We report a case of general hypersensitivity-like allergic reactions to intramuscular injections of highly purified urinary follicle stimulating hormone (uFSH-HP) successfully managed by using intramuscular recombinant FSH (rFSH). The patient underwent a first cycle of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) was achieved with a combination of gonadotropin releasing hormone against (GnRH-a) and uFSH-HP. Because, after oocyte recovery, no fertilization occurred, the couple subsequently entered an intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) program. During the COH, the woman developed general hypersensitivity-like allergic reactions with itching, redness and swelling. Although there was regular follicular growth, the allergic symptoms worsened and, on day 8 of COH, the stimulation cycle was suspended. A few months later, the patient entered a new ICSI cycle. COH was achieved by using a combination of GnRH-a and rFSH. The cycle was completed and the patient did not report any allergic reaction. To avoid allergic reaction to the protein components of the urine-derived FSH preparations, the use of rFSH is suggested in those patients who present local and/or general hypersensitivity-like allergic reactions.


The COVID-19 pandemic brought sweeping and unplanned changes in education worldwide. This time of fully online instruction has revealed that there is much to understand and learn about the various stakeholders involved in the online learning experience. The purpose of this mixed-methods case study was to examine the perceptions and experiences of Chinese university students taking an English language development course entirely online using synchronous and asynchronous learning platforms. Quantitative data was collected using a pre-course survey (N=103) and a post-course survey (N=66). Quantitative data compared student pre-course and post-course perceptions and experiences of online learning. Qualitative data were collected in each survey via an open-ended question and further explored perceptions and experiences. Following the post-course survey, additional qualitative data were collected by an open-ended questionnaire completed by a small group of survey participants (N=5). Qualitative data showed that students found studying online convenient and helpful for developing English language skills but were concerned about self-regulation, communication, and wi-fi or Internet connectivity. Analyses of the quantitative data revealed statistically significant differences between the pre-course and post-course survey responses concerning language skill development. Additional survey findings were differences between before and after survey responses relating to instructor feedback and devices used to access online classes. Overall, the study found that 64.2% of participants would take another English language development course online.


An important comparative study of Japanese politics that reveals that green issues have yet to displace the traditional urban politics of post-industrial Japan. This is unlike the rise of green parties and politics in Europe. Unlike Europe, it seems that political values in Japan are still informed by the conservative values of hierarchy and deference.


Computer-Science-Unplugged (C-S-Unplugged) is a method of teaching Computer Science in an interesting, engaging and entertaining way through collection of free learning activities without using a computer. Lack of computer facilities, inadequate computer systems and epileptic power supply in Nigerian Secondary Schools have deprived students of practical and hands-on activities. The C-S-Unplugged method can be used to teach computer studies concepts without using a computer. This study focused on assessment of students' comprehension of Binary concept using the computer-science-unplugged approach in a selected Secondary School in Ilorin, Kwara State. The study investigated the students' comprehension level of Binary concept using the C-S-Unplugged method performance test and determined students' Self-Assessment of their learning with it. The researchers demonstrated the use of this method with the teaching of the Binary concept by engaging students in class activities to ensure that they understand the concept of this method and assess their comprehension level before attempting the survey. The study adopted a mixed method design, which comprised of one-short case pre-experimental design and descriptive research design of survey type. Fifteen Senior Secondary School One students were purposively selected as an intact class from the selected school. Mean, standard deviation and percentage values were used to answer the research questions, while t-test with value of 1.04 was used to test the only hypothesis: Ho1. There was no significant difference between male and female students' self-assessment of learning with C-S-Unplugged method at 0.05 level of significance. These implied that students comprehended the Binary concept using this method and had a positive assessment of their learning with it. There were no gender differences on the students' self-assessment using Statistical Product and Service Solution. It was recommended, among others, that secondary school teachers should employ the C-S-Unplugged method since the students enjoyed learning with it.


As Lindsay (1994, 1995) encourages validation of existing results, this research replicates Guilding and McManus (2002) in a New Zealand (NZ) context. The usage and perceived merit of customer accounting practices were lower in NZ than in the Australian study. Few of the regressions where customer accounting usage and perceived merit were dependent variables revealed a statistically significant role for competition intensity and market orientation. There was some minor support for the perceived merit of customer accounting being higher in companies experiencing medium levels of competition intensity.


ABSTRACT Francisella tularensis, the agent of tularemia, is an intracellular pathogen, but little is known about the compartment in which it resides in human macrophages. We have examined the interaction of a recent virulent clinical isolate of F. tularensis subsp. tularensis and the live vaccine strain with human macrophages by immunoelectron and confocal immunofluorescence microscopy. We assessed the maturation of the F. tularensis phagosome by examining its acquisition of the lysosome-associated membrane glycoproteins (LAMPs) CD63 and LAMP1 and the acid hydrolase cathepsin D. Two to four hours after infection, vacuoles containing live F. tularensis cells acquired abundant staining for LAMPs but little or no staining for cathepsin D. However, after 4 h, the colocalization of LAMPs with live F. tularensis organisms declined dramatically. In contrast, vacuoles containing formalin-killed bacteria exhibited intense staining for all of these late endosomal/lysosomal markers at all time points examined (1 to 16 h). We examined the pH of the vacuoles 3 to 4 h after infection by quantitative immunogold staining and by fluorescence staining for lysosomotropic agents. Whereas phagosomes containing killed bacteria stained intensely for these agents, indicating a marked acidification of the phagosomes (pH 5.5), phagosomes containing live F. tularensis did not concentrate these markers and thus were not appreciably acidified (pH 6.7). An ultrastructural analysis of the F. tularensis compartment revealed that during the first 4 h after uptake, the majority of F. tularensis bacteria reside within phagosomes with identifiable membranes. The cytoplasmic side of the membranes of ∼50% of these phagosomes was coated with densely staining fibrils of ∼30 nm in length. In many cases, these coated phagosomal membranes appeared to bud, vesiculate, and fragment. By 8 h after infection, the majority of live F. tularensis bacteria lacked any ultrastructurally discernible membrane separating them from the host cell cytoplasm. These results indicate that F. tularensis initially enters a nonacidified phagosome with LAMPs but without cathepsin D and that the phagosomal membrane subsequently becomes morphologically disrupted, allowing the bacteria to gain direct access to the macrophagic cytoplasm. The capacity of F. tularensis to alter the maturation of its phagosome and to enter the cytoplasm is likely an important element of its capacity to parasitize macrophages and has major implications for vaccine development.


Abstract. Currently a paradigm shift is made from global averaged to spatially variable sea level change (SLC) projections. Traditionally, the contribution from ice sheet mass loss to SLC is considered to be symmetrically distributed. However, several assessments suggest that the probability distribution of dynamical ice sheet mass loss is asymmetrically distributed towards higher SLC values. Here we show how asymmetric probability distributions of dynamical ice sheet mass loss impact the high-end uncertainties of regional SLC projections across the globe. For this purpose we use distributions of dynamical ice sheet mass loss presented by Church et al. (2013), De Vries and Van de Wal (2015) and Ritz et al. (2015). The global average median can be 0.18 m higher compared to symmetric distributions based on IPCC-AR5, but the change in the global average 95th percentile SLC is considerably larger with a shift of 0.32 m. Locally the 90th, 95th and 97.5th SLC percentiles exceed +1.4, +1.6 and +1.8 m. The high-end percentiles of SLC projections are highly sensitive to the precise shape of the probability distributions of dynamical ice sheet mass loss. The shift towards higher values is of importance for coastal safety strategies as they are based on the high-end percentiles of projections.


The electrical and dielectric properties of Ba0.3Sr0.7TiO3 (BST), as a function of annealed temperature and oxygen partial pressure (P(O2)) , were studied in this paper. The resistivity data were fit to a p type model involving only doubly ionized oxygen vacancies, holes, and accidental acceptor impurities, and it decreased as P(O2) and temperature increased. The breakdown strength exhibited the same trend with resistivity. The breakdown strength exhibited the same trend with resistivity. The maximum dielectric constant of BST was observed under the lowest P(O2) at the temperature of 900°C. BST annealed under P(O2) of 0.1 atm at the temperature of 800°C obtained the highest volume energy storage density.


Higher education needs individuals working with students to have the skills to handle a variety of issues related to success and well-being. Graduate programs preparing higher education professionals to work with students provide the opportunity for skill-building to occur. However, how do graduate students perceive their skill development in courses offered in a graduate program, specifically related to basic helping skills? This study, conducted in a College of Education at a university located in the southern United States posed two questions to find out more about the attributes graduate students contribute in the development of their knowledge of helping skills, and documenting the lived experiences of graduate students practicing helping skills. Five graduate students enrolled in a new course on helping skills were part of this case study. Three themes emerged after collecting and coding data during the course. The three themes were: building helping skills, confidence and comfortability, and multicultural, diversity and inclusion. The discussion section includes recommendations to always offer a helping skills course in graduation programs preparing individuals to work in higher education, any course on helping skills should have a multicultural focus, and the course curriculum should include a mix of clinical and practical elements.


Jens Rasmussen, a pioneer in the field of safety science (with a focus on major accident research), remains a contemporary writer because of the lasting influence of his models and the ambition of his research program. The idea of this article is to look back on Jens Rasmussen contribution. First, the paper offers an overview of his key contributions over 30 years of cross disciplinary publications. Methodologically, I have reviewed about 30 papers in order to extract key inputs for the field of safety. This overview shows the evolution of his intellectual journey, from cognitive models, interface design, through human error definition and human reliability, accident investigation to socio technical modelling. Several scientific disciplines are involved, including engineering, psychology, safety management, and across these disciplines, cybernetics. Second, the article shows how his thoughts have been very influential and are therefore still present in the writings many authors in the field, indicating the influence of these ideas in the background of more recent ones. Authors with different disciplinary influences (e.g. psychology, management, sociology) and orientations in the field of safety (accident investigation, safety assessment, man-machine interface) have indeed incorporated in different ways some of Rasmussen's ideas into their studies, related to different stages of his own developments. While doing so, they use, extend or criticise some of these ideas. Third, what culminated in what is defined here, as Rasmussen's 'strong program for a hard problem', is analysed as stemming for a good part from an influential intellectual matrix: cybernetics. Fourth, after identifying in hindsight some of the limits in Rasmussen's program, several new orientations are proposed. They initiate a 'constructivist turn'.


THE PURPOSE of this preliminary report is to describe a manner of utilizing the Schiotz tonometer to obtain a measure of the patency of the channels of aqueous humor outflow and of the steady state net rate of aqueous humor flow. It is believed that the method described here provides a means of discerning in what measure changes in intraocular pressure are due to change in facility of outflow or to change in net rate of aqueous humor formation. A subsequent report will describe the alterations in these factors which are effected in normal and in glaucomatous eyes by various medical and surgical influences. The electronic Schiotz tonometer is electrically connected to an amplifier and recording galvanometer in such a manner that all measurements made by the tonometer are continuously and automatically recorded on a moving paper strip, such as is employed in electrocardiography. The apparatus is pictured in figure


Two cases of transient acute cardiomyopathy occurring in the immediate aftermath of intense emotional stress and without any identified aetiology are described. These two case reports, mimicking cases of acute cardiomyopathy described in patients with pheochromocytoma, suggest the possibility in man of acute catecholamine induced cardiomyopathy related to major emotional stress alone, a phenomenon so far reported only in animal experimental models.


In this paper, we propose a multiple kernel relevance vector machine (RVM) method based on the adaptive cloud particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm to map landslide susceptibility in the low hill area of Sichuan Province, China. In the multi-kernel structure, the kernel selection problem can be solved by adjusting the kernel weight, which determines the single kernel contribution of the final kernel mapping. The weights and parameters of the multi-kernel function were optimized using the PSO algorithm. In addition, the convergence speed of the PSO algorithm was increased using cloud theory. To ensure the stability of the prediction model, the result of a five-fold cross-validation method was used as the fitness of the PSO algorithm. To verify the results, receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC) and landslide dot density (LDD) were used. The results show that the model that used a heterogeneous kernel (a combination of two different kernel functions) had a larger area under the ROC curve (0.7616) and a lower prediction error ratio (0.28%) than did the other types of kernel models employed in this study. In addition, both the sum of two high susceptibility zone LDDs (6.71/100 km2) and the sum of two low susceptibility zone LDDs (0.82/100 km2) demonstrated that the landslide susceptibility map based on the heterogeneous kernel model was closest to the historical landslide distribution. In conclusion, the results obtained in this study can provide very useful information for disaster prevention and land-use planning in the study area.


Understanding preferences for veterinary vaccines in low and middle-income countries is important for increasing vaccination coverage against infectious diseases, especially when the consumer is responsible for choosing between similar vaccines. Over-the-counter sales of vaccines without a prescription gives decision-making power to consumers who may value vaccine traits differently from national or international experts and vaccine producers and distributers. We examine consumer preferences for La Sota and I-2 Newcastle disease vaccines in Tanzania to understand why two vaccines co-exist in the market when I-2 is considered technically superior because of its thermotolerance. Household survey and focus group results indicate consumers perceive both vaccines to be effective, use the two vaccines interchangeably when the preferred vaccine is unavailable, and base preferences more on administration style than thermotolerance. Considering the consumers' perspectives provides a way to increase vaccination coverage by targeting users with a vaccine that fits their preferences.


Gravity is one of the important environmental factors that influence the physiologies and behaviors of animals and humans, and changes in gravity elicit a variety of physiological and behavioral alterations that include impaired movement coordination, vertigo, spatial disorientation, and perceptual illusions. To elucidate the effects of gravity on human physiology and behavior, we examined changes in wrist and trunk activities and heart rate during parabolic flight and the activity of wrist and trunk in water immersion experiments. Data from 195 person-time parabolas performed by eight subjects revealed that the trunk motion counts decreased by approximately half during ascending legs (hypergravity), relative to the data acquired before the parabolic flights. In contrast, the wrist activity remained unchanged. The results from the water immersion experiments demonstrated that in the underwater condition, both the wrist and trunk activities were significantly decreased but the latter decreased to a much lower level. Together, these data suggest that gravitational alterations can result in differential influences on the motions of the wrist and the trunk. These findings might be important for understanding the degeneration of skeleton and muscular system and performance of astronauts in microgravity.


We analyze the performance of graphene microstructures as thermal photon detectors and deduce the range of parameters that define a linear response. The saturation effects of a graphene thermal detector that operates beyond the linear range are described in detail for a single-photon detector (calorimeter). We compute the effect of operating beyond this linear range and find that sensitive detection occurs for such non-linear operation. We identify the optimum conditions and find that single-photon detection at terahertz frequencies should be feasible.


Nasal injuries frequently occur and may result in immediate or delayed disturbances in both function and appearance. Early evaluation and management are beneficial in lessening the complications and disturbances in nasal function. A thorough intranasal examination is necessary to evaluate the injury, and examination may require local or general anesthesia to assess the injury properly. Specific management depends on the extent of injury. Minimal nasal injuries in children may result in a major disturbance of nasal function.


Innate defensive responses are essential for animal survival and are conserved across species. The ventral tegmental area (VTA) plays important roles in learned appetitive and aversive behaviors, but whether it plays a role in mediating or modulating innate defensive responses is currently unknown. We report that GABAergic neurons in the mouse VTA (VTAGABA+) are preferentially activated compared to VTA dopaminergic (VTADA+) neurons when a threatening visual stimulus evokes innate defensive behavior. Functional manipulation of these neurons showed that activation of VTAGABA+ neurons is indispensable for looming-evoked defensive flight behavior and photoactivation of these neurons is sufficient for looming-evoked defensive-like flight behavior, whereas no such role can be attributed for VTADA+ neurons. Viral tracing and in vivo and in vitro electrophysiological recordings showed that VTAGABA+ neurons receive direct excitatory inputs from the superior colliculus (SC). Furthermore, we showed that glutamatergic SC-VTA projections synapse onto VTAGABA+ neurons that project to the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) and that the CeA is involved in mediating the defensive behavior. Our findings demonstrate that visual information about aerial threats access to the VTAGABA+ neurons mediating innate behavioral responses, suggesting a more general role for the VTA.


Can existing longitudinal surveys profit from the (financial) advantages of web surveying by switching survey mode from face-to-face interviews to web surveys? Before such a radical change in data collection procedure can be undertaken, it needs to be established that mode effects cannot confound the responses to the survey items. To this end, the responses of the Dutch European Values Study of 2008 were compared to the responses of a time parallel web survey. The responses on 163 of the 256 items differed significantly across modes. To explain these response differences between modes, an exploratory crisp set qualitative comparative analysis approach was used. Five sufficient conditions—combinations of survey mode characteristics—but no necessary conditions for response differences between survey modes were found. Two survey characteristics were neither necessary nor sufficient to produce the outcome. Results suggest that switching modes may affect comparability between waves in a longitudinal survey.


Objective: The Purpose of the Present study was to compare the action of glucose and scopolamine on the cognitive function using digital zero maze apparatus on albino rats.
Method: The digital zero mazes was made of ply-wood in which to arms positioned at right angled related to each other .This apparatus is like a digital zero maze digit in appearance. Albino rats were given a free exploration session consisting of 10 minutes in the apparatus 24 prior to testing to allow familition to the testing apparatus. Albino rat was treated with glucose to determine the memory performance in second trials scopolamine was injected and effect was observed.
Result: In the present study 2 groups were taken and had given treatment glucose and scopolamine (buscopan).The digital zero maze was design to study animal behavior after supervised training given to the rats the observation glucose and scopolamine were shows that the glucose a have some sought of cognition enhancing activity in experiment animals On the other hand the scopolamine slows down cognition activity of brain.
Conclusion: The result shows that glucose enhanced the activity while scopolamine slows down cognition activity of brain.


In this paper, a new optimal fault-detection (FD) problem is addressed for a class of non-Gaussian stochastic systems called stochastic distribution systems (SDSs). For an SDS, the available information for the FD system may be the measured output probability density function. A sufficient existence condition of guaranteed cost filters is presented by constructing an augmented Lyapunov functional approach. In order to improve the detection sensitivity performance, an optimization algorithm, with linear matrix inequality constraints, is presented to minimize the threshold value. An example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.


I review the effect of weight on the prevalence of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) and of its associated conditions. Weight loss decreases morbidity in diabetic patients. The effect of weight loss on mortality also is favorable, although the number of reports in which this has been studied is small. The recommendation is made that the persons with NIDDM who have a body mass index (BMI, in kg/m2) > 25 should try to lose weight to at least that level. Those with BMIs between 20 and 25 should make every effort to maintain their present weight throughout life.


Several epidemiological studies have established that Indians have a higher incidence of coronary heart disease. Because of vast differences in ethnicity, food habits and sociocultural background of Indians, it is essential that survey be conducted for profiling risk factor indicators in subjects from different parts of the country with adequate sample size. This study was carried out on CFTRI employees whose population is originally drawn from different parts of the country with diverse food habits. The population consisting of 624 subjects (514 men and 110 women) were subjected to general health check-up, blood and urine analysis under the supervision of a medical officer. Sixty-one individuals (9.77%) were found to be diabetic and 73 individuals (11.69%) were hypertensive of which 11.7% were also found to have diabetes. The mean serum cholesterol concentration in men was found to be 158 mg % and that in women was 165 mg %. Ratio of total cholesterol to HDL-cholesterol was found to be greater than 6.5 in all the cases. Blood group analysis indicated that 41.5% of the subjects belonged to O(+) group (n = 259) followed by B(+) 25.6% (n = 160), A(+) 24.6% (n = 154) and AB(+) 4.48% (n = 28). Twenty-three individuals were Rh-negative. It was observed that serum cholesterol and triglycerides were lower in O(+) groups, compared to individuals in other groups. The incidence of diabetes and hypertension in O(+) was 5.79% and 10.4%, B(+)12.5% and 15.6%, A(+) 11.0% and 12.3% and AB(+) 21.4% and 7.1% respectively. Eight individuals were found to have myocardial infarction. Among them four belonged to A(+), two to B(+) and one each to AB(+)and O(+).


For many applications, such as liquid-liquid or gas-liquid reactions, the generation of monodisperse droplets is of major interest. Therefore, knowledge about the physics of droplet formation is essential and the subject of numerous studies. Droplet formation is usually investigated using optical cameras, which makes optical accessibility necessary. Furthermore, properties defining droplet evolution is obtained from 2D images. In this work, we present a methodology for the 3D investigation of droplet formation in the laminar regime using micro-computed tomography. A special imaging concept and image processing, incorporating the use of a convolutional neural network, is presented. Water droplets are injected into a continuous polydimethylsiloxane stream in a coflowing configuration using a cannula with an inner diameter di = 800 μm and an outer diameter do = 1050 μm that is centered in a thin polymer tube with an inner diameter di = 1600 μm. Volume flow rates of polydimethylsiloxane and water are varied between 0.2 and 0.3 mL min−1. Furthermore, the influence of cannula positioning on droplet formation is investigated. Different quantitative 3D properties are extracted from the CT scans, such as droplet volume and surface of the interface. Thereby, different stages of droplet formation can be identified and the physical understanding of droplet formation is improved.


Aeromonas hydrophila soft-tissue infection has been associated with fish and reptile bites. There have bee three recent cases from Brazil of abscesses complicating snake bites in which A. hydrophila was isolated from the purulent exudates. One of the snakes responsible for the bites was a specimen of Bothrops moojeni, and the others were most probably also lance-headed vipers. These snakes have a local necrotizing, myotoxic, oedema-inducing venom that must have favoured the multiplication in the injured tissue of A. hydrophila strains, which were probably present in the mouth, fangs or venom of the snakes. The use of a tourniquet by two of the patients probably worsened the local envenoming, and contributed to the occurrence of soft-tissue infection. The patients had a good outcome after the abscesses were incised and drained, and after being treated with chloramphenicol. Chloramphenicol appears to be a good alternative for the empirical treatment of soft-tissue infection complicating snake bite in Brazil, because: it is active against the majority of the anaerobic and aerobic bacteria found in these abscesses, including A. hydrophila; it can be administered by the oral route; and its is inexpensive. Suitable alternatives are cotrimoxazole or fluoroquinolones, to which aeromonads are usually susceptible in vitro, associated with antibiotics, such as clindamycin and metronidazole, with an anti-anaerobic spectrum.


We consider the problem of clustering under the constraint that data points in the same cluster are connected according to a pre‐existed graph. This constraint can be efficiently addressed by an agglomerative clustering approach, which we exploit to construct a new fully automatic segmentation algorithm for color photographs. For image segmentation, if the pixel grid with eight neighbor connectivity is imposed as the graph, each group of pixels generated by this clustering method is ensured to be a geometrically connected region in the image, a desirable trait for many subsequent operations. To achieve scalability for images with large sizes, the segmentation algorithm combines the top‐down k‐means clustering with the bottom‐up agglomerative clustering method. We also find that it is advantageous to conduct clustering at multiple stages through which the similarity measure is adjusted. Experimental results with comparison to other widely used and state‐of‐the‐art segmentation methods show that the new algorithm achieves higher accuracy at much faster speed. A software package is provided for public access. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Statistical Analysis and Data Mining 4: 84–99 2011


: A comparative study was performed of the arrangement of different nucleolar components during differentiation of trophoblast cell populations in the junctional zone of placenta (glycogen cells and trophospongium) and in the secondary giant cells. Each cell type is characterized by specific interrelation of nucleolar components. Some glycogen cells show signs of segregation of nucleolar components: strands of nucleolar components with fibrillar centers (FCs) are displaced to the periphery of the nucleolus and contact with the perinucleolar chromatin. Large reticular nucleoli in trophospongium cells contain many FCs which are gathered into several "chains" by strands of dense fibrillar component. Such a "chain" has also been found in nucleoli of secondary giant cells, with greater number of FCs in each "chain". Relationship between the arrangement of nucleolar components and the level of cell differentiation is discussed.


Over the last several years, there has been an increased focus on school readiness and supporting children during the preschool years to learn the skills they need to be successful in elementary school and beyond (Bowman, Donovan, Burns, et al., 2000; Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000). The capacity to develop positive social relationships, to concentrate and persist on challenging tasks, to effectively communicate emotions, and to problem solve are just a few of the competencies young children need to be successful as they transition to school. In this article, we describe the Teaching Pyramid (Fox, Dunlap, Hemmeter, Joseph, & Strain, 2003), a model for promoting young children's social—emotional development and addressing children's challenging behavior and its link to critical outcomes for children, families, and early childhood programs. The Pyramid includes four components: building positive relationships with children, families, and colleagues; designing supportive and engaging environments; teaching social and emotional skills; and developing individualized interventions for children with the most challenging behavior. Given the unique characteristics of early childhood settings, implementation issues and implications of the model are a primary focus of the discussion.


The superconductivlty aRd the crystal structure were invest呈gated iR the Bi-Sr°Ca-Cu-O system with the following chemical compositions of Bi:Sr:Ca:Cu=2:2:1:2,4: 3:3:4=a登d2:2:2:3. It was foun(圭in the chemical compositio鷺of 2-2-1-2 that the single phase of B至2Sr2 Ca Cu20Y with the superco鍛ducting transition temperat殺re, Tc of 80K was obtaiRed o無the sintering conditio簸of 860°Ca鍛d 16 hours. It was determi鍛ed that the む                   む                           む 1a毛tice parame宅ers areα・5.417A,ろ・5。417A and c=30.872A and the period of the incommensurate in the d三rec宅ion of the b-axis is 4.77. On the other hand, the multiphase mixtures was obtaine(i i登other chemical compositions, a1出。競gh the main phase is Bi2Sr2CaCu20y。 For varlous chemical compositions and slntering conditio捻s,宅he magni£ude of the a-and b -axis of Bi2Sr2CaCu20y were almost constant but that of the c-axis extremely varled and was the至owest for the h至ghest value of Tc. The corre圭at呈on between the magnitude ofアh and that of the c-axis is very simllar to that in YBa2Cu307-y. This suggests that the oxyge勲 content p至ays a role on the magnitude ofコ臣and that of the c-axis also in B圭2Sr2CaCu20y. 1.まえがき La-Ba-Cu-O系が,高温超伝導体であることが示されて以来1),より高い超伝導転移温度Tc を持つ超伝導;体の探索が各方面で精力的に進められてきた。その結果,液体窒素温度(77.3K)を越 えるTcを持つY-Ba-Cu-O系の発見2)に引き続き,Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O系3), Tl-Ba-CaCu-0系4}において高温化が國られた。しかしながら,超伝導の発現機構は未だ明らかになって おらず,超伝導材料としての設計,特性制御の点からもその解明が強く望まれている。超伝導発 現機構の手がかりとなる基礎物性を明らかにしていくことは,超伝導研究の大きな役割の一つで ある6 このような観点から,我々は,T・ :80Kおよび2110Kと異った2つのTcを持ち,80K相は非 整合構造5)を持つ興味深い超伝導体であるBi一一Sr-Ca-Cu-O系に注目し,焼結条件を変えた場 合の超伝導特性および構造の変化の様子を明らかにした。さらに80Kl単一相を得る最適焼結条件 北海道電力株式会祉総合研究所 源:子工学科 量子計測工学講座


Background: Moderate weight loss and physical activity (PA) can prevent or delay type 2 diabetes however there is a need for innovative, effective programs to promote PA in high-risk individuals. Purpose: We examined the effect of a group-based adaption of the DPP lifestyle intervention implemented in partnership with the YMCA (YDPP) on changes in moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in economically disadvantaged adults with prediabetes. The effects of psychosocial and community-level factors were explored. Methods: Participants were randomly assigned to YDPP or brief counseling. Accelerometer data from 216 participants were used to identify: 1) change in MVPA and 2) sedentary behavior over 24 months. Results: YDPP had no significant effect on either outcome. Baseline PA and crime were associated with less MVPA while higher perceived health and green space were associated with more MVPA over time. Baseline sedentary behavior, perceived health, and green space were inversely related to being sedentary. Discussion: Results suggest that changing dietary and PA behaviors simultaneously may adversely affect changes in PA. Translation to Health Education Practice: Additional research is needed to determine the preferred format for PA interventions. Peer mentoring should be considered. Research is needed to identify valid accelerometer cut points in sedentary, overweight adults.


With improving telescopes, it may now be possible to observe the Epoch of Reionization in multiple ways. We examine two of these observables - the excess light in the near-infrared background that may be due to high-redshift stars and ionized HII bubbles, and the 21 cm emission from neutral hydrogen. Because these two forms of emission should result from different, mutually exclusive regions, an anticorrelation should exist between them. We discuss the strengths of using cross-correlations between these observations to learn more about high-redshift star formation and reionization history. In particular, we create simulated maps of emission from both the near-infrared background and 21 cm emission. We find that these observations are anticorrelated, with the strongest anticorrelation originating from times when the universe is half ionized. This result is robust and does not depend on the properties of the stars themselves. Rather, it depends on the ionization history. Cross-correlations can provide redshift information, which the near-infrared background cannot provide alone. In addition, cross-correlations can help separate foreground emission from the true high-redshift component, making it possible to say with greater certainty that we are indeed witnessing the Epoch of Reionization.


The health promotion action means, described by the 1986 Ottawa Charter, highlights the creation of supportive environments for health(1). Following this line of reasoning, several strategies have been adopted for implementing health promotion policies, including the Health Promoting School.
In 1995, the Pan American Health Organization / Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) officially launched the Regional Health Promoting School Initiative. Since then, all the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have strengthened school health promotion actions, rethinking school health activities(2).
To become a Health Promoting School, the institution must take a comprehensive view of human beings – especially children and adolescents – in their familiar, community and social environment. It must provide a healthy environment, building constructive and harmonious relationships and hence being able to awaken skills and attitudes within participants, fostering autonomy, creativity and participation of students and also the whole school community(3).
Never before has so much been said about health and health promotion as today, i.e., there is a need for promoting health at school as an element for changing reality.
The school plays an important political role within this context for being a place where ideology can be constructed, destroyed or perpetuated through the transmission of values and beliefs, besides being an environment that favors the development of health education actions. Childhood is the defining moment for the construction and solidification of habits and attitudes, hence the importance of school as an environment that enhances the development of a targeted, systematized and permanent work.
"Through the Health Promoting School Initiative, school health has a chance to move forward and expand its conception and practices with a comprehensive and interdisciplinary view of the human being within a broader community, environmental and political context"(4:6).
The Health Promoting School seeks to develop knowledge, skills and dexterity for self care and prevention of risk behaviors. In addition, it creates education strategies to awaken – through a critical and reflexive analysis – values, behaviors, social conditions and lifestyles, and contributes to the improvement of health and human development, helping to construct citizenship and democracy, strengthening solidarity, community spirit and human rights(3).
According to the Pan American Health Organization, health promotion at school has three main components: general health education, creation of a healthsupportive environment and provision of healthcare services(4).
If we are to promote health, we can rely on school as a partner in this journey; and if we are to develop health education actions at school, we must rely on teachers' support and commitment. The teacher's role at school is complex and deserves attention because he is a (trans)formative agent(3,4).
The realization of health promotion projects at school is supported by the teacher who represents an important and fundamental link, being a multiplier of ideas who should, therefore, be trained to approach the concept of health recommended in the International Conferences, the VIII National Healthcare Conference, Healthcare Public Policies and the National Curriculum Parameters (PCN) (1), not only through the handling of information but also educational strategies needed for an integrated construction of knowledge.
This current issue of the Brazilian Journal in Health Promotion (Revista Brasileira em Promocao da Saude – RBPS) features an article on the importance of the creation of a healthy environment at school, especially when it occurs in a region with low socioeconomic status. The article shows that the creation of a healthy environment since preschool years – besides being important – has an impact on children's lives. Simple actions such as recreational activities at school, provided they are continuous, reflect on a remarkable learning. The RBPS believes that promoting the qualification of teachers and healthcare professionals, through its pages, will serve as a cornerstone of the Health Promoting School in Brazil and an example for other countries to share this idea.

doi:10.5020/18061230.2013.p307


The study investigated the effect of increasing dietary inclusion of Mannan oligosaccharide (MOS) on growth and blood parameters of sea bream (Sparus aurata). Varying concentrations of MOS were added to commercial sea bream feed at 0‰ (control), 1, 2, 3 and 4‰. At the end of the 15 week trial, control group had the highest final weight, specific growth rate, feed conversion ratio and protein efficiency ratio (P<0.05), although these did not differ among the MOS containing groups (P>0.05). Survival rates were higher in the MOS treatment groups. Blood parameters, did not differ among treatment groups (P>0.05). The lowest alkaline phosphatase (ALP) value was measured in the control group whereas the highest was recorded in the 4‰ MOS group. The lowest level of triglycerides was measured in the 4‰ MOS group, while the highest level of triglycerides was measured in the control group. Cholesterol level was lowest in the 2‰ MOS group (P<0.05). The study showed that the inclusion of dietary MOS has no negative effects on growth and blood parameters in sea breams. However, dietary MOS inclusion led to higher survival rate in trial fish.


Abstract In understanding galaxy evolution, one central question is how star formation is regulated in galaxies. Changes in star formation rates are likely tied to changes in the interstellar medium, particularly the molecular gas which is the fuel for star formation. I will discuss our recent results which use data from the Herschel Space Observatory, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, and other telescopes to determine the typical density, temperature, and surface density of the molecular gas in various nearby galaxies. Comparing the properties of molecular gas in starburst and other active galaxies with more quiescent spiral disks provides some clues as to how changes in the physical state of the gas, such as mean density, can lead to enhanced star formation rates.


Background:
 Even though IV tPA is the most proven treatment for AIS, it has not been studied extensively in the oldest old population. We used data from Get With The Guidelines(GWTG) to determine the frequency of use, outcomes, and safety of IV tPA in AIS patients who are 90 and older.

 Methods:
 The population consisted of 39,759 patients from 1178 sites who were eligible for IV tPA. who received IV tPA within 3 hours of symptom onset from January 2009 April 2013. Of these, 3,407 patients were 90 years and older. The patients who had contraindications to IV tPA were excluded and advanced age alone was not considered a sufficient contraindication for this study. The primary outcomes of interest were: in hospital mortality, discharge disposition, independent ambulation at discharge, sICH and complications related to IV tPA.The differences in baseline these characteristics were compared using chi-square tests for categorical row variables and Wilcoxon Rank-Sum tests for continuous row variables.Factors associated with tPA use in older patients were assessed using logistic regression with generalized estimating equations to account for within hospital correlations. Outcomes among patients receiving IV-tPA were also compared between old patients (90+) and the three younger age groups.

 Results:
 With 90 and above as the reference group, the odds ratio for mortality adjusted to patient characteristics was 0.90 (CI- 0.78, 1.04) in the age group of 80-89. However, the adjusted OR for age group of 65-79 was 0.68 (CI 0.5, 0.79) and for 18-64 was 0.48 (0.40, 0.58)As compared to 90 and above, the patients in age group of 80-89 had 2.25 times the odds to be discharged to home or rehab and this trend was more pronounced in the lower age groups (5.5 times for age 65-79 and 14.7 times for age 18-64). The rates of sICH were 6.8 % in age group 80-89 and 6.1 % amongst the 90 and older, which, however, was significantly lower in age groups less than 65 (2.9%) and 65-79 (5.1%).

 Conclusion:
 Advanced Age increases the likelihood of sICH but the rates of sICH were are still comparable to younger cohorts. The knowledge of high risk of mortality in this population may help real time bedside decision making while treating patients 90 and above.


The morphology and ultrastructure of Bullacta exarata spermatozoa observed by light and transmission electron microscopy are presented in this paper. The spermatozoon is composed of head with a simple acrosomal complex and an elongated nucleus, and tail with a midpiece, principal piece and an end piece. The midpiece consists of a mitochondrial ring, and the principal piece is composed of axoneme and lateral fin. The structure of B. exarata spermatozoa differs significantly from that of other gastropods, especially in the lateral fin and the principal piece, which was described scarcely before. A comparison is made between B. exarata and other gastropods, and its significance on reproductive evolution and physio-ecological adaptation is preliminarily discussed.


Purpose
People seem to function according to different models, which implies that in business and social sciences, heterogeneity is a rule rather than an exception. Researchers can investigate such heterogeneity through multigroup analysis (MGA). In the context of partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM), MGA is currently applied to perform multiple comparisons of parameters across groups. However, this approach has significant drawbacks: first, the whole model is not considered when comparing groups, and second, the family-wise error rate is higher than the predefined significance level when the groups are indeed homogenous, leading to incorrect conclusions. Against this background, the purpose of this paper is to present and validate new MGA tests, which are applicable in the context of PLS-PM, and to compare their efficacy to existing approaches.

Design/methodology/approach
The authors propose two tests that adopt the squared Euclidean distance and the geodesic distance to compare the model-implied indicator correlation matrix across groups. The authors employ permutation to obtain the corresponding reference distribution to draw statistical inference about group differences. A Monte Carlo simulation provides insights into the sensitivity and specificity of both permutation tests and their performance, in comparison to existing approaches.

Findings
Both proposed tests provide a considerable degree of statistical power. However, the test based on the geodesic distance outperforms the test based on the squared Euclidean distance in this regard. Moreover, both proposed tests lead to rejection rates close to the predefined significance level in the case of no group differences. Hence, our proposed tests are more reliable than an uncontrolled repeated comparison approach.

Research limitations/implications
Current guidelines on MGA in the context of PLS-PM should be extended by applying the proposed tests in an early phase of the analysis. Beyond our initial insights, more research is required to assess the performance of the proposed tests in different situations.

Originality/value
This paper contributes to the existing PLS-PM literature by proposing two new tests to assess multigroup differences. For the first time, this allows researchers to statistically compare a whole model across groups by applying a single statistical test.


Objective: To determine the incidence of sub-macular fluid by Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and its clinical consequences on visual acuity after apparently successful scleral buckling surgery in uncomplicated macula-off, rhegmatogenous retinal detachment.  Study Design: Prospective observational cohort series.  Material and Methods: This study was conducted at Institute of Ophthalmology, Mayo Hospital Lahore from February 2011 to July 2012. Total 54 patients of age above 20 years with uncomplicated, macula-off, rhegmatogenous RD of less than 1 month duration were selected after fulfilling inclusion and exclusion criteria. After informed consent, all patients underwent scleral buckling surgery with or without  intra-operative external drainage, and followed for complete clinical examination especially for visual acuity and OCT scan of the macula at 1 st , 2 nd , 3 rd ,and 6 th month postoperatively to detect the presence of sub-macular fluid and to establish its association with visual acuity.  Results: Out of total 54 patients 3 left follow-up after surgery due to unknown reasons. Follow-up data of 51 patients was recorded, out of which only 7(13.7%) clinically had sub-macular fluid 1 month after surgery but OCT showed 22(43%) cases having sub-macular fluid. At 1 st follow-up visit (after 1 month) 10(19.6%) patients and at last follow-up visit (after 6 months) 20(39.2%) patients attained the best corrected visual acuity of 6/12 or better. Total 10(50%) out of 20 patients, who got final VA of 6/12 or better, had macular detachment for duration of less than 7 days.  Conclusions: Sub-macular fluid on OCT was found to be directly associated with delayed visual recovery. Postoperative evaluation of persistent sub-macular fluid can be done more efficiently by OCT. Sub-macular fluid after SB surgery may persist for many months, and can cause delayed visual recovery.  Key Words: Ocular Coherence Tomography(OCT), Rhegmatogenous Retinal Detachment, Sub-retinal Fluid.


Lab-chip device analysis often requires high throughput quantification of fluorescent cell images, obtained under different conditions of fluorescent intensity, illumination, focal depth, and optical magnification. Many laboratories still use manual counting--a tedious, expensive process prone to inter-observer variability. The manual counting process can be automated for fast and precise data gathering and reduced manual bias. We present a method to segment and count cells in microfluidic chips that are labeled with a single stain, or multiple stains, using image analysis techniques in Matlab and discuss its advantages over manual counting. Microfluidic based cell capturing devices for HIV monitoring were used to validate our method. Captured CD4(+) CD3(+) T lymphocytes were stained with DAPI, AF488-anti CD4, and AF647-anti CD3 for cell identification. Altogether 4788 (76 x 3 x 21) gray color images were obtained from devices using discarded 10 HIV infected patient whole blood samples (21 devices). We observed that the automatic method performs similarly to manual counting for a small number of cells. However, automated counting is more accurate and more than 100 times faster than manual counting for multiple-color stained cells, especially when large numbers of cells need to be quantified (>500 cells). The algorithm is fully automatic for subsequent microscope images that cover the full device area. It accounts for problems that generally occur in fluorescent lab-chip cell images such as: uneven background, overlapping cell images and cell detection with multiple stains. This method can be used in laboratories to save time and effort, and to increase cell counting accuracy of lab-chip devices for various applications, such as circulating tumor cell detection, cell detection in biosensors, and HIV monitoring devices, i.e. CD4 counts.


The American composers la Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich and Philip Glass are widely regarded as pioneers of the aesthetic and the techniques of minimalism in musical composition during the 1960s and early 1970s. This book offers the most detailed account so far of their early works, putting extensive discussion of the music into a biographical perspective. The true musical minimalism of these years is placed in the wider context of their music as a whole, and considered within the cultural conditions of the period which saw not only the rise of minimalism in the fine arts but also crucial changes in the theory and practice of musical composition in the Western cultivated tradition.


The Gamow-Teller resonances are discussed in the context of a self-consistent RPA, based on the relativistic mean field theory. We inquire on the possibility of substituting the phenomenological Landau-Migdal force by a microscopic nucleon-nucleon interaction, generated from the rho-nucleon tensor coupling. The effect of this coupling turns out to be very small when the short range correlations are not taken into account, but too large when these correlations are simulated by the simple extraction of the contact terms from the resulting nucleon-nucleon interaction.


This paper proposes an active learning method to control a labeling process for efficient annotation of acoustic training material, which is used for training sound event classifiers. The proposed method performs K-medoids clustering over an initially unlabeled dataset, and medoids as local representatives, are presented to an annotator for manual annotation. The annotated label on a medoid propagates to other samples in its cluster for label prediction. After annotating the medoids, the annotation continues to the unexamined sounds with mismatched prediction results from two classifiers, a nearest-neighbor classifier and a model-based classifier, both trained with annotated data. The annotation on the segments with mismatched predictions are ordered by the distance to the nearest annotated sample, farthest first. The evaluation is made on a public environmental sound dataset. The labels obtained through a labeling process controlled by the proposed method are used to train a classifier, using supervised learning. Only 20% of the data needs to be manually annotated with the proposed method, to achieve the accuracy with all the data annotated. In addition, the proposed method clearly outperforms other active learning algorithms proposed for sound event classification through all the experiments, simulating varying fraction of data that is manually labeled.


Background Postoperative infection remains a serious complication of cardiac surgery; however, no existing biomarkers can detect infection in the early perioperative period. We investigated the usefulness of presepsin, a novel biomarker, in predicting postoperative infectious complications in cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. Methods For patients aged > 18 years who underwent elective cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass between 2015 and 2017, data of clinical features, perioperative presepsin levels, and infectious complications were collected. We compared the perioperative presepsin levels between the infected and non-infected groups, performed a risk factor analysis for postoperative infection, and calculated the cut-off value of presepsin with postoperative infection. Results Among the 73 included patients, 20 developed postoperative infectious complications. The presepsin levels pre-operatively and on post-operative day (POD) zero were significantly higher in the infected than in the non-infected group (145.2 vs. 93.2, 514.0 vs. 328.1 [pg mL-1], p < 0.05, respectively). The odds ratio (OR) for postoperative infection included pre-operative presepsin (OR; 1.22 [confidence interval; 1.07–1.40]/10 pg mL-1) and presepsin on POD zero (OR; 1.31 [confidence interval; 1.05–1.64] /100 pg mL-1). The cut-off predictive values for postoperative infectious complications of pre-operative presepsin and on POD zero were 132 and 347 [pg mL-1], respectively. Conclusions Perioperative presepsin levels could be an early predictor for postoperative infectious complications in cardiac surgery.


The vibration of fire smoke exhausting robot affects a lot on running quality. The rotational speed of engine is fixed and the vibration of the robot's engine has a certain dominant frequency, so a dynamic vibration absorber is possible to reduce the vibration. In this paper a typical structure has been designed, and the linear relationship between dominant frequency and engine speed has been surveyed. The elongation of the spring has been deduced to the only key parameter due to the linear relationship and determined speed. An evaluation standard of damping effect was set up, the maximum acceleration value and root mean square value of acceleration and relative value of acceleration were taken as the evaluation indexes. Comparison tests were made, the damping effect was taken into account. The experimental results demonstrate the practicability and effectiveness of the new simplified absorber.


Reverse engineering allows the geometric reconstruction of simple mechanical parts. However, the resulting models suffer from inaccuracies caused by errors in measurement and reconstruction so such models do not have the exact congruence, symmetries and other regularities the original designer intended. We wish to impose such regularities in a beautification process. The paper discusses the particular problem of detecting approximate congruence between parts (e.g. a pair of handles) of a reconstructed B-rep model, so that a subsequent step can enforce them exactly. A practical detection algorithm is given for models defined using planes, spheres, cylinders, cones and tori. Analysis of the algorithm and experimental results show that expected congruence are detected reasonably quickly.


OBJECTIVES
To determine the disparity in the rate people undergo health examinations according to socioeconomic position (SEP) and the changes in this disparity with time.

METHODS
Seoul citizens' health profile data from 1997 to 2005 were analyzed. The study subjects were 40 years old and over, and the total number of subjects was 6,601 in 1997, 8,994 in 2001, and 8,819 in 2005. Those aged 60 years and over were eliminated from the analysis of subjects' occupation. We used education, family income and occupation as indicators of SEP. The age-standardized health examination attendance rate for each year was calculated according to the education, family income and occupation. The odds ratios (ORs) from multiple logistic regressions were adjusted for age.

RESULTS
The disparity in the rate of attendance according to the SEP decreased from 1997 to 2005 but still existed. Even though the disparities among the subgroups according to education, family income and occupation were not that high, the disparity between the group with the highest SEP and the other groups was considerable.

CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest that unequal access to health examination services according to socioeconomic position still exists. This disparity has decreased recently but the disparity according to level of education was the greatest.


The recent U.K. Supreme Court decision in Marley v. Rawlings, concerning the rectification of a will pursuant to English legislation, raises two points of reflection for Singapore law. These points arise not from the ratio of the case, which was decided on a narrow legislative basis, but from the well-considered obiter dicta contained in Lord Neuberger's judgment.


The following new thiourea(tu) complexes of cobalt(II) halides Co(tu)[4]Br[2], Co(tu)[4]I[2], and the known complex Co(tu)[3] Cl[2] have been prepared. In addition, new nickel(ll) complexes with several substituted thioureas such as dibutylthiourea (dbtu), and dicyclohexylthiourea (dctu) have been prepared. Examples of these complexes are: Ni(dbtu)[4]X[2], where X = Cl, Brorl; Ni(dctu)[2]X[2], where X = ClorBr; and Ni(dctu)[6]X[2], where X = BrorI. Their visible spectra and magnetic properties show the thiourea complexes of cobalt(ll), including Co(tu)[3]Cl[2] , to be four co-ordinate and tetrahedral. The last compound was previously said to be five co-ordinate. The infra-red spectra of the thiourea complexes of cobalt(II), and of the substituted thiourea complexes of nickel(II) indicate that the ligands are bonded through sulphur and not through nitrogen. Some new complexes of chromium(ll), iron(ll) and vanadium(Il) with sulphur-donor ligands have been prepared under anaerobic conditions, and their properties investigated by spectroscopic and magnetic techniques, also carried out in the absence of air. Two types of chromium(ll) complex, Cr(R[2]NCS[2])[2] and Cr(R[2]NCS[2]Cl), R= CH[3] or Et, have been prepared from the sodium salts of diethyl- and dimethyl-dithiocarbamates under different conditions, whilst only the first type of chromium(ll) compound has been obtained from pyrrolidyl-dithiocarbamate (R = C[4]H[8]) in conditions tried. Chromium(ll) complexes of other disubstituted dithiocarbamates could not be isolated because of oxidation, apparently by the solvent, even under nitrogen. Some new iron(ll) dithiocarbamate complexes have also been prepared by the reaction of ferrous sulphate heptahydrate in water. Sodium dicyclohexyldithiocarbamate gave a complex of the type Fe[R[2]NCS[2](OH)], R = C[6]H[11]. Other sodium dithiocarbamates gave complexes of the type Fe(R[3]NCS[2])[2]; where R = CH[3], C[2]H[5], C[3]H[7], C[4]H[9] or C[4]H[8]. In addition the following two types of dxthiocarbaraato-complex of vanadium(ll) have been prepared: (1) V(R[2]NCS[2])[2]; where R = CH[3] , C[2]H[5] or C[6]H [5]CH[2], and (2) V[R[2]NCS[2](OH)]; where R = C[3]H[7], C[4]H[9] or C[4]H[8]. The reduced and temperature variable magnetic moments of the chromium(ll) and iron(II) complexes have been shown to arise from antiferromagnetic interaction in binuclear structures. The magnetic moments of the vanadium(ll) complexes are reduced, and in some cases do not vary with temperature, so that it is very difficult to say whether the metal atom is in the bivalent state or whether oxidation has occurred. The reflectance spectra of the bis(dithiocarbamato)-complexes of chromium(II) and iron(ll) are as expected for highly distorted complexes, and are therefore compatible with the binuclear five-co-ordinate structures previously assigned on the basis of X-ray powder results. Two new complexes of chromium(ll) with 2-methylmercaptoaniline have been prepared and their properties investigated by spectroscopic and magnetic techniques.


A virus indistinguishable from that causing maedi/visna has been isolated from a sheep flock in Great Britain. The virus was identified in cell cultures using immunofluorescent and electron microscopical techniques. The complement fixation test and the agar gel immunodiffusion test were used to assess the proportion of serological reactors within the flock. There has been no evidence of clinical disease in the flock into which foreign imports were introduced in the years prior to 1976.


The main feature of neural network using for accuracy improvement of physical quantities (for example, temperature, humidity, pressure etc.) measurement by data acquisition systems is insufficient volume of input data for predicting neural network training at an initial exploitation period of sensors. The authors have proposed the technique of data volume increasing for predicting neural network training using integration of historical data method. In this paper we have proposed enhanced integration historical data method with its simulation results on mathematical models of sensor drift using single-layer and multi-layer perceptrons. We also considered a parallelization technique of enhanced integration historical data method in order to decrease its working time. A modified coarse-grain parallel algorithm with dynamic mapping on processors of parallel computing system using neural network training time as mapping criterion is considered. Fulfilled experiments have showed that modified parallel algorithm is more efficient than basic parallel algorithm with dynamic mapping, which does not use any mapping criterion.


Millennials, those born between 1980 and 2000, have captured the attention of researchers, media, and the food industry alike, as their tastes and preferences are increasingly shaping what is being purchased at the grocery store. Market analysis has shown that this generation is demanding healthier and fresher items and spending fewer of their food expenditures at restaurants. However, to our knowledge, no research has specifically examined how millennials' purchasing decisions differ after controlling for a robust set of demographic and socioeconomic (SES) variables. The goal of our research is to investigate whether the purchasing decisions of millennial households differ significantly from the rest of the population, looking both at the healthfulness of food purchases as well as the shopping environment used to purchase food-at-home. Overall, our study finds that being a millennial had a small and positive effect on diet quality when we measure diet quality as the deviation from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. However, once we correct for overconsumption of healthy foods and underconsumption of unhealthy foods, this difference disappears suggesting that millennials are better at complying to the recommended guidelines.


Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) are effective in preventing and treating venous thromboembolism, and preventing stroke in atrial fibrillation. Until recently, there has been no specific reversal agent for DOACs. Now, a specific antidote for the direct thrombin inhibitor, dabigatran has been approved for use, and antidotes for factor Xa inhibitors (rivaroxaban, apixaban and edoxaban) are being developed. We review the evidence for currently used and emerging reversal strategies, and discuss possible clinical implications, including increased prescription of DOACs, use of DOACs in clinical situations previously felt to pose too great a risk of bleeding, and use of reversal agents beyond currently approved indications.


We present high-performance enhancement-mode AlGaN/GaN metal-oxide-semiconductor highelectron mobility transistors(MOS-HEMTs) by a fluorinated gate dielectric technique.A nanolaminate of an Al2O3/LaxAl1-xO3/Al2O3 stack(x≈0.33) grown by atomic layer deposition is employed to avoid fluorine ions implantation into the scaled barrier layer.Fabricated enhancement-mode MOS-HEMTs exhibit an excellent performance as compared to those with the conventional dielectric-last technique,delivering a large maximum drain current of 916 mA/mm and simultaneously a high peak transconductance of 342 mS/mm.The balanced DC characteristics indicate that advanced gate stack dielectrics combined with buffered fluorine ions implantation have a great potential for high speed GaN E/D-mode integrated circuit applications.


We analyze the structure of the tail of a superradiant pulse, which is constituted by a train of trailing-pulses with decaying amplitudes. We show how a trailing pulse, with phase advance from the leading pulse, is generated at the falling edge of the leading pulse, where the corresponding phase space is deeply saturated and the electrons become de-trapped by the reduced ponderomotive potential. Once the trailing pulse gains enough energy, it generates a second trailing pulse, and the process takes place again. By performing detailed simulations of the resulting electron phase space distribution and the FEL pulse spectral and temporal structure with PERSEO, we confirm that the deformation and re-bunching of the longitudinal phase space create a sequence of pulses.


BACKGROUND & AIMS
Chemokines are small proteins that direct leukocyte trafficking under homeostatic and inflammatory conditions. We analyzed the differential expression of chemokines in distinct segments of the intestine and investigated the importance of chemokines for the distribution of leukocytes in the intestine during homeostatic and inflammatory conditions.

METHODS
We analyzed messenger RNA for all known chemokines in different segments of the gut by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. To study the effect of multiple-chemokine blockade in the gut, we generated transgenic mice that expressed the chemokine binding protein M3 in the intestine (V-M3 mice). We used flow cytometry to evaluate the changes in the numbers of leukocytes.

RESULTS
We observed distinct chemokine expression profiles in the 6 segments of the gut. Some chemokines were expressed throughout the intestine (CCL28, CCL6, CXCL16, and CX3CL1), whereas others were expressed preferentially in the small (CCL25 and CCL5) or large intestine (CCL19, CCL21, and CXCL5). Expression of the chemokine blocker M3 in intestinal epithelial cells resulted in reduced numbers of B and T cells in Peyer's patches, reduced numbers of intraepithelial CD8alphabeta(+)/TCRalphabeta(+) and CD8alphaalpha(+)/TCRalphabeta(+) T cells, and reduced numbers of lamina propria CD8(+) T cells. Strikingly, M3 expression markedly reduced the number of eosinophils and macrophages in the small and large intestines. Dextran sulfate sodium treatment of control mice led to marked changes in the expression of chemokines and in the number of myeloid cells in the colon. These cellular changes were significantly attenuated in the presence of M3.

CONCLUSIONS
Our study reveals a complex pattern of chemokine expression in the intestine and indicates that chemokines are critical for leukocyte accumulation in the intestine during homeostasis and inflammation.


Arginine-stimulated insulin and glucagon outputs from isolated perfused pancreata of warm-acclimated and 2-, 4-, and 6-wk cold-acclimated rats (4 degrees C) were determined to assess whether observed changes in these parameters were a result of cold exposure per se or a part of the adaptive process of cold acclimation. Progressive and sequential changes were seen in both insulin and glucagon outputs. At 2 wk cold acclimation, glucagon rose and insulin output tended to fall, at 4 wk, glucagon output remained elevated and insulin output was further reduced, and at 6 wk, glucagon output had returned to control levels, whereas insulin output was substantially further reduced. These changes resulted in reduction of the insulin-to-glucagon molar ratio of the total arginine-induced output from 7.27 +/- 1.76 (SE) in the warm acclimate to 2.31 +/- 0.79 (SE) at 2 wk, 1.42 +/- 0.29 (SE) at 4 wk, and 1.26 +/- 0.21 (SE) at 6 wk cold acclimation. The data do not provide in vitro support for the hypothesis that changes in pancreatic hormone secretion in vivo are a consequence of cold exposure and not cold acclimation.


Oil is an important energy commodity. The difficulties of forecasting oil prices stem from the nonlinearity and non-stationarity of their dynamics. However, the oil prices are closely correlated with global financial markets and economic conditions, which provides us with sufficient information to predict them. Traditional models are linear and parametric, and are not very effective in predicting oil prices. To address these problems, this study developed a new strategy. Deep (or hierarchical) multiple kernel learning (DMKL) was used to predict the oil price time series. Traditional methods from statistics and machine learning usually involve shallow models; however, they are unable to fully represent complex, compositional, and hierarchical data features. This explains why traditional methods fail to track oil price dynamics. This study aimed to solve this problem by combining deep learning and multiple kernel machines using information from oil, gold, and currency markets. DMKL is good at exploiting multiple information sources. It can effectively identify the relevant information and simultaneously select an apposite data representation. The kernels of DMKL were embedded in a directed acyclic graph (DAG), which is a deep model and efficient at representing complex and compositional data features. This provided a solid foundation for extracting the key features of oil price dynamics. By using real data for empirical testing, our new system robustly outperformed traditional models and significantly reduced the forecasting errors.


Capsular incision (CI) refers to the urologist transecting either benign or malignant prostatic tissue, where the edge of the prostate in this region is left within the patient. Histologic assessment of CI is difficult and its diagnosis varies among pathologists. Between 1993 and 2004, we reviewed 186 radical prostatectomies that were signed out as either: (1) CI into tumor in otherwise organ-confined disease [elsewhere no extra-prostatic extension (EPE), seminal vesicle invasion, or lymph node spread] (n=143); (2) positive surgical margin in an area difficult to distinguish EPE from CI into tumor in otherwise organ-confined disease (n=36); or (3) equivocal positive surgical margin in an area difficult to distinguish organ-confined disease with tumor close to resection margins (OC M−) from CI into tumor in otherwise organ-confined disease (n=7). On review, CI with a positive margin was confirmed in 83.2% of cases. Of cases signed out with margins positive where it was difficult to distinguish CI from EPE, CI was confirmed in 52.8% of cases. Cases with equivocal positive margins with either CI or OC M− were considered CI with positive margins in 57.1% of cases on review. Cases in all 3 groups not considered positive margins with CI were on review equally divided between diagnoses of organ-confined margin negative and EPE with positive margins. The locations of the 39 cases originally misdiagnosed as definitive or questionable CI with positive margins were posterolateral (N=19, 48.7%), distal (N=12, 30.8%), posterior (N=6, 15.4%), and anterolateral (N=2, 5.1%). Familiarity with different patterns of EPE in different anatomic locations and applying strict criteria for diagnosing CI into tumor can minimize overcalling CI and can provide accurate feedback to urologists to prevent iatrogenic positive margins.


This study uses grain-size distributions to contrast sediment transport processes in the Tecolutla and Nautla deltas on the high-energy Veracruz coastal margin, southwestern Gulf of Mexico. Both tropical deltas formed at mouths of short, seasonal high-flood discharge rivers that carry large volcaniclastic loads down steep mountain slopes directly to the coast. Baseline studies of deltaic sediments are needed to help develop protection measures for the increasing delta populations endangered by devastating floods. Eleven environments in each delta are distinguished on the basis of mean size, standard deviation and skewness in surficial sediment samples. These textural parameters are used to interpret transport processes that prevail in the environments of the two deltas. The Tecolutla system discharges more water and carries a greater sediment load than the Nautla. The Tecolutla loses a greater proportion of coarser fractions by overbank transport on its natural levees and flood-plain, and it also traps more finer-grained fractions in its larger marshes, mangroves and upper estuary. Consequently, grains reaching the Tecolutla's lower estuary are of finer mean size and better sorted than those reaching the Nautla's lower estuary. Moreover, a larger proportion of the Tecoluta's sediment load bypasses the lower estuary and is released seaward beyond the river mouth. This conclusion is independently confirmed by the delta's prograding, gentle cuspate form and higher proportions of f1uvioclastic light and volcanic mineral components traced from its lower estuary to nearshore settings. In contrast with the Tecolutla, textural evidence suggests erosion and reworking from marine environments and accretion onto the Nautla coast and lower estuary by wave-driven currents. Corroborating evidence is the Nautla's truncated coastal configuration and, in its lower estuary, a masking of the river's volcanic and light minerals by locally concentrated heavy minerals and carbonates.


Fine sediment – available in large quantities in many river deltas – may be used as an alternative to coarse sand for land reclamation. In this thesis, the Marker Wadden project functioned as a case for optimizing ecological engineering designs that use fine sediment as building material. The research has highlighted that (bio)geochemical, hydrological, and wetland ecological processes interact and enhance ecosystem development on wetlands constructed from fine sediments. In greenhouse experiments, biogeochemical processes were identified that influence pore water chemistry. Key processes were found to be pyrite oxidation and associated calcite dissolution. Reed (Phragmites australis) enhanced the oxidation process significantly by aerating its environment via radial oxygen loss. Several feedback mechanisms between the sediment and reed plants were identified. One is a negative feedback loop that arises because plant roots induce aeration, which promotes iron toxicity, which in turn decreases plant growth and results in plant death. There is also a positive feedback loop, as iron toxicity might induce reduction processes after root death. Reduction of the sediment leads to P mobilization and hence enhances plant growth and regeneration. In a follow-up experiment, the effect of iron toxicity on biomass production was studied. Reed produced substantial amounts of iron plaque. Interestingly, the iron-bound phosphorus content of the sediment determined the composition of the iron plaque on the plant roots: phosphorus co-precipitated with Fe in high Fe-P sediment. In this thesis we also show how the hydrological regime and the sediment type interfere with ecosystem development, especially in terms of nutrient availability. The results show that P availability depends on the hydrological regime only, whereas N availability is determined by both the hydrological regime and the sediment type. In column experiments, it was studied how reed can act as an ecological engineer on the Marker Wadden by draining the soft, cohesive sediment. This plant effectively altered the pore pressure gradient via water extraction. This finding highlights the feature of this plant to act as an eco-engineer to fasten drainage, in turn promoting consolidation and ripening. Lastly, the potential effect of bioturbating Tubificidae on the nutrient availability in the sediment was identified. Both the measured and modelled results showed that bioturbation by Tubificidae effectively aerated the upper layer of the sediment. The model predicts an optimum of 12,000 worms m-2 and showed that the effect of bioturbation on oxidation first increases with increasing densities and then, after the optimum density is exceeded, the aeration effect of Tubificidae diminishes as burrows start overlapping geometrically, while the respiration rate per worm stays the same. Furthermore, the worm activity led to enhanced nitrogen availability because of increased rates of ammonification and nitrification, whereas phosphate concentrations in the water diminished because of P immobilization. The aforementioned results are translated into several recommendations for the Marker Wadden project. These recommendations may solve some of the issues that surfaced during the wetland construction phase and give relevant directions for correctly implementing the initial plan to use fine sediment as building material.


Plant copper/topaquinone-containing amine oxidases (CAOs, EC 188.8.131.52) are enzymes oxidising various amines. Here we report a study on the reactions of CAOs from grass pea (Lathyrus sativus), lentil (Lens esculenta) and Euphorbia characias, a Mediterranean shrub, with N6-aminoalkyl adenines representing combined analogues of cytokinins and polyamines. The following compounds were synthesised: N6-(3-aminopropyl)adenine, N6-(4-aminobutyl)adenine, N6-(4-amino-trans-but-2-enyl)adenine, N6-(4-amino-cis-but-2-enyl)adenine and N6-(4-aminobut-2-ynyl)adenine. From these, N6-(4-aminobutyl)adenine and N6-(4-amino-trans-but-2-enyl)adenine were found to be substrates for all three enzymes (Km∼10−4 M). Absorption spectroscopy demonstrated such an interaction with the cofactor topaquinone, which is typical for common diamine substrates. However, only the former compound provided a regular reaction stoichiometry. Anaerobic absorption spectra of N6-(3-aminopropyl)adenine, N6-(4-amino-cis-but-2-enyl)adenine and N6-(4-aminobut-2-ynyl)adenine reactions revealed a similar kind of initial interaction, although the compounds finally inhibited the enzymes. Kinetic measurements allowed the determination of both inhibition type and strength; N6-(3-aminopropyl)adenine and N6-(4-amino-cis-but-2-enyl)adenine produced reversible inhibition (Ki∼10−5–10−4 M) whereas, N6-(4-aminobut-2-ynyl)adenine could be considered a powerful inactivator.


This thesis is mainly concerned with the elucidation of the structure and of the relative and absolute stereochemistry of the antifungal bis lactone antibiotic canadensolide which is found in the culture filtrates of the fungus Penicillium canadense. This work is interlinked with structural studies on five metabolites isolated from the same source. Of these,one, the bis lactone dihydrocanadensolide, had been previously isolated. The remaining four, canadensic acid, isocanadensic acid, dihydroisocanadensic acid and hydroxyisocanadensic acid were all shown to be related monolactones. The absolute stereochemistry of the natural monolactones and of various monolactones derived from canadensolide was established using ORD and CD, and in one case (canadensic acid) by multistage degradation to (-)gamma-caprylolactone. The absolute and relative stereochemistry of canadensolide was derived from the following : chemical and spectroscopic evidence of cis fusion of the two lactone rings ; determination of the absolute configuration at C-4 by conversion to a monolactone with one asymmetric centre; elucidation of the stereochemical relationship of canadensolide and dihydrocanadensolide, including the first reproduceable conversion of the former to the latter; determination of the absolute configuration at C-3 of hydroxyisocanadensic acid; assignment of the absolute configuration at C-3 in dihydrocanadensolide following chemical conversion of hydroxyisocanadensic acid to dihydrocanadensolide. The latter reaction also established the configuration at the carbinol carbon atom (C-4) in hydroxyisocanadensic acid, the result being at variance with that predicted from application of the Horeau method. A number of degradative schemes suitable for determining the distribution of label in canadensic acid biosynthesised from radioactive precursors were studied and application of one of these gave results in accord with biosynthesis via an alkylcitric acid type of intermediate. Synthetic studies and ultraviolet spectra proved to be important in establishing the structure of a new phenolic minor metabolite isolated from the culture filtrates as 3-chlorogentisyl alcohol. Synthetic work carried out on the unusual benzoylated metabolite candipolin, previously found in the mycelium of P. canadense, has disproved a peptide like structure and shown it to be N-benzoyl-L-phenylalanine N-benzoyl-L-phenylalaninyl estei.


Enclosed in a steady cloud-stored environment featuring blended learning strategies, and facilitating effective participation by teachers and students, Google Classroom, a learning management system (LMS), has developed into a mature teaching console for administering educational courses, enhancing learning effects, and leveraging online teaching resources. Employing Google Classroom as a pedagogical tool and applying the concept of Needs Analysis, this study implemented gamified learning in a college EFL writing course to assess how students' acceptance of the technology and their flow state experiences using it related to its learning efficacy. The findings of the analysis were as follows: (1) perceived ease of use and flow antecedents significantly strengthened learners' perceived usefulness and attitudes regarding the use of Google Classroom as an LMS and learning tool; (2) while the four flow antecedents had no significant influence on future use intentions, the flow indicators did (it was assumed that although the students enjoyed the game elements and convenience of the technology, the design structure of the instruction had the most substantial impact on their intentions to continue using the technology application for language learning in the future); and (3) Google Classroom reduced the anxiety of face-to-face discussion and enhanced the students' self-learning efficacy in EAP writing by facilitating real-time interactive communication between teachers and students. Students' needs in learning writing should be considered throughout game-based learning. The final section of this study offers some thoughts about the future pedagogical applications of Google Classroom.


Whenever a country institutes a national health
insurance programme, the government in effect
becomes the sole purchaser of health care and
medical workers often become salaried employees.
Many countries have already adopted such programmes.
Even in the United States it is claimed
that as early as 1975 nearly 25 per cent of physicians
were compensated on a salaried basis. l When these
things happen, the issues of medical workers'
unionising and having the right to strike arise too.
In fact, earlier this decade a national survey showed
that three out of every five doctors in the United
States believed they should unionise. 2 There is
much debate about whether medical workers should
have unions and should have the right to withhold
their services. Opponents have claimed that unions
are 'unprofessional', and in any case since hospitals
are non-profit organisations, it is inappropriate for
union organisation to take place in that setting.


The region of Coastal Andhra Pradesh has been an important source of Indian software engineers, mainly
because of the dense concentration of private engineering colleges located there. The outward mobility
of educated youth, who work as IT professionals in different cities in India and abroad, has created a
pervasive social imaginary that equates an engineering degree, a software job, and migration (especially to
the US) with economic success and social prestige. Catering to and fuelling these widespread aspirations
is a burgeoning education industry, ranging from small 'English-medium' schools to expensive 'corporate
colleges'. The paper argues that a regional culture of migration has profoundly shaped not only the
education sector but also popular social imaginaries and mobility strategies. These recent developments
are contextualised more broadly within Andhra's colonial and postcolonial social history and a specific
regional formation of caste, class, and capital.


Position The Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) asserts that the availability of registered nurses (RNs) and other health care professionals who are skilled in fetal heart monitoring (FHM) techniques, including auscultation and electronic fetal monitoring (EFM), is essential to maternal and fetal well-being during antepartum care, labor, and birth. Fetal heart monitoring requires advanced assessment and clinical judgment skills and should not be delegated to unlicensed assistive personnel or others who do not possess the appropriate licensure, education, and skills validation. A woman's preferences and clinical presentation should guide selection of FHM techniques with consideration given to use of the least invasive methods. In general, the least invasive method of monitoring is preferred in order to promote physiologic labor and birth. Labor is dynamic; therefore, consideration of maternal preferences and identification of risk factors should occur upon admission to the birth setting and should be ongoing throughout labor.


Abstract A facile synthetic method for the construction of 2-substituted-4-oxo-4H-quinolizine-based core structure has been successfully developed. The synthesis made use of a one-pot Stobbe condensation followed by cyclization starting from the commercially available 2-pyridinecarbaldehyde. The structure of the formed 4-oxo-4H-quinolizine-2-carboxylate was fully confirmed by mass spectra, 1H NMR and 13C NMR, correlation spectrography, heteronuclear multiple bond correlation, and heteronuclear single quantum coherence (HSQC) spectra. The ethyl carboxylate moiety was then further functionalized via direct aminolysis by a range of amines to afford the corresponding 4-oxo-4H-quinolizine-2-carboxamides 4a–i in moderate to good yields. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


Contemporary Bioethics is, at least in part, the product of biomedical and sociopolitical changes in the middle to latter part of the 20 th century. These changes prompted reflection on deep moral questions at a time when traditional sources of moral guidance no longer were widely respected and, in some cases, were being rejected. In light of this, scholars, policy makers, and clinicians sought to identify a common morality that could be used among persons with different moral commitments to resolve disputes and guide clinical practice and health policy. The concept of the common morality remains important in Bioethics. This essay considers the common morality in light of the work of H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr.


The incidence of thromboembolic diseases in children is increasing, probably as a consequence of medical progress and modern intensive care. Due to lack of scientific evidence, clinical recommendations for treatment of children are mainly based on opinions and extrapolations from adult medicine. This article presents current concepts of thromboembolic diseases in children, based on a review of the literature. Characteristic features are presented and differences between the disease in adults and children are outlined. Guidelines for antithrombotic treatment are provided. We suggest that screening for thrombophilic disorders should be performed on wide indications, and that modern principles of treatment in adult medicine should also be applied for children with thromboembolic diseases.


This paper is an application of a special case of distributed optimization problem. It is applied on optimizing the motion of multiple robot systems. The problem is decomposed into L subproblems with L being the number of robot systems. This decomposition reduces the problem to solving a single robot problem. The optimization problem is solved via a distributed algorithm, utilizing subgradient method. A global objective function is set as the sum of individual robot objectives in time and energy. Constraints are divided into two sets, namely, robot-individual constraints and robots' interactions (collision) constraints. The approach is applied for the case of wheeled mobile robots: we are able to generate in parallel for each robot an optimized control input trajectory and then illustrate it in simulation examples.


The contamination of fresh produce with antibiotic-resistant bacteria is of particular concern as they are often eaten raw and can be a source for foodborne diseases. Tetracyclines have been largely used in humans, animals and plants which might have accelerated microbial resistance to them. Enterococci and Escherichia coli can be used as indicators to monitor contamination of the fresh produce with tetracycline-resistant bacteria. The investigation related to this issue is very scarce in Oman. This study aimed at identifying tetracycline-resistant enterococci and E. coli in fresh produce at the market place. Thirty-one enterococci and ten E. coli were isolated from local (Oman) and imported fruits and vegetables (N= 105). Using the standard Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method, resistance to tetracycline was found in 6 (19 %) enterococci, isolated from cucumber, lettuce and radish, and 5 (50 %) E. coli , obtained from cabbage, lettuce and radish. Genetic analysis revealed the presence of tetracycline resistance genes, tet(A) and tet(K), in E. coli and tet(K), tet(L) and tet(M) in enterococci, including Enterococcus sulfureus, Enterococcus mundtii, Enterococcus casseli avus  and Enterococcus faecalis . The integron integrase IntI 1 gene, which is known to facilitate the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes among bacteria, was detected in 2 isolates of E. coli . These results demonstrated the capability of fresh produce to act as a potential source for disseminating tetracycline or possibly other antibiotic-resistant bacteria through the food chain. Thus, control strategies are needed to reduce exposure of the public to such microorganisms.


In order to manifest lower energy consumption and less labor employment, and provide the theoretical basis for constructing environmentally friendly modem tobacco agriculture, this paper analyzed gas composition of the chimney from a bulk-curing barn and the dispersion of sulfur dioxide (SO2) around the workshop cluster using ecom-J2KN flue gas analyzer and air sampler. During curing, the concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and SO2 in the chimney were both highest at 38 degrees C, while the concentration of nitrogen oxides (NOx) was highest at 42 degrees C. The emission concentration of SO2 from the chimney was 1327.60-2218.40 mg x m(-3). Average SO2 emission would decrease by 49.7% through adding 4.0% of a sulfur-fixed agent. The highest concentrations of SO2 in the surface soil appeared at the yellowing stage. SO2 concentration in horizontal direction localized at 43-80 m exceeded 0.5 mg x m(-3). The highest concentration of SO2 (0.57 mg x m(-3)) was observed at 50 m. At 50 m in the downstream wind direction of the workshop cluster, SO2 concentration in vertical direction localized at 0.9-1.8 m exceeded 0.5 mg x m(-3), and the highest concentration of SO2 in vertical direction was 0.65 mg x m(-3) at 1.6 m. During curing, the average concentration of SO2 was decreased by 0.43 mg x m(-3) by using the sulfur-fixed agent. The polluted boundary was localized at 120 m in the downstream wind direction of the workshop cluster.


The 4,725 cattle in the enzootic region, 6 counties of southern Korea, were surveyed for besnoitiosis epidemiologically by examining the scleral conjunctiva for the cysts and the following results were obtained. The survey showed that 285 cattle, representing 6 per cent of a total of 4,725 cattle examined had S.C. cysts. Only 49 (14 per cent) of them showed clinical sclerodermatitis and the ratio between clinical and inapparent cases was 1:5.8. On age distribution of the S.C. positive cases the highest incidence(10-12 per cent) was seen in amimals that were from 5 to 8 years of age, but clinically apparent cases occurred much more in younger age of animal. In local incidence of S.C. cysts positive cases the prevalence was higher in the secluded districts such as Koheung and Sancheoung counties(9 per cent).


Within the last decade, numerous studies have demonstrated changes in the gut microbiome associated with specific autoimmune diseases. Due to differences in study design, data quality control, analysis and statistical methods, the results of these studies are inconsistent and incomparable. To better understand the relationship between the intestinal microbiome and autoimmunity, we have completed a comprehensive re-analysis of 29 studies focusing on the gut microbiome in nine autoimmune diseases to identify a specific microbial signature predictive of autoimmune disease using both 16S rRNA sequencing data and shotgun metagenomics data. Despite the heterogeneity of our data set, our approach has allowed us to build robust predictive models for general autoimmunity, as well as models for individual autoimmune diseases. Through this, we identified a number of common features predictive of autoimmune diseases including deficiency in Alistipes and Lachnobacterium, in addition to 9 inflammatory bowel disease, 7 multiple sclerosis and 7 rheumatoid disease predictive taxa consistently identified across multiple cohort comparison machine learning models. Lastly, we assessed potential metabolomic alterations based on metagenomic/metabolomic correlation analysis, identifying 114 metabolites associated with autoimmunity-predictive taxa.


Abstract Objective To assess the extent of error present in self-reported weight data in the Women's Health Initiative, variables that may be associated with error, and to develop methods to reduce any identified error. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Forty clinical centres in the USA. Participants Women (n 75 336) participating in the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study (WHI-OS) and women (n 6236) participating in the WHI Long Life Study (LLS) with self-reported and measured weight collected about 20 years later (2013–2014). Results The correlation between self-reported and measured weights was 0·97. On average, women under-reported their weight by about 2 lb (0·91 kg). The discrepancies varied by age, race/ethnicity, education and BMI. Compared with normal-weight women, underweight women over-reported their weight by 3·86 lb (1·75 kg) and obese women under-reported their weight by 4·18 lb (1·90 kg) on average. The higher the degree of excess weight, the greater the under-reporting of weight. Adjusting self-reported weight for an individual's age, race/ethnicity and education yielded an identical average weight to that measured. Conclusions Correlations between self-reported and measured weights in the WHI are high. Discrepancies varied by different sociodemographic characteristics, especially an individual's BMI. Correction of self-reported weight for individual characteristics could improve the accuracy of assessment of obesity status in postmenopausal women.