Hippocrates first wrote of the association of urinary tract infection with urinary calculi. Modern research has established the causal relationship between "infection stones" and the presence of urinary infection with urease-producing organisms. Treatment and preventive measures can be based on antimicrobial activity and urease inhibition as well as the eradication of the calculi. The development of endourologic and, particularly, extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy techniques for removing stones may expand the importance of the pharmacologic control of recurrence and stone growth.


Quartz overgrowths are among the most volumetrically significant diagenetic phases in sandstones. Many combined petrographic and geochemical studies of quartz overgrowths rely heavily on the long-held underlying assumption of their stability. This study, of SEM-cathodoluminescence (SEM-CL) imaging of quartz overgrowths from the Jurassic Khatatba Formation of Egypt, calls this assumption into question. These overgrowths preserve spectacular SEM-CL textures that can be interpreted as recrystallization fabrics. There are three major growth zones in the overgrowths, Q1 to Q3. In the first (Q1), fine SEM-CL zoning is preserved, some with relict fibrous textures and smooth or bulging growth surfaces. These textures could indicate initial precipitation as opaline silica, chalcedony, microquartz, or some phase other than coarse quartz overgrowth. In Q1 there are discordant areas, locally showing smooth and scalloped boundaries, and filled with quartz with the SEM-CL character of later growth zones. Such textures suggest that earlier zones were crosscut by later phases of quartz. The smooth and scalloped boundaries, and their position in the overall framework of cements and grains, are in places inconsistent with simple fracturing, but are consistent with dissolution of earlier growth zones, followed by filling with later quartz. These features suggest that earlier growth zones were unstable and were replaced by coarsely crystalline quartz overgrowth. Such observations, and other empirical and chemical considerations, suggest that, in some cases, quartz overgrowths may result from recrystallization of less stable quartz and silica phases. Thus, any study of sandstone diagenesis, focused on quartz overgrowths, should take this possibility into account.


Flagellin genes (fliC) were detected in two species of the genus Shigella. The fliCSF gene cloned from Shigella flexneri produced normal‐type flagella in an Escherichia coli δ fliC strain while the fliCSS genes from two Shigella sonnei strains produced curly‐type flagella and their expression is repressible by Salmonella FljA repressor. The fliCSF gene (1650bp) shared high similarity with the E. coli fliCE gene not only in the 5′ and 3′ constant sequences but also in the upstream and downstream sequences. The fliCS genes (1572 bp) shared high similarity with the Salmonella typhimurium fliCs gene in the operator and 3'constant sequences and also shared high similarity with the fliCE gene in the downstream sequence, suggesting that the fliC gene has undergone horizontal transfer and recombination. Differences In nucleotide sequences of the central variable regions among the four fliC genes, including fliCE and fliCS, suggest that they started differentiation in each lineage approximately 80 million years ago. Loss of motility in Shigella seems to be evolutionarily a recent event.


Abstract : Transient stress-wave experiments on laminated composites are described, and the results are compared with theoretical predictions. The composites are laminated from alternating layers of high- and low-modulus material, which cause a high degree of geometric dispersion of waves propagating in the composite. Experiments were conducted in which waves propagated parallel to the laminations. Flat plates were subjected to spatially uniform pressure with step-function time dependence induced by a gasdynamic shock wave. Under this loading, the central portion of the specimen initially responds as if it were laterally unbounded. The average velocity over a 3/8-in.-diam. area of the backface of the plate was measured with a capacitance gauge. The results are in good agreement with theoretical predictions made with a long-time asymptotic approximation called the head-of-the-pulse approximation. The principal conclusions are based on the agreement between experiment and theory. The experimental technique is demonstrably effective, and the theoretical predictions based on the head-of-the-pulse approximation are qualitatively correct and of reasonable quantitative accuracy. (Author)


Mungbean (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek ssp. radiata) is an economically important crop in Asian countries where breeding research is being undertaken to improve varietal adaptation, yield and seed quality. The wild mungbean (ssp. sublobata) is a potentially useful adjunct to breeding, as the wild accessions possess traits that confer adaptation in their natural environments. The wild accession ACC 87 collected near Townsville has been identified as being perennial, a potentially useful trait for forage crop improvement. Accession ACC 1, from Mackay is very late flowering and was reported to possibly have a long juvenile (LJ) trait similar to that found in soybean. Before these and other potentially useful wild traits can be exploited, information is needed on their inheritance. Therefore, a study was conducted to examine the inheritance of traits in four hybrid cultivated X wild mungbean populations. The study examined the expression of traits in the parental plants, and the F1, F2, BCP1 and BCP2 progeny generations, when grown under controlled conditions in pots. The four genetic populations had been created by hybridizing using two cultivated mungbean varieties, Berken and Kiloga, with each of two wild parents, ACC 1 and ACC 87.

Several morphological traits, including lobed leaflet shape, seed testa and hilum color, and plant habit were found to be under simple (qualitative) genetic control, with the wild type generally dominant. An exception was putative resistance to powdery mildew infection in the wild accessions, which appeared to be recessive. Many other traits like phenology, nodes per plant, seed yield and biomass were under quantitative genetic control. The perenniality trait in ACC 87 appeared to be under simple genetic control, with expression of perenniality due to two dominant complementary genes. In contrast, flowering in the two ACC 1 populations appeared to be quantitatively inherited, with no evidence of a LJ trait. There were many similarities in the genetic control of both qualitative and quantitative traits among the four hybrid populations, with only small differences due to the different cultivated parents. However, larger differences were apparent between the populations involving ACC 1 and ACC 87.

Estimates of narrow sense heritability were high for many of the qualitatively inherited traits, indicating high additive genetic variance for those traits, and thus the capacity for genetic gain through selection. Transgressive segregation occurred for most of the quantitative traits in one or more of the four crosses, indicating the potential value of the wild germplasm in broadening the phenotypic range available to plant breeders. Several phenotypic and genotypic interrelations found between many of the wild traits among the four crosses. In particular, there were several significant genetic correlations among quantitative traits, indicating that selection for one of the traits should result in genetic advance in the other.

The study confirmed earlier research that Australian accessions of the wild mungbean can be considered part of the primary gene pool of the cultivated mungbean. Consequently, the wild accessions provide an additional source of triats potentially useful for mungbean improvement. The study also established that traits of possible commercial interest, perenniality and powdery mildew resistance, were qualitatively inherited and thus should be readily transferrable into cultivated varieties. While the study failied to identify the presence of a LJ trait, it suggested that the wild germplasm could be a useful source of lateness genes for breeding vegetatively vigorous forage or cover crop varieties of mungbean.


Shared, segmented, on-chip interconnection networks, known as networks-on-chip (NoC), may become the preferred way of interconnecting intellectual property (IP) cores in future giga-scale system-on-chip (SoC) designs. A NoC can provide the required communication bandwidth while accommodating the effects of scaling microchip technologies. Equally important, a NoC facilitates a truly modular and scalable design flow. The MANGO (message-passing asynchronous network-on-chip providing guaranteed services over open core protocol (OCP) interfaces) NoC is presented, and how its key characteristics (clockless implementation, standard socket access points, and guaranteed communication services) make MANGO suitable for a modular SoC design flow is explained. Among the advantages of using clockless circuit techniques are inherent global timing closure, low forward latency in pipelines, and zero dynamic idle power consumption. Time division multiplexing, generally used to provide bandwidth guarantees in clocked NoCs, however, is not possible in a clockless environment. MANGO provides an alternative, high-performance solution to providing hard, connection-oriented service guarantees, using clockless circuit techniques. In-depth circuit details are presented, and the 0.13 /spl mu/m standard cell implementation of a 5/spl times/5 routing node, for use in a mesh type NoC, is described.


Essays on Asset Pricing and Downside Risk Bruno Cara Giovannetti This dissertation contributes to the recent and diverse literature on the relation between downside risk and asset prices. In chapter one, we use a famous quote among professional investors, "focus on the downside, and the upside will take care of itself", to motivate a representative consumer-investor who only cares about the downside. The consumption-based asset pricing model that emerges from this idea explains the main existing puzzles found within the asset pricing literature. These include the equity premium and the risk-free rate puzzles, the countercyclicality of the equity premium and the procyclicality of the risk-free rate. The model is parsimonious, requiring only three preference-related parameters: the time discount factor, the elasticity of intertemporal substitution, and the downside risk aversion. When we use the model to understand the relation between returns and consumption in the US, we find that the fitted parameter values are consistent with what is expected from the micro foundations. In chapter two, we show that the model proposed in chapter one can also explain the financial puzzles in other developed countries. This is an important step in the empirical validation of the model. The estimated parameters are robust across highly capitalized countries and qualitatively close to the ones obtained for the US. Moreover, the risk measure under the quantile utility model can better justify the differences in risk premia across countries when compared to the risk measure under the expected utility model. In chapter three, we evaluate the effect of margin requirements on asset prices, an additional channel for the relation between downside risk and prices. We provide evidences of the existence of an aggregate margin-related premium in the economy. In particular, we show that (i) a margin-related factor is able to predict future excess returns of the S&P 500 and (ii) stocks with high betas on the margin-related factor pay on average higher returns compared those with low margin betas. These result are important not only to understand asset prices, but also the unconventional polices implemented by the Fed during the great recession of 2007-2010. Although data on margin requirements for the S&P 500 futures are publicly available, it is in general very hard to obtain information on margins for other assets. Given that, we also propose a nonparametric model for estimating margins as a function of the asset's value at risk. This is theoretically justifiable and has good empirical results.


The synaptosomes from canine ileal deep muscular plexus possess a nitric oxide (NO)-sensitive soluble guanylate cyclase, as demonstrated by approximately 3- to 4-fold elevation of synaptosomal cyclic GMP levels in the presence of either 1 mM sodium nitroprusside or L-arginine (20-1,000 microM) plus 1 mM NADPH. The activating effect of L-arginine on synaptosomal soluble guanylate cyclase was related to its enzymatic conversion to citrulline by NO synthase. The synaptosomal NO synthase was found to exhibit both calcium-independent and calcium/calmodulin-dependent components accounting for approximately 2- to 2.5-fold and 7- to 8-fold increases in the basal activity, respectively. The absolute magnitude of these activities was several-fold greater compared to the activities observed in the isolated cells of circular smooth muscle. The synaptosomal Ca-independent and Ca/calmodulin-dependent NO synthase activities were inhibited by methylene blue and L-NG-arginine methyl ester. The NO synthase activity was also attenuated in the presence of cyclic AMP (10 microM). Such an inhibition was related primarily to the suppression of Ca-independent activity. The ability of enteric nerves to generate NO from L-arginine strongly suggests the involvement of this process in the biochemical mechanisms underlying the neurogenic control of intestinal motility.


Lignin modifying enzyme (LME) activity [laccase, lignin peroxidase (LiP) and manganese peroxidase (MnP)] was studied in two indigenously isolated white rot fungi, Ganoderma species KX879638 and Lentinus species KY006984 under solid state fermentation (SSF) of wheat bran and saw dust supplemented with various non-ionic polysorbate surfactants (Tweens) and Triton X-100. Both fungal species proved to be highly ligninolytic and promising laccase producers. Their laccase activity increased many folds due to supplementation of substrates with surfactants. Among surfactants, Tween 20 was the best, giving 39180 IU/g laccase in Ganoderma spp. and 37780 IU/g in Lentinus spp. on wheat bran corresponding to 3.8- and 10.6-fold increase over control condition. Triton X-100 was the best surfactant providing 29380 and 19877 IU/g laccase activity in Ganoderma spp. and Lentinus spp. on saw dust amounting to 2.9- and 3.9-fold increase over control condition, respectively. Ganoderma spp. always produced more laccase than Lentinus spp. on supplemented substrates. Between substrates, laccase production on supplementation was always more on wheat bran than saw dust. LiP and MnP activities were very low in comparison with laccase in both fungi under control conditions (1.92 to 4.07 IU/g and 0.98 to 2.07 IU/g, respectively) and upon treatment with surfactants; they did not show an appreciable change, thus, supplementation mediated ratio between laccase to LiP/MnP was larger.

 Key words: White rot fungi, solid state fermentation, surfactants, laccase, lignin peroxidase, manganese peroxidase.


PURPOSE
To compare the erectile function and urinary continence of patients after single-port transvesical laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (STLRP) with intrafascial endoscopic extraperitoneal radical prostatectomy (IEERP).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Patients treated with STLRP (35) or IEERP (52) were recruited from September 2013 to June 2017. At baseline preoperatively and 2-year follow-up postoperatively, sex and continence assessments were performed by International Index of Erectile Function-6 (IIEF-6) and daily pads, respectively.

RESULTS
The sexual function at 3 months after RP declined obviously. 71.4% (STLRP) and 38.5% (IEERP) patients recovered potency at 6 months postoperatively (P < .01). 82.9% (STLRP) and 59.6% (IEERP) patients recovered potency at 2 years postoperatively (P < .05). 97.1% (STLRP) and 75.0% (IEERP) patients recovered continence (0 pad/day) at 3 months postoperatively (P < .01). Continence achieved 100.0% at 2 years after RP in both groups.

CONCLUSION
Patients receiving STLRP may obtain better and faster postoperative functional recovery than the ones receiving IEERP. As an exploratory research, STLRP may be another effective treatment for organ-confined prostate cancer.


Whole blood viscosities were measured in U.S. Navy personnel before and after chamber compressions to 5 ATA (132FSW) and 7.4 ATA (210 FSW) by a new method described here. Bubble scores as a quantitative measure of venous gas emboli were determined during decompression and for 30 min thereafter. Hematocrit was measured both before and after each dive. There were five cases of decompression sickness in the two groups. No significant changes in whole blood viscosity, or hematocrit, were noted either in the group that was affected by decompression sickness or in all of the subjects taken as a group. No correlations between total bubble score and changes in viscosity or hematocrit could be made. These results imply that no major changes in viscosity occur in the usual forms of decompression sickness encountered in human beings.


One way of mutation breeding in sugarcane is to expose in vitro growing calli to gamma ray,
regenerate the calli into plants, and then evaluate the plants . This research sought to study in vitro plant
regeneration of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) calli and to determine LD50 of gamma ray for
irradiation of embryogenic calli. The research was conducted at The Plant Laboratory, The University
of Lampung, Lampung, Indonesia in 2014. Leafrolls of sugarcane were cultured on callus-inducing
(CI) medium containing MS salts, 30 g L-1 sucrose, 100 mg L-1 myo-inositol, 150 m L-1 coconut water,
0.1 mg L-1 thiamine-HCl, 0.5 mg L-1 pyridoxine-HCl, 0.5 mg L-1 nicotinic acid, 2 mg L-1 glycine, and
3 mg L-1 2,4-D. The embryogenic calli were cultured on shoot-inducing (SI) medium which was the
same as the CI medium, except that the SI medium used 2.5 mg L-1 benzyladenine and no coconut
water. Shoots were rooted on root-inducing (RI) medium containing different concentrations of
indolebutyric acid (IBA) (0, 2, 5, 7.5, 10 mg L-1 ). The RI medium was the same as the SI medium
except for the plant growth regulators. The most effective IBA concentration for rooting of shoots was
5 mgL-1 . Plantlets with highest number of roots showed highest survival rate (68.4%). A radio
sensitivity study by irradiating embryogenic calli with gamma ray (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60
Gy) showed that the LD50 was 17 Gy. The irradiated calli were successfully regenerated into plantlets
and acclimatized to external environment. Results of these studies could be very useful for mutation
breeding of sugarcane.


First released March 2007 Reproduced July 2008. Copyright protects this material. Except as permitted by the Copyright Act, reproduction by any means (photocopying, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise), making available online, electronic transmission or other publication of this material is prohibited without the prior written permission of the Urban Research Program.


The regeneration of streptomycete protoplasts is a major step following genetic manipulations such as fusion and DNA-mediated transformation. Reports of studies on the regeneration of protoplasts from Streptomyces clavuligerus are limited and for this reason the experiments described in this paper were carried out. An investigation of protoplast formation and cytology was made to gain further insight into the loss of protoplast viability in osmotically stabilized support media. Protoplasts with the highest regeneration frequency were isolated from mycelium, grown in a two-stage culture system (without glycine), using lysozyme dissolved in a sucrose osmoticum containing 1% bovine serum albumin. The latter promoted improved protoplast viability. A systematic survey was made of the components of regeneration medium R5, previously used for S. clavuligerus, and other potentially advantageous components and conditions, in an attempt to raise the regeneration frequency of the protoplasts. An improved regeneration medium (R6) and protocol which supported higher and more consistent levels of regeneration of S. clavuligerus protoplasts resulted from these experiments. These improved procedures for protoplast isolation and regeneration proved to be suitable for other streptomycete species.


: In clinical practice, dimephosphon is used as a vasoactive agent in cases of traumatic brain injury. We have studied the influence of dimephosphon on the functional recovery of dog spinal cord after lesion. The spinal cord trauma was modeled using the methods described by Allen. In a period of time from the 1st to 10th day after injury, experimental group of animals was treated intravenously with 2.5% dimephosphon solution (18.75 mg/kg).The recovery of conduction in descending spinal nerves was studied using the transcranial magnetic stimulation technique on the Neurotest complex comprising a transcranial magnetic stimulator and a computer analyzer. The state of sacrolumbar motoneurons was determined by the method of stimulation electromyography that allows both H-reflex and M-wave responses to be recorded. The status of experimental animals, their locomotor activity and pain sensation were evaluated using standard clinical assessment. Morphological analysis performed with paraffin sections (hematoxylin-eosin staining) demonstrated that dimephosphon decreased the initiation of apoptosis and necrosis and supported the recovery of injured parts of spinal cord. Thus, the results revealed a beneficial effect of dimephosphon administration on the functional recovery of injured spinal cord.


Four children and six adults required en bloc resection of the lateral malleolus for malignant tumors. There were four osteosarcomas, three chondrosarcomas, two Ewing's sarcomas, and one adamantinoma. Surgical margins were wide in seven patients, marginal in two, and intralesional in one. A primary ankle arthrodesis was done in four adults and bracing without any reconstruction was done in four children and two adults. During a mean followup of 14.5 years (range, 3-30 years), there were two local recurrences (two of 10 patients) after a marginal excision and an intralesional excision. One patient had reoperation for a skip osteosarcoma lesion in the proximal fibula. Other complications included chronic osteomyelitis, a lateral talus subluxation and cavovarus deformity, and recurrent ankle instability and degenerative changes of the ankle. At the latest followup, all 10 patients showed no evidence of disease. Five patients who had primary or late ankle arthrodesis had a Musculoskeletal Tumor Society and International Society of Limb Salvage functional score of 28 points (92%), and two adolescents who had postoperative bracing alone had a functional score of 24 points (80%). The three remaining patients had a salvage amputation. Level of Evidence: Therapeutic study, Level IV (case series-no, or historical control group). See the Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.


Sea holly (Achantus ilicifolius) is a mangrove plant that often used by coastal society as a traditional medicine. It is potential to be developed as the sources of pharmaceutical products. This study aims at assessing the effectiveness of sea holly leaves as antibacterial agent and as an agent to enhance the durability of shrimp against Vibrio harveyi. First, dried sea holly leaves were extracted with methanol, after that, it was fractionated with silica gel column method using solvent n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and n-butanol. The treatments given to tiger prawn were crude extract, the fraction of ethyl acetate, and n-butanol, and it was given by immersion. Next, the challenge test was conducted toward Vibrio harveyi. As the result, the extract and the leaves of A. ilicifolius possess activities of inhibiting the growth of V. harveyi in vivo, reducing the prevalence of attacks and improving survival of prawn. In general, based on clinical symptoms and pathological anatomy, n-butanol fraction of the A. ilicifolius leaves possess the best protection, along with ethyl acetate fraction and the crude.


Intermolecular three-component oxyarylation reactions of simple alkenes have been developed using a dual gold and photoredox catalytic system. Inexpensive organic dyes could be employed as the photocatalyst using aryldiazonium salts, while the combination of gold and iridium catalysts allowed for diaryliodonium compounds to be employed as the source of the arene coupling partner. In both cases, α-arylated ether products were generated under remarkably mild conditions using readily accessible visible light sources.


Background. Utilizing a prospectively designed community sample, we set out to estimate the rate of newly-incident suicidal ideation and attempts (non-fatal suicide behaviour) in a community sample, to evaluate antecedent sociodemographic characteristics and psychiatric disorders, and to assess use of mental health services in relation to non-fatal suicide behaviour. Method. Prospectively-gathered data was utilized from 3481 continuing participants in the 13-year follow-up of the Baltimore sample of the NIMH Epidemiologic Catchment Area survey interviewed in 1981, 1982 and 1993/6. Results. The incidence of suicide attempts was estimated at 148·8 per 100000 person-years and ideation at 419·9 per 100000 person-years. Persons in the youngest age group, in the lowest socio-economic status, and previously married persons were at increased risk for non-fatal suicide behaviour during the follow-up interval. Persons who reported suicidal ideation at baseline were more likely to report having attempted suicide at follow-up (RR = 6·09, 95% CI 2·58–14·36). Psychiatric disorders, especially depression and substance abuse, were associated with new-onset of non-fatal suicidal behaviour. While persons who reported newly-incident suicidal behaviour were more likely to report use of mental health services, few said that suicidal ideation or attempts were the reason for the visits. Conclusions. Suicidal ideation is a common and important antecedent to suicide attempts and deserves more attention in community and general medical settings.


Noncanonical Pathway The textbook view of translation of messenger RNA to protein is that it is always initiated from open reading frames (ORFs) that begin with an AUG codon (encodes methionine) by an initiator methionine-bound transfer RNA (tRNA). There is evidence, however, that some polypeptides are produced from non–AUG-initiated ORFs. Starck et al. (p. 1719; see the Perspective by Dever) used a variety of biochemical techniques to determine the underlying mechanism for such nontraditional translation initiation. Comparison of translation initiation from AUG-initiated ORFs with those beginning with leucine CUG-initiated ORFs revealed that cells can use an elongator Leu-tRNA to initiate translation at CUG codons. CUG-initiated peptides were presented by major histocompatibility class I molecules and could activate T cells. T cells can use leucyl–transfer RNA (tRNA), instead of methionyl-tRNA, to initiate translation. Effective immune surveillance by cytotoxic T cells requires newly synthesized polypeptides for presentation by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules. These polypeptides are produced not only from conventional AUG-initiated, but also from cryptic non–AUG-initiated, reading frames by distinct translational mechanisms. Biochemical analysis of ribosomal initiation complexes at CUG versus AUG initiation codons revealed that cells use an elongator leucine-bound transfer RNA (Leu-tRNA) to initiate translation at cryptic CUG start codons. CUG/Leu-tRNA initiation was independent of the canonical initiator tRNA (AUG/Met-tRNAiMet) pathway but required expression of eukaryotic initiation factor 2A. Thus, a tRNA-based translation initiation mechanism allows non–AUG-initiated protein synthesis and supplies peptides for presentation by MHC class I molecules.


Abstract Having coined the word 'eugenics' and inspired leading biologists and statisticians of the early twentieth century, Francis Galton is often studied for his contributions to modern statistical biology. However, whilst documenting this part of his work, historians have frequently neglected crucial aspects of what motivated Galton to establish his eugenics research programme. Arguing that his work was shaped more by social than by biological science, this paper addresses these oversights by tracing the development of Galton's programme, from its roots in a debate about political economy to his appeals for it to be taken up by sociologists. In so doing, the paper not only returns Galton's ideas to their original context but also provides a reason to reflect on the place of the social sciences in history-of-science scholarship.


Thyroid associated ophthalmopathy (TAO) is an autoimmune inflammatory disorder which disfigures appearance, threatens vision, and results in a pronounced loss of quality of life. The diversity and ethnic difference of the disease manifestations have made it difficult to tailor therapies for each patient. Few studies have analyzed its characteristics in Chinese populations. We therefore enrolled 354 patients with moderate-to-severe TAO from February 2015 to July 2016. A single ophthalmologist consistently performed detailed ophthalmic examinations. Orbital computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging scans were performed to verify enlarged extraocular muscles. Multiple linear regression was used to analyze the association between sex, age, smoking, family history of thyroid diseases, degree of proptosis and disease severity. The mean age of males (46.56±11.08 years) was significantly higher than that of females (41.39±years), with a female-to-male ratio of 1.09. The females and males between 31~40 and 41~50 years, respectively, had the highest incidence of TAO. 81.48% of the patients suffered hyperthyroidism. TAO was diagnosed either after (47.17%) or simultaneously with thyroid dysfunction (27.68%). Proptosis (91.24%), eyelid retraction (83.33%), together with eyelid swelling (79.38%) and extraocular muscle enlargement (75.42%), were the most common clinical sign. 19.77% of patients manifested lower eyelid retraction. The mean values of exophthalmos and asymmetry on proptosis were 19.94±3.45mm and 2.18±2.06mm, respectively in males, 18.58±3.31mm and 1.61±1.53mm, respectively in females. The severity of disease was significantly associated with male, older age, smoking, family history of thyroid diseases and degree of proptosis. We found several differences in Chinese compared with White. The female-to-male ratio and mean value of exophthalmos were significantly lower than the data of White. Inferior and superior rectus became the most common extraocular muscles. Lower eyelid retraction should be included in diagnostic criteria in Asian patients. Understanding these differences, may allow better identification and treatment for TAO in China.


The empirical data indicate that a relatively small increment of additional USPTO investment in prior art search at the initial examination stage could be a cost-effective mechanism for improving accuracy in the patent system. This contribution argues that machine learning provides a promising arena for such investment. Notably, the use of machine learning in patent examination does not raise the same potent concerns about individual rights and discrimination that it raises in other areas of administrative and judicial process. That said, even an apparently easy case like prior art search at the USPTO poses challenges. The most important generalizable challenge relates to explainability. The USPTO has stressed transparency to the general public as necessary for achieving adequate explainability. However, at least in contexts like prior art search, adequate explainability does not require full transparency. Moreover, full transparency would chill provision of private sector expertise and would be susceptible to gaming.


The microscopic distribution of microspheres in human liver following hepatic infusion of 32 µm diameter resin microspheres labelled with 90 Y as treatment for an 80 millimetre diameter liver cancer has been investigated. Microspheres were found to deposit inhomogeneously in tissues, preferentially lodging in a region approximately 6 mm wide around the periphery of the tumour. A relative concentration of microspheres of 50 to 70 times that of normal hepatic parenchyma and 65 to 94 times that in the tumour centre was measured in this region. The deposition of spheres in the tumour periphery was not uniform, and cluster analysis showed that the spheres could be classified into clusters. The number of microspheres in a cluster was skewed towards low numbers and cluster sizes varied from 20 to 1500 µm. The observed deposition patterns indicate that the vascular tumour periphery will receive much greater radiation doses from radioactive microspheres than both normal tissue and the avascular tumour centre.


Plukenetia volubilis (Euphorbiaceae) is an underutilized oilseed crop native to the Amazon basin, where it has been utilized by humans since Incan times. The large seeds contain approximately 45–50% lipid, of which approximately 35.2–50.8% is α-linolenic acid (C18:3 n-3, ω-3) and approximately 33.4–41.0% is linoleic acid (C18:2 n-6, ω-6), the two essential fatty acids required by humans. The seeds also contain 22–30% protein and have antioxidant properties. Due to its excellent nutritional composition and good agronomic properties, it has attracted increasing attention in recent years, and cultivation is expanding. When considering current global challenges, a reformation of our food systems is imperative in order to ensure food security, mitigation of climate change, and alleviation of malnutrition. For this purpose, underutilized crops may be essential tools which can provide agricultural hardiness, a reduced need for external inputs, climate resilience, diet diversification, and improved income opportunities for smallholders. Plukenetia volubilis is a promising up and coming crop in this regard and has considerable potential for further domestication; it has an exceptional oil composition, good sensory acceptability, is well suited for cultivation, and has numerous potential applications in, e.g., gastronomy, medicine, and cosmetics.


: Cardiovascular fitness levels were determined for eight urban police officers by maximal treadmill stress testing and pulmonary evaluation. Average age, height, and weight characteristics were 33.1 years, 182.9 cm and 101.6 kg respectively. Me;suremeIlts of heart rate and blood pressure were obtained for the pre-exercise, exercise, and post-exercise periods. Lactic acid levels were determined at pre-exercise and again at post-exercise. Maximal aerobic power and pulmonary volumes and mechanics were also determined. Average maximal aerobic power and terminal heart rate for the treadmill test were 28.51 ml/kg/min and 186.5 BPM respectively. Four of the police officers were found to be in "very poor" cardiovascular fitness by the Cooper classification. One was in "poor," two were in "fair," one was in the "good" category. None were rated "excellent." Average lactic acid levels were found to be 14.40 mg% at pre-exercise, and 142.0 mg% at ten minutes post-exercise. Pre-exercise blood pressure levels averaged 136.8 mmHg systolic and 85.75 mmHg diastolic. Terminal blood pressure was 187 mmHg and 71.00 mmHg respectively for systolic and diastolic values. Body weight classification indicated the group was 26% overweight. FVC averaged 119% of predicted and FEV (1 sec.) was 86.2% of actual FVC. Pre-exercise sitting systolic blood pressure was found to be 8.4% higher than predicted and the diastolic reading 8.3% above predicted. Results indicated that the police officers had normal pulmonary function, were overweight, moderately hypertensive, and had a "poor" level of cardiovascular fitness. A systematic program of aerobic exercise was recommended.


Parking is important to vehicle user in everywhere they are going. For example to public area, school, university and others. There are many types of parking system, and one of them is centralized parking system. Parking is important and should be highlighted by management because without the parking, user cannot park their vehicle at suitable area to go to the place for any dealings. That's why the provision of adequate parking by the management is important to make sure there are enough parking space to the users. Facilities management is responsible in providing adequate parking to facilitate the user. Study was carried out to identify student's satisfaction level toward the centralized parking that provided by the management. The objectives of this study are to study the management of centralized parking system in UiTM Shah Alam, to identify problems of centralized parking system in UiTM Shah Alam, and to recommend the improvement of facilities for satisfaction of user to use the centralized parking. There are three method used to obtain the primary data and the method were done are by distributing the questionnaire to centralized parking users, interview was carried out to the management consist of UiTM Facilities Management, UiTM Police's staff and UiTM Vehicle's staff and by observation with take the photo and write a short note. For secondary data, it was collected with data that have been published and collection of previous researcher. Apart from that, research also carried out on the needs and expectation of the users towards the centralized parking. The finding revealed, the users were still not satisfied with the parking system and facilities provided at the parking. Thus, it clearly shows that management concerned need to undertake measures to improve and develop an integrated plan for the existing centralized parking system.


Contrary results have been reported from studies comparing horizontal and vertical orientations of the visual analogue scale (VAS) in non-dental pain states. The vertical orientation of the VAS has been used in our department for several years while the horizontal orientation is the most commonly used in other acute pain models. The present study investigated whether a horizontally oriented VAS is as sensitive as a vertically oriented VAS in the assessment of present pain after oral surgery. Seventy-four patients recorded their pain intensity hourly and half-hourly 15 times during 11 hours after surgery on a horizontal and on a vertical 100 mm VAS. Slightly lower mean and median values were observed at 2/3 of the observation time points for the vertical VAS compared to the horizontal VAS. The results from the two scales were compared with analysis of variance for repeated measures. No significant differences between the horizontal and the vertical VAS-values were found (p = 0.099). Distributions (Kolmogorov-Smirnov test) and dispersions of data were also similar with the two orientations of the VAS. This study shows that a vertically oriented VAS is equally sensitive as a horizontally oriented VAS in assessing present pain intensity after oral surgery.


Purpose: Precision medicine of tumors is designed to tailor treatment combinations to individual patients, targeting specific genotypes with corresponding inhibitors. The purpose of this study was to determine whether genotype predicted target gene expression-a critical parameter for treatment-and to test whether alternate modes of gene amplification could affect gene expression. Patients and methods: The cohort consisted of patients in Kentucky with recurrent breast cancer who were analyzed by nextgeneration sequencing. Tumors with amplifications in CCND1, AURKA, and MYC were then stained by immunohistochemistry. We subsequently selected a patient with triple-negative breast cancer for analysis by FISH, immunohistochemistry and OncoScan genome-wide copy number array. Results: The extent of CCND1 staining was highly variable between tumors. In one patient with heterogeneous CCND1 staining, the CCND1 gene was maintained as an extra-chromosomal DNA (ecDNA), which changed with both DNA copy number (increased) and expression (decreased) during metastatic progression. The tumor DNA was then analyzed by OncoScan array, which confirmed an increased CCND1 copy number with treatment and mapped the ecDNA size. Elsewhere in the genome, VAV3 (encoding a RhoA and RhoG guanidine exchange factor) increased in copy number and expression during metastasis. In addition, several actionable genes were detected by OncoScan that were not reported by nextgeneration sequencing. Conclusion: NGS reported numerous tumors with CCND1 gene amplification, but the proportion of cells with CCND1 expression was highly variable. Genetic factors, such as mode of amplification, may contribute to expression patterns in tumors.


With the explosive growth in the Web documents, retrieving document from the large-scale document database has become one of the most active research fields in data mining communities. Thus, developing an efficient document query optimization algorithm to retrieval Web document is of great importance. An efficient document query optimization algorithm based on linear discriminant analysis(LDA) and memetic algorithm(MA) is proposed in this paper. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm achieves much better performance than other conventional document query optimization algorithms.


In winter wheat, the tubulin and 60kDa‐phosphorylated proteins/actin ratio is considerably higher in the roots than in the leaves. Differences in the content of the main cytoskeletal proteins were also found in the leaves of the different cultivars. It is suggested that the lower amount of the tubulin and 60kDa‐phosphorylated proteins and higher content of actin determine the greater tubulin cytoskeletal stability in the leaves and their higher frost resistance, as compared with the roots. Also, it is possible that the higher content of the tubulin and 60kDa‐phosphorylated proteins defines the lower microtubule (MT) stability in the leaves of the low frost resistant cultivar than in the leaves of the more frost resistant ones. In the roots and leaves of the low frost resistant cultivar, the low stability of the numerous tubulin structures is apparently one reason for the abscisic acid (ABA)‐induced reduction of the cytoskeletal and 60kDa‐phosphorylated proteins in the cells. The cold acclimation compensated the ABA effect in the roots of the very frost resistant cultivar in the most extent. This suggests the existence of the different pathways in the increased plant cell frost resistance through the action of ABA and low temperature.


Background The role of immune parameters in the prognosis of lung cancer has attracted more and more attention. However, studies of the association between immune scores and prognosis of lung cancer are scarce. The goal of our research was to investigate the correlation between immune scores and overall survival (OS) of early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Material/Methods All data regarding patient immune and stromal scores, clinicopathological features, and survival was obtained from the TCGA datasets. Univariable and multivariable Cox regression analyses were utilized to recognize risk factors associated with OS. Afterward, a prognostic nomogram was constructed for predicting 3- and 5-year OS of stage I and II NSCLC patients. Calibration curves and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) were performed to assess the predictive accuracy of the nomogram. Kaplan-Meier methodology was also applied for the survival analysis. Results In total, 764 NSCLC (stage I–II) patients were analyzed, and all patients were classified into 3 groups based on immune scores. Results showed that patients with medium-immune scores had significantly worse OS (hazard ratio=1.73, 95% confidence interval: 1.22–2.46) compared with those with low- and high immune scores. Area under the ROC curves (AUC) values for 3- and 5-year OS were 0.65 and 0.64, respectively. Calibration plots demonstrated good consistency in the probability of OS between nomogram predictions and actual observations. Conclusions Medium-immune scores are correlated with unsatisfactory prognosis in NSCLC (stage I–II) patients. In addition, the prognostic nomogram may be helpful in predicting OS for stage I and II NSCLC patients.


Microsporogenesis and microgametogenesis of two species, Cardiospermum grandiflorum Sw. and Urvillea chacoensis Hunz. (Sapindaceae, Paullinieae), were studied using light and transmission electron microscopy. Both species are monoecious, with staminate and hermaphrodite, although functionally pistillate, flowers. A comparative pollen-development study of these two floral morphs is reported. For the present study, five stages of pollen ontogeny were identified. The development of the anther wall is of basic type. Its wall consists of epidermis, endothecium, two middle layers and a uninucleate secretory tapetum. The microspore tetrads are tetrahedral. The mature anther in staminate flowers presents the endothecium with well developed fibrillar thickenings, remains of tapetal cells, a single locule formed in the theca by dissolution of the septum before anther dehiscence and two-celled pollen grains when shed. In functionally pistillate flowers, the mature anthers present remnants of the middle layers, tapetal cells without signs of degradation, the theca with two locules and pollen grains uni- or bicellular, some of them with the cytoplasm collapsed. These anthers are not dehiscent. It can be concluded that male sterility is characterised by failure to produce functional pollen grains, an event that would be associated with the persistence of tapetal cells. Ultrastructural analysis clearly shows the difference in tapetal cells between the two flower morphs.


Herman Kellgren (1822–1856) was a Finnish Orientalist and national activist. He lived and worked at a time when the cultural and intellectual life of Finland was still dominated by Swedish, while Finnish, the majority language, was just beginning to make its way into the sphere of high culture and education. At an early stage of his career, Kellgren published several works on the Finnish language, in which national engagement meets fascination with Sanskrit. His accounts of Finnish are clearly evaluative; they seek to raise interest in Finnish and promote its prestige, both at home and abroad. One of the more significant inspirations discernible in his works on Finnish was the language philosophy of Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835). One of the challenges of the endeavor to describe Finnish in Humboldtian terms was determining the status of Finnish within Humboldtian hierarchies of language perfection — hierarchies which clearly favored inflection (as exemplified by Sanskrit) as a grammatical procedure and disfavored agglutination which is characteristic for Finnish. In his efforts to remain true to the spirit of Humboldt, and to present Finnish in a positive light, Kellgren insisted on labeling it as inflected rather than agglutinative.


We study a simple model of $N$-component fermions with contact interactions which describes fermionic atoms with $N=2F+1$ hyperfine states loaded into a one-dimensional optical lattice. We show by means of analytical and numerical approaches that, for attractive interaction, a quasi-long-range molecular superfluid phase emerges at low density. In such a phase, the pairing instability is strongly suppressed and the leading instability is formed from bound states made of $N$ fermions. At small density, the molecular superfluid phase is generic and exists for a wide range of attractive contact interactions without an $\mathrm{SU}(N)$ symmetry between the hyperfine states.


Tyrosine kinases play an important role in normal cellular growth and differentiation. Abnormal tyrosine kinase activity can result in cellular transformation leading to the development of human cancer. The Mer receptor tyrosine kinase, initially cloned from a human B lymphoblastoid cell line, is expressed in a spectrum of hematopoeitc, epithelial, and mesenchymal cell lines. Interestingly, while the Mer RNA transcript is detected in numerous T and B lymphoblastic cell lines and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patient samples, Mer RNA is not found in normal human thymocytes, lymphocytes or in PMA/PHA stimulated lymphocytes. To further investigate the role of human Mer in leukemogenesis, a monoclonal antibody was developed that specifically recognizes human Mer. Using this antibody, we have screened 16 T-cell ALL patient samples by Western Blot. Among these 16 patients, 9 of the patients demonstrated ectopic expression of hMer. None of the ALL patient samples evaluated expressed the Axl protein, a member of the Mer tyrosine kinase subfamily. We analyzed lymphoblasts from 16 T cell ALL patients diagnosed between July 1995 and July 2004 at The Children's Hospital, Denver for Mer protein surface expression. Of the T cell ALL patient samples, we found that 9/16 (56%) were positive for Mer protein surface expression. A novel, smaller form of Mer was detected in one patient sample which may represent a truncated Mer protein. Sequence analysis of the Mer gene in the patient samples is underway to evaluate for mutations that may lead to constitutive Mer tyrosine kinase activity. Although we were not able to statistically evaluate the clinical outcomes relative to Mer expression due to the study sample number, there was a statistically significant association between positive expression of Mer and lack of surface expression of CD3 (p = 0.04). We found that 7/9 (78%) of Mer positive lacked CD3 surface expression, while only 1/6 (17%) of the Mer negative patients lacked CD3 surface expression. Lymphoblasts that lack surface expression of CD3 represent an immature phenotype and have been associated with a decreased event free survival as compared with surface positive CD3 lymphoblasts. Further investigation of the ectopic expression of Mer in lymphoblasts may reveal the use of this novel Mer glycosylated protein as a prognostic marker and possibly a future therapeutic target in the treatment of childhood leukemia.


Agriculture is in the business of using ecosystem services to produce food. Examining how agro-ecosystems function provides useful insights into the economics of agriculture. Of special interest are the presence and nature of scale effects, complementarity effects and convexity effects in ecosystem functioning. Implications for agricultural productivity and the economics of agriculture are evaluated. At the farm level, this helps to better understand the current trend toward greater specialisation. Current challenges for agricultural contracts, markets and policy are explored.


Problem statement: Transient non-Darcy mixed double convection from a semi-infinite, isothermal vertical plate embedded in a homogeneous porous medium, in the presence of surface suction or injection had been numerically investigated. Approach: Forchheimer extension was considered in the flow equations. Appropriate transformations were employed to transform the derived partial differential equations governing the problem under consideration on the assumption of a small magnetic Reynolds number into a system of non linear ordinary differential equations, which were integrated by the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method. Results: Numerical results illustrating the effects of all involved parameters on the transient velocity, temperature and concentration profiles, the local Nussle, the local Sherwood numbers and the local skin fiction coefficient, were presented and discussed. The results were compared with those known from literature. Conclusion: Velocity and temperature increase due to the increasing of the parameters involved in the problem, while the increasing in the solutal dispersion parameter decreases the mass transfer coefficint.


In the control of continuous and physical systems, the controlled system is sampled sufficiently fast to capture the system dynamics. In general, this property cannot be applied to the control of computer systems as the measured variables are often computed over a data set, e.g., deadline miss ratio. In this paper we quantize the disturbance present in the measured variable as a function of the sampling period and we propose a measurement disturbance suppressive control structure. The experiments we have carried out show that a controller using the proposed control structure outperforms a traditional control structure with regard to performance reliability and adaptation.


The objective of this article consists of the evaluation of restrictive variables to the effectiveness of the Family Health Program (PSF) and in the methodological proposition oriented for the measurement of the performance with perspective of continuous improvement of this program. For evaluation of the variables were utilized the content analysis method applied in 197 reports of the Controladoria Geral da Uniao (CGU), period 2005-2007, confronted with the principles of control of the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) and of the New Public Administration (NAP). For the analysis of the perspective of continuous improvement with purpose of eradication of the occurrence of such kinds of variables, the suggested methodology to the adoption was the Activity Based in Cost (ABC). The hypothesis glimpsed with this methodology consists of: in the budget is admitted the maximum goal of effectiveness from the demand of the PSF service, whereas, in the measurement of the performance the goal is the continuous improvement of the program from the demand of resources. The research showed up the existence of restrictive variables to the effectiveness of the PSF in 91% of the towns audited by the CGU. And it was noticed that the most frequent fault refers to the inefficiency in the management of the resources of the program.


Supervisory authorities around the world are currently engaged in a policy debate over how to improve the information available on repurchase agreements (repos) and securities lending markets. Repo and securities lending transactions commonly referred to as securities financing transactions (SFTs), play a major role in the financial system. Although these can be relatively low-risk transactions by themselves, their pervasive use may give rise to systemic risk, as was observed during the recent financial crisis. In order to establish and implement a monitoring framework that allows for an effective assessment of the financial stability risks associated with SFTs, a number of considerable hurdles must be overcome and important decisions must be made. One contribution of this paper is to identify the potential obstacles and difficulties that may hinder the implementation of a monitoring framework in Europe. JEL Classification: E44, G18


An iterative scheme is proposed for learning the input torques that produce a specified repetitive end-effector trajectory for a redundant manipulator, without explicit knowledge of the robot dynamic model. The approach does not rely on a specific inverse kinematic solution. In the learning problem, the number of driving error signals (in the task space) is strictly less than the number of inputs to be determined (in the joint space). During the iterative process, control effort is transferred from a linear feedback law designed for the end-effector error to the learned feedforward term. Joint velocity damping stabilizes the closed loop system. The basic learning algorithm is designed in the frequency domain, while a digital implementation of the necessary signal filtering improves the speed and uniformity of convergence of the learning performance. Simulations are reported for a three-link planar manipulator. The inclusion of a kinematic singularity avoidance scheme is also illustrated.<<ETX>>


We develop a model of dengue transmission with some vaccination programs for immigrants. We classify the host population into child and adult classes, in regards to age structure, and into susceptible, infected and recovered compartments, in regards to disease status. Since migration plays important role in disease transmission, we include immigration and emigration factors into the model which are distributed in each compartment. Meanwhile, the vector population is divided into susceptible, exposed, and infectious compartments. In the case when there is no incoming infected immigrant, we obtain the basic reproduction ratio as a threshold parameter for existence and stability of disease-free and endemic equilibria. Meanwhile, in the case when there are some incoming infected immigrants, we obtain only endemic equilibrium. This indicates that screening for the immigrants is important to ensure the effectiveness of the disease control.


This letter presents a low noise amplifier (LNA) RFIC with notch filter implemented in a 0.13 μm SiGe BiCMOS technology. The LNA/filter combination utilizes Q-enhanced techniques to achieve a high gain and high image rejection ratio (IRR) simultaneously. The amplifier operates at 7.27 GHz and achieves 22.5 dB gain with an IIR of 70 dB. The measured noise figure and IIP3 of the LNA are better than 5.1 dB and -13 dBm, respectively. The LNA dissipates 21 mW power with a 1.7 V supply.


This paper describes the domain-specific language (DSL) prototype developed for the NASA constellation launch control system (LCS) project. A key element of the LCS architecture, the DSL prototype is a specialized monitor and control language composed of constructs for specifying and programming test, checkout, and launch processing applications for flight and ground systems. The principal objectives of the prototyping activity were to perform a proof-of-concept of an approach to ultimately lower the lifecycle costs of application software for the LCS, and to explore mitigations for a number of development risks perceived by the project. The language has been implemented as a library that extends the Python scripting language, and validated in a successful demonstration of capability required for constellation.


Introduction Morbidity after 30 days and morbidity after 1 year from gastrostomy placement is poorly characterised as patients are discharged into the community. We prospectively recorded morbidity and mortality associated with gastrostomy placement over a five year period. Method Community dietitians regularly reviewed all patients with a gastrostomy after hospital discharge, prospectively recording morbidity and mortality between 2008–2012. In addition hospital databases and case notes were examined. Recorded morbidity included insertion site infection, leakage, over granulation, haemorrhage and buried bumper. Results There were no deaths and few complications directly related to gastrostomy insertion in 350 patients. We collected a total of 571 years of gastrostomy data. Mortality within 10 days was predominantly from a respiratory cause. 30 day, 3 and 21 month cumulative mortality (and morbidity) were 8% (2%), 16% (10%) and 35% (15%) respectively. 38% of patients required treatment for an insertion site infection with 70% of these having further infections. Overall there was a site infection every 2.1 years a gastrostomy was in situ. Complications such as buried bumpers, persistent fistulas and overgranulation were rare. Few gastrostomies required replacement (11%).Abstract PTU-148 Table 1 Mortality after gastrostomy placement during study period, N (%) Time to death after PEG placement £30 days 1–3 months 3–6 months 6–12 months >12 months Mortality (% of total population) 28 (8%) 29 (8%) 29 (8%) 37 (11%) 66 (19%) Accumulative mortality (% of total population) 28 (8%) 57 (16%) 86 (25%) 123 (35%) 189 (54%) Conclusion This is the first prospective study of morbidity and mortality in a large number of patients undergoing gastrostomy placement over an extended period of time. We have demonstrated reassuringly low rates of gastrostomy-associated morbidity and mortality. There was no direct mortality. The greatest morbidity resulted from gastrostomy-site infection. Disclosure of interest None Declared. References Dennis MS, Lewis SC, Warlow C, FOOD Trial Collaboration. Effect of timing and method of enteral tube feeding for dysphagic stroke patients (FOOD): a multicentre randomised controlled trial. Lancet 2005:365(9461):764–772 Johnston SD, et al. Death after PEG: results of the national confidential enquiry into patient outcome and death. Gastrointest Endosc. 2008;68(2):223–227 Mitchell SL, et al. The risk factors and impact on survival of feeding tube placement in nursing home residents with severe cognitive impairment. Arch Intern Med. 1997;157(3):337–332 Sheehan JJ. Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy. Irish Med J. 2003;96(9) Westaby D, et al. The provision of a percutaneously placed enteral tube feeding service. Gut 2010;59:1592–1605 Wilcox CM, McClave SA. To peg or not to peg. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2013;11(11):1451–1452


While most research in Gold-style learning focuses on learning formal languages, we consider the identification of computable structures, specifically equivalence structures. In our core model the learner gets more and more information about which pairs of elements of a structure are related and which are not. The aim of the learner is to find (an effective description of) the isomorphism type of the structure presented in the limit. In accordance with language learning we call this learning criterion InfEx-learning (explanatory learning from informant).
Our main contribution is a complete characterization of which families of equivalence structures are InfEx-learnable. This characterization allows us to derive a bound of $\mathbf{0''}$ on the computational complexity required to learn uniformly enumerable families of equivalence structures. We also investigate variants of InfEx-learning, including learning from text (where the only information provided is which elements are related, and not which elements are not related) and finite learning (where the first actual conjecture of the learner has to be correct). Finally, we show how learning families of structures relates to learning classes of languages by mapping learning tasks for structures to equivalent learning tasks for languages.


Previous work in experimental economics reveals specific differences in economic behavior, especially reciprocity and free-riding behavior, across cultures. We expand the possible pallet of cross-cultural behavioral differences that may exist. We hypothesize that different kinds of strategic interaction and individual decision-making behaviors differ across locations. The variety of experiments we use allow us to report multidimensional rather than just single dimensional differences in behavior across locations. In order to build a broad Homo Economicus we conducted economic experiments in four dissimilar locations: Hangzhou, China; Niamey, Niger; Grenoble, France; Manhattan, Kansas; and West Lafayette, Indiana. Each subject completed an ultimatum bargaining game experiment, Voluntary Contribution Mechanism experiment, time preference experiment, and risk preference experiment. Results indicate economic behavior is not independent of location. Location differences are greatest for strategic interaction behavior and less prevalent for individual decision-making behavior.


The distribution of blood platelets flowing in arterioles (21-35 microns) of the mesentery of anesthetized rabbits was studied using intravital fluorescence microscopy. Sites were selected without upstream branch points within at least 10 vessel diameters. The distribution was determined by counting in flashed video frames the number of platelets present in each of six equal segments across the vessel. Only platelets were counted that could be localized objectively within a thin optical section around the median plane of the vessel. It could be shown that differences in counting volume between the six segments were negligible. Because of the use of flashed pictures (flash duration less than 0.1 ms; interval 180 ms), the method is independent of differences in velocity over the cross-sectional area of the vessel. In all measurements (15 sites in 13 vessels in 10 animals) the distribution was nonuniform, the wall segments containing the highest platelet numbers. The general distribution as calculated from all measurements (total platelet number 6,571) and expressed in percentages was found to be 23.0, 14.6, 12.5, 12.1, 13.6, and 24.2.


Photographs played an important role in the development of the idea of the Jews as a mixed-race people. This article tracks the trajectory of this idea from the 1880s, when it was first introduced by the liberal Austrian anthropologist and archaeologist Felix von Luschan, through the works of American Jewish physician Maurice Fishberg and German Jewish linguist Sigmund Feist, to its appropriation and inversion by the prominent Nazi theoretician of race Hans F. K. Günther in the 1920s. By tracing the circulation of one photograph, analyzing the roles of photographs in argumentation, comparing their status with other types of empirical sources, and arguing that the key to their analysis is performative, pertaining to the relationships photographs form, I argue for the essential contingency of ideas that in retrospect have been identified as fundamental to antisemitic arguments.


Sobkowiak, A. 2015. LiFeSO4F as a Cathode Material for Lithium-Ion Batteries. Synthesis, Structure, and Function. Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology 1291. 79 pp. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. ISBN 978-91-554-9344-8. In this thesis, two recently discovered polymorphs of LiFeSO4F, adopting a tavoriteand triplitetype structure, were investigated as potential candidates for use as cathode materials in Liion batteries. The studies aimed at enriching the fundamental understanding of the synthetic preparations, structural properties, and electrochemical functionality of these materials. By in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD), the formation mechanism of the tavoritetype LiFeSO4F was followed starting from two different sets of precursors, FeSO4·H2O + LiF, and Li2SO4 + FeF2. The results indicated that the formation of LiFeSO4F is possible only through the structurally related FeSO4·H2O, in line with the generally recognized topotactic reaction mechanism. Moreover, an in-house solvothermal preparation of this polymorph was optimized with the combined use of XRD and Mössbauer spectroscopy (MS) to render phase pure and well-ordered samples. Additionally, the triplite-type LiFeSO4F was prepared using a facile highenergy ball milling procedure. The electrochemical performance of as-prepared tavorite LiFeSO4F was found to be severely restricted due to residual traces of the reaction medium (tetraethylene glycol (TEG)) on the surface of the synthesized particles. A significantly enhanced performance could be achieved by removing the TEG residues by thorough washing, and a subsequent application of an electronically conducting surface coating of p-doped PEDOT. The conducting polymer layer assisted the formation of a percolating network for efficient electron transport throughout the electrode, resulting in optimal redox behavior with low polarization and high capacity. In the preparation of cast electrodes suitable for use in commercial cells, reducing the electrode porosity was found to be a key parameter to obtain high-quality electrochemical performance. The triplite-type LiFeSO4F showed similar improvements upon PEDOT coating as the tavoritetype polymorph, but with lower capacity and less stable long-term cycling due to intrinsically sluggish kinetics and unfavorable particle morphology. Finally, the Li-insertion/extraction process in tavorite LiFeSO4F was investigated. By thorough ex situ characterization of chemically and electrochemically prepared LixFeSO4F compositions (0≤x≤1), the formation of an intermediate phase, Li1/2FeSO4F, was identified for the first time. These findings helped redefine the (de)lithiation mechanism which occurs through two subsequent biphasic reactions, in contrast to a previously established single biphasic process.


The Niger Delta Region, although the back bone of Nigerian economy, has been neglected by successive governments over time. There are no good schools, no health facilities, no water and other facilities within this area. The problem of the area is compounded by lack of good transportation system. This has been a hindrance both for security agencies and the people in the restive area. A good transportation system should ensure that people, goods and services move speedily, conveniently, safely and cost effectively. To have an efficient ground and water transportation system needed in this area requires adequate and accurate Geo-spatial information. In this paper, the benefits of adequate transportation system in the Niger Delta Region are highlighted. The roles of Geo-spatial data and Geo-spatial information system in the planning, development and management of an efficient transportation system are discussed. The paper also examines Geospatial Data infrastructure (GDI) in the development of the Niger Delta transportation sector Master plan, with data generated for Edo and Delta States presenting case study scenarios.


Objectives: Recent
reports on venous blood gas analysis have shown that venous bicarbonate concentration is useful in the evaluation of the body acid-base status.
Most of these reports have been based on the Bland-Altman analysis comparing
arterial and venous blood gas values. We intended to elucidate any factors that
decrease the agreement between venous and arterial bicarbonate concentrations, which might impair the usefulness
of venous blood gas analysis. Methods: Healthy volunteers and patients with
various diseases (n = 141) were evaluated by simultaneous arterial and
venous blood sampling and Bland-Altman analysis. The venous-arterial bicarbonate concentration difference was compared between healthy volunteers and untreated respiratory
alkalosis patients. Intentional hyperventilation (30 or 60 breaths/min, for 3
min) was also performed on 6 healthy volunteers and the venous-arterial
bicarbonate concentration difference was evaluated. Results: The relative average bias in bicarbonate concentration was 2.00
mEq/l with venous bicarbonate higher
than arterial bicarbonate with 95% limits of agreement of ±4.15 mEq/l.
Hyperventilation challenges increased the venous-arterial bicarbonate concentration
difference in an intensity-dependent manner. The venous-arterial bicarbonate concentration
difference was higher in untreated respiratory alkalosis patients than in
healthy volunteers (P Conclusion:
Although venous bicarbonate may be useful to evaluate the body acid-base
status, hyperventilation increases the venous-arterial bicarbonate
concentration difference. Physicians should keep this phenomenon in mind.


New conceptual tools for effectively supporting the activity of requirements analysis of web applications are needed. Current approaches and model in Requirements Engineering (RE) can be tailored and extended in order to cope with the following distinctive features of interactive and hypermediaintensive web applications: a) high-level communication and business goals have to be addressed and carefully analyzed as an integral part of requirements management; b) goals and needs of the stakeholders need to be tied up with design in a coherent fashion, bridging the current gap between requirements and hypermedia specifications; c) lightweight, usable and informal models are needed for web designers and analysts with no engineering background. Starting from key achievements in RE this paper introduces a light-weight methodology blending goal-directed RE and scenario-based techniques. The core elements of the methodology will be illustrated through a real project


Abstract. Emissions of airborne particles from biomass burning are a significant source of black carbon (BC) and brown carbon (BrC) in rural areas of developing countries where biomass is the predominant energy source for cooking and heating. This study explores the molecular composition of organic aerosols from household cooking emissions with a focus on identifying fuel-specific compounds and BrC chromophores. Traditional meals were prepared by a local cook with dung and brushwood-fueled cookstoves in a village in Palwal district, Haryana, India. Cooking was done in a village kitchen while controlling for variables including stove type, fuel moisture, and meal. Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) emissions were collected on filters, and then analyzed via nanospray desorption electrospray ionization–high-resolution mass spectrometry (nano-DESI-HRMS) and high-performance liquid chromatography–photodiode array–high-resolution mass spectrometry (HPLC-PDA-HRMS) techniques. The nano-DESI-HRMS analysis provided an inventory of numerous compounds present in the particle phase. Although several compounds observed in this study have been previously characterized using gas chromatography methods a majority of the species in the nano-DESI spectra were newly observed biomass burning compounds. Both the stove (chulha or angithi) and the fuel (brushwood or dung) affected the composition of organic aerosols. The geometric mean of the PM2.5 emission factor and the observed molecular complexity increased in the following order: brushwood–chulha (7.3 ± 1.8 g kg−1 dry fuel, 93 compounds), dung–chulha (21.1 ± 4.2 g kg−1 dry fuel, 212 compounds), and dung–angithi (29.8 ± 11.5 g kg−1 dry fuel, 262 compounds). The mass-normalized absorption coefficient (MACbulk) for the organic-solvent extractable material for brushwood PM2.5 was 3.7 ± 1.5 and 1.9 ± 0.8 m2 g−1 at 360 and 405 nm, respectively, which was approximately a factor of two higher than that for dung PM2.5. The HPLC-PDA-HRMS analysis showed that, regardless of fuel type, the main chromophores were CxHyOz lignin fragments. The main chromophores accounting for the higher MACbulk values of brushwood PM2.5 were C8H10O3 (tentatively assigned to syringol), nitrophenols C8H9NO4, and C10H10O3 (tentatively assigned to methoxycinnamic acid).


Since the late 1990s, U.S. production of corn ethanol has risen rapidly. In response to high demand, driven in part by rising ethanol production, corn prices and corn production surged in 2007 when corn plantings reached their highest level since 1944. To increase corn acreage, farmers shifted land to corn from other crops or, possibly, returned uncultivated land (e.g., cropland pasture, CRP land) to corn production. Even before 2007, however, "islands" of relatively high corn prices formed around ethanol plants in the Midwest. Price impacts were usually concentrated around an ethanol plant and ranged between 4.6 cents and 19.6 cents, with an average price increase of 12.5 cents at the plant site. Prices were also affected up to an estimated 68 miles from the plant (McNew and Griffith, 2005). Did these price island effects induce producers to shift to crop rotations that include more corn and/or bring in uncultivated land to corn production? If localized changes did occur in the years before 2007, they may persist into the future even though corn prices have declined absolutely and in relation to prices for soybeans and other crop commodities. The question is important because continuous corn, corn-intensive crop rotations, and shifting pasture or hayland into corn, can adversely affect the environment. This paper develops a discrete choice model that incorporates price island effects, local ethanol capacity, and broader land use change to understand the effect of ethanol-driven price islands on corn acreage, corn rotations, and general land use for cultivated crops. The primary data set in estimating the econometric model is the 2005 Corn Agricultural Resource Management Study (ARMS) survey, collected by the Economic Research Service and the National Agricultural Statistics Service. Because ARMS phase II (field-level) data is geo-referenced, spatially explicit data on corn and soybean prices are linked, along with the proximity of farms to ethanol plants and a soil productivity index. The ARMS Corn data is drawn from the traditional Corn Belt, along with some outlier states including North Carolina and North Dakota. A nested multinomial logit model (NML) is used to estimate producer crop mix response to local corn price islands, land quality, and other farm and location-specific factors. The NML model allows us to account for a range of crop production and land use options which vary in terms of similarity and, therefore, substitutability. At the highest level of the nested model, the farmer decides if he will cultivate his land or leave it uncultivated. If he chooses to cultivate his land, he needs to decide what crop to plant, for example, a corn-soybean rotation, wheat, or some "other" crop. The farmer will choose the crop and rotation pattern that will provide him with the greatest return, given prices and inputs. In this paper, the NML estimates the probability that a farmer will choose corn and soybeans (conditional on the choice of corn or soybeans) at the lower level and the choice among corn or soybeans, wheat, and "other" crops at the upper level, where the probability is a function of a corn/soybean price ratio; ethanol capacity index; livestock indicator variable; irrigation; soil quality and protected land statuses (highly erodible land); and household and farm characteristics. Because parameters cannot be directly interpreted in this model, the marginal effects and elasticities are examined. The authors find that in both levels of estimation, soil productivity and livestock value influence a farmer's decision to plant corn or soybeans, wheat or some other crop. The estimation of our lower level confirms that local prices have a strong influence on whether a farmer will choose to plant corn or soybeans, while our upper level estimation may suggest that an increase in local ethanol capacity will encourage farmers to plant corn or soybean relative to both wheat and "other". Information on the influence of "price islands" on farm behavior, including farm crop and rotation patterns and individual farmer land use decisions, could have environmental and other implications. This work could be extended by linking land use change to nutrient runoff and loads in water, possible soil erosion, and other environmental impacts from continuous corn rotations.


Introductions of non-native species can result in the release of their parasites. Although the majority of parasites are lost during the introduction process, those that do get released can spill over to native species and potentially result in pathological, physiological and ecological impacts. Whilst it is increasingly recognised that native parasites can play important ecological roles, the ecological consequences of non-native parasites remain unclear. Consequently, through study of three host-parasite models, this research investigated the ecological consequences of non-native parasites in UK freshwater fish communities through assessment of their effects on hosts (individuals to populations), and on food web structure. The three non-native parasite: host systems were Ergasilus briani and roach Rutilus rutilus and common bream Abramis brama, Bothriocephalus acheilognathi and common carp Cyprinus carpio, and Anguillicoides crassus and the European eel Anguilla anguilla. These parasites were chosen as they reflect a range of life cycle complexity in parasites. The pathology of each parasite was identified using histology, with E. briani having substantial effects on host gill structure, B. acheilognathi impacted the intestinal structure of their hosts, and A. crassus substantially altered the structure and functioning of the host swimbladder. Whilst infections of E. briani and A. crassus had minimal effects on the body size, growth and condition of their hosts, chronic infections of B. acheilognathi did impact the growth and condition of C. carpio when measured over a 12 month period. Differences in the trophic ecology of the infected and uninfected components of the host populations were identified using stable isotope analysis and associated metrics, and revealed considerable differences in the trophic niche breadth of the infected and uninfected fish. In the component infected with E. briani, their trophic niche was constricted, indicating diet specialisation and a shift to feeding on less motile food items. For C. carpio infected with B. acheilognathi, their niche shifted away that of uninfected fish as they fed on higher proportions of planktonic prey resources. Whilst differences in the trophic ecology of infected and uninfected A. anguilla were apparent, this related to differences in their functional morphology that enabled the infected eels to prey upon greater proportions of fish paratenic hosts that resulted in their higher rates of infection. The wider ecological consequences of the introduced parasite were then investigated using topological and weighted food webs. The topological webs revealed that lifecycle and host specificity were important factors in how each parasite impacted the food web metrics, but in all cases the combined effects of including native parasites in food web structure exceeded that of adding the non-native parasite. However, weighting these food webs by using the dietary data outlined above revealed that these infections were predicted to have greater consequences than predicted topologically, and enabled scenarios of differing parasite prevalence and environmental change to be tested on food web metrics. These revealed that under increasing nutrient enrichment, infected individuals generally benefit via having access to greater food resources, a counter-intuitive resulting from increased algal biomass. Thus, this research revealed that introductions of non-native parasites have pathological and ecological consequences for their host populations that have measurable effects at the food web level. These outputs have important implications for the management of non-native parasites and their free-living hosts, and should be incorporated into risk-management and policy frameworks.


Porous membranes/mats with both high porosity and flexibility are strongly required for practical applications. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are excellent candidates owing to their ultra-high porosity compared to most of the porous materials. However, the intrinsic fragility of MOF crystals makes the fabrication of flexible MOF-only membranes/mats rather challenging. This article presents a facile and general strategy to prepare flexible self-supported MOF-only mats that have exceptionally high porosity compared with the reported flexible membranes/mats (even remarkably higher than that of MOF powders), and can be produced on a large scale, easily manipulated, and highly adaptive for a variety of uses. A wide range of flexible MOF mats including MIL-53(Al), MIL-53(Al)-NH2, HKUST-1, ZIF-8, ZIF-67, UiO-66 and MIL-88B(Fe) have been prepared by the complete phase transformation of electrospun fibrous metal oxide mats. The hierarchical porous structure endows the mats with extra large surface area, excellent pore accessibility and efficient mass transport. Water treatment, air filtration and catalytic applications have been demonstrated, revealing the significantly enhanced performance of the flexible self-supported MOF mats over supported ones and/or MOF powders. This work overcomes the longstanding challenge of processing pure MOFs into a flexible and tailorable form, opens a new opportunity for MOF-only materials in high-performance devices, and greatly broadens the scope of functional membranes/mats.


A rapid, specific and reliable isocratic high-performance liquid chromatography combined with quadrupole time-of-flight electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC/Q-TOF-ESI-MS/MS) method has been developed and validated for the identification and characterization of stressed degradation products of metoprolol. Metoprolol, an anti-hypertensive drug, was subjected to hydrolysis (acidic, alkaline and neutral), oxidation, photolysis and thermal stress, as per ICH-specified conditions. The drug showed extensive degradation under oxidative and hydrolysis (acid and base) stress conditions. However, it was stable to thermal, neutral and photolysis stress conditions. A total of 14 degradation products were observed and the chromatographic separation of the drug and its degradation products was achieved on a C(18) column (4.6 × 250 mm, 5 µm). To characterize degradation products, initially the mass spectral fragmentation pathway of the drug was established with the help of MS/MS, MS(n) and accurate mass measurements. Similarly, fragmentation pattern and accurate masses of the degradation products were established by subjecting them to LC-MS/QTOF analysis. Structure elucidation of degradation products was achieved by comparing their fragmentation pattern with that of the drug. The degradation products DP(2) (m/z 153) and DP(14) (m/z 236) were matched with impurity B, listed in European Pharmacopoeia and British Pharmacopoeia, and impurity I, respectively. The LC-MS method was validated with respect to specificity, linearity, accuracy and precision.


To investigate the involvement of primate non-primary motor cortices in bimanual sequential movements, we recorded neuronal activity in the supplementary motor area (SMA) and presupplementary motor area (pre-SMA) while an animal was performing bimanual motor tasks that required two sequential arm movements consisting of either pronation or supination of the right or left arms with delay periods. We also recorded electromyograms (EMGs) from the arm while the animal performed the bimanual task to compare muscle and neuronal activity. This paper focuses on the neuronal activity before the onset of sequential movements. We found that the prime-mover forelimb muscles were selectively active when an impending arm movement involved recorded muscles, but was not dependent on whether the arm movements were bimanual or unimanual. In contrast, we found that neurons in the non-primary motor cortices showed different activity depending on whether the forthcoming sequential arm movements were unimanual or bimanual. Our results suggest that neuronal activity in the SMA and pre-SMA reflects higher-order information about arm use before motor execution. By extracting this type of information, we can use it to control prosthetic arms in a more intelligent manner through a brain-machine interface.


The IEEE Transactions on NanoBioscience thanks its reviewers, editorial board members, and most importantly its authors and readers for their support in 2019 and wishes them all the best for 2020!


Bone is a typical inorganic-organic composite material with a multilevel hierarchical organization. In the lowest level of bone tissue, inorganic minerals, which are mainly composed of hydroxyapatite, are mineralized within the type I collagen fibril scaffold. Understanding the crystal prenucleation mechanism and growth of the inorganic phase is particularly important in the design and development of materials with biomimetic nanostructures. In this study, we built an all-atom human type I collagen fibrillar model with a 67 nm overlap/gap D-periodicity. Arginine residues were shown to serve as the dominant cross-linker to stabilize the fibril scaffold. Subsequently, the prenucleation mechanism of collagen intrafibrillar mineralization was investigated using a molecular dynamics approach. Considering the physiological pH of the human body (i.e., ∼7.4), HPO42- was initially used to simulate the protonation state of the phosphate ions. Due to the spatially constrained effects resulting from the overlap/gap structure of the collagen fibrils, calcium phosphate clusters formed mainly inside the hole zone but with different spatial distributions along the long axis direction; this indicated that the nucleation of calcium phosphate may be highly site-selective. Furthermore, the model containing both HPO42- and PO43- in the solution phase formed significantly larger clusters without any change in the nucleation sites. This phenomenon suggests that the existence of PO43- is beneficial for the mineralization process, and so the conversion of HPO42- to PO43- was considered a critical step during mineralization. Finally, we summarize the nucleation mechanism for collagen intrafibrillar mineralization, which could contribute to the fabrication of mineralized collagen biomimetic materials.


In order to investigate the potential anti-inflationary consequences of acceleration of productivity, the output gap-based Phillips curve is augmented to include the cyclical markup and change in output gap. The markup allows for the short-term influence of productivity-induced decline in unit labor costs on inflation, and the "rate of change" specification implies inflation depends also on how fast aggregate demand is growing relative to potential (demand growth gap). The estimated coefficient on the cyclical markup is negative while that on the demand growth gap is positive, indicating that inflation falls if the markup is high, and increases if aggregate demand grows faster than potential output. The predictions of the one-year-ahead inflation rate conditional on actual values of the explanatory variables suggested by the Phillips curves track actual inflation well from 1980 to 2003, outperforming those based on a nave model that predicts inflation using only lagged inflation. This result suggests Phillips curves are useful for predicting inflation. The results also indicate that demand growth and output gap variables help most in generating accurate predictions of the inflation rate and trump the markup as the major source of the recent deceleration of inflation.


Wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) using silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguides have become an attractive area of research to decrease the footprint of optical interconnects as well as to ensure high speed data transmission. Specifically, research into using SOI ring resonator add-drop filters for WDM applications have been increasingly pursued. A ring resonator coupled on both sides by straight waveguides enables one to add (multiplex) or drop (demultiplex) wavelengths. Using series-coupled ring resonators, with each resonator having a different length, enables better spectral performance than single ring resonators. In this thesis, we have analyzed the properties of SOI strip waveguides and directional couplers. We have compared different spectral properties of single and series-coupled ring resonators and showed the advantages of using series-coupled ring resonators. SOI strip waveguide series-coupled racetrack resonators exhibiting the Vernier effect were designed by us and fabricated at a leading edge foundry. The free spectral range was 36 nm, which is comparable to the span of the optical C-band. The drop port response showed interstitial peak suppression between 9 dB and 17 dB and minimal resonance splitting.


Luminescent complexes [Zn(phen)(dca)2] (1) and [Zn(bpy)(aba)2] (2) (phen = 1,10-phenanthroline, dca = 4-dimethylamino cinnamate, bpy = 2,2'-bipyridyl, aba = 4-dimethylamino benzoate) are formed readily at room temperature when the reactants are allowed to react in a 1:1:2 molar ratio. Complex 1 self-assembles into a hydrogen-bonded framework structure in aqueous ethanol to form {[Zn(phen)(dca)2]·3H2O·EtOH}n (3), in which four complex units gather around tetrameric water clusters. Similarly, complex 2 forms a different hydrogen-bonded framework structure with the empirical formula {[Zn(bpy)(aba)2]·4H2O}n (4), in which octameric water clusters assemble [Zn(bpy)(aba)2] complex units. Compounds 3 and 4 exhibit significant red shifts of the emission bands with respect to 1 and 2, respectively. On heating, compound 3 loses water to form 1 and then later upon recrystallization from aqueous ethanol forms 3 as monitored by X-ray powder patterns. Similarly, the transformation between 2 and 4 is also reversible.


Objectives To report our preliminary single-center experience with cytoreductive surgery (CRS) plus hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) in the management of peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) arising from ovarian cancer. Methods From 2016–2018, 23 patients underwent CRS+HIPEC. CRS was performed with standard peritonectomy procedures and visceral resections directed toward complete elimination of tumors. HIPEC was performed with either cisplatin (50 mg/m²) plus doxorubicin (15 mg/m²), or single-agent cisplatin (100 mg/m²), and allowed to circulate in the abdominopelvic cavity for 90 min at 41.0–42.2°C. Results Almost all PC cases were primary disease presentations (61.9%) and had high-grade papillary serous histology (90.5%). Cytoreduction completeness (CC-0/1) was achieved in all patients with a median peritoneal cancer index (PCI) of 12±6.3 (range: 3–30). Combination cisplatin+doxorubicin HIPEC chemotherapy was used in 14 patients (66.7%). The median estimated blood loss and hospital stay were 1200±350 mL (range: 800–4500) and 14±5.7 days (range: 8–47), respectively. Major postoperative Clavien-Dindo grade III/IV complications occurred in 3 patients (14.3%), and none developed HIPEC chemotherapy-related toxicities. The median overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) after CRS+HIPEC were 18±2.4 and 9.8±3.2 months, respectively. The median follow-up time was 13 months (range: 8–42). In a univariate analysis, patients with CC-0, <12 PCI score and primary PS presentation had statistically higher median 5-year DFS and OS (P<0.05). In a multivariate analysis, CC-0 was shown to be an independent significant prognostic factor for OS (P<0.05). Conclusions CRS+HIPEC appears to be feasible, safe, and yields survival oncological benefits in patients with PS originating from ovarian cancer.


ABSTRACT The rationale for introducing the term "non-Q-wave myocardial infarction" is identified. The incidence, pathology, pathogenesis, and diagnostic criteria for this condition, previously identified as nontransmural or subendocardial infarction, are reviewed. In reviewing the diagnostic criteria, the various noninvasive techniques that may be applied are discussed. The clinical course, prognosis, and management are discussed under the headings of early postinfarction period, late clinical course, predischarge evaluation, and long-term care. The issues of the management of infarct extension and acute interventional therapy are raised and reviewed. Suggestions regarding specific aspects of therapy in non-Q-wave myocardial infarction are included in the summary.


The aims of this study were: 1) To measure pharyngeal and upper oesophageal function manometrically at the same time as recording video images of the patient swallowing barium, in normal controls and patients with Zenker's diverticulum, and, 2) In those patients who progressed to surgery to biopsy the cricopharyngeus and compare the findings with biopsies from normal controls. Subjects were seated in front of a fluoroscope and video images of a barium swallow were synchronised with a multichannel recording catheter which contained 3 perfused side holes 1 cm apart (situated in the pharynx) and a 4 cm long perfused sleeve pressure sensor (positioned across the upper oesophageal sphincter). The coordination of the upper sphincter with swallowing, its relaxation, the pressures generated in the distal pharynx and the maximum luminal area of the open upper sphincter, were calculated for different volumes of barium swallowed in 11 patients with a Zenker's diverticulum (mean age 71 years, range 50-99) and 9 normal controls (mean age 65 years, range 55-86). Seven patients progressed to cricopharyngeal myotomy and their biopsies were compared with biopsies from 9 normal controls. In patients with Zenker's diverticulum intrapharyngeal pressures during barium swallows were significantly greater (p less than .05) and maximal luminal areas of the open sphincter were significantly less (p less than .05) than in control patients. In patients having a cricopharyngeal myotomy, intrapharyngeal pressures and maximum luminal areas returned to normal after surgery. The cricopharyngeus muscle of patients with a Zenker's diverticulum showed significantly increased fibrosis compared with normal controls.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Recent advances in understanding the dynamic pathways involved in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis have emphasized the pivotal role of pro-inflammatory cytokines, inflammatory cells, endothelial cell activation and matrix degradation, acting in a genetically predisposed environment. On the other hand, there are significant amounts of data highlighting the potential role of bacteria (leading periodonthopatic pathogen Porfiromonas gingivalis) in promoting different types of arthritis, as well as the influence of periodontis (an infectious-inflammatory condition) as etiological or modulating factor in different pathologies, including cardio-vascular disorders, diabetes, respiratory disease and inflammatory rheumatic disorders (such as rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and lupus). The present chapter deals with the possible association between rheumatoid arthritis and periodontitis as entities with common pathological events.