Competition between genotypes is likely to be a key driver of pathogen evolution, particularly following a geographical invasion by distant strains. Theory predicts that competition between disease strains will result in the most virulent strain persisting. Despite its evolutionary implications, the role of strain competition in shaping populations remains untested for most pathogens. We experimentally investigated the in vivo competitive differences between two divergent lineages of the amphibian-killing chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, Bd). These Bd lineages are hypothesized to have diverged in allopatry but been recently brought back into secondary contact by human introduction. Prior studies indicate that a panzootically-distributed, global lineage of Bd was recently introduced into southern Brazil, and is competitively excluding enzootic lineages in the southern Atlantic Forest. To test for differences in competitive ability between invasive and enzootic Brazilian Bd isolates, we coinfected a model host frog system which we developed for this study (Hymenochirus curtipes). We tracked isolate-specific zoospore production over the course of the coinfection experiment with chip-based digital PCR (dPCR). The globally invasive panzootic lineage had a competitive advantage in spore production especially during the first one to four weeks of infection, and on frogs that eventually succumbed to Bd infection. Our study provides new evidence that competitive pressure resulting from the human movement of pathogen strains can rapidly alter the genetics, community dynamics and spatial epidemiology of pathogens in the wild.


Eight strains of mollicutes were isolated from pooled suspensions prepared from western black-legged ticks (Ixodes pacificus) collected in Oregon. Morphologic examination by electron and dark-field microscopic techniques showed that each strain consisted of a mixture of motile, tightly coiled helical cells, small coccoid cells with diameters ranging from 300 to 500 nm, and pleomorphic, straight or branched filamentous forms. All cellular forms were surrounded by a single cytoplasmic membrane, and there was no evidence of a cell wall. The organisms were filterable and fastidious in their growth requirements. The optimum temperature for growth was 30 degrees C, but multiplication occurred at temperatures ranging from 23 to 32 degrees C. The strains catabolized glucose but did not hydrolyze arginine or urea. The genome size of strain Y32T (T = type strain) was 2,220 kbp, and the DNA base composition (guanine-plus-cytosine content) of this organism was 25 +/- 1 mol%. The eight isolates were serologically related to each other but were not related to 37 other type or representative strains belonging to the genus Spiroplasma. Strain Y32 (= ATCC 33835) is the type strain of Spiroplasma ixodetis sp. nov.


Abstract
Islam is a religion that teaches its people to always learn. Islam is also a religion that positions science in a noble position. As a sign of the primacy of science in Islam is the nature of science is one of the obligatory properties of Allah SWT. Therefore, all prophets and messengers are sent to teach knowledge to the people they are developing.
Science is an important knowledge that people need to answer all the problems of life. By having knowledge, the prosperous world life as well as the happier hereafter will be realized. That's what science is for. Speaking of knowledge, in the Qur'an scattered the word science and all kinds of derivatives. Man, according to the Qur'an has the potential to gain knowledge and develop it with the permission of Allah. Therefore, scattered verses that commanded humans to take various ways to make that happen. Over and over again the Qur'an shows how high the position of the knowledgeable.
According to the Qur'anic view - as the first revelation implies - science consists of two kinds. First, science acquired without human effort, is called 'ilm ladunni, as informed among others by the Qur'an. With science then all problems will be solved. With knowledge people will be able to behave better, people will be able to tolerate with others despite different principles.

Keywords: Islam, knowledge, science


The pandemic disease of late 2019-2020 is not unknown to anyone. Severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 or COVID-19 has created havoc globally. Much fast-track research in clinical trial is going on worldwide, but till now, no such successful outcome achieved against this virus. The mutagenic strains of the virus are significantly causing difficulty in understanding the course of the disease and different trials and hypothesis are coming in front. Different preventive aspects of the disease have been discussed and advised by the scientist worldwide. The present review paper aims at focusing on the traditional beliefs of Ayurveda and its role in developing immunity for the prevention of infection by this virus. The role of food, proper sleep, and Yoga in immunomodulation has been discussed in detail in relation to prevention from COVID-19 in specific and seasonal viral diseases in general.


© Academy of Management Learning & Education, 2016. Calls for greater diversity in management research, education, and practice have increased in recent years, driven by a sense of fairness and ethical responsibility, but also because research shows that greater diversity of inputs into management processes can lead to greater innovation. But how can greater diversity of thought be encouraged when educating management students beyond the advocacy of affirmative action and relating the research on the link between multiplicity and creativity? One way is to think again about how we introduce the subject. Introductory textbooks often begin by relaying the history of management. What is presented is a very limited monocultural and linear view of how management emerged. This article highlights how this history may limit the view of management scholars in contrast to the broader perspectives that the histories of other comparable fields, like medicine and architecture, encourage. We discuss how a wider, deeper, and more engaged understanding of management history can foster thinking differently in our field.


Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly lethal and debilitating disease with limited therapeutic options. The aim of this clinical study was to evaluate the safety, efficacy and pharmacokinetics of a novel regimen comprised of metronomic oxaliplatin (O), chronomodulated capecitabine (X) and UGT1A1 genotype‐guided dosing of irinotecan (IRI) [OXIRI] as well as its immunomodulatory effects. Thirty‐six patients were enrolled into either dose‐escalation or expansion cohorts. In the dose escalation phase, capecitabine doses (2000, 2650, 3500 and 4500 mg/day) were administered at midnight on days 1 to 14 while oxaliplatin and irinotecan were intravenously infused at fixed doses of 50 and 75 mg/m2 respectively on days 1, 8 in a 21‐day cycle. The maximum tolerated dose of capecitabine was 2650 mg/day and the most common grade 3 adverse events were neutropenia (30.6%) and diarrhea (13.9%). No grade 4 toxicity was observed. UGT1A1‐genotype directed dosing resulted in similar exposure levels of irinotecan, SN‐38 and SN‐38G in all patients. Objective response rate was 22.2%. Median overall survival and progression‐free survival were 8.1 and 5.2 months, respectively. Exploratory immunoprofiling by flow cytometry and quantitative spatial localization analysis of infiltrated immune cells performed on biopsy and plasma samples revealed significant declines in CCL22, CCL2 and TNFα levels at end of first cycle and an active host immune response. Our study showed that OXIRI was well‐tolerated and exhibited good efficacy, with immunomodulatory effects. It may be considered as an alternative to FOLFIRINOX in patients intolerant to the latter.


PURPOSE
Approximately 20% of adults use some kind of herbal; however, little data exists from population-based study or clinical trials to support effectiveness of most herbal products. Chamomile is a commonly used herb among older adults of Mexican origin. We examined the effects of herbal chamomile consumption on mortality among older adults of Mexican origin.

METHODS AND DESIGN
A sample from the Hispanic Established Populations for Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly, a population-based study of noninstitutionalized Mexican Americans aged 65 and older from five Southwestern states (Texas, California, New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona). We included all men and women from 2000 to 2007 (n = 1,677).

RESULTS
Chamomile was used by 14% of the sample. Cox proportional hazards regression analyses showed that chamomile was associated with a decreased risk of mortality in the total sample (hazard ratio [HR] 0.71, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.55-0.92) and for women (HR 0.67, 95% CI 0.49-0.92) but not for men. In models adjusted for sociodemographic variables, health behaviors, and chronic conditions, chamomile remained significantly associated with reduced mortality in women (HR 0.72, 95% CI 0.53-0.98).

IMPLICATIONS
The use of chamomile shows protective effects against mortality in this sample of older adults of Mexican origin for women. Further research is warranted in other populations to determine if these effects are consistent.


Similarity assessment is the fundamentally important to various remote sensing applications such as image classification, image retrieval and so on. The objective of similarity assessment is to automatically distinguish differences between images and identify the contents of an image. Unlike the existing feature-based or object-based methods, we concern more about the deep level pattern of image content. The association rule mining is capable to find out the potential patterns of image, hence in this paper, a fast association rule mining algorithm is proposed and the similarity is represented by rules. More specifically, the proposed approach consist of the following steps: firstly, the gray level of image is compressed using linear segmentation to avoid interference of details and reduce the computation amount; then the compressed gray values between pixels are collected to generate the transaction sets which are transformed into the proposed multi-dimension data cube structure; the association rules are then fast mined based on multi-dimension data cube; finally the mined rules are represented as a vector and similarity assessment is achieved by vector comparison using first order approximation of Kullback-Leibler divergence. Experimental results indicate that the proposed fast association rule mining algorithm is more effective than the widely used Apriori method. The remote sensing image retrieval experiments using various images for example, QuickBird, WorldView-2, based on the existing and proposed similarity assessment show that the proposed method can provide higher retrieval precision.


From high-level methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus SRM551, the low-level heterogeneously resistant mutant, SRM563, was isolated by transposon mutagenesis. The transposon insertion occurred in the 3' region of the llm gene in the mutant (H. Maki, T. Yamaguchi, and K. Murakami, J. Bacteriol. 176:4993-5000, 1994). Resistant revertants were generated from the mutant strain SRM563 on the plate containing methicillin at a concentration of 12.5 microg/ml or more. In some revertants, the insertion sequence IS256 was observed to be transposed into one of five sites localized 88 to 212 bp upstream of the mutant llm at a frequency of 2.8 x 10(-7) in the bacterial population. The IS256 transposition created a new hybrid promoter in which the -35 region at the end of IS256 was properly arranged in relation to the -10-like sequence upstream of llm. The new promoters greatly enhanced the transcription of the mutant llm, as judged by blotting analysis of llm mRNA, with concomitant elevation of the methicillin resistance. Involvement of the insertion sequence in the heteroresistance characteristics of methicillin-resistant S. aureus was suggested.


This paper presents a method for modeling and estimation of the state of charge (SOC) of lithium-ion (Li-Ion) batteries using neural networks (NNs) and the extended Kalman filter (EKF). The NN is trained offline using the data collected from the battery-charging process. This network finds the model needed in the state-space equations of the EKF, where the state variables are the battery terminal voltage at the previous sample and the SOC at the present sample. Furthermore, the covariance matrix for the process noise in the EKF is estimated adaptively. The proposed method is implemented on a Li-Ion battery to estimate online the actual SOC of the battery. Experimental results show a good estimation of the SOC and fast convergence of the EKF state variables.


While surveys suggest that Danes value freedom of religion highly, in practice ethnic Danish converts to Islam report frequent negative responses to their Muslim identities, both in public settings and from friends and family. Our paper examines how active social media users amongst converts to Islam in the greater Copenhagen area negotiate both a predominantly negative media frame and negative personal reactions in their self-understanding, through personal conduct, and on social media. Interviewees report tensions between their Danish and Muslim identities, which they struggle to resolve constructively through tactics aimed at reducing the gap in majority perception between being Muslim and Danish – for example, through exemplary personal conduct, countering negative media representations, and emphasising shared values. However, most report frustration and tiredness at the daily effort and, over time, more pro-active discursive and media-based tactics tend to be replaced by a focus on local and personal relationships.


Thiazolidinediones and exercise are both known to improve insulin action independently. Therefore, we determined whether combined therapy could normalize insulin action in the Zucker fatty (ZF) rat. Rats were fed troglitazone as a 0.2% food admixture over a 3-week exercise training period (treadmill running 5 days/week, 20 m/min, 0% grade, 60 min/day). Subsequent to drug and/or exercise therapy, animals were chronically cannulated in the carotid artery (sampling) and jugular vein (infusion). After a 4-day recovery from surgery, animals were exposed to a hyperinsulinemic (40 mU x kg(-1) x min(-1)) euglycemic clamp (8.5 +/- 0.12 mmol/l; P = 0.45 between groups). Independently, exercise (n = 7) and troglitazone (n = 7) improved the glucose disposal rate 20% (P = 0.04) and 76% (P = 0.001), respectively, when compared with untreated ZF controls (n = 11). In combination, exercise and troglitazone therapy (n = 6) produced significant increments in the following: tracer-determined glucose disposal rate (combined therapy, 52.4 +/- 2.9 mg x kg(-1) x min(-1), vs. untreated ZF, 25.8 +/- 0.8 mg x kg(-1) x min(-1); P = 0.0001), total GLUT4 protein (twofold increase; P = 0.001), insulin receptor substrate (IRS)-1 protein (fourfold increase; P = 0.0001), and Akt phosphorylation (2.9-fold increase; P = 0.002). In conclusion, 1) exercise and troglitazone therapy each improved insulin action in the ZF rat, whereas the combination of the two led to complete normalization of insulin sensitivity, and 2) combination treatment also resulted in normalization of GLUT4 total protein, IRS-1 protein, and Akt phosphorylation compared with lean littermates.


In this paper we propose a new algorithm for solving a class of nonsmooth nonconvex problems, which is obtained by combining the iteratively reweighted scheme with a finite number of forward–backward iterations based on a linesearch procedure. The new method overcomes some limitations of linesearch forward–backward methods, since it can be applied also to minimize functions containing terms that are both nonsmooth and nonconvex. Moreover, the combined scheme can take advantage of acceleration techniques consisting in suitable selection rules for the algorithm parameters. We develop the convergence analysis of the new method within the framework of the Kurdyka–Łojasiewicz property. Finally, we present the results of a numerical experience on microscopy image super resolution, showing that the performances of our method are comparable or superior to those of other algorithms designed for this specific application.


In Africa, families often with more than one child consult with both modern and traditional African medicine to treat their child with sickle cell anemia. This research aimed to understand how a child experiences both the medical and traditional care of his sister. We collected data from an interview and family drawing of a young boy growing up with an affected sister in Cameroon. Results showed this child persisted to feel as though his sister had fallen victim to a sorcerer and that he was at risk of the same fate even after the two of them received traditional treatment. He also felt neglected about his suffering because of his sister's disease by hospital professionals that were caring for her. It is therefore necessary to establish a support system for affected children and their family by providing a safe space in hospitals where they can express and contain their experiences with the disease.


Carbon dioxide baths (CDB) and exercise have a good effect on clinical indices of the postinfarction period in patients suffering from postinfarction cardiosclerosis with impaired left ventricular function, especially in combined use. Patients on general CDB and/or exercise exhibited a significant increase in time of exercise and power of the threshold load, less frequent occurrence of ischemic depression of ST segment and dyspnea in performing bicycle exercise. CDB and exercise are especially beneficial for patients with systolic dysfunction.


Regional seismographic network and teleseismic data for the 1933 (M_L = 6.3) Long Beach earthquake sequence have been analyzed. Both the teleseismic focal mechanism of the main shock and the distribution of the aftershocks are consistent with the event having occurred on the Newport-Inglewood fault. The focal mechanism had a strike of 315°, dip of 80° to the northeast, and rake of −170°. Relocation of the foreshock-main shock-aftershock sequence using modern events as fixed reference events, shows that the rupture initiated near the Huntington Beach-Newport Beach City boundary and extended unilaterally to the northwest to a distance of 13 to 16 km. The centroidal depth was 10 ± 2 km. The total source duration was 5 sec, and the seismic moment was 5 * 10^(25) dyne-cm, which corresponds to an energy magnitude of M_W = 6.4. The source radius is estimated to have been 6.6 to 7.9 km, which corresponds to a Brune stress drop of 44 to 76 bars. Both the spatial distribution of aftershocks and inversion for the source time function suggest that the earthquake may have consisted of at least two subevents. When the slip estimate from the seismic moment of 85 to 120 cm is compared with the long-term geological slip rate of 0.1 to 1.0 mm/yr along the Newport-Inglewood fault, the 1933 earthquake has a repeat time on the order of a few thousand years.


Women-only space has garnered a lot of attention in feminist circles. Most of the discussion has been devoted to fiery debates addressing the rights and wrongs of women's claims to autonomous space, rather than what goes on inside women-only space. In this article we report on research about what goes on once we move beyond the protesters and defenders, stepping across the threshold into feminist women-only space.


In the last few years research has been done in order to define the best approach that DBMSs must follow to manage different workloads. Some approaches have followed the "One size fits all" trying to incorporate all features in a row-oriented DBMS (also called horizontal) to manage both OLTP and DSS workloads. Additionally, there have been specialized DBMS following a columnar approach (also called vertical) that focuses on the growing demand to efficiently manage DSS workloads. The present paper is aimed to propose a combination of both vertical and horizontal DBMS to best manage OLTP and DSS workloads. We have used mature, commercially available products from a single vendor and developed a custom middleware Decision Query Module that identifies the best option for most efficient execution of a query. This V+H architecture also offers the functionality of a mirrored DB without paying twice of the storage.


Backgroud Intestinal hepatoid adenocarcinoma (IHA) is a very rare and unique intestinal malignancy. Due to the lack of case series specifically pertaining to IHA, the clinicopathological features and prognosis of it remain unclear. Results Of the 42 patients enrolled in this study, 30 (71.4%) were male. Twenty-one cases (50.0%) were located in the colon. Eight cases (19.0%) had accompanying inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Elevated serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) was detected for most patients (25/33, 84.8%). Twenty-five (59.5%) patients received complete resections. Vascular invasion (22/36, 61.1%), lymph node metastasis (28/36, 77.8%) and distant metastasis (21/42, 50.0%) were common. The 1-year progression-free survival (PFS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) of IHA were 26.9% and 30.6%, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that only pTNM stage was an independent risk factor for PFS and DSS. PFS and DSS in patients with IHA were significantly lower than those with colorectal adenocarcinoma (CA) and hepatoid adenocarcinoma of the stomach (HAS). Conclusions IHA most commonly occurred in the colon and accompanied by IBD in several cases. pTNM stage was an independent factor for prognosis. The prognosis of IHA was significantly worse than that of CA and HAS. Patients and Methods Clinical data of IHA from four patients managed at our institution between January 2010 and December 2016, and 38 cases from research databases prior to 2017 were retrospectively studied.


This is a survey of well characterized and recently discovered bacterial protein toxins. Leading investigators of the respective toxins review the various molecular mechanisms of action, ranging from toxin-induced ADP-ribosylation up to membrane perforation by pore-forming toxins. Thy also describe the consequences on host physiology before focusing on potential applications as cell biological and pharmacological tools for research and medical applications. Detailed descriptions of the methodology include the engineering and use of modified and chimeric toxins for better performance. A solid introduction to toxin structure and functions, as well as a valuable source of methodology for researchers in molecular biology, pharmacology and experimental medicine.


If treatment-emergent central nervous system (CNS) symptoms following triptan therapy represent direct pharmacological effects of the drug, they should occur independent of response to active drug. However, if they represent unmasking of neurological symptoms of the migraine attack after pain is relieved, they should be more common in responders both to active drug and to placebo. To explore this issue, we evaluated the relationship between the CNS adverse events and treatment response following triptan or placebo treatment. We used pooled data from seven double-blind, placebo-controlled trials involving eletriptan 20 mg (E20, n = 402), eletriptan 40 mg (E40, n = 1870), eletriptan 80 mg (E80, n = 1393), sumatriptan 100 mg (S100, n = 275) and placebo (Pbo, n = 1024). Somnolence was more prevalent among 2 h headache responders than non-responders for all treatments, including E80 (8.8% vs. 5.0%; P < 0.05), E40 (6.4% vs. 5.0%; NS), E20 (4.0% vs. 2.0%; NS), S100 (4.7% vs. 3.2%; NS) and Pbo (7.6% vs. 3.0%; P < 0.05). Similarly, the incidence of asthenia was higher among patients who responded to treatment compared with those who did not respond to E80 (15.2% vs. 7.8%; P < 0.05), E40 (6.5% vs. 3.6%; P < 0.05), E20 (6.5% vs. 1.0%; P < 0.05), S100 (10.1% vs. 4.7%; NS) and Pbo (4.4% vs. 2.7%; NS). The generally higher rates of somnolence and asthenia in patients who respond to treatment suggests that these treatment-emergent neurological symptoms may represent the unmasking of CNS symptoms associated with the natural resolution of a migraine attack, rather than simply representing drug-related side-effects. The rate of somnolence in placebo responders is comparable to that in responders to E40 and E80, indicating that somnolence is related, at least in some important part, to headache relief and not treatment.


Breakfast has been shown to increase the supply of glucose to the brain which improves short-term memory. On waking hepatic glycogenolysis is the major buffer against short-term (12-18 hrs) fasting. The higher ratio of brain weight to liver weight in the child (1.4 - 1.6 versus 0.73 for the adult) and the 50% greater metabolic rate per unit brain weight in the child, places a greater demand on the child's glycogenic stores during a short fast as compared to the adult. Few school breakfast studies have examined the effect of different breakfasts on cognitive performance.

This study investigated the nutritional differences of a habitual breakfast consumed at hom (NBC) and breakfast served at a breakfast club in (BC) school and the effect of these breakfasts on cognitive performance. Subjects were primary school children aged 7-11 years old in Scotland. When baseline cognitive performance scores were compared to scored at data collections 2,3 and 4 there were more significantly pronounced improvements for the NBC group than the BC group (p < 0.001). There were significantly greater numbers of children eating a cooked breakfast in the BC group and significantly higher numbers of children eating a cereal breakfast in the NBC group. As a result breakfasts of the BC group were higher in fat (MUFA and PUFA) (p < 0.01) and lower in percentage energy from carbohydrate than the NBC group. Positive correlations existed between percentage energy from carbohydrate and percentage energy from starch and cognitive test performance (p < 0.01). This suggests that a breakfast higher in % energy from carbohydrate such as a cereal breakfast benefits short-term memory, by supplying the brain with readily available supply of glucose it's primary and preferred fuel.

This results of this research provide evidence for the requirement of guidelines to ensure that breakfasts served at school will both assist learning in morning lessons and be in-line with healthy eating recommendations.


Abstract. The Project of Atmospheric Combined Pollution Monitoring over Beijing and its Surrounding Areas, was an intensive field campaign conducted over Northern China between June 2009 and August 2011 to provide a comprehensive record of ozone (O3) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) and contribute to an in-depth understanding of air pollution in Northern China and its driving forces. In this campaign, 25 stations in an air-quality monitoring network provided regional-scale spatial coverage. In this study, we analyzed the data on O3 and NOx levels obtained at 22 sites (out of 25 sites due to data availability) over Northern China between 1 September 2009 and 31 August 2010. Our goal was to investigate the O3 spatial-temporal variations and control strategy in this area. Significant diurnal and seasonal variations were noted, with the highest concentrations typically found at around 03:00 p.m. (local time) and in June. The lowest concentrations were generally found during early morning hours (around 06:00 a.m.) and in December. Compared with July and August, June has increased photochemical production due to decreased cloud cover coupled with reduced O3 loss due to less dry deposition, inducing an O3 peak appearing in June. The averaged O3 concentrations were lower in the plains area compared with the mountainous area due to the titration effects of high NOx emissions in urban areas. When the characteristics of O3 pollution in different regions were distinguished by factor analysis, we found high levels of O3 that exceeded China's National Standard throughout the plains, especially over Beijing and the surrounding areas. An integrated analysis with emissions data, meteorological data, and topography over Northern China found that the meteorological conditions were the main factors that dominated the spatial variations of O3, with the presence of abundant emissions of precursors in this area. The smog production algorithm and space-based HCHO/NO2 column ratio were used to show the O3-NOx-VOCs sensitivity and examine the control strategy of O3 over Northern China. The results show that summer O3 production in the plains and northern mountainous areas was sensitive to VOCs and NOx, respectively. The presented results are intended to provide guidance for redefining government strategies to control the photochemical formation of air pollutants over Northern China and are relevant for developing urban agglomerations worldwide.


The geologic cycle of a planet depicts the effects of energy from various internal and external sources interacting on the planetary surface and subsurface and thus provides an important tool in comparative planetology. The geologic cycle allows one not only to list and categorize the geologic processes acting on planets but also to suggest inferences about their history and current stage of development. The Earth presently has a closed-loop geologic cycle in which source rocks are eroded and continuously recycled. In contrast, the Moon apparently has an open-loop geologic cycle in which the crystalline primitive crust is irreversibly destroyed. Preliminary interpretations of the geologic cycle of Mars suggest an intermediate stage of development between a "primitive," static planet (the Moon) and a "mature," active planet (the Earth). A preliminary "geologic cycle map" shows that Mars is almost equally divided between primitive cratered terrains and modified smooth terrains, suggesting that Mars may be part-way through an episode of crustal modification. Indeed, Mars apparently is entering a stage of Earth-like tectonic activity. If so, the study of the structural features of Mars offers an exciting opportunity to learn a great deal about the early tectonic development of the Earth.


The population in Placer County, California, is growing four times faster than the state of California. With the increase in population comes a large increase in impervious surfaces such as residential developments, strip malls, roads, and a probable decline in local stream water quality. To test whether the recent developments have impacted a local stream, we compared macroinvertebrate populations in an undeveloped (upstream) and a developed (downstream) reach of Secret Ravine. We sampled macroinvertebrates with a Surber sampler, following the EPA Rapid Bioassessment Protocols. The mean number of 55 organisms per sample downstream was significantly higher (p=0.02) than the mean number of 23 organisms per sample upstream. Although there was not any significant difference between the mean %EPT (pollution sensitive organisms) at the upstream and downstream sites, there was a significant difference between moderately sensitive (p=0.01) and tolerant (p=0.01) organisms. The percent moderately sensitive organisms was 32% upstream and 6.8% downstream. The percent tolerant organisms was 52% downstream and 17% upstream. Further indication that the downstream site was impacted by development was the abundance of filamentous algae that indicate a eutrophic (nutrient-rich) stream. Another difference between the two sites was the lack of red Chironomid (midge) larvae upstream, compared to 49% of the downstream organisms as midge larvae. Midge larvae, which tolerate oxygen as low as 20% of saturation, indicated the sediment under the algae and pebbles was anoxic downstream. In addition, the upstream community contained 22% dragonfly larvae, which require high levels of oxygen, while the downstream site was only 4% dragonfly larvae. The abundance of pollution tolerant organisms and filamentous algae indicates the downstream site is receiving nutrient-rich urban runoff, but contained little or no toxins. Further studies should focus on measuring temperature, dissolved oxygen, and nutrient content of the upstream and downstream runoff to determine the extent of eutrophication due to urbanization of the watershed. Monique de Barruel Nicole West LAEP 227 – Dr. Kondolf – December 5, 2003


Abstract:How is it possible to profit from protecting the environment, rather than through deepening its terminal crisis? In recent years, a growing group of investors, economists and governments have answered this question with a range of market-based instruments designed to facilitate the commodification and trade of everything from carbon to wetlands. A popular approach has been to establish ecological credit schemes that allow businesses to destroy a discrete ecosystem in return for the restoration of an ecological site elsewhere. Numerous scholars have already emphasised the questionable spatial politics inherent to such initiatives. Focusing on the UK's emergent biodiversity credit policy regime, this article, by contrast, considers what effect credit schemes have on the temporal dynamics of the ecosystems they capture. Drawing on discussions of financialisation in the social sciences, we show how biodiversity credits rearticulate ecosystems as units of 'derivative ecology', which makes the future of these ecosystems actionable in the present, at the same time as it restricts their capacity to adapt to anthropogenic climate change. When discussed alongside recent currents in ecological theory that emphasise novelty, futurity and resilience through change, the gap widens between ecological and financial approaches to restoration. Consequently, we argue that market-based instruments such as biodiversity credits are constitutively unable to embrace the futurity of ecology on its own terms, because they have their own temporal logic that cannot help but petrify their bearers of value.


Introduction. Multivariate pattern analysis has been applied successfully to task-based and resting-based fMRI studies to investigate which neural markers distinguish individuals with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) from controls. Given the wealth of existing fMRI datasets, there is a need for techniques that can merge information from multiple datasets. We propose a data-driven approach that we apply to 2 fMRI experiments acquired in the same group of ASD (n=15) and control subjects (n=14). Methods. The 1st experiment (Conty, Dezecache, Hugueville, & Grezes, 2012) addressed how ASD participants process anger expressions. We presented pictures of individuals expressing social cues (i.e. gaze) directed or not at the observer (factors gaze direction*emotion, total 4 conditions). The 2nd experiment (Pichon, De Gelder, & Grezes, 2012) aimed at distinguishing between automaticity and attention in the processing of emotional stimuli varying attention while observing movie-clips depicting angry, fear and neutral body actions (factors attention*emotion, total 4 conditions). For each subject and experiment, we collected 370 EPI volumes (TR=2000ms). fMRI images were processed and analyzed using SPM8. Motion artefacts were taken into account by adding 24 motion-related regressors in each models (Friston, Williams, Howard, Frackowiak, & Turner, 1996). We first classified ASD from controls (figure 1). We trained a linear Support Vector Machine (SVM) independently for each condition using the raw beta maps as inputs. The continuous outputs of the classifiers were then averaged to obtain a final decision for each subject. The accuracy was computed for each experiment (i.e. combination of 4 conditions) and for the fusion of the two experiments (i.e. combination of 8 conditions). The significance of the accuracy was computed using a binomial test. Although SVMs achieve good performance in high dimensional spaces, they can still benefit from feature selection methods. In addition, feature selection allows investigating the location of voxel activities driving the classification performance. Therefore we employed SVM Recursive Feature Elimination (SVM RFE) (Guyon, Weston, Barnhill, & Vapnik, 2002) to order features by relevance and restrain the classification to a subset of discriminant voxels. To identify the most discriminative voxels across experiments (i.e. voxels which are well ranked by SVM RFE on several conditions), we employed an approximation of the rank product test (Koziol, 2010). Results. The accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of the different classification methods are reported in Table1. Regarding accuracy, the fusion of experiments reflected the accuracy of the most discriminative experiment. The fusion dramatically increased the significance of discriminative features and increased the number of significant discriminative voxels by roughly 50%. Discriminative voxels (figure2) were found in regions related to social cognition (FFA, OFA, EBA, STS, TPJ and premotor). These regions showed reduced contribution in ASD compared to controls. Feature selection did not improve accuracy but helped reducing the correlation of classifiers' output with motion (figure 3). Conclusions. These results show that the method is efficient for selecting features that are common across experiments, for identifying discriminative brain activity and for reducing motion artefacts. Identified areas were astonishingly consistent with brain regions of the "social-brain" known to show aberrant functioning in ASD. One of the originalities of our method is that the computed statistic is based only on the features ranks. Consequently, this method could be used to combine heterogeneous data sources such as different fMRI experiments, different BOLD-related signals (i.e. activation magnitude, connectivity) or even different brain imaging modalities (i.e. structural MRI, voxel-based morphometry, functional MRI, PET).


The legal system often charges forensic clinicians with the task of assisting the court in making decisions about a defendant's risk for violence. The extent to which these evaluations are useful depends, in part, on how the results are communicated to and understood by the trier of fact. Using a sample of 155 participants who previously served as a criminal trial juror, this study examined the effects of various risk communication formats on participants' perceptions of a hypothetical defendant's risk level, including his likelihood of reoffense and risk category, as well as sentencing and release decisions. Results consistently showed that when risk data was not anchored by an absolute recidivism estimate, predictions of future violence were highest. That is, when risk was stated only as an ordinal category (medium risk) or only in terms of needed interventions, participants severely overestimated the defendant's likelihood of violence. In the context of numerical data, the use of elaborative strategies (i.e., base rate examples and visual aids) did not impact risk perceptions. However, no between-groups differences were found across participants' decisions regarding sentencing and community release. Overall, participants tended to adhere to the expert's opinion when judging risk. Implications for best practices and future research are discussed, including the need for experts to simplify information during testimony and for risk researchers to work toward a better understanding of which strategies impact layperson perceptions of risk testimony and under what conditions.


Existing energy-efficient approaches to in-network aggregation in sensor networks can be classified into two categories, tree-based and multi-path-based, with each having unique strengths and weaknesses. In this paper, we introduce Tributary-Delta, a novel approach that combines the advantages of the tree and multi-path approaches by running them simultaneously in different regions of the network. We present schemes for adjusting the regions in response to changes in network conditions, and show how many useful aggregates can be readily computed within this new framework. We then show how a difficult aggregate for this context---finding frequent items---can be efficiently computed within the framework. To this end, we devise the first algorithm for frequent items (and for quantiles) that provably minimizes the worst case total communication for non-regular trees. In addition, we give a multi-path algorithm for frequent items that is considerably more accurate than previous approaches. These algorithms form the basis for our efficient Tributary-Delta frequent items algorithm. Through extensive simulation with real-world and synthetic data, we show the significant advantages of our techniques. For example, in computing Count under realistic loss rates, our techniques reduce answer error by up to a factor of 3 compared to any previous technique.


The paper deals with the theoretical and practical aspects of the taxation of labor and capital in the Czech Republic. The authors show that if the low flexibility of Czech labor is taken into account, progressive taxation could stimulate a higher supply of labor than would a linear tax. The paper then surveys arguments for and against capital tax and builds a tax incidence model inspired by the Harberger model. The authors demonstrate the theoretical possibilities of tax incidence and apply this to the Czech taxation system. The Czech system seems to tax capital more proportionally than labor, which, as the authors argue, reduces long-term capital accumulation by around 20 %: a substantial loss. The authors thus argue that an alternative tax system might stimulate higher economic growth.


This is the second part of a slide presentation on the hierarchy of objects in the Hilbert Book Model. The HBM is strictly based on quantum logic. It uses a sequence of these logic systems in order to create a dynamic model. In order to establish coherence between the members of the sequence a correlation vehicle is used that maps the atomic propositions onto the base vectors of a Hilbert space. This leads to unprecedented insight in the undercrofts of physics.


Modern grammar development platforms often support multiple devices for representing properties of a natural language, giving the grammar writer some freedom in implementing analyses of linguistic phenomena. These design alternatives can have dramatic consequences for efficiency both in processing and in grammar building. In this paper I report on three experiments in making systematic modifications to a broad-coverage grammar of English in order to gain efficiency without loss of linguistic elegance. While the experiments are to some degree both platform-dependant and theory-bound, the kinds of modifications reported should be applicable to any unification-based grammar which makes use of types. The results make a strong case for a more visible role for the linguist in the collaborative effort to achieve greater processing efficiency.


The paper aims to highlight the state of governance in managing the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, the first COVID positive case was detected in Mach 2020. Though 8 months have been passed there is no strategic action plan to mitigate COVID-19 effectively, as a result, it is still severe in Bangladesh. Primarily, the government was less concentrated on this pandemic and preparation was very poor and insufficient. Most of the selected patients of COVID-19 positive recovered by taking medicine- Ivermectin (6mg, 2 tablets a single dose at a time for a weak) with Doxycycline (100mg 12hrly for 5 days) and got the result within 4 days treatment staying at home. Corruption, inefficiency, mismanagement, and some crisis have been found in managing COVID-19 in Bangladesh. This is an empirical study based on both primary and secondary sources of data and information.


The hydrological effects of the underground nuclear explosion, CANNIKIN, were monitored by a network of streamflow stations and ground-water boreholes located on Amchitka Island.
 Continuous records were obtained from six surface-water stations that range from 1.50 to 14.07 km from surface ground zero (SGZ). Confined fluid pressures in boreholes were recorded at five stations with slant distances ranging from 2.14 to 14.11 km from ground zero (GZ). Fluctuations of water level were measured in one open hole 6.42 km from GZ.
 The stream system draining the CANNIKIN site lost 96 per cent of its flow within hours after the explosion. Lakes formed near SGZ remain low in stage and appear to be providing infill water for the rubble chimney. Measurements in boreholes also showed that the ground-water gradient was toward the explosion site. The response of confined fluid pressures was recorded in a number of boreholdes, and a relationship between maximum fluid pressure, P, and slant range, Rs, has been established as P = 920 Rs−2.10.


This paper presents the omnidirectional configuration and control approach on Mini Heavy Loaded Forklift Autonomous Guided Vehicle (MHeLFAGV) for flexibility maneuverability in confine and narrow area. The issue in turning motion for nonholonomic vehicle in confine area becoming a motivation in MHeLFAGV design to provide holonomic vehicle with flexible movement. Therefore an omni-wheeled named Mecanum wheel has been configured in this vehicle design as well as omnidirectional control algorithm. MHeLFAGV system is developed with collaboration and inspired from Vacuumshmelze (M) Sdn. Bhd. Pekan, Pahang in order to have a customized mini forklift that able to work in a very confined warehouse (170cm x 270cm square) with heavy payload in a range of 20-200kg. In electronics control design, two stages of controller boards are developed namely as Board 1 and 2 that specifically for movement controller board and monitoring controller board respectively. In addition separate module of left, right, forward, backward, diagonal and zigzagging movement is
developed as embedded modules for MHeLFAGV system's control architecture. A few experiments are done to verify the algorithm for each omnidirectional movement of MHeLFAGV system in the wide area. The waypoint of MHeLFAGV movement is plotted using Global Positioning System (GPS) as well as a digital compass by mapping the longitude and latitude of the vehicle. There are slightly different between the targeted movements with recorded data since Mecanum wheeled affected by the uneven surface of the landscape. The experiment is also further on moving in confine are on the actual targeted warehouse.


A majority of intersection-related fatal crashes occur at rural, through/stop intersections. At these intersections, sight restrictions caused by vertical and horizontal curves negatively affect a driver's ability to safely accept a gap in the traffic stream. Static advanced warning signs are sometimes installed at these intersections to warn drivers on the main, through approaches that an intersection is ahead. These warning signs appear to be ineffective. A new Advanced Light-Emitting Diode (LED) Warning System was developed and deployed at a rural, through/stop intersection with limited intersection sight distance due to a severe vertical curve. This warning system actively detects vehicles on all approaches and activates LED blinker warning signs for the conflicting movements. The research project included analysis of driver behavior obtained through video data and a survey of local residents and frequent users of the intersection. This report describes the development, implementation, and evaluation results of this new warning system.


The questions of safety and uncertainties are central to feasibility studies for an
underground waste storage site. One of the important points to be considered is the
problem of the evaluation of concentration uncertainties which are due to input
parameter uncertainties. These concentration uncertainties can be obtained by
probabilistic methods. These methods give good results and are relatively easy to
implement, but they are expensive because they require a large number of simulations.
The method of deterministic sensitivities is much less demanding in computing time.
This gain in computing time is accompanied by a deterioration of the quality of the
information obtained, but because of its much lower cost, it still deserves to be
developed.

The mathematical model consists of a flow equation based on Darcy's law - we assume
that the Darcy velocity is stationary -, a transport equation, i. e. a mass balance
equation, for each radionuclide, and a law of exchange between liquid and solid
phases for each radionuclide.

The deterministic sensitivity analysis is based on the first order approximation
given by the Jacobian matrix of the function which associates the output
concentrations to the input parameters. This differentiation computation can be done
either by direct methods (preferable when the number of input parameters is low) or
by reverse methods (preferable when the number of output concentrations is low); and
since we avoid finite difference methods for their lower precision, we have two
alternatives: implement "by hand" the derivatives or use an automatic differentiation
tool. The latter uses either source code transformation or operator overloading.

The main goal of this presentation is to give an evaluation of the
performance of the automatic differentiation tool "adolC" which is able to
differentiate C++ code both in direct and reverse modes. Here, we consider the
simpler case of just the (3D) flow equation, and the main result is that this tool
has shown both precision and efficiency comparable with those obtained from a code
differentiated by hand, but for a shorter development time. The major limitations to
the use of "adolC" is the size of files automatically generated during the execution
and the handling of huge outside libraries. Hence, the first experiments carried out
thus far suggest differentiating "by hand" parts that use libraries or that contain
iterative methods and using automatic differentiation for parts for which the list of
operations realized during the execution depends strongly, but not iteratively, on
the parameters, for example for the computation of upwinded schemes. Fortunately it
is possible to combine manual and automatic differentiation, and that is what we do.


Many applications, such as intelligent transport system and mobile multimedia, use Internet-based vehicular ad hoc networks (IVANETs). In IVANETs, users often access multimedia content from anywhere using Internet connectivity to remote video streaming servers. Due to the high mobility of the nodes in IVANETs, however, maintaining quality of service (QoS) for these video streaming applications with respect to parameters such as jitter, throughput, buffering, and transmission delays is a challenging task. To address these challenges, we propose a new QoS-aware hierarchical web caching (QHWC) scheme in IVANETs. We propose two new metrics, namely, load utilization ratio (LUR) and query to connectivity ratio (QCR), to maintain the QoS for various video streaming applications in IVANETs. We compare the performance of our proposed QHWC scheme with past approaches, such as dynamic service, weighted segment, and machine learning based, using various parameters such as QCR, communication cost, query delay, cache hit ratio, query generation rate, invalidation cost, and cache update interval. Our results demonstrate that the proposed QHWC scheme yields an average decrease of 16.75% and 22% in communication cost and query relay, respectively, and an average increase of 9.31% in cache hit ratio. Moreover, the invalidation cost reduces by 26.26% (on average) in our proposed scheme compared with other schemes.


New fossil discoveries relevant to the origin of Homo have overturned conventional wisdom about the nature of the australopiths and early Homo, and particularly Homo erectus (including Homo ergaster). They have eroded prior assumptions about the differences between these genera and complicated interpretations for the origin and evolution of Homo. This special issue surveys what is now known about the fossil evidence and the environmental context of early Homo. It also moves beyond the hard evidence and sets the stage for integrated, multidisciplinary studies to provide a framework for interpretation of the hard evidence. The underlying premise is that to understand the adaptive shifts at the origin of Homo, it is essential to have a solid understanding of how and why modern humans and other animals vary. Contributors to this issue include paleoanthropologists, human biologists, behavorialists, and modelers. We tasked each with bringing her or his special expertise to bear on the question of the origins and early evolution of Homo. The papers in this collection are a product of a week-long Wenner-Gren symposium held in March 2011, and this introduction integrates this work and its significance for Homo.


Construction of the new Windsor Road on/off ramps, part of the M2 Upgrade project, required limiting the loads and movements imposed on existing precast concrete walls so that no additional pressure was applied as a result of the new construction works. This was necessary due to possible structural deficiencies of some of the existing reinforced concrete elements. A piled relieving slab was adopted as the final solution to support the reinforced soil wall ramps and a comprehensive soil-structure interaction assessment was carried out in order to predict the pile head deflections and assess potential loading of the existing walls. A Class A prediction was carried out of the piled relieving slab performance using simplified uncoupled models which accounted for all likely loading mechanisms, including structural loads and induced soil movements. As the models were uncoupled, i.e. two distinct models, the interaction between them was assessed by plotting the load-displacement curves of both piles and the RSW/slab models, then identifying the equilibrium point. Instrumented piles confirmed the Class A prediction of very small pile head deflections indicating that the solution had successfully achieved the objective of limiting the applied loads onto the existing walls.


TAF8 is part of the transcription factor II D complex, composed of the TATA-binding protein and 13 TATA-binding protein-associated factors (TAFs). Transcription factor II D is the first general transcription factor recruited at promoters to assemble the RNA polymerase II preinitiation complex. So far disorders related to variants in 5 of the 13 subunits of human transcription factor II D have been described. Recently, a child with a homozygous c.781-1G>A mutation in TAF8 has been reported. Here we describe seven further patients with mutations in TAF8 and thereby confirm the TAF8 related disorder. In two sibling patients, we identified two novel compound heterozygous TAF8 splice site mutations, c.45+4A > G and c.489G>A, which cause aberrant splicing as well as reduced expression and mislocalization of TAF8. In five further patients, the previously described c.781-1G > A mutation was present on both alleles. The clinical phenotype associated with the different TAF8 mutations is characterized by severe psychomotor retardation with almost absent development, feeding problems, microcephaly, growth retardation, spasticity and epilepsy. Cerebral imaging showed hypomyelination, a thin corpus callosum and brain atrophy. Moreover, repeated imaging in the sibling pair demonstrated progressive cerebral and cerebellar atrophy. Consistently, reduced N-acetylaspartate, a marker of neuronal viability, was observed on magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Further review of the literature shows that mutations causing a reduced expression of transcription factor II D subunits have an overlapping phenotype of microcephaly, developmental delay and intellectual disability. Although transcription factor II D plays an important role in RNA polymerase II transcription in all cells and tissues, the symptoms associated with such defects are almost exclusively neurological. This might indicate a specific vulnerability of neuronal tissue to widespread deregulation of gene expression as also seen in Rett syndrome or Cornelia de Lange syndrome.


Two-phase flow of gas/Newtonian and gas/non-Newtonian fluid through pipes occurs frequently in the chemical industry as well as in petroleum refining. Extensive experimental and theoretical research has been carried out on these systems in order to better understand their behaviour under different conditions regarding pressure, temperature and mixture concentrations. In this study, experimental apparatuses are used to investigate two-phase flow of gas/liquid systems through pipes. Air is used as the gas in the experiments, while water is used as the Newtonian fluid and Xanthan gum as the non-Newtonian fluid. The objectives of the study are to compare pressure drops when the same gas flows simultaneously with Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids through tubes. The comparison here is between experimental pressure drops and estimated pressure drops, based on available empirical correlations for gas/Newtonian and gas/non-Newtonian flow. The trend exhibited by the pressure drops in both systems helps us to better understand the relationship between mixture flow pressure drops in Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids and thereby develop a new experimental model. The tube diameter for the flow loop is 3/4 inch and the flow type ranges from transient to turbulent.


Much current policy and media debates about anti-social behaviour in the UK have
focused upon the presence and activities of groups of young people in residential
spaces. Recent legislation has introduced new mechanisms for regulating the conduct
of young people in public spaces, including anti-social behaviour orders, curfew orders
and dispersal orders. This article provides a comparative evaluation of two local initiatives
specifically aimed at reducing anti-social behaviour amongst groups of young people.
The first initiative comprised the operation of a dispersal order scheme in an area of
EastManchester. The second initiative involved a social landlord funding additional
police patrols in a local neighbourhood in Glasgow. The article explores the rationale
and operation of both these initiatives and the roles and responsibilities for different
agency and community actors. It continues by identifying the outcomes of the initiatives
on levels of anti-social behaviour and the wider impacts on community relations and
exploring the perceptions of housing and police officers, adult residents and young
people themselves.


The present research examines the possible effects of bilinguality on additional language proficiency and the academic achievement of Iranian EFL learners. This study is a longitudinal survey of 98 EFL learners in the English Language Department of Urmia University in Azerbaijan, Iran, during the 2002-2004 academic years. It compares 56 Turkish-Persian bilinguals with 42 Persian monolinguals in terms of their performance on the FCE language proficiency tests, i.e. listening comprehension, reading comprehension, writing proficiency, and speaking proficiency in three phases of data collection. The two groups were also compared with regard to their academic achievements based on their grades consulted in every phase of the study. The subjects, who fell within the age range of 18-24 years, were similar in terms of individual (e.g. linguistic background), social (socio-economic status), psychological (motivation orientations), and educational (previous exposure to other languages) orientations. Analysis of the data submitted to a series of independent t-tests indicated that bilinguals performed significantly better than monolinguals in all measures of language proficiency except for writing skill. Further analysis of the data revealed that bilinguals attained higher levels of academic achievement. The findings, therefore, appear to provide support for the argument that bilinguality may be a good predictor of success in learning additional languages, English in this case. The findings are discussed in relation to the Threshold Hypothesis (Cummins, 1976) that assumes a minimum threshold level of competence to be attained by a bilingual in his two languages to benefit from his bilinguality; and the Interdependence Hypothesis (Cummins, 1979) that posits positive cross-lingual transfer of cognitive/academic skills between the languages one knows. In other words, through evaluating the four basic language skills separately, the researcher provides evidence that: a) the findings are within the framework of these two fundamental hypotheses in research on bilingualism, and b) knowledge of two languages may not exert the same effect on every language skill as far as additional language learning is involved. This is more evident from the key findings related to the fourth hypothesis, i.e. a lack of significant difference between the two groups in terms of their writing proficiency; a finding which encourages new avenues of enquiry for those interested in issues related to bilingualism and additional language learning. An outstanding feature of this study is that it expands research into a rarely investigated cohort, namely, adult non-balanced bilinguals. Furthermore, it explores bilinguality and its possible effects on learning of English as a foreign language among EFL learners from a part of the world where there has been minimal empirical research. It brings evidence from a new sociolinguistic context with a different combination of languages (i.e. Turkish, Persian and English). The findings of the present investigation also bring a new perspectives on how bilinguality as an important learner variable affects additional language learning. The outcomes may make significant contributions to help the individuals of either language background (i.e. Turkish, Persian) to achieve gains in additional language learning.


We administered German and Spanish versions of the Neuroticism Extraversion Openness–Five-Factor Inventory personality inventory to two groups of late bilinguals (second-language learners) of these two languages. Regardless of individuals' first language, both groups scored higher on Extraversion and Neuroticism when Spanish was the test language. In turn, scores on Agreeability were higher when German was used as the test language. The results are interpreted as evidence for cultural frame shifts consistent with cultural norms associated with the presently used language. Beyond the acquisition of linguistic skills, learning a second language seems to provide individuals with a new range of perceiving and displaying their own personality.


BACKGROUND: Evidence seems to suggest that dysfunction in many biological functions is associated with major depressive disorder (MDD). Literature suggests a possible link between different lipid parameters and depression. AIMS: The aim was to study lipid parameters in persons diagnosed with MDD and to find a correlation between these lipid parameters and depression. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This was a case–control study conducted in outpatient services of the psychiatry department. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 100 subjects were included in this study. Fifty drug-naïve depression cases as assessed clinically and with Hamilton Rating Scale for depression were included in the study group, while the control group comprised 50 normal controls. Lipid parameters were obtained from fasting blood samples in both the groups. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Data analysis was performed using SPSS 16. Continuous variables and categorical variables were summarized, respectively, as mean and standard deviation and frequency and percentage. RESULTS: The mean serum total cholesterol (TC) and mean serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in the study group were significantly low in comparison to the control group. There was a significant negative correlation with serum TC (r = −0.710; P = 0.0001), mean serum LDL-C (r = −0.608; P = 0.0001), and triglycerides (TGs) (r = −0.289; P = 0.042). CONCLUSIONS: Drug-naïve Individuals with MDD had significantly low TC and LDL-C in comparison to normal individuals. A significantly negative correlation was there between the severity of depression and TC, LDL-C, and TG.


The authors compare Community Earth System Model results to marine observations for the 1990s and examine climate change impacts on biogeochemistry at the end of the twenty-first century under two future scenarios (Representative Concentration Pathways RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). Late-twentieth-century seasonally varying mixed layer depths are generally within 10m of observations, with a Southern Ocean shallow bias. Surface nutrient and chlorophyll concentrations exhibit positive biases at low latitudes and negative biases at high latitudes. The volume of the oxygen minimum zones is overestimated. The impacts of climate change on biogeochemistry have similar spatial patterns under RCP4.5 andRCP8.5, but perturbation magnitudes are larger under RCP8.5. Increasing stratification leads to weaker nutrient entrainment and decreased primary and export production (.30% over large areas). The global-scale decreases in primary and export production scale linearly with the increases in mean sea surface temperature. There are production increases in the high nitrate, low chlorophyll (HNLC) regions, driven by lateral iron inputs from adjacent areas. The increased HNLC export partially compensates for the reductions in nonHNLC waters (;25% offset). Stabilizing greenhouse gas emissions and climate by the end of this century (as in RCP4.5) will minimize the changes to nutrient cycling and primary production in the oceans. In contrast, continued increasing emission of CO2 (as in RCP8.5) will lead to reduced productivity and significant modifications to ocean circulation and biogeochemistry by the end of this century, with more drastic changes beyond the year 2100 as the climate continues to rapidly warm.


By reducing the aqueous mixture of electrostatically modified multi-walled carbon nanotubes (f-MWCNT) and palladium (Pd) using NaBH4, a nanocomposite was synthesized. The syllable structure of the f-MWCNT and f-MWCNT/ Pd nanocomposite was investigated by analytical tools FESEM and TEM respectively. f-MWCNTs matrix reinforced with Pd nanoparticles are utilized for sensing methane with its dilution varying from 0.5-100 ppm in air at room temperature (RT=27°C). The f-MWNT/Pd nanocomposite-based sensor for methane gas show several merits over conventional catalytic beads and MOS based sensors in context of reduced size, reduced power consumption and ease of fabrication. At room temperature, the nanocomposite's temporal electrical responses to methane were measured. It exhibited a response magnitude of ∼20-45.71% with a small variation of ±2% towards 0.5-100 ppm methane. Furthermore, the responses were extremely reversible and repeatable, implying that it may be used to detect methane at ambient temperature. It has also been demonstrated experimentally that an excellent response time (≈ 20 s) and the recovery time (≈ 25 s) for these devices were recorded for methane. The influence of external temperature and humidity on the methane sensor was also investigated in order to assess its long-term stability and self-life. The results showed that very small change is observed over a wide of temperature from 25-70oC and that for %Rh from 20-90%. Therefore, the reported methane sensor absolutely demonstrated long-term stability at ambient conditions and hence, these devices can prove to be ideal for methane leakage detection for practical real time applications. A sensing mechanism by which methane is detected by f-MWCNT/Pd nanocomposite is also elaborately discussed.


FK506 binding protein 5 (FKBP5) has been linked to stress related diseases and treatment response in depression (Binder et al., 2004). The corresponding protein FKBP51 was first identified as co-chaperone of HSP90 in a complex with steroid hormone receptors, where it diminishes hormone affinity and nuclear translocation efficiency of the receptors (Pratt and Toft, 1997; Wochnik et al., 2005). With FKBP5 transcription being induced by glucocorticoid signalling, an ultra-short feedback loop is provided for regulation and termination of GR activity. Dysregulation of this ultra-short feedback loop interferes with the stress hormone regulation and likely contributes to the association of FKBP5 with stress-related psychiatric disorders. Recently, important actions of FKBP51 beyond glucocorticoid signalling have been characterised in shaping the posttranslational regulation of certain molecular pathways in response to treatment with particular psychopharmaca (Gassen et al., 2014, 2015).
As a contribution to elucidating the role of FKBP5 in stress related diseases, a two-sided approach was taken in this study by analysing the role of FKBP5 in regulation of transcription and in calibrating the responsiveness of these pathways to psychopharmacological treatment.
To elucidate the transcriptional effects of FKBP5 in an unbiased approach, the expression profile of mice with deleted FKBP5 and their litter mates with functional FKBP5 were compared. A marked difference in glyoxalase-1 (GLO1) transcription was observed with higher GLO1 transcription in mice with deleted FKBP5, which was reflected by about two-fold more GLO1 protein in these mice. The efforts in deciphering the role of FKBP5 in elevation of GLO1 expression led to the identification of a duplication of the GLO1 gene inherent to mice with deleted FKBP5; this likely explains the enhanced GLO1 expression in these mice. This observation exemplifies the flanking gene problem and is a note of caution for interpreting data from conventionally generated knock-out mice. Overall, deletion of FKBP5 did not markedly change gene expression.
In the second part of this thesis, the molecular effects of psychopharmacologic drugs were profiled for their dependency on FKBP51 function to modulate intracellular pathways relevant for treatment outcome in a cellular FKBP5 knockout model. For this purpose, psychopharmaca from the classes of SSRIs, SSNRIs, TCAs, atypical antidepressants, mood stabilisers, and NMDA receptor antagonists were analysed. In addition to GSK3β and AKT, which were reported to interact with and be targeted by FKBP51 recently (Gassen et al., 2015; Pei et al., 2009), ERK was identified as a novel kinase interacting with and being targeted by FKBP51 in this work. With GSK3β, AKT, and ERK, three major kinases were observed to be regulated by psychopharmaca. The effects were not homogeneous across all psychopharmaca and only loosely followed drug classes. Moreover, regulation of these kinases as well as their downstream targets was non-uniformly influenced by FKBP51. With FKBP51 being a stress induced gene, this transcriptional mechanism efficiently links the stress response to the regulation of the targets analysed in this work. Moreover, markers of autophagy, a cellular degradation process which has been linked to neurotransmission, were detected to be regulated by valproic acid (VPA), a mood stabiliser with HDAC inhibitory activity. VPA, as well as a second HDAC inhibitor butyric acid (BUT) enhanced the transcription of late and delayed autophagy markers controlled by FOXO3 signalling.
Considering the versatile action of FKBP51 on targets analysed in this work, the list of proteins modulated by FKBP5 seems by far not complete. The diversity of effects evoked by different psychopharmaca hints to superimposed molecular effects underlying treatment outcome. Better understanding of pathway responsiveness could yield molecular markers for personalised medication that could be utilised to improve treatment outcome in stress related psychiatric diseases.


This manuscript presents a robust tracking (servomechanism) controller for linear time-invariant (LTI) islanded (autonomous, isolated) microgrid voltage control. The studied microgrid (MG) consists of many distributed energy resources (DERs) units, each using a voltage-sourced converter (VSC) for the interface. The optimal tracker design uses the ellipsoidal approximation to the invariant sets. The MG system is decomposed into different subsystems (DERs). Each subsystem is affected by the rest of the system that is considered as a disturbance to be rejected by the controller. The proposed tracker (state feedback integral control) rejects bounded external disturbances by minimizing the invariant ellipsoids of the MG dynamics. A condition to design decentralized controllers is derived in the form of linear matrix inequalities. The proposed controller is characterized by rapid transient response, and zero error in the steady state. A robustness analysis of the control strategy (against load changes, load unbalances, etc.) is carried out. A MATLAB/SimPowerSystems (R2017b, MathWorks, Natick, MA, USA) simulation of the case study confirm the robustness of the proposed controller.


Introduction: The malocclusion can be defined as any change in the natural position of contact between the teeth and the arcades format that affects the morphofunctional architecture of the masticatory system of individuals affected by such condition. The aim of this study was to review the literature and to investigate the morphofunctional changes of the mandible and masticatory muscles as result of malocclusion. Material and Methods: This study consisted of a systematic review and the search for the theoretical composition was performed in the Lilacs, PubMed and Scielo database using as descriptors the words Malocclusion, Mandible, Masticatory Muscles and as filters the words Abstract Available, English Language, Humans, Rats. Results: This research allowed the authors to assert that the occlusal alterations are capable of causing morphological and functional modifications in the mandible and masticatory muscles. Conclusion: Given these aspects, it was possible to highlight the malocclusion as an aggravating factor at quality of life.


Evolutionary economic geography has awoken an interest in the question how regions can attract new human capital. One method is to attract migration firms, who will bring (part of) their existing employees. These people can then attract or generate new jobs (Hoogstra, van Dijk, & Florax, 2005). In this paper, we study the mobility of employees when their firm decides to move: do they stick with their employer or not? And if they do, do they commute or not? Finally, we link the decision to commute longer distances to the availability of a company car. We use microdata on individual firms and employees to test whether employees choose to follow their firm to another region. We control for personal and job characteristics. We find that having a company car is not correlated with the decision to stay with or to leave the current firm, but those who have one are less likely to move house, as long as the employee has a wage in the top quartile, or lives in the urban areas of the Randstad with their stressed housing market. Employees who already experienced long commutes before their employer moved are not influenced by the presence of a company car.


Nearly 4 million cattle are fed in Japan as dairy and beef cattle. More than 50% of dairy cattle (800,000 cows) and 20% of beef cattle (500,000) are fed in Hokkaido, Japan. Young and adult cows in addition to dairy products are delivered throughout Japan from Hokkaido. Moreover, many dairy cows are brought to Hokkaido as calves, and return to their home farm when pregnant. Vaccinations for some diseases are compulsory to prevent infectious diseases when cows move feeding places and particularly when they are introduced to common grazing farms. Twenty-seven ruminant, equine, swine, avian, and bee diseases are designated as regulated domestic animal infectious diseases (1) as is paratuberculosis (Johne's disease; JD). Another 71 diseases in domestic animals have been monitored as non-regulated diseases since 1998 (2). Bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) and enzootic bovine leukemia (EBL) are non-regulated diseases. The prevalence of JD has been periodically monitored for a long time, and eradication programs are ongoing and also being developed. Typical clinical symptoms are exhibited by JD-affected animals, and its spread in farms is a serious issue. In Hokkaido, a compulsory examination for the antibody against Mycobacterium avium spp. paratuberculosis, the pathogen of JD, is performed once every 5 years by all farms including dairy and beef cattle. Surveillance for a few decades cannot eradicate JD because the pathogen may remain latent in herds for long periods of time and difficulties are associated with its detection in the early stage of the disease. Although bovine leukemia virus (BLV), the pathogen of EBL, is latent in herds, preventive management is possible. Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) is associated with various subclinical to fatal diseases. Persistent infection (PI) has been recognized as a serious threat to the cattle industry. PI animals can then subsequently develop mucosal disease which is often fatal. The immune dysfunction associated with BVDV infection has been associated with bovine respiratory disease complex and hemorrhagic syndrome. These disease syndromes have a serious economic impact on cattle producers. Vaccines are useful tools for the protection of infectious diseases. BVDV is the only one of the three endemic diseases (BVD, EBL, and JD) that cattle are vaccinated for in Japan. The control of PI by BVDV is a key point for its eradication; however, difficulties are associated with detecting PI animals because not all infected animals exhibit the typical clinical symptoms and fetal infection cannot be estimated. Moreover, it is difficult to discriminate whether the immunization status was achieved by vaccination or infection. An update on BVD in Japan is presented in this review.


Abstract Some of the most important developments of symbolic logic took place in the 1920s. Foremost among them are the distinction between syntax and semantics and the formulation of questions of completeness and decidability of logical systems. David Hilbert and his students played a very important part in these developments. Their contributions can be traced to unpublished lecture notes and other manuscripts by Hilbert and Bernays dating to the period 1917–1923. The aim of this paper is to describe these results, focussing primarily on propositional logic, and to put them in their historical context. It is argued that truth-value semantics, syntactic ("Post-") and semantic completeness, decidability, and other results were first obtained by Hilbert and Bernays in 1918, and that Bernays's role in their discovery and the subsequent development of mathematical logic is much greater than has so far been acknowledged.


Using the infinitesimal theory of elasticity and analytical formulation, displacements and stresses based on the high-order shear deformation theory (HSDT) is presented for axisymmetric thickwalled cylinders made of functionally graded materials under internal and/or external uniform pressure. The material is assumed to be isotropic heterogeneous with constant Poisson's ratio and radially varying elastic modulus continuously along the thickness with a power function. At first, general governing equations of the FGM thick cylinders are derived by assumptions of the highorder shear deformation theory. Following that, the set of non-homogenous linear differential equations with constant coefficients, for the cylinder under the generalized clamped-clamped conditions have been solved analytically and the effect of loading and inhomogeneity on the stresses and displacements have been investigated. The results are compared with the findings of both first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) and finite element method (FEM). Finally, the effects of higher order approximations on the stresses and displacements have been studied. © 2012 IAU, Arak Branch. All rights reserved.


Convective cumuliform clouds are sustained by thermal upcurrents produced by solar heating of the ground. Under these conditions, the slice of atmosphere between the ground and the cumulus base is thoroughly mixed by the thermals, so that the water vapor content is the same at all levels in this slice, and the temperature lapse rate is constant, being almost the same as the dry adiabatic value. Thus, the level where condensation begins (i.e. the base of the cumulus cloud) can be predicted fairly accurately from ground-level measurements of air temperature and humidity, provided that the convective updraughts are strong and sustained. If this is so, then the cumulus base will be flat and at least as wide as the main body of the cloud. Special thermodynamic diagrams (tephigrams and others) can be used to estimate this cloud-base level by means of a quick and simple construction.


Immunoglobulin G4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is an increasingly recognized systemic fibro-inflammatory disease associated with elevated serum IgG4 levels. It affects virtually any organ system including the gastrointestinal system, salivary glands, periorbital tissues, kidneys, lungs, lymph nodes, central nervous system, large vessels, thyroid, and skin. Although the involved organ systems vary between studies and are influenced by the medical center and specialty, the most frequent manifestation of IgG4-RD is regarded to be type 1 autoimmune pancreatitis. The incidence of intrathoracic involvement is not known exactly, but it is thought to be relatively rare. Intrathoracic manifestations of IgG4-RD can be observed in airways (tracheobronchial stenosis, thickening of bronchovascular bundles), pulmonary parenchyma (nodules, masses, interstitial lung disease), pleura (pleural thickening, nodules, effusion), and mediastinum (lymphadenopathy, fibrosing mediastinitis). This review aimed to briefly describe the pathogenesis, histopathology, clinical features, diagnosis, and treatment of IgG4-RD; and make a pictorial review of its intrathoracic manifestations.


Candida produces the most frequent fungal infections in humans, out of which the vulvo-vaginal candidiasis is the most common disorder in women. This may cause problems not only for the patients, but also for the healthcare workers, especially when the involved strains do not respond to the antifungal treatment.
The etiologic agents of this yeast infection form part of a wide range of species, but the most common is C. albicans. In the clinical practice, knowledge of the yeast type is highly important, due to the different antibiotic susceptibilities and virulence between species.
The Candida species found in patients from the hospital included in the study were C. albicans, C. glabrata and C. krusei. The results are consistent with the data from other international studies.


It is usual to employ a Green's function technique to develop the mathematical framework to describe scattering from two or more objects or objects near a reflecting interface. The method is perforce rather specific and tedious to develop and leads to a form not very susceptible to physical interpretation. In this work a method is demonstrated that enables one to describe scattering from multiple targets or targets near an interface that is (1) independent of the target boundary conditions, (2) independent of the scattering theory for the single scatterer, and (3) that enables one to gain insight in the scattering process that is not manifest in the usual formulations. Then the method is applied to several classes of targets and raise some issues of how the usual theories are implemented that is apparent from this formulation but not apparent in the usual integral equation–Green's function approach. [Work sponsored by the Naval Research Laboratory 6.1 Program Element 0601153N.]


In travel medicine efforts should be concentrated on preventive measures that are necessary, and travellers should be spared the side effects, costs and stress of superfluous measures. Excess mortality abroad is mainly due to traffic and swimming accidents, indicating the need for appropriate control strategies. The morbidity in travellers to developing countries is high, and is primarily due to traveller's diarrhoea. As prophylaxis is ineffective or unrealistic, and as travellers often need fast relief, it is recommended to include loperamide and an antimicrobial agent in the travel kit. Recent studies have shown that the incidence rate per month of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Africa may reach 24/1000. The most frequently occurring immunizable diseases are hepatitis A (3/1000) and hepatitis B (0.8/1000). For many tourists and some expatriates pre-travel advice (hygiene, measures against mosquito bites, etc.) as well as chemoprophylaxis and immunization can be limited to these infections, but those travelling or staying outside large centres need additional measures.


Objective: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is a common malignant tumor. This study aims to explore the inhibitory effect and mechanism of trimethoxy stilbene on human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells.
Methods: Human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells, CNE1 and 5-8F, in logarithmic phase were collected and inoculated in a 96 pore cell culture plate. Cells were treated with 100 μl of culture media containing 2, 5, 10, or 20 mM of trimethoxy stilbene. MTT was added to each pore after 72 h of continuous cell culture. The absorbance value of each pore was detected at 490 nm by a micro plate reader. CNE1 and 5-8 F cells in logarithmic phase were inoculated in 6 pore cell culture plates. Cells were treated with 100 μl culture media containing 2, 5, 10, or 20 mM of trimethoxy stilbene. Cells cultured for two weeks or 24 h were stained with crystal violet. Photographic images were taken by a digital camera and recorded. Cell cloning was quantitatively analysed with quantity one (Bio-Rad). Annexin V-FITC and PT solution were added to the cell cultures. The mixture was then incubated under ambient temperature for 15 min.
Results: Cisplatin IC50 values of CNE1 and 5-8F cells processed with 20 μmol/L trimethoxy stilbene were evidently lower than that of the control group processed with 0 μmol/L trimethoxy stilbene. In addition, treatment with combined cisplatin and trimethoxy stilbene induced higher rates of apoptosis in CNE1 and 5-8F cells compared with only trimethoxy stilbene or cisplatin. The proportion of cells in G0/G1 phase increased as drug concentration increased. A concentration-effect relationship was observed, indicating that trimethoxy stilbene induced G2/M phase arrest in drug-resistant nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells.
Conclusion: Trimethoxy stilbene significantly inhibited the in-vitro proliferation capacity and clone formation ability of nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells. This inhibitory effect might be realized by inducing nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells to enter G2/M arrest.


Na(+)-dependent uridine uptake is stimulated in isolated rat liver parenchymal cells by glucagon. This effect is transient, reaches maximum levels of stimulation 10 min after hormone addition, and is dose-dependent. Glucagon action can be mimicked by agents that are able to hyperpolarize the plasma membrane (e.g. monensin) and by dibutyryl cyclic AMP. The effects triggered by glucagon, monensin and dibutyryl cyclic AMP are not additive, suggesting a common mechanism of action. 8-(4-Chloro-phenylthio)adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate (PCT), a cyclic AMP analogue but also a nucleoside analogue, markedly stimulates Na(+)-dependent uridine uptake in an additive manner to that triggered by monensin, similarly to the effect described for nitrobenzylthioinosine. Considering the roles reported for nucleosides in liver metabolism, the use of PCT as a cyclic AMP analogue should be precluded. Insulin is also about to up-regulate Na(+)-dependent uridine uptake by a mechanism which involves a stable induction of this transport activity at the plasma-membrane level. This is consistent with a mechanism involving synthesis and insertion of more carriers into the plasma membrane. It is concluded that the recently characterized hepatic concentrative nucleoside transporter is under short-term hormonal regulation by glucagon, through mechanisms which involve membrane hyperpolarization, and under long-term control by insulin. This is the first report showing hormonal modulation of the hepatic concentrative nucleoside transporter.


AIM
To study the effects of low dose amitriptyline on cardiac conduction in children.

METHODS
Secondary analysis of data obtained from a double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled trial, evaluating low dose amitriptyline in children with a diagnosis of functional abdominal pain, functional dyspepsia, and irritable bowel syndrome according to the Rome II criteria. Children 8-17 years of age were recruited from the pediatric gastroenterology clinics of 6 tertiary care centers in the United States. The electrocardiograms (EKGs) done prior to initiation of amitrityline and 1 mo after initiation of amitriptyline were examined. The changes in cardiac conduction were evaluated in patients and controls.

RESULTS
Thirty children were included in the study. There were 12 patients, ages 9-17 years of both genders, in the amitriptyline treatment group and 18 patients, ages 9-17 years of both genders, in the placebo treatment group. None of the patients had any baseline EKG abnormality. Amitriptyline use was associated with an increase in heart rate (P = 0.024) and QTc interval (P = 0.0107) as compared to pre-EKGs. Children in the placebo group were also noted to present a statistically significant increase in QTc interval (P = 0.0498). None of the patients developed borderline QTc prolongation or long-QT syndrome after they were started on amitriptyline.

CONCLUSION
The study findings suggest that once patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders have been screened for prolonged QTc interval on baseline EKG, they probably do not need a second EKG for reevaluation of cardiac conduction after starting low dose amitriptyline.


In sandy sediments, a strong connection exists between the physics of flow and the ecol- ogy of burrow-ventilating macrofauna. We developed a general modelling procedure that quantifies this link involving 3 steps. (1) Burrow-ventilating organisms can be described as mechanical pumps. (2) The pumping of burrow water into blind-ending tubes induces advective flow in the sediment. (3) The resistance to pore water flow is governed by the friction between solid and fluid, i.e. Darcy's law. This analysis allows the determination of the operation point of an 'organism pump' under in situ conditions, and we applied it in a detailed modelling study of the lugworm Arenicola marina. A 3-dimensional finite element model encompasses the lugworm's J-shaped burrow and represents a typical lugworm territory at in situ density. We simulated the associated flow patterns in the sediment and analysed the factors that influence the lugworm's ventilation rate. Since the lugworm's oxygen supply critically depends on the burrow ventilation rate, we advance the following 2 ecological hypotheses: (1) decreasing the permeability of the burrow lining greatly increases the efficiency of oxygen supply, as it prevents the re-entry of anoxic pore water; and (2) the permeability of the bulk sediment constrains the lugworm's habitat. When permeability falls below a critical threshold, the sediment's resistance becomes too high, thus resulting in an insufficient oxygen supply. Overall, we show that permeability exerts an important control on ventilation activity, and hence resource avail- ability, in sandy sediment ecosystems. From an evolutionary point of view, we anticipate biological feedbacks on this physical control — in particular, behavioural adaptations that increase the perme- ability in the bulk sediment but decrease the permeability near the burrow wall.


Of all of the potential scenarios described above the last is perhaps the most pessimistic or at least the one which will require the greatest advances in understanding and modulating tumor cell behaviour. If this type of phenomenon is indeed the basis of treatment failure in stage II breast cancer then it will be difficult to demonstrate this directly by any of the techniques currently available. If consistent application of the strategies dictated by other treatment failure scenarios fail to yield progressively improving results then one might have to infer this more pessimistic situation indirectly. This carries with it the implication that ultimate and truly satisfactory control of micro-metastatic breast cancer will have to await further fundamental discoveries involving the growth parameters and properties of tumor cells during the time when they exist as small isolated colonies.


The combination of observational, anecdotal and circumstantial evidence suggests that, in the present-day Christian church, older, traditional hymns are slowly but inexorably being replaced by modern, contemporary ones. Whilst it is a truism that hymnody, like every other aspect of civilisation, moves forward with the times, there still remains a large number of people, congregations and clergy for whom the early eighteenth century English hymn is a genre that remains ever-popular. This research focuses deliberately on the eighteenth century hymn for four main reasons. First, hymns from this period are widely used in most Christian denominations. Second, the eighteenth century was a particularly fertile period for hymnody. Third, this was the era of Watts and Wesley, arguably two of the greatest hymn writers of all time; their burgeoning popularity thrust the eighteenth century into a period of proclivity for hymn writing. Finally, the whole area of hymnody in the Church of Ireland appears to be under-researched. Thus, in seeking to determine why older, more traditional hymns continue to be published in Church of Ireland hymnals this research fills a very obvious gap. This study establishes that this resilience is real and not merely perceived. Eighteenth century hymns are still widely sung in today's Church, irrespective of size, location, setting, status, leadership or congregation. The study explores the many reasons behind this resilience—reasons that go beyond the more obvious musical and liturgical ones and highlight the impact of hymnody from a variety of angles.


Background The majority of studies on spirituality demonstrate its positive association with mental health. Despite the increasing number of studies, there remains a dearth of studies emanating from African countries looking at the relationship between mental illness, quality of life and measures of spirituality. The present study evaluates the role of spirituality in relation to current depression and quality of life in medical students, who are known to be at high risk for depression. Objectives The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of moderate and severe depressive symptoms in this population and explore potential correlations between spirituality, depression and quality of life. Methods 230 medical students were surveyed at the University of KwaZulu-Natal Medical School, using the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (Zung SDS), Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale (SIBS), WHO Quality of Life Scale (WHOQOL) and a demographic data sheet. Results There was a high prevalence of depressive symptoms in the medical students, with a significant proportion (15.6%) showing evidence of severe depressive symptoms (indicating likely depressive illness). Those with a history of mental illness or of having attended traditional, complementary or alternate medical practitioners showed higher levels of depression. Lower spirituality was associated with non-adherence to a major religion and a history of mental illness. Quality of life was better in second and fifth year students and poorer in those with a history of mental illness. Conclusion Medical students' experiences of depression (most probably due to stress) and its relationship with spirituality and quality of life merit further investigation with a view to establishing policy guidelines for dealing with this issue.


The paper presents an extension of the regressive logistic models proposed by Bonney [Biometrics 42:611–625, 1986], to address the problems of variable age‐of‐onset and time‐dependent covariates in analysis of familial diseases. This goal is achieved by using failure time data analysis methods, and partitioning the time of follow up in K mutually exclusive intervals. The conditional probability of being affected within the kth interval (k = 1…K) given not affected before represents the hazard function in this discrete formulation. A logistic model is used to specify a regression relationship between this hazard function and a set of explanatory variables including genotype, phenotypes of ancestors, and other covariates which can be time dependent. The probability that a given person either becomes affected within the kth interval (i.e., interval k includes age of onset of the person) or remains unaffected by the end of the kth interval (i.e., interval k includes age at examination of the person) are derived from the general results of failure time data analysis and used for the likelihood formulation. This proposed approach can be used in any genetic segregation and linkage analysis in which a penetrance function needs to be defined. Application of the method to familial leprosy data leads to results consistent with our previous analysis performed using the unified mixed model [Abel and Demenais, Am J Hum Genet 42:256–266, 1988], i.e., the presence of a recessive major gene controlling susceptibility to leprosy. Furthermore, a simulation study shows the capability of the new model to detect major gene effects and to provide accurate parameter estimates in a situation of complete ascertainment.