Objective The aim of the present study was to assess the clinical applications of the various propeller perforator flaps for the leg in an attempt to evaluate the results and propose an algorithm for the management of various defects of the lower-third of the leg. Background The ideal method for the soft-tissue reconstruction of the leg should be reliable, relatively easy to perform, offer viable tissues similar in skin texture and thickness to the lost ones (replace like with like), leave the most inconspicuous donor-site defect possible, and be performed without compromising other body parts. The perforator-based propeller flaps have all these advantages. Patients and methods This study included 34 patients who presented with moderate-sized leg defects from August 2013 to June 2015. Out of the 34 patients, 24 were males and 10 were females. Their ages varied from 5 to 50 years with an average age of 27 years. There were 19 posterior tibial artery perforator flaps. There were 12 flaps based on perforators of the peroneal artery. Lastly, there were three anterior tibial artery perforator flaps. Duplex ultrasonography was carried out for 25 patients preoperatively. Results All flaps were based on a single perforator except three cases in which the flaps were based on two adjacent perforators. Fourteen of the flaps were proximally based and 20 were distally based. All flaps were designed as propeller flaps and were rotated from 70° to 180°. The donor site was closed by using split-thickness grafts in all except three cases in which the donor site was closed primarily. Out of the 19 flaps of the posterior tibial artery, 11 (57.5%) healed uneventfully and eight (42.5%) cases were complicated. Out of the 12 peroneal artery propeller flaps, nine (75%) flaps healed uneventfully and three (25%) cases were complicated. Lastly, out of the three cases of the anterior tibial artery propeller flaps, one (33%) healed uneventfully and two (66%) were complicated. Conclusion Propeller flaps based on perforator vessels are raising interest in the reconstructive surgery of the limbs. These flaps allow efficient coverage of large wounds without the need to sacrifice a major vascular axis. The operative technique does not require microvascular anastomosis and allows the reconstruction of soft-tissue defects using nearby similar tissues. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical results of propeller perforator flaps in the treatment of various lower-leg defects.


Although the relationship between religion and economic development on the macro-level has been investigated, it is less clear how religious background influences economic attitudes and financial decision-making on the level of the individual or household, the micro-level. We use panel data from the extensive DNB Household Survey, covering the period from 1995 to 2008, to investigate whether – and through which channel – religious denomination affects household finance in the Netherlands. We find evidence that, in general, religious households care more about saving, are more risk-averse, consider themselves more trusting, have a more external locus of control, and have a stronger bequest motive. Furthermore, Catholics and Protestants have longer planning horizons, and Protestants and Evangelicals seem to have a greater sense of individual financial responsibility. Most of these factors matter for household financial decision-making, albeit to differing degrees. Using our religion variables as instruments for economic attitudes (and controlling for demographic and background risk characteristics), we demonstrate that the above-mentioned differences in economic beliefs and preferences explain the higher propensity to save by religious households in general and the lower investments in risky assets by Catholic households.


The goal of this study was to evaluate a new approach that can be applied for labeling biomolecules with (211)At. Many astatine compounds that have been synthesized are unstable in vivo, providing motivation for seeking different (211)At labeling strategies. The approach evaluated in this study was to attach astatide anions to soft metal cations, which are also complexed by a bifunctional ligand. Ultimately, this complex could in principle be subsequently conjugated to a biomolecule with the proper selection of ligand functionality. We report here the attachment of (211)At(-) and *I(-) (*I = (131)I or (125)I) anions to the soft metal cations Rh(III) and Ir(III), which are complexed by the 1,5,9,13-tetrathiacyclohexadecane-3,11-diol (16aneS4-diol) ligand. Radioactive *I(-) anions were used for preliminary studies directed at the optimization of reaction conditions and to provide a baseline for comparison of results with (211)At. Four complexes Rh[16aneS4-diol]*I/(211)At and Ir[16aneS4-diol]*I/(211)At were synthesized in high yield in a one-step procedure, and the products were characterized mainly by paper electrophoresis and reversed-phase HPLC. The influences of time and temperature of heating and concentrations of metal cations and sulfur ligand 16aneS4-diol, as well as pH on the reaction yields were determined. Yields of about 80% were obtained when the quantities of Rh(III) or Ir(III) cations and 16aneS4-diol ligand in the solutions were 62.5 nmol and 250 nmol, respectively, and the pH ranged 3.0-4.0. Syntheses required heating for 1-1.5 h at 75-80 degrees C. The influence of microwave heating on the time and completeness of the complexation reaction was evaluated and compared with the conventional method of heating in an oil bath. Microwave synthesis accelerates reactions significantly. With microwave heating, yields of about 75% for Rh[16aneS4-diol](131)I and Ir[16aneS4-diol](131)I complexes were obtained after only 20 min exposure of the reaction mixtures to microwave radiation. In conclusion, this study has shown that it is possible to attach an astatide anion to soft metal cations in a simple and fast one-step procedure, with high yields. These complexes will be evaluated as reagents for labeling biomolecules.


Purpose :T odemonstrate the presence of vasoactive intestinal pep- tide (VIP)-immunoreactive molecule in the human aqueous humor collected from eyes undergoing either cataract or glaucoma surgeries and to identify the masses of molecules responsible for the VIP immunoreactivity. Methods :A que- ous humor specimens were collected by parencentesis from nine cataract pa- tients and also from eight patients undergoing glaucoma surgery following the creation of the limbal based conjunctival flap, partial dissection of the scleral flap, and application of mitomycin-C. The aqueous humor specimens were an- alyzed by radioimmunoassay to determine the level of VIP immunoreactivity. Specimens from 10 other cataract patients were pooled and analyzed for VIP immunoreactivity by Western blot analysis. Results: Levels of VIP immunore- activity in aqueous humor of cataract and glaucoma patients were significantly different and were 610 ± 160 and 260 ± 64 pg VIP/ml, respectively (p = 0.03), while there was no correlation between the donor age and the level of VIP im- munoreactivity. VIP immunoreactivity was detected as a single molecule with a molecular weight of 9000. Conclusions :T he disease status and the treatments of the eye that led to surgery and procedures applied to the eye immediately before aqueous humor collection, but not the age of the patients, affected the level of VIP immunoreactivity in the aqueous humor. The relationship between the 9000 Da VIP-immunoreactive molecule and the authentic (3326 Da) VIP remains to be studied.


Scientists in the field of blood cell development have found a protein of expansive abilities. According to two new papers, HoxB4 is able to promote self-renewal of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) both in vivo and in vitro.

Figure

HSCs expressing HoxB4 (triangles) increase in number.

HoxB4 is a homeotic gene whose expression in vivo has been shown previously to enhance HSC regeneration. Now, Jennifer Antonchuk, Guy Sauvageau, and Keith Humphries (Terry Fox Laboratory, Vancouver, BC) demonstrate that the number of adult HSC can be expanded in vitro when bone marrow cells are transduced with HoxB4. Compared with untransfected cells, the HoxB4- expressing cells showed a 40-fold net increase after 14 d in culture.

"So far, this [method] stands out uniquely as a means to expand stem cells," says Humphries. "The stem cells are normal in terms of being able to differentiate, and still have a potent ability to regenerate stem cell compartments," as shown by the ability of the in vitro–expanded cells to engraft in irradiated mice. The use of HoxB4- expressing cells could help prevent significant losses of the important HSCs in culture during gene therapy. Additionally, Humphries hopes the technique will improve treatments for the effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, by increasing the number of a patient's own stem cells that can be used for transplantation.

HoxB4 is also able to induce embryonic cells to become HSCs, according to a second publication by Michael Kyba, Rita Perlingeiro, and George Daley (Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA). Expression of HoxB4 in yolk sac cells or in embryonic stem cells led to the differentiation of these cells into mature blood cells. Additionally, the HSCs generated in vitro were able to engraft in both primary and secondary recipients. The signal transduction pathways induced by HoxB4 that lead to HSC expansion remain to be determined. ▪

References:

Antonchuk, J., et al. 2002. Cell. 109:39–45. [PubMed]

Kyba, M., et al. 2002. Cell. 109:29–37. [PubMed]


Efficient and stable electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) are central to the development of renewable energy. In this study, a photoresponse electrocatalyst Ni3(VO4)2 with a sea-urchin shaped structure was prepared by a facile solvothermal procedure. Numerous thin nanoflakes on the spherical surface increased active sites which play a promoting role in the photocatalytic or electrocatalytic reactions. Under visible light irradiation, the sea-urchin shaped Ni3(VO4)2 demonstrated improved HER activity without using any cocatalysts, featured by a small overpotential of −90 mV at 10 mA cm−2, a high current density, a small Tafel slope of 50 mV per decade and good stability in 0.5 M H2SO4. The results may offer a simple and mild methodology for the preparation of HER electrocatalysts exhibiting excellent photo-enhanced electrocatalytic activity.


Abstract The crystallization behavior of a newly developed polyvinyl alcohol with 1,2-diol side-chains (DPVA) was investigated for different 1,2-diol side-chain, magnesium acetate, and sodium acetate contents. Crystallization by stepwise cooling, isothermal and non-isothermal crystallization (the actual cooling process in melt molding) experiments were conducted. Upon crystallization analysis by stepwise cooling, the end surface energy of DPVA increased as the 1,2-diol side-chain content was increased. The isothermal crystallization process exhibited longer half crystallization times at high 1,2-diol side-chain and magnesium acetate contents. Upon Kissinger analysis of the non-isothermal crystallization results, the effect of the acetate salts was found to be smaller than that for isothermal crystallization, while the smaller number of repeating units in the lamellar structure, reflecting a higher side-chain 1,2-diol content, resulted in a smaller activation energy for DPVA crystallization. In addition, analyses by the Ozawa method and the Kissinger Plot suggested possible changes in the mode and dimension of the crystal growth of DPVA.


A development of a clinical group decision support system (CGDSS) has been carried out for diagnosing both neurosis and personality disorders. The knowledge, stored in the knowledge base, were generated from the aggregated preferences given by decision makers. Two types of preferences used here, i.e. the preferences of a mental evidence by a mental condition; and the preferences of a mental disorder by mental condition. Ordered weighted averaging operator was adopted to aggregate those preferences. This aggregation process was carried out after transforming the selected subset to fuzzy preference relation format. Then the Bayesian theorem was adopted to compute the probability of evidence given a particular disorder. After developing the knowledge base, the next step is to develop an inference engine. The method used for developing an inference engine is multiattribute decision making concept, this is because of the system was directed to choose the best disorder when a particular condition was given. Many methods have been developed to solve MADM problem, however only the SAW, WP, and TOPSIS were appropriate to solve problem here. In this knowledge base, the relation between each disorder and evidence were represented X matrix (m x n) that consist of probability value. Where the Xij was probability of jth mental evidence given ith mental disorder; i=1,2,...,m; and j=1,2,...,n. Sensitivity analysis process was to compute the sensitivity degree of each attribute to the ranking outcome in each method. The sensitivity analysis was aimed to determine the degree of sensitivity of each attribute to the ranking outcome of each method. This degree implies that there were a relevant between an attribute and a ranking outcome. This relevant attribute can be emitted by influence degree of attribute Cj to ranking outcome fj. Then, relation between sensitivity degree and influence degree for each attribute, can be found by computing the Pearsonpsilas correlation coefficient. The biggest correlation coefficient shows as the best result. This research shows that TOPSIS method always has the highest correlation coefficient, and it is getting higher if the change of the ranking is increased. The experimental results shows that that TOPSIS is the appropriate method for the clinical group decision support system for the above purposes.


: The large number of hemocytes infiltrated several abnormal tissues of kuruma shrimp (Penaeus japonicus), including musculature, hepatopancreas, lymphoid organ, gill filament and sponge tissue. In addition, there were many denatured hemocytes existing inside acidophilic particles and forming granules. Futhermore, in hepatopancreas of kuruma shrimp, a white spot baculovirus (WSBV; 40-50 x 50-300 nm) was discovered in UH (undifferential haemocyte). The epithelium cells, which including stomach cuticle and underlying epidermis of exoskeletal cuticle, could also be infected by WSBV in another main cultural species--grass shrimp (P. monodon). During a period of high water temperature, with pond shrimp in normal condition, the CFU/ml of water bacteria rose from 10(5) to 10(7), but this number had decreased to 10(5) CFU/ml by the time moribund shrimp began to appear. Coincidentally, the total bacterial number isolated from hepatopancreas and musculature of moribound shrimp was over 10(5) (CFU/g) and 10(3)-10(5), respectively. The fauna of bacteria was taken over by the active metabolitic species which were represented by Vibrio species causing the pond shrimp to undergo either behavioral changes, such as swimming on the water surface, or histological changes, such as having whitish muscle color, hemocyte infiltration and granuloma formation etc. Pathogenetic species of Vibrio including V. parahaemolyticus, V. alginoly ticus V. anguillarum, V. fischery and V. damsela were isolated from those tissues of moribund shrimp. The main pathogens, isolated from musculature and hepatopancreas, were V. parahaemolyticus and V. alginolyticus. On the other hand there, was no bacterium could be isolated from the musculature of healthy shrimp and only a single species of Gram (+) coccus--Micrococcus--was isolated from the tissue of hepatopancreas.


The aim of this paper is to examine discrimination performance of three bankruptcy prediction models in environments and periods different from the ones utilized by deriving the models. We compared selected models' accuracy in the original setting and present conditions. Secondary aim was to examine a way of possible increasing of the discrimination performance of models by the recalculation of the classification functions. Discrimination performance of the models and financial ratios was tested on companies operating in manufacturing business. Results conclusively demonstrate that the discrimination accuracy of bankruptcy models deteriorates significantly in different environments. The classification function of each model was recalculated using the data from Czech manufacturing companies. For the adjustment of models' coefficients the same methods, as used originally by theirs authors, were applied, i.e. the probit method, the linear discrimination analysis and the logit method. The results shown, that the re-estimation of model coefficient could lead to its higher classification accuracy in alternative conditions. We can dedicate that recalculating of the classification rules is one of the ways to increase discrimination performance of the bankruptcy prediction models in different environment.


Early in the twentieth century our ordinary conception of time was challenged by McTaggart's argument that time was unreal, and by the standard interpretations of developments in physics inspired by the special theory of relativity. McTaggart held that central to our conception was the change in events from future to present and then to past. But, he held, this makes no sense, and so there is no such thing as time as ordinarily conceived. The view that time is a fourth dimension seems to reinforce much of McTaggart's reasoning. Many physicists and philosophers have concluded that although time is real enough, the sense of the passage of events from future to present to past is merely a subjective phenomenon; the classic statement of this position perhaps being Adolph Grunbaum's. Samuel Alexander, C.D. Broad and most recently Michael Tooley have maintained that we can have time as a fourth dimension, and passage as a real and not merely a subjective phenomenon, if we recognize that the future is unreal. Passage is not the mysterious movement of the property of presentness along the temporal dimension, nor is it a matter of consciousnesses successively apprehending points in time. It is a matter of new events coming into existence. I will review the issues and defend a version of the Alexander-Broad-Tooley view.


An Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture (ATCOFA) senior spatial science undergraduate student engaged in a multi-course undergraduate research project to expand his expertise in remote sensing and assess the applied instruction methodology employed within ATCOFA. The project consisted of performing a change detection land-use/land-cover classification for Nacogdoches and Angelina counties in Texas using satellite imagery. The dates for the imagery were spaced approximately ten years apart and consisted of four different acquisitions between 1984 and 2013. The classification procedure followed and expanded upon a series of concrete theoretical remote sensing principles, transforming the four remotely sensed raster images into corresponding classified vector maps. The progression of the research project is layed out in a step-by-step process identifying settings and addressing issues that may commonly be encountered. The results indicate that the digital imagery acquired by the Landsat 8 sensor may have resulted in more precise and consistent spectral recognition of the image pixels, and distributed them more accurately in their clusters. The results from the study validate the applied instruction methodology employed in the remote sensing curriculums and reinforce ATCOFA's mission by guiding and empowering undergraduate students with the capability of employing sophisticated remote sensing technology to accurately quantify, qualify, map, and monitor natural resources.


In recent years, significant research has been undertaken into the development of lead-extrusion damping technology. The high force-to-volume (HF2V) devices developed at the University of Canterbury have been the subject of much of this research. However, while these devices have undergone a limited range of velocity testing, limitations in test equipment has meant that they have never been tested at representative earthquake velocities. Such testing is important as the peak resistive force provided by the dampers under large velocity spikes is an important design input that must be known for structural applications. This manuscript presents the high-speed testing of HF2V devices with quasi-static force capacities of 250-300kN. These devices have been subjected to peak input velocities of approximately 200mm/s, producing peak resistive forces of approximately 350kN. The devices show stable hysteretic performance, with slight force reduction during high-speed testing due to heat build-up and softening of the lead working material. This force reduction is recovered following cyclic loading as heat is dissipated and the lead hardens again. The devices are shown to be only weakly velocity dependent, an advantage in that they do not deliver large forces to the connecting elements and surrounding structure if larger than expected response velocities occur. This high-speed testing is an important step towards uptake as it provides important information to designers.


Background Maternal care during early-life plays a crucial role in the sculpting of the mammalian brain. Augmented maternal care during the first postnatal week promotes life-long stress resilience and improved memory compared with the outcome of routine rearing conditions. Recent evidence suggests that this potent phenotypic change commences with altered synaptic connectivity of stress sensitive hypothalamic neurons. However, the epigenomic basis of the long-lived consequences is not well understood. Methods Here, we employed whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS), RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq), and a multiplex microRNA (miRNA) assay to examine the effects of augmented maternal care on DNA cytosine methylation, gene expression, and miRNA expression. Results A significant decrease in global DNA methylation was observed in offspring hypothalamus following a week of augmented maternal care, corresponding to differential methylation and expression of thousands of genes. Differentially methylated and expressed genes were enriched for functions in neurotransmission, neurodevelopment, protein synthesis, and oxidative phosphorylation, as well as known stress response genes. Twenty prioritized genes with three lines of evidence (methylation, expression, and altered miRNA target) were identified as highly relevant to the stress resiliency phenotype. Conclusions This combined unbiased approach enabled the discovery of novel genes and gene pathways that advance our understanding of the central epigenomic mechanisms underlying the profound effects of maternal care on the developing brain.


The US health care system has typically embraced a top-down model of health production, in which large-scale organizations, such as pharmaceutical or medical device companies or academic health centers, produce the tools and technologies for improving health. The underlying assumption is that physicians, researchers, and industry professionals are health experts rather than the patients. However, in 2014, the Nightscout Project, an innovative do-it-yourself mobile technology system for type 1 diabetes, was created by patients for patients and was rapidly scaled to a US and global population within a relatively short period. This bottom-up, patient-driven approach to health production has important lessons for a new era of medicine powered by patient engagement, mobile technology, cloud computing, and social media. This Viewpoint describes the Nightscout Project, including the challenges it poses for the current health care system, and the opportunities yielded from this new form of health production


In semiarid regions, where water resources are limited and precipitation dynamics are changing, understanding land surface‐atmosphere interactions that regulate the coupled soil moisture‐precipitation system is key for resource management and planning. We present a modeling approach to study soil moisture and albedo controls on planetary boundary layer height (PBLh). We used Santa Rita Creosote Ameriflux and Tucson Airport atmospheric sounding data to generate empirical relationships between soil moisture, albedo, and PBLh. Empirical relationships showed that ∼50% of the variation in PBLh can be explained by soil moisture and albedo with additional knowledge gained by dividing the soil profile into two layers. Therefore, we coupled these empirical relationships with soil moisture estimated using a two‐layer bucket approach to model PBLh under six precipitation scenarios. Overall we observed that decreases in precipitation tend to limit the recovery of the PBL at the end of the wet season. However, increases in winter precipitation despite decreases in summer precipitation may provide opportunities for positive feedbacks that may further generate more winter precipitation. Our results highlight that the response of soil moisture, albedo, and the PBLh will depend not only on changes in annual precipitation, but also on the frequency and intensity of this change. We argue that because albedo and soil moisture data are readily available at multiple temporal and spatial scales, developing empirical relationships that can be used in land surface‐atmosphere applications have great potential for exploring the consequences of climate change.


The implications of the low quality of results achieved by the Islamic schools, illustrate the low quality of their teaching and learning process. Head of Madrasah, Supervisors and teachers play a very important role in realizing a quality learning process. Given that the three organizations are one of the keys to the success of the teaching and learning process, improving the performance of the headmaster, supervisors and teachers is a must. In this study there are several factors that are considered to contribute to the quality of learning including leadership, teacher performance and supervisor competence This research was carried out using quantitative approaches and descriptive survey methods. The population is the Bandar Lampung City MIS teacher spread in 7 Private Madrasas with 132 people. The number of research samples is 56 teachers using the Krecjie Morgan formula, and the selection technique is proportional random sampling. Research data was collected through questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistical techniques and regression analysis. Based on the data analysis, the following findings and conclusions were obtained: first, there was a significant contribution of leadership to the quality of learning in Bandar Lampung's MIS of 16.3% with moderate correlation strength (0.403). Second, there is a significant contribution of teacher performance to learning quality by 21.2%. The strength of the relationship of teacher performance to the quality of learning is moderate (0.460), Third, there is a significant contribution of supervisory competence to the learning quality of 18.3%. with the strength of the medium relationship (0.428). Based on the results of these studies it can be stated that the quality of learning can be improved through: leadership improvement, teacher performance and supervisor competency. Principals as elements of leadership through their policies must provide maximum facilities in order to realize quality learning. Teachers as the spearhead of the learning process must improve their performance and so do the supervisors of education must have adequate competence in carrying out their main tasks and functions as academic supervisors and supervisors of the education unit. Key Words: Kepemimpinan, Kompetensi Pengawas dan Kualias Pembelajaran


The transfer of people with disabilities from state institutions to residential housing is one of the great migrations in recent history, but finding adequate housing is difficult. Laws that enact housing quotas make this task even harder. Quotas can require a minimum distance between group homes, limit the number of group homes that can be allowed in a community, or limit the number of apartments in multifamily projects. This article considers the legality of these quotas under the federal Fair Housing Act, and their constitutionality as an equal protection violation.Part I describes the universe of housing models available for people with disabilities. Part II examines the problem of clustering that occurs when this housing locates in groups. Part III describes state statutes that require a minimum distance between group homes for people with disabilities, and federal housing subsidy legislation that contains quotas and preferences. It criticizes the dispersion strategy for housing that quotas implicitly require. Part IV considers the constitutionality of housing quotas under the equal protection clause of the federal constitution. Part V considers the legality of quotas under the federal Fair Housing Act, which makes it a violation to "otherwise make unavailable or deny, a dwelling to any buyer or renter because of a handicap." Part VI discusses more acceptable models for distributing housing opportunities.


Couplers and hybrids are devices in which two transmission lines pass close enough to each other for energy propagating on one line to couple to the other line. A 3dB 90° or 180° hybrid splits an input signal into two equal amplitude outputs. A directional coupler normally splits an input signal into two unequal amplitude outputs. This terminology "directional coupler", "90° hybrid", and "180° hybrid" is based on convention. However, the 90° and 180° hybrids could be thought of as 3 dB directional couplers. Despite these similarities, the parameters used to describe signal flow in directional couplers and the application, in actual use, is sufficiently different to warrant separate considerations.


The Identification of rock constitutive model is a typical nonlinear system problem; introduction of the intelligent methods has greatly stimulated the research. In this paper, genetic algorithm , BP neural network and genetic programming are used in the identification of constitutive model ,the capacity of three intelligent methods in the model identification is compared ,whose results show that genetic algorithm can largely reduce the probability of trapping into localized optimum solution by means of its global searching ability ,however , because its pre-assumption of constitutive model has already lead to some error ,its fitting results are not so good . BP neural network and genetic programming need not pre-assume the structure of constitutive model ,the nonlinear mapping expressions between stress and strain are obtained by self-organization and self-learning .But ,the determination of BP neural network structure is experience-depending and time-consuming . In addition, genetic programming need not define its structure, so long as the functional set and terminal set are chosen, after series of genetic operations, the nonlinear relations between variables are outputted, therefore, the operation of genetic programming is simple which realize the visualization of the constitutive equations.


Retrieving images from large and varied collections using image content as a key is a challenging and important problem. In this paper, we present a new image representation which provides a transformation from the raw pixel data to a small set of localized coherent regions in color and texture space. This so-called "blobworld" representation is based on segmentation using the expectation-maximization algorithm on combined color and texture features. The texture features we use for the segmentation arise from a new approach to texture description and scale selection. We describe a system that uses the blobworld representation to retrieve images. An important and unique aspect of the system is that, in the context of similarity-based querying, the user is allowed to view the internal representation of the submitted image and the query results. Similar systems do not offer the user this view into the workings of the system; consequently, the outcome of many queries on these systems can be quite inexplicable, despite the availability of knobs for adjusting the similarity metric


Purpose: To evaluate the clinical response and fibrovascular ingrowth into perforated acrylic orbital implants in a rabbit model. Methods: Perforated implants were manufactured by drilling channels interconnected at the center in conventional 12- to 13-mm acrylic spheres. The implants were placed in 16 eviscerated eyes with posterior sclerotomy of 16 New Zealand white rabbits. Clinical evaluation was performed daily for the first 14 days after surgery and at 7-day intervals until the end of the study (180 days). Histopathologic analysis was performed at 14, 45, 90, and 180 days after implantation. Hematoxylin-eosin and picrosirius red staining was used to assess the inflammatory reaction and collagen formation. Results: There were no signs of infection, implant exposure, or extrusion in any animal during the study. Tissue ingrowth in the implant center was already detected by 14 days. At the end of the study, there was a dense collagen ingrowth with just a few inflammatory cells inside the implant. No multinucleated giant cells were found in any implant. Conclusions: Similar to porous implants, perforated acrylic implants permit fibrovascular ingrowth from surrounding orbital tissues.


Increasing urbanization worldwide calls for more sustainable urban development. Simultaneously, the global biodiversity crisis accentuates the need of fostering biodiversity within cities. Policies supporting urban nature conservation need to understand people's acceptance of biodiversity-friendly greenspace management. We surveyed more than 2,000 people in 19 European cities about their attitudes toward near-natural urban grassland management in public greenspaces, and related their responses to nine sociocultural parameters. Results reveal that people across Europe can support urban biodiversity, yet within the frames of a generally tidy appearance of public greenery. Younger people and those using greenspaces for a greater variety of activities were more likely to favor biodiversity-friendly greenspace management. Additionally, people who were aware of the meaning of biodiversity and those stating responsibility for biodiversity conservation particularly supported biodiversity-friendly greenspace management. Our results point at explicit measures like environmental education to increase public acceptance of policies that facilitate nature conservation within cities.


: Given the increasing number of modalities that modern classification problems provide, recently a multimodal BERT transformer (MMBT) was proposed. An interesting opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of such model is posed by the problem of timely detection of mental disorders of social media users. For this problem, a multi-channel perspective involves extracting from each user post different types of information, such as thematic, emotional and stylistic content. This study evaluates the suitability of tackling this problem by the apparently ad-hoc MMBT, moreover, we further evaluate if regular BERT models could be combined or fused in such a way that could have a chance in a multi-channel arena. For the evaluation, we use recent public data sets for three important mental disorders: Depression, Anorexia, and Self-harm. Results suggest that BERT models can get on their own a data representation that could be later fusioned and boost the classification performance by at least 5% in F1 measure, even surpassing the MMBT.


Hybrid photonic nanostructures allow the engineering of novel interesting states of light. One recent example is topological photonic crystals where a nontrivial Berry phase of the photonic band structure gives rise to topologically protected unidirectionally-propagating (chiral) edge states of photons. Here we demonstrate that by coupling an array of emitters to the chiral photonic edge state one can create strongly correlated states of photons in a highly controllable way. These are topologically protected and have a number of remarkable universal properties: the outcome of scattering does not depend on the positions of emitters and is given only by universal numbers, the zeroes of Laguerre polynomials; two-photon correlation functions manifest a well-pronounced even – odd effect with respect to the number of emitters; and the result of scattering is robust with respect to fl uctuations in the emitters ' transition frequencies. suggest to emitters of arbitrary level structure two A population of the states by and their propagation through the of emitters create strongly correlated outgoing 2 . The results change qualitatively from antibunching at small δ to bunching at large δ . (b) The same dependence as in (a) for fi xed δ and various numbers of emitters M . The result exhibits the clearly pronounced parity effect of equations (23),


An evolutionary distribution (ED), denoted by z(x,t), is a distribution of density of phenotypes over a set of adaptive traits x. Here x is an n-dimensional vector that represents the adaptive space. Evolutionary interactions among phenotypes occur within an ED and between EDs. A generic approach to modeling systems of ED is developed. With it, two cases are analyzed. (1) A predator prey inter-ED interactions either with no intra-ED interactions or with cannibalism and competition (both intra-ED interactions). A predator prey system with no intra-ED interactions is stable. Cannibalism destabilizes it and competition strengthens its stability. (2) Mixed interactions (where phenotypes of one ED both benefit and are harmed by phenotypes of another ED) produce complete separation of phenotypes on one ED from the other along the adaptive trait. Foundational definitions of ED, adaptive space, and so on are also given. We argue that in evolutionary context, predator prey models with predator saturation make less sense than in ecological models. Also, with ED, the dynamics of population genetics may be reduced to an algebraic problem. Finally, extensions to the theory are proposed.


Modern software development workflow patterns often involve the use of a developer's local machine as the first platform for testing code. SLATE mimics this paradigm with an implementation of a light-weight version, called MiniSLATE[? ], that runs completely contained on the developer's local machine or scales to larger machines (laptop, virtual machine, or another physical server). MiniSLATE resolves many development environment issues by providing an isolated and local configuration for the developer. Application developers are able to download MiniSLATE which provides a fully orchestrated set of containers on top of a production SLATE platform, complete with central information service, API server, and a local Kubernetes cluster. This approach mitigates the overhead of a hypervisor but still provides the requisite isolated environment. They are able to create the environment, iterate, destroy it, and repeat at will. A local MiniSLATE environment also allows the developer to explore the packaging of the edge service within a constrained security context in order to validate its full functionality within limited permissions. As a result, developers are able to test the functionality of their application with the complete complement of SLATE components local to their development environment without the overhead of building a cluster or virtual machine, registering a cluster, interacting with the production SLATE platform, etc.


We evaluated the accuracy and precision of three population estimation methods (mark–resight, distance sampling and five-minute bird counts) for two populations of South Island robin (Petroica australis australis) of known size in the Eglinton Valley, Fiordland, over 5 years (March and August, 2005–2009). The performance of these population estimators was compared to known robin abundance derived from simultaneous territory mapping of individually marked birds. Mark–resight methods performed well with Bowden's estimator generating accurate and precise population size estimates and trends very similar to those obtained from territory mapping. Distance sampling estimates displayed significant positive bias and poor precision even though we could identify the general population trends derived from territory mapping at Knobs Flat and Walker Creek. Five-minute bird counts (and associated generalised linear mixed models) performed well when the assumption of constant detectability was met, and poorly when it was not. Such failures prevented robust inference and confounded longer-term trend analyses. As robins are attracted towards stationary observers, we recommend that they be counted from line transects rather than points. Whenever monitoring objectives demand accurate and unbiased estimates of population abundance, the monitoring methods used should explicitly account for incomplete detectability wherever possible.


Los1p/exportin-t (XPOT) mediates the nuclear export of tRNAs in yeast and mammals. The requirements for this transport pathway are unclear, however, because los1 mutations do not affect yeast growth, and the phenotype of XPOT mutations in mammals is unknown. Here, we show that PAUSED (PSD) is the Arabidopsis ortholog of LOS1/XPOT and is capable of rescuing the tRNA export defect of los1 in Brewer's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), suggesting that its function has been conserved. Putative null alleles of PSD disrupt the initiation of the shoot apical meristem and delay leaf initiation after germination, the emergence of the radicle and lateral roots, and the transition to flowering. Plants doubly mutant for psd and hasty, the Arabidopsis ortholog of exportin 5, are viable but have a more severe phenotype than either single mutant. These results suggest that PSD plays a role in tRNA export in Arabidopsis, but that at least one—and perhaps several—additional tRNA export pathways also exist. The PSD transcript is broadly expressed during development and is alternatively spliced in the 3 -untranslated region. No temporal or spatial difference in the abundance of different splice forms was observed. We propose that the mutant phenotype of psd reflects defects in developmental events and cell/tissue types that require elevated levels of protein synthesis and are therefore acutely sensitive to a reduction in tRNA export.


An autopilot scheme of volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT)/intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) planning with the guidance of prior knowledge is established with recorded interactions between a planner and a commercial treatment planning system (TPS). Microsoft (MS) Visual Studio Coded UI is applied to record some common planner-TPS interactions as subroutines. The TPS used in this study is a Windows-based Eclipse system. The interactions of our application program with Eclipse TPS are realized through a series of subroutines obtained by prerecording the mouse clicks or keyboard strokes of a planner in operating the TPS. A strategy to autopilot Eclipse VMAT/IMRT plan selection process is developed as a specific example of the proposed "scripting" method. The autopiloted planning is navigated by a decision function constructed with a reference plan that has the same prescription and similar anatomy with the case at hand. The calculation proceeds by alternating between the Eclipse optimization and the outer-loop optimization independent of the Eclipse. In the C# program, the dosimetric characteristics of a reference treatment plan are used to assess and modify the Eclipse planning parameters and to guide the search for a clinically sensible treatment plan. The approach is applied to plan a head and neck (HN) VMAT case and a prostate IMRT case. Our study demonstrated the feasibility of application programming method in C# environment with recorded interactions of planner-TPS. The process mimics a planner's planning process and automatically provides clinically sensible treatment plans that would otherwise require a large amount of manual trial and error of a planner. The proposed technique enables us to harness a commercial TPS by application programming via the use of recorded human computer interactions and provides an effective tool to greatly facilitate the treatment planning process. PACS number(s): 87.55.D-, 87.55.kd, 87.55.de.


Hodgkin Lymphoma (HL) is a neoplasia characterized by the restrict number of malignant cells present in the lymph node. Actual criteria in diagnostic standards don't consider genetic and epigenetic alterations as risk factors in the development of this disease or in the response of the treatment. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are important regulatory elements of genic expression that can be altered in the presence of cancer. New advances in the field suggest miRNAs as HL biomarkers. We evaluated the expression profiles of five miRNAs (hsa-miR-9, hsa-miR-20a, hsamiR- 21, hsa-miR-26a and hsa-miR-155) in the peripheral blood of three groups of patients: patients diagnosed with HL who had not received any radiologic or chemotherapeutic treatment; patients diagnosed with HL who had been treated with the Adriblastin, Bleomycin, Vinblastine and Dacarbazine (ABVD) chemotherapeutic scheme; and a control group consisting of healthy volunteers without HL. Our results showed that the expression profiles of hsamiR- 9, hsa-miR-21, hsa-miR-26a and hsa-miR-155 were able to significantly distinguish untreated HL patients from patients without the disease and that the hsa-miR-9, hsa-miR-21 and hsa-miR-155 expression profiles were altered by treatment with ABVD. These results suggest that miRNAs are promising blood biomarkers of HL and also a possible biomarkers of the response to ABVD treatment.


A distributed binary hypothesis testing problem involving two parties, a remote observer and a detector, is studied. The remote observer has access to a discrete memoryless source, and communicates its observations to the detector via a rate-limited noiseless channel. The detector observes another discrete memoryless source, and performs a binary hypothesis test on the joint distribution of its own observations with those of the observer. While the goal of the observer is to maximize the type 2 error exponent of the test for a given type 1 error probability constraint, it also wants to keep a private part of its observations as oblivious to the detector as possible. Considering both equivocation and average distortion as possible measures of privacy, the trade-off between the communication rate from the observer to the detector, the type 2 error exponent and privacy is studied. For the general hypothesis testing problem, we establish single-letter inner bounds on both the rate-error exponent-equivocation and rate-error exponent-distortion trade-offs. Subsequently, single-letter characterizations for both trade-offs are obtained (i) for testing against conditional independence of the observer's observations from those of the detector, given some additional side-information at the detector; and (ii) when the communication rate constraint over the channel is zero. Finally, we show by providing a counterexample that, the strong converse which holds for distributed hypothesis testing without a privacy constraint, does not hold when a privacy constraint is imposed. This implies that, in general, the rate-error exponent-equivocation and rate-error exponent-distortion trade-offs are not independent of the type 1 error probability constraint.


OBJECTIVE
To determine effect of maternal antibodies on immune response to oral vaccination against rabies in young foxes.

ANIMALS
250 cubs from 48 vixens.

PROCEDURE
Sera were obtained from cubs of 36 vaccinated (maternally vaccinated [MV+]) and 12 nonvaccinated (MV-) vixens between 23 and 71 days of age and tested for neutralizing antibodies. Seventy-one MV+ cubs and 33 MV-cubs were vaccinated orally with modified-live virus vaccine SAD B19. Geometric mean titer (GMT) was determined in these cubs approximately 21, 39, and 57 days after vaccination. In a subsequent experiment, 10 vaccinated MV+ cubs, 6 vaccinated MV- cubs, and 6 control cubs were challenge inoculated with virulent rabies virus approximately 100 days after vaccination.

RESULTS
Serum GMT of nonvaccinated MV cubs (0.23 U/ml) was significantly greater than that of non-vaccinated MV- cubs (0.15 U/ml). The GMT of vaccinated MV+ cubs 21, 39, and 57 days after vaccination were 2.85, 2.11, and 0.79 U/ml, respectively, and were significantly less than those of vaccinated MV- cubs (12.19, 6.76, and 4.02 U/ml, respectively). All challenge-inoculated cubs with GMT < 0.5 U/ml succumbed to rabies.

CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Partially impaired immune response in cubs < 8 weeks old from vaccinated vixens causes insufficient protection against rabies. Inhibition of the immune response persists longer than the period during which maternal antibodies are detectable. Thus, oral vaccination campaigns for young foxes in areas where vaccination has been performed need to be reconsidered.


Energy-efficient cloud and data-center applications utilize just enough resources (e.g., threads, cores) to provide the performance required at the current point in time. Unfortunately, building such applications is inherently difficult in the face of varying workloads and further complicated by the fact that existing programming and execution platforms are not energy aware. Consequently, programmers are usually forced to choose between two unfavorable options: to lose performance and/or waste energy by relying on a static resource pool, or to significantly increase the complexity of their applications by implementing additional functionality to control resource usage at runtime. In this paper we present Empya, an energy-aware programming and execution platform that frees application programmers from the need to take care of energy efficiency. During execution, Empya constantly monitors both the performance as well as the energy consumption of an application and dynamically adjusts the system configuration to achieve the best energy–performance tradeoff for the current workload. In contrast to existing approaches, Empya combines techniques from different software and hardware levels to effectively and efficiently minimize the resource footprint of an application during periods of low utilization. This allows Empya to enable significant energy savings, as shown by our experimental evaluations of a key–value store and a variety of MapReduce applications.


Negative pressure induced pulmonary edema due to upper airway obstruction is a well-recognized problem. However, negative pressure pulmonary hemorrhage is extremely uncommon. We report a child who developed negative pressure pulmonary hemorrhage following acute airway obstruction caused by clench of endotracheal tube during emergence of anesthesia. The patient was treated with positive pressure ventilation and frequent tracheal suction. Hemorrhage from endotracheal tube was gradually decreased after 4 hours. The patient was extubated after 7 hours.


Traumatic brain injury (TBI) represents an important medical and public-health problem. One cohort particularly affected by TBI are veterans that have returned from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. The ramifications of TBIs are multifold, with some of the most common known to include neurodegeneration. Blood biomarkers may provide a minimally invasive diagnostic tool to predict accelerated longitudinal neurocognitive decline. Thirty-one veterans were therefore enrolled in a longitudinal study, with their baseline blood assays and neurocognitive status collected between 2005 – 2007. The blood biomarkers tested at baseline included TNF-a, IL1-b, IL-6, IL-2, pregnenolone, allopregnanolone, progesterone, and APOE isoform status. Two neuropsychological measures of visual attention and a measure of delayed memory were assessed longitudinally in 10 veterans. Pregnenolone and IL-2 levels were found to be lower in veterans with TBI compared with controls. The triple interaction between APOE status, TBI status, and pregnenolone levels was borderline significant, indicating that those with the e4 isoform will have worse outcomes. While all three measures of cognitive decline were greater in TBI subjects, the attentional measures (Stroop interference and Symbol Search) were statistically significant. All blood biomarkers were negatively related to cognitive decline, as expected, although results were not significant, likely due to the small sample size. Results show promise in the use of blood biomarkers as an effective method of predicting cognitive decline based on TBI status. Thus, further work with a larger sample size is warranted, as the blood biomarker levels may predict neuroplasticity changes causing cognitive decline in those with TBI.


Despite the vast research by the New Institutional Economists on impacts of high transaction costs on market participation by farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), little is known in the literature about how institutional innovations can be used as a tool to address high transaction costs and risks associated with smallholder farmers market participation in Ghana. Consequently, this study aimed at finding out how institutional innovations can be used to address high transaction costs and risks affecting smallholder farmers' and traders' marketing transactions.

The study used a mixed methods approach to collect data from the participants (farmers, traders and other stakeholders). The quantitative data was obtained from smallholder farmers and traders through questionnaire interviews. The qualitative data was collected through key informants and vulnerability (MARISCO) analysis. All the data were collected and analysed concurrently using SPSS, Excel and PAST. The data was interpreted through cross tabulation, chi-square test, and PCA. The data generated from MARISCO vulnerability analysis was analysed through results chain, gap analysis and cause-effect.

The study discovered that institutional innovations can address high transaction cost and risks affecting smallholder farmers and traders market interactions. Also, the chi-square test (0.047) shows statistical significance on the ability to use institutional innovations to address high transaction costs and risks with institutional innovations. Additionally, commissioners (lead boys) in the local markets of Ghana were discovered to be a source of high transaction costs and risks. Finally, price fluctuation was discovered as a major marketing problem in all the data collection methods used.


The IceCube collaboration reported an ∼3.5σ excess of 13 ± 5 neutrino events in the direction of the blazar TXS 0506+056 during an ∼6 month period in 2014–2015, as well as the (∼3σ) detection of a high-energy muon neutrino during an electromagnetic flare in 2017. We explore the possibility that the 2014–2015 neutrino excess and the 2017 multimessenger flare are both explained in a common physical framework that relies on the emergence of a relativistic neutral beam in the blazar jet due to interactions of accelerated cosmic rays (CRs) with photons. We demonstrate that the neutral beam model provides an explanation for the 2014–2015 neutrino excess without violating X-ray and γ-ray constraints and yields results consistent with the detection of one high-energy neutrino during the 2017 flare. If both neutrino associations with TXS 05065+056 are real, our model requires that (i) the composition of accelerated CRs is light, with a ratio of helium nuclei to protons ≳5; (ii) a luminous external photon field (∼1046 erg s−1) variable (on yearlong timescales) is present; and (iii) the CR injection luminosity, as well as the properties of the dissipation region (i.e., Lorentz factor, magnetic field, and size), vary on yearlong timescales.


Radical changes in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), and changing context in Higher Education have placed academic libraries in Cameroon in crisis. Unprecedented changes in the information environment caused by ICTs has led to a digital revolution, causing academic libraries no choice but to move from one paradigm to another. Change and transition in this new dispensation is fundamental and irreversible. Consequence academic librarians are embracing new roles to satisfy the incessant changing needs of library patrons. This paper seeks to provide an understanding of academic libraries in Cameroon in the digital era. It takes up one of the critical issues concerning transition from traditional to digital as required in the digital information age. The paper discusses key paradigm shifts, major impetus of change, competencies for academic librarians, new roles and the way forward. The paper examines the situation of academic libraries in Cameroon, and establishes the urgent need for these libraries to accelerate transition to the new paradigm in order to remain relevant. This study is based on an in-depth review of literature and the author's experience, and personal points of view.


Dense media radiative transfer (DMRT) theory is used to study the multiple-scattering effects in active microwave remote sensing. Simplified DMRT phase matrices are obtained in the 1-2 frame. The simplified expressions facilitate solutions of the DMRT equations and comparisons with other phase matrices. First-order, second-order, and full multiple-scattering solutions of the DMRT equations are obtained. To solve the DMRT equation, we decompose the diffuse intensities into Fourier series in the azimuthal direction. Each harmonic is solved by the eigen-quadrature approach. The model is applied to the active microwave remote sensing of terrestrial snow. Full multiple-scattering effects are important as the optical thickness for snow at frequencies above 10 GHz often exceed unity. The results are illustrated as a function of frequency, incidence angle, and snow depth. The results show that cross polarization for the case of densely packed spheres can be significant and can be merely 6 to 8 dB below copolarization. The magnitudes of the cross polarization are consistent with the experimental observations. The results show that the active 13.5-GHz backscattering coefficients still have significant sensitivity to snow thickness even for snow thickness exceeding 1 m


In the present thesis, we analyze the Subgame Perfect Nash Equilibria (SPNE) of two different non-cooperative games. These games involve dynamic bankruptcy situations where agents have linear preferences over the set of possible allocations. We first consider a case where there are two agents and two periods (2x2) and, then, N agents and T periods (NxT). For the first game (the Steel Game) we characterize the equilibria under the renowned CEA rule. For the second game (the Hospital Game), we consider a more general set of rules. Namely, we prove that a certain strategy profile is an equilibrium under the rules that satisfy bounded impact of transfers and weak (strong) claims monotonicity for 2x2 (NxT) model and the payoffs of all equilibria are unique and equal to those of this profile's.


Multiple parents, especially multiple fathers, are a social reality but not a legal category. The assumption that every child has, or should have, two, but only two, parents remains a core operating assumption of family law. Yet at the same time, our knowledge of the existence of multiple fathers, whether birthfathers, stepfathers, psychological fathers or other categories, has found some reflection in cases that have granted some relational rights to fathers who do not fill the single place allotted for "legal father." In this Article, Professor Dowd proposes that it is time to think not if, but how, to recognize multiple fathers within the broader need to recognize multiple parents. Additionally, Professor Dowd explores how multiple-parenthood, and particularly multiple-fatherhood, might work. The author determines that the general principle of multiple-fatherhood is supported by the channelling function of family law, as well as the law's role to support affirmative cultural change. Part I of this Article looks at the context of fatherhood. Part II suggests the range of possible models of multiple-fatherhood, and advocates a model of shared but unequal coparenting with a core father. Part III considers some issues regarding implementation of this model. Professor Dowd concludes by returning to the law's channelling function and measuring the law's role in relation to culture.


New Jersey recently enacted legislation prohibiting the use of the Internet to lure or entice someone to a location with the purpose of committing a crime with or against that person or some other person. Most states have similar laws pertaining to pedophiles, but this is the first adult Internet luring statute. State measures to regulate the Internet, even in the context of criminal justice, will likely face constitutional challenge since the Internet has become such a critical vehicle for both protected speech and interstate commerce. Furthermore, while the use of the Internet in the commission of crimes against other persons is a new phenomenon, it is unclear whether new laws are the best solution, or whether other responses such as equipping police and investigators with more resources and training to properly enforce existing law would be more effective. This iBrief analyzes the issues New Jersey will face with its statute and the issues other states should be aware of when considering similar legislation.


A Objective. For government officials and health providers, elderly population - aged 65 and over, especially neurosurgical patient, represent a larger concern, an increasing problem not only for socio-economic reasons related to the medical act, but also for additional care requirements which should be done by the family and society, including rehabilitation facilities, occupational & physical therapy, speech therapists, visiting nurses, to insure an effective recuperation after hospital discharge. A retrospective study with 325 "elderly" patients cohort, aged 65 and over, admitted in the Neurosurgery Department undergoing common neurosurgical procedures, in the last five years offer an evaluation for neurosurgical procedures, outcomes, comorbidities, anaesthetic and analgesic requirements, outcome. Material and method . This study was performed on patients aged 65 years or older, with neurosurgical diseases, admitted to the Neurosurgery or the Intensive Care Unit of our hospital, between 2014-2019. An analysis was made on variables such as age, pathology, comorbidities, length of hospital stay especially in the ICU unit, type of cranio-cerebral or spinal procedures performed, anaesthesia protocols, complications, performance status, re-admissions and mortality. Results. Patients age were divided into three categories: between 65-70 years old there were 152 patients (46,76%), between 70-85 years old 93 patients (28.61%) and over 85 years old 80 patients (24,61%). 173 patients were females (53,23%), 152 were males (46.76 %). The admission Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score to those over 85 years old was between 3-12 in 29 cases (8.02%) with early death in 13 patients. Several comorbidities were noticed in 294 patients (90.15%): cardiac, pulmonary, hematologic especially coumarinic overdose, hepatic and renal failures, psychiatric illnesses, concomitant systemic disease or immunosuppressed patients by decompensated diabetes, primitive cancers affecting various organs, infectious diseases, also severe osteoporosis, chronic ethylic intoxication, limiting surgical attitude, also obtaining the informed consent for surgery. There were 154 (47,38%) patients with cerebral pathology and 171 (52,61%) patients with spinal pathology. Most common surgical procedures performed were: craniotomies for tumours and hematoma removal, minimal invasive procedures for spine, endovascular and vertebroplasty. The median length of stay for emergency patients was significantly longer than that of elective patients (13 vs. 8 days). For 215 (66.15%) patients general anaesthesia was performed, local anaesthesia in 97 (29.84%) patients, 13 patients (4%) were not operated. Good quality of life results appreciated by patients and relatives were recorded in 236 cases (72.61%) in the first and second category; less better results to those over 85 years old; same symptoms especially pain 63 patients (19.38%), complications to 47 patients (14,46%) especially cardiac, renal and respiratory failures, also motor deficits, seizures, CSF fistula, mortality in 26 cases (8%), re-admissions in 45 cases (13.84%) less than 1 month after discharge. Conclusions . Old prejudices that old age is a contraindication for surgery have to be removed. Clinical and surgical decisions for neurosurgical procedures in the elderly are decisive for limiting reported morbidity and mortality rates. For life quality, realistic family and society expectations, several aspects should be considered for safe and effective results: careful patient selection on patient status, comorbidities and physiological reserve; neurosurgical pathology, urgency of the surgical procedure, the strategy of neurosurgical management based on advances in imaging and interventional radiology, minimal invasive neurosurgical procedures with significant preoperative and postoperative care. Good results could be obtained even in elderly people for chronic subdural hematoma, simple brain or spinal tumour, good grade aneurysm, trigeminal pain, vertebroplasty in spinal vertebral fractures, etc.


Our preliminary data showed that VEGFR2 upregulation promoted renal ROS overproduction in high-fat diet- (HFD-) treated mice. Given that ROS-induced NLRP3 activation plays a central role in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetic kidney injury, we evaluate whether VEGFR2 upregulation induces type 2 diabetic kidney injury via ROS-mediated NLRP3 activation and further explore the underlying mechanism. Our results showed that VEGFR2 knockdown decreased ROS overproduction, blocked NLRP3-dependent inflammation, and alleviated kidney damage in HFD-treated mice. Treatment with α-lipoic acid, a scavenger of ROS, lowered ROS overproduction and alleviated NLRP3-triggered kidney injury of HFD-treated mice. Collectively, the VEGFR2/ROS/NLRP3 signal is a critical therapeutic strategy for the kidney injury of HFD-treated mice. Purple sweet potato color (PSPC), a natural anthocyanin, can exert renal protection by inhibiting ROS in HFD-treated mice. Here, we provide a novel mechanism of PSPC against renal damage in HFD-treated mice by downregulating VEGFR2 expression.


Development projects often evaluate their gender strategy by the proportion of female participants. However, female participation not necessarily coincides with reaching program objectives. With data from South-Kivu, we analyze whether targeting female farmers in agricultural extension programs increases the adoption of three technologies: improved legume varieties, row planting, and mineral fertilizer. We find that joint male and female program participation leads to the highest adoption rates, and that female participation is not conducive for the adoption of capital-intensive technologies while it is for (female) labor-intensive technologies, and that targeting female-headed households is more effective for technology adoption than targeting female farmers in male-headed households.


Maureen Meister Arts and Crafts Architecture: History and Heritage in New England Lebanon, N.H.: University Press of New England, 2014, 304 pp., 23 color and 120 b/w illus. $45, ISBN 9781611686623

In Arts and Crafts Architecture : History and Heritage in New England , Maureen Meister examines the work of twelve architects, eleven men and one woman, who took leadership roles in the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts from its founding in 1897 to 1917: Robert Day Andrews, George Edward Barton, Ralph Adams Cram, Lois Lilley Howe, Alexander Wadsworth "Waddy" Longfellow Jr., Charles Donagh Maginnis, Louis Chapell Newhall, William Edward Putnam Jr., George Russell Shaw, Richard Clipston Sturgis, Charles Howard Walker, and Herbert Langford Warren. The book provides useful biographical background on these architects, charts their intersections in Boston arts and social organizations, and glosses their building designs.

Meister's intention is to flesh out our understanding of the generation of Boston architects who studied design or worked as draftsmen in the 1870s (or so) and practiced through the interwar period. Focusing on those architects who were associated with the Society of Arts and Crafts, Meister aims to "examine this Boston-based architecture in a comprehensive way, locating the architects and their buildings within the social, political, and philosophical contexts of turn-of-the-twentieth-century New England" (8). Key in this regard is the intellectual legacy of British leaders of the Arts and Crafts movement—John Ruskin and William Morris—and their champions in Boston, especially Harvard's Charles Eliot Norton.

The body of work that Meister considers coincides historically with the production of New England architects who were brought to modern scholarly attention by Vincent J. Scully Jr.'s pioneering 1955 study The Shingle Style and the Stick Style and by a number of articles that appeared in the May 1973 issue of this journal.1

Framing the …


Hemicelluloses are polysaccharides in plant cell walls that have beta-(1-->4)-linked backbones with an equatorial configuration. Hemicelluloses include xyloglucans, xylans, mannans and glucomannans, and beta-(1-->3,1-->4)-glucans. These types of hemicelluloses are present in the cell walls of all terrestrial plants, except for beta-(1-->3,1-->4)-glucans, which are restricted to Poales and a few other groups. The detailed structure of the hemicelluloses and their abundance vary widely between different species and cell types. The most important biological role of hemicelluloses is their contribution to strengthening the cell wall by interaction with cellulose and, in some walls, with lignin. These features are discussed in relation to widely accepted models of the primary wall. Hemicelluloses are synthesized by glycosyltransferases located in the Golgi membranes. Many glycosyltransferases needed for biosynthesis of xyloglucans and mannans are known. In contrast, the biosynthesis of xylans and beta-(1-->3,1-->4)-glucans remains very elusive, and recent studies have led to more questions than answers.


Nobody can deny the close relationship between law and justice. As such, the law seems to be the recognised mechanism or tool in implementing justice in a society. Thus, justice to some is an inherent component of the law and not separate or distinct from it. Law as the legal rules which justice is administered are themselves the product of the state, and in Malaysia, they will be the product of the government of the day. These rules would have gone through the necessary procedures, which include drafting, debating in both Houses of the Parliament and given the Royal Assent by the Yang Di Pertuan Agong before being gazetted. In this context, based on existing literature, this article will be looking at whether the law in its approach and drafting has successfully implemented justice in society, especially on the employees and elderly in Malaysia.


A statistical framework to evaluate the perfor- mance of chemistry-climate models with respect to the inter- action between meteorology and column ozone during north- ern hemisphere mid-winter, in particularly January, is used. Different statistical diagnostics from four chemistry-climate models (E39C, ME4C, UMUCAM, ULAQ) are compared with the ERA-40 re-analysis. First, we analyse vertical co- herence in geopotential height anomalies as described by lin- ear correlations between two different pressure levels (30 and 200 hPa) of the atmosphere. In addition, linear correla- tions between column ozone and geopotential height anoma- lies at 200 hPa are discussed to motivate a simple picture of the meteorological impacts on column ozone on interan- nual timescales. Secondly, we discuss characteristic spatial structures in geopotential height and column ozone anoma- lies as given by their first two empirical orthogonal func- tions. Finally, we describe the covariance patterns between reconstructed anomalies of geopotential height and column ozone. In general we find good agreement between the mod- els with higher horizontal resolution (E39C, ME4C, UMU- CAM) and ERA-40. The Pacific-North American (PNA) pat- tern emerges as a useful qualitative benchmark for the model performance. Models with higher horizontal resolution and high upper boundary (ME4C and UMUCAM) show good agreement with the PNA tripole derived from ERA-40 data, including the column ozone modulation over the Pacfic sec- tor. The model with lowest horizontal resolution does not show a classic PNA pattern (ULAQ), and the model with the lowest upper boundary (E39C) does not capture the PNA re- lated column ozone variations over the Pacific sector. Those discrepancies have to be taken into account when providing confidence intervals for climate change integrations.


The paper is supposed to establish a non-dimensional approach to analyze the free vibration of axially loaded beams with different kinds of boundary conditions, based on the Timoshenko's beam theory and the method of separation of variables. When the mode-shapes and frequencies are known, it is convenient to get the equivalent load vector, equivalent mass matrix and the frequencies matrix, then, the characteristics of vibration of axially loaded beams will be obtained by the approach. The results and conclusions were also helpful to the anti-blast analysis of columns


The Anabasis of Alexander by Arrian (ca. 95 175 BCE) is the best extant account of Alexander the Great s adult life. A description of India and of Nearchus voyage thence, was to be a supplement.


Coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics on Australian television was dominated by images and sounds of Laurie Lawrence, coach of Australia's only male gold medal winner, two hundred meter swimmer Duncan Armstrong. Lawrence's body and brain were analyzed, depicted, cut up, slowed down, and repeated more than his charge's, a reaction to the fact that he screamed, cried, and dove into the pool during the medal ceremony (Miller, 1990). I am especially interested here in the moment when the camera pans to the coach as he leaps to his feet and shouts, "We won! We won!" At once, this is spectacular - at least for the moment - and also a very ordinary (perhaps even forgettable) every day event. But is there something in its ordinariness that turns out to be very important for understanding sport and culture? If so, then an ethnomethodological treatment can bring this out.


Abstract The text offers a new German translation of Kūkai's famous text Shōjijissōgi, An Interpretation of the terms 'voice', 'sign' and 'real marks'. The translators make ample use of earlier translations of the text into English and German, but put more emphasis on the historical context of Kūkai's early work. The Shōjijissōgi is often praised as an original contribution to the Buddhist discourse about language. Most modern commentators neglect, however, that Kūkai wrote his text as a response to the dominance of the Hossō School in Kūkai's times and thus refers to this school in many different ways. These direct and indirect references are discussed in the footnotes of this new translation, but the new approach to the text's historical background also influenced the translation of the text's technical vocabulary. This new translation, therefore, opens up new perspectives on an important text of Japan's intellectual history and on the history of the Buddhist discourse on language.


This thesis presents new data on the volcanology, erupted volumes, and sulphur emissions of the AD 1362 Orӕfajokull eruption and the AD 1730-36 Lanzarote eruption, and relates these findings to their atmospheric and environmental impacts. The Orӕfajokull eruption was an explosive Plinian event with high eruption columns (~30 Ian) that produced an extensive tephra-fall and a small pyroclastic flow deposit (~2 km3 total volume). In contrast, the Lanzarote eruption was a long-lasting basaltic fissure eruption involving Hawaiian and Strombolian fire fountain activity (eruption plumes 8-16 km high) generating a scoria fall deposit and lava flows (~5 km3 total volume). Chapter 1 introduces the effects of volcanic gas release, and highlights the importance of SO2. In chapter 2, I provide a critical assessment of the petrologic method used to estimate the sulphur release from a volcanic eruption. The petrologic method uses the difference in sulphur concentrations between melt inclusions and matrix glasses, measured by electron microprobe, scaled to the mass of erupted magma, and corrected for the magma crystal content. I show that it provides estimates for sulphur degassing from non-arc, basaltic, reduced magmas that are similar to independent satellite measurements (TOMS). Using this technique, the AD 1362 Orӕfajokulll eruption is estimated to have released only ~0.6 Mt of SO2 into the stratosphere - supported by lack of an ice core acidity peak. The major environmental hazard resulting from this eruption was large volumes of pumice and ash injected into the upper atmosphere and its subsequent fallout over a wide area (chapter 3). The Lanzarote eruption released at least 45 Mt of SO2. This was determined using a new technique based on the correlation between S and incompatible element (K, P, Ti) ratios (S/I); knowing this ratio the original S content of a degassed liquid can be calculated from its concentration of I. The release of SO2 from the Lanzarote eruption is shown to have caused significant climatic perturbations - as demonstrated in the climate proxy record (chapter 4).


Fisher linear discriminant analysis (LDA) involves within-class and between-class covariance matrices. For 2-D data such as images, regularized LDA (RLDA) can improve LDA due to the regularized eigenvalues of the estimated within-class matrix. However, it fails to consider the eigenvectors and the estimated between-class matrix. To improve these two matrices simultaneously, we propose in this paper a new two-stage method for 2-D data, namely a bidirectional LDA (BLDA) in the first stage and the RLDA in the second stage, where both BLDA and RLDA are based on the Fisher criterion that tackles correlation. BLDA performs the LDA under special separable covariance constraints that incorporate the row and column correlations inherent in 2-D data. The main novelty is that we propose a simple but effective statistical test to determine the subspace dimensionality in the first stage. As a result, the first stage reduces the dimensionality substantially while keeping the significant discriminant information in the data. This enables the second stage to perform RLDA in a much lower dimensional subspace, and thus improves the two estimated matrices simultaneously. Experiments on a number of 2-D synthetic and real-world data sets show that BLDA+RLDA outperforms several closely related competitors.


We present and experimentally validate a model describing the sensitivity of the tilt angle, expansion, and the propulsion velocity of a tin micro-droplet irradiated by a 1 μm Nd:YAG laser pulse to its relative alignment. This sensitivity is particularly relevant in industrial plasma sources of extreme ultraviolet light for nanolithographic applications. Our model has but a single parameter: the dimensionless ratio of the laser spot size to the effective size of the droplet, which is related to the position of the plasma critical density surface. Our model enables the development of straightforward scaling arguments, in turn enabling precise control of the alignment sensitivity.


rRNA homologies have been determined on reference strains representing 56 species of Clostridium. Competition experiments using tritium-labelled 23S rRNA were employed. The majority of the species had DNA with 27 to 28% guanine plus cytosine (%GC). These fell into rRNA homology groups I and II, which were well defined, and a third group which consisted of species which did not belong in groups I and II. Species whose DNA was 41 to 45% GC comprised a fourth group. Thirty species were placed into rRNA homology group I on the basis of having 50% or greater homology with Clostridium butyricum, C. perfringens, C. carnis, C. sporogenes, C. novyi or C. pasteurianum. Ten subgroups were delineated in homology group I. Species in each subgroup either had high homology with a particular reference species or a similar pattern of homologies to all of the reference organisms. The eleven species in rRNA homology group II had 69% or greater homology to C. lituseburense. Species in groups I and II had intergroup homologies of 20 to 40%. The six species in group II had very low homologies with groups I and II. Negligible homology also resulted when five of the species were tested against the sixth, C. ramosum. The five species having DNA with 41 to 45% GC were C. innocuum, C. sphenoides, C. indolis, C. barkeri and C. orotic um. Little rRNA homology was apparent between C. innocuum and the other high % GC species or with several Bacillus species having similar %GC DNA. Correlations between homology results and phenotypic characteristics are discussed.


The importance of the protein ingestion during the adult stage on the mating success of males of Ceratitis capitata Wiedemann was evaluated in experiments of laboratory and field cage. In laboratory, the effects of protein ingestion during the first four or 12 days of the male adult life was assessed by the following parameters: mating success (capacity of being chosen by the female) and the number of males that give out pheromonal signals. Some experiments of mating success had been carried through with males in different ratios. In these tests, the number of males which had ingested protein (an unique male) was remained constant and the number of males fed without protein was gradually increased from 1:1 to 1:5. In the field cages, the mating success experiments were done using a 1:1 ratio. The results showed that the protein ingestion in the first four days of life did not influence any of the analyzed parameters. When the period of ingestion of protein was extended to 12 days, protein-fed males fed produced more pheromonal signals and had a higher mating success when at a 1:1 ratio in laboratory and field cage assays. In laboratory, females randomly chose males in any other tested ratio (1:2, 1:3, 1:4 and 1:5), indicating that the female may lose the perception to identify the male who ingested protein in the first 12 days.


Aggregation and cytotoxicity of misfolded α-synuclein is postulated to be crucial in the disease process of neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease and DLB (dementia with Lewy bodies). In this study, we detected misfolded and aggregated α-synuclein in a Triton X-100 insoluble fraction as well as a high molecular weight product by gel electrophoresis of temporal neocortex from DLB patients but not from controls. We also found similar Triton X-100 insoluble forms of α-synuclein in an α-synuclein transgenic mouse model and in an in vitro model of α-synuclein aggregation. Introducing the molecular chaperone Hsp70 into the in vivo model by breeding α-synuclein transgenic mice with Hsp70-overexpressing mice led to a significant reduction in both the high molecular weight and detergent-insoluble α-synuclein species. Concomitantly, we found that Hsp70 overexpression in vitro similarly reduced detergent-insoluble α-synuclein species and protected cells from α-synuclein-induced cellular toxicity. Taken together, these data demonstrate that the molecular chaperone Hsp70 can reduce the amount of misfolded, aggregated α-synuclein species in vivo and in vitro and protect it from α-synuclein-dependent toxicity.


Previous studies have used recombinant adeno-associated viral (rAAV) vectors to deliver glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) in the substantia nigra to protect the nigral dopamine (DA) neurons from 6-hydroxydopamine-induced damage. However, no regeneration or functional recovery was observed in these experiments. Here, we have used an rAAV-GDNF vector to express GDNF long-term (6 months) in either the nigral DA neurons themselves, in the striatal target cells, or in both of these structures. The results demonstrate that both nigral and striatal transduction provide significant protection of nigral DA neurons against the toxin-induced degeneration. However, only the rats receiving rAAV-GDNF in the striatum displayed behavioral recovery, accompanied by significant reinnervation of the lesioned striatum, which developed gradually over the first 4–5 months after the lesion. GDNF transgene expression was maintained at high levels throughout this period. These results provide evidence that rAAV is a highly efficient vector system for long-term expression of therapeutic proteins in the nigrostriatal system.


A 22-year-old female first presented with a fibrillary astrocytoma in the left temporal region manifesting as complex partial seizure. She underwent left temporal craniotomy to remove the tumor. Surgery was uneventful, but she began to experience a blocked feeling in the left ear after surgery. Computed tomography (CT) obtained 3 weeks after surgery revealed persistent extradural air collection, which developed into an enlarged extradural air mass on follow-up CT obtained 8 months after surgery. She underwent additional surgery for obliteration of the pneumatocele by sealing the mastoidal fenestration with abdominal fat. She reported resolution of the symptom postoperatively. Extradural pneumatocele following temporal craniotomy is extremely rare, but is a possible surgical complication of opening of the mastoid sinuses.


A preliminary report is made of 11 patients of childbearing age treated for symptomatic uterine prolapse by a suspension technic employing straps of external oblique aponeurosis according to the method of Williams and Richardson. In a relatively short period of follow-up, the operative results have been excellent in all patients. The procedure does not interfere with childbearing function; 2 of the 11 patients have subsequently had a term pregnancy without recurrence of prolapse.


Fab fragments from hybridoma HEd 10 [Lee, J. S., Lewis, J.R., Morgan, A.R., Mosmann, T.R., & Singh, B. (1981) Nucleic Acids Res. 9, 1707-1721] were prepared in large amounts by papain digestion of the immunoglobulin G (IgG) fraction from ascites fluid. Binding data were generated by a fluorescence quenching technique, and binding constants [K(0)] were estimated from Scatchard plots. The Fab fragments bound tightly to poly(dT) [K(0) = 12.7 X 10(6) M-1], and analysis of binding constants for the series p(dT)2 to p(dT)17 showed that the recognition sequence consisted of four consecutive residues. The effect of ionic strength on the interaction suggested that only two phosphates were involved. Binding constants for poly(dU), poly[d(brU)], poly[d(brC)], and poly(rU) were 1.0 X 10(6) M-1, 18.8 X 10(6) M-1, 0.5 X 10(6) M-1, and less than 0.5 X 10(6) M-1, respectively, implicating the involvement of the 3, 4, and 5 positions of the pyrimidine ring as well as the deoxyribose sugar in the recognition process. At high ionic strength (0.5 M) K(0) for whole IgG binding to poly(dT) was 75 X 10(6) M-1 compared to a value of 1.1 X 10(6) M-1 for the Fab fragment. These results may have implications for the tissue damage caused by DNA-containing immune complexes in systemic lupus erythematosus.


This paper introduces the RoboCup-Rescue Simulation Project, a contribution to the disaster mitigation, search and rescue problem. A comprehensive urban disaster simulator is constructed on distributed computers. Heterogeneous intelligent agents such as fire fighters, victims and volunteers conduct search and rescue activities in this virtual disaster world. A real world interface integrates various sensor systems and controllers of infrastructures in the real cities with the virtual world. Real-time simulation is synchronized with actual disasters, computing complex relationship between various damage factors and agent behaviors. A mission-critical man-machine interface provides portability and robustness of disaster mitigation centers, and augmented-reality interfaces for rescue parties in real disasters. It also provides a virtual reality training function for the public. This diverse spectrum of RoboCup-Rescue contributes to the creation of the safer social system.


In two incentivized auditing experiments, participants who choose to acquire evidence adjust for the risk revealed by that evidence to a lesser extent than those who obtain the same evidence without investigative action, controlling for the diagnostic value of evidence. This finding follows from mental accounting and information choice theories, which in combination predict that choosing to undertake effortful investigation can magnify aversion to costly adjustments. In our first experiment, effort choice reduces adjustments only when the same participants make both decisions, not when different participants make these decisions in noninteractive pairs. We observe consistent findings in a second experiment that pairs all participants and allows interaction, with effort choice reducing adjustments only when participants responsible for evidence perceive high involvement in the adjustment decisions made by their paired counterparts. A potential implication of our study is that emerging audit technologies that facilitate evidence collection could also enhance auditor independence.


There is little question that Vladimir Putin's Kremlin is developing a strategy to preserve power beyond the 2007-2008 election cycle. There is also little question that neither his potential political rivals nor we will know what that strategy is until very late in the game. Just as Yeltsin did before him, Putin will reveal his plan at the last possible moment. The logic of waiting is inescapable. Regardless of the ultimate strategy— amending the constitution to remove the restrictions on reelection, rule through a dominant party within the confines of a parliamentary system, or appointing a malleable successor—revealing the Kremlin's intent would provide potential opponents time to formulate effective strategies and coalitions and/or render President Putin a lame duck. Any indications of the future prior to spring 2008 should be taken with a grain of salt as Putin works to manipulate uncertainty to his own advantage.


~" The authors present a consecutive series of 145 patients admitted to the Institute of Neurosurgery of Rome University with an intracranial arteriovenous malformation (AVM). Of these, 95 received surgical care, and 50 were treated conservatively. Total removal of the AVM was performed in all but three of the patients treated surgically, and all underwent postoperative angiography. The postoperative mortality was 6.3%. A long-term follow-up study showed a mortality rate of 20% in the group of patients receiving conservative treatment, while no recurrence of bleeding was observed in the surgical group. The choice of treatment of these malformations is still an open question. The authors' contribution to the discussion is based on the late results of both surgical and conservative treatment.


BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Patients undergoing upper endoscopy have often used proton pump inhibitors (PPI) and/or antibiotics (ABx) recently. Both drugs have been associated with a poorer yield of the Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) diagnostic tests. The aim was to assess the accuracy of the polymerase chain reaction test (qPCR), histological exam (HE) and ultra-fast urease test (UFUT) for H. pylori detection in patients that recently used PPI or ABx.

METHODS
Prospective study recruiting 206 patients who underwent upper endoscopy and gastric biopsies. Demographics and use of PPI/ABx were obtained. Sensibility (Sn), specificity (Sp), predictive value (PV), likelihood ratio (LR) and PABAK concordance index, were calculated, considering as the gold standard the positivity of 2 out of 3 analyzed tests. A global analysis and another one based on the PPI/ABx intake were performed.

RESULTS
48.5% of patients used PPI and 12.8% ABx within the 2 and 4 weeks prior to endoscopy, respectively. The UFUT was positive in 13.1% of patients, HE in 34% and qPCR in 35.9%. UFUT achieved lower Sn (37%) than HE (98%) and qPCR (98%) (p<0.001) overall. ABx were associated with lower Sn in HE (p=0.04) and lower Sp in qPCR (p=0.03). PPI did not associate with a significant drop in Sn and Sp. The concordance between HE and qPCR was 0.83 (95%CI: 0.73-0.89).

CONCLUSIONS
Under real world conditions, the accuracy and concordance of HE and qPCR to diagnose H. pylori were excellent, but UFUT achieved unsatisfactory outcomes. The intake of ABx was associated with the worse performance, fundamentally for HE. The PPI did not reduce the tests' yield significantly.


Objective: To assess the incoherence rates between prostate biopsies and radical prostatectomy specimens with the use of the International Society of Urological Pathology grading system and to identify the related factors.
Materials and Methods: 89 radical prostatectomy patients were analyzed retrospectively. Patients with Gleason score≥6 were included to the study. Patients' prostate spesific antigen levels, digital rectal examination, prostate biopsy parameters, prostate cancer risk groups and final prostatectomy pathologies were examined. Gleason scores and International Society of Urological Pathology grades of prostate biopsy and prostatectomy specimens were compared. The coherence, upgrading and downgrading rates of pathologies assessed and related factors were identified.
Results: Patients' mean age was 63.1±6.0 years. Prostate spesific antigen levels ranged from 2.8 to 114.0ng/mL(mean:14.8±16.7). The mean number of cores biopsied was 10.9±3.1. Number of patients in low, intermediate and high risk group were 27(30.3%), 34(38.2%) and 28(31.5%) respectively. The coherence, upgrading and downgrading rates according to International Society of Urological Pathology grading were 49.4%, 33.7% and 16.9% respectively. The low risk prostate cancer group showed the most coherent pathologies with the rate of 70.4%(p<0.05, both for International Society of Urological Pathology grading and Gleason scoring). There was no significant relation between prostate spesific antigen level, number of cores biopsied, percentage of cancer involvement, presence of perineural invasion coherence, upgrading and downgrading. Also no significant difference found between coherent, upgrading and downgrading pathologies with respect to the time to radical prostatectomy.
Conclusion: The incoherence between prostate biopsy and radical prostatectomy is challenging. Risk of upgrading and downgrading should be considered in decision making. Low risk prostate cancer shows the most coherent pathology between prostate biopsy and radical prostatectomy.


Rice blast caused by Magnaporthe grisea and sheath blight caused by Rhizoctonia solani are the major diseases affecting the rice production. Application of beneficial bacteria as seed or seedling root dip to protect these diseases may be an alternative strategies to chemical control. In this study, fluorescent Pseudomonads isolated from rice seedlings were used to screen for their antagonistic ability and siderophore mediated antibiosis under in-vitro conditions against these pathogens. Among, 10 isolates, strain P.f 003 gave significantly higher inhibition of mycelial growth of M. grisea and R. solani. Strains of P.f 001, P.f 003, P.f 005 and P.f 007 produced siderophores when grown on Fe deficient and Fe fortified King's B medium. These strains again tested for their in-vitro antagonistic activity against M. grisea and R. solani on King's B media with or without FeCl3. Our results showed that all these strains significantly reduced the growth of M. grisea and R. solani with FeCl3 in the media compared to without FeCl3. Strain P.f 003 activity was superior compared to other strains evaluated.


The paper proposes a new real-time unrevised indicator tracking medium-to-long-term component in the quarterly growth of the euro area GDP. The new indicator is based on recently developed real-time filtration methodology, the multivariate direct filter approach, applied to selected business and consumer survey and share price data. The new indicator is found to have led another established indicator, the Eurocoin, by about three months since mid-2009 and be about coincident with but smoother than the PMI. In addition to the euro area aggregate indicator, the paper presents prototypical indicators for four biggest EU economies – Germany, France, the UK and Italy. Overall, the described filter approach appears to be able to provide somewhat better results in tracking business cycle developments than other widely used approaches.


Agents that augment cerebral blood flow (CBF) could be potential treatments for vascular cognitive impairment. Phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors are vasodilating drugs established in the treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED) and pulmonary hypertension. We reviewed published data on the effects of phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors on CBF in adult humans. A systematic review according to PRISMA guidelines was performed. Embase, Medline and Cochrane Library Trials databases were searched. Sixteen studies with 353 participants in total were retrieved. Studies included healthy volunteers and patients with migraine, ED, type 2 diabetes, stroke, pulmonary hypertension, Becker muscular dystrophy and subarachnoid haemorrhage. Most studies used middle cerebral artery flow velocity to estimate CBF. Few studies employed direct measurements of tissue perfusion. Resting CBF velocity was unaffected by phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors, but cerebrovascular regulation was improved in ED, pulmonary hypertension, diabetes, Becker's and a group of healthy volunteers. This evidence suggests that phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors improve responsiveness of the cerebral vasculature, particularly in disease states associated with an impaired endothelial dilatory response. This supports the potential therapeutic use of phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors in vascular cognitive impairment where CBF is reduced. Further studies with better resolution of deep CBF are warranted. The review is registered on the PROSPERO database (registration number CRD42016029668).