell types. Moreover, human ADA expression persisted in secondary and tertiary transplanted recipients showing that human ADA-expressing cells were derived from pluripotent stem cells. These characteristics of our amphotropic viruses make them promising tools in gene therapy protocols for the treatment of severe combined immunodeficiency caused by ADA deficiency. In this respect it is also relevant that the viral vector that served as backbone for the ADA vector was previously shown to be nonleukemogenic.


alpha1-Antitrypsin (alpha1-AT) is a serum protease inhibitor that is synthesized mainly in the liver, and its rate of synthesis markedly increases in response to inflammation. This increase in alpha1-AT synthesis results in an increase in peptides, like its carboxyl-terminal C-36 peptide (C-36), resulting from alpha1-AT cleavage by proteases. Atherosclerosis is a form of chronic inflammation, and one of the risk factors is elevated plasma cholesterol levels. Because of the correlation between atherosclerosis, plasma cholesterol content, inflammation, and alpha1-AT rate of synthesis, we investigated the effect of the C-36 serpin peptide on hepatic bile acid biosynthesis. We discovered that C-36 is a powerful and specific transcriptional down-regulator of bile acid synthesis in primary rat hepatocytes, through inhibition of the cholesterol 7alpha-hydroxylase/CYP7A1 (7alpha-hydroxylase) promoter. Mice injected with the C-36 peptide also showed a decrease in 7alpha-hydroxylase mRNA. A mutated but very similar peptide did not have any effect on 7alpha-hydroxylase mRNA or its promoter. The sterol 12alpha-hydroxylase/CYP8B1 (12alpha-hydroxylase) promoter is also down-regulated by the C-36 peptide in HepG2 cells but not by the mutated peptide. The DNA element involved in the C-36-mediated regulation of 7alpha- and 12alpha-hydroxylase promoters mapped to the alpha1-fetoprotein transcription factor (FTF) site in both promoters. The C-36 peptide prevented binding of FTF to its target DNA recognition site by direct interaction with FTF. We hypothesize that the C-36 peptide specifically interacts with FTF and induces a conformational change that results in loss of its DNA binding ability, which results in suppression of 7alpha- and 12alpha-hydroxylase transcription. These results suggest that peptides derived from specific serum proteins may alter hepatic gene expression in a highly specific manner.


This paper investigates the role of specific intra-organizational mechanisms in analyzing performance implications of openness by addressing two questions: does openness to innovation influence innovation performance? And if so, what organizational activities facilitate increased effectiveness of both inbound and outbound open innovation practices? The paper identifies a set of internal management mechanisms that allows the firm to couple the outside-in and inside-out knowledge flows in support of integrating external knowledge and internal competencies. The empirical basis of the study is a survey carried out in 321 Danish SMEs in manufacturing industries. The paper cannot substantiate the thus far, seemingly positive evidence of openness on innovation performance. Rather, the paper finds that inbound open innovation is related to the introduction of new products, whereas the adoption of outbound open innovation is positively related to innovation profitability. Furthermore, the paper finds that the use of internal coupling activities mediates the relationship between openness and innovation profitability. The main result is that the benefits of open innovation are fully captured only when firms adopt a number of coupling activities that provide employees with time, autonomy and empowerment to conduct their work. The paper therefore contributes to the innovation management literature by developing the concept of internal coupling activities, testing these on a set of open innovation practices, while distinguishing between respectively the effects of inbound and outbound openness on innovation performance. The paper concludes with implications to theory and practice.


"New York-based artist, Beverly Semmes, began The Feminist Responsibility Project (FRP) in the early 2000s. Her show at the Tang consisted of drawings, video, ceramics, and illuminated glass forms placed and suspended throughout the gallery. At the heart of the exhibition was a collection of works on paper that features rough gestural applications of ink and paint that conceal and reveal the body as depicted in pornographic magazines." -- Publisher's website.


A total of 144 neurosurgical interventions were performed in 138 patients with cerebrovascular diseases (arterial aneurysms in the acute and cold periods after a subarachnoidal hemorrhage, arteriovenous malformations, and carotid-cavernous anastomoses). Intraoperative monitoring of regional saturation of hemoglobin with oxygen in the blood flowing in brain vessels was carried out by a cerebral oximeter INVOS 3100 for early intraoperative diagnosis of cerebral ischemia. This paper analyzes factors affecting changes in rSO2 parameter during surgery and discusses the prognostic significance of the detected shifts. Various factors affected the time course of rSO2: decrease in AP within the framework of controlled arterial hypotone and other causes, insertion of autosupported retractor spatulae, temporary clipping and embolism of cerebral arteries, vasospasm, aneurysm rupture, dissection of arteriovenous malformation, etc. Any intraoperative shift of rSO2 surpassing 5%, no matter of what direction (decrease or increase), deserves special attention of anesthesiologist, as it indicates development of cerebral ischemia with a high degree of probability.


persons oversubscribing to attempted suicide rates. This, again, may be partly due to the suicidogenic potential of schizophrenia, alcoholism, and psychopathy-as may their possibly increased rates of violent crime both within and without the Irish setting. Certainly, violent deaths seem commoner among Irishborn immigrants.'6 It is noteworthy that Roman Catholic priests working in Englandwho presumably are more likely to be of Irish extraction-have a higher mortality than Anglican clergy.'7 Most of the conditions mentioned have strong genetic determinants. For instance, the tissue histocompatibility antigen HLA-B8, which is relatively frequent in Irish populations,' has been found increased in alcoholic cirrhosisl8 and gluten enteropathy."19 One might speculate that, while the breaking up of small population isolates may be a dilution effect to reduce disease incidence-for example, in Sweden, resulting in a decline in Tay-Sachs disease20-so, conversely, the influx of "high-risk" gene pool individuals may raise the disease rates in the localities in which they settle. This hypothesis could be tested in the UK by analysing regional differences in schizophrenia or alcoholism rates and comparing these with regional differences in immigrant ratios. This genetic argument, which is often-as in your leading articlenot at all considered, may hold the key to many epidemiological puzzles.


The development of the cytosolic androgen receptor was studied after degeneration and regeneration of the rat levator ani muscle after a crush lesion. Muscle regeneration appears to recapitulate myogenesis in many respects. It therefore provides a model tissue in sufficiently in large quantity for investigating the ontogenesis of the androgen receptor. The receptor in the cytosol of the normal levator ani muscle has binding characteristics similar to those of the cytosolic receptor in other androgen-sensitive tissues. By day 3 after a crush lesion of the levator ani muscle, androgen binding decreased to 25% of control values. This decrease was followed by a 4-5 fold increase in hormone binding, which attained control values by day 7 after crush. Androgen binding remained stable at the control value up to day 60 after crushing. These results were correlated with the morphological development of the regenerating muscle after crushing. It is concluded that there is little, if any, androgen receptor present in the early myoblastic stages of regeneration; rather, synthesis of the receptor may occur after the fusion of myoblasts and during the differentiation of myotubes into cross-striated muscle fibres.


A 315 MHz power-gated ultra low power transceiver for wireless sensor network is developed in 40 nm CMOS. The developed transceiver features an injection-locked frequency multiplier for carrier generation and a power-gated low noise amplifier with current second-reuse technique for receiver front-end. The injection-locked frequency multiplier implements frequency multiplication by edge-combining and thereby achieves 11 μW power consumption at 315 MHz. The proposed low noise amplifier achieves the lowest power consumption of 8.4 μW with 7.9 dB noise figure and 20.5 dB gain in state-of-the-art designs. key words: injection lock, power gating, low noise amplifier, ultra low power


Abstract Barley (Hordeum vulgare), one of the most widely cultivated cereal crops, possesses a large genome of 5.1 Gbp. Through various international collaborations, the genome has recently been sequenced and assembled at the chromosome-scale by exploiting available genetic and genomic resources. Many wild and cultivated barley accessions have been collected and preserved around the world. These accessions are crucial to obtain diverse natural and induced barley variants. The barley bioresource project aims to investigate the diversity of this crop based on purified seed and DNA samples of a large number of collected accessions. The long-term goal of this project is to analyse the genome sequences of major barley accessions worldwide. In view of technical limitations, a strategy has been employed to establish the exome structure of a selected number of accessions and to perform high-quality chromosome-scale assembly of the genomes of several major representative accessions. For the future project, an efficient annotation pipeline is essential for establishing the function of genomes and genes as well as for using this information for sequence-based digital barley breeding. In this article, the author reviews the existing barley resources along with their applications and discuss possible future directions of research in barley genomics.


The susceptibility of sparrows (Passer domesticus) and strains of mice (Swiss, BALB/c, C-57 and DB-A) to Lawsonia intracellularis infection was studied. Thirty-two sparrows were inoculated with pure culture of L. intracellularis and eleven received sham inoculum. Feces were collected on -1, 7, 14 and 21 days post infection (dpi) for detection of L. intracellularis by PCR. After 21 days, all sparrows were euthanized and the tissues processed for histology and immunohistochemistry (IHC). One hundred sixty mice of four different strains (n=40, per strain) were used. For each mouse strain, 16 animals received mucosa homogenate from a pig infected with L. intracellularis, 16 received pure culture of L. intracellularis and eight animals received sham inoculum. Two control and four inoculated mice from each group were euthanized on 7, 14, 21 and 28 dpi. Sections of intestine were collected for histologic analysis and IHC and pooled feces were collected for L. intracellularis PCR. None of the sparrows had any histologic lesions characteristic of proliferative enteropathy or antigen labeling by IHC. All sparrow fecal samples were negative by PCR. All mice strains studied had histopathological lesions typical of PE and IHC labeling consistent with L. intracellularis infection, especially those animals inoculated with pure culture. The most severe lesions were observed in DB-A and Swiss mice. Fecal shedding was detected in all mice strains, with peak at 14 dpi. We conclude that sparrows do not seem to be relevant in the epidemiology of L. intracellularis. The results showed variations in the lesions among the four mice strains used.


This study explores variations in macroeconomic policy and performance in contemporary Latin America on the basis of a theoretical model that emphasizes the complex interplay of partisan control of the government, labor strength, and electoral competition. The plausibility of the model is assessed on the basis of a cross-national time series analysis of economic policy choice and performance in nineteen nations. Contrary to the view that internationalization of the world economy leaves limited room for domestic actors and institutions to influence public policy, the findings suggest that macroeconomic performance in contemporary Latin America reflects eminently political processes of policy formation shaped by partisanship, electoral competition, and union strength. The study thereby points to the broader relevance of the literature on the political economy of the advanced industrial democracies, which has emphasized the impact of domestic political institutions, particularly political parties and trade unions, on policy choice and performance.


This paper presents the development of the main modules of a highly interactive system for security training, The system allows the security professionals to feel as if they were in a real danger situation, very close to the one they may find in their work activities. Such situations create conditions for a better training and skills achievement. In order to produce the interactivity, the system exhibits a 2D movie, in real size (1:1), showing scenes and scenarios close to the reality of the professional under training. During the movie an unexpected situation of danger emerges and the user has to make quick decisions to circumvent the problem. Depending on the reactions of the user, the automated system chooses the best sequence for the movie. Afterwards, the reactions and decision taken by the users will be evaluated by computer software to determine his/her performance.


Abstract Background Current recommendations are to calculate the adenoma detection rate (ADR) in screening colonoscopies only. The need to confine the measure to screening has not been established. Methods We retrospectively assessed our quality database for whether calculating ADR from screening, surveillance, and diagnostic colonoscopies (overall ADR) would alter conclusions about the performance of colonoscopists, compared to using an ADR based only on screening colonoscopies. We also prospectively tested the extent to which one physician could corrupt the screening-only ADR by changing the procedure indication after reviewing the examination findings. Results For 15 physicians, screening ADRs differed from the overall ADR by a mean of 2.6 percentage points (range 0 – 6.9 percentage points). Using the overall ADR rather than screening ADR changed the ADR from just below to just above the recommended screening threshold for one physician. In the prospective assessment, a single expert colonoscopist utilized indication gaming in patients with both screening and diagnostic indications and was able to increase his apparent screening-only ADR from 48.4 % to 55.1 %. Conclusions Use of an overall ADR rather than screening-only ADR could simplify ADR measurement, increase the number of examinations available to measure ADR, seldom affect whether a doctor meets recommended ADR thresholds, and eliminate the potential for gaming the ADR by changing the colonoscopy indication.


Introduction
Antibiotic- associated diarrhea is a common problem in pediatric population. There is growing interest in probiotics, probiotics and synbiotics for prevention of this complication because of their worldwide availability as dietary supplements. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of a synbiotic mixture in prevention of antibiotic- associated diarrhea.

Materials and Methods:
 In this randomized controlled trial, 218 patients ( 111 in the synbiotic and 107 in the placebo group) aged 6 months to 14 years with respiratory tract infection and/ or otitis media who needed antibiotic treatment in outpatient setting, were enrolled. They received 1 billion Colony Forming Unit of seven probiotics species plus Fructooligosaccharide in form of powder or placebo ( matched for size, shape, and volume) for 7 days. Amoxicillin, Amoxicillin-clavalanic acid, cefixim and Azithromicin were the most common drugs used by physcicians Mothers recorded stool frequency and consistency daily for 7 days.

Results:
We found no significant difference (P>0.05) in occurrence of diarrhea between synbiotic and placebo groups.

Conclusion:
This synbiotic mixture did not appear to reduce antibiotic- associated diarrhea in children. Further studies are needed to investigate the potential benefits of Synbiotics in prevention of this disease.


This study adopted a bibliometric approach to trace the diachronic changes in the metadiscourse research, based on the research articles and their unique references retrieved from the web of science (WOS) core collections from 1980-2020. CiteSpace software was employed to conduct a co-citation analysis to investigate the common themes, the developmental stages, as well as the landmark publications of this domain in the last four decades. Twelve major themes (represented by clusters) were identified; studies in these clusters progressed through three developmental stages, namely: the conceptualizing stage, the maturing stage, and the flourishing stage. Three key transformative studies were identified which contribute to ushering in the developmental stage. The use of structural variation analysis in reaching these findings helped to solve the heavy reliance on co-citation analysis. Our analysis identified unique features in the trajectory of metadiscourse research which can contribute to the deconstruction of the development of scientific fields.


OBJECTIVE
LncRNA differentiation antagonizing non-protein coding RNA (DANCR) is an oncogene in various malignant cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Autophagy is an intracellular self-digestion mechanism that accelerates the progression of HCC via promoting cell survival. However, the role of lncRNA DANCR in HCC, and the mechanism of lncRNA DANCR in the regulation of autophagy in HCC remains unknown. Therefore, the aims of this study are the investigation of the role of lncRNA DANCR in HCC, and the exploration of the molecular mechanism of lncRNA DANCR in regulating autophagy of HCC cells.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
In this study, the expression of lncRNA DANCR, miR-222-3p, and autophagy-related gene 7 (ATG7) was detected by qRT-PCR. The cell proliferation and colony formation were measured by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay and colony formation assay. And the autophagic flux was evaluated by mRFP-GFP-LC3B reporter. The autophagy related proteins were analyzed by Western blotting. Besides, the relationship between lncRNA DANCR and miR-222-3p, as well as between miR-222-3p and ATG7, was determined by Dual-Luciferase reporter system.

RESULTS
We found high expression of lncRNA DANCR and ATG7, and low expression of miR-222-3p in HCC tissues and cell lines. And lncRNA DANCR positively correlated with poor survival of HCC patients. Moreover, the knockdown of lncRNA DANCR inhibited cell proliferation and autophagy of HCC cells. And we predicted and proved that lncRNA DANCR induced cell proliferation, colony formation and autophagy by increasing ATG7 and suppressing miR-222-3p.

CONCLUSIONS
Our study demonstrates the promoting role of lncRNA DANCR in HCC, and indicates the regulatory effects of lncRNA DANCR on regulating autophagy of HCC.


It is a fact that the majority of the world's settlements are burgeoning into cities; especially at the turn of the 21st century, an era witnessing the emergence of new economies. Undoubtedly, cities play a pivotal role in the socio-economic, cultural and scientific development of all nations as chunk of global human development activities is planned and executed in the cities. In the same vein, deteriorated living conditions in the history of human habitat are conventionally noted to be largely associated with cities where grave environmental 'atrocities' are committed. Examples include urban sprawl, air and noise pollution, contaminated water sources, solid and liquid waste generation, environmentally related ill-health, etc. Many cities exist with their attendant environmental woes. Many more are emerging. What considerations (global partnership in forward planning, forecasting, concerted global social responsibility, etc) should be taken into account in order to sustain livelihoods in a somewhat healthy global environment? The paper explores this area with particular reference to the Organization of Islamic Conference member countries (OIC).


Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) induces apoptosis in a variety of cells. We have previously shown that TGF-beta 1 rapidly induces apoptosis in the FaO rat hepatoma cell line. We have now studied the effect of TGF-beta 1 on the expression of different members of the Bcl-2 family in these cells. We observed no detectable changes in the steady-state levels of Bcl-2, Bcl-X(L), and Bax. However, TGF-beta 1 induced caspase-dependent cleavage of BAD at its N terminus to generate a 15-kDa truncated protein. Overexpression of the 15-kDa truncated BAD protein enhanced TGF-beta 1-induced apoptosis, whereas a mutant BAD resistant to caspase 3 cleavage blocked TGF-beta 1-induced apoptosis. Overexpression of Smad3 dramatically enhanced TGF-beta 1-induced cleavage of BAD and apoptosis, whereas antisense Smad3 blocked TGF-beta 1-induced apoptosis and BAD cleavage. These results suggest that TGF-beta 1 induces apoptosis through the cleavage of BAD in a Smad3-dependent mechanism.


The thesis is concerned with an investigation of several aspects of
the short-circuit currents which arise in turbogenerators. Of
particular interest is the phenomenon that one or more of the armature
currents may not pass through zero for a considerable period following
a fault at the armature terminals, so that the generator breaker may
face an extremely arduous duty. Rather than employing the familiar
2-axis analysis, the numerical study in the thesis is based on a
general-purpose digital phase model of the generator, since this is
ideally suited to the problems investigated. [Continues.]


Mimicry is the phenotypic resemblance of one organism to another because the resemblance is favored by selection from a signal receiver who perceives the resemblance. We would expect mimics to resemble their models closely, yet the widespread existence of imperfect mimics confounds this expectation, and has led to a profusion of possible explanations for the phenomenon. Despite this, we still lack an understanding of what general evolutionary principles, if any, result in imperfect mimicry. A common approach to this problem is to test and compare several imperfect mimicry hypotheses with the aim of uncovering such general evolutionary principles. We suggest, however, that a better understanding of the hypotheses and clarification of the distinctions or similarities between them is necessary, since each hypothesis makes very different assumptions, requiring different analytical approaches. Therefore, this review aims to focus future studies into imperfect mimicry, and to aid in understanding how to test and compare hypotheses. First, we summarize and characterize hypotheses from the literature based on their types of explanation, subjects, and adaptive landscapes they predict for mimics. Next, we review evidence for the hypotheses, describe desirable characteristics of mimicry complexes for study, and finish by investigating mimicry complexes from past studies.


It has been well established that a high level of stress is associated with medical problems, mental health difficulties and absenteeism at the workplace. The aim of this single-arm study design was to examine the potential effectiveness of a 12-session multidisciplinary stress reduction programme on reducing perceived stress and improving health behaviours and quality of life. One hundred and four women participated in a programme that incorporated group support, skill building and cognitive behavioural and relaxation techniques. A series of Bonferroni corrected t-tests found that the participants reported having significantly (p < 0.001) lower levels of perceived stress, improved health behaviours (sleep, nutrition, physical activity) improved overall health and improved quality of life at the end of the 12 week programme and at 1-month follow-up. Although the effect sizes for improvement were all large, there was no control group, so regression to the mean or selection bias may have impacted the results. Therefore, these results provide initial support for the implementation of gender-based worksite stress reduction programmes and provide guidance in designing an effective worksite stress reduction programme. Further research using randomized controlled trials is warranted. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The aim of this study was to determine the hematological and biochemical changes occurred in the blood of arsenic-exposed Wistar albino rats during 90 days sodium-arsenite exposure study, and additionally to investigate the histological injury in the organs (liver, kidney, spleen and heart) of Wistar rats along with identifying the accumulation pattern of arsenic in those organs. Wistar rats received the following treatments: (1) distilled water; (2) arsenic (10 ppm); (3) arsenic (30 ppm) (4) arsenic (50 ppm). We found anemia, immunosuppression as well as significant increase in liver enzyme activity in the blood of arsenic intoxicated rats. Moreover, this toxic metalloid produced marked necrosis in liver and kidney of rats, whereas in heart mild muscle necrosis was observed. In case of spleen, enlarged white pulp was seen with marked hemorrhage and necrosis. Besides, we also have found that liver and spleen accrued more arsenic than kidney and heart. So, for better understanding of the toxic effects of arsenic the findings of our study in animal model might become useful which will also aid to develop effective drug against arsenic mediated toxic effects on human health.


Using guinea pigs of strains 2 and 13 and their F1 hybrids as experimental subjects, various lines of evidence have been obtained that in this species, as in all others tested, the only significant cellular antigens with which donor lymphocytes engage when normal and immune lymphocyte reactions are incited are radiosensitive leukocytes. Constitutive cells of the skin are unimportant. (a) The intensities of these reactions in irradiated subjects are dependent upon the peripheral leukocyte concentration. When this falls below a certain threshold no reactions are incitable. (b) Highly leukopenic animals are capable of developing immune lymphocyte transfer (ILT) reactions if normal lymphoid cells of their own genetic constitution are mixed with the putative attacking donor cells, as "supplementing antigen," before inoculation. (c) Radiation-chimeric strain 13 animals having F1 hybrid leukocytes in their bloodstream give typical ILT reactions when challenged intradermally with strain 13 anti-2 node cells. Exposure of strain 2 animals to 600 R does not prevent their becoming actively immunized if, 24 hr later, they are injected intradermally with strain 13 lymphocytes. However, this sensitization, revealed by the host's capacity to give delayed hypersensitivity reactions, wanes as leukopenia progresses. On the basis of this and other findings it is argued that the flare-up stage of the NLT reaction in preirradiated hosts is mainly an expression of host sensitivity against the transferred alien cells. Two unexpected observations have been made in the course of this study: (a) F1 hybrid animals developed what appeared to be a strong delayed hypersensitivity after intradermal inoculation with parental strain lymphoid cells or antigenic extracts prepared from them. (b) If strain 13 guinea pigs which had been sensitized against strain 2 tissue antigens by intradermal injection of lymphocytes 7 days beforehand were inoculated intravenously with strain 2 antigenic extract a significant proportion of the animals developed severe delayed necrotizing reactions, recall flares, at some or all of the healed skin inoculation sites.


Recently, we have proposed a regularized least square criterion for adaptive regularization for reconstructing noisy SPECT data with non-uniform attenuation correction. In the present study, we show that the regularization penalty that was used is closely related to a diffusion scheme used for Gaussian filtering. For a given value of the regularization parameter, the amount of smoothing is independent from the patient attenuation map, and it is mathematically related to the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of a Gaussian filter. A second regularized least square criterion is then derived for which regularization also behaves as a diffusion scheme. The new penalty is then shown to be also applicable to the weighted least square criterion, and to the Poisson maximum likelihood criterion for PET data (i.e. without attenuation) solved by the EM algorithm. For all these criteria, the regularization strength can thus be set as the FWHM of a Gaussian filter.


BACKGROUND
Women are encouraged to make informed choices about mammography screening that align with their values and preferences, yet information materials developed by screening programs rarely provide complete, balanced information about screening. Through a series of deliberations with Ontario citizens, we elicited perspectives on materials developed by screening programs to support informed decision-making.

METHODS
We held 4 deliberative engagement events with citizens to discuss the current evidence about mammography and informed decision-making for the general population (i.e., women not at high risk) in the context of organized screening programs. Participants reviewed and provided feedback on the educational materials currently produced by screening programs in 8 provinces (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador) and 2 territories (Yukon Territory and Northwest Territory) and identified the key features that should guide the design of these materials to optimally support informed decision-making.

RESULTS
In general, participants viewed the educational materials as insufficient to support informed decision-making. They identified the following key features of optimal educational materials: they should be accessible, complete and accurate, and provide information on both benefits and risks of screening in a comprehensive, easy-to-understand manner. Information materials should evoke the trust of the reader, and they should be consistent across Canada.

INTERPRETATION
Canadian women have insufficient access to reliable information sources and complete evidence about mammography screening, and, without this information, they are unable to make fully informed decisions. Canadian breast screening programs must take steps to improve the information shared with women to support informed decision-making that aligns with women's values and preferences.


Non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) are Gram-negative bacteria that reside in the upper respiratory tract of humans. As well as being part of the normal flora, they are opportunistic pathogens, causative of non-invasive respiratory tract infections, and an occasional cause of invasive infections. In the Australian aboriginal population, a high prevalence of otitis media (OM) in children is a factor that contributes significantly to their educational and economic disadvantage, and NTHi is the most important cause of recurrent OM cases. In the worldwide adult population, NTHi causes approximately 25% of the "exacerbations" of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which ultimately lead to death in most cases. NTHi is transmitted by respiratory secretions, initially colonising the pharynx, and in the case of disease, moves to the lower respiratory tract (COPD) or middle ear (OM). Efforts to treat and prevent NTHi infection have been hampered by antibiotic resistance and difficulty in finding suitable vaccine targets, and alternative treatment or prevention strategies are therefore desired. Bacterial therapy (probiotics) for the prevention of respiratory tract infections, based on co-colonizing bacteria, has been a topic of research in the 21st century, and a commercial preparation of Streptococcus salivarius (BLIS K12\(^{TM}\)) is now available for the prevention of S. pyogenes infections, and another S. salivarius preparation (24SMB) is patented for prevention of S. pneumoniae infections. However, there have so far been no co-colonizing probiotics developed specifically for the prevention of NTHi infections. Haemophilus haemolyticus are bacteria that are closely related to NTHi, also colonize the upper respiratory tract of humans, but are not opportunistic pathogens of the respiratory tract, and only very rarely causative of invasive infections in the immunocompromised host. Recently, pre-treatment of epithelial cells with H. haemolyticus was shown to prevent NTHi attachment, and as a result, H. haemolyticus was suggested as a possible agent of bacterial therapy (Pickering et al., 2016).
In this project, the NTHi-inhibitory activity of H. haemolyticus was investigated, with a focus on secreted substances. Initially, SYBR Green real-time (RTPCR) assays were developed for the identification of the two species, which were then applied to a collection of isolates from Australian pathology laboratories. The H. haemolyticus isolates were then screened for inhibition of NTHi, using co-culture and agar well diffusion assays. Two H. haemolyticus isolates (BW1 and RHH122) were identified as consistent producers of an NTHi inhibitory substance (NIS), and the physical and chemical properties of the NIS produced by BW1 were characterised and published. The NIS produced by BW1 (BW1-NIS) and RHH122 (RHH122-NIS) were identified, by mass spectrometry analysis and comparison with published whole genome sequences, as identical to a putative 27 kDa OMPA-like protein in H. haemolyticus isolate M19107. A recombinant version of this H. haemolyticus NIS (Hh-NIS), made in E. coli from the Hh-NIS ORF without signal peptide, also inhibited NTHi. With in silico structural modelling, similarities were identified between Hh-NIS and the haemoglobin-haptoglobin utilisation protein A (hpuA) in Kingella denitrificans and Neisseria gonohorreae. The spectrum of absorbance of Hh-NIS identified haem as a likely component, and with cation exchange chromatography, Hh-NIS was separated into a holoprotein fraction, containing haem as a ligand, and an apoprotein fraction, from which haem was absent. As the activity of both fractions against NTHi was similar, and the addition of haemin neutralised the activity of Hh-NIS, haem was considered not to be a co-factor required for activation of an enzyme, but that it had another role. The addition of purified Hh-NIS holoprotein to broth cultures, resulted in inhibition of NTHi growth, and promotion of growth of an Hh-NIS producing strain of H. haemolyticus (BW1), but only in haemin-limited conditions. A model mechanism for activity was described, whereby Hh-NIS is a haemophore that binds haem, making it available to producing strains, but unavailable to NTHi. To further understand the biological function and importance of Hh-NIS to H. haemolyticus, construction and testing of a knockout mutant, the elucidation of the control of Hh-NIS secretion and utilisation, and in vivo testing in animal models are recommended. With regards to its application as a probiotic for NTHi control in humans, in the continued absence of an effective vaccine, in vivo testing of H. haemolyticus strains which produce Hh-NIS is recommended, although as haem-acquisition genes are associated with pathogenicity, a cautionary approach should be taken.


By exactly solving the effective two-body interaction for a two-dimensional electron system with layer thickness and an in-plane magnetic field, we recently found that the effective interaction can be described by the generalized pseudopotentials (PPs) without the rotational symmetry. With this pseudopotential description, we numerically investigate the behavior of the fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states both in the lowest Landau level (LLL) and first excited Landau level (1LL). The enhancements of the 7/3 FQH state on the 1LL for a small tilted magnetic field are observed when layer thickness is larger than some critical values, while the gap of the 1/3 state in the LLL monotonically reduced with increasing the in-plane field. From the static structure factor calculation, we find that the systems are strongly anisotropic and finally enter into a stripe phase with a large tilting. With considering the Landau level mixing correction on the two-body interaction, we find the strong LL mixing cancels the enhancements of the FQH states in the 1LL.


The baseball strike and the ongoing hostilities between the players' association and owners have evoked criticism and frustration among fans and others. Although the players successfully defeated the owners' most recent attempts to reduce major league competition, the threat of future imposition of competitive restraints by the owners remains. In this article Professor Stephen F. Ross argues that blanket restraints on the market for players affirmatively inhibit on-the-field competition and consequently offend the Sherman Act.The article begins with the proposition that monopsony - price-fixing behavior by buyers', rather than sellers' cartels - implicates the Sherman Act. Restraints on competition for players' services are thus not exempt from the antitrust laws. As the author notes, restraints of trade imposed by sports leagues are subject to antitrust scrutiny under a rule of reason: under the standard set forth in NCAA v. Board of Regents, such restraints are permissible where reasonably tailored to promote competitive balance.Professor Ross then applies the NCAA standard to blanket restraints imposed by sports leagues. He first demonstrates that the waiver rule employed by some leagues is tailored to promote league competition, because it allows inferior teams with large payrolls to rapidly improve in the standings by acquiring superior players. To counter the owners' arguments that restraints such as salary caps are necessary to maintain league competition, Professor Ross relies on empirical evidence of the effect of these restraints on competitive balance and demonstrates that, in addition to not promoting competition, blanket restraints affirmatively harm competitive balance. Salary caps, the author argues, not only transfer wealth from players to owners, but facilitate bland, uninteresting seasons in which the same teams have consistently good or bad win-loss records.The article includes a discussion of less restrictive means of promoting competitive balance, including revenue sharing and progressive salary caps, which might pass antitrust muster. Professor Ross concludes that free competition in the player market protects the interests of both fans and players, such that an alliance of consumers and players might be an effective way to combat the threat to baseball which blanket restraints may pose in the future.


Recent advances in NLP have been attributed to the emergence of large-scale pre-trained language models. GPT-2, in particular, is suited for generation tasks given its left-to-right language modeling objective, yet the linguistic quality of its generated text has largely remain unexplored. Our work takes a step in understanding GPT-2's outputs in terms of discourse coherence. We perform a comprehensive study on the validity of explicit discourse relations in GPT-2's outputs under both organic generation and fine-tuned scenarios. Results show GPT-2 does not always generate text containing valid discourse relations; nevertheless, its text is more aligned with human expectation in the fine-tuned scenario. We propose a decoupled strategy to mitigate these problems and highlight the importance of explicitly modeling discourse information.


: Aim: The characteristic endoscopic highlights of the gastric mucosa, which are signs of malignant growth after the successful annihilation of H. Pylori, have not been fully explained. We recently detailed an inversion of the red and white tint of the gastric corpus in some patients after destruction, and referred to it as the "wonder of inversion on the marginal mucous membrane" (RP), which is regularly visible in patients who create gastric malignant growth after annihilation. In this way, we conducted a cross-sectional study to evaluate the relationship between PR and gastric malignant growth after the destruction of H. Pylori, and we analyzed PR histologically. Materials and Methods: Our current research was conducted at Mayo Hospital, Lahore. Patients with a history of successful annihilation who underwent esophago-gastro-duodenoscopy in our clinic between March 2017 and May 2018 were temporarily enrolled. The quantities of tumour recently analyzed in positive and negative PR samples were evaluated. In addition, the red and white areas of RP-positive patients were examined by thin-band imaging with amplifying endoscopy, and histologically examined using examples of biopsies. Results: Eighty-five patients were examined. Of these, 30 (34.8%) indicated RP. Six malignant tumour were found in the RP-positive group and one in the RP-negative group (p<0.02). NBI-ME appeared as round pits without light blue peaks in white areas, and round pits with PLC-shaped structures or villus with PLC or dark white substance in red areas. All examples of white zone biopsies had background organs, and all those of red territories showed intestinal metaplasia. Conclusion: Patients with RA usually develop gastric disease after annihilation.


Author(s): Heimbauer, Lisa A; Beran, Michael J; Owren, Michael J | Abstract: When humans perceive speech they process the acoustic properties of the sounds. The acoustics of a specific word can be different depending on who produces it and how they produce it. For example, a whispered word has different acoustic properties than a word spoken in a more natural manner; basically, the acoustics are "noisier." A word will also sound differently depending on who speaks it, due to the different physical and physiological characteristics of the talker. In this instance, humans routinely normalize speech to retrieve the lexical meaning by solving what is termed the "lack of invariance" problem. We investigated these speech perception phenomena in a language-trained chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) named Panzee to ascertain if more generalized auditory capabilities, as opposed to specialized human cognitive processes, were adequate to accomplish these perceptual tasks. In Experiment 1 we compared the chimpanzee's performance when identifying words she was familiar with in natural versus whispered form. In Experiment 2 we investigated Panzee's ability to solve the "lack of invariance" problem when familiar words were spoken by a variety of talkers (familiar and unfamiliar male and female adults, and children). The results of Experiment 1 demonstrated that there was no difference in her recognition for the two word types. The results of Experiment 2 revealed no significant difference in Panzee's performance across all talker types. Her overall performance suggests that more generalized capabilities are sufficient for solving for uncertainty when processing the acoustics of speech, and instead favor a strong role of early experience.


Instrument measurement conducted with Rasch analysis is a common process in language assessment research. A recent systematic review of 215 studies involving Rasch analysis in language testing and applied linguistics research reported that 23 different software packages had been utilized. However, none of the analyses were conducted with one of the numerous R-based Rasch analysis software packages, which generally employ one of the three estimation methods: conditional maximum likelihood estimation (CMLE), joint maximum likelihood estimation (JMLE), or marginal maximum likelihood estimation (MMLE). For this study, eRm, a CMLE-based R package, was utilized to conduct a dichotomous Rasch analysis of a Yes/No vocabulary test based on the academic word list. The resulting parameters and diagnostic statistics were compared with the equivalent results from four other R-based Rasch measurement software packages and Winsteps. Finally, all of the packages were utilized in the analysis of 1000 simulated datasets to investigate the extent to which results generated from the contrasting estimation methods converged or diverged. Overall, the differences between the results produced with the three estimation methods were negligible, and the discrepancies observed between datasets were attributable to the software choice as opposed to the estimation method.


Climate change has the capacity to alter water availability and the litter production of tropical forests, which will alter rates of carbon (C) cycling and storage. We conducted a short-term field experiment in two hydrologically diverse forests in the Brazilian Pantanal to assess the initial response of litter decomposition and soil respiration (Rsoil) to variations in litter pool size. Total annual Rsoil and decomposition significantly declined with litter removal and increased with litter addition, but the rate of litter decomposition was highest for plots where litter was removed. Rsoil was positively related to soil organic matter content and the rate of litter decomposition, but not soil moisture or temperature, suggesting that the litter treatment effects on decomposition and Rsoil were due to changes in C availability and not litter effects on the soil environment (i.e., temperature and moisture). Rsoil was not significantly different between the forests studied here even though they had large differences in hydrology; however, litter decomposition was significantly higher in seasonally flooded forest, especially when augmented with litter. These results suggest that alterations in litter production from land use and/or climate change will alter short-term rates of decomposition and Rsoil for these and other floodplain forests of the Pantanal and Amazon Basin.


This review deals with the literatures on Syzygium species (family: Myrtaceae). It was mentioned as a source of traditional medicine to treat diabetes mellitus. However, due to the lacking information on Syzygium cumini, its potential benefit is still unknown among the local. This plant, commonly known as black plum, is a plant native to India. Studies from abroad showed that S. cumini is rich in anthocyanins, which could contribute to its pharmacological properties. Various extracts from different parts of S. cumini were reported for its antidiabetic, antimicrobial, antibacterial, antivirus, antifungal, antiinflammatory and antidiarrheal activities. In this research, organic solvent extractions are performed on the local S. cumini. The methodologies also include thin layer chromatography and phytochemical screening, in identifying the phytochemicals. In summary, it is expected that alkaloids are the component of the leaves extract.


OBJECTIVE
To determine a flexed position for radiographic diagnosis of atlantoaxial instability (AAI) and to identify radiographic measurement cutoffs to differentiate affected dogs from neurologically healthy toy breeds.

STUDY DESIGN
Retrospective case series and prospective case controls.

ANIMALS
Thirty-nine client-owned toy breed dogs in which AAI had been diagnosed and 20 neurologically healthy client-owned toy breed dogs.

METHODS
Medical records from three institutions were retrospectively reviewed to identify dogs affected with AAI. Flexed lateral images were reviewed, and measurements were obtained by using anatomic landmarks. Radiography was performed with control dogs to obtain the same measurements.

RESULTS
Flexed lateral radiographs of thirty dogs affected with AAI were found to be positioned at a mean of 51° flexion. When flexed lateral radiographs were evaluated with a cutoff value for atlas to axis angle (AAA) >10°, evaluation of all breeds represented revealed a 90% sensitivity and 90% specificity. When this cutoff was evaluated in Yorkshire terriers, Chihuahuas, and mixes of these breeds, the sensitivity was 92%, and the specificity was 92%. When the control sample was positioned at 51° ± 10°, only two of the dogs were within the AAA cutoff value of >10°. There was no difference between the measurements obtained by using the flexed lateral view (mean = 50.9°) and the exaggerated flexed lateral view (mean = 38.9°) in the control sample.

CONCLUSION
This study established objective measurements for the positioning and diagnosis of AAI on flexed lateral radiographs in toy breed dogs.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Atlantoaxial instability can be objectively diagnosed in sedated or anesthetized toy breed dogs when applying 51° flexion to cervical radiographs.


Campylobacter jejuni is the leading cause of diarrhoea among human beings worldwide. Epidemiological investigations have shown that it affects over 500 million people per year.
C. jejuni is mainly transmitted to human through consumption of cross contaminated chicken. In most cases, the diarrhoea clears by itself within 3 to 5 days. But it causes a big discomfort in the affected individuals. In addition, it has a huge economic impact due to sick leaves. Because of this, efforts are being put into understanding how C. jejuni interacts with human beings and other hosts. An indepth understanding of how this pathogen interacts with its hosts will lead to development of appropriate diagnosis tools and prevention measures.
Bile acids are a major component of the gut fluid in all the hosts of C. jejuni. However, the interaction of C. jejuni and different types of bile acids at human body temperature of 37oC is poorly understood. Consequently, this study was designed to unearth the proteomic response in C. jejuni reference strain 81-176 to sublethal concentrations of cholic acid (CA), deoxycholic acid (DCA), lithocholic acid (LCA), taurocholic acid (TCA), chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA), ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) and glycocholic acid (GCA). The specific objectives were: (i) to investigate the response in 81-176 to DCA 0.05% at 37oC for 12h and 24h using both stable isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture (SILAC) and label-free analysis with sequantial window acquisation of all theoretical mass spectra (SWATH); and determine a suitable quantitative method for the study. (ii) To use the method selected quantitative method to investigate global protein expression in 81-176 in response to sublethal concentrations of CA, LCA, TCA, CDCA, UDCA and GCA cultured at 37oC for 12h under microaerophilic conditions. (iii) To identify and characterize a currently uncharacterized and widely induced protein (iv) To use label-free analysis with SWATH to investigate protein expression in 81-176 cultured in temperatures of 37oC (human) and 42oC (chicken) without bile acids..
Intially, the capability of C. jejuni to adhere and invade Caco-2 cells in the presence of various concentrations of bile acids was investigated using gentamicin protection assay (GPA). The results showed that DCA, CDCA and GCA promoted adherence and invasion in a dose depandant fashion. LCA and UDCA didn't neither promote nor suppress adherence and invasion. Subsequently, IC50 of each bile acid was obtained. Half of this concentration of each bile acid corresponded to the concentrations that are present in the large intestines of human beings. Hence half IC50 concentrations were taken to be sublethal concentration. The concentrations were: CA 0.1%, DCA 0.05%, LCA 0.05%, TCA 0.5%, CDCA 0.05%, UDCA 0.5% and GCA 0.4%. Quantitative proteomic analysis of the response of 81-176 to DCA 0.05% showed that SILAC generated 500 quantifiable proteins and label-free analysis with SWATH generated 957 quantifiable proteins. The difference was attributed to poor incorporation of arginine and lysine in 81-176. As a result, SWATH analysis was used to quantify the response in 81-176 to different bile acids. These analyses found that CA significantly upregulated 19 proteins and downregulated 28 proteins; DCA significantly upregulated 113 proteins and downregulated 79 proteins; LCA significantly upregulated 4 proteins and downregulated 13 proteins; TCA significantly upregulated 51 proteins and downregulated 60 proteins; CDCA significantly upregulated 89 proteins and downregulated 79 proteins; UDCA significantly upregulated 2 proteins and downregulated 4 proteins; GCA significantly upregulated 139 proteins and downregulated 20 proteins. Among the significantly upregulated proteins, MazF was selected for further characterization. The mutant showed significant reduction in adhering onto Caco-2 cells in the presence of CA 0.1% (p<0.05). Also, the mutant showed significant reduction in invading Caco-2 cells in the presence of CA 0.1% and TCA 0.5% (p<0.05). Similarly, the muatnt showed decline in growth after 20 hr in broth supplemented with CA 0.01%, DCA 0.05%, TCA 0.05%, CDCA 0.05% and GCA 0.4%. Separately, 83 proteins were significantly upregulated and 65 proteins were significantly downregulated between 81-176 that was cultured at 37oC for 12h and 24h. While 83 proteins were significantly upregulated and 50 proteins were significantly downregulated between 81-176 that was cultured at 37oC for 24h and 42oC for 24h. All the differentially expressed proteins belonged to the following biological processes: (i) cell division and cell cycle (ii) maintenance of integrity of outer, periplasmic and inner membranes (iii) DNA replication and transcription (iv) metabolism (v) chemotaxis and motility (vi) stress response and 291 uncharacterized proteins.

In conclusion, SWATH analysis is a more suitable quantitative method for wide scale Campylobacter proteomic research. However, other methods such as SILAC should be concurrently included to complement its weaknesses. DCA, CDCA and GCA had the highest number of differentially expressed proteins. Equally, CA differentially expressed a reasonable number of proteins but not as high as DCA, CDCA and GCA. CA, DCA, LCA, TCA, CDCA, UDCA and GCA promote adherence and invasion of epithelial cells. Majority of the proteins which are promoted adherence and invasion are involved in metabolic processes. Also all the bile acids that were examined in this study are toxic to 81-176. The results show that 81-176 has a well built adaptation system to both bile acid antimicrobial activities and changes in temperatures. This system involves activation and deactivation of a set of genes involved in metabolism, stress response, maintenance of integrity of outer, periplasmic and inner membranes, chemotaxis and motility. Undoubtedly, the findings of this study will enhance the understanding of the biology on the interaction of C. jejuni and bile acids.


Mice immunized with Sindbis virus, strains HR (heat-resistant) or AR339, by a dual injection given intracerebrally (i.c.) and intraperitoneally (i.p.) at day zero, were cross-protected from challenge at day 10 with Semliki Forest virus (SFV). Neutralizing and haemagglutination-inhibition antibodies to Sindbis are detected in high titre by day 6 after immunization but no cross-reacting antibodies to SFV were found up to day 42. Immunized mice that were challenged with SFV showed an 8 to 10 day delay in the appearance of antibody to SFV compared to mice that were sham-inoculated. Thus, cross-protection in Sindbis-immunized animals was correlated with a temporary suppression of antibody formation to the challenge virus (SFV), while the appearance of high titre antibody to SFV in sham-immunized mice after challenge with SFV did not protect.


Sweeping into power in the grim depression days of 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt led the nation along a road of economic experiment that changed the course of America's political and social thinking. His first "Hundred Days" were a swift transformation into the new age of social security, FDIC, and a host of other reforms. Scarcely had the New Deal become a part of American life, however, when World War II broke out, and America became a global power leading the Allies to victory, began development of the atomic bomb, and laid plans for the United Nations organization. In the opinion of many historians, F.D.R.'s thirteen years are the most important era in twentieth-century American history. Now Dexter Perkins takes an objective look at Roosevelt and his times the great depression, the great social experiment, the great war and presents a balanced evaluation of America from the Blue Eagle days of NRA to the shocking April afternoon of Roosevelt's death. "A fair-minded, clear, and brief guide to that complex man and even more complex era." Frank Freidel, "Christian Science Monitor ""


We present the design for the NYU Ultracomputer, a shared-memory MIMD parallel machine composed of thousands of autonomous processing elements. This machine uses an enhanced message switching network with the geometry of an Omega-network to approximate the ideal behavior of Schwartz's paracomputer model of computation and to implement efficiently the important fetch-and-add synchronization primitive. We outline the hardware that would be required to build a 4096 processor system using 1990's technology. We also discuss system software issues, and present analytic studies of the network performance. Finally, we include a sample of our effort to implement and simulate parallel variants of important scientific programs.


Although breast cancer has been previously considered "cold" tumors, numerous studies are currently conducted to explore the great potentials of immunotherapies in improving breast cancer patient outcomes. In addition to the focus on stimulating adaptive immunity for antitumor responses, growing evidence showed the importance of triggering host innate immunity to eradicate established tumors and/or control tumor metastasis of breast cancer. In this review, we first briefly introduce the breast tumor immune microenvironment. We also discuss innate immune targets and pathways and mechanisms of their synergy with the adaptive antitumor response and other treatment strategies. Lastly, we review clinical trials targeting innate immune pathways for breast cancer therapies.


The teacher professional development component of the will, skill, tool model of technology integration was tested for predictive validity in the cross-cultural context of data from Texas, USA, and data from Mexico City, Mexico. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis, path analysis, and multiple regression analysis, were statistical procedures employed. The analyses yielded positive results for the model's validity and reliability. The resulting model was found to be a reliable tool to evaluate technology integration among elementary and middle school teachers in Texas and in Mexico City. For the purposes of this study, the teacher professional development component of the will, skill, tool model of technology integration is referred to as the will, skill, tool model of technology integration (WiSTTI). This was one of the seven alternative models tested for goodness of fit across a total of 7 data samples. The structural equation modeling approach proved to be a good technique to find the best fit model in a cross-cultural environment. Latent variables and a set of parameters to judge the validity and reliability of each model were set for testing and retesting in an iterative process. Eventually a "new" modified version of the WiSSTI model was found to fit the data for all samples studied from both countries. From a theoretical perspective, the variation of the WiSTTI model found to be the best fit to the data indicates that increased teacher willingness to integrate technology brings about increased skill, and increased skill leads to more advanced technology integration, if access to technology is available for instruction. Results derived from the model with respect to the evaluation of technology integration for teachers from Texas and Mexico City suggest a differential effect by country, with the Texas teachers (representing USA) currently more advanced in technology integration than their colleagues from Mexico. No large effect was found for educational level, with elementary school teachers and middle school teachers at approximately equivalent levels of technology integration in both countries.


Author(s): Sheth, Ketki | Abstract: The following dissertation evaluates methods to improve the delivery of education and health care in low income countries. In "The Education Gender Gap in Developing Countries : The Role of Female Teachers", joint with Karthik Muralidharan, we add to the limited empirical literature on whether female teachers improve girls' education outcomes in developing countries, a policy frequently advocated. Using a difference-in-difference estimate with fixed effects, we find that teachers are relatively more effective at teaching students of their own gender. However, female teachers are more effective overall, resulting in improvement of girls' test scores by .036 standard deviations per year and a lack of adverse effects for boys. In "The Distributional Consequences of Micro Health Insurance : Can a Pro-Poor Program Prove to be Regressive?", I estimate heterogeneous effects of heath care consumption by poverty status and the related redistribution of premiums. Understanding these effects can inform optimal design of MHI contracts to maximize benefits and reduce unintended adverse effects. I document that poorer households consume significantly less health care at baseline, suggesting MHI may unintentionally lead to poorer households subsidizing wealthier households. But strikingly, twenty months after the introduction of MHI, there is no significant relationship between health care consumption and income among enrolled households. Thus, even though ex-ante health care consumption suggests MHI will result in regressive premium redistribution, ex-post behavior suggests the poor will not subsidize wealthier households. The next two chapters discuss community based micro health insurance (MHI). MHI, insurance targeted at low income populations, has been an increasingly popular policy, though empirical evidence of its effectiveness has been limited. In "Evaluating Health-Seeking Behavior, Utilization of Care, and Health Risk : Evidence from a Community Based Insurance Model in India", I assess the extent to which MHI reduces vulnerability and increases access to health care. I exploit a staggered expansion of MHI in which the villages offered the contract were randomly selected. I fail to find support for increased health-seeking behavior, but find suggestive evidence of reduced health shocks. This suggests the potential of MHI to improve the poor's health and implies strengthened financial sustainability of MHI programs


The response of the hydrological cycle to climate forcings can be understood within the atmospheric energy budget framework. In this study precipitation and energy budget responses to five forcing agents are analyzed using 10 climate models from the Precipitation Driver Response Model Intercomparison Project (PDRMIP). Precipitation changes are split into a forcing-dependent fast response and a temperature-driven hydrological sensitivity. Globally, when normalized by top-of-atmosphere (TOA) forcing, fast precipitation changes are most sensitive to strongly absorbing drivers (CO2, black carbon). However, over land fast precipitation changes are most sensitive to weakly absorbing drivers (sulfate, solar) and are linked to rapid circulation changes. Despite this, land-mean fast responses to CO2 and black carbon exhibit more intermodel spread. Globally, the hydrological sensitivity is consistent across forcings, mainly associated with increased longwave cooling, which is highly correlated with intermodel spread. The land-mean hydrological sensitivity is weaker, consistent with limited moisture availability. The PDRMIP results are used to construct a simple model for land-mean and sea-mean precipitation change based on sea surface temperature change and TOA forcing. The model matches well with CMIP5 ensemble mean historical and future projections, and is used to understand the contributions of different drivers. During the twentieth century, temperature-driven intensification of land-mean precipitation has been masked by fast precipitation responses to anthropogenic sulfate and volcanic forcing, consistent with the small observed trend. However, as projected sulfate forcing decreases, and warming continues, land-mean precipitation is expected to increase more rapidly, and may become clearly observable by the mid-twenty-first century.


Selagin-7-O-(6''-O-acetyl-)-β-D-glycoside, a new flavone glycoside isolated from Cancrinia discoidea, is known to exhibit anti-inflammatory activity in vivo. This study aimed to investigate the protection of this flavone glycoside on inflammation in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. The effects of selagin-7-O-(6''-O-acetyl-)-β-D-glycoside on inflammatory cytokines and signaling pathways were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, and western blot. Results show that selagin-7-O-(6''-O-acetyl-)-β-D-glycoside protected LPS-induced macrophage RAW 264.7 cells from injury. The flavone glycoside markedly inhibited the LPS-induced production of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β, and interleukin-6 and increased interleukin-10 release in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, treatment with the flavone glycoside decreased nitric oxide and prostaglandin E2 in LPS-challenged RAW 264.7 cells. These decreases were associated with the down-regulation of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase (COX-2), and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) activity. These findings suggest that the anti-inflammatory effects of selagin-7-O-(6''-O-acetyl-)-β-Dglycoside were associated with the adjustment of inflammatory cytokines, and attributed to the down-regulation of NF-κB and consequent suppression of the expression of iNOS and COX-2.


BACKGROUND
Cancer of the gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) has been rising in incidence in recent years. The role of radiation therapy (RT) in the treatment of GEJ cancer remains unclear, as the largest prospective trials advocating for either adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) combine GEJ cancer with either gastric or esophageal cancer. The aim of the present study is to examine the association of neoadjuvant versus adjuvant treatment with overall and disease-specific survival (DSS) for patients with surgically resected cancer of the true GEJ (Siewert type II).

METHODS
The surveillance, epidemiology, and end results (SEER) registry database (2001-2011) was queried for cases of surgically resected Siewert type II GEJ cancer. A total of 1,497 patients with resectable GEJ cancer were identified, with 746 receiving adjuvant RT and 751 receiving neoadjuvant RT. Retrospective analysis was performed with the endpoints of overall and DSS.

RESULTS
Using cox regression and controlling for independent covariates (age, sex, race, stage, grade, histology, and year of diagnosis), we showed that adjuvant RT was associated with a significantly lower death risk [hazard ratio (HR), 0.84; 95% confidence interval 0.73-0.97; P value=0.0168] and significantly lower disease-specific death risk (HR, 0.84; 95% confidence interval, 0.72-0.97; P value=0.0211) as compared to neoadjuvant RT.

CONCLUSIONS
This analysis of SEER data showed that adjuvant RT was associated with a survival benefit as compared to neoadjuvant RT for the treatment of Siewert type II GEJ cancer. We suggest future prospective studies to compare outcomes of adjuvant versus neoadjuvant treatment for true GEJ cancer.


From Chicano down-and-out street tough and maximum-security-prison denizen to poetry slam champion, holder of the Wallace Stevens Chair at Yale, and recent winner of Germany's most prestigious International Award, Jimmy Santiago Baca has led a most unusual life. Filled to the brim with great pleasures and sufferings, harmonies and contradictions, his breathtaking poetry, fervent memoir, sharp-sighted short stories, social dramas, and other creative work ate a testimony to this and form an important corner stone to Chicano/a and American letters today. Born in 1952 in New Mexico to a Chicana mother and an Apache Indian father, he learned swiftly and suddenly the pains of not belonging. After Baca's father died of alcoholism and his mother packed her bags for California, the young Baca found himself first living with his grandparents and then deposited in an orphanage. After years of growing up within the walls of the orphanage and dropping out of high school, Baca hit the streets of Albuquerque to find solace with other like-minded, deeply alienated Chicanos. Barely getting by and treading deep the streets of cities scattered throughout the Southwest, in 1973 and at age 21 he found himself charged with possession and intent to distribute drugs, and was sentenced to a six-years lock up in a maximum security prison in Florence, Arizona. Four years of isolation plus electric shock treatment did not break Baca's spirit. Indeed, Baca turned his internment into a self-fashioned chrysalis: starting from scratch, he first learned how to read and write, subsequently he applied himself to master words and aesthetic forms, and ultimately he devoted himself to become a creator with both. All along this unusual apprenticeship he never lost sight of his one and only goal: to use the power of literature to build new worlds, new meanings, new emotions, and new interpretations in order to help his readers reach a position from which the actual world could be perceived under a different light and could be related to in fresh, much more complex, finally compassionate, and racist-free ways. With a GED tucked safely under his arm and a library patiently stored in his brain from his secluded years of assimilation of the wonders and craft of Pablo Neruda, Federico Garcia Lorca, William Wordsworth, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Ezra Pound, Walt Whitman, Denise Levertov, and Allen Ginsberg, to name only a few, Baca walked out of prison ready to face the world as a self-identified Chicano poet. That is to say, both as a Chicano and as a poet--an inseparable whole for his aim was from the start to give literary expression to his uniquely located and time-bound experiences, not to craft "poetry for poetry's sake." Through literature, he hoped, those experiences could make the leap from the private sphere of the atomized individual to the public domain of the communicable, the diversely evaluated, the possibly shared or challenged, and ultimately the socially effective. Words, for Baca, were the seeds he would plant to grow roots in a land that had constantly discriminated against, excluded, displaced, and discarded not only him but also his Chicano/a compatriots, the Mexican and other Latino immigrants, the African Americans, the Asian Americans, as well as numerous other groups of fellow citizens. Baca's pinta (prison) poetry resonated loud with audiences inside and outside of the State penitentiary. While still in prison, his first poems saw the light of day in Mother Jones, and a year before his release he published his first chapbook, Jimmy Santiago Baca (1978). In these early poems, his already exceptional lyrical voice speaks out against the dehumanizing conditions of prison life. The year of Baca's release from the penitentiary in 1979 also marked the publication of his first collection of poetry, Immigrants in Our Own Land and Selected Early Poems. The deprecatory stance has here a wide range dealing with racism, oppression, and exploitation in our social system, and the finely honed lyricism speaks as well to the Chicano/a condition more generally. …


Critical Teory and Practice answers lots of questions, but also stimulates new ones. Its tailor-made combination of survey, reader and workbook is ideal for the beginning - perhaps even bewildered - student of literary theory. The work is divided into seven chapters, each of which contains guiding commentary, examples from literary and critical works, and a variety of exercises to provoke and engage you. Each chapter includes a glossary and annotated selection of suggested further reading. There is also a full bibliography. The authors cover the key issues and debates of literary theory, including: * Language, Linguistics and Literature * Structures of Literature * Literature and History * Subjectivity, Psychoanalysis and Criticism * Reading, Writing and Reception * Women, Literature and Criticism * Literature, Criticism and Cultural Identity Critical Theory and Practice is an refreshingly clear, up-to-date and eminently readable introduction to the subject. It not only guides you through the terminology and gives you a selection of the key passages to read, it also helps you engage with the theory and apply it in practice.


In about two centuries since independence, the history of America is filled with the battle for liberation by Blacks, for almost a century. It's been a long battle for African Americans and other minorities in America, particularly in the south, to acquire and secure their civil, social and economic equality. It all started in early 1860's with American Civil War which abolished slavery constitutionally. But not until the Civil Rights Movement in 1950's, Blacks acquired true liberation and complete freedom to exercise their civil, social and economic rights.  It was hegemonic supremacy consciousness of Whites which made it a century late for Blacks to get their real freedom.


Breast cancer is the most frequent malignant neoplasm affecting the female
 population. In order to reduce its morbidity and mortality rate, a
 mammography screening campaign has been established in both entities of
 Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this paper, a brief survey is given on the
 mammography screening practice in the Republic of Srpska. As an illustration,
 results of measurements of technical parameters, including mean glandular
 dose, for 31 mammography units are presented. Large fluctuations in dose
 among different measuring sites were found, unacceptable not only from the
 standpoint of mammography screening, but in clinical mammography as a whole.
 Subsequently, a series of quality control tests and corrective measures
 throughout the mammography imaging chain are proposed, in line with
 international guidelines and newly promulgated national legislation. Dose
 optimization and image quality improvement are the first and foremost goals
 to be achieved in order to setup a successful mammography screening program.


Introduction The Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) is an infection caused by two types of viruses. The type-1 (HSV-1), which is more common in the oralabial region and the type 2 (HSV-2) in the genital region. The estimate is that 60%–80% of adults in the world have the type 1 virus, and the type-2 prevalence is lower. 90% of individuals affected by the virus are asymptomatic. Methods This is a sectional and quantitative study, where a public interview was used with those responsible for children, who were infected or not by herpes simplex. The total of 140 guardians were evaluated, being 121 women and 19 men, and through these data regarding their children was collected. The clinic scenario was women specialised care. The tests used in the statistics analysis were: chi-square and Fisher Exact test. Results The guardians described that 13 of them were infected (11 women and two men). Among the total number of interviewees, only 7 individuals stated that the form of transmission would be through oral contact and/or sexual violence, and 47.14% of the total reported not knowing how the HSV is transmitted. Among the children, the guardians reported that 6 had at least one episode of infection. Conclusion The research showed that, in general, there is a lack of knowledge about the herpes infection. It is also evident, that the lack of knowledge can contribute in to diagnosis delay, in the possibility of household's transmission and hindering the prevention of infectious complications.


Mycobacteria were isolated from 14 (4.5%) of 314 samples, containing 7791 adult Diptera, which were collected in the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1997–2000. These flies were collected from three cattle herds with paratuberculosis, two pig herds with mycobacterial infections and one farm that kept both cattle and pigs and that did not have problems of mycobacterial infections. Mycobacterium intracellulare was isolated from Eristalis tenax Linnaeus (Diptera: Syrphidae) captured from a pig herd. Mycobacterium avium ssp. avium (serotype 8) was isolated from flies of the genera Drosophila Fallén (Diptera: Drosophilidae) and Musca Linnaeus (Diptera: Muscidae) originating from a pig herd. Mycobacterium spp. were isolated from Musca spp. and Mycobacterium fortuitum was isolated from dung flies of the genus Scatophaga Meigen (Diptera: Scatophagidae), Musca spp. and Stomoxys calcitrans Linnaeus (Diptera: Muscidae) captured in the same herd. Mycobacterium scrofulaceum was isolated from S. calcitrans from the farm with both cattle and pigs. Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis was isolated from Scatophaga spp. collected from pastures grazed by one of the cattle herds and from Calliphora vicina Robineau‐Desvoidy (Diptera: Calliphoridae) and Lucilia caesar Linnaeus (Diptera: Calliphoridae) captured in a slaughterhouse, where cattle infected with paratuberculosis were slaughtered. Mycobacterium phlei was isolated from flies of the genus Lucilia captured at a waste bin. These data indicate that mycobacteria may be spread by adult flies that have been in contact with material contaminated with these pathogens.