Objective A catecholamine-mediated mechanism has been implicated in the pathogenesis of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TC). However, the impact of β-blockers in acute-phase management of TC remains uncertain. This study aimed to examine whether early β-blocker use in TC was associated with lower in-hospital mortality. Methods This was a retrospective cohort study using the Diagnosis Procedure Combination nationwide inpatient database in Japan. Patients with TC aged ≥20 years who were admitted to acute-care hospitals between 2010 and 2014 were identified. Thirty-day in-hospital mortality was compared between patients who started β-blocker therapy on hospitalisation day 1 or 2 (early β-blocker group) and those who did not receive a β-blocker during hospitalisation (control group) using propensity score-matching and instrumental variable analyses. Results Of 2672 eligible patients (female, 81.5%; 423 early β-blocker therapy, 2249 controls) from 615 hospitals, 1:4 propensity score-matching created a cohort of 2110 patients (422 early β-blocker therapy, 1688 controls). There was no significant difference in 30-day in-hospital mortality between the early β-blocker group and control group (2.4% vs 2.0%, p=0.703; risk difference, 0.4%; 95% CI, −1.2% to 2.0%). Logistic regression analysis did not show a significant association between early β-blocker use and 30-day in-hospital mortality (OR, 1.17; 95% CI 0.58 to 2.37). Instrumental variable analysis also found that early β-blocker use was not associated with lower 30-day in-hospital mortality (risk difference, 1.2%; 95% CI −3.1% to 5.5%). Conclusions This study found no significant association between early β-blocker use and in-hospital mortality in patients with TC.


This paper presents two new novelty discrimination models for uncorrelated patterns based on neural modelling. The first model uses a single neuron with Hebbian learning and works well when the number of memorised patterns is less than 0.046N (N, the number of inputs). The second model is based on checking the value of the energy function of a Hopfield network. By sacrificing the ability to extract patterns - not needed for familiarity detection - an amazing jump from the normal capacity for retrieval of 0.145N to a capacity for novelty discrimination of 0.023N2 is achieved. In addition, both models give some insight on the effect of deja vu, since there is always a very small probability of detecting novel patterns as familiar.


In mammals, the Rel/NF-κB family of transcription factors consists of five members RelA (p65), RelB, c-Rel, NF-κB1 (p105/p50), and NF-κB2 (p100/p52). The major goal of first project is to understand whether NF-κB2/p100 and RelB function in B-cell development by using p100-/- mice (still producing p52 but not p100) as a model system. Not only an arrested mainstream B-cell development at the onset of B-lineage commitment, but also an impaired marginal zone B-cell generation, was found in p100-/- mice in a cell-intrinsic manner. The elevated RelB DNA-binding activity was restored to wild-type levels when one allele of the relB gene was deleted in p100-/- mice, correlated with the rescued B-cell development. The impaired B-cell development in p100-/- mice was likely due to the reduced expression of B-lineage transcription factors EBF and Pax5. Moreover, the increased RelB function determined the fate of B lymphocytes versus myeloid cells, likely due to the contribution of enhanced C/EBPα expression in p100-/- B-cell precursors. Thus, the findings unravel a specific role of alternative NF-κB activation pathway (NF-κB2/p100 and RelB) with respect to B-lymphocyte development. The activation of NF-κB through lymphotoxin β receptor (LTβR) is critical for secondary lymphoid organogenesis. LTβR signaling induces both classical (p50/RelA) and alternative (p52/RelB) complexes. To in vivo dissect the individual contribution of each NF-κB activation pathway downstream of LTβR signaling with a specific focus on the secondary lymphoid organogenesis, one approach is to generate mouse models, in which relB or relA can be selectively inactivated in LTβR-expressing cells. Towards this goal, three mouse strains need to be established, including mice harboring floxed relB (relBflox/flox) or relA alleles (relAflox/flox, generated) and mouse strain with Cre recombinase activity in LTβR-expressing cells. In this study, the generation of relBflox/flox mice is in the stage of germline transmission. Four ltbr-cretg founder lines were generated by pronucleus injection of cre cDNA under the control of the ltbr gene promoter. In three founder lines, the tissue expression pattern of cre mRNA was consistent with that of endogenous ltbr mRNA.


BACKGROUND
 Zinc and iron deficiencies among breastfed infants during the first 6 months of life have been reported in previous studies. The amounts of zinc and iron intakes from breast milk are factors that contribute to the zinc and iron status of breastfed infants.

 OBJECTIVE
 This study aims to quantitatively determine zinc and iron intakes by breastfed infants during the first 4 months of life and to investigate the factors that predict zinc and iron status in breastfed infants.

 METHODS
 Pregnant women at 28 to 34 weeks of gestation were enrolled. Zinc and iron status during pregnancy was assessed. At delivery, cord blood was analyzed for zinc and iron levels. Participants and their babies were followed at 2 and 4 months postpartum. Maternal dietary intakes and anthropometric measurements were performed. The amount of breast milk intake was assessed using the deuterium oxide dose-to-mother technique. Breast milk samples were collected for determination of zinc and iron levels. The amount of zinc and iron consumed by infants was calculated. Zinc and iron status was determined in mothers and infants at 4 months postpartum.

 RESULTS
 A total of 120 pregnant women were enrolled, and 80 mother-infant pairs completed the study (56 provided full breastfeeding, and 24 provided breast milk with infant formula). All data are being managed and cleaned. Statistical analysis will be done.

 CONCLUSIONS
 This study will provide information on zinc and iron intakes in exclusively breastfed infants during the first 4 months of life and explore predictive factors and the possible association of zinc and iron intakes with infant growth and nutrient status.

 INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT
 DERR1-10.2196/19119


This work documents the creation of a post-graduate (Master's) degree program in Petroleum Engineering (MSPE) at the University of Eduardo Mondlane (UEM) in Maputo, Mozambique. The genesis of this program was a request from the government of Mozambique to a corporate entity to provide assistance with the development of a domestic talent pool in petroleum engineering (in this case, the entity is Anadarko Mozambique Area 1 [AMA1], a subsidiary of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation [APC]). This program is unique in that it is a working partnership amongst the sponsor (AMA1), the education entity (UEM), and a team of renowned U.S.-based faculty. Historically, multinational companies would simply make philanthropic contributions to a local institution and then turn their focus on their core business. Today, all parties expect more from each other; host governments and their industry partners want equal input on where and how social responsibility projects are directed, including which projects should be undertaken. Likewise, the beneficiaries of these contributions are requesting increased levels of involvement and assistance to deliver maximum benefits for their constituents. This is the situation in Mozambique; all of the parties--the government, the University of Eduardo Mondlane (UEM), and Anadarko Mozambique Area 1 (AMA1)--have agreed to and fully support this collaborative development model. The goal of this project is to provide an approach which fully meets the academic standards and rigor of a world-class post-graduate degree program in Petroleum Engineering while providing sustainable capability development in terms of the students and the faculty. This model relies on the commitment of all parties to achieve "steady-state" in as short a time as possible; in this case, the planned time-scale from inception to independence is on the order of four years. At present, the project is on schedule with two cohorts of students and seven UEM faculty progressing.


The Frechet distance between two curves in the plane is the minimum length of a leash that allows a dog and its owner to walk along their respective curves, from one end to the other, without backtracking. We propose a natural extension of Frechet distance to more general metric spaces, which requires the leash itself to move continuously over time. For example, for curves in the punctured plane, the leash cannot pass through or jump over the obstacles ("trees"). We describe a polynomial-time algorithm to compute the homotopic Frechet distance between two given polygonal curves in the plane minus a given set of polygonal obstacles.


Six out of 25 species of primates most endangered are in Indonesia. Six of these primates are namely Orangutan, Lutung, Bekantan, Tarsius tumpara, Kukang, and Simakobu. Three of the six primates live mostly on the island of Borneo. One form of preservation of primate treasures found in Kalimantan is by conducting studies on primate identification. In this study, an android app was developed using the CNN method to identify primate species in Kalimantan wetlands. CNN is used to extract spatial features from primate images to be very efficient for image identification problems. The data set used in this study is ImageNets, while the model used is MobileNets. The application was tested using two scenarios, namely using photos and video recordings. Photos were taken directly, then reduced to a resolution of 256 x 256. Then, videos were taken in approximately 10 to 30 seconds with two megapixel camera resolution. The results obtained was an average accuracy of 93.6% when using photos and 79% when using video recordings. After calculating the accuracy, the usability test using SUS was performed. Based on the SUS results, it is known that the application developed is feasible to use.


Bleaching is a viable treatment alternative to attempt esthetic improvement of discolored teeth. Natural tooth structure as opposed to a veneer or crown margin is considerably superior in tissue response. Caution has to be exercised in selecting cases and advising patients of the possibilities from bleaching and that bleaching may not be entirely successful or lasting. It still should be considered as a treatment of first choice. If applied properly and in carefully selected cases the results can be very rewarding for the dentist and especially the patient. A knowledge of the agents used and biological limits must be kept in mind when bleaching teeth to prevent potential disastrous complications. It is especially important to keep the bleaching time to the shortest effective time possible with vital pulps. Bleaching when successful provides a superior margin and a less expensive alternative than crowns. Bleaching should generally be considered before crown preparation because if bleaching is unsuccessful crowns can always be fabricated. This is true for younger individuals with tetracycline stained teeth because crowns may need to be remade several years after their initial placement due to further eruption of teeth and further recession of the gingival tissues.


This research was undertaken to understand the perceptions of the Physical Sciences teachers who participate in the South African 'Eskom Expo for Young Scientists', regarding the educational significance of the science fair, and the extent to which expo participation provides an opportunity for professional development. The educational significance of this article is found in its contribution to the professional identity of teachers in their roles as organisers, mentors and judges. The model of Beijaard et al. (Teach Teach Educ. 2004;20:107–128) was used to characterise the teachers' professional identity in terms of professional knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, norms and values, as well as emotions and agency. Interviews with the Physical Sciences teachers were analysed using thematic analysis, ultimately interpreting and linking the categories of responses to the theme of professional identity. The study found that expo participation contributes to pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge (as both procedural and declarative or factual knowledge) and pedagogical content knowledge. Self-efficacy beliefs were strengthened, positive attitudes were developed, and strategies of inquiry-based learning and effective methodological instruction were observed during participation, which contributed to the participants' school-based teaching. Teachers learn both from their engagement with learners, and through networking opportunities with fellow teachers. Teachers themselves value these aspects, and consequently, science fair participation is a sustainable form of professional development. It is recommended that the opportunity for professional development that is provided by teachers' participation in such school-level science fairs should be acknowledged and promoted by schools and fair organisers.


Subduction and exhumation of ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic terranes are typically envisaged as short-lived processes associated with the transition from oceanic subduction to continent-continent collision. Norway's Western Gneiss Region, by comparison, is a giant, late-orogenic UHP terrane that underwent protracted residence at UHP conditions during the Scandian phase of the Caledonian orogeny followed by relatively slow exhumation. Here, we use two-dimensional numerical thermal-mechanical models to explore the tectonics of orogens of this type and the associated controls on the size of their UHP terranes and the duration of UHP metamorphism.

The models have four tectonic phases designed to capture the main stages of the Caledonian evolution: oceanic subduction and microcontinent accretion; continental margin subduction; plate quiescence; and postorogenic extension during plate divergence. Contrasting styles of exhumation are explored by varying the strength of the margin crust and investigating melt-induced weakening. The tectonic and metamorphic evolution of the Western Gneiss Region is consistent with a model in which continental margin crust was subducted beneath a thick orogenic wedge where it underwent metamorphism at (U)HP conditions for at least 15 million years (Myr) as subduction ended. The buoyant Baltican crust must have been especially strong in order to have stayed coupled to the underlying lithosphere during this phase, perhaps reflecting its refractory composition and/or a lack of fluids. Subsequent exhumation of the Western Gneiss Region can be explained by orogen-scale extension resulting from minor (∼100 km) plate divergence, with removal of the orogenic wedge by combined top-to-the-hinterland transport, normal faulting, and erosion. We conclude that large, long-duration UHP terranes are fundamentally different from transient smaller ones. The latter are often explained by the paradigm of buoyant exhumation. This paradigm is incomplete, but both types can be explained by control of the system by the exhumation number (ratio of buoyancy force to basal traction). By implication, the existence of this type of large UHP terrane is a consequence of the high strength of the subducted crust.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the information-seeking behaviour of Malaysian Town Planners (MTPs) in fulfilling their specific work task, which is to prepare the Development Proposal Report (DPR) that incorporates flood risk reduction aspects for planning permission purposes. The researcher investigated MTPs' involvement in the DPR preparation, types of information sought from five town planning reference instruments, the uses of five town planning reference instruments and additional information sources and the problem faced when seeking for and using of the information from five town planning reference instruments for the DPR preparation.

Design/methodology/approach

This study was based on quantitative research using the postal survey method. Data were collected from 60 MTPs using questionnaires, with a response rate of 81.7 per cent.

Findings

The study showed that limited professional knowledge is the main factor influencing information-seeking behaviour of MTPs in the DPR preparation. The study revealed that MTPs seek information which are mainly related to the incorporation of flood risk reduction aspects in site planning, detailed information on existing conditions for all planning sectors especially for planning sectors that influence flood risks, detailed information on how development controls that influence the risks of flooding should be considered and detailed information on site planning aspects that influence flood risks from five town planning reference instruments. The MTPs gave various answers for the seven factors influencing their choice of use for each town planning reference instruments. Familiarity and prior success and trustworthiness factors got the most absolutely very important answers; followed by the quality factor with the most important answers; the timeliness factor with the most moderately important answers; accessibility factor with the most somewhat important answers; the cost factor with the most not so important answers; and the packaging factor with the most not important at all answers. The MTPs used additional sources such as the local planning authority, other agencies, colleagues, internet, clients, books, journals, seminar or conference papers and magazines to get useful information for the DPR preparation besides the five town planning reference instruments. The study found that the top three problems encountered by the MTPs during their information seeking for and using of information were the related information on incorporation of flood risk reduction aspects in site planning in all five town planning reference instruments were not sufficient, not in detail and not complete.

Research limitations/implications

Only 60 MTPs, whose DPRs for lowland development areas with planning permission from the Selayang Municipal Council, Selangor, Malaysia, from the year 2012 to 2014 were chosen as samples in this study. Besides that, only site planning aspects in five town planning reference instruments were taken into account in this study.

Practical implications

This paper provides useful understanding of the information-seeking behaviour of MTPs in fulfilling one of their professional tasks, which is preparing the DPR that incorporates flood risk reduction aspects for planning permission purposes.

Originality value

Being the first study on information-seeking behaviour of MTPs, it contributes to the very limited research literature on the topic for this profession in the world generally and Malaysia specifically.


The report is devoted to the problems and challenges of performing and reporting on the specific activity of health insurers. Its purpose is to introduce and analyze some specific issues of accounting of health insurers which shall contribute to a significant degree to the diligent collecting, management, investment and spending of funds in the health insurers. Good performance may be achieved through skillful planning, development of reliable business plan that is fully compliant with the needs of the insurance market, prices, trends and integration of the national and international insurance business, to enable insurers to survive and flourish under the market economy conditions, be financially sound, solvent, and have good financial results. Special attention is paid to the specific operation of health insurers in a high-risk environment which leads to the formation of specific objects of financial reporting and audit, preparation of specific so called Supervisory Financial Reports, determination of reliable framework for the auditors to express their opinion in relation to the fulfillment of the accounting principle "Operating Company". The present study can be used in the financial reporting and in various types of financial audit, such as internal audit, executed by the internal structures of the health insurers, independent financial audit, executed by certified public accountants - registered auditors, and external audit, executed by the state financial and medical supervisory authorities or other state bodies regarding the taxation of the operation of health insurers.


The purpose of this study was to explore the clinical value of Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound (CEUS) using a microbubble contrast agent in evaluating placental vascularity and the effect of Uterine Artery Embolisation (UAE) treatment in morbidly adherent placenta after delivery. Twenty two cases of morbidly adherent placenta accreta after delivery were examined by gray-scale ultrasound, Color Doppler imaging, and CEUS. All the patients undergone UAE combining with Methotrexate (MTX) and were followed up by CEUS. The images of the CEUS before and after UAE were compared. The time that the enhancement began before UAE in the abnormal mass was earlier than that in the myometrium (abnormal mass 10.4 ± 1.7 s, myometrium 12.0 ± 2.1 s; p=0.007). The duration of enhancement before UAE in the abnormal mass was longer than that in the myometrium (262.0 ± 18.3 s vs. 174.0 ± 15.9 s; p=0.000). The PI and the abnormal mass before UAE were higher than that of the normal myometrium (25.8 dB ± 3.2 dB vs. 14.0 dB ± 2.8 dB; P=0.000). The abnormal mass displayed hyperenhancement before UAE. The abnormal mass displayed non-enhancement in 18 cases and isoenhancement in 4 cases after UAE. The 18 cases of nonenhancement expelled the placenta by Dilation and Curettage (D and C) completely 7 days after UAE and the 4 cases of isoenhancement expelled part of the placenta by D and C and hysteroscope were performed 30 days after UAE. CEUS may be a useful tool for the quantitative assessment of uteroplacental vascularity in morbidly adherent placenta after delivery and may be used to follow up the conservative treatment.


The CCR5 (R5) to CXCR4 (X4) coreceptor switch in natural HIV-1 infection is associated with faster progression to AIDS, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. The difficulty in capturing the earliest moment of coreceptor switch in vivo limits our understanding of this phenomenon. Here, by tracking the evolution of the transmitted/founder (T/F) HIV-1 in a prospective cohort of individuals at risk for HIV-1 infection identified very early in acute infection, we investigated this process with high resolution. The earliest X4 variants evolved from the R5 tropic T/F strains. Strong X4 usage can be conferred by a single mutation. The mutations responsible for coreceptor switch can confer escape to neutralization and drive X4 variants to replicate mainly in the central memory and naïve CD4+ T cells. We propose a novel concept to explain the co-evolution of virus antigenicity and entry tropism termed "escape by shifting". This concept posits that for viruses with receptor or coreceptor flexibility, entry tropism alteration represents a mechanism of immune evasion in vivo.


This paper concerns efficient parameters tuning (meta-optimization) of a state-of-the-art metaheuristic, Quantum-Inspired Genetic Algorithm (QIGA), in a GPU-based massively parallel computing environment (NVidia CUDAtechnology). A novel approach to parallel implementation of the algorithm has been presented. In a block of threads, each thread transforms a separate quantum individual or different quantum gene; In each block, a separate experiment with different population is conducted. The computations have been distributed to eight GPU devices, and over 400× speedup has been gained in comparison to Intel Core i7 2.93GHz CPU. This approach allows efficient meta-optimization of the algorithm parameters. Two criteria for the meta-optimization of the rotation angles in quantum genes state space have been considered. Performance comparison has been performed on combinatorial optimization (knapsack problem), and it has been presented that the tuned algorithm is superior to Simple Genetic Algorithm and to original QIGA algorithm.


This research aims to examine the intention of talented employees to leave an organization and discover how talent management practices could affect employee intention to leave an organization. This paper`s framework intends to outline the relationship between variables to present the idea of talent management practices and employee retention. The hypothesis was tested using a survey data set of 210 questionnaires collected from employees working in 82 ICT companies in Jordan to attain the research objectives. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS program, and EMOS program, and basic and initial statistical techniques were applied. The results show that talent management practices significantly affect employee intention to leave an organization. Accordingly, whenever firms applied talent management practices, employee intention to leave decreases. The results demonstrated that attracting talented employees has emerged to have the strongest effect on decreasing employee intention to leave; however, developing and rewarding talented employees was revealed to have the lowest effect. Thus, the ICT firms' managers have to generate specific training programs to reward and develop talented employees.
AcknowledgmentThe publication is supported by the EU-funded Hungarian grant EFOP-3.6.3.-VEKOP-16-2017-00007 for the project entitled "From Talent to Young Researchers" – Supporting the Career-developing Activities of Researchers in Higher Education".


This paper provides new evidence on the channels of monetary policy transmission combining 9 million observations on firm level investment and high-frequency identified monetary policy shocks. We show that the reaction of firms' investment to a monetary policy shock is heterogeneous along dimensions that correspond to the two main channels of monetary policy transmission. First, we show that young firms are more sensitive to monetary policy shocks and that high leverage amplifies the effects, supporting the existence of a credit channel of monetary policy. Second, we document large cross-sectional heterogeneity related to the industry the firm operates in. We find that firms producing durable goods react more than others, which is consistent with traditional interest rate channel effects of monetary policy. Furthermore, this sectoral effect is longer lived. In line with the demand effects of the interest rate channel, we also provide evidence that sales growth of durables producing firms reacts stronger to a monetary policy shock.


The triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive form of breast cancer frequently seen in African American women and BRCA1 mutation carriers. The TNBC tumors often relapse with distant metastases following standard chemotherapy. It is now evident that discoveries of new mechanisms and approaches that explain and target breast cancer biology are urgently needed for durable intervention of metastatic disease. Earlier, we have demonstrated that BLID, BH-3 Like motif containing Inducer of cell Death, is a strong prognostic factor in invasive breast cancer. Frequent lack of BLID has been associated with TNBC, African American ethnicity and younger women. Significant correlations exist between BLID negative breast cancer and declines in overall survival, local relapse-free survival and distant metastasis-free survival. Recently, BLID has been shown to inhibit breast cancer cell growth and metastasis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of BLID in response of breast cancer cells to chemotherapeutic drugs. In the dose response and time course studies, BLID mRNA expression was found to be induced by chemotherapeutic drugs. Expression of BLID cDNA nanocomplex (scLBLID) resulted in significant increase in chemosensitivity in SKBr3 and MDA-MB-231 cells, and a comparison of BLID with p53 showed that the chemosensitization effect of BLID was significantly greater than that of p53. Consistently, BLID knockdown led to reversal of drug-induced cytotoxicity. In the ChIP-PCR and ChIP-qPCR assays, drug treatment of breast cancer cells resulted in an increased binding of pro-apoptotic transcription factor FOXO3a to the BLID promoter, and the reversal of drug-induced BLID reporter activity was seen in presence of FOXO3a siRNA. Furthermore, siRNA silencing of FOXO3a was found to be associated with decrease in endogenous BLID mRNA expression. Remarkably, we found that expression of central tumor suppressor microRNA miR34a also resulted in increased BLID mRNA expression and drug toxicity in breast cancer cells. Because lack of BLID expression has been associated with poor prognosis in breast cancer patients, we reasoned that the silencing of BLID may reveal as yet unknown changes in gene expression that may drive breast cancer cell proliferation and therapy resistance. In this context, the mRNA array profiling studies showed that BLID knockdown in MDA-MB-231 cells was associated with increased expression of the oncogenic/anti-apoptotic molecules CYP1B1, BIRC3 and CSF1, and decreased expression of the anti-oncogenic/apoptotic molecules AKAP12, DFNA5 and CHRDL1. Our data suggest that chemotherapeutic drugs induce BLID expression via activation of FOXO3a, and the BLID signaling axis downstream of FOXO3a and miR34a is a novel integrative mechanism of breast cancer response to chemotherapy. SY and RH are equal contributors in this study. Citation Format: Sivaramakrishna Yadavalli, Rong Hu, Antonina Rait, Xin Li, Esther Chang, Robert Clarke, Usha Kasid. BLID is a novel drug-inducible apoptotic molecule: Identification of an integrative mechanism of chemosensitivity in breast cancer cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2164. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-2164


Building on the earlier work, this paper provides an updated review of the private tutoring phenomenon in Vietnam in several aspects, including the reasons, scale, intensity, form, cost, and legality of these classes. In particular, the paper offers a comparative analysis of the trends in private tutoring between 1998 and 2006 where data are available. Several (micro-) correlates are examined that are found to be strongly correlated with student attendance at tutoring, including household income, household head education and residence area, student current grade level, ethnicity, and household size. In particular, the analysis focuses on the last three variables, which have received little attention in the previous literature on the determinants of tutoring.


AIM: The prognosis of the children with CDH remains
unsatisfactory despite recent advances in medical and surgical
treatment including gore-tex patches. In our poster we would
like to point to the importance of interdisciplinary
collaboration including gynecologist, obstertician,
neonatologist and surgeon. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed
medical records of neonates with CDH admitted to the University
Hospital Brno. Prenatal and postnatal factors, birth details,
managment were studied. RESULTS: We admitted 29 neonates with
CDH who fullified the study criterias. 28 patients /97%/ had
left-sided Bochdalek hernia, only 1 patient had right-sided
Morgagni hernia. The mean gestational age was 37,5 weeks /range
31.-41.wA 9 neonates /33%/were prenatally diagnosed by using
ultrasound or MRI and therefore they were delivered in the
tertiary perinatal centre. The operation was performed in
almost all of the patiens the first day. Average duration of
the mechanical ventilation was 8,5 days, a severe pulmonary
hypertension developed in 5 patients with the need of high
frequency oscilatory ventilation. Two neonates died in early
postoperative period. The reoperation was needed in 3 patients
during the neonatal period. CONCLUSION: The surgery after birth
is not an emergency and is usually performed when the baby has
stabilized. In our review the size of the defect wasn't the
determing factor for the mortality rate which was 7% in our
case. We have learned that the severity and outcome is
determined by 3 factors - other associated malformations,
pulmonary hypertension and low gestational age .


Proteolytic activity of blood serum IgGs of 10 patients with systemic lupus erythematosis (SLE) was studied in comparison with such activity in 10 clinically healthy donors. Antibodies were precipitated from blood serum by saturation with 50% (NH4)2SO4 and IgG was isolated by the affinity chromatography on protein G-sepharose column. Histone H1 and core histones from the calf thymus, bovine myelin basic protein (MBP), lysozyme of chicken egg and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were used as substrates for proteolytic action. It was found that 4 of 10 preparations of IgGs possess an ability to hydrolyze both histone H1 and MBP. These antibodies practically did not cleave lysozyme of the chicken egg and BSA. Gel-filtration of antibodies under acidic condition and following examination of proteolytic activity of chromatographic fractions showed that histone H1 and MBP-hydrolyzing activity is attributable to IgG-antibodies. Thus, the presence of catalytically active antibodies (protabzymes) in the blood serum of patients with SLE has been demonstrated. Their origination and biological role are discussed.


This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation of the aerodynamic behavior of coolant ejection at the leading edge of a nozzle vane cascade. Highly spatially resolved Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) data were acquired on mid span blade-to-blade planes and along the span wise direction to capture the 3D mixing process. Complementary Pressure Sensitive Paints (PSP) data are used to support the aerodynamic analysis. Tests were performed at a fixed cascade operating condition (Ma2is = 0.2 and Tu1 = 1.6%) varying the coolant to main stream blowing ratio (BR) from 2.0 up to 4.0. Flow filed data clearly show a shift in stagnation and a strong jet to jet as well as jet to mainstream interaction for all tested BR, supporting the unsteady and highly anisotropic nature of the phenomenon.


Background: With the ever-increasing incidence of facial trauma in geriatric population, it is very important to improve the care given to these patients. This study has been focused on determining a better approach for management of atrophic mandibular fractures.  Objective: To compare the frequency of complications of extra-oral versus intra-oral approach for the management of atrophic mandible fractures. Study Design: Randomized control trial. Settings: Outdoor patient of department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Mayo Hospital, Lahore Pakistan. Duration: One year, 20th January, 2018 till 20th January, 2019. Methodology: Seventy consecutive patients were included in this study from the OPD of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. All the patients were randomly assorted in the both groups, group A being the intra-oral approach and group B being the extra-oral approach. The outcome was determined on the basis of presence or absence of mal-union or non-union after the fractures were treated. Results: The mean age of cases in extra and intra oral group was 76.54±8.13 years and 73.66± 8.04 years. In extra-oral group, there were 21(60%) male and 14(40%) females and in intra-oral group, there were 25(71/4%) male and 10(28.6%) female cases. In extra –oral group 3(8.6%) cases had complication and in intra-oral group 2(5.7%) cases had complications, the frequency of complication in both groups, p-value >0.05. Among complications in extra-oral group 2(5.7%) cases had non-union and 1(2.9%) had malunion and in intra-oral group 1(2.9%) cases had non-union and malunion each. The frequency of type of complication was statistically same in both group, p-value >0.05.  Conclusion: The incidence of complications is statistically same in both groups. Hence, we encourage the use of extra-oral approach for management of atrophic fractures of mandible.


Sharing network resources with user groups, divisions, or even other companies in software defined networking promises better network utilization. Resource sharing is effectively realized by empowering these tenants at the control plane with permissions for administrating network components. However, since the network resources at the data plane are shared and different tenants can have competing objectives, mechanisms are needed to protect the network resources from unauthorized access. In this paper, we propose mechanisms that focus on protecting the network flows, which are determined by the entries installed in the flow tables of the shared switches. To this end, we present an access control scheme, based on the OpenFlow model, for accessing the switches' flow tables and their entries. Our scheme accounts for various security requirements in multi-tenant networks, including requirements on sharing flow table entries for handling network flows, and the resolution of conflicts originating from the reconfiguration of network components.


The objective of this study was to find the optimum amount of montmorillonite (MMT) to be incorporated with microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) to enhance physicochemical properties of oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB)-based regenerated cellulose (RC). In this research, RC was synthesised by mixing 6.5 wt% of OPEFB-MCC with 1-butyl,3-methylimidazolium chloride [BMIM]Cl ionic liquid at 75°C by continuous stirring. RC nanocomposites were prepared by adding 1–5 wt% of montmorillonite (MMT) into RC preparation base. Finished solutions of both types were subjected to solution casting process to obtain thin films. Fourier transformation infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, tensile test, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), water absorption and contact angle measurements were used as the characterisation tools. FTIR spectroscopy denotes the non-derivative behaviour of [BMIM]Cl ionic liquid. According to SEM images, moderate MMT loading is preferred since high MMT loading shows coarse morphology beyond 3 wt% of MMT. Tensile strength of RC 11 MPa was increased up to 30 MPa as maximum in 4 wt% of MMT loading. Compared with pure RC, TGA curves were shifted to right side with the increased MMT loading and that implies good thermal stability. The highest thermal stability can be seen when the MMT content is 4 wt% since its TGA curve was The Role of Montmorillonite Loading 86 the rightmost than others. Therefore, MMT can be identified as a good inhibitor for RC to avoid thermal degradation at elevated temperatures. Water absorption was reduced as 91%–37% in 2 h and 96%–41% in 24 h when MMT was increased from 0–5 wt%. Similarly, their contact angle was increased from 30.5o–88.5o for the MMT loading of 0–5 wt%. According to all these results, 3–4 wt% of MMT loading can be proposed as the optimum amount to be added into an RC matrix to utilise these films in packaging, photocatalytic and electrically conductive applications.


Cell-cell contact formation constitutes the first step in the emergence of multicellularity in evolution, thereby allowing the differentiation of specialized cell types. In metazoan development, cell-cell contact formation is thought to influence cell fate specification, and cell fate specification has been implicated in cell-cell contact formation. However, remarkably little is yet known about whether and how the interaction and feedback between cell-cell contact formation and cell fate specification affect development. Here we identify a positive feedback loop between cell-cell contact duration, morphogen signaling and mesendoderm cell fate specification during zebrafish gastrulation. We show that long lasting cell-cell contacts enhance the competence of prechordal plate (ppl) progenitor cells to respond to Nodal signaling, required for proper ppl cell fate specification. We further show that Nodal signalling promotes ppl cell-cell contact duration, thereby generating an effective positive feedback loop between ppl cell-cell contact duration and cell fate specification. Finally, by using a combination of theoretical modeling and experimentation, we show that this feedback loop determines whether anterior axial mesendoderm cells become ppl progenitors or, instead, turn into endoderm progenitors. Our findings reveal that the gene regulatory networks leading to cell fate diversification within the developing embryo are controlled by the interdependent activities of cell-cell signaling and contact formation.


An experimental study on flapping wing flexibility in hovering flight has been conducted to investigate the wing flexibility for insect-inspired flapping Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs). Hawkmoth-like wing models, derived from Manduca sexta, were made of Polycarbonate (PC) sheet with a spanwise length of 200 mm and an aspect ratio of 6.18. For the distributions of wing flexibility, the wing thickness was selected as the design variable: rigid wing (3 mm-thick) and flexible wings (2, 1, 0.8, 0.5, 0.35, 0.2, and 0.1 mm-thick). In the experiment, the wing models were constrained to the symmetrical and sinusoidal flapping motions with sweeping and rotating amplitudes of 120° and 90° in water tank with size of 3.5 m×1.0 m×1.1 m. Aerodynamic force and flow structures for flapping the wing were measured using a six-axis force/torque sensor and a high speed camera with a laser using Digital Particle Image Velocimetry (DPIV). To compare the flow structures of flexible wings with rigid wing, they were captured at the same chordwise cross-section as the rigid wing, 50% of wing length. Based on the experimental results, vortices and aerodynamic force. Consequently, the wing with thickness of 0.8 mm has better aerodynamic characteristics than other wings in hovering flight. This finding will be instrumental in identifying the range of wing flexibilities that improves the aerodynamic efficiency for the development of insect-inspired flapping MAVs.


We investigate interlayer exchange coupling based on driving a strong/weak/strong ferromagnetic trilayer through the Curie point of the weakly ferromagnetic spacer, with exchange coupling between the strongly ferromagnetic outer layers that can be switched on and off, or varied continuously in magnitude by controlling the temperature of the material. We use Ni-Cu alloys of varied composition as the spacer material and model the effects of proximity-induced magnetism and the interlayer exchange coupling through the spacer from first principles, taking into account not only thermal spin disorder but also the dependence of the atomic moment of Ni on the nearest-neighbor concentration of the nonmagnetic Cu. We propose and demonstrate a gradient-composition spacer, with a lower Ni concentration at the interfaces, for greatly improved effective-exchange uniformity and significantly improved thermomagnetic switching in the structure. The reported multilayer materials can form the base for a variety of magnetic devices, such as sensors, oscillators, and memory elements based on thermomagnetic Curie switching.


The study was initiated with the objectives of analyzing fruit and vegetable marketing chains in Alamata District, southern zone of Tigray. Specifically the study attempts to assess structure-conduct-performance of fruit and vegetable marketing, analyze market supply determinants, and analyze the institutional support services of extension, input supply and credit. The study also analyzes profitability of fruit and vegetable production and marketing and identifies problems and opportunities in fruit and vegetable production and marketing. Data came from 140 horticulture producing households, 9 horticulture wholesale and 30 retailers. Cobb Douglas (logarithmic function) econometric estimation procedure was employed to identify factors that determine onion, tomato and papaya market supply of the farm households in the area. The net profit obtained by the different market chain actors is indicated as follows. From simple calculation, on the average, a producer profited 11,293.09ETB from onion, 8,823.02ETB from tomato, and 11,432.93ETB from papaya per hectare production (assuming an average price of 1.79 ETB, 0.99 ETB and 2.19ETB per kg prices, respectively). On top of these assemblers, wholesalers and retailers profitability from the aforementioned crops were 35.49 ETB from onion, 24.24 ETB from tomato and 16.80 ETB from papaya for assembles per quintal. Wholesalers and retailers also obtain a profit of 47.80 ETB from onion, 34.30 ETB from tomato and 41.60 ETB from papaya and 30.04 ETB from onion, 24.33 ETB from tomato and 16.50 ETB from papaya, respectively per quintal (assuming an average price of 3.71 ETB for onion, 2.89 ETB for tomato and 3.56 ETB for papaya per kg at retile level). However, this potential benefit is under challenges of imperfect marketing. The market conduct is characterized by unethical practices of cheating and information collusion that led to uncompetitive market behavior even though the calculated concentration ratio did not indicate oligoposony market behavior (24.56%). Therefore some corrective measures are required by the government as well as institutions like cooperatives. Among the different variables that were hypothesized as determining factors for volume of marketable supply the econometric result showed that, number of oxen owned and age of household head for onion while only number of oxen owned for tomato and quantity produced for papaya were significant. All had the expected sign as prior expected. According to the survey result an estimated volume of annual production of 3,552.50 Qt of onion 1,377 Qt of tomato and 255.33 Qt of papaya have been produced. The estimated marketed proportion according to the respondents was 98.99 percent of onion, 99.16 percent of tomato and 84.87 percent of papaya. The Alamata office of Agriculture and Rural Development is the main extension support giving institution. Three development agents are deployed in each Tabaias with the help of whom 1.42 percent of respondents got weekly extension service, 0 .71 percent have got extension service in two weeks, 0 .71 percent have got extension service any time required, 8.57 percent have got extension service with no regular program and the remaining 88.57 percent of respondents reported no extension contact at all. This weak extension support and limited seed supply system largely hinders production and productivity of the crops under study. On top of this, limited accessibility of chemicals, fertilizer and credit within the district are anther key constraints of production and marketing of the stud crops. Therefore it is essential to take some improvement measures by the government as well as private sectors.


Although research on financial management behavior is common, few financial management behavior scales exist that are simultaneously multi-dimensional, psychometrically validated, and validated using nationally representative data. Using data from a nationally representative sample of adults, this study developed and examined the psychometric properties of a new scale of financial management behaviors. The Financial Management Behavior Scale (FMBS) displayed adequate reliability (alpha = .81). The FMBS was highly associated with other measures of financial management behaviors and was predictive of participants' actual levels of savings and consumer debt. These findings suggest that the full FMBS is a reliable and valid measure of financial management behaviors, though the subscales need refinement.


The bulk composition of the continental crust throughout geological history is thought by most previous workers to be andesitic. This assumption of an andesitic bulk composition led to an early hypothesis by Taylor (1967 ) that the continental crust was created by arc magmatism. This hypothesis for the origin of continental crust was challenged by several authors because: (i) the mean rate of arc crust addition obtained by Reymer and Schubert (1984 ) is too small to account for some certain phases of rapid crustal growth; and (ii) the bulk composition of ocean island arcs, the main contributor to the Archean and early Proterozoic crust, is basaltic rather than andesitic ( Arculus 1981 ; Pearce et al. 1992 ). New data from the Northern Izu–Bonin arc are presented here which support the Taylor (1967 ) hypothesis for the origin of the continental crust by andesitic arc magma. A geological interpretation of P wave crustal structure obtained from the Northern Izu–Bonin arc by Suyehiro et al. (1996 ) indicates that the arc crust has four distinctive lithologic layers: from top to bottom: (i) a 0.5–2‐km‐thick layer of basic to intermediate volcaniclastic, lava and hemipelagite (layer A); (ii) a 2–5‐km‐thick basic to intermediate volcaniclastics, lavas and intrusive layer (layer B); (iii) a 2–7‐km‐thick layer of felsic (tonalitic) rocks (layer C); and (iv) a 4–7‐km‐thick layer of mafic igneous rocks (layer D). The chemical composition of the upper and middle part of the northern Izu–Bonin arc is estimated to be similar to the average continental crust by Taylor and McLennan (1985 ). The rate of igneous addition of the Northern Izu–Bonin arc since its initial 45‐Ma magmatism was calculated as 80 km3/km per million years. This rate of addition is considered to be a reasonable estimate for all arcs in the western Pacific. Using this rate, the global rate of crustal growth is estimated to be 2.96 km3/year which exceeds the average rate of crustal growth since the formation of the Earth (1.76 km3/year). Based on this estimate of continental growth and the previously documented sediment subduction and tectonic erosion rate (1.8 km3/year, von Heune & Scholl 1991 ), several examples of growth curves of the continental crust are presented here. These growth curves suggest that at least 50% of the present volume of the continental crust can be explained by arc magmatism. This conclusion indicates that arc magmatism is the most important contributor to the formation of continental crust, especially at the upper crustal level.


Background/Objectives: Noise reduction is an essential step in visual improvement task and it plays a major role in subsequent processing tasks such as image analysis. Thus, the main purpose of image denoising especially in natural image is to suppress the artifacts which destroy an image and suppress the additive Gaussian noise without losing the delicate texture of the latent image. Methods/Statistical Analysis: Basically, the major the noise which attained in the processes of acquisition and diffusion of several digital images is presumed to be AWGN. Accordingly, a novel framework is proposed based on lifting scheme approach in wavelet domain by utilizing hidden Markov model. In this context, statistical model which is represents by HMM plays a prominent role. It is due to the ability to capture the dependencies and the correlations between the coefficients in different decomposition levels. Findings: The extensive experiments prove the efficiency of SGWs-HMM in several standard images when compared with best state-of-the-art noise removal methods. SGWs-HMM shows high competitive performance in terms of visual quality and subjective assessments with the widely used denoising techniques. Application/Improvements: This approach shows comparable improvement in subjective and objective assessments. Regarding to the computation complexity, the proposed algorithm is more expensive than rest of algorithms under investigation due to the statistical structure of the proposed method.


It was shown with labeled AO cytofluorometry using the authors' modification of DNP cell thermal denaturation that in untreated patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in the blast crisis phase, the melting profiles of peripheral blood cell chromatin were "unclassified", strictly individual in nature (unlike the identical parameter in healthy subjects) that may attest to regulatory disturbances of the genetic apparatus. The demonstration of the "normalization" of the melting profiles of chromatin in CML patients during the clinico-hematological compensation of the disease makes it possible to suggest that luminescent fluorometry (in the authors' modification of DNP cell thermal denaturation) should be used for the treatment of hemoblastoses in order to study the genesis and time-course of the diseases running their course with remissions and as criterion of drug therapy of these diseases.


Abstract The neuroendocrine hormone prolactin (PRL) and its cognate receptor (PRLr) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of breast cancer. PRL signaling relies on activating kinases such as the tyrosine kinase Jak2 and serine/threonine kinases ERK1/2, Nek3, PI3K, and AKT. In the canonical pathway of PRL signaling, Jak2 phosphorylates the transcription factor Stat5a at tyrosine residue 694 (pY694-Stat5a), preceding Stat5a nuclear translocation and transcriptional activity. However, Stat5a exists with functional duality as a transcription factor, having both pro-differentiative and pro-proliferative target genes. Other Stat family members (Stats 1, 3, and 6) have been shown to have transcriptional activity in the un-phosphorylated (upY) state, distinct from that of pY-Stat activity. This distinction (upY vs. pY) may underlie the duality of Stat5a, coupled with additional regulatory non-canonical post-translational modifications. Within this notion, Stat5a contains two serine residues, S726 and S780, whose phosphorylation are necessary for hematopoietic transformation. However, their functions in PRL-mediated breast cancer pathogenesis have not been examined. We hypothesize that Stat5a serine phosphorylation regulates Stat5a nuclear activity in a non-canonical fashion, contributing to its role in mammary oncogenesis. As shown in a tissue microarray (TMA), human breast cancer tissues express both pS726- and pS780-Stat5a. Nuclear Allred score for pS726-Stat5a increases two-fold with increasing tumor grade, with no difference in staining associated with estrogen or progesterone receptor (ER, PR) status, nor other clinical characteristics. Likewise, patient derived xenograft (PDX) tumors of various molecular subtypes express pS726- and pS780-Stat5a. Phosphorylation of S726-Stat5a is PRL-responsive in vitro. Pharmacologic inhibition of ERK1/2 prevents this phosphorylation, uncovering a novel pathway in which ERK1/2 mediates Stat5a activity in response to PRL in breast cancer. To examine the functional significance of Stat5a serine phosphorylation in vitro, we have performed Stat5a knockdown (KD) in the breast cancer cell line MCF7. Following Stat5a KD, cells were rescued with phospho-site specific Stat5a mutant constructs. Characteristics of breast cancer examined in these mutation-carrying cells, including anchorage-independent growth and proliferation, show distinct phenotypes compared to controls. PRL-induced expression of the CISH gene is significantly decreased up to 65% in the mutation-carrying cells compared to wild type Stat5a. Mechanistic studies will examine the ability of these Stat5a mutants to undergo nuclear translocation and interact with other transcription factors. Collectively, these studies have the potential to provide novel insights into the role of the non-canonical pathway of Stat5a activation in breast cancer pathogenesis.


Satellite SO2 and ash measurements of Mount Spurr's three 1992 volcanic clouds are compared with ground‐based observations to develop an understanding of the physical and chemical evolution of volcanic clouds. Each of the three eruptions with ratings of volcanic explosivity index three reached the lower stratosphere (14 km asl), but the clouds were mainly dispersed at the tropopause by moderate to strong (20–40 m/s) tropospheric winds. Three stages of cloud evolution were identified. First, heavy fallout of large (>500 μm) pyroclasts occurred close to the volcano (<25 km from the vent) during and immediately after the eruptions, and the cloud resembled an advected gravity current. Second, a much larger, highly elongated region marked by a secondary‐mass maximum occurred 150–350 km downwind in at least two of the three events. This was the result of aggregate fallout of a bimodal size distribution including fine (<25 μm) ash that quickly depleted the solid fraction of the volcanic cloud. For the first several hundred kilometers, the cloud spread laterally, first as an intrusive gravity current and then by wind shear and diffusion as downwind cloud transport occurred at the windspeed (during the first 18–24 h). Finally, the clouds continued to move through the upper troposphere but began decreasing in areal extent, eventually disappearing as ash and SO2 were removed by meteorological processes. Total SO2 in each eruption cloud increased by the second day of atmospheric residence, possibly because of oxidation of coerupted H2S or possibly because of the effects of sequestration by ice followed by subsequent SO2 release during fallout and desiccation of ashy hydrometeors. SO2 and volcanic ash travelled together in all the Spurr volcanic clouds. The initial (18–24 h) area expansion of the clouds and the subsequent several days of drifting were successfully mapped by both SO2 (ultraviolet) and ash (infrared) satellite imagery.


Most rice growing areas frequently encounter the bacterial leaf blight, Xanthomonas oryzae pv oryzae (Xoo). To prevent the disease, development of resistant varieties is considered to be the most economical and environmentally safe solution. In this study, three PCR-based markers, Npb181, RM122, and P3, were used for the identification of the genes Xa4, xa5, and Xa7, respectively, from 56 local black glutinous rice accessions of Vietnam. Phenotypic screening of the accessions for resistance to 10 Xoo strains of North Vietnam, along with IRBB4, IRBB5, and IRBB7 as resistant controls and IR24 as a susceptible control were carried out in the 2016 Autumn season. 19 accessions containing the resistant genes were found, of these, 6 accessions carried Xa4 gene, 6 accessions carried xa5 gene, and 11 accessions carried Xa7 gene. Three accessions carried two resistance genes, viz. Nep do (Xa4 and Xa7), Pau cam (xa5 and Xa7), and Pe lon cam (Xa4 and xa5). Accessions with xa5 and Xa7 alone or with a combination of two genes (Xa4 and xa5, Xa4 and Xa7, or xa5 and Xa7) were resistantto 8-9 Xoo strains (8-9R/0M/1-2S). Accessions containing Xa4 showed resistance to 5-6 strains of Xoo (5-6R/0M/4-5S). Xoo strain No1 (HUA01043) showed the lowest virulence, infecting only 14 accessions (42R/4M/14S). Strains No3 (HUA 0020131-2), No4 (HUA202361), No5 (HUA20212), and No8 (HUA 020083) showed highest virulence, and they each infected more than 40 accessions with 19R/0M/41S, 20R/0M/40S, 16R/4M/40S, and 20R/0M/40S, respectively. These strains can even infect some accessions containing effective resistant genes (Xa4 or Xa7).


Background/introduction Young men aged 20 to 24 years who are screened through the National Chlamydia Screening Programme have a high rate of infection. The majority of them choose to self-request screening via anonymous postal testing as opposed to seeking alternative health service provision. Aim(s)/objectives To explore the complex factors involved in men's sexual health decision making following a request for an internet test for chlamydia. Methods Ten young men who had requested a test for chlamydia via the internet were recruited through the North of Tyne Chlamydia Screening Programme. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, follow-up interviews at 12 months and patients' NHS health records. Results Decisions about sexual partners and sexual practice were based on men's perceptions and belief about women, categorising them as 'risky' with a sexually transmitted infection or 'clean' with no infection. Factors influencing decisions to seek testing were triggered by unprotected sex with casual partners, strengthened by catalytic influences including media campaigns. The findings suggest a negative chlamydia test result gave respondents a clean bill of health allowing them to engage in further unprotected sex. A positive diagnosis resulted in short-term behaviour change and modified sexual practice. After follow up interviews, behaviour change was not maintained and many became re-infected within 6 months. Discussion/conclusion This has implications for the transmission of chlamydia infection in terms of infection spreading, re-infection of partners and complications to their own health. Further work is required around interventions for chlamydia screening which focus on behaviour change as opposed to screening volume.


Magnesium matrix composites made of pure (99.98%) magnesium reinforced with long carbon (Mg/C) and stainless steel (Mg/steel) fibers were processed by low pressure infiltration method. Mg/C composites were then oriented from the crystallographic point of view by Bridgman technique and finally three composites were obtained with γ = 0°, 45° and 90° (γ is the angle between the matrix-fiber interface and the normal to the basal plane). The results show that the damping level in the composite for γ = 0° is almost 3 and 7 times higher than that of the composites with γ = 45° and γ = 90°, respectively. From the result analysis it was possible to conclude that the damping originates in the hysteretic motion of dislocations in the magnesium matrix. As such a mechanism is not thermally activated, high damping is observed over a broad frequency range. The complete evolution of the mechanical loss as a function of the vibration amplitude has been measured. The obtained result has been found to be in excellent agreement with the Granato-Lucke model for dislocation breakaway. The fit of the experimental points with the theoretical curve and the straight Granato-Lucke plot confirm that the microstructure evolution is controlled by the breakaway of dislocation segments from randomly segregated point defects (hysteretic damping). According to the Granato-Lucke model the critical stress for the breakaway could be estimated. As a consequence of this analysis, the transient damping due to interface thermal stress relaxation has been interpreted by a model based on a solid friction mechanism. It has been shown that the model of Mayencourt and Schaller justifies the whole mechanical loss behavior. The model predicts two fit parameters C1 and C2, which account for the respective evolution of the mobile dislocation density and interfacial strength. An anomalous behavior is observed for the parameter C2 as well upon heating as upon cooling, which is being reflected in the shear modulus evolution. This anomalous behavior is due to a "bonding-debonding" mechanism at the fiber-matrix interface due to the motion of dislocations, which depends on the orientation of the glide plane. Also, at high temperature, the interface is strong, which helps in creep resistance of the composite, and at low temperature, the interface is weak, which is positive for improving toughness by interface crack deflection.


The days of large force-on-force engagements with conventional fielded armies are seemingly gone. Today's persistent conflict, conducted among civilian populations and fought by small bands of combatants, will be remembered for this alteration in the tapestry of war and for the first large-scale use of unmanned vehicles. According to M. Shane Riza, this "war among the people" and the trend toward robotic warfare has outpaced deliberate thought and debate about the deep moral issues affecting justice and the warrior spirit. The pace of change, Riza explains, is revolutionizing warfare in vitally important ways. A key development is risk inversion, a shifting of risk away from technologically superior combatants and onto all noncombatants. For the first time in history, warriors are not the ones primarily shouldering the dangers and horrors of battle. This inversion and the search for impunity undermine the idea that how we win actually matters as much as winning itself. Though warfare involves human fallibility, there are ethics in striving that give meaning to war on a personal level. In just war theory, this sense of purpose imposes a practical limit on what belligerents can and should do to their opponents. Contemporary robotic warfare, however, may remove combatants' moral equivalence and it adversely affects the mutual respect upon which to build a lasting peace. Killing without Heart postulates today's technological wars of combatant impunity may ultimately render unmanned weapons useless with the realization that robotic lethality undermines our strategic objectives. Riza has crafted a timely examination of the moral, ethical, and legal implications of the U.S. military's future course toward armed unmanned and autonomous robotic warfare. This is a book that will change the way we look at warfare - both for today and well into the future.


Nanotechnology-based thermal insulation materials have appeared in building industry in the last two decades. Among them thermal insulating coatings consisted of vacuum-hollow nano-ceramic microspheres are the subjects of most professional discussion. Most studies about these coatings focus only on examination of thermodynamic properties, because there is still no consensus in academic circles about thermodynamic processes inside nano-ceramic coatings. These professional discussions distract attention from other unknown but also important material properties, like behavior by contact with moisture. This paper summarizes the results of moisture behavior tests with nano-ceramic thermal insulation coatings which were conducted to determine the time trend of water absorption, as well as volume, mass and thermal insulation quality changes caused by increasing moisture content. Analyzing the results mathematical connections were found to describe the relation between water content, dimensional and thermal conductivity changes.


Molecular imprinting technique is becoming an important tool for determining sulfonamides because of its simplicity and high separation efficiency. The creation of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) for recognition of sulfapyridine and sulfadimethoxine is reported. Polymers were prepared using methacrylic acid (MAA) as the functional monomer and sulfapyridine as the template during imprinting. The recognition properties of the polymers were assessed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for their ability to retain the templates and analogous analytes. Retention time of sulfapyridine and sulfadimethoxine was approximately 8.24 and 3.89 min, respectively. In order to compare the chromatographic data from the stationary phase, both retention factor (k') and separation factor (α) were given. The value of 2.39 for separation factor indicated that the MIP was able to recognize structurally subtle differences from the template molecule. Our results are discussed with regard to the amount of template, the compositions of the chromatographic mobile phase and the adsorption capacity.


This chapter deals with the evolution of communities of practice by considering two key components which facilitate knowledge sharing: Organizational Learning and Social Capital. Dualities and intersections between the building blocks of these two components are investigated by discussing organizational learning in its explorative and exploitative forms, while considering social capital in its bridging and bonding forms. As a critical contemporary step of evolution, information and communication technologies are also elaborated in order to examine the impact of constant and instant tools on these facilitators of knowledge sharing. The study aims to derive proxies among these components of organizational learning and social capital in order to design an integrated framework that reflects the nature of online communities of practice.


Neuroendocrine circuits are orchestrated by the pituitary gland in response to hypothalamic hormone-releasing and inhibiting factors to generate an ultradian and/or circadian rhythm of hormone secretion. However, mechanisms that govern this rhythmicity are not fully understood. It has been shown that synaptic transmission in the rodent hypothalamus undergoes cyclical changes in parallel with rhythmic hormone secretion and a growing body of evidence suggests that rapid rewiring of hypothalamic neurons may be the source of these changes. For decades, structural synaptic studies have been utilizing electron microscopy, which provides the resolution suitable for visualizing synapses. However, the small field of view, limited specificity and manual analysis susceptible to bias fuel the search for a more quantitative approach. Here, we apply the fluorescence super-resolution microscopy approach direct Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy (dSTORM) to quantify and structurally characterize excitatory and inhibitory synapses that contact growth hormone-releasing-hormone (GHRH) neurons during peak and trough values of growth hormone (GH) concentration in mice. This approach relies on a three-color immunofluorescence staining of GHRH and pre- and post-synaptic markers, and a quantitative analysis with a Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBSCAN) algorithm. With this method we confirm our previous findings, using electron microscopy, of increased excitatory synaptic input to GHRH neurons during peak levels of GH. Additionally, we find a shift in synapse numbers during low GH levels, where more inhibitory synaptic inputs are detected. Lastly, we utilize dSTORM to study novel aspects of synaptic structure. We show that more excitatory (but not inhibitory) pre-synaptic clusters associate with excitatory post-synaptic clusters during peaks of GH secretion and that the numbers of post-synaptic clusters increase during high hormone levels. The results presented here provide an opportunity to highlight dSTORM as a valuable quantitative approach to study synaptic structure in the neuroendocrine circuit. Importantly, our analysis of GH circuitry sheds light on the potential mechanism that drives ultradian changes in synaptic transmission and possibly aids in GH pulse generation in mice.


During the past ten years, the emerging economies, exporters of manufactured products or services, and the rentier states, exporters of primary products, have eroded the dominant position of the developed countries in world markets. The EU15 has lost less ground than the US or Japan. The EU15 has taken advantage of its geographical location to enhance its exports to the emerging and rentier countries located in Europe & Periphery. Regional integration has also favoured the upgrading of the EU15 imports from its emerging neighbours. The EU15 trade with emerging markets in Asia have strengthened the latter's specialisation in high-technology products at low price, and the EU15 specialisation in hightechnology and high-quality products.


: Hydrogen gas emissions to the atmosphere can very likely cause global warming through indirect effects. It can also possibly cause depletion of the ozone layer, and impact air pollution. These adverse effects are likely smaller than those of the fossil fuel usage hydrogen fuel would replace, however, it underlines the importance of keeping hydrogen leakage as low as possible. Current research on all these effects are uncertain, and the quality of estimates would benefit greatly from further research. Language of Report: English


This research aimed to describe the students misconception profile for grade X SMKN 4 Mataram on the subject matter of Temperature, Heat, and Heat Transfer. This research is descriptive with case study design. The population in this research were all students of grade X SMK 4 Mataram which amounts to 424 people. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling, so that the sample in this research were all students of grade X SMK 4 Mataram except for class X of Office Administration 1 (X APK 1) and X of Office Administration 2 (X APK 2) which amounts to 333 people, because only both of  this grade that do not get science subjects. Data were obtained from the test instrument identification shaped misconceptions reasoning multiple choice with an open reasoning and the analyzed using descriptive statistics which have previously been validated by one person subject teacher Science grade X and two person physical education lecturer. Based on this research, it was found that the students of grade X SMK 4 Mataram academic year 2014/2015 have misconceptions identified by the average percentage of misconceptions on the concept of temperatures by 11.53%, on the concept of heat by 16.44%, on the concept of expansion by 8.61%, and on the concept of heat transfer by 15.22%, so it can be concluded that the misconceptions experienced by the students of grade X SMK 4 Mataram in Akademic Year 2014/2015.


This paper offers new insights on the practical consequences of a gender-neutral framing of Intimate Partner Violence in a specific institutional context, showing how it results in differentiated recognition of victims of IPV. Through an ethnographic case study conducted in a medicolegal centre in French-speaking Switzerland, I show how the focus has shifted from a problem defined as a form of violence against women to a gender-neutral representation of a familial problem of 'domestic violence' in which neither perpetrators nor victims are named. This outcome is linked to political decision-making at the cantonal level that privileges a gender-neutral reading of IPV, which is no longer conceived in terms of male violence perpetrated against women. The paper foregrounds the specific ways in which the support provided to victims of IPV by a public health institution have been impacted by and contributed to this changing agenda. Its findings show that, by certifying physical forms of violence, while excluding psychological violence, medicolegal expert knowledge ultimately legitimises some victims while excluding others from receiving its support.


Design patterns are generalized solutions to frequently recurring problems. They were initially developed by architects and computer scientists to create a higher level of abstraction for their designs. Here, we extend these concepts to cell biology in order to lend a new perspective on the evolved designs of cells' underlying reaction networks. We present a catalog of 21 design patterns divided into three categories: creational patterns describe processes that build the cell, structural patterns describe the layouts of reaction networks, and behavioral patterns describe reaction network function. Applying this pattern language to the E. coli central metabolic reaction network, the yeast pheromone response signaling network, and other examples lends new insights into these systems.


For the estimation of Impact of inadequate concentration of boron in seed storage proteins content in oilseed crops, a sand culture experiment was designed and all the three crops i.e. soyabean, mustard and linseed were grown under sufficient and insufficient boron treatment till maturity. Seed germination and seed storage protein concentration was determined in seeds after the harvesting of crops. Earlier oilseed crops like soyabean, mustard and linseed are cultivated for oil production but at this time these crops are reliable source of protein also and are real asset for human dietary protein. The storage protein present in seeds varies from ~10% (in cereals) to 40% (in certain legumes and oilseeds) of dry weight. Seeds contain one or more groups of proteins that are present in high amounts and that serve to provide a store of amino acids and sulfur required during germination and seedling growth. Quality of seeds is driven by the total protein content present in the form of storage reserve in seeds. There are major four types of storage proteins known as- globulins (insoluble in water), albumins (soluble in water), prolamins (soluble in alcohol) and glutelins (soluble in dilute acid and alkaline medium). Globulins and albumins are the major storage seed proteins of legumes and oilseed crops whereas prolamins and glutelins are mostly found in cereal seeds. Functionally boron is crucial micronutrient for a considerable amount of agricultural yield. Seed reserves (proteins, carbohydrates, starch, lipids) of post harvested seeds are depended on the appropriate boron supply during cropping. Boron insufficiency in oilseed crops found to be an inhibitory factor for seed vigor and seed quality. So this chapter deals with the effect of boron deprivation on seed quality in terms of germination capacity and seed storage protein reserves in the post harvested seeds of soybean, mustard and linseed.


TiO2 thin film was prepared on soda lime glass by hydrolysis of Ti(OC4H9)4 in alcoholic solutions by sol-gel method combined with spin-coating and calcination different temperatures. Prepared samples were characterized by XRD, FESEM, and measurement of contact angles and transmittance. XRD identification reveals that the films are composed of anatase TiO2 when the annealing temperature was set at 450~550 oC. SiO2 layer was coated on the surface of the glass firstly to barrier the diffusing of sodium ions from the substrate. Light-induced superhydrophilicity of the TiO2 thin film has been investigated. To increase the illumination light intensity will decrease the water contact angle. The superhydrophilicity of the TiO2 thin film will disappear more slowly in the dark than that in the field of ultrasound.


The study explored the household education expenditures for higher education exam preparation in Turkey. The study employed the case study design, one of the qualitative research designs. The study group consisted of families whose children were preparing for the higher education exam. The families were living in the city of Zonguldak. While determining the study group, criterion sampling technique and snowball sampling technique were used. The study data were collected using a semi-structured interview form. The study showed that households had education expenditures for higher education exam preparation. These expenditures were in the form of exam books and private teaching institutions/private lesson expenditures. Educational expenditures of households affected the economic, social, and individual life of the household. This effect was in the form of postponing or abandoning the basic needs of the household. Families recommended a change in the education system in order to reduce/eliminate household education expenditures. In a period when neoliberal education policies are on the agenda, it can be stated that the contribution of households to education expenditures will continue. Pulling away from the marketized examination approach and strengthening public education expenditures instead of household education expenditures are not limited to education policies, but also depends on the change in political and economic policies.

 Key words: Higher education, education expenditures, household education expenditures, neoliberalism.


. The temporal patterns of insertion of male palps, expansion of the hematodocha and duration of copulation are reported for 10 species of Schizocosa Chamberlin 1904, three species of Rabidosa Roewer 1955, one species of Gladicosa Brady 1986, one species of Hogna Simon 1885, two species of Isohogna Roewer 1960, one species of Trochosa C.L. Koch 1848, one species of Geolycosa Montgomery 1904, two species of Arctosn C.L. Koch 1848, three species of Alopecosa Simon 1885 and six species of Pardosa C.L. Koch 1847. In all species of Schizocosa examined so far, males showed a pattern composed of a series of insertions with one palp followed by a switch to the opposite side and a separate series of insertions with the other palp. During each insertion there was a single expansion of the hematodocha. These copulations generally lasted from 1-4 hours. Males of Gladicosa bellamyi (Gertsch & Wallace 1937) and Hogna georgicola (Walckenaer 1837) likewise showed a series of insertions on one side followed by insertions on the other side, with a single expansion of the hematodocha with each insertion. Males of Arctosa littoralis (Hentz 1844), A. sanctaerosae Gertsch & Wallace 1935 and Geolycosa rogersi Wallace 1942 each copulated by alternating palps with a single insertion and single expansion of the hematodocha. The alternating pattern of insertions was also seen in Rabidosa rabida (Walckenaer 1837), R. hentzi (Banks 1904) and R. punctulata (Hentz 1844). lsohogna lenta (Hentz 1844) (a single individual) alternated between multiple expansions of the hematodocha during one insertion and alternating sides with a single insertion and expansion per side. A second member of Isohogna showed a single insertion on one side with multiple expansions of the hematodocha. Comparisons with published descriptions of copulatory pattern suggest that Schizocosa and Trochosa Koch 1848 may form a mono-phyletic clade in the "Trochosa group" of the Lycosinae. The copulations that involved multiple insertions of the male's palp on one side with a single expansion per insertion were long copulations (1-4 hours). This may provide for multiple opportunities of in copula courtship. Arctosa copulations were very short (18-46 sec), while the Geolycosa copulations were relatively short (5-7 min). Thus, the copulations of the burrowing spiders were much shorter than the nonburrowing spiders.


Abstract Frequency-magnitude statistics for natural hazards can greatly help in probabilistic hazard assessments. An example is the case of earthquakes, where the generality of a power-law (fractal) frequency-rupture area correlation is a major feature in seismic risk mapping. Other examples of this power-law frequency-size behaviour are landslides and wildfires. In previous studies, authors have made the potential association of the hazard statistics with a simple cellular-automata model that also has robust power-law statistics: earthquakes with slider-block models, landslides with sandpile models, and wildfires with forest-fire models. A potential explanation for the robust power-law behaviour of both the models and natural hazards can be made in terms of an inverse-cascade of metastable regions. A metastable region is the region over which an 'avalanche' spreads once triggered. Clusters grow primarily by coalescence. Growth dominates over losses except for the very largest clusters. The cascade of cluster growth is self-similar and the frequency of cluster areas exhibits power-law scaling. We show how the power-law exponent of the frequency-area distribution of clusters is related to the fractal dimension of cluster shapes.


The subject of the present monograph is the study of polling models, which are queueing models consisting of multiple queues, cyclically attended by one server. Polling models originated in the late 1950s, but did not receive much attention until the 1980s when an abundance of new applications arose in computer networks and in communication protocols. The name polling model originates from this application area, where central bank computers serve ("poll") their branch terminals in a cyclic fashion. Because of this renewed practical relevance, a huge literature on polling models has appeared throughout the years. The contribution of the present monograph is twofold. Firstly, it introduces polling models with features that are well-known in the context of single-queue systems, but have remained unexplored in polling systems. For example, we study polling models with customer priority levels, impatience and abandonments, and varying arrival rates. The second contribution is to provide a new approach to analyse vehicle actuated traffic intersections with exhaustive service, by applying and extending recent results in the polling literature. The thesis is divided into three parts. The first part, which starts after a general introduction and an extensive literature review, studies different types of customer behaviour in polling models. In particular, smart, stupid, and impatient customers are discussed. In the second part we study system behaviour in the sense that we introduce customer priority levels and discuss several service policies based on these priority levels. The third part focusses on traffic intersections and new approaches to apply results from the polling literature to this application area. We discuss the three parts in more detail below. As stated before, Part I introduces new types of customer behaviour in polling models. In Chapter 3 we study a polling model with arrival rates that depend on the server position. This extension destroys the convenient property that an arbitrary arriving customer sees the system in equilibrium, and a novel analysis technique is required to circumvent this complication. The model is practically relevant because it allows customers to choose which queue they want to join, knowing which queue is being served at their arrival epoch. Besides the practical relevance of the model, the analysis and the insights gained from it have great merit for future studies. This is illustrated by the model studied in Chapter 4, which is an extension of a vacation model with customer impatience, studied in existing literature. Using the analysis methodology of Chapter 3, we are able to obtain new results for the vacation model, and extend it to the context of polling models. In polling models, this is the first appearance of customer impatience, in queueing literature often referred to as reneging. Part II studies system behaviour through the introduction of customer priority levels. We study the impact of changing the order in which customers are served based on these priority levels. For example, we illustrate the effect of giving higher priority to customers with less service requirement. In Chapter 5 we study priorities in a standard polling system. Chapter 6 discusses the impact of using different service disciplines for customers with different priority levels, and shows how this can be used as a strategy to give even more advantages to customers with a higher priority level. The third part of the thesis is mainly dedicated to polling models for traffic intersections. Polling models have been applied to road traffic before, but only in the situation that one lane on a single road is blocked and traffic has to share the other lane. In Chapter 7 we develop a novel closed-form waiting time approximation for polling systems. The manner in which this approximation is created lends itself perfectly for adaption to the scenario where groups of multiple queues receive service simultaneously, as is the case in signalised traffic intersections. Chapter 8 presents this adaptation for traffic signals. Another aspect that is new in the analysis of delays at traffic intersections, is the analysis of conflicting traffic flows receiving a green light simultaneously. For this purpose, we use the approximation developed in Chapter 7 in combination with the results on polling models with priorities from Chapter 5.


Summary

1
Bracken Pteridium aquilinum is a serious weed of upland and marginal land. Its extensive rhizome system and large carbohydrate reserves make control difficult. This paper reports the results of seven long-term experiments, established in four diverse UK locations, to test control and vegetation restoration treatments.

2
Samples were obtained from 580 rhizome pits between 1998 and 2000. Total dry mass per unit area (M, a measure of performance) and ratio of frond-bearing to total rhizome dry mass (R, a relative measure of investment in frond production) were measured.

3
The range of means for M in untreated bracken was 1·8–5·1 kg m−2, greater than that reported by others (1·2–3·0 kg m−2). Measured values for R were 0·24–0·42, again differing from other reports (0·10–0·38), probably due to our policy of avoiding advancing bracken fronts.

4
Randomization tests were used to check for non-independence of sampling units. They confirmed the general adequacy of the anova results; there was little detectable interference between plots. Two regions contained matching pairs of experiments, thus variation within region was tested and differences were found in one region.

5
Five bracken control treatments (cutting, herbicide application and combinations) were employed at all but one experiment. Cutting once or twice per year generally gave the best results, reducing M by c. 60% after ≤ 5 years. Some subtreatments designed mainly for vegetation restoration, notably surface disturbance, also affected M.

6
R was reduced by herbicide treatment, for example from 0·30 to 0·16. Such low values of R are typical of invading bracken and are thought to represent rejuvenated and invasive rhizomes. Follow-up treatments are needed in such situations. Despite large differences between untreated M at matching experiments on Cannock Chase (Staffordshire), treatment effects were similar at both sites (cutting twice per year or cutting together with herbicide application were best). At Sourhope (Cheviot Hills) a different pattern of response was obtained, with cutting alone giving better results than treatments involving herbicide.

7
The ratio of rhizome to frond dry mass per unit area was 10 : 1 in good conditions for growth, but the proportionate size of rhizomes could be reduced in poor growing conditions such as wet summers.

8
Synthesis and applications. In order to develop a national control strategy the following must be considered: rhizome mass differs between sites and in response to control treatments; cutting twice per year is generally most effective; where cutting is impossible, herbicide treatment should be applied. Weather may affect rhizome mass, with wet years being detrimental. This raises the possibility that bracken may increase under the drier conditions that may occur with global warming.


PURPOSE
To evaluate through clinical and tomographic parameters implant behavior in orbital zygomatic reconstruction in six patients.

METHODS
The subjects for this preliminary study consisted of six anophthalmic socket patients (3 patients presented residual orbital zygomatic deformities after complex facial fractures and 3 patients presented orbital zygomatic retraction after enucleation and radiotherapy to treat retinoblastoma in infancy). These deformities were surgically corrected with this composite implant. This study was approved and authorized by the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Ethical Committee for Research in Human Subjects (ETIC 203/04). Clinical data and tomographic images were utilized to assess the outcome of this study.

RESULTS
There were no complications and tomographic findings revealed no implant reactions or migration and a good maintenance of soft tissue projection in the operated areas was achieved. Success of outcome in this preliminary study were encouraging.

CONCLUSION
This study will be continued enrolling a larger sample and longer follow-up. Composite biomaterials have presented a good outcome in facial reconstructive surgery. The composite implants in this group have a good biocompatibility and combined with national technology can reduce costs providing more possibilities to many more patients.


ABSTRACT This article aims to locate English republican thought and writing in a wider European context and to understand the personal connections that aided the distribution and reception of English republican ideas abroad. It does so through the case-study of a little-known pamphlet published by the English regicide Edmund Ludlow during his exile in Switzerland after the restoration of the Stuart monarchy in 1660. Les juges jugez, se justifiants (1663) was a French translation of the dying speeches and other miscellaneous texts of some of the English regicides, produced in Geneva and subsequently printed in Yverdon with the help of Ludlow's local Protestant network. Rather than propagating a secular republican ideology, Ludlow offered his work to a European Protestant audience in the language of Geneva, promoting a primarily religious cause in an attempt to make martyrs out of political activists. It is therefore to Ludlow's Protestant networks that we need to turn to find out more about the transmission of English republican ideas in francophone Europe and beyond.


The exploration and integration of information from multiple domains is increasingly important in the design process. For example, many engineering firms now use concurrent and life-cycle engineering design methods that emphasize the integration of software and mechanical engineering, manufacturing, marketing and distribution, maintenance and repair, disposaJ and recycling, and application ( end-user, knowledge in order to create innovative and competitive artifacts and reduce design and development costs. Discovering how design participants explore and integrate information from multiple domains is a first step towards understanding how information technology could enhance this process. Based on field studies of four design situations in architecture, expert systems. telecommunications. and engineering design, this paper presents boundary spanning roles that emerge in the design context to support knowledge exploration. These roles provide access to information as well as filter and translate information across organizational, task. discipline, and personal boundaries. This paper further proposes a cognitive work model that could be implemented in information technology to support the boundary spanning roles design participants develop to cope with the complexity of knowledge exploration. This type of information system would support boundary spanning by providing advice on boundary spanning strategies, answering queries and presenting information based on boundary spanning roles, and performing gatekeeping functions.


This guide helps researchers locate information on animal law in an international and foreign law context focusing on law that addresses welfare issues of companion animals, farm animals and animals used in research.


OBJECTIVE
The authors assessed the efficacy of sertraline in the treatment of night eating syndrome.

METHOD
Thirty-four outpatients diagnosed with night eating syndrome were randomly assigned to receive either sertraline (N=17) or placebo (N=17) in an 8-week, double-blind, flexible-dose (50-200 mg/day) study. A mixed effects linear regression model was used to analyze change in the primary outcome measure, Clinical Global Impression (CGI) improvement rating. Secondary outcomes included changes in night eating symptoms, the number of nocturnal awakenings and ingestions, total daily caloric intake after the evening meal, CGI severity ratings, quality of life ratings, and weight.

RESULTS
Sertraline was associated with significantly greater improvement than placebo. Twelve subjects in the sertraline group (71%) were classified as having responded (CGI improvement rating < or = 2, indicating much or very much improved) versus only three (18%) in the placebo group. There were also significant improvements in night eating symptoms, CGI severity ratings, quality of life ratings, frequency of nocturnal ingestions and awakenings, and caloric intake after the evening meal. Overweight and obese subjects in the sertraline group (N=14) lost a significant amount of weight by week 8 (mean=-2.9 kg, SD=3.8) compared with overweight and obese subjects receiving placebo (N=14) (mean=-0.3 kg, SD=2.7).

CONCLUSIONS
In this 8-week trial, sertraline was effective in the treatment of night eating syndrome and was well tolerated.


Background: Open heart surgery is nonexistent or undeveloped in many African countries due to the prerequisite for specialized multispecialty teams, expensive equipment, and consumables. This review aims to outline strategies for facilitating local skilled workforce training, improve patients' access, and sustain heart surgery in Africa's most populous nation. Methods: We reviewed the demographic, socioeconomic, and health metrics published by the United Nations, the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank, and other relevant sources for the top three African economies – South Africa, Nigeria, and Egypt. Results: South Africa classified as upper-middle-income nation with gross national income [GNI] $12,475–$4126 spends 8.8% of gross domestic product (GDP), while Egypt and Nigeria both classified as lower-middle-income nations GNI $4125–$1046 spends 5.6% and 3.7% of GDP, respectively, on health care. Egypt performed 45%, South Africa 39%, and Nigeria 0.1% of their WHO projected annual heart surgery volume in 2015. These capacities are consistent with the human development index (HDI), thoracic surgeon-to-population ratio, and health insurance coverage ranking of these countries. Conclusion: Although gross income per capita is comparable, the HDI - a better discriminator of development is higher in Egypt with 0.69 against 0.51 in Nigeria, as evidenced by their respective heart surgery capacities. While the WHO projected 72,000 cases/annum for Nigeria is unattainable with the present workforce, the Pan African Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery (PASCATS) 40/1 million population projection of 7200 cases/annum appears a more realistic goal. However achieving even this modest target will require government political willpower and increased budgetary allocation for expanding insurance coverage. PASCATS advocates three mentorship models: resident senior local consultant, mission teams and senior expatriate consultant, with centralization through regional referral centers as viable pathways to develop cardiac surgery in sub Saharan Africa. Regionalization optimizes the scarce workforce and resources and therefore by combining assets can fast track skill acquisition by trainee surgeons.


Antimicrobial surfaces are a major advance in the ability to design biomaterials that resist colonization and subsequent infection. By reducing device-related infections, infection-resistant biomaterials will greatly improve the effectiveness of the device, which in turn will significantly decrease post-operative health risks and health-care costs. This overview of new surface modification technologies highlights strategies to prevent device-related infections.