Seasonal influenza causes excess morbidity and mortality at the extremes of age: It disproportionately affects the very young and the very old, typically resulting in "U"-shaped age-distributed curves. By means of a well-established public health department surveillance system using positive influenza tests submitted from sentinel sites, the authors generated annual influenza-specific morbidity curves over a 10-year period (1998-2008) for St. Louis County, Missouri. The authors detected an unusually high incidence of cases of medically attended test-positive influenza, particularly in young adults, during the 2007-2008 season, resulting in an unexpected "W"-shaped age-distributed morbidity curve that was distinctly unique in comparison with the prior 9 influenza seasons. Public health influenza surveillance programs are useful tools for detecting emerging epidemiologic trends that may have clinical importance.


The aims of this project have been to describe PM10 from studded tyre wear and to study their inflammatory effects in human airway cells. The VTI circular road simulator has been used to generate "clean" wear particles from two different pavements; asphalt concrete (ABT) and stone mastic asphalt (ABS), with granite respectively quartzite as the main stone materials. The advantage of using the road simulator is that the contribution from other sources can be minimised. During the project time, the project was expanded also to study particle generation by non-studded winter tyres (friction tyres) and two kinds of winter sanding agents, namely washed crushed stone and unwashed natural sand in combination with both studded and friction tyres. The results show that pavement wear by studded tyres generates about 40-50 times as much PM10 as that by friction tyres, but also that the ABT pavement generates several times more PM10 than the ABS pavement. The size distribution within PM10 has a maximum around 3-4 ?m and more than 95 % of the mass is larger than 1 ?m. PM10 is totally dominated by fresh stone material. A fraction of very small particles, with a number concentration peak at around 30-40 nm, was also discovered. Their origin is unknown, but since the number distribution shifted depending on which tyre type was used, a possible origin is the tyres. In the experiments using sanding material, the unwashed natural sand caused the highest PM10 concentrations. Friction tyres on natural sand caused higher concentrations than studded tyres on washed crushed stone. Studded tyres generated more PM10 than friction tyres but the difference was not as large as when no sanding material was used. In the cell studies the inflammation potential of the wear particles was compared with PM10 from Hornsgatan in Stockholm and PM10 from a Stockholm subway station. Later on in the project, diesel particles were made available for comparison. The cell study results show that PM10 from the ABT pavement is at least as inflammatory as diesel particles and more inflammatory than PM10 from the subway. The PM10 from Hornsgatan generally had the highest potential, but PM10 from the ABT pavement was often in parity. This despite the fact that the Hornsgatan PM10 were the only particle sample where endotoxin could be detected. Endotoxin causes an additive effect in studies of inflammation potential. PM10 from the ABS pavement generally had a lower potential than PM10 from the ABT pavement.


Railroad engineers work in a profession where the probability of being involved in a critical incident, including derailments, collisions and near misses, as well as other fatalities and suicides on the tracks are likely to occur (Weiss & Farrell, 2006). According to Napper, 1998, the average train driver will be involved in three fatal accidents during a 25-year career. Recently, several studies have been conducted investigating Post Traumatic Growth (PTG), or the occurrence of a positive change or attitude in the individual following exposure to traumatic events, however; no studies to date specifically address PTG as a concept applicable to those in the transportation industry exposed to work related trauma. Recent research suggests that positive cognitive processing (Linley & Joseph, 2004; Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004;), personality variables extraversion and openness to new experiences (Dorfel, Rabe, & Karl, 2008;), and social support (Regehr, et al., 2007) have the potential to influence the emergence of PTG. The overall purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of the negative and positive effects of traumatic events on railroad workers. In order to better understand the effects of trauma, it is a logical next step to study personality factors, social support, and cognitive coping combined in a regression analysis to sort through the relative contribution of these variables to the occurrence of growth and other consequences.


In this study, a cost function is used to estimate the costs for California districts to meet the achievement goals set out for them by the state. I calculate estimates of base costs (i.e., per pupil costs in a district with relatively low levels of student need) and marginal costs (i.e., the additional costs associated with specific student characteristics) for poverty, English learners, and special education and then compare these estimates with the findings from cost studies in other states, which have used a variety of methods, and with other cost studies in California. Because of institutional constraints in California, the cost function estimate of total costs to achieve adequacy (which relies critically on the estimated relationship between spending and outcomes) may be quite imprecise. Nevertheless, the cost function estimates of base and marginal costs are not inconsistent with other studies, though they fall on the low end of the spectrum.


Abstract As an integral part of the WTO trading regime and in line with the international trend of antitrust control, TRIPS harmonized intellectual property protection with competition in mind. However, diverse national FRAND enforcement practices that take either a contractual or an antitrust approach challenge TRIPS integrity. While personal property recognition for SEPs lends constitutional support to the contractual approach to FRAND enforcement, private property's in-built limitation warrants a balance with the antitrust approach for needs from others. A critical examination of the TRIPS conclusion and the analytical structure of TRIPS provisions reveal that TRIPS obligation against anticompetitive practices is imperative. The imbalance of harmonized TRIPS with un-harmonized FRAND practices reflects TRIPS birth defect and challenges TRIPS integrity. To improve balance of rights and obligations in international trade and to ensure innovation and technology dissemination that is conducive to social and economic welfare, the paper calls for a contract–antitrust balanced approach to FRAND enforcement and the resumption of WTO's competition negotiations.


SUMMARY One of the most populated and romanized zones of the ancient times was the northeast of the Iberian peninsula (Hispania Tarraconensis). In this area there was a proliferation of Roman rural developments (villae rusticae) devoted to the production and marketing of high-price agricultural products for which there was a great demand. In this context of autonomous rural units of production and consumption, the craft trades, and in particular metalworking, emerged and began an atypical exploitation and capitalization of the natural resources of rural property ( fundus), either for their own consumption or to satisfy a local demand. The analysis of micrographic structures of nails has allowed us to ascertain that the Roman rural ironworkers of the early empire (1st to 3rd centuries AD) knew and practiced most forging techniques. They used both heat treatment (carburation, quenching, etc.) and mechanical treatment (lamination by forging, bending, etc.), but the quality of the technical processes shows that, though specialized, the workers were not highly qualified. Furthermore, the standardization of the technical processes and the homogeneous nature of the final product suggest that the rural ironworker was more a workman applying acquired techniques and practices than a craftsman providing different solutions to specific problems. The importance of the knowledge of iron equipment manufacture lies in the fact that the agricultural model of some economically active areas of the Roman empire required technological products and found it feasible to integrate their manufacture as a complementary activity on a farm.


Informs Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) permit writers and enforcement officials of procedures to be used in conducting RCRA Facility Assessments.


An effect of ageing on mechanical properties of ultrafine grained Al 6061 alloys has been investigated in the present work. The solution treated bulk Al 6061 alloy was subjected to cryorolling to produce ultrafine grain structures and subsequently ageing treatment to improve its both strength and ductility. The hardness and tensile properties of solution treated, cryorolled, cryorolled and aged Al alloys were measured and explained by using their corresponding microstructural morphologies. The pre-cryorolled solid solution treatment combined with post-CR ageing treatment (1300C-30h) has been found to be the optimum processing condition to obtain the ultrafine grained microstructure with improved tensile strength (362MPa) and good tensile ductility (10.7%) in the Al 6061 alloy. The combined effect of precipitation hardening and recovery are responsible for the simultaneous improvement of both strength and ductility observed in the present work.


Inbreeding results from matings between relatives and can cause a reduction in offspring fitness, known as inbreeding depression. Previous work has shown that a wide range of environmental stresses, such as extreme temperatures, starvation and parasitism, can exacerbate inbreeding depression. It has recently been argued that stresses due to intraspecific competition should have a stronger effect on the severity of inbreeding depression than stresses due to harsh physical conditions. Here, we tested whether an increase in the intensity of sibling competition can exacerbate inbreeding depression in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. We used a 2 × 3 factorial design with offspring inbreeding status (outbred or inbred) and brood size (5, 20, or 40 larvae) as the two factors. We found a main effect of inbreeding status, as inbred larvae had lower survival than outbred larvae, and a main effect of brood size, as larvae in large broods had lower survival and mass than larvae in medium‐sized broods. However, there was no effect of the interaction between inbreeding status and brood size, suggesting that sibling competition did not influence the severity of inbreeding depression. Since we focused on sibling competition within homogeneous broods of either inbred or outbred larvae, we cannot rule out possible effects of sibling competition on inbreeding depression in mixed paternity broods comprising of both inbred and outbred offspring. More information on whether and when sibling competition might influence inbreeding depression can help advance our understanding of the causes underlying variation in the severity of inbreeding depression.


As a result of global warming, organizations have been improving their sustainability and environmental performance in terms of reducing their carbon emissions, minimizing waste generated from the industry, conserving natural resources, and reducing energy consumption. Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) is one of the applications in which organizations should implement essential environmental aspects. Although GSCM initiatives have been taken by some construction firms, some firms are not aware of the benefits of its practices to their companies and the society. This research paper presents a framework for identifying essential GSCM requirements for the construction industry through literature review and interviews with experts by pointing out the various drivers and barriers of GSCM in developing countries and providing recommendations for improvement. Two case studies are presented to evaluate the GSCM practices performed in two construction companies in Egypt, identifying the drivers and barriers as well as suggesting proposals that will improve the efficiency of the companies' environmental performance. The findings of the study indicate that the drivers of implementing GSCM in Egypt include ISO 14001 certification and market competitiveness, while the main barriers include lack of regulations, lack of government support, and lack of society pressure. It also indicates that the implementation of GSCM in Egypt can be achieved through coordination between various parties such as governments, owners, manufacturers, consultants, contractors, society and NGOs and universities.


This article examines the use of photo-elicitation interviews as a qualitative research method when studying aspects of adolescent behaviour. In particular, it describes and evaluates the use of photo-elicitation interviews to investigate the outdoor education experiences of a group of 34 (12 male, 22 female) New Zealand secondary school students (aged 14–15 years old) who attended a school-based outdoor education programme, referred to throughout as 'school camp'. Results indicate that the use of cameras, and hence photographs, are attractive features of the technique that render it suitable for engaging young people in academic research and exploring social experiences. While the inclusion of cameras also presents some methodological limitations and ethical considerations, photo-elicitation interviewing is a useful addition to the suite of qualitative research methods employed in outdoor education research.


As a specific guanine nucleotide exchange factor of Rac1, Tiam1 (T-lymphoma invasion and metastasis inducing protein 1) is involved in a number of cellular events, such as cytoskeleton reorganization, cell adhesion, and cell migration. Since Tiam1 was implicated in the invasion and metastasis of T-lymphoma cells and breast tumor cells, we compared the expression level of Tiam1 in two human giant-cell lung carcinoma cell strains with high or low metastasis potential, and found that Tiam1 expression level in high-metastatic 95D cells was higher than that in low-metastatic 95C cells. To further confirm the role of Tiam1 in invasion and metastasis, we constructed the antisense Tiam1 expression plasmid (pcDNA3-antiTiam1), which was transfected into 95D cells. A stable transfected clone with decreased Tiam1 expression was screened and selected for further research. Transwell assay showed that down-regulation of endogenous Tiam1 by anti-Tiam1 can reduce the in vitro invasiveness of 95D cells. Our results suggested that Tiam1 signaling contributed to the invasion and metastasis of the human giant-cell lung carcinoma cells.


Background: Multiple trials have been conducted in which the safety and efficacy of different biological therapies for psoriasis have been studied. However, the treatment course in clinical practice is different from the setting in which trials are conducted. Objectives: The evaluation of the efficacy, safety and adverse events of etanercept and efalizumab treatment in daily practice and the investigation of interfering clinical strategies that could be of influence on treatment outcome. Methods: A prospective cohort consisting of 101 patients with high-need psoriasis was followed for two years and analysed. Patients were treated with etanercept or efalizumab between February 2005 and May 2007. Efficacy, safety and adverse events were investigated. Furthermore, all accompanying factors of which an influence on treatment efficacy outcome was suspected were registered, including treatment interruptions, dosage adjustments and combinations of therapies. Results: Etanercept and efalizumab treatment was effective and safe in most patients. However, in many cases the treatment course was characterized by unsatisfactory efficacy (83%), necessitating combination therapies or dosage adjustments. Treatment interruptions occurred in 56% (etanercept 2x50 mg group), 84% (etanercept 2x25 mg group) and 10% (efalizumab-treated patients). Conclusions: Treatment of patients with high-need psoriasis in daily practice is highly different from treatment courses in clinical trials. Frequently applied clinical strategies such 58 as treatment interruptions, dosage adjustments and combinations of treatments influence treatment outcome in routine treatment in comparison with randomized controlled trials. Information about treatment with these new drugs in daily clinical practice is important for adjusting treatment schedules and guidelines. Adapted from: Driessen RJ, Berends MA, Boezeman JB, van de Kerkhof PC and de Jong EM. Psoriasis treatment with etanercept and efalizumab: clinical strategies influencing treatment outcome. Br.J.Dermatol. 2008; 158: 1098-106.


Out of 500 dairy buffaloes examined for traumatic reticulitis in two farms, 51 buffaloes (10.2 %) were diagnosed as having the syndrome in its subacute and chronic forms. Of this 51 diseased animals, 39 had idiopathic mastitis (76.5 %). This high percentage of mastitis cases associated with traumatic reticulitis is considered as being four times the incidence of primary mastitis (20 %) in cattle. It is most likely that secondary mastitis is due to the contiguous spread of bacteria from the infected focus favoured by the devitalising effect of the foreign body syndrome.


Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) is a Go algorithm that is used in many recent strong go playing agents. In this report we test and compare different algorithms related to Monte Carlo simulation, seeing how well they do against each other under different time constraints on consumer hardware. This is done with our own implementation of Go rules and algorithms written in Java. The All Moves As First (AMAF) algorithmhad the best performance in the performed tests.


The effects of shrimp aquaculture on the water quality of the Jiquilisco Bay (El Salvador) was evaluated for small-scale shrimp farming with low stocking densities (≤ 12 shrimps/m2). Two sites were selected for study: one in a concentrated shrimp farming area and the other few kilometers away without shrimp farms influence. Water samples were collected at nine different locations for spatial assessment and were taken on three occasions for temporal assessment. Parameters related to nutrient waste from shrimp farms included: biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total suspended solids, nitrate, nitrite, dissolved phosphorus and ammonia, temperature, salinity, pH and dissolved oxygen. Effluents from shrimp farms did not exceed the limits established by regulatory norms for nitrite, nitrate, ammonia, BOD, pH and phosphorus. Significant differences for the concentrations of total suspended solids (TSS) and BOD were observed. They were higher in the channel with shrimp farms influence and always in the raining season, probably due to the drag of the rivers more than the shrimp production. It seems that at these
stocking densities the carrying capacity of Jiquilisco bay was not exceeded.


DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) methylation is an epigenetic modification which can silence gene expression and stabilize repeats. A methyl group is added to cytosine when followed by guanine (CpG) and CpGs are enriched at the promoters of many genes and in retrotransposons. Nevertheless, only a small number of these CpG-rich genes are actually regulated by methylation. These fall into three classes: imprinted genes, genes on the inactive X and germ cell-specific genes. Methylation is reprogrammed (erased and re-established) at two points during development: around implantation and the during germ cell development. DNA methyltransferase 3a (DNMT3A) and DNMT3B establish methylation patterns, with the help of the cofactor DNMT3L in the germ cells, then DNMT1 maintains them during mitotic division. Failure of either process leads to developmental defects, sterility or embryonic death. Histone methylation and small RNAs (ribonucleic acids) have been implicated in directing the methyltransferases to particular genes or repeats.

Key concepts:

DNA methylation is associated with transcriptionally inactive chromatin and helps stabilize it.

Methylation in mammals occurs exclusively at cytosine followed by guanine (CpG).

CpG-rich regions (CpG islands) are found at the start of many genes and in retrotransposons.

Methylation of CpG islands maintains repression on imprinted genes, genes on the inactive X chromosome, germ cell-specific genes and certain retrotransposons.

Three key enzymes are involved, DNMT1, DNMT3A and DNMT3B, together with the cofactor DNMT3L.

DNMT1 maintains DNA methylation on all sequences during development.

DNMT3A and DNMT3L are essential for imprinting and retrotransposon repression in the germ cells.

There is a developmental cycle of changes in the level of genomic methylation, which is necessary for the correct reprogramming of imprinted and X-chromosome genes for the next generation.

Evidence is growing that histone modifications determine which DNA sequences become methylated.

Keywords:

DNA methyltransferase;
demethylation;
germ cells;
epigenetics;
imprinting;
CpG island


The farming sector continues in an extended period of economic stress. Some have described it as the most serious and prolonged period of financial stress in more than 40 years [2]. Real net farm income of farm families during the current decade has been less than two-thirds the average for the 1970's. Farm cash flows have followed a similar pattern. Present economic stress has been further aggravated by rapid expansion of indebtedness during the last half of the 1970's when total debt of the U.S. farming sector more than doubled [5]. During that time, debt expansion paralleled the rapid appreciation of land and other agricultural assets. When interest rates reached unprecedented levels in the 1980's while assets started declining in value, the stage was set for a financial crunch of crisis proportion. For many farmers, economic survival has become the key issue of today [1]. This paper analyzes in some detail the current financial state of Nebraska's farming sector. It is specifically focussed on indebted farm operators, in examining the financial health and credit worthiness of this particular group. After constructing a financial framework to better understand current conditions, implications are then drawn.


We investigate the fermionic condensate and the vacuum expectation values of the energy–momentum tensor for a massive spinor field in de Sitter spacetime with spatial topology Rp × (S1)q. Both cases of periodicity and antiperiodicity conditions along the compactified dimensions are considered. By using the Abel–Plana formula, the topological parts are explicitly extracted from the vacuum expectation values. In this way the renormalization is reduced to the renormalization procedure in uncompactified de Sitter spacetime. It is shown that in the uncompactified subspace the equation of state for the topological part of the energy–momentum tensor is of the cosmological constant type. Asymptotic behavior of the topological parts in the expectation values is investigated in the early and late stages of the cosmological expansion. In the limit when the comoving length of a compactified dimension is much smaller than the de Sitter curvature radius the topological part in the expectation value of the energy–momentum tensor coincides with the corresponding quantity for a massless field and is conformally related to the corresponding flat spacetime result. In this limit the topological part dominates the uncompactified de Sitter part. In the opposite limit, for a massive field the asymptotic behavior of the topological parts is damping oscillatory for both fermionic condensate and the energy–momentum tensor.


The Landfill Tax was introduced in 1996 'to ensure that landfill waste disposal is properly priced so as to reflect its environmental cost' and secondly, 'to promote a more sustainable approach to waste management in which less waste is produced and more waste is either reused or has value recovered from it' (HM Customs and Excise 1998). The tax is also being used to redirect revenue rather than increase the fiscal burden on business. Funds raised by the tax are used to reduce the employer's contribution to National Insurance and to fund environmental projects through the Environmental Body or Landfill Tax Credit Scheme. Notwithstanding three reviews, there remain questions still unanswered in relation to the operation of the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme (LTCS), and ENTRUST has not been prepared to publish data relating to specific landfill operators' contributions to the LTCS which has meant that certain aspects of the LTCS have not been evaluated. The authors surveyed landfill operators with a view to addressing issues relating to the way operators are contributing to the LTCS generally and in the Anglian Region in particular by way of example, with a view to recommending improvements.


There are numerous technological acceptance and adoption theories that seek to explain how, why, and at what rate new technologies diffuse through systems over time. While the models can be used to explain why users adopt technologies, they do so in a general way and few, if any, studies have addressed the factors that affect monitoring technology adoption in coastal management. This study explores coastal managers' and water quality monitors' perspectives on water quality monitoring technology using various technology acceptance and adoption theories as a theoretical framework to better understand the factors that affect water quality monitoring technology adoption in coastal management. This study utilizes qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection in a two-part approach: (1) semi-structured interviews, and (2) online surveys. In person interviews were conducted with RI coastal managers to get an in-depth understanding of the factors that affect technology adoption, attitudes and perceptions of technology innovations, and technological needs based on environmental conditions. Data from the interviews were used, along with other sources, to develop a framework of factors affecting water quality technology adoption in coastal management. The online survey investigated how the framework applies to coastal researchers within the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS). In addition, the survey investigated respondents' likelihood of adopting two innovative monitoring technologies: a low-cost, handheld nanoscale biosensor and an Imaging FlowCytobot. Factors from the existing literature on technology adoption, such as technological conditions and external conditions, and additional factors, such as accuracy, reliability, and approved method for water quality monitoring, greatly influence the rate of technology adoption in coastal management. Findings from this study show that characteristics, needs, and preferences of coastal managers greatly affect which factors are important for technology adoption and that these factors do not necessarily align with the literature. In addition, a majority of respondents was willing to adopt the nanoscale biosensor. Observability, the degree to which the benefits (or limitations) of an innovation are visible to others, was statistically significantly more important to respondents who were not willing to adopt the biosensor than those who were willing to adopt it. Findings from this study provide a more detailed understanding of perceptions and attitudes towards existing and emerging monitoring technology; identify potential developments for technological innovations that can be used to better address changing environmental conditions; and provide coastal managers/water quality program directors with insight into how individuals are using technology in order to develop better water quality monitoring programs.


The study about chemical and physical characteristics, bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity of mangrove api-api (Avicennia marina) leaf have been done. The structure of leaf tissues was analyzed with microscopic method, chemical compositions were determined by proximate analysis, antioxidant activity was determined by DPPH method, while bioactive compounds were determined by phytochemical assay. The microscopic analysis shown that api-api's leaf have common feature dicotyl leaves structure, but it has a unique additional structure, that was salt extruding gland. The result of proximate analysis showed that api-api's leaf was high in crude fiber (4.12%) and carbohydrate (23.00%). Ethyl acetate extract of api-api's leaf showed higher antioxidant activity than hexane and methanol extracts, with IC 50 value is 182.33 ppm. The ethyl acetate extract in concentration 300 ppm had higher ability to inhibite autooxidation that occurred in oil/water emulsion. Flavonoid, steroid dan reduction sugar were detected in api-api leaf extract.


This project shows the recent evolution in the literary treatment of Catalan nationalism through the analysis of six novels that were published between 1986 and 2000. It studies the works of Eduardo Mendoza (La ciudad de los prodigios, 1986), Juan Marsé (El amante bilingüe, 1990), Enrique Vila-Matas (El viaje vertical, 1997), Nuria Amat (La intimidad, 1997 y El país del alma, 1999), and Manuel Vázquez Montalbán (El hombre de mi vida, 2000). The first chapter is dedicated to La ciudad de los prodigios, a postmodernist parody of the symbolic and discursive constructs of bourgeois Catalanism, and the first novel in a group of works that approach nationalism from different angles. This study demonstrates that Mendoza's apparent ideological relativism does not prevent him from passing judgment on the Catalan bourgeoisie of the turn-of-the-century period, a criticism that implies an indirect attack on the Catalan ruling class and its use of nationalist discourse during the years that followed the Spanish democratic transition of the late nineteen seventies. Marsé's work continues this critical trend at the end of the nineteen eighties and reflects the complex reality of Catalonia during a time in which the regional Administration was striving to implement the so-called process of normalization of the Catalan language and culture. The novel implies that this was often done at the expense of the immigrant population from poorer parts of Spain, who suffered the negative consequences of the normalization effort. This analysis offers a new interpretation of the novel that focuses on the author's metaliterary concerns and puts this work in the context of a narrative production that pays increasing attention to ethical and hermeneutical problems. The novels of Enrique Vila-Matas, Nuria-Amat, and Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, which were written a decade later, confirm a clear evolution in the treatment of nationalist themes. They represent a variety of narrative perspectives that range from ironic ambiguity to a nuanced apology of the Catalan bourgeoisie during the postwar period. It is argued here that the appearance of this new trend in the fiction of three authors of different age, ideology, and social origin must be explained in the context of a society were traditional nationalist values enjoy a greater degree of prestige and consensus among Catalans than they did a decade earlier. The recurrent presence and the change in the perception of nationalist discourse in the Spanish novel during the last two decades are proof of the central role that this subject has in the current social, political, and intellectual debate in Spain and Catalonia.


Behavioural episodes of staring in children are difficult to distinguish from epileptic seizures, especially in children with developmental disorders such as ADHD, autism spectrum disorders and intellectual disabilities. We discuss two patients with staring episodes who were using anti-epileptic drugs. In both patients, EEG with video monitoring showed that the staring was non-epileptic. The first is an 8-year-old boy, who developed severe motor problems and ataxia during treatment with valproate. His staring episodes were behavioural, caused by his intellectual disability, and the motor problems resolved after discontinuation of valproate. The second patient is a 10-year-old boy with known autism, ADHD and infantile seizures, who developed staring for which he was using valproate. Again, video-EEG monitoring during staring showed no abnormalities and in this case the staring was caused by his intellectual disability and autism. We discuss the differential diagnosis of staring episodes in children with developmental disorders and present the pitfalls of the diagnostic process.


This paper presents a crack detection technique for wind turbine blades using Vibro-Acoustic Modulation. The technique identifies nonlinear characteristics of a blade by utilizing the wind turbine operational vibration as a pumping signal. The theory underlying the technique is described and an experiment with a 900 watt smallscale wind turbine is conducted using a wind tunnel. Two other conventional VibroAcoustic Modulation tests were also performed with same blades to compare the results from these offline tests with the proposed online Vibro-Acoustic Modulation test using the turbine operational vibration as the pumping signal. It is shown that the structural vibration of the blades during operation lead to identical trends in the measured Vibro-Acoustic Modulation spectra for the cracked blade as the case in which the impact and piezoelectric actuator narrowband pumping signals are used.


Abstract. The tropical Pacific exerts a major effect on the global climate system and might have driven large extra-tropical climate change. We present a 320 kyr high resolution UK'37-sea surface temperature (SST) record from core MD052928 (11°17.26' S, 148°51.60' E, water depth 2250 m) located off southeastern Papua New Guinea (PNG), in the western tropical Pacific. The age model of the core is based on AMS 14C dating of planktic foraminifers and correlation of benthic to the LR04 stack. The UK'37-SST ranges from 26.5 to 29 °C, showing glacial–interglacial and millennial variations. We assess the phase of the MD052928 UK'37-SST as part of a synthesis of five other SST records from the tropical Pacific at the precession, obliquity, and eccentricity bands. The SST records can be separated into two groups when considering SST phase relative to changes in orbital forcing, ice volume and greenhouse gases (GHGs). SST maxima at open-ocean sites within primary equatorial current systems occur between obliquity maxima and methane (CH4) maxima but early relative to ice volume minima and CO2 maxima at the obliquity band. In contrast, SST maxima at continental margin sites change are in phase with ice minima and CO2 maxima, likely influenced by the slow response of continental ice sheets and GHGs. At the precession band, the early group located on the Warm Pool area indicates a direct influenced by the local insolation, and with the similar phase progress as the obliquity band. These results indicate that the decreased high-low latitudes insolation gradient and increasing low latitude local insolation resulting in tropical Pacific SST rise. Higher SST would supply more moisture resulting in increased CH4 in the tropical wetlands. This promotes increasing CO2 and deglaciation leading to increase continental and continental margin surface temperatures.


Since many countries already pursue a range of environmental objectives for agriculture, in particular the supply of positive externalities or public goods (e.g., wildlife habitat, water supply management, provision of landscape amenities) as well as the reduction of negative externalities, such as soil erosion or water pollution, efforts to reduce GHG emissions may have to be balanced against other environmental objectives. We examine this problem by considering an agricultural sector that supplies a positive environmental attribute (landscape amenity) as well as two negative attributes (GHG emissions and nutrient contamination of ground and surface water). The sector can also engage in production activities that contribute to reductions in the concentration of carbon in the atmosphere (carbon sequestration activities). In our model this involves devoting agricultural land to growing trees (agro-forestry). We use the model to examine policy choices designed to increase the positive domestic environmental contribution of agriculture, while at the same time reducing its negative contribution. We also use the model to examine the implications for achieving domestic environmental objectives of the imposition of an internationally determined GHG emission reduction requirement on agriculture. In the case where the socially optimal level of GHG emissions from agriculture based on the national social damage function for GHG emissions is below the global command and control target for the country, the levels of subsidies and taxes on inputs needed to maximize domestic social welfare lead to GHG reductions in excess of the global target. In contrast, the national social value assigned to the domestic damage due to GHG emissions could be at odds with the global social value of the damage implicit in the command and control target level of emission reductions assigned to the country and applied by that country to agriculture. In this case, domestic social welfare could be improved by allowing for an additional unit of GHG emissions by the sector. Thus, from a domestic point of view, the global command and control target level of reductions assigned to the country is too high. We also argue that the most practical way to achieve multiple environmental objectives, including GHG mitigation in agriculture is to focus on inputs – specifically how land is used and what inputs are applied to that land. In this way negative externalities can be reduced and the supply of positive externalities and public goods can be increased. Since it is unlikely to prove politically acceptable to use explicit taxes on inputs to correct for negative externalities in agriculture, a more likely approach is one based on payments for environmental services designed specifically to translate the non-market values of the environment services into financial incentives for local actors to provide such services.


This paper investigates the problem of secret key generation over a wiretap channel when the terminals have access to correlated sources. These sources are independent of the main channel and the users observe them before the transmission takes place. A novel achievable scheme for this model is proposed and is shown to be optimal under certain less noisy conditions. This result improves upon the existing literature where the more stringent condition of degradedness was needed.


Doctors in the United Kingdom can accompany their patients every step of the way, up until the last. The law stops them helping their patients take the final step, even if that is the patient's fervent wish. Next month's debate in the House of Lords could begin the process of changing the law. To help doctors decide where they stand we publish a range of opinions

In June 2005, the BMA became the third UK medical organisation to withdraw its opposition to the legalisation of assisted dying. Despite its history of opposition, delegates at the annual representative meeting voted narrowly to leave the matter to parliament. The royal colleges of general practitioners and physicians withdrew opposition in October 2004, saying it was a matter for society but stressing that neutrality was not support for assisted dying.1 2 However, the colleges are reviewing their stance because of criticism from members. This paper considers the events leading up to the change in BMA policy and its implications for future work surrounding the issue.

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Credit: SPECIAL PHOTOGRAPHERS/PHOTONICA/GETTY

Only months before the debate at the annual representative meeting that changed BMA policy, the BMA gave evidence to the House of Lords Select Committee on the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill in which it firmly opposed any change in the law.3 The vote thus may seem like a sudden reversal of policy, but cracks in BMA opposition had been gradually developing.

Recent BMA policy has acknowledged a wide spectrum of views within the profession. A debate at the annual representative meeting in 1997 approved a policy opposing any legal change "for the time being." That rider indicated that the matter was not closed and, despite being repeatedly knocked back, opponents of the status quo continued to raise it at annual meetings …

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The present study investigated the role of lexical and semantic access efficiency in predicting reading fluency levels in 32 second and third grade students (16 second grade/16 third grade). In a series of lexical and semantic decision tasks reaction time (ms) and accuracy (proportion) were investigated as a function of lexical (nouns/verbs/nonwords) or semantic (plausible/implausible) categories and stimulus presentation rates. A reading fluency battery of standardized tests (Test of Word Reading Efficiency and the Gray Oral Reading Test – IV) was used to observe if the students' performance on the experimental tasks was related to their performance on standardized measures of reading fluency (single-word and contextual). For the lexical decision task a main effect of presentation duration was found revealing that the slower presentation (350 ms) of the lexical stimuli (words) resulted in greater overall accuracy when compared to the faster presentation rate (100 ms). In addition the children exhibited overall greater accuracy for the lexical decision task when responding to nouns in comparison to verbs. For the semantic decision task a significant interaction of presentation duration X sentence type was found characterized by a differential pattern for semantic decision accuracy for plausible sentences as a function of stimulus presentation duration. Accuracy for plausible sentences was higher for the longer presentation duration (1000 ms) and lower for the faster presentation duration (300 ms). The accuracy for the implausible sentences was not differentially affected by the two presentation duration rates. Additional findings revealed significant correlations between standard scores on the Gray Oral Reading Test-4th Edition (Fluency Composite) the Test of Word Reading Efficiency (Total Word Reading Efficiency) and the reaction time data for both the lexical and semantic decision experimental tasks. Significant correlations were also revealed between standardized measures on the GORT-IV and TOWRE when correlated to decoding accuracy for both experimental tasks. These findings may suggest that lexical and semantic access efficiency serve as important underlying correlates when accounting for the variance in the development of reading fluency in second and third grade children. In addition these findings support the notion that children at the developing fluency grade levels may need more time to process comprehend and respond when decoding and comprehending text while reading fluency is in the early stages of development.


This research is descriptive quantitative research with title " Portfolio Optimal of the share record in Index LQ-45(periods Februari 2005 up to July 2008)". Whit Applying Model index one for form portfolio optimal from shares record in index LQ-45. Purpose of this research is to know the composition fund proportion, return, and risk Portfolio. Discussion fundamental in writing scripts this basically is to assist the enthusiast or investor specially to dabble in capital market, to be can obtain the earnings or return the optimal ness of combination various the shares in the market stock. Model used to determine portfolio optimal postage is single index model, that is a model which needs beta evolution from shares will be entered into portfolios optimal postage. In research whit single index model from 21 shares calculate elected 16 shares will from portfolio optimal postage whit certain infestation properties whit return expects portfolio 3,918% and variant portfolio 0,152% . Seeing ease of single index model use whit high precision and satisfying result, so single index model is model can be used to help investor candidate or fund manager in selecting infestation of shares sold. Keyword : Portofolio Optimal, Return dan Risiko Link terkait : http://skripsi.umm.ac.id/files/disk1/274/jiptummpp-gdl-s1-2008-yantosyafi-13674-PENDAHUL-N.pdf


A novel low-torque ball re-positioning scheme based on a sliding-mode ball observer is developed in this study with the aim to precisely reside the rolling ball inside an automatic balancer system (ABS) to its desired position – 180 degree opposite to the inherent imbalance of the rotating system which the ABS is attached to. In this way, the ABS is capable of substantially reducing radial vibrations of the rotating system for a decent balancing. For preliminary feasibility, the case of a single ball is considered in this study. The first step is to establish the dynamic model of the system, which is followed by the analysis to ensure stability of the desired ball position. The second step is to forge a sliding-mode observer for estimating on-line position and velocity of the ball. With ball estimation capability, a low-torque speed regulator that essentially generates a series of speed drops to the neighborhood of suspension resonance is proposed to overcome practical ball rolling friction for residing the ball at the desired position. The design characteristic of low-torque required for the regulator is particularly suited to most of commercial spindle motors which can only output limited torques at high speeds. Finally, simulations and experiments are conducted for a benchmark problem of optical disc drives in order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed scheme of the sliding-mode observer and the low-torque speed regulator.


Adsorption equilibrium constants of ethanol, methanol, isobutylene, isoamylenes (2M2B, 2M1B), MTBE and TAME on Amberlyst 15 catalyst were evaluated from the packed bed moment technique. Adsorption equilibrium constants of alcohols were found to be two orders of magnitude greater than the adsorption equilibrium constants of i-olefins and the corresponding tertiary ethers. However, their apparent heat of adsorption values are quite low (-6,7 kJ/mol and −8.3 kJ/mol for methanol and ethanol, respectively). Among the i-olefins, isobutylene gave the highest adsorption equilibrium constant and the heat of adsorption (-54.2 kJ/mol The adsorption equilibrium constant of 2M2B on a catalyst, which was pretreated with ethanol, was about three times greater than the corresponding value obtained on fresh catalyst. Second moment analysis indicated that diffusion resistance in both macropores and microspheres of the catalyst are equally significant.


The process of globalisation is multifaceted. One is smiling and promising, the other looks less attractive, if not threatening. It is the process of growing interdependence of countries worldwide through the increasing volume of cross-border transactions in goods and services and of capital flows, and also through the more rapid and widespread diffusion of technology (The International Monetary Fund, 2001). It is bringing new ways of life and opportunities to the door steps of people in just about all parts of the world. The benefits of the process can be very uneven, with the strong getting stronger and the weak becoming weaker. Marginal groups such as women, the poor and the rural can be particularly affected, with little expectations for social and economic equality. Globalisation, as understood today, feeds on knowledge. Probably the most important source of inequality is the knowledge gap.

This paper is about the Chad-Cameroon Petroleum Development and Pipeline Project. This is a 3.7 billion US dollars, 1070 km pipeline project constructed to transport crude oil from fields in southwestern Chad to Kribi on the Atlantic coast of Cameroon. The project is owned by a consortium of trans-national oil companies: Exxon-Mobil, Petronas of Malaysia, and Chevron of the United States. This is the largest foreign direct investment in Sub-Sahara Africa so far.

The main message of the paper is that because of the knowledge gap, the rural communities and the poor tend to be excluded from globalisation. This was confirmed in the Chad-Cameroon pipeline project. The rural communities did not benefit either from employment or from compensations for their crops and property destroyed. This was because they did not have enough knowledge and skills to get more. Thus, the project confirmed what literature on globalisation says: the rich get richer and the poor, poorer.
The project has come and gone, leaving behind mostly bitter feelings on the part of the rural communities affected. There has been very little, if any improvement in the lives of the people. They feel mostly violated and abused, especially as there were surges in alcoholism, prostitution, and some drug use, whenever the construction activities were within any village. Globalization can be brutal, especially if the receiving community is not fully prepared to accommodate changes. This was the case of the rural communities where the pipeline passed. They knew it was coming, but they were not ready for it. The outcome has not had the anticipated developmental effect.


Near trapping is a kind of strong hydrodynamic interaction phenomenon in a regular array under specific incident wave conditions, which causes the excitation force on the structures in the array to change suddenly. In this paper, based on linear potential flow theory, the effects of near trapping on the hydrodynamic interaction and wave-power extraction characteristics of linear periodic arrays composed of the oscillating float type wave energy converters are studied by using the higher-order boundary element method in a frequency domain. The parameters considered include the separation spacing, number of devices, and incident wave direction. It is found that the near trapping significantly reduces the overall wave-power extraction, especially for the cases with a large number of devices, and changes the trend of the power distribution. The occurrence of the near trapping phenomenon depends on the ratio of the separation spacing to the wavelength and the incident wave direction. The results highlight the effective layout of linear arrays under the influence of near trapping, which not only ensures the total production power, but also reduces the power difference among wave energy converters.


The life of concrete structure located in complex environment depends largely on the durability of concrete. The various environmental corrosive effects are the key factor to reduce the durability of concrete structures. The studies on corrosion mechanism and detecting/monitoring technology are carried out in the world, and achieved important results. Since the 90's of last century, corrosion monitoring system for concrete structure has been put into engineering practice in the world, and the technology has been being mature. Qingdao Bay Bridge is located in the special marine environment, so corrosion is the main factor affecting the durability of the bridge. Durability monitoring is one of important aspects of the structure health monitoring and maintenance management system of the Bay Bridge. By corrosion monitoring, the critical data of concrete durability and strength degradation of the structure can be obtained. It is very significant for understanding the evolvement law of the durability, developing anti-corrosion measures, and extending the life of the bridge.


Background: Although ß-blockers are known to increase new-onset diabetes mellitus (DM), previous evidence have been controversial. It has been suggested that newer vasodilatory ß-blockers yield better glycemic control than older nonselective agents. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diabetogenicity of currently used newer ß-blockers based on ß1 receptor selectivity in a series of Asian population. Methods: We investigated a total of 65,686 hypertensive patients without DM from 2004 to 2014. Patients with hemoglobin (Hb) A1c ⩽6.0%, fasting blood glucose ⩽110 mg/dL, and no history of diabetes or diabetic treatment were enrolled for analysis. Patients were divided into the ß-blockers group and non-ß-blockers group. Propensity score matching (PSM) analysis using a logistic regression model was performed to adjust for potential confounders. The primary end point was the cumulative incidence of new-onset DM, defined as a fasting blood glucose ≥126 mg/dL or HbA1c ≥6.5%, and major adverse cardiac and cerebral events (MACCE), defined as a composite of total death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and cerebrovascular accidents. We investigated predictors of new-onset DM and MACCE based on 2 models, including clinical risk factors and co-medications, respectively. Results: Mean follow-up duration was 30.91 ± 23.14 months in the entire group before adjustment. The ß-blockers group had a significantly higher incidence of new-onset DM and MACCE than the non-ß-blockers group. After PSM, analysis of a total of 2284 patients (1142 pairs, C-statistic = 0.752) showed no difference between the 2 groups in new-onset DM or MACCE. In multivariate analysis after PSM, baseline HbA1c, stroke, heart failure, nonselective ß-blockers, and age were independent predictors of new-onset DM. Selective ß1-blockers did not increase new-onset DM after adjustment for other antihypertensive medication and statins. Conclusions: In the era of newer ß-blockers, selective ß1-blockers were not associated with new-onset DM. More evidence is needed to verify this relationship and the underlying mechanisms.


This paper and a special issue of the journal addresses the varying capacity of local governments in different regions in the world. Local Government Capacity as a concept can have varying definitions, but in this framework it seems adequate to simply define it as `the ability of local government to perform their functions in an effective and efficient way´. The idea behind this special issue argues that in order to improve the capacity of local governments especially in regions where its adequate performance is severely needed, a more differentiated approach to capacity-building is required, pinpointing the main factors inhibiting local government performance.


PURPOSE
Routine use of extended-fraction (> 10 fractions) radiation therapy (RT) for palliation of bone metastases is recognized as a low-value intervention by the American Society for Radiation Oncology. We examined contemporary practice patterns of, and physician characteristics associated with extended-fraction RT use.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We conducted a retrospective cohort study using Medicare fee-for-service data. We included patients who underwent 2- or 3-dimensional external-beam RT for bone metastases between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2018. Physicians treating > 10 patients over the study period were analyzed for their individual practice. Hierarchic logistic regression modeling was used to identify patient- and physician-level factors associated with extended-fraction RT use.

RESULTS
A total of 12,221 patients (median age, 75.6 years; 40.9% women, 87.6% white) were included. The rate of extended-fraction RT was 23.4%. A total of 1,432 physicians treated any patient. Among the 382 physicians treating > 10 patients, 127 (33.2%) used extended-fraction RT > 30% (consensus threshold). Physician factors associated with decreased odds of extended-fraction RT were years since medical school graduation (≤ 10 years and 11-20 years v ≥ 31 years: adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.32 [95% CI, 0.20 to 0.51] and 0.64 [95% CI, 0.44 to 0.93]) and practicing in the Northeast or Midwest versus the South (aOR, 0.36 [95% CI, 0.22 to 0.58] and 0.48 [95% CI, 0.31 to 0.74]). Physicians treating > 20 patients (v 11-14 patients) over the study period had increased odds of delivering extended-fraction RT (aOR, 1.53 [95% CI, 1.10 to 2.12]).

CONCLUSION
In this study, almost one fourth of patients received extended-fraction RT, and one third of physicians had an extended-fraction RT use rate of > 30%. Personalized feedback of performance data, clinical pathways and peer review, and updated reimbursement models are potential mechanisms to address this low-value care.


The dawn of art is sometimes equated with the birth of the human spirit. But when and how did figuration - sculpture, painting, drawing - actually begin? And did these first figurative creations coincide with the emergence of our own species, Homo sapiens ? Is figuration a general and fundamental feature of the human condition? In this challenging volume leading experts review the evidence now available from the worldwide practice of prehistoric archaeology, and go on to formulate some important conclusions. The scope of this work is global. It sets out to explore the first stirrings of artistic endeavour and of figurative imagery on each continent, and to consider the social context in which they arose. It will be a fundamental resource for all those seeking to understand the origins of art and the beginnings of human spirituality.


This paper presents a new design of a planar transformer. Over the surface of a flat core, meander-type design was engraved, so that symmetrically adjusted primary and secondary coils, of the same meander-type, can fit into the engraved design. Primary and secondary coils were covered with another flat core consequently forming a compact planar transformer. Windings of primary and secondary coils are printed on both sides of PCB. Conductive stripes of a winding from upper and bottom layer are connected by vias. The transformer was analyzed when the primary and secondary coils were without a core and with a core. High frequency parameters of the transformer were obtained by finite element modeling software and Impedance Analyzer HP4194A in the frequency range from 50 kHz to 1 MHz. The transformer is intended to be used in DC-DC converters (for switching frequency up to several hundred kHz).


Abstract Objective To assess whether diet quality before or during pregnancy predicts adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes in a sample of Australian women. Design The Dietary Questionnaire for Epidemiological Studies was used to calculate diet quality using the Australian Recommended Food Score (ARFS) methodology modified for pregnancy. Setting A population-based cohort participating in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH). Subjects A national sample of Australian women, aged 20–25 and 31–36 years, who were classified as preconception or pregnant when completing Survey 3 or Survey 5 of the ALSWH, respectively. The 1907 women with biologically plausible energy intake estimates were included in regression analyses of associations between preconception and pregnancy ARFS and subsequent pregnancy outcomes. Results Preconception and pregnancy groups were combined as no significant differences were detected for total and component ARFS. Women with gestational hypertension, compared with those without, had lower scores for total ARFS, vegetable, fruit, grain and nuts/bean/soya components. Women with gestational diabetes had a higher score for the vegetable component only, and women who had a low-birth-weight infant had lower scores for total ARFS and the grain component, compared with those who did not report these outcomes. Women with the highest ARFS had the lowest odds of developing gestational hypertension (OR=0·4; 95 % CI 0·2, 0·7) or delivering a child of low birth weight (OR=0·4; 95 % CI 0·2, 0·9), which remained significant for gestational hypertension after adjustment for potential confounders. Conclusions A high-quality diet before and during pregnancy may reduce the risk of gestational hypertension for the mother.


Within the framework of EXTEND project Erasmus+ KA2 Capacity Building in Higher Education Project EXTEND 586060-EPP-1-2017-1-RO-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP "Excellence in Engineering Education through Teacher Training and New Pedagogic Approaches in Russia and Tajikistan" it is planned to elaborate innovative courses to enhance the quality of engineering education in Russia and Tajikistan. Inasmuch as foreign languages are included in transversal competences for engineering education, special attention was given to the elaboration of the "Foreign Languages for Engineering. Academic Writing" course. A foreign language is considered as a means of professional competence forming and is included in the main competences of engineers of XXI century. The course consists of five modules having the similar structure: "Reading and Speaking", "Writing", "Listening", "Translation Basics", Academic Writing", "Assessment" and "Bank of Prompts". The content of the modules is universal for any branch of engineering, as it touches upon such topics as affiliation and self-presentation, safety at working place, dimensions, working with drawings,career strategy, team building, engineering branches, etc. Special attention is given to academic writing, as it is obligatory for contemporary PhD students and university teachers to publish their scientific papers and disseminate the results of their researches at the international level. Learners are taught to write their research papers according to the IMRaD model. Moreover, academic writing is correlated with a listening part, supplementing it with practical tips. "Bank of prompts" is aimed at equipping learners with lingvocultural background information, which is necessary for communication and translation. The paper describes the piloting experiment, thus complex methodology is applied.


Abstract Background Effective delivery of alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment is reliant on a skilled, experienced, and satisfied workforce. The need to recruit and train workers is universally acknowledged. It is equally important to retain staff, given global shortages of health and human services workers. As few studies have investigated predictors of turnover in the AOD sector, this study examined a range of potential work-related predictors. Methods An online survey of 294 non-government AOD workers addressed demographics, health, wellbeing, organizational characteristics, and working conditions. Bivariate analyses were performed, followed by a hierarchical linear regression. Results The bivariate analysis found significantly higher turnover intention among workers who were younger, believed they were inadequately paid, on fixed-term contracts, had poor work-life balance, were dissatisfied with the non-government AOD sector, and had high workloads. In the subsequent linear regression significant predictors of turnover intention were dissatisfaction with the sector, high workloads, and tenuous employment status. Discussion These findings can inform retention strategies including greater provision of permanent contracts and more manageable workloads. Reported sector dissatisfaction warrants further examination. Prioritizing retention as a core workforce development strategy may help retain trained and experienced workers, maximize return on investment and enhance provision of quality care.


In this paper, a model predictive control (MPC) scheme is investigated for uncertain nonlinear system with time delay and input constraint. First, the Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy model is used to approximate the dynamics of nonlinear processes and the parallel distributed compensation (PDC) controllers which are parameter dependent and mirror the structure of the T-S plant model are proposed. Then a novel feedback PDC predictive controller obtained from the linear matrix inequality (LMI) solutions which can guarantee the stability of the closed-loop overall fuzzy system is put forward. Finally, a numerical example is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method.


There have been calls to reconnect children with nature, both for their own wellbeing, as well as for ecological sustainability. This has driven the growth of outdoor and nature-schools for all ages, but especially in the early childhood education sector. However, to date, there has not been a quantitative study that looks at whether these settings actually promote nature connection. This paper aims to examine the role of nature nurseries in the promotion of connection to nature, when compared to traditional nurseries. Data were collected on the nature connection, using the Connection to Nature Index for Parents of Preschool Children, of 216 children aged 1–8 years, 132 of whom attended nature nurseries while the rest attended traditional nurseries. Duration and frequency of attendance, sex, and parental nature connection were also reported. Statistical analyses were conducted for overall nature connection scores, individual dimension sub-scores and, for the children who attended nature nursery, against predictors. Results indicate that attending a nature nursery is associated with higher nature connection. Predictors for children's connection to nature were parental nature connection, and total time spent in attendance of an outdoor nursery. This suggests a dose-response style relationship between attendance and nature connection. Implications for real-life applications are put forward and further research directions are explored.


In principle, pharmaceutical producers lack the incentives to develop orphan drugs, i.e. medicines intended to treat rare diseases. Regulation (EC) n. 141/2000 addresses the issue, providing orphan drug producers with accelerated approval, tax benefits, and a ten-year market exclusivity period. Today, orphan drug prices are extremely high and are set independently of ordinary pharmaceutical pricing criteria. Consequently, some scholars suggest that a competition law action for unfair prices under Art. 102, let. a, TFEU may be warranted. This paper claims that the prohibition of abuse of dominant position could play a role in reducing orphan drugs' prices. First, it is shown that market exclusivity provides orphan drug manufacturers with a dominant position in their reference markets. Then, the paper applies and adapts the excessive price test developed by the ECJ to orphan drugs. Civil liability could also play a role, by compensating the damages suffered by NHSs. Finally, recent enforcement developments in the EU concerning excessive prices of medicines confirm the potential role of competition law in curbing orphan drug prices.


In this new study of energy use and global climate change, Richard Wolfson outlines basic science concepts as well as specific, contemporary applications in energy production and their environmental consequences. "Energy, Environment, and Climate" is structured on the premise that climate change is the dominant energy-related environmental issue of the twenty-first century.Traditional concerns like pollution and conservation of energy resources are covered with clear, scientific explanations. Unique to this text, a full five chapters - about one-third of the content - are devoted to climate and an understanding of the energy-climate link. Included are over 250 photographs and illustrations.


The seroprevalence of antibodies for HIV, syphilis, toxoplasmosis, cytomegalovirosis and rubella and its association with age and origin was investigated among pregnant women in Sergipe, northeastern Brazil. A total of 9,550 pregnant women (2,112 from the state capital and 7,438 from other municipalities) were enrolled in the study and consecutively tested during their first antenatal care visit in 2007. The following serum prevalences were found: syphilis (0.9%; 95% CI 0.7%-1.6%), HIV (0.14%; 95% CI 0.08%-0.2%), toxoplasmosis (IgG 69.3%; 95% CI 68.3%-70.2%; IgM 0.4%, 95% CI 0.3%-0.6%), cytomegalovirosis (IgG 76.6%, 95% CI 75.7%-77.5%; IgM 0.2%, 95% CI 0.09%-0.3%) and rubella (IgG 71.6%, 95% CI 70.7%-72.6%; IgM 0.1%, 95% CI 0.04%-0.2%). Toxoplasmosis seropositivity increased with age. The prevalences of IgG antibodies for toxoplasmosis, cytomegalovirus and rubella were higher in Aracaju (state capital) than in other municipalities in the State of Sergipe. The results showed that a large proportion of the pregnant women, particularly in municipalities other than the state capital, were susceptible to toxoplasmosis, rubella and cytomegalovirus, with a risk for their infants.


Abstract Introduction: There is renewed interest in identifying breast cancer patients' participation in decision-making about adjuvant chemotherapy. There is a gap in the literature regarding the impact of these decisions on quality of life (QOL) and quality of care (QOC). Our aims were to determine similarities and differences in how patients diagnosed with breast cancer preferred to make decisions with providers about cancer treatment, to examine the patient's recall of her role when the decision was made about chemotherapy and to determine how preferred and actual roles, as well as congruence between them, relate to QOL and perceived QOC. Material and methods: Greater Plains Collaborative clinical data research network of PCORnet conducted the 'Share Thoughts on Breast Cancer' survey among women 12–18 months post-diagnosis at eight sites in seven Midwestern United States. Patients recalled their preferred and actual treatment decision-making roles and three new shared decision-making (SDM) variables were created. Patients completed QOL and QOC measurements. Correlations and t-tests were used. Results: Of 1235 returned surveys, 873 (full sample) and 329 (subsample who received chemotherapy) were used. About one-half of women in both the full (50.7%) and subsample (49.8%,) preferred SDM with providers about treatment decisions, but only 41.2% (full) and 42.6% (subsample) reported experiencing SDM. Significant differences were found between preferred versus actual roles in the full (p < .001) and subsample (p < .004). In the full sample, there were no relationships between five decision-making variables with QOL, but there was an association with QOC. The subsample's decision-making variables related to several QOL scales and QOC items, with a more patient-centered decision than originally preferred related to higher physical and social/family well-being, overall QOL and QOC. Conclusions: Patients benefit from providers' efforts to identify patient preferences, encourage an active role in SDM, and tailor decision making to their desired choice.


Grone and Merris [GM94] conjectured that the Laplacian spectrum of a graph is majorized by its conjugate vertex degree sequence. We prove that this conjecture holds for a class of graphs including trees. We also show that this conjecture and its generalization to graphs with Dirichlet boundary conditions are equivalent.


Golimumab is a human monoclonal antibody useful in the treatment of a wide variety of inflammatory conditions including ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and ulcerative colitis.  Golimumab's clinical efficacy is attributed to its inhibition of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α).  As more individuals have been treated with anti-TNF-α therapy, increased numbers of side effects have been identified.  We report a patient with a long history of ankylosing spondylitis and atopic dermatitis who noted exacerbation of his alopecia areata early on, and subsequently developed scarring alopecia and facial rash.  Clinicians should be aware of the autoimmune reactions associated with golimumab to better inform decisions about therapy and management of underlying rheumatologic disease.  [N A J Med Sci. 201 8 ;11(1):22-24.   DOI: 10.7156/najms.2018.110122 ]


A recent meta-analysis showed that there is a considerable gender effect, i.e., women tend to recall their dreams more often than men. Since this difference was not found for children below the age of ten, the question is whether "dream socialization" (being asked about dreaming, hearing dreams of another person) in childhood might affect dream recall in adolescence and adulthood. This hypothesis was tested in a retrospective study of 54 students. To validate the students' estimates, the parents were also asked about the dream socialization of their children. According to the children's as well as the parents' estimates, mother's asking about the children's dreams and hearing of the mother's dreams have a significant positive effect on the dream recall frequency of the students in adulthood. In addition, the mother's asking about their children's dreams has a significant, positive effect on the children's attitude towards dreams in adulthood. To establish a clear-cut causal relationship, one should conduct a longitudinal study with dream socialization being measured in the relevant period of time and a follow-up-test measuring dream recall frequency in adulthood.


In this paper, a one-dimensional mathematical model is established and simulated numerically for the interior ballistic cycle of two-stage light-gas launching facility with a piston-compressor type. A 35mm/130mm light-gas launcher is taken for the primary computing model, and lots of data, such as the pressure on light-gas chamber, the piston velocity, the diaphragm failure pressure, etc. are obtained by computing the model using the numerical difference scheme with the second order of numerical accuracy in space and the first order in time. On the basis of the results of analyzing these data systematically, some advices on enhancing the launching performance of light-gas launcher are put forward. The numerical results show that the developed mathematical model gives the correct trend and can provide useful calculated parameters for the structural design of the components of two-stage light-gas launcher.


The 2011 Next-Generation Protein Therapeutics Summit integrated five promising strategic approaches to designing and realizing the next generations of protein and biologic drugs. The conference sessions focused on non-antibody and antibody therapeutics, innovations in improving the physicochemical properties of these drugs, routes of administration, methodologies for reducing unwanted immunogenic reactions, and novel drugs from non-natural amino acids.


1. Acetyl-CoA acts as a positive allosteric effector in the formation of active pyruvate carboxylase from its apoenzyme, ATP and (+)-biotin which is catalysed by holoenzyme synthetase; this effect is counteracted by l-aspartate. 2. The Hill coefficients (apparent n values) were approximately 2 for acetyl-CoA and 4 for l-aspartate; the n value for each effector remained constant when the concentration of the other effector was varied. 3. Active pyruvate carboxylase was formed also when the apoenzyme was incubated with holoenzyme synthetase and synthetic biotinyl-5'-AMP; acetyl-CoA and l-aspartate affected this process as they did the overall reaction from (+)-biotin and ATP. 4. When hydroxylamine replaced the apoenzyme, holoenzyme synthetase catalysed the formation of biotinylhydroxamate from (+)-biotin and ATP. This reaction was not affected by the allosteric effectors. 5. The apoenzyme was protected against thermal denaturation by acetyl-CoA and, to a lesser degree, by l-aspartate. The holoenzyme synthetase was not markedly protected by these effectors. 6. It is concluded that the allosteric effectors act on the apoenzyme and not the synthetase.


Control and differential game problems, with dynamics described by parabolic and hyperbolic partial differential equations attract the attention of many researchers. Some of these problems can be reduced to the one described by infinite systems of ordinary differential equations by using the decomposition method. The main purpose of this thesis is to study the differential game problems described by an infinite system of 2-systems of second order differential equations, and it is extension to multi-player pursuit-evasion differential game problems, with various constraints, on control functions of players. The existence and uniqueness theorem in the space C(0, T; l2 r ) is proved. Built on this, an optimal control for the control system described by an infinite system of differential equations with integral constraint is presented. The optimal control result is extended to study a pursuit differential game problem with the integral constrains on the controls of players. The goal of the Pursuer is to force the system and its velocity to the origin on the spaces l2 r+1 and l2r respectively, and the Evader exactly tries to avoid this. In addition to this, a theorem on pursuit with mixed constraints is proved, where Pursuers control is subjected to integral constraint and geometric constraint is imposed on Evaders control. Moreover, we established the sufficient conditions for which evasion is possible in the game considered, with geometric constraints on the control of players. Furthermore, control of the Evader is constructed in an explicit form. Finally, a pursuit-evasion game with m Pursuer and one Evader are studied. In the pursuit game we present sufficient condition for which the Pursuers can bring the state of the system and its velocity into the origin for a finite time. For the evasion game we state and prove a theorem for which evasion is possible from any initial position


Blunt pelvic traumata are common injuries especially among elderly patients. It is well known, that standard x-ray diagnostics fail to detect all fractures. We set up a retrospective study to gain a profound knowledge of the actual informative value of a single, plain a.p. pelvic radiograph in these injuries for detecting acetabular and proximal femoral fractures as a standardized starting point in the radiologic work-up. We analysed the radiological reports, all validated by a board certified radiologist, for patients aged 75 years and older who had a blunt pelvic trauma and had both a standard a.p. pelvic x-ray and pelvic CT scan in the emergency department over a 3-year period. In 233 patients aged 75 years and older, we found 35 acetabular fractures. The calculated specificity of the plain x-ray was high (97.3%), but sensitivity was rather low (66.6%). The positive and negative predictive value were 85.7% and 92.4%, respectively. The number of proximal femur fractures found in CT was comparable (n = 46; prevalence 19.8%). The calculated sensitivity was 82.6%, specificity 93.0%, positive predictive and negative predictive values were 74.5% and 95.6%. We thus recommend the a.p. radiograph as the first step in the diagnostic pathway. But according to the crucial clinical assessment, a CT scan should be obtained whenever in doubt of the reliability of the plain x-ray, especially in elderly patients.


Background: The epidemic-like scenario of superficial fungal infections in India has been complicated by the prescription of systemic and topical potent steroids. As a result, alarming number of patients are presenting with exogenous Cushing's syndrome. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 23 patients of superficial dermatophytosis on steroids who presented with clinical features like that of Cushing's syndrome. Their clinical details and laboratory investigations including fungal culture and serum cortisol, were recorded on a pre-designed proforma. Results: There were 23 patients (14 males and 9 females) with mean age of 29.47 ± 15.5 years, majority with extensive tinea cruris and corporis. All of them received oral (Betamethasone) or parenteral corticosteroids along with potent topical steroids (clobetasol propionate and betamethasone valerate) for at least two months. In majority (56.5%), treatment was prescribed by unqualified medical practitioners and in the rest by alternative medical practitioners. Striae, buffalo hump, hirsutism were observed in 16 (69.5%), 15 (65.2%), 13 (56.5%) patients, respectively. Serum cortisol estimation revealed low levels and ranged from 0.66 to 6 μg/ml with a mean of 1.53 ± 1.27 μg/ml (normal 7-25 μg/ml). Conclusions: Corticosteroids are life saving for many dermatological diseases; their injudicious use (topical, oral, and parenteral) for prolonged periods in the treatment of superficial dermatophytosis can lead to Cushing's syndrome.


Elemental mixture of Ti, Al and C was high energy milled in a planetary ball mill under high-purity nitrogen gas protection and then hot pressed. The fully dense bulk layered ternary Ti2AlN0.5C0.5 with sub-micron grain size was successfully obtained. The phase formation and transformation in high energy milling and subsequently hot press sintering were studied in detail by using X-ray diffraction (XRD). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) linked with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) was used for the structural and compositional analysis. The formation mechanism was also discussed.


Distributing data is one of the key problems in implementing efficient distributed-memory parallel programs. The problem becomes more difficult in programs where data redistribution between computational phases is considered. The global data distribution problem is to find the optimal distribution in multi-phase parallel programs. Solving this problem requires accurate knowledge of data redistribution cost.
We are investigating this problem in the context of a software distributed shared memory (SDSM) system, in which obtaining accurate redistribution cost estimates is difficult. This is because SDSM communication is implicit: It depends on access patterns, page locations, and the SDSM consistency protocol.
We have developed integrated compile- and run-time analysis for SDSM systems to determine accurate redistribution cost estimates with low overhead. Our resulting system, SUIF-Adapt, can efficiently and accurately estimate execution time, including redistribution, to within 5% of the actual time in all of our test cases and is often much closer. These precise costs enable SUIF-Adapt to find efficient global data distributions in multiple-phase programs.


Analyzed the variation reasons and its influence factors of the Lower Yellow River (LYR), the characteristics of typical water environment abnormal variation caused by human activities and the natural influence factors are put forward. The concept of environmental abnormal variation has been proposed in analyzing the processes of environmental change, and the types of water environment abnormal variation have been defined according to the characteristics of different reaches and human activities. Further more, the reparation methods for the environment abnormal variation in the Lower Yellow River are stated.


Information concerning the main pitfalls of cytopreparatory techniques, e.g., cell loss, is of paramount importance for general acceptance of the routine use of urinary cytology. Therefore, we studied the cell yield obtained with five Papanicolaou and two May-Grünwald-Giemsa (MGG) smear techniques commonly used in diagnostic cytology laboratories, and compared the results with those obtained with the Millipore filter technique. All smear methods using wet fixation gave very low cell harvests (2-26%), and all methods using air drying gave high cell yield (55-95%), the spray fixation method giving intermediate results (about 40%). Since the morphometric studies showed that there was no preferential cell loss, the cells remaining on the slides can be considered representative of the original cell population. However, if the cell concentration of the urinary sample is extremely low, the Millipore filter and the albumin MGG methods, in both of which cell loss is minimal, are recommended. The results obtained with the spray fixation Papanicolaou method are quantitatively acceptable and qualitatively excellent.


Three intensity ratios of the second positive band system of N2 to N2 LBH band system, the first negative band system of N2+, and the first positive band system of N2 are obtained separately from sprite streamer modeling and from measurements by ISUAL instrument on FORMOSAT‐2 satellite. The direct comparison between the obtained ratios indicates that in order to explain the ISUAL spectrophotometric data the maximum field driving the emissions of an observed sprite event must be greater than three times of the conventional breakdown threshold field. These findings are consistent with an assumption that most of the observed sprite emissions during initial sprite development originate from localized high field regions associated with tips of sprite streamers.


Using Darwin's The Origin of Species as a casepoint, this book shows that the language of scientists does remain language and that a skilful use of its rhetorical and poetic aspects often determines the 'facts' and the transmission of information.


A feeding experiment was carried out in a brackish water (18 ppt) flow-through system to determine the effects of different photoperiods (light hours/dark hours; L/D) on feed intake and growth performance of young rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Duplicate groups of fish (35.32 g avg body wt) were exposed to a natural photoperiod, a long photoperiod (16L/8D) or a continuous photoperiod (24L/0D) for 60 days and fed to satiation twice a day. The growth rate, daily feed intake and feeding rate in the natural photoperiod were significantly lower (p 0.05) from the natural photoperiod. Survival was not significantly (p>0.05) affected by the treatment. For better growth and a lower food conversion rate, the long photoperiod is recommended for young rainbow trout.


Unusual physicochemical properties of ionic liquids (ILs) open vistas for a variety of new applications. Herewith, we investigate the influence of microviscosity and nanostructuring of ILs on spin dynamics of the dissolved photoexcited molecules. We use two most common ILs [Bmim]PF6 and [Bmim]BF4 (with its close analogue [C10mim]BF4) as solvents and photoexcited Zn tetraphenylporphyrin (ZnTPP) as a probe. Time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance (TR EPR) is employed to investigate spectra and kinetics of spin-polarized triplet ZnTPP in the temperature range 100-270 K. TR EPR data clearly indicate the presence of two microenvironments of ZnTPP in frozen ILs at 100-200 K, being manifested in different spectral shapes and different spin relaxation rates. For one of these microenvironments TR EPR data is quite similar to those obtained in common frozen organic solvents (toluene, glycerol, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone). However, the second one favors the remarkably slow relaxation of spin polarization, being much longer than in the case of common solvents. Additional experiments using continuous wave EPR and stable nitroxide as a probe confirmed the formation of heterogeneities upon freezing of ILs and complemented TR EPR results. Thus, TR EPR of photoexcited triplets can be effectively used for probing heterogeneities and nanostructuring in frozen ILs. In addition, the increase of polarization lifetime in frozen ILs is an interesting finding that might allow investigation of short-lived intermediates inaccessible otherwise.


Let G be a real reductive Lie group and π a tempered invariant eigendistribution on G. Given a natural ordering on the set of conjugacy classes of Cartan subgroups of G, π is called extremal if it has a unique maximal element in its support. T. Hirai has proved for a restricted class of real simple Lie groups that if π is extremal and satisfies certain regularity conditions, it is uniquely determined by its restriction to the maximal element in its support. The purpose of this paper is to show that Hirai's theorem is true without restriction of the type of G.


Using a temperature ( T )-dependent tight-binding (TB) model for an electron-hole pair at the donor-acceptor (DA) interface, we investigate the dissociation of charge transfer exciton (CTE) into free carriers, that is, an electron and a hole. We observe the existence of the localization-delocalization transition at a critical T , below which the charges are localized to the DA interface, and above which the charges are delocalized over the system. This explains the CTE dissociation observed in organic solar cells. The present study highlights the combined effect of finite T and carrier delocalization in the CTE dissociation.


This paper examines the contextual and community-level determinants of multidimensional women's empowerment in Egypt, while accounting for the usual individual and household level factors typically included in studies of women's empowerment. The paper analyzes two dimensions of women's empowerment: the decision-making and the mobility dimensions by means of two indices constructed from various survey questions relating to these dimensions. We use data from the Population Census of 2006 and the Demographic Health Survey of 2008 to construct community and governorate-level contextual variables to complement the individual-level data we obtain from the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey of 2012 (ELMPS 2012). In line with the literature, the determinants that are relevant to the decision-making and mobility dimensions of women's empowerment turned out to be quite different, confirming that "empowerment" is a multi- dimensional phenomenon, with women relatively empowered in some aspects of their lives but not in others. Moreover, our results show that context plays an important role in determining women's empowerment in Egypt after controlling for a variety of individual and household-level characteristics. These results highlight the importance of viewing women's empowerment, and hence development as social and normative transformations rather than as just resulting from shifts in individual conditions, attitudes and behaviors. Thus, empowering Egyptian women will require changing community norms and values about gender relations rather than simply providing greater educational and employment opportunities for women.


Laser shock forming (LSF) of sheet metal is a novel technology in plastic deformation. It is necessary to correctly predict the Forming Limit Diagram (FLD) based on LSF. New failure maximum thickness reduction rate criterion is used to determine the forming limit based on the numerical system during LSF. The relationship model between maximum thickness reduction rate and the strain path is built. In addition, the effects of strain path and strain-hardening exponent on forming limit are considered. The maximum thickness reduction rate under equi-biaxial tensile strain path can be determined easily during LSF and the expression of the criterion is determined finally. Then the limit strains under other strain paths between uniaxial tension to equi-biaxial tension can be determined by the criterion combined with numerical simulation of forming process. The criterion can predict forming limits for sheet metal exactly and makes it possible to determine forming limit strains under different strain paths only through equi-biaxial tensile test during LSF.


A consensus of the twenty-first-century climate change in the ocean is surface warming, stratification due to extreme freshening and subsequent weakening of mixing, overturning circulation, and biological production. Counterintuitively, certain parts of the tropical ocean may develop a resistance to changes in mixing, where the climate change impacts of atmosphere and ocean are complementary to each other. Under the poleward shift of monsoon low-level jet (LLJ) in the twenty-first century, a part of the northern Arabian Sea has a tendency to maintain the mixed layer depth intact. The process is studied using a set of high-resolution regional ocean model downscaling experiments for the present and future climate. It is found that the wind intensification caused by the shift in LLJ tends to counteract the stratification gained by surface ocean warming and maintains the mixing process in a warming scenario. The mixing energetics shed light on the way in which this is achieved. Intensified winds promote shear production and surface ocean warming demotes buoyancy production of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE), with a net effect of an increase in TKE. However, TKE appears to be dissipating quickly because of the presence of a larger number of small-scale eddies. This causes the mixing length and mixed layer depth to remain intact. Therefore, the interpretations of impacts of future climate change in ocean mixing should be viewed with caution, at least regionally, by focusing on the detailed changes of the governing mechanisms.


Introduction: Acceptance and commitment therapy is a third generation behavior therapy. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment group therapy in social phobia of students. Methods: This investigation is an experimental study . Twenty students with social phobia were selected based on clinical interview and social phobia and anxiety inventory from Shomal University of Amol and were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Acceptance and commitment group therapy was administered to the experimental group in ten 90- minute sessions and control group did not receive any therapy. Pretest, posttest and one-month fallow up scores of the two groups were analyzed by multiple analyses of variance and independent t-test . Results: The result of analyses showed that in final of treatment social anxiety score of experimental group significantly decreased  (P 0.05) . Conclusion: Acceptance and commitment group therapy is effective in the treatment of social phobia of students .


publications from the unit in which I worked until I retired in 1984 I noticed that many had anything between four and seven authors. That was because the projects on which they were based Were carefully coordinated team efforts, often interdepartmental and multidisciplinary, and the reports represented a consensus often reached only after much vigorous discussion among all the participants. Nevertheless, because of editorial disquiet over multiple authorship, my colleagues and I often felt vaguely uncomfortable about rather long lists of authors but were always faced with the dilemma of whom to leave out. Should it be clinicians who had devoted long and weary hours enlisting, examining, and monitoring suitable patients for a trial? Or a physiologist who had devised a test which was critical to the success of the trial? Or a statistician without whose help the outcome could have been meaningless or even spurious? Or the consultant who coordinated the project? Or participating members of another department whose cooperation was vital? Let. those who are so obsessed by the number of contributors to scientific articles try to answer these questions before they indulge in further unsubstantiated exaggeration of the prevalence of so called "gift authorship."


Summary: A case of aneurysmal bone cyst of the thoracic spine treated with serial particulate embolization responded with involution of soft-tissue and cystic components and diffuse ossification of the mass. Reappearance of foci of bony rarefaction or cystic change at 4-year follow-up indicates the need for continued surveillance.


The mesozooplankton taken in continuous plankton recorder samples from the Central North Sea has changed from being numerically dominated by holoplanktonic calanoid copepod species from 1958 to the late 1970s to a situation where pluteus larvae of echinoid and ophiuroid echinoderms have been more abundant than any single holoplanktonic species in the 1980s and early 1990s. The abundance of the echinoderm larvae as a proportion of the zooplankton taken in the samples has followed a continuous increasing trend over the Dogger Bank, but off the eastern coast of northern England and southern Scotland the increase did not become obvious until the 1980s. This trend is consistent with reported increases in abundance of the macrobenthos. It is proposed that changes in the benthos have influenced the composition of the plankton.


22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (22q11DS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with cranial nerve anomalies and disordered oropharyngeal function, including pediatric dysphagia. Using the LgDel 22q11DS mouse model, we investigated whether sensory neuron differentiation in the trigeminal ganglion (CNgV), which is essential for normal orofacial function, is disrupted. We did not detect changes in cranial placode cell translocation or neural crest migration at early stages of LgDel CNgV development. However, as the ganglion coalesces, proportions of placode-derived LgDel CNgV cells increase relative to neural crest cells. In addition, local aggregation of placode-derived cells increases and aggregation of neural crest-derived cells decreases in LgDel CNgV. This change in cell-cell relationships was accompanied by altered proliferation of placode-derived cells at embryonic day (E)9.5, and premature neurogenesis from neural crest-derived precursors, reflected by an increased frequency of asymmetric neurogenic divisions for neural crest-derived precursors by E10.5. These early differences in LgDel CNgV genesis prefigure changes in sensory neuron differentiation and gene expression by postnatal day 8, when early signs of cranial nerve dysfunction associated with pediatric dysphagia are observed in LgDel mice. Apparently, 22q11 deletion destabilizes CNgV sensory neuron genesis and differentiation by increasing variability in cell-cell interaction, proliferation and sensory neuron differentiation. This early developmental divergence and its consequences may contribute to oropharyngeal dysfunction, including suckling, feeding and swallowing disruptions at birth, and additional orofacial sensory/motor deficits throughout life.