Fistula-in-ano describes an abnormal communication between the anal or rectal epithelium and the perianal skin. Patients present with a range of symptoms and findings ranging from intermittent discharge, pain, and swelling, to acute sepsis. Treatment is surgical, but postsurgical recurrence is not uncommon. Recurrence is frequently due to a part of the tract remaining undetected, and thus untreated, at the initial surgery. Radiological investigation aims to demonstrate clinically undetected infection and fistulous tracts in order to assist presurgical planning and ultimately reduce recurrence rates. This article discusses relevant anatomy and fistula pathogenesis, before focusing on the roles and utilization of the two common modalities, anal endosonography (AES) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in the preoperative workup of fistula-in-ano.


The effect of superlethal doses of ionizing radiation on exciting and electrical properties of giant neurons of the central nervous system of Helix pomatia has been investigated. At early times following irradiation the excitability does not significantly change whereas the membrane potential, resistance and pump-induced hyperpolarization increase. At later times, a stabilization of these parameters is followed by a diminution of resistance, a decrease of membrane potential and pump-induced hyperpolarization, and even the neuron death.


One of the main challenges in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)–subcarrier index modulation (SIM) systems is the huge amount of resources required to obtain channel state information at the receiver side. In this paper, a differential subcarrier index modulation (DSIM) scheme is proposed, which entirely avoids the need for any channel knowledge at the receiver side. As such, time and energy resources spent in the channel estimation process are perceived. In DSIM, part of the transmitted block is modulated through ordinary signal modulation, whereas the second part is transmitted by selecting a specific permutation of the active subcarriers. The transmitted signals are designed to facilitate differential demodulation at the receiver side. A derivation is conducted for the average bit error probability of DSIM and an upper bound expression is obtained. Derived theoretical expression is substantiated through Monte Carlo simulation results. Reported results reveal that differential demodulation degrades the error performance of coherent SIM by nearly 4 dB in signal-to-noise-ratio.


Point Pleasant Park in Halifax, Nova Scotia, sustained catastrophic forest disturbance from Hurricane Juan in September, 2003. This study assessed the adequacy of natural coniferous regeneration in the park in the fall/winter of 2006-2007 and compared the regeneration with pre- and post-disturbance park surveys. The park was stratified using existing trails, transects were spaced 10 m apart, and 20 m2 plots were laid every 10 m. There was a large observed variation of seedling density, with the highest densities being found in the northern and western section of the sample area, and the lowest being found in the south-east. Red spruce was the dominant regenerating species. Balsam fir showed a high variation in density. White pine was less dense and fairly uniformly distributed whereas eastern hemlock had a sparse and patchy distribution. White spruce and exotic species were sparse and tended to be found in areas with lower total regeneration. The comparison with the pre- and post-disturbance park surveys revealed regeneration similar in composition to existing and pre-disturbance forest cover. There are several park management techniques that could benefit park recovery such as the use of donor sites, the importation of favourable conifer species for fill-planting, the culling of some exotic species, and volunteer planting programs. Keywords: Regeneration, succession, disturbance, Acadian Forest Region, park management, forest ecology, Atlantic Canada


Raman spectroscopic studies were carried out for hybrid polymer thin films prepared for photonic applications by the sol-gel technology. Our aims were to analyse the ability of the Raman method to estimate the efficiency of the main reactions of the sol-gel process and to provide information about the chemical composition of the films as well as their thickness, profile, and quality. The difficulties in measurement such as low level of Raman signals, difficulties in data analysis caused by the complex structure of the materials, and the influence of interfering signals, are discussed. The application of Raman microscopy for characterising films based on 3-glycidoxypropyl-trimethoxysilane (GPTS), methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (MPTS), and 3-aminopropyl-trimethoxysilane (APTES) is presented. The efficiencies of reactions of inorganic and organic polymerisation were measured and their products have been identified. The influence of the excitation beam wavelength as well as the type of substrate on the Raman spectra was investigated. Moreover, two-dimensional Raman mapping enabled us to record the thickness profiles of the deposited structures and to detect their defects.


The purpose of this study is to investigate whether politically connected firms play a significant role in cost of debt financing. To emphasize this evidence, we empirically analyzed the panel data of the period 2011-2013. We found that politically connected firms have a negative and significant impact on the cost of debt financing compared to Non- politically connected firms. The reducing of cost of debt in politically connected firms is a consequence based on shared resource knowledge of Political connection directors in law, finance and government procurement contracts for favorable government policies and tax rebates. The results of this study significantly contribute to the literature through providing evidence from China.


Disasters bring about the loss of lives, property, employment and damage to the physical infrastructure
and the environment. The number of reported disasters has increased steadily over the past century and risen very sharply during the past decade. While knowledge management can enhance the process of disaster management, there is a perceived gap in information coordination and sharing within the context of disaster management. Identification of key disaster knowledge factors will be an enabler to
manage disasters successfully. The study aims to identify and map key disaster knowledge success factors for managing disasters successfully through capturing the good practices and lessons learned. The objective of this paper is to present the interview findings on influence level of disaster knowledge factors in managing disasters successfully and the means they influence throughout the
disaster management cycle. While all the respondents agreed that the influence level of social factors in managing disasters is very high, a number of respondents agreed that the influence level of technological factors is significant. Operational/managerial, economic and technological factors seem to influence the whole disaster management cycle including mitigation/preparedness, immediate relief and reconstruction/recovery


Bleomycin is well recognized as an active antineoplastic agent in the treatment of germ cell tumors. Pulmonary toxicity is the most significant complication of bleomycin administration. In this report, an attempt is made to modify both the incidence and severity of this side effect. One hundred eleven patients with advanced germ cell tumors were treated with a combination chemotherapy program that included the administration of 30 units (U) of bleomycin as a continuous infusion daily for 3 days every 3 weeks rather than a weekly bolus injection of a total of 360 U (mean dose received, 307 U). Also, 31 patients received high‐dose steroids, which have been shown to modify bleomycin‐induced pulmonary toxicity, for the treatment of chemotherapy‐induced emesis. Changes in carbon monoside diffusion capacity (DLco) prompting cessation of blemycin therapy occurred in 15 cases (bleomycin was stopped in one case due to dyspnea and lung infiltrates, and one patient suffered fatal respiratory failure probably due to bleomycin lung toxicity). Thus, probable bleomycin pulmonary toxicity changed the clinical treatment in 15.3% of the cases. On long‐term follow‐up, only two patients have demonstrated a residual decrease in DLco. The incidence of a greater than 25% decrease in DLco was 34% and was not significantly altered by the administration of steroids (P = 0.96). It is possible, however, that the low incidence of clinically significant and fatal pulmonary toxicity, as experienced in this group of patients, may be related to the infusion of bleomycin. It also is possible that the reversibility of the decrease in DLco in 95% of the patients may be related to the duration and schedule of bleomycin administration. As bleomycin continues to be an important drug in the treatment of advanced germ cell tumors, further studies are warranted to evaluate the role of the continuous infusion of bleomycin as opposed to bolus therapy.


In this paper we make progress on the unsupervised task of mining arbitrarily shaped clusters in highly noisy datasets, which is a task present in many real-world applications. Based on the fundamental work that first applies a wavelet transform to data clustering, we propose an adaptive clustering algorithm, denoted as AdaWave, which exhibits favorable characteristics for clustering. By a self-adaptive thresholding technique, AdaWave is parameter free and can handle data in various situations. It is deterministic, fast in linear time, order-insensitive, shape-insensitive, robust to highly noisy data, and requires no pre-knowledge on data models. Moreover, AdaWave inherits the ability from the wavelet transform to cluster data in different resolutions. We adopt the "grid labeling" data structure to drastically reduce the memory consumption of the wavelet transform so that AdaWave can be used for relatively high dimensional data. Experiments on synthetic as well as natural datasets demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed method.


The glass is formed by element which during the time without you realize possible there are at your house backyard or your environment work. Glass material spread over above island in earth. This matter become in the world of architecture nusantara if we do not exploring existence of glass. In the west technological till in this time continue explored how in a moment wait glass to substitution element of especial structure ( which during the time only exploiting concrete and steel in the world of construction). This article only small explanation about glass from some important note pursuant to source of reference representing, in meaning glass material from the aspect of look into light natural at aperture element in the world of architecture. In this article, writer try to present synchronized simple explanation but about history attendance of glass started only as decorator till the part of construction. Writer present very famous aperture element buttonhole in architecture world, colaboration with glass material by presenting some environmental effect and into illumination systems innovation to load light natural maximally which framed in glass till attend again explore in architecture worl


We have quantified voluntarily selected perceived slant of real trapezoidal surfaces (a 'reverse–perspective' scene) and their photographed counterparts (pictorial space). The surfaces were slanted about the vertical axis and observers estimated slant relative to the frontal plane. We were particularly interested in those cases in which binocular disparity and monocular perspective provided conflicting slant information. We varied the monocularly and binocularly specified surface slants independently across stimulus presentations. To eliminate texture and shading cues we used sand–blasted aluminium trapezoidal surfaces illuminated from all directions. When disparity–specified slant and perspective–specified slant were conflicting, observers were able to perceive the surfaces in two ways: they perceived either a trapezoid or a rectangle. Our main finding is twofold. First, when subjects chose to perceive the trapezoid, the slant estimates followed the disparity–predicted slant with only a slight underestimation, as if they selected a pure binocular representation of slant governed only by disparity. Second, when subjects chose to perceive the rectangle their estimates for real surfaces were similar to those for photographed surfaces, as if they selected a representation of slant governed by perspective foreshortening.


BACKGROUND
In revision total knee arthroplasty (TKA), the femoral component and tibial baseplate are usually cemented. However, stems can be fixed either with cement or with a press-fit technique, with the latter resulting in hybrid fixation. There is no consensus on the preferred stem fixation technique. Therefore, we compared the stability of cemented TKA implants with the stability of TKA implants fixed with the hybrid technique in a prospective randomized trial using radiostereometric analysis (RSA).

METHODS
Thirty-two patients with a Type-I or II bone defect who needed revision TKA and were randomly allocated at the time of surgery into either the cemented or hybrid-fixation group were included in the study. The radiographs for the RSA were obtained during hospitalization (baseline); at 6 weeks; and at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months. Migration of the femoral and tibial implants was measured using model-based RSA and expressed along or around the 3 orthogonal axes and as total translation (TT) and total rotation (TR). Clinical results were evaluated using the Knee Society Score (KSS), the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS), active flexion, and visual analog scale (VAS) scores for pain and satisfaction. Mann-Whitney and chi-square tests were used to compare migration and clinical outcomes between the cement and hybrid techniques.

RESULTS
At 24 months, no difference in median migration or the number of migrating components was found between the cemented and hybrid-fixation groups. In each group, approximately one-third of the tibial components had total rotation of >1°. The clinical scores did not differ between the techniques.

CONCLUSIONS
At 24 months after revision TKAs, cemented and hybrid-fixation replacements were equally stable. Unexpectedly, both groups had implants with >1 mm or >1° of micromotion although there were no clinical or radiographic signs of loosening. Whether these findings indicate the possibility of loosening with longer follow-up remains to be investigated.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
Therapeutic Level I. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.


The Supreme Court astonished copyright and music-industry lawyers by deciding the Grokster file-sharing case unanimously in the industry's favor. The parties and some 61 distinguished amici (including the United States, two Senators and one State) had argued the case largely on the basis of modifying or clarifying the Court's 1984 decision in Sony. Yet the Supreme Court sidestepped that issue almost entirely, deciding the case as a matter of federal common law. It ruled unanimously that secondary liability can exist for inducing infringement of copyright and hinted strongly that the facts of the case would support an inducement claim on remand, regardless of the rule of Sony. This article examines the causes and consequences of that unanimous decision. The principal causes were a mistake in civil procedure (cross motions for summary judgment based on facts, rather than claims or causes of action) and confusion between statutory interpretation and common-law analysis. The article analyzes how quasi-statutory prescriptions like the "rule" in Sony have led litigants to forget that secondary liability for copyright infringement (unlike patent infringement) is solely a matter of federal common law. If then explores how easy (in retrospect) it would have been to decide Grokster on a multi-dimensional common-law basis through factual analogy and distinction to and from precedent. It shows how much simpler and more accessible to the bar and laypeople common-law analysis is than decisions based on incomprehensible statutory amendments badly drafted by lobbyists for special interests and rubber-stamped by Congress, providing several examples from the last fifteen years. It concludes with a plea for industry and the bar to let the courts do their jobs and the (federal) common-law process work, as it did so well in Grokster.


Structural optimization is widely adopted in the design of structures with the development of computer aided design (CAD) and the development of computer technique recently. By applying the artificial neural network to structural optimization, designers can gain the design scheme of structures more feasibly and easily. In this paper, the genetic algorithm (GA) used in the error back-propagation (BP) network is applied to get the optimization result of the structural system. And the training pair of BP neural network is obtained from the structural analysis using a finite element program. The case study of 10 member truss structure using GA and BP will be helpful to reduce the cost of structures which is related to weight and the dynamic performance of optimization under the lateral load.


The suicides of six women within a year at Styal Prison in 2006 (Prison Reform Trust: 2010) lead the Government to appoint Baroness Jean Corston to undertake a review of women with particular vulnerabilities in the criminal justice system. The result? The Corston Report, a document with recommendations for a new woman-centred approach in dealing with female offending. Whilst this was a progressive movement, one particular minority of prisoners received little mention – pregnant women. With no official statistics on the number of pregnant women in prison, they become a difficult group to provide services for even though they are arguably one of the most vulnerable. Literature shows that the overall perception of being pregnant in prison is negative while the perception of individual services is generally positive. This research aims to provide up to date information as to whether the quality of services provided can affect the overall perception of being pregnant in prison, looking at one specific (but for publication reasons anonymous) establishment. This forms a basis for further research, something which will only help this vulnerable group and their developing children further.


One measure of the usefulness of a general-purpose distributed computing system is the system's ability to provide a level of performance commensurate to the degree of multiplicity of resources present in the system. A taxonomy of approaches to the resource management problem is presented in an attempt to provide a common terminology and classification mechanism necessary in addressing this problem. The taxonomy, while presented and discussed in terms of distributed scheduling, is also applicable to most types of resource management. >


A conjunctive cross-coupling reaction of alkenyl ketones, aryl iodides, and arylboronic esters under nickel catalysis is reported. The reaction delivers the desired 1,2-diarylated products with moderate to excellent regiocontrol using a diverse array of ketone starting materials, as illustrated across over 40 examples. To showcase the versatility of this method, a representative product is diversified into a wide range of synthetically useful building blocks, that are not readily accessible via existing 1,2-diarylation reactions. Preliminary mechanistic studies shed light on the binding mode of the substrate, and Hammett analysis shows the effect of electronic factors on initial rates. To our knowledge, this method represents the first example of catalytic 1,2-diarylation of an alkene, directed by a native ketone functional group.


Software maintenance is a knowledge intensive activity. Implementing effective knowledge management policies and structures during maintenance is therefore a key factor to improving software quality and maintenance productivity. This paper presents a novel agent and goal-oriented analysis technique that was used at Ericsson Marconi Spa to analyze the successful adoption of organizational structures and policies which greatly facilitated knowledge transfer. Utilizing this analysis technique helped to systematically represent, capture and analyze the strategic organizational relationships relevant to knowledge transfer. By capturing and analyzing such strategic relationships, it was possible to make visible the reasons why newly adopted policies and structures improved knowledge transfer, and thus helped the maintenance team to achieve significant improvements in their maintenance processes, and successfully achieve their software maintenance goals.


The question of how to produce optimal offers from the point of view of generation companies (GENCOs) is considered. The proposed offers produced by each GENCO take into account cost-recovery, physical constraints, and market price fluctuation resulting from other rivals' bidding strategies. An OPF-based market price simulator is employed to produce Locational marginal prices (LMPs) and schedules in each generation node, with the corresponding probabilities reflecting the rival competitors' bidding strategies. As the best response to the LMPs and schedules in its own generation node, the GENCO produces incremental step-cased price/output bidding curves with the corresponding probabilities by the tool of market-oriented unit commitment model. These offers are called integrated offers due to the full consideration of the GENCO's cost-recovery and its own physical constraints such as ramping rates and uptime/downtime. Applying the theory of multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM), the offer with the best compromise among its payoff, market share and probability is selected as the final bidding results of the GENCO.


The constant emergence and change of technologies in the form of digital products and services can cause certain groups of the population to feel excluded, older adults represent one such group. We investigate how to combine applied research on computational models of argument and human-centric computing to impact the way in which older adults interact with broadcast debates. This paper describes a technology application that uses a speech recognition interface to interact with broadcast debates. The application classifies spoken utterances and creates positive or negative "votes" related arguments from a debate. We describe a user study where older adults interact with a debate using the application. Our results indicate that the use of speech recognition, extra information provided to users, and feedback on their interaction, plays an important role in their engagement with the debate.


On the eve of New Year 2019, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota adopted a Tribal law recognising the intrinsic rights of wild rice. The article intends to explore the many struggles that this Native American community had to endure in the defence of their way of life and of the resources and territories on which they rely. The three `fights' that punctuated this complex ecological controversy will consequently be analysed, looking firstly at Ojibwe's crusade for access to wild rice based on court cases over off-reservation usufructuary rights from the early 1970s to 1999, before exploring the Tribe's effort to challenge appropriation of wild rice in the first decade of the 21st century, in the context of scientific and private attempts at patenting and genetically modifying the plant. The final section discusses the innovative legal strategies recently deployed by Ojibwe to retain control over wild rice against the backdrop of Enbridge Line 3 pipeline and the considerable environmental risks that such project represents. Eventually, this investigation provides an eloquent illustration of the role that legal creativity can play in the defence of indigenous communities' threatened ecologies.


BACKGROUND Surgical defects in anatomically challenging locations, such as near free margins or crossing cosmetic subunits, may present reconstructive challenges to the dermatologic surgeon. For selected defects, Burow's grafts may produce functional and aesthetic results in a single operative session. OBJECTIVE To describe the applications of the Burow's graft technique for the repair of defects after Mohs micrographic surgery. METHODS An institutional review board–approved retrospective database review of surgical defects repaired with Burow's grafting after Mohs micrographic surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina was performed. The general technique of Burow's grafting is described, emphasizing proper graft sizing and direction of tension vectors. Varying anatomic locations and defect types are presented, with site-specific considerations and operative photographs. RESULTS Burow's grafting provides ideal color and textural match, preserves subunit boundaries, results in a compact single-site wound, and may avoid complications of alternate repair choices. The tension vectors produced in closing the graft's harvest site may be designed to prevent distortion of free margins. Burow's grafting may be combined with hinge flaps to repair deep or avascular defects. CONCLUSION Burow's grafts are reproducible, aesthetic, and useful reconstructive choices for a variety of surgical wounds.


Abstract The aim of this observational study is to identify risk factors associated with body weight (BW) variability in three data sets (DS) in commercial conditions. A total of 1,009 (DS1), 460 (DS2), and 1304 (DS3) male and female crossbreed pigs (Pietrain × [Landrace × Large White]), respectively, were included in each trial. Pigs were periodically weighed until slaughter. Then, variables such as length of gestation, length of lactation, parity, litter size, sex, birth BW, and ADG were considered. Pigs remaining on the farm after two loads to the slaughterhouse were defined as last group of animals sent to slaughterhouse (LGS). Descriptive statistics of variability were calculated, and a risk analysis approach was used to look for the factors related to LGS. A multiple logistic regression was performed to identify all variables that were significant (P < 0.05). The risk ratio (RR), odds ratio (OR), and population attributable risk (PAR) were calculated for all of the significant variables after transforming all of them into binary factors using the 25th percentile as the cut-off point. Results showed that the major part of the variability (as CV) comes from birth (20% to 25%) and increased only a little during lactation and 14-d post weaning. From this point onwards, CV tended to decrease, as pigs got closer to the marketing weight (down 11.5% to 12.7%). Regarding the indicators selected, RR, OR, and PAR presented similar trends in the three DS studied. Therefore, for the variables finally included, these indicators had their minimum values at the start of the cycle and then gradually increased at the end. Those results, based on an epidemiological approach, suggest that the closer to the end of the cycle the greater the probability for a light piglet of being/becoming LGS. It might be explained by the shorter available time to efficiently implement preventive measures aimed to improve the performance of delayed pigs and, thus, reducing variability.Those results, based on an epidemiological approach, make sense as the probability for a light piglet to be a LGS increases the closer to the end of the cycle, due to the short time to implement preventive measures and increase the performance of delayed pigs and reduce variability. The differential PAR associated with both, the nursery and the growing period, was 1.7% and 1.5% for DS1, 5.1% and 3.1% for DS2, and 3.7% and 2.8% for DS3. For the lactation period, the results were 4.3% for DS2 and 4.5% for DS3. Results suggest that the most critical periods, in relation to retardation of growth in swine, are lactation and nursery. Implementing measures that maintain risk factors under or above thresholds, especially in the initial phases of growth, will reduce the percentage of LGS pigs and positively affect the overall homogeneity of the batch.


A DFT study has been carried out to provide insight into the molecular mechanism of the zinc(II)-catalyzed cross-dehydrogenative coupling of N-propargylanilines with indoles developed by Nakamura et al. (Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., 2016, 55, 6758–6761). The proposed catalytic cycle consists of two subcycles, through which three C–H bonds (two sp2 and one sp3) are activated sequentially. One subcycle carries out the transformation of N-propargylaniline to the intermediate product (IMP), N-benzyl-1,4-dihydroquinoline, and another realizes the transformation of IMP with indole into the final product. Different from general knowledge, the activation of C(sp3)–H is found to be easier than C(sp2)–H activation. The reaction is demonstrated to be an abnormal catalytic cascade reaction, which features the temporal separation of the multiple catalytic activities of the zinc(II) catalyst. The cascade characteristic illuminated in the present work is instructive for developing controlled and efficient syntheses of various products from catalytic cascade reactions. A cascade reaction can be designed so well that the catalyst can sequentially show its multiple catalytic activities, allowing for the controlled efficient synthesis of desired intermediates and products. The present work also rationalizes the experimental observation from a deuterium labeling study.


Home care services can be provided as an alternative to institutional care to people, in case of their demand, who need care because of aging and chronic diseases. Structured home care service in health system does not exist in Turkey. Relatives try to provide care at home to those people. In this cross-sectional study, household was selected as a sampling unit, determining prevalence of home care at the households and gathering some information about home care in Cankaya district of Ankara was intended. It was found that in one-month period before this study was carried out, home care services were provided at 8.7% of the households in Cankaya district. 62.5% of people who received home care service were women, 15.3% of them were belonging to 65-74 age group; 31.7% of those were illiterate and 12.5% had no social and health insurance. Among people, 15.4% were receiving home care after surgical operation, 15.4% were receiving care because of stroke and cerebrovascular diseases and 9.6% were cancer patients. 81.7% of adults who were taken care at home were found to be dependent at different levels while performing daily living activities, the most common treatment method was detected as oral medication (81.4%). These people were in need of preventive, curative and rehabilitative and supportive services. A home care service model, which takes into consideration the social characteristics of the country, should be developed at this district where there is a large elderly population.


In the context of impact assessment (IA), 'enhancement' refers to deliberate attempts taken in the design and subsequent phases of projects, programmes, plans and policies to ensure the success of a wider range of direct and indirect positive outcomes to communities and/or the biophysical environment. This can be in the form of opportunities for social and community development, improved health and wellbeing, improved biodiversity, restored ecosystems and landscape character, and protected and respected cultural heritage. This first ever special issue on enhancement advocates that all forms of IA should consider opportunities for enhancement. Specific reference is made to strategic environmental assessment (SEA), environmental impact assessment (EIA), social impact assessment (SIA) and health impact assessment (HIA). The paper presents views from IA practitioners regarding perceptions of the barriers to greater use of enhancement in IA and suggestions for possible solutions to those barriers. Investment in enhancement initiatives contributes to sustainable development and resilience, and is consistent with corporate social responsibility obligations of proponents.


Surgery is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pathological condition such as a disease or injury, to help improve bodily function or appearance or to repair unwanted ruptured areas.

The act of performing surgery may be called a surgical procedure, operation, or simply "surgery". In this context, the verb "operate" means to perform surgery. The adjective surgical means pertaining to surgery; e.g. surgical instruments or surgical nurse[1]. The person or subject on which the surgery is performed can be a person or an animal. A surgeon is a person who practices surgery and a surgeon's assistant is a person who practices surgical assistance. A surgical team is made up of surgeon, surgeon's assistant, anaesthetist, circulating nurse and surgical technologist. Surgery usually spans minutes to hours, but it is typically not an ongoing or periodic type of treatment. The term "surgery" can also refer to the place where surgery is performed, or, in British English, simply the office of a physician,[2] dentist, or veterinarian.

Surgery is a invasive technique with the fundamental principle of physical intervention on organs/organ systems/tissues for diagnostic or therapeutic reasons.

As a general rule, a procedure is considered surgical when it involves cutting of a person's tissues or closure of a previously sustained wound. Other procedures that do not necessarily fall under this rubric, such as angioplasty or endoscopy, may be considered surgery if they involve "common" surgical procedure or settings, such as use of a sterile environment, anesthesia, antiseptic conditions, typical surgical instruments, and suturing or stapling. All forms of surgery are considered invasive procedures; so-called "noninvasive surgery" usually refers to an excision that does not penetrate the [3] structure being excised (e.g. laser ablation of the cornea) or to a radiosurgical procedure (e.g. irradiation of a tumor).


The Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA) project is currently developing Bt maize for Kenya. So far, Bt genes with resistance to Chilo partellus, Chilo orichalcociliellus, Eldana Sacharina, and Sesamia calamistis, four of the five major stemborers were successfully incorporated into elite CIMMYT maize inbred line (CML216) and tested in insect bioassays in Kenya. Participatory Rural Appraisals showed that stem borers are indeed a major pest problems for farmers. Four seasons of on-farm crop loss assessment showed an average crop loss of 13.5%, or 0.4 million tons, valued at US$ 80 million. If the project manages to find a Bt gene that is effective to the fifth stemborer, Busseola fusca, adoption rates are likely to be high, and therefore the returns. Under standard assumptions, the economic surplus of the project is calculated at $ 208 million over 25 years (66% of which is consumer surplus) as compared to a cost of $5.7 million. Geographically, the project should focus on the high production moist-transitional zone. However, if such gene cannot be found, Bt maize technology would only be effective in the low potential areas, and adoption rates would be fairly low, although benefits would still exceed costs.


The purpose of this study was first, to find out the psychological tension and stress of the Israeli aggression on the faculty members through Al-Aqsa Intifada. Second, to findout the effect of demographic variables of: (sex, number of children, place of living, being humilated or beaten, living close or far from Israeli hot points, college, sallary, experience, social status, and professional rank) on faculty members psychological stress and tension. The study was conducted on (225) faculty members which represents a random sample of (61.8%) of the target population. A scale of psychological stress was constructed and validated by the researcher and applied to the sample. The results indicate that: 1. The psychological stress and tension on faculty members due to Israeli aggression over all mean was (58.7%) which considerd, in terms of psychological effect, high. 2. There were significant mean defferences among the three subscales of tension and stress. The highest score was on the social domain subscale with (60.4%), the second score of the academic domain subscale was (59%), and the third score of the psycholgocal domain was (3.2%). This could mean that the university faculty members were concerned with their students, and what is happeing on their society more than themselves. 3. There were significant mean differences (0.05) between level of tension and stress among faculty members with respect to demographic variables of: (place of living, being humilated or beaten by Israeli soldiers or not, college, and sallary). 4. There were no significant mean differences (0.05) between level of tension and stress among faculty members according to demographic variables of: (sex, number of children, living close or far from Israeli hot points, experience, social status, and professional rank.


The concentration levels of particulate matter (PM) in the city of Beijing (39.92°N, 116.46°E), China are dependant on the long-range transport of PM in addition to local stationary and mobile sources. To analyze the regional influences of PM10 on the city of Beijing for the year 2004, 366 back trajectories were generated using Hybrid Single-Particle Langragian Integrated Trajectory modeling. The trajectories were then characterized by regions traversed 24 hrs back in time. The comparative impact scores of the trajectories were calculated based on the emission rates of PM10 and its precursors in each region the trajectories traversed as well its distance to Beijing. For the purpose of the subject analysis, the 366 days in 2004 were categorized as good (< 50 μg/m^3), moderate (50-150 μg/m^3), and poor (> 150 μg/m^3) air quality groups based on daily PM10 concentrations. Besides Hebei which surrounds Beijing in all directions, our results identified Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, and Mongolia as regions having greater influence on Beijing air quality due to the prevailing westerly and northwesterly winds. Overall, the higher the overall impact score of a particular trajectory cluster, the larger the probability of having poor air quality days and the smaller the probability of having good air quality days. The analysis also indicates that on an annual basis, when air masses travel from Shanxi, which is home to many coal-fired power plants, Beijing tends to have poor air quality due to high PM10 concentrations. In comparison, when air masses originating over Inner Mongolia, where anthropogenic emissions are low, Beijing tends to have good PM air quality. However, our case study showed that during the spring, air masses originating over Inner Mongolia and Mongolia tend to carry dust and sand to Beijing, leading to poor PM air quality.


Sir Harry Melville was a physical chemist with an international reputation for his studies of gas-phase and heterogeneous reactions, polymerizations and polymer properties; much of this work was characterized by the development of analytical techniques that exploited a very wide range of physical properties. His career changed direction at the age of 48 from immediate personal involvement in the direction of research to the development of national research strategies, followed later by academic administration as a university Principal. His interests in chemical research remained active throughout his long life. For J.C.B., acquaintance with Melville began during a study of phosphorus as an incendiary agent and reading some of his published papers; there was later (in 1948) appointment to the staff at the University of Birmingham and membership of the High Polymer Research Group. B.G.G. heard him lecture at a scientific meeting in 1945, met him as external PhD examiner in 1949 and joined his department at Birmingham in 1955.


Myostatin (MSTN) is a negative regulator of myogenesis in vertebrates. Depletion of mstn resulted in elevated muscle growth in several animal species. However, the report on the complete ablation of mstn in teleost fish has not yet become available. In this study, two independent mstnb-deficient mutant lines in zebrafish were generated with the TALENs technique. In the mstnb-deficient zebrafish, enhanced muscle growth with muscle fiber hyperplasia was achieved. Beginning at the adult stage (80 days postfertilization), the mstnb-deficient zebrafish exhibited increased circumferences and body weights compared with the wild-type sibling control fish. Although the overall total lipid/body weight ratios remained similar between the mstnb-deficient zebrafish and the control fish, the distribution of lipids was altered. The size of the visceral adipose tissues became smaller while more lipids accumulated in skeletal muscle in the mstnb-deficient zebrafish than in the wild-type control fish. Based on the transcriptional expression profiles, our results revealed that lipid metabolism, including lipolysis and lipogenesis processes, was highly activated in the mstnb-deficient zebrafish, which indicated the transition of energy metabolism from protein-dependent to lipid-dependent in mstnb-deficient zebrafish. Our mstnb-deficient model could be valuable in understanding not only the growth trait regulation in teleosts but also the mechanisms of teleost energy metabolism.


The knowledge of the genetic composition and relationships among livestock breeds is a necessary step for the implementation of management and conservation plans. This study aims to characterise the genetic diversity and relationships among six sheep breeds of meat aptitude that are spread through the eastern Pyrenees: Tarasconnaise, Castillonnaise and Rouge du Roussillon from France, and Aranesa, Xisqueta and Ripollesa from Spain. All but Tarasconnaise are catalogued as endangered. These breeds do not share the same ancestral origin but commercial trades and gene flow between herds are known to have occurred for centuries. Additionally, two outgroup breeds were included: the Guirra, from a different geographical location, and the Lacaune, a highly selected breed of dairy aptitude. A total of 410 individuals were typed using a panel of 12 microsatellite markers. Statistical, phylogenetic and Bayesian analyses showed that eastern Pyrenean breeds retained high levels of genetic diversity and low, but significant, levels of genetic differentiation (FST = 4.1%). While outgroups were clearly differentiated from other breeds, Pyrenean breeds tended to form two clusters. The first encompassed Tarasconnaise and Aranesa, which probably descend from a common meta-population. The second tended to group the other four breeds. However, none reached high mean Q-values of membership to a discrete cluster. This is consistent with the recent past gene flow between breeds, despite different ancestral genetic origins. The genetic characterisation carried out of the eastern Pyrenean sheep populations provides useful information to support decision making on their conservation and focusing efforts and resources to more singular breeds.


This paper supplies a survey of the post-war economic literature on the development issue of the Mezzogiorno. The persistent underdevelopment of this macro-region makes a case for the failure of both the interventionist approach to economic policy which prevailed until the end of the Eighties and the liberalist approach that emerged after the end of the so-called extraordinary intervention and the closure of the Cassa del Mezzogiorno. The last years have featured, first, the so-called New Programming and, then, the lack of any intervention, except for the EU structural funds, which, however, are almost totally ineffective also because of their small size and extreme fragmentation. The increasing lag in per capita GDP with the rest of the country, the moving back of the infrastructure endowment, the increasing migration flow both of the youngest segments and of the most highly educated segments of the population have been some of the consequences. The paper suggests a relaunch of the intervention in favour of the Southern regions on new bases, aimed at increasing the material and immaterial infrastructure endowment without fostering rent-seeking positions and illegal activities. Continuous monitoring and evidence-based evaluations, obtained applying rigorous econometric methodologies, should be an integral part of the new policy, as it is the case in the most advanced economies, in order to increase its quality and effectiveness.


Abstract: The debate over the objectives and methods of ecosystem management has been confusing, in part because people truly mean different things when they use the term ecosystem management. These different meanings reflect differences in interests, values, and knowledge. I organized these meanings into three sets: "environmentally sensitive multiple use," an "ecosystem approach to resource management," and "ecoregional management." Environmentally sensitive multiple use takes an anthropocentric perspective that seeks to foster multiple human uses subject to an understanding of environmental constraints that goes beyond that considered in traditional multiple‐use management. An ecosystem approach incorporates a biocentric view in which ecosystems are understood as a metaphor for holistic thinking requiring an expanded consideration of the dynamism and complexity of ecological systems, scale phenomena, and the need for management across ownership boundaries. Ecoregional management takes an ecocentric perspective that focuses on the management of specific landscape ecosystems defined as real geographic spaces and that shifts management focus toward ecosystem processes and away from biota. Understanding these three conceptualizations as different points along a continuum of resource management paradigms helps clarify the different visions of ecosystem management held by different groups. Because different places and groups are at various points on the continuum, progress comes from moving along the continuum and not necessarily by seeking a single state called "ecosystem management." Policy prescriptions, such as changes in law, incentives, and information provision, can be targeted more effectively to the realities of different settings. Ultimately, the conceptualization suggests that heterogeneity of ecosystem management approaches is desirable, as long as we learn from the diverse experiences that result.


Harmaline and harmine accounted for more than 70% in composition in extracts of P. harmala. More attention, however, should be paid to the other alkaloids which would be favorable or unfavorable to the efficacy and safety of the products. It was necessary to determine these trace alkaloids in the extracts; thereafter, most of them have been characterized. Diglycoside vasicine, vasicine, vasicinone, harmalol, harmol, tetrahydroharmine, 8-hydroxy-harmine, ruine, harmaline, and harmine were separated and identified with reference substances and characteristic MS spectra in extracts by liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Three trace alkaloids, vasicine, harmalol, and harmol were determined using the developed chromatographic separation method subsequently. The average contents of vasicine, harmalol, and harmol in extracts of ten batches were 2.53 ± 0.73, 0.54 ± 0.19, and 0.077 ± 0.03%, respectively. The total content of the three alkaloids was 3.23 ± 0.90% (from 1.81 to 4.48%). For rough estimation of all the relative alkaloids except of harmaline and harmine, the average total areas of all peaks in extracts varied from 4.35 to 26.64% detected at 220, 254, 265, 280, and 380 nm, respectively. The results indicated that area normalization method was powerless for the quality evaluation for traditional herb medicine consisting of numerous compounds with highly differential features. It might be concluded that LC-MS or HPLC could be utilized as a qualitative and quantitative analytical method for quality control of the extracts from seeds of P. harmala L.


As publicly funded institutions have increasingly embraced the goal of commercializing scientific research, concerns about private appropriation have become familiar refrain. One commonly suggested remedy is to create some kind of 'recoupment' provision whereby the State, on behalf of the public, receives a certain percentage of profits realized. The Bayh-Dole Act originally included a recoupment provision but it was deleted by a legislative committee. Countries around the globe attempting to emulate Bayh-Dole have, whether by design or default, reinforced the underlying logic against recoupment, which is essentially as follows: obligations to provide direct financial returns undermine the commercialization process and therefore threaten what the public cares about most, i.e. the production of new goods. Despite regular controversies over alleged windfalls to industry, this logic has continued to prevail — until now. The California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has recently issued two intellectual property policies applicable to non-profit and for-profit grant recipients respectively, each of which contains mechanisms to recoup a portion of the public's tax dollar investment. Why? This Article aims to explore that question by: one, further explaining the curious history in which the wisdom against recoupment came to prevail; two, probing the details of CIRM's intellectual property policies and examining the arguments for and against the recoupment formulae they establish; and three, revealing the limits of what is actually known about whether such mechanisms exert a chilling effect on the commercialization process, and whether or not a direct financial return is what the public values most. In the end, the value of recoupment may be best conceived of in democratic terms: as one means of attempting to balance a host of conflicting views, and preserving public trust as the many promises of biotechnology become increasingly integral to nation-building strategies and our lives.


BACKGROUND
We evaluated the impact of contrast stress echocardiography (CSE) testing results on cardiovascular (CV) risk behaviors in postmenopausal women presenting with chest pain symptoms. This was a substudy of the Stress Echocardiography in Menopausal Women at Risk for Coronary Artery Disease (SMART) trial.

METHODS
From 2004 to 2007, 366 women (mean age 54.4 ± 5.5 years, range 40-65; body mass index (BMI) 31.4 ± 6.68; Caucasian in 95%) completed CSE and were invited to participate in the Women's Heart Clinic Risk Assessment Questionnaire (WHCRAQ survey) at the time of CSE and after 2 years. Of the 366, 203 (55%) postmenopausal women completed both the baseline and 2-year follow-up surveys (age 61 ± 5 years; Framingham risk score 6 ± 4%, 81% treadmill CSE, 19% dobutamine CSE). WHCRAQ assessed medical history, hormone therapy (HT), and CV risk behaviors (cigarette smoking history, including current smoking and mean cigarettes smoked per day; physical activity or exercise, including mean exercise minutes per week; and dietary fat intake, alcohol intake, and mean alcohol drinks per week). Abnormal CSE was defined as a new or worsening stress wall motion abnormality. Post-CSE changes in CV risk behaviors were determined by comparing baseline versus 2-year data.

RESULTS
Of the 203 women who completed the survey at baseline and 2-year CSE, 29 were excluded to avoid confounding effect (coronary angiography [CA] was performed during follow-up). Of 174 women (55% hypertensive, 10% diabetic, 76% hyperlipidemic, and 25% on HT), CSE was abnormal in 10%. Baseline characteristics were not significantly different in normal versus abnormal CSE, apart from diabetes (8% vs. 24%, p=0.04). Slightly more women with normal CSE were taking HT than not (27% vs. 12%, p=0.19). CV risk behaviors that were different in normal versus abnormal CSE included current smoking, alcohol drinks per week, and higher fat diet (8% vs. 24%, p=0.03; 2.5 ± 3.5 vs. 1.94±5.2, p=0.031; and 92% vs. 76%, p=0.03, respectively). Cigarette smoking decreased (mean difference of -1.5 cigarettes per day, p=0.014) in the abnormal-CSE group, whereas number of alcohol drinks per week increased (mean difference +0.38, p=0.009) in the normal-CSE group.

CONCLUSION
We observed an association of lifestyle changes with CSE test results in postmenopausal women.


This paper reviews the current status, challenges and prognostications of wave energy systems (WES), which have momentous scope in the UK that could deliver the UK's net zero energy target by 2050. In Britain, there are 43 primary seaside towns around the coast in which 37 are in England that encompass a collective population of 2.9 million and signify around 5.7 % of the population of England as a whole where the zero energy coastline house projects can be initiated with WES. The progress in the development of standalone WES for a vision of zero energy coastline houses is still in its initial stages. This paper exhibited a brief review of the onshore, nearshore and offshore WES technologies, particular focus was made to the scope in the UK. The feasibility and efficiency of WES study imply that the power take off (PTO) efficiency is crucially important as the overall output depends on the optimum energy harness from WES that will improve its competitive prowess with other renewable technologies and further reduce the cost of WES manufacturing. This study implicates one of prognostications that developing marine energy resources in the UK can save 60 metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2025. This study also concluded that WES can pose environmental challenges such as alterations of water column to biota and sea-bed habitats, dredging, noise and vibrations. The prognostication of zero energy coastline houses arises due to the location of the UK, which is one of the major determinants for the future success of wave energy projects, as the UK is located at the long fetch of the Atlantic Ocean and has the wind direction from the west. The available resource to harness wave energy in the UK is around 120 GW.


In this paper, I will engage with some of the recent literature that attempts to define, map out, analyze, categorize, and critique a growing body of academic scholarship that has emerged in the late 80s and early 90s and which has been termed as Islamic feminism. I will examine three contestations around Islamic feminism. The first is related to its conceptualization and categorization. The second contestation concerns the relation of Islamic feminism as an epistemic project to classical Islamic knowledge such as exegesis and jurisprudence. And the third revolves around the relation of Islamic feminism to other kinds of feminism and the limits of the former in delivering equality to Muslim women Notwithstanding the above-mentioned contestations, I argue that there are two main and systematic interpretive projects within Islamic feminism. The first project focuses on the exegesis of the Qur'an such as the work of Amina Wadud and Asma Barlas. The second engages with Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh). It is best exemplified by the work of scholars such as Mir-Hosseini, and Kecia Ali. It is my contention that it is the combination of these two projects, both in their methodologies, theoretical frameworks, and their knowledge outputs that can establish sound foundations for Islamic feminism and pave the way for its further development. Most of all, current efforts to reform Muslim family laws are best served by drawing on comprehensive understanding of the important links between these two interpretive projects within Islamic feminism. This is because on the one hand, Qur'an-oriented Islamic feminism has emphasized Qur'anic worldviews that foreground justice in God's relation to humans and in human being's relations to one another, and see patriarchy and patriarchal relations as irreconcilable with the Islamic concept of believing in one God (tawhid). Such insights give intellectual and moral force to Islamic feminists' quest for gender equality and justice within an Islamic framework. Furthermore, the historical and epistemological deconstruction of the assumptions as well as some of the methodologies and doctrines of classical Islamic jurisprudence, which is being carried out by Fiqh-oriented Islamic feminists can greatly strengthen current efforts on the part of women's rights activists to counter Fiqh-based arguments that oppose gender-sensitive Muslim family laws. I will conclude with some examples from Egypt to explicate the above-mentioned arguments.


Background The current treatment for rheumatic diseases (RD) includes biological drugs such as infliximab (IFX), etanercept (ETT), adalimumab (ADM), golimumab (GLM) rituximab (RTX), abatacept (ABT) and tocilizumab (TCZ). The treatment algorithm (clinical guidelines) includes IFX, ADM, ETT and GLM as first line, RTX as second line and ABT and TCZ as third line of choice. Purpose The aim of this study was to describe the pattern of RD and assess current and past biological drug treatments to evaluate how they match with the expected algorithm, in a reference third level hospital. Materials and methods Cross sectional study (June 2011), that included a sample of 166 patients (30% of the complete population), with 257 drug-patient records, treated with biological drugs and being monitored in our centre. The RDs included psoriatic arthritis (PA), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), ankylosing spondylitis (AS), psoriatic spondyloarthropathy (PS), Behçe syndrome (BS) and others. Results The RD pattern was as follows: 52.4% of the population assessed had RA, 20.5% AS, 17.5% PA, 4.8% PS, 1.8% BS and 3% another RD. Currently, 30.1% of the population are being treated with IFX, 20.5% with ADM, 37.3% with ETT, 1.2% with GLM, 4.2% with RTX, 3% with ABT and 3.6% with TCZ. 4.3% of treatments were off-label indications. 98.2% of patients started treatment with a first-line biological drug. 99.7% of first-line biological drug treatments (IFX, ETT, ADM and GLM) complied with the treatment algorithm, 100% of treatments with RTX and 76.9% of third line treatments (ABT and TCZ) started before exhausting other therapeutic options. 9.3% of treatments did not comply with the treatment algorithm. Conclusions The therapeutic positioning of biological drugs into the treatment algorithm is correct in 90.7% of the treatments and 95.7% of treatments were used in approved indications. 98.2% of patients started treatment with a first-line biological drug.


Background: There are currently no data on the prevalence and incidence of chronic pain in the Philippines. Objective: This study was undertaken to determine the incidence and prevalence of chronic pain in the general adult population of the Philippines. It also aimed to establish the demographic profile of chronic pain sufferers, identify the causes and intensity of chronic pain, and understand the impact of chronic pain on daily living and quality of life. This study also explored current treatment practices for patients with chronic pain, their levels of satisfaction with treatment, and barriers to obtaining appropriate treatment. Methodology: The study was conducted in the Philippines via a quantitative sample survey that involved face-to-face interviews using a two-phase structured questionnaire. Results: The survey showed an overall prevalence of moderate-to-severe chronic pain (chronic pain M+S) of 10.4% of the general adult population, with an annual incidence rate of 3.4%. Chronic pain M+S was more commonly reported by women and the elderly. The most common locations of pain were the knees, back and lower back. Daily routine was affected in about half of the sufferers, but they had rational attitudes to pain and positive views of medical treatment. High consultation fees discouraged nearly twothirds of sufferers from seeking medical advice for their pain. Despite the availability of effective pain treatments, a large proportion of patients taking prescription painkillers reported that the medication was less than effective, indicating alarge gap between achievable pain relief targets and patients' expectations of pain medications. Conclusion: The Philippines has a relatively high prevalence of chronic pain M+S. There is a need for improved pain management to ensure that patients with chronic pain receive appropriate and effective treatment. Keywords: Asia; chronic pain; incidence; prevalence; quantitative survey; the Philippines; treatment Philippine Journal of Internal Medicine, Vol. 49 No. 2: Apr-Jun 2011, pp 61-69


The topic of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) has recently gained popularity. Researchers has used it to solve difficulties related to job scheduling, evaluation of stock markets and association rule mining optimization. However, the PSO method often encounters the problem of getting trapped in the local optimum. Some researchers proposed a solution to over come that problem using combination of PSO and Cauchy distribution because this performance proved to reach the optimal rules. In this paper, we focus to adopt the combination for solving association rule mining (ARM) optimization problem in numerical dataset. Therefore, the aim of this research is to extract the rule of numerical ARM optimization problem for certain multi-objective functions such as support, confidence, and amplitude. This method is called PARCD. It means that PSO for numerical association rule mining problem with Cauchy Distribution. PARCD performed better results than other methods such as MOPAR, MODENAR, GAR, MOGAR and RPSOA.


: An audit to assess the adequacy of hypertension care was performed by examining the records and interviewing 55 selected hypertensive patients on treatment and follow-up at the outpatient department of a hospital. The patients selected had no previous record of drop out of treatment and had excellent compliance with drug therapy, so that ineffective blood pressure control cannot be attributable to these two reasons. Adequacy of care was measured by the number of patients whose management as indicated in their records complied with pre-defined criteria of adequate care. Only 18% of patients had achieved adequate blood pressure control. Assessment of patients was inadequate. None of the patients had been screened for secondary causes though 16% of patients had some basic investigations (urinalysis, blood urea and serum potassium), 5% had an assessment of target-organ damage, and 2% had been screened for other cardiovascular risk factors. Only 5% had a surveillance of side-effects from drug-therapy, 45% of the patients demonstrate adequate knowledge concerning complications of hypertension. The use of non-drug treatment was non-existent. The results of this study suggest that there were considerable deficiencies in the management of hypertension. Measures needed to overcome this are discussed.


The last decade has seen a rapid expansion of interest in extracellular vesicles (EVs) released by cells and proposed to mediate intercellular communication in physiological and pathological conditions. Considering that the genetic content of EVs reflects that of their respective parent cell, many researchers have proposed EVs as a source of biomarkers in various diseases. So far, the question of heterogeneity in given EV samples is rarely addressed at the experimental level. Because of their relatively small size, EVs are difficult to reliably isolate and detect within a given sample. Consequently, standardized protocols that have been optimized for accurate characterization of EVs are lacking despite recent advancements in the field. Continuous improvements in pre-analytical parameters permit more efficient assessment of EVs, however, methods to more objectively distinguish EVs from background, and to interpret multiple single-EV parameters are lacking. Here, we review EV heterogeneity according to their origin, mode of release, membrane composition, organelle and biochemical content, and other factors. In doing so, we also provide an overview of currently available and potentially applicable methods for single EV analysis. Finally, we examine the latest findings from experiments that have analyzed the issue at the single EV level and discuss potential implications.


In the twenty-first century, the role and possibilities of academics could not be more significant. As such, social relevance must be inextricably linked to our goal and work as academics, thinkers, and scholars. The purpose of this article is to put forth and highlight the socially relevant social scientist as a viable and necessary component of the academic enterprise. In particular, we highlight three functions meaningful to the socially relevant social scientist: genre flexibility, social street credibility, and relational research. The article also addresses graduate education and tenure and promotion as two areas greatly in need of revisiting to cultivate and sustain socially relevant social scientists.


The crisis which arose suddenly at the beginning of 2020 relating to coronavirus was immediately centred on risk. Predictions had to be made swiftly regarding how it would spread, who it might affect and what measures could be taken to prevent exposure in everyday social interaction, including in the workplace. This was in no way a straightforward assessment, because initially so much was unknown. Those gaps in our knowledge have since, partially, been ameliorated. It is evident that not all those exposed to COVID-19 become ill, and many who contract the virus remain asymptomatic, so that the odds on becoming seriously ill may seem small. But those odds are also stacked against certain segments of the population. The likelihood of mortality and morbidity are associated with age and ethnicity as well as pre-existing medical conditions (such as diabetes), but also with poverty which correlates to the extent of exposure in certain occupations. Some risks arise which remain less predictable, as previously healthy people with no signs of particular vulnerability can experience serious long term illness as well and in rare cases will even die. Perceptions of risk in different countries have led to particular measures taken, ranging from handwashing to social distancing, use of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as face coverings, and even 'lockdowns' which have taken various forms. Use of testing and vaccines also became part of the remedial landscape, with their availability and administration being controlled by different states around the globe in different ways, raising also questions of relative ethical responsibilities of governments and individuals. This complex assessment of risk has then to be translated into the workplace, raising issues of occupational health in terms of exposure to serious illness, ongoing ill health or even potentially death. Many people at work have also experienced stress linked to overwork caused by the effects of the virus on their jobs, namely the increased scale of demands or the new modes of performance of their tasks, for example telework from home (especially in the context of homeschooling when schools are closed). For others, being in a work environment where they are more exposed to the virus and its effects (even subject to guidance as to the best ways to promote safety) does damage to their mental health. How these risks to physical and mental health are to be factored into any assessment for well-being at work is a highly topical issue and the focus of our analysis here. Further, we are aware that what is meant by being at work is itself controversial, given a growing tendency for putative employers to 'outsource' more risky forms of work, contracting out work when they could face liability for what would otherwise be regarded as occupational risks. It is in this context that we offer a comparative study of England and Sweden. Current statistics indicate that the UK had the 14th highest death rate in a league table of the European Economic Area (EEA) and the UK, while Sweden came 19th. Allegations have been made by labour lawyers that the UK Government's handling of the pandemic has been highly problematic, highlighting the failings of the UK's labour laws and social security systems. In Sweden, the excess mortality rate during the pandemic was relatively low in comparison with Europe more generally. Swedes were recommended to work from home as much as possible, although 'lockdowns' like those implemented in the UK were not imposed. This means that questions concerning risk assessment and risk management at work have also been of paramount importance for Swedish individuals and society. On 9 February 2022, most COVID-19-related public health restrictions ended in Sweden, as well as free public testing. In England most restrictions were abolished on February 24 and free testing is set to end on 1 April 2022, despite criticisms from scientists and medical professionals. Now is a good time to look back at the different the legal responses to the crisis and also to consider the legal duties of employers now that such public health measures have been lifted. The pandemic is in a new phase, arguably making everyday occupational health and safety issues such as risk assessment more important than ever. In this article, we consider the private and public labour laws and regulatory systems which evaluate and regulate risk at work in our respective countries. The scope (and limitations) of their application and operation have in various respects been exposed in the COVID-19 crisis, such that there may be scope for learning from each others' successes and failings. We should stress at the outset the limitations of this comparative analysis. We are not considering the availability of sick pay and various benefits and allowances made available over the period of the pandemic, and their relative adequacy or otherwise, which has been discussed extensively elsewhere. We see risk assessment as playing two roles outlined in the next part of our paper. One is pre-emptive so as (in regulatory terms) to prevent harms rather than only compensating for such harms after the fact. The second role is defensive, protecting an employer from liability by demonstrating that due care was taken. Both roles have inherent problems that comes to light in the COVID-19 pandemic. We then go on to examine who is the legitimate subject of any risk assessment: which 'employees', 'workers' and even 'independent contractors' are the legitimate subject of interest? The fourth part considers what risks are deemed relevant, physical or psychological? Finally, we consider the relevant roles of different actors, which goes beyond a standard dichotomy between 'governments and individuals', considering the functions of labour inspection bodies, employers and trade unions, and scope for remedial redress initiated by individuals at work. We note that the aversion of risk raises issues around provision of state support, including inspection, and engagement with collective worker voice that require further attention. We suspect that the similarities and differences that we identify reveal also underlying societal norms, such as the risks which are considered tolerable and how we accept this being decided. In particular, the ways in which risks are framed in the Swedish system as needing to be avoided, as opposed to managed, seems to have made a difference in the context of the coronavirus crisis. What may also have played a part in more effective management of risk is the collective representation of workers through Swedish processes.


A national report of hospitalized children with cdh (up to the 6th year of age) (treated in 1983) is presented. 196 (63.1%) of all university hospitals and orthopaedic departments took part in this statistic. The number of all collected children was 1172,888 of them had a hip dislocation. Hospital treatment of children with a dislocated hip started on the average in the age of 9 months, that means much to late. Only 4.1% of the children showed neurological symptoms. The patents are reported in detail. The presented data lead to the conclusion, that the actually performed legal examination of children is insufficient for early detection of cdh. A general orthopaedic clinical and ultrasound examination in the first week of life should be introduced.


In this paper, a new approach to evaluate the response time in Ethernet-based automation systems using client server protocols, is presented. It is based on modeling the behaviour of the system using timed event graphs and the resulting state representation in max-plus algebra. First, an algorithm for tracking the frames in the architecture and giving the response time relative to any occurring event is explicated. Subsequently, analytical formulas for direct calculus of this delay are obtained. Finally, experimental measurements taken on a laboratory platform are used to check the validity of the method. Hence, the interest and effectiveness of our results become obvious. They can be used a posteriori to assess the delays in an existing architecture or a priori during the design phase to fulfill the time requirements of a control system.


The qualified educational institutions are qualified for the effectiveness, efficiency and productivity, and those are the responsibility of leaders to pioneer, create and encourage the growth of the quality culture in schools through the leader who have the mind far ahead, the leader who is able to handle the change and create the educational renewal toward the quality so that the school achievement can be achieved effectively. The school effectiveness is influenced by the external and internal factors, so a review of the teacher professional competencies needs to mediate the effect of the teacher innovation and the emotional intelligence on school effectiveness. The samples of this research are 333 Civil Servant teachers (PNS) of the State Elementary School in Malang City and the data analysis using in this study is Structural Equation Models (SEM). The result shows that there is an effect of the innovation and the emotional intelligence on the teacher professional competence and school effectiveness. The teacher professional competence is able to mediate the effect of the teacher innovation and the emotional intelligence on the school effectiveness.


As many as 81 patients suffering from stage-II essential hypertension (EH) and 20 practically healthy persons of the same age were examined. EH patients manifested derangement of systolic function of the left ventricle, attested to by a decrease of contractility in the first third of the systole. The lowering of the velocity of active relaxation, change in the structure of the filling of the left ventricle coupled with a decrease of the role of the rapid filling phase and a rise of the contribution of the phases of slow filling and the atrial systole were noted. A decrease of the blood flow velocity at the phase of the atrial systole was also noted, which points to a decrease of the compensatory role of the left atrium in elderly patients. As compared to younger patients, compensatory hypertrophy of the left ventricle was pronounced relatively less in elderly patients. In these patients, compensatory potentialities of the hypertrophied left ventricle are preserved until the index of the left ventricular mass exceeds 170 g/m2. The further growth of that indicator is associated with a decline of the cardiac output.


Polycrystalline chemical vapour deposited ZnO films are commonly used as transparent electrodes for photovoltaic devices. Over the past years much effort has been put into improving their properties. Even though these films are now well optimised for specific device applications, a detailed understanding of their microstructure and formation mechanisms has not yet been established. Up to now the microstructure formation of these films was qualitatively described by a competitive overgrowth of neighbouring grains that leads to the formation of columnar V-shaped grains with a fibre texture. The lack in a more detailed and quantitative knowledge about the microstructure of these films is in part due to their complex nanometre sized grain structure, where previously applied standard characterisation techniques have provided only limited insights. To overcome this limitation, the present work used an automated crystal orientation mapping (ACOM) technique in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to quantitatively characterise the grain structure of ZnO films. This technique allows the microstructure to be characterised down to lateral resolutions of a few nanometres. This work presents a methodology using ACOM for the analysis of the evolution of grain size, texture and grain boundary character of films, from the substrate up. The extensive data generated by this approach has, on the one hand, led to the identification of previously unnoticed growth mechanisms, such as renucleation of grains with a preferred orientation and frequent (0 1 -1 3) twinning, and on the other hand provided the necessary input for comparison with predictions from polycrystalline film growth simulations. Polycrystalline film growth simulations based on the van der Drift growth model were performed and a good agreement between simulations and experiments was found for films with a minimal presence of renucleation during growth. In both, the average grain size in function of the distance to the substrate h of the film are described by a power-law of the form proportional to h^a, with a=0.4. Furthermore, it has been found that the experimental grain size distribution of the film is self-similar. Both of these findings are consistent with previous predictions from 3D simulations based on the van der Drift model. Further, the origin of renucleation has been studied in more detail. Renucleating grains were identified by ACOM, in order to guide targeted complementary high-resolution TEM studies of the interface between renucleating grains and their neighbouring grains. The formation of nanometre sized regions with zinc blende (ZB) structure was identified in between stable grains with a wurtzite (WZ) structure, a polytypism which has so far not been thought to occur in polycrystalline ZnO films. By analysing grain orientations, it was found that the ZB leads to a tetrahedral coordination of surrounding WZ grains, where the misorientation between the WZ grains is characterised by [2 -1 -1 0] | 71°. Furthermore, it is shown that renucleating grains change in their orientation by several degrees with increasing distance to the ZB region. This structural distortion rotates the grains into a low-energy (0 1 -1 3) twinning relationship with neighbouring grains. The ZB-WZ polytypism is thus provides an explanation for the high frequency of (0 1 -1 3) twinning observed in the films.


Purpose
The global aim of this paper is to provide managerial and theoretical contributions in order to guide retailers in their decision to invest in interactive storefront technology and to fill in the gaps in the literature in regards to the influence and the role of exterior atmospheric variables in brick-and-mortar retail experience. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of interactive technology in window displays and its influence on consumers' affective responses, expected shopping experience and behavioural intentions at the point of sale.

Design/methodology/approach
The design of the study is founded in the presence (=1) vs absence (=0) of interactive technology in the window display. A partial least squares–structural equation modelling (PLS–SEM) approach is used to analyse the structural model and the correlations between the variables.

Findings
This paper finds that the technology has a significant influence on arousal, and that expected shopping experience has a significant influence on patronage intentions.

Research limitations/implications
This study was conducted on French individuals in a tourist bureau setting. The study should be replicated in other retail settings in order to improve the generalisation of the findings.

Originality/value
This study is the first to experimentally test the influence of an interactive storefront display in retailing. This paper also contributes to the retailing literature on exterior atmospheric variables.


The foodservice business today is a complex and fast-changing industry. This can clearly be seen from the assortment of foodservice establishments escalating in all subsectors of the industry, including restaurants. Food quality appears to be acknowledged as an elemental factor to satisfy restaurant customers; yet, most restaurant quality-related studies have focused on atmospherics and service delivery, often neglecting the significance of food itself as the foundation of a restaurant. The primary objective of this study was to investigate how food quality is perceived in relation to satisfaction and post-dining behavioral intentions in Malay restaurants. This study also attempted to identify which attributes among food related qualities are critical in improving satisfaction and heightening revisit intention. Through regression analyses, this study shows that overall food quality significantly affects customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions and also revealed that the relationship between food quality and behavioral intentions is partially mediated by customer satisfaction. Subsequent regression analyses demonstrated that food taste was the greatest contributor to customer satisfaction; on the other hand, food freshness was the utmost contributor to behavioral intentions. Thus, restaurant operators should pay attention to the key food quality attributes that elicit customer satisfaction and enhance return visits in the restaurant business.


Emodin, an extracted natural compound from the root and rhizome of Rheum palmatum L, has been shown to have multiple biological activities including anticancer functions in previous studies. In this study, we investigated the anti-leukemic activity of emodin alone or emodin in the presence all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells and the potential signaling pathway involved. We demonstrated that emodin could significantly enhance the sensitivity to ATRA and present additive differentiation-inducing effects in AML cell line NB4 cells and, especially, in NB4-derived ATRA-resistant MR2 cells. Further study showed that increasing dose of emodin could effectively induce growth inhibition and apoptotic effects in both cell lines as well as in primary leukemic cells from AML patients. Moreover, the apoptotic induction in AML cells was associated with the activation of caspase cascades involving caspase-9, caspase-3, and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) cleavage. In addition, leukemic cell response to emodin stimuli in vitro was observed through the decreased expression levels of Bcl-2 and retinoic acid receptor α (RARα). Importantly, emodin was demonstrated as a new inhibitor of PI3K/Akt in AML cells, even in primary AML cells. It inhibited Akt phosphoration (p-Akt) at Ser473 as efficiently as mTOR at Ser2448. Consistently, it exerted suppression effects on the phosphoration of mTOR downstream targets, 4E-BP1 and p70S6K. Taken together, these findings indicate that emodin might be developed as a promising anti-leukemic agent to improve the patient outcome in AML.


Prior research has highlighted gender differences in academic motivational attributes, and how these predict achievement for each gender. However, not only does a vast amount of inconsistency exist amongst such literature, a lack of studies to date have measured how certain attributes (specifically self-efficacy, active learning strategies, independent study time) predict achievement to a different extent for males and females.The present study hence expands of prior research and investigates existing gender differences in academic motivation (achievement goal, leaning goal, performance goal, self-efficacy, and active learning strategies) and study habits (hours) amongst undergraduate students. Additionally, it measures how these attributes predict achievement grade (overall %) to a different extent for male and female students.The study employed a cross-sectional design, and was gathered through a prospective and retrospective questionnaire (including an adapted version of the Motivation towards Science Learning Questionnaire), from a mixed gender sample of 323 final year students belonging to various schools within the University Of Huddersfield. T-test results revealed small but significant differences, favouring females in achievement goal and study time. Multiple regression analysis revealed that study time, active learning strategies, performance goal and self-efficacy were significant predictors of achievement for males, accounting for 28% of variance in grade, whereas self-efficacy was the only significant predictor of achievement for females, accounting for 14% of variance in grade. Ultimately, through the evaluation of the current methodology, recommendations for future research are made. Future research should continue to explore gender differences in the attributes discussed, but also expand to account for additional factors to lead to a more comprehensive understanding of motivation and achievement. As well as this, findings offer practical implications highlighting the importance of self-efficacy and proposing methods in which higher education institutions can develop to encourage motivation in the particular attributes each gender is lacking.


Diseases caused by protein misfolding are an emerging pathologic category that are thought to share some basic common mechanisms and display impressive heterogeneity in terms of tissue involvement, age of onset and clinical features. The growing recognition of the impact that protein misfolding has on human diseases is certainly related to the phenomenon of population aging and the expansion of the population in which these diseases are more frequent, but it is also based on a scientific revolution that looks at protein dynamics and relates these data to their potential pathologic implications. The multidisciplinary exchange of knowledge between experts in apparently unrelated diseases, such as sickle cell anemia and Alzheimer's disease, has helped clarify the pathogenesis of these and many other diseases. The quick expansion of knowledge on the mechanisms of these diseases is priming pharmaceutical research that is now providing the first prototype drugs.


Abstract—This study investigates the suitability of using plastic, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), as a partial replacement of natural coarse and fine aggregates (for example, brick chips and natural sand) to produce lightweight concrete for load bearing structural members. The plastic coarse aggregate (PCA) and plastic fine aggregate (PFA) were produced from melted polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles. Tests were conducted using three different water–cement (w/c) ratios, such as 0.42, 0.48, and 0.57, where PCA and PFA were used as 50% replacement of coarse and fine aggregate respectively. Fresh and hardened properties of concrete have been compared for natural aggregate concrete (NAC), PCA concrete (PCC) and PFA concrete (PFC). The compressive strength of concrete at 28 days varied with the water–cement ratio for both the PCC and PFC. Between PCC and PFC, PFA concrete showed the highest compressive strength (23.7 MPa) at 0.42 w/c ratio and also the lowest compressive strength (13.7 MPa) at 0.57 w/c ratio. Significant reduction in concrete density was mostly observed for PCC samples, ranging between 1977–1924 kg/m3. With the increase in water–cement ratio PCC achieved higher workability compare to both NAC and PFC. It was found that both the PCA and PFA contained concrete achieved the required compressive strength to be used for structural purpose as partial replacement of the natural aggregate; but to obtain the desired lower density as lightweight concrete the PCA is most suited.


allowed the rest the lecturer so ably advocates, and the extreme pains through all the movements of the wrist disappeared. I venture to add a word or two on " sciatica," of which you. give, in the same issue, an interesting and learned account from a recent German writer on that subject. Perhaps I may be pardoned for referring in this connexion to my experience, deduced from a record of nearly 500 cases of soiatica, that such a combination is so frequent as to be present in something like I in 6 of all cases of sciatica. Is there any real anatomical relation between the fibrous structures of the sacral region and those emerging from the pelvis in connexion with the sciatic nerve? I humbbly holdthat just as I have said brachial neuralgia takes its .origin from the deposition of sodium urate in and about the shoulderjoint, so does sciatica start from similar deposits in and about thehip-joint. Further, so also most probably does lumbago owe its symptoms, recurrence, and too frequent persistence to the pathological deposition, temporary or otherwise, of minute particles of urates on the opposed surfaces and in the sheaths of the tendons connected with the articulations of certain of lumbar vertebrae.-I am, etc., Strathpeffer Spa, Jan. 17th. WILLIAM BRUCE. P.S.-May I add a word or two on one point referred to by Sir W. Gowers-namely, the sudden onset and sometimes the almost equally rapid disappearance of these pains? Reference to Garrod (p. I91, edition 1876) will show the possibility of washing away the deposit of urates from an affected joint po8t mortem. May not this help to explain the complete cure by absorption of the deposits of urates--" digestion " he very happily names it-in many of these cases? Another and more probable explanation is the alteration produced in the relative position of the deposits, just as takes place in filoating loose cartilages in the knee, by movements of the articulations, and the effect of taking the recalcitrant muscles by surprise, as is well known occurs in dislocations, fractures, and in cases of long-standing "hysterical" joints by bonesetters and other more legitimate practitioners.


CYFRA 21-1 is a tumor marker that is useful for detecting squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the lung. Tissue polypeptide specific antigen (TPS) is a tumor marker that indicates tumor proliferative rate rather than tumor burden. Our aim in this study was to compare the clinical value of CYFRA 21-1 and TPS in the detection of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Serum levels of CYFRA 21-1 and TPS were measured in 60 patients with untreated NPC (including 36 differentiated SCC and 24 undifferentiated carcinomas) for comparison with each other. The cut-off values of CYFRA 21-1 and TPS, determined at the 95th percentile of the 43 healthy controls, were 2.50 ng/ml and 115.2 U/l, respectively. The results revealed that the mean serum values of CYFRA 21-1 (6.20 +/- 5.21 ng/ml) and TPS (153.9 +/- 17.3 U/l) in all 60 NPC patients were significantly higher than that in the 43 healthy controls (CYFRA 21-1 = 1.32 + 0.50 ng/ml, TPS = 85.0 +/- 16.0 U/l) (p value 0.05). In conclusion, our results suggest that both CYFRA 21-1 and TPS are potential tumor markers for the detection of NPC.


In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in designing social robots to interact with people to provide therapy and companionship. Most social robots currently being used are light-weight and much smaller in size compared to people. In this work, we investigate designing interactions for larger and more physically capable robots as they have more potential to assist people physically. A modified version of Baxter robot was used, by sitting Baxter on top of an electronic wheelchair. Two experiments were designed for studying the role of facial expressions and body movements in establishing trust with the user and for expressing attitudes. Our results suggest that the robot is capable of expressing fine and distinguishable attitudes (proud vs. relaxed) using its body language, and the coupling between body movements and speech is essential for the robot to be viewed as a person.


Background/Aims A revised classification system for renal dysfunction in patients with cirrhosis was proposed by the Acute Dialysis Quality Initiative and the International Ascites Club Working Group in 2011. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of renal dysfunction according to the criteria in this proposal. Methods The medical records of cirrhotic patients who were admitted to Konkuk University Hospital between 2006 and 2010 were reviewed retrospectively. The data obtained at first admission were collected. Acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) were defined using the proposed diagnostic criteria of kidney dysfunction in cirrhosis. Results Six hundred and forty-three patients were admitted, of whom 190 (29.5%), 273 (42.5%), and 180 (28.0%) were Child-Pugh class A, B, and C, respectively. Eighty-three patients (12.9%) were diagnosed with AKI, the most common cause for which was dehydration (30 patients). Three patients had hepatorenal syndrome type 1 and 26 patients had prerenal-type AKI caused by volume deficiency after variceal bleeding. In addition, 22 patients (3.4%) were diagnosed with CKD, 1 patient with hepatorenal syndrome type 2, and 3 patients (0.5%) with AKI on CKD. Conclusions Both AKI and CKD are common among hospitalized cirrhotic patients, and often occur simultaneously (16.8%). The most common type of renal dysfunction was AKI (12.9%). Diagnosis of type 2 hepatorenal syndrome remains difficult. A prospective cohort study is warranted to evaluate the clinical course in cirrhotic patients with renal dysfunction.


The famous archetypical NP-complete problem of Boolean satisfiability (SAT) and its PSPACEcomplete generalization of quantified Boolean satisfiability (QSAT) have become central declarative programming paradigms through which real-world instances of various computationally hard problems can be efficiently solved. This success has been achieved through several breakthroughs in practical implementations of decision procedures for SAT and QSAT, that is, in SAT and QSAT solvers. Here, simplification techniques for conjunctive normal form (CNF) for SAT and for prenex conjunctive normal form (PCNF) for QSAT—the standard input formats of SAT and QSAT solvers—have recently proven very effective in increasing solver efficiency when applied before (i.e., in preprocessing) or during (i.e., in inprocessing) satisfiability search. In this article, we develop and analyze clause elimination procedures for preand inprocessing. Clause elimination procedures form a family of (P)CNF formula simplification techniques which remove clauses that have specific (in practice polynomial-time) redundancy properties while maintaining the satisfiability status of the formulas. Extending known procedures such as tautology, subsumption, and blocked clause elimination, we introduce novel elimination procedures based on asymmetric variants of these techniques, and also develop a novel family of so-called covered clause elimination procedures, as well as natural liftings of the CNF-level procedures to PCNF. We analyze the considered clause elimination procedures from various perspectives. Furthermore, for the variants not preserving logical equivalence under clause elimination, we show how to reconstruct solutions to original CNFs from satisfying assignments to simplified CNFs, which is important for practical applications for the procedures. Complementing the more theoretical analysis, we present results on an empirical evaluation on the practical importance of the clause elimination procedures in terms of the effect on solver runtimes on standard real-world application benchmarks. It turns out that the importance of applying the clause elimination procedures developed in this work is empirically emphasized in the context of state-of-the-art QSAT solving. c ©2015 AI Access Foundation. All rights reserved. HEULE, JÄRVISALO, LONSING, SEIDL, & BIERE


Inadequate quantity and quality of feeds is the major constraints to livestock production in majority of smallholder farms in Ethiopia. A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of altitude and harvesting stages on productivity and quality of 6 (six) Brachiaria grasses (1 hybrid, 2 cultivars and 3 ecotypes) in northwestern Ethiopia. A factorial arrangement of treatments was employed with a combination of three altitudes and three harvesting stages. The data collected consisted of plant height (PH), number of tillers, number and length of leaves and fresh yield. Moreover, the forage was analyzed for dry matter content and yield, ash, crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF) and acid detergent lignin. All data were subjected to analysis of variance procedures, with significance test at P<0.05. Results indicated that the highest plant height (PH) was recorded in all sites (low, midand high altitudes) by La Libertad cultivar (cv.) followed by Mulato II (low and high altitudes) and Eth. 13726 ecotype (mid altitude). The highest number of tiller per plant (NTPP) was recorded in all sites by Mulato II followed by La Libertad. The highest DM yield was recorded by Mulato II at all altitudes, which was followed by Marandu at low and mid altitudes and in high altitude by La Libertad. There was significant difference (P>0.05) in dry matter yield (DMY) with increasing harvesting dates for all six grasses except La Libertad at high altitude. CP content declined with increased harvesting date in all studied Brachiaria grasses in all study sites. Although all six grasses had potential as an alternative ruminant feed in all altitude areas in Ethiopia, highest DMY and CP and lowest NDF and ADF concentrations were recorded by Mulato II. Thus, among the tested Brachiaria grasses Mulato II showed outstanding potential as a forage plant especially at low altitude area of northwestern Ethiopia which could be used as potential feed for ruminant livestock. However, further study on feed value of Mulato II using suitable experimental animals is recommended.