—As the increasing number of access devices, and the complex and changeful of access site and the media, energy consumption of power distribution communication access networks is expected to further grow in the future, energy saving has become a key issue with the development of Passive Optical Networks (PONs). In this paper, we propose a Software Defined Distribution Optical Network (SD-DON) architecture, design an energy saving aware control strategy which support unified optimization and efficient scheduling from multi-domain perspective. Additionally, a MultiModes Hybrid Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation (MH-DBA) scheme are proposed and evaluated under SD-DON, in which, 4-saving modes and multi-period mixed adaptive dormancy method is designed to maximize energy saving of Optical Network Units (ONUs). Simulation results show that MHDBA can significantly save energy under different traffic loads, and clearly outperform the conventional scheme.


This thesis deals with the development of high performance concrete (HPC) of 100
MPa incorporating rice husk ash (RHA) as a supplementary cementing material (SCM).
Some constraints to produce HPC of 100 MPa incorporating RHA are related to
appropriate average particle size of RHA to be used, percentage replacement of cement
with RHA at low water to binder ratio (w/b) concrete, mixing method and to design
such HPC. Most information available on the strength of RHA concrete is up to
compressive strength of 80 MPa only.
In this study, three average particle sizes of RHA of 13.5, 20.43 and 29.92 μm were
used in mortar mixes to find a suitable particle size to produce the highest compressive
strength. In producing HPC, the homogeneity of mixing affects the mechanical
properties of concrete. Conventional and two steps mixing method were examined in
order to find which appropriate mixing method is more suitable. For 100 MPa HPC, the
average particle size of RHA and suitable mixing method are 13.5 μm and the two step
mixing method, respectively. This particle size and mixing method significantly
improved the compressive strength of RHA concrete. Furthermore, the models based
on five key factors, which are ratio of water to cement, binder content, percentages
replacement of cement with RHA, ratio of fine aggregate to total aggregate and
dosage of superplasticizer, were developed to design HPC containing RHA. The
models were able to predict the value of slump as well as compressive strength at 1
day and 28 days. The optimum mix proportion of HPC of 100 MPa containing
RHA was used for further study and compared with silica fume and OPC
concretes. The fresh HPC was tested for slump, unit weight and air content. The
hardened HPC was tested for compressive, tensile s, flexural strengths, modulus of
elasticity and ultrasonic pulse velocity. The effect of water curing and air drying on compressive strength of the HPC were also studied. In durability tests, samples were
tested for water absorption, total porosity, sorptivity, initial surface absorption and
magnesium sulphate attack on compressive strength of HPC. The time dependent
deformation tests such as drying shrinkage and restrained shrinkage at early age were
also conducted.
Test results revealed that the mechanical and durability properties of HPC
incorporating RHA were better than that of control concrete. The compressive strength
and ultrasonic pulse velocity increased, whereas the water absorption and total porosity
decreased with w/b of 0.25 and the percentages of cement replacement with RHA up to
20%. HPC incorporating RHA is less sensitive to curing as insignificant differences in
compressive strength were observed. The RHA and silica fume were able to function as
a filler and pozzolanic material so that the porosity and water absorption of these
concrete decreased due to the concrete being less porous and denser. In general, these
concretes indicated good durability. The HPC containing 10% RHA showed better
compressive strength than HPC containing 10% silica fume or OPC. Another
advantage of utilizing 10% RHA instead of 10% silica fume in HPC is its ability to
delay the propagation of cracks under restrained shrinkage at early ages.
RHA, therefore, has the potential for contributing to the sustainable development and
economic prosperity of the construction and agricultural industries of Malaysia as well
as other rice growing countries of the world.


ABSTRACT Salmonella spp. infection is a major cause of gastroenteritis, with many thousands of cases reported in the European Union every year. The use of probiotics offers the potential to improve this situation. Here, we investigate the effects of oral treatment of pigs with a defined lactic acid bacteria culture mixture on both clinical and microbiological signs of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium infection. Fifteen weaned pigs blocked by sex and weight were administered control milk or a mixture of five probiotic strains as either a milk fermentate or milk suspension for a total of 30 days. The mixture consisted of two strains of Lactobacillus murinus and one strain each of Lactobacillus salivarius subsp. salivarius, Lactobacillus pentosus, and Pediococcus pentosaceous. Following probiotic administration for 6 days, animals were challenged orally with serovar Typhimurium; the health of the animals and the microbiological composition of their feces were monitored for 23 days postinfection. Animals treated with probiotic showed reduced incidence, severity, and duration of diarrhea. These animals also gained weight at a greater rate than control pigs administered skim milk. Mean fecal numbers of Salmonella were significantly reduced in probiotic-treated animals at 15 days postinfection (P = 0.01). The administered probiotic bacteria improved both the clinical and microbiological outcome of Salmonella infection. These strains offer significant benefit for use in the food industry and may have potential in human applications.


This study examines technical efficiency of Critical Access Hospitals (CAH) using a two-stage approach and bootstrap procedures for making valid inference about the impact of environmental variables on CAH efficiency. In the first stage, a data envelopment analysis (DEA) efficiency estimator is used to estimate technical efficiency of each hospital in the sample. In the second stage, efficiency scores are regressed on environmental variables using a truncated regression with bootstrap. Alternatively, a double bootstrap procedure is used, where bias-corrected DEA efficiency scores, obtained by means of bootstrap in the first stage, are used in the second stage bootstrapped truncated regression. While both procedures provide valid inference in the second stage analysis, the double bootstrap procedure has also been shown to improve statistical efficiency in the second stage truncated regression. Our results indicate that, while the two procedures yield in general similar and consistent results, only the double bootstrap procedure unveiled the direct association between Medicare cost-based reimbursement and CAH inefficiency.


ABSTRACT In our world of fractured truths, unparalleled disparities and technological wizardry, it is vital that we interrogate the largely unquestioned political axioms that have brought us to the brink of extinction. In this article, I explore the broader landscape in which settler-coloniality is ensconced through an examination of global modernity. I briefly outline some well-known, but largely subsumed, and mostly unremarked, realities of the contemporary world. I then argue that debt, property, institutions and nation states are the constituent devastations of modernity that we must simultaneously aver and avert. I suggest that the path towards decoloniality entails radical land-based re-localisation, revitalised communalism and embodied kinship with all life. This will necessitate an Indigenisation in which we, collectively across difference and distance, embrace fundamentally transformed relationships of mutuality so as to bring about flourishing egalitarian societies.


Throughout his career, Dr. Stephen Rossnagel and his co-workers have had a profound influence on thin film deposition. His seminal work includes the development of reactive, collimated, and ionized methods of DC and RF magnetron sputtering, as well as plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition. Most importantly, his contributions have been widely adopted within the microelectronics community in its efforts to produce finer layers with increased uniformity and functionality. While applications span a very broad range, from complementary metal oxide semiconductor device metallization to DNA sensing, Dr. Rossnagel has also conducted fundamental investigations into microstructural effects on electronic scattering. In this manuscript, the authors will highlight some of Steve's contributions to these areas and their continued relevance to current and future microelectronic device scaling.


This paper addresses fault-tolerant topology control in a heterogeneous wireless sensor network consisting of several resource-rich supernodes, used for data relaying, and a large number of energy-constrained wireless sensor nodes. We introduce the k-degree anycast topology control (fc-ATC) problem, with the objective of selecting each sensor's transmission range such that each sensor is k-vertex supernode connected and the total power consumed by sensors is minimized. Such topologies are needed for applications that support sensor data reporting, even in the event of failures of up to k - 1 sensor nodes. We propose three solutions for the k-ATC problem: a k-approximation algorithm, a greedy centralized algorithm that minimizes the maximum transmission range between all sensors, and a distributed and localized algorithm that incrementally adjusts sensors' transmission range such that the k-vertex supernode connectivity requirement is met. Extended simulation results are presented to verify our approaches.


We undertake a longitudinal study with high temporal recording density, capturing daily electroencephalograms (EEG) of an individual in an in-situ setting for 370 consecutive days. Resting-state EEG retains a high level of stability over the course of the year, and inter-session variability remains unchanged, whether the sessions are one day, one week, or one month apart. On the other hand, EEG for certain cognitive tasks experience a steady decline in similarity over the same time period. Clustering analysis reveals that days with low similarity scores should not be considered as outliers, but instead are part of a cluster of days with a consistent alternate spectral signature. This has methodological and design implications for the selection of baseline references or templates in fields ranging from neurophysiology to brain-computer interfaces (BCI) and neurobiometrics.


Diagnosing radiologically detectable lung lesions on the basis of cyto/histopathological staining often suffers from ambiguity, leading to faulty detection of lung diseases, especially cancer. Present study attempted to perform a multimodal characterzation of clinical samples from patients with radiologically detected lung lesions, in order to classify diseases with higher precision. The study included analysing nuclear morphometric and intensity based differences between benign and malignant lung lesions in a quantitative way. Simultaneous analysis of serum samples taken from similar sets of patients was performed by Fourier transform infra red (FTIR) spectroscopy which provided differential global biochemical insights of normal and diseased states. Both nuclear and serum biochemical features were helpful in accomplishing high classification accuracy in distinguishing benign and different malignant cases.


ABSTRACT This study evaluated the effectiveness of a fatherhood intervention designed to improve the fathering attitudes and behaviors of fathers who are low income from metropolitan and rural communities in Louisiana. The study was successful in recruiting a sample of predominantly African American fathers (N = 57) and retaining the participants over time. An adequate number of fathers achieved the intervention goals to obtain employment, increase their earnings, and complete educational (i.e., Graduate Equivalency Diploma [GED]) training. In addition, after having completed the program, there was a statistically significant improvement in fathers' relationship with the mothers of their children. Additionally, there were increases in fathers' positive attitudes about being a father, perceived closeness with their children, amount of contact with their children, and satisfaction with the amount of time spent with their children; however, none of these differences were statistically significant. Most of the fathers gave favorable reports regarding the fatherhood program's goals and delivery.


After the centrally-planned economy ceased to exist, the process of post-socialist transformations has advanced significantly. The countries of the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Southern and Eastern Europe (SEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have been involved since in vast systematic changes. Undoubtedly, these changes have been leading to fully-fledged market economies, although the precise outcome of transformation was not going to be the same for all the countries involved. The main objective of the restructuring of the banking systems was to create some modern such systems, according to the international standards, which could directly support the development and the stability of the economies. This objective could be achieved by tight efforts of both the central banks and commercial banks. In the current economic environment, where the most important goal is globalization and openness to the international trends, where the competition becomes sounder every day and the rise in the quality is necessary, the firms face an important need for capital and for short-term and long-term funds, and the role of the banks in supporting this development and in ensuring and sustaining the macroeconomic balance becomes crucial. The paper investigates the role of the monetary policy in the area of the banking credits of the commercial banks, in the savings area and in the investments area and their implications on the macroeconomic balance (current account balance, budget balance and private balance). The analysis is based more on the Romanian case as compared to the other countries in the Central and Eastern European region.


This article makes a contribution to the debate on regional economic development based on the increasing importance of the knowledge-driven or creative economy. The empirical data stems from research conducted on the structure of the creative economy in Sweden, where the results point to a few areas of importance for the concentration of the creative class. The results are compared with Canadian studies that reflect similar economic development patterns. The article seeks to contribute to the understanding of these results in a peripheral economic geographical context. The article argues for caution in applying the same kind of policy recommendations for urban and peripheral regions based on the analysis of the creative class.


During pathogen infection, plants recognize microbial molecules known as pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPS) by surface localized pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), these results in physiological changes that limit pathogen growth in a process known as PAMP-triggered immunity (PTI). Recognition of PAMPs triggers the production of the phytohormone salicylic acid (SA), which is important for defense against biotrophic pathogens and requires redox regulated NONEXPRESSER OF PR GENES1 (NPR1), a master regulator of SA- mediated defense. Although there is significant research on the transcriptional changes related to defense signaling, there is limited information on the early defense related protein changes that occurs before major transcriptional changes. Here we present the mass spectrometry result of early changes in protein abundance, and phosphorylation of Arabidopsis thaliana plants treated with defense elicitor BTH. We observed that 48 proteins changed in abundance, and 43 in phosphorylation following BTH treatment. We also analyzed the changes in abundance in NPR1 mutant (npr1-1) and observed that 43 proteins changed in abundance. We characterized the roles of 9 of the observed proteins in defense against three pathogens Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis (Hpa), Pseudomonas syringae pv. (Pto) DC3000, and Botrytis cinerea. Our results reveal the novel role of 2 proteins in defense against PtoDC3000, 5 proteins in defense against Hpa and 3 proteins in defense against botrytis. We further analyzed the BTH induced proteome changes observed in our mass spectrometry results of the total proteome, phosphoproteome and npr1-1 proteome with STRING, an online database of known and predicted protein interactions. The predicted networks created from STRING were used in combination with our infection bioassay results to predict the roles of our proteins in known and novel defense networks. Our study emphasizes the strength of mass spectrometry as a tool to discover proteins with observable phenotypes and to predict novel protein networks


147 Summary The three traditionally assumed functions of the university (teaching, research, and knowledge transfer) have been suffering problems of mismatching (applications with different directions for each function), imbalance (some functions being more relevant than others), and of orientation (difficulties orienting work towards a service to society). Currently, market orientation clashes with 3covers university activity in its three commitments, thereby generating specific problems. This document analyses this situation and proposes Units of Committed Action as a contribution towards the set of solution strategies that are being generated to guide the university towards the service of common good, adjust the three commitments, and to foment a balance in each of their weights. The Units of Committed Action work along the same lines as Participatory Action Research and those of Service Learning, whose particularities are also addressed here. Finally, a specific application is presented in a neighbourhood catalogued as a zone in need of social transformation.


INTRODUCTION
Laparoscopic access for robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) is often initiated in the periumbilical location. Palmer's point, located in the left upper quadrant, has been reported as an alternative access site for pelvic laparoscopy to reduce morbidity, but not widely reported among urologists. To better understand surgeons' preferences for access and its associated morbidity during RARP, we surveyed surgeons from two urologic organizations.

METHODS
An anonymous online questionnaire (SurveyMonkey) consisting of 17 questions that assessed training, experience, and preferences for RARP was emailed in December 2014 and collected until February 2015 to members performing RARP of the Endourology Society (ES) and the Michigan Urological Society Improvement Collaborative (MUSIC). Surgeons were also asked to share their personal experience with a vascular, death or life-threatening event (DOLTE), or bowel injury during RARP.

RESULTS
Questionnaires were answered by 111 surgeons in total (ES, n = 71 and MUSIC, n = 40) with an estimated total response rate of 5.5%. In total, 77% reported prior experience with the Veress needle method before exposure to RARP and 71% of respondents primarily use the Veress needle for RARP, with 73% reporting access primarily at the periumbilical location. A personal experience with a vascular or a bowel injury during Veress needle insertion was reported in 18% and 9% of surgeons, respectively; furthermore, 26% of respondents were personally aware of at least 1 DOLTE among colleagues (5% reported 3 or more). The majority (56%) of respondents were unaware of Palmer's point, while among the minority aware of Palmer's point, only 33% reported ever using this location.

CONCLUSION
In this survey, surgeons most commonly access the abdomen at the periumbilical location with a Veress needle for RARP with the majority not aware or utilizing Palmer's point. Nearly one in five surgeons reported a personal experience with a vascular injury during access for RARP. Palmer's point, located away from major vasculature, may reduce the morbidity of access for RARP and warrants further awareness and study.


This guide provides information to patients and caregivers about diseases, general wellness, and other health information to help them make informed decisions about their health care.


Local anesthetics are known to reduce the level of OmpF and increase the synthesis of OmpC in the outer membrane of Escherichia coli K-12. It has been shown that the anesthetics procaine and phenethyl alcohol (PEA) act at the transcriptional level for ompF and ompC and that in the case of procaine, its action is dependent on EnvZ, the membrane-bound signal transducer required for ompF and ompC expression. In an effort to further understand how anesthetics regulate ompF and ompC expression, we have analyzed the DNA binding properties of OmpR (the transcriptional activator protein for ompF and ompC genes) from cells treated with procaine or PEA. Treatment of a wild-type cell with either anesthetic converted OmpR from a low-affinity DNA binding form to a high-affinity DNA binding form. The change in DNA binding affinity was correlated with alterations in outer membrane porin profiles and could occur in the absence of protein synthesis. A strain lacking EnvZ was unable to respond to procaine to produce either the shift in the OmpR DNA binding property or cause any change in the outer membrane porin profile. PEA treatment was also dependent on EnvZ for the alteration in the OmpR DNA binding property, but it could induce ompC expression in the absence of EnvZ. Further studies suggest that the amino-terminal region of EnvZ is responsible for the procaine signalling. Our results indicate that procaine and PEA regulate ompF and ompC expression by modifying the DNA binding properties of OmpR through EnvZ signal transduction.


Sedimentary successions of Permo-Triassic to Early Cretaceous age have been studied in core 16/1-13 from the Edvard Grieg Field, located on the Utsira High, in the North Sea. Sedimentary field data combined with petrographical and mineralogical studies (XRD, thin sections, SEM and EMP) have been used to interpret the depositional environment and to gain knowledge about the diagenetic history of the sediments. The results obtained from this master thesis, will provide information about the properties of the sediments, and can be used in later work on the porosity and permeability history in the Edvard Grieg Field. It is important to point out that the results obtained in this master thesis, only derive from the study of one core, and that the results are derived from the data obtained during this half-year thesis. Further studies, from the same core and adjacent cores, should be conducted for a quality check of the results found during this study. The studied section, core 16/1-13 consists of sediments from the Permo-Triassic and the Early Cretaceous, displaying depositional environments within different alluvial and marine regimes. An alluvial fan and an aeolian depositional environment represent the PermoTriassic sedimentary succession, while marine carbonates represent the sediments deriving from the Early Cretaceous. Emphasis has been on the sediments of Permo-Triassic age, where the diagenetic history contains several phases of authigenic clay mineral formation, Fe-oxide precipitation, authigenic overgrowths and the precipitation of carbonate cement. The sediments from the alluvial fan and the aeolian regimes are found to carry similar diagenetic histories. The alluvial fan section contains debris flow successions, represented by conglomerates, displaying eroded basement clasts and matrixes originating from reworked paleo-weathering profiles located on the Utsira High. The study reveals that the basement clasts have experienced both sub-aerial weathering and alteration connected to diagenesis. The clay minerals present in the conglomeratic matrixes, are all found to have a diagenetic origin, deriving from the alteration and degradation of feldspars and micas during burial (neoformation), or from recrystallization of detrital clay (regeneration). Multiple layers of clay coating and pore filling clays are found. Differences in degree of weathering and original mineralogy of basement clasts, together with varying alteration of feldspars, points to at least two provenance areas for the alluvial fan sediments. The sediments from the alluvial fan, are in thin section, found to display relatively low porosity values. The aeolian sediments display higher porosities, compared to the alluvial fan sediments, but the aeolian sandstones are found to have a higher content of authigenic kaolinite and sparitic carbonate cement. These authigenic minerals are found to reduce the porosities, especially in the medium grained sandstones. The study reveals that the sediments of core 16/1-13, have been affected by early diagenetic processes related to the sedimentary facies in alluvial environments. The diagenetic influence has to some extent reduced the porosity, and may have influenced the present day reservoir quality. The sediments from the aeolian regime are found to have the highest porosity values, giving these sandstones good reservoir quality.


As SOA gains more traction through various implementations, building reliable service compositions remains one of the principal research concerns. Widely researched reliability assurance methods, often rely on applying redundancy or complex optimization strategies that can make them less applicable when it comes to designing service compositions on a larger scale. To address this issue, we propose a design time reliability improvement method that enables selective service composition improvements by focusing on the most reliability-critical workflow components, named weak points. With the aim of detecting most significant weak points, we introduce a method based on a suite of recommendation algorithms that leverage a belief network reliability model. The method is made scalable by using heuristic algorithms that achieve better computational performance at the cost of recommendation accuracy. Although less accurate heuristic algorithms on average require more improvement steps, they can achieve better overall performance in cases when the additional step-wise overhead of applying improvements is low. We confirm the soundness of the proposed solution by performing experiments on data sets of randomly generated service compositions.


The presence of microplastics in the environment and their potential effects on the health of organisms are a subject of great concern. However, with further weathering through UV radiation, mechanical force, and microbiological activity, most of these microplastics will degrade into nano-sized particles with exponentially higher specific surface areas compared to microplastics. Moreover, given that the hydrophobic surface of plastics adsorbs hydrophobic persistent organic pollutants (POPs), the possibility of nano-sized plastic particles potentiating POP sorption has been postulated. We developed a novel radiotracer-based method to investigate the sorption of a model POP, phenanthrene, onto the surface of two different-sized polystyrene nanoplastics (PS-NPs). Using radiotracer analysis, we compared the transport and uptake of 14C-phenanthrene in zebrafish embryos with two different plastic particle sizes. We also evaluated whether nano-sized plastics altered the toxicity of phenanthrene and the acute sub-lethal responses to phenanthrene in zebrafish embryos. Our results demonstrate that 20 nm PS-NPs have higher sorption capacity for phenanthrene due to increased total surface area per gravimetric mass. Moreover, we demonstrate increased phenanthrene across the chorion and into zebrafish embryos with nano-sized plastics when compared to sub-micron sized plastics. Co-exposure to nano-sized plastics and phenanthrene delayed hatching and induced higher EROD activity in zebrafish embryos when compared to sub-micron sized plastics. The results of our study demonstrate that nano-sized plastics facilitate the transport and uptake of hydrophobic organic pollutants and increase both their bioavailability and potential toxicity to aquatic organisms.


Discovery Cruise 226 (Leg 2) was the second of a series of cruises within a 3-year contract (MAS3 CT950018), BENGAL, funded under the MAST III programme of the EU and running from February 1996 to January 1999. The overall objective of the contract is to monitor the influence of the seasonal sedimentation of phytodetritus on the benthic biology and chemistry of a study site on the Porcupine Abyssal Plain.

Cruise 226 was timed to precede the current year's input of phytodetritus expected in May/June. The intention was to obtain a series of samples and data as long as possible after the previous year's input and to service deployed moorings. The cruise experienced excellent weather and, with the exception of some gear failures and losses, the most serious being the loss of an imprint lander system, was very successful, achieving almost all of the intended sampling.


Introduction/Background To test the Proactive Molecular Risk Classifier for Endometrial Cancer (ProMisE) and determine the frequency of specific/prognostic molecular alterations within a cohort of endometrial cancer (EC) women conservatively treated by combined resectoscopy and progestin therapy. Methodology We used blocks of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue from the primary tumors of patients enrolled into the ECCo trial (EudraCT 2010-018581-23) between 2007 and 2016. In order to assign EC resectoscopic specimens to one of four ProMisE subgroups, testing involved sequential assessment of i) immunohistochemistry (IHC) for mismatch repair (MMR) proteins MLH1, MSH2, MSH6 and PMS2; ii) sequencing for POLE/POLD1 exonuclease domain mutations (EDMs); iii) p53 IHC. Results Molecular analysis methods were used in 25 patients (stage IA, G1-2 endometrioid EC), of whom 15 (60%) represented fully evaluable cases. Seven cases (46.7%) had abnormal MMR IHC, POLE/POLD1 EDMs were found in 3 cases (20%), and abnormal p53 IHC in 1 case (6.6%). Three patients (20%) had more than one molecular feature. Among 10 (40%) 'unclassifiable' patients, six failures in achieving complete molecular categorization were due to the low tumor volume. Molecular classification of the 15 fully evaluable cases yielded the following ProMisE subtypes: 7 (46.7%) MMR IHC abnormal, 1 (6.6%) POLE EDM, 0 (0%) p53 IHC abnormal, 7 (46.7%) p53 IHC wild-type. Conclusion Although larger series are needed to further assess the feasibility of a molecular categorization in a fertility-sparing setting, data presented are promising. In women with early stage low-volume disease, resectoscopy could be advantageous to provide samples allowing complete genetic risk assessment. Disclosure Nothing to disclose


In the present study, non-crimp fabric (NCF) composite face sheet sandwich panels have been tested in compression after impact (CAI). Damage in the face sheets was characterised by fractography. Compression after impact loaded panels were found to fail by plastic fibre microbuckling (kinking) in the damaged face sheet. Studies of panels for which loading was interrupted prior to failure revealed extensive stable kink band formation at several positions and in numerous plies. Kink bands initiated and propagated within a wide region close to the point of impact. In addition, kink bands initiated in zones with high shear stresses, away from the impact centre line. Consequently, the fractographic results from this investigation do not support the assumption of modelling the impact damage as an equivalent hole. To achieve accurate predictions of kink band initiation, the stress field must be known. The results from this study imply that bending effects caused by remaining dent or material eccentricities in the damaged region must be considered.


The flow stress curves of Q345B microalloyed steel during hot compression deformation were obtained at 900-1100°C and strain rates of 0.01-10s-1 on Gleeble-3500 thermo-mechanical simulator. Based on the experimental results, a inverse regression analysis method was proposed to determine the mathematical model of dislocation density and its correlation coefficients using the flow stress curves, so as to laid the foundations for calculating carbonitrides precipitates, deformation resistance and the end-rolled strength of microalloyed steels during hot rolling precisely. The effects of the deformation parameters (strain rate and deformation temperature) and microstructural evolution (work-hardening, dynamic recovery and dynamic recrystallization) on dislocation density were taken into account. Finally, the validity of the proposed model is discussed considering the plausibility of the parameters assessed for evaluating the dislocation density. It was proved that the model was reasonable and it could provide a guide to production.


We recognize four clinical varieties of chancroid: Ulcus molle, the ordinary variety of ulcer, has the characteristic punched-out appearance, with edges cleancut and often undermined. Ulcus molle miliare begins as a small papule, which rapidly becomes a pustule, the center of which is a deep craterlike ulcer. It occurs most frequently on exposed surfaces in the loose skin, just posterior to the mucocutaneous junction of the prepuce in man and about the labia majora and the perineum in woman. Ulcus molle elevatum is the sore most frequently confused with indurated chancre. Its incubation period is from nine to twenty-one days. The sore is slightly raised above a mildly infiltrated base. The edges are not undermined, and it has little tendency to spread. This form is resistant to ordinary treatment and is prone to persist for from four to eight weeks. Ulcus molle phagedenicum is the most severe and the most


: A 23 year experience with papillotomy, sphincterotomy and sphincteroplasty for stenosis of the sphincter of Oddi shows sphincteroplasty to be the best procedure, with 79% of the patients obtaining a good result. The procedure was done for a demonstrable organic change in the sphincter, often associated with acute cholecystitis in older patients, the postcholecystectomy syndrome in those in whom a long cystic stump had been left at the first operation or in patients with chronic recurring pancreatitis. The study included 138 private patients observed from two months to 22 years. There were four postoperative deaths, an operative mortality of 2.9%, as two patients had been operated upon twice. The poor results were associated with recurring attacks of pancreatitis not cured by the procedure or developing subsequent to it, probably being attributable to persistent obstruction of the terminal part of the pancreatic duct. The results suggest that sphincteroplasty, if performed on suitably selected patients, is a safe procedure which should give good results in more than 75% of the patients.


In Huntington's disease, expansion of a polyglutamine (polyQ) domain in the huntingtin (htt) protein leads to misfolding and aggregation. There is much interest in the molecular features that distinguish monomeric, oligomeric, and fibrillar species that populate the aggregation pathway and likely differ in cytotoxicity. The mechanism and rate of aggregation are greatly affected by the domains flanking the polyQ segment within exon 1 of htt. A "protective" C-terminal proline-rich flanking domain inhibits aggregation by inducing polyproline II structure (PPII) within an extended portion of polyQ. The N-terminal flanking segment (httNT) adopts an α-helical structure as it drives aggregation, helps stabilize oligomers and fibrils, and is seemingly integral to their supramolecular assembly. Via solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (ssNMR), we probe how, in the mature fibrils, the htt flanking domains impact the polyQ domain and in particular the localization of the β-structured amyloid core. Using residue-specific and uniformly labeled samples, we find that the amyloid core occupies most of the polyQ domain but ends just prior to the prolines. We probe the structural and dynamical features of the remarkably abrupt β-sheet to PPII transition and discuss the potential connections to certain htt-binding proteins. We also examine the httNT α-helix outside the polyQ amyloid core. Despite its presumed structural and demonstrated stabilizing roles in the fibrils, quantitative ssNMR measurements of residue-specific dynamics show that it undergoes distinct solvent-coupled motion. This dynamical feature seems reminiscent of molten-globule-like α-helix-rich features attributed to the nonfibrillar oligomeric species of various amyloidogenic proteins.


Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) can help to establish a set of design and operational requirements in hydrogen codes and standards that will ensure safe operation of hydrogen facilities. By analyzing a complete set of possible accidents in a QRA, the risk drivers for these facilities can be identified. Accident prevention and mitigation features can then be analyzed to determine which are the most effective in addressing these risk drivers and thus reduce the risk from possible accidents. Accident prevention features/methods such as proper material selection and preventative maintenance are included in the design and operation of facilities. Accident mitigation features are included to reduce or terminate the potential consequences from unintended releases of hydrogen. Mitigation features can be either passive or active in nature. Passive features do not require any component to function in order to prevent or mitigate a hydrogen release. Examples of passive mitigation features include the use of separation distances, barriers, and flow limiting orifices. Active mitigation features initiate when specific conditions occur during an accident in order to terminate an accident or reduce its consequences. Examples of active mitigation features include detection and isolation systems, fire suppression systems, and purging systems. A concept being pursued by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) hydrogen standard development is to take credit for prevention and mitigation features as a means to reduce separation distances at hydrogen facilities. By utilizing other mitigation features, the risk from accidents can be decreased and risk-informed separation distances can be reduced. This paper presents some preliminary QRA results where the risk reduction potential for several active and passive mitigation features was evaluated. These measures include automatic leak detection and isolation systems, the use of flow limiting orifices, and the use of barriers. Reducing the number of risk-significant components in a system was also evaluated as an accident prevention method. In addition, the potential reduction in separation distances if such measures were incorporated at a facility was also determined.


In wireless environment the system allows the end users to use the application without installation and access their personal files at any computer with internet access. Apart from the advantages of wireless network, security is the major issue. Due to the distributed nature, wireless environment is an easy target for intruders looking for the possible attacks to exploit. To address the security issues in the wireless environment an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) is proposed based on the features of the mobile agent. The mobile agents are used to collect and analyze the data collected from wireless network to identify attacks exploited by the intruders.


Based on thermodynamic principles, the coupled systems performance of the Rankine cycle and the transcritical CO2 compression cycles with a throttle valve and the cycle with an expander were analyzed, respectively. The results show that the corresponding maximum performance in transcritical CO2 heat pump, there is an optimal efficiency of the coupled system. With the temperature increasing of boiler feed water, the efficiency of the two coupled system showed an increasing trend; with increasing of discharge pressure of condenser or outlet temperature of gas cooler, both of the two kinds coupled system efficiency showed a downward trend. Under the same conditions, the efficiency of the coupled system with an expander is better than the system with a throttle valve. This paper can provide the fundamental datum for the power plant waste heat recovery.


An open, prospective study, including 15 young women with primary dysmenorrhea was carried out to asses the prophylactic administration of Ibuprofen for the treatment of severe and disabling primary dysmenorrhea. The study lasted six months, representing a total of 90 cycles, the inclusion criteria were: 1) severe and disabling primary dysmenorrhea, 2) Failure with previous conventional treatments, 3) regular menstrual cycles, 4) without active sexual life, 5) voluntary participation. The treatment schedule included 400 mg of ibuprofen every 8 hours, starting 24 hours before the menstrual cycle during 4 days of menstruation for six consecutive cycles. The intensity of the pain was recorded every eight hours using a linear analogue scale from 0 to 10 where 0 was absence of pain and 10 was severe or disabling pain. Results showed that the mean of initial intensity of the menstrual cramp experienced in the cycle before the treatment (control) was 9.47 +/- 0.5. During the prophylactic treatment the means of initial intensity of the pain were significantly lower, between 7.84 +/- 0.37 and 7.21 +/- 0.52. A statistically significant progressive decrease of pain was recorded during the duration of treatment. After 48 hours of treatment the intensity of the pain was recorded as three (mild). We conclude that the prophylactic administration of ibuprofen is an effective treatment for selected women experiencing severe and disabling primary dysmenorrhea.


Pain treatment services and clinical indicators of pain chronicity focus on afferent nociceptive projections and psychological markers of pain perception with little focus on motor processes. Research supports a strong role for the motor system both in terms of pain related disability and in descending pain modulation. However, there is little understanding of the neurological regions implicated in pain-motor interactions and how the motor and sensory systems interact under conditions of pain. We performed an ALE meta-analysis on two clinical cohorts with atypical sensory and motor processes under conditions of pain and no pain. Persons with sensory altered processing (SAP) and no pain presented with greater activity in the precentral and supplementary motor area relative to persons with self-reported pain. In persons with motor altered processing (MAP), there appeared to be a suppression of activity in key pain regions such as the insula, thalamus, and postcentral gyrus. As such, activation within the motor system may play a critical role in dampening pain symptoms in persons with SAP, and in suppressing activity in key pain regions of the brain in persons with MAP. Future research endeavors should focus on understanding how sensory and motor processes interact both to understand disability and discover new treatment avenues.


A return to locality, the power seen in activities leading to socio-economic development at local level, confirm the importance of research and debate on the significance of local actors in local development. That is why the paper focuses on the role of other actors of local development. There are also activities that can be undertaken by local actors in order to effectively influence local development. Experiences connected with the role of local authorities in local development confirm their importance in this process. It needs to be mentioned, however, that local authorities are not the only actors of local development. Entrepreneurs, local society and non-government organizations also influence the direction of local development. Nowadays, there is a great focus on the effects of co-operation between local actors for local development.


This paper describes an application-specific processor (add-on chips) that helps computers work harder without consuming massive amounts of energy. If the problem is the power demand of general-purpose processors, the answer may lie in the application-specific acceleration, a technique being tried out in supercomputers. UK-based Clearspeed Technology reworked a chip design developed for PC graphics into a massively parallel floating-point calculation workhouse. Another main option for acceleration is to use a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), whose logic circuits are not hardwired but defined by loading a configuration memory.


Recent experiments in the developing mammalian visual cortex have revealed that gap junctions couple excitatory cells and potentially influence the formation of chemical synapses. In particular, cells that were coupled by a gap junction during development tend to share an orientation preference and are preferentially coupled by a chemical synapse in the adult cortex, a property that is diminished when gap junctions are blocked. In this work, we construct a simplified model of the developing mouse visual cortex including spike-timing-dependent plasticity of both the feedforward synaptic inputs and recurrent cortical synapses. We use this model to show that synchrony among gap-junction-coupled cells underlies their preference to form strong recurrent synapses and develop similar orientation preference; this effect decreases with an increase in coupling density. Additionally, we demonstrate that gap-junction coupling works, together with the relative timing of synaptic development of the feedforward and recurrent synapses, to determine the resulting cortical map of orientation preference.


The influence of supramolecular macrocyclic compounds--calix[4]arenes C-97, C-99, C-107, which are ouabainomymetic high affinity inhibitors of Na+, K(+)-ATPase, on the polarization level of plasmic and mitochondrial membranes of rat uterine smooth muscle cells was investigated. The influence of these compounds on the myocytes characteristic size was studied. By using a confocal microscopy and specific for mitochondrial MitoTracker Orange CM-H2TMRos dye it was proved that the potential-sensitive fluorescent probe DiOC6(3) interacts with mitochondria. Artificial potential collapse of plasmic membrane in this case was modeled by myocytes preincubation with ouabain (1 mM). Further experiments performed using the method of flow cytometry with DiOC6(3) have shown that the compounds C-97, C-99 and C-107 at concentration 50-100 nM caused depolarization of the plasma membrane (at the level of 30% relative to control values) in conditions of artificial collapse of mitochondrial potential by myocytes preincubation in the presence of 5 mM of sodium azide. Under artificial sarcolemma depolarization by ouabain, calixarenes C-97, C-99 and C-107 at 100 nM concentrations caused a transient increase of mitochondrial membrane potential, that is 40% of the control level and lasted about 5 minutes. Calixarenes C-99 and C-107 caused a significant increase in fluorescence of myocytes in these conditions, which was confirmed by confocal microscopy too. It was proved by photon correlation spectroscopy method that the C-99 and C-107 caused an increase of characteristic size of myocytes.


Reaction rates for ATP-PPi isotope exchange (vex) and tryptophanyl-tRNA formation (vaa) catalysed concomitantly in one incubation mixture by beef pancreas tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase (trsase) have been examined as a function of substrate concentrations. Comparison of the vex/vaa ratio found experimentally with the ratio predicted theoretically conforms the mechanism suggested earlier and permits to describe it in more detail. I. At least two reaction routes exist in which an ATP-PP: exchange is allowed. These routes are interconnected with each other via the stage at which tRNA binds to the enzyme. 2. In both these routes the low molecular weight substrates bind with enzyme in the order ATP first, tryptophan second. 3. Enzyme-aminoacyladenylate complex is an intermediate in the reaction of aminoacyl-tRNA formation. Pyrophosphate is detached from the enzyme prior to tRNA. 4. The enzyme releases AMP and tryptophanyl-tRNA in a random fashion. All the aformentioned properties are common both for trigger mechanism and Yarus-Berg mechanism which up to now were considered in literature independently.


Coryloid reproductive remains (Betulaceae, subfamily Coryloideae) are documented from the middle Eocene Republic flora of northeastern Washington State and the Princeton flora of southern British Columbia. The oldest confirmed examples of two modern genera, Corylus johnsonii Pigg, Manchester & Wehr sp. nov., and Carpinus perryae Pigg, Manchester & Wehr sp. nov., are reported from the Republic flora, and three new species of the extinct genus Palaeocarpinus, Palaeocarpinus barksdaleae Pigg, Manchester & Wehr sp. nov., Palaeocarpinus stonebergae Pigg, Manchester & Wehr sp. nov., and Palaeocarpinus dentatus (Penhallow) Pigg, Manchester & Wehr comb. nov., are described from Republic, Washington; Princeton, British Columbia; and Stump Lake, British Columbia, respectively. Corylus johnsonii resembles three extant Asian species: Corylus wangii, Corylus ferox, and Corylus heterophylla. Involucres of this fossil species vary from being highly dissected and spiny like C. wangii and C. ferox to more laminar like C. heterophylla. This similarity is interesting because C. ferox and perhaps also C. wangii are members of section Acanthochlamys, thought to be basal within the genus. Carpinus perryae has asymmetric leaflike bracts that partly enclose an ovate nutlet and, thus, fits within the extant Carpinus subgenus Carpinus, a group with Asian, European, and North American affinities today. Palaeocarpinus, thought to be basal within the Coryloideae, is reported from several Eocene localities in the Okanogan Highlands. These occurrences demonstrate that this primarily Paleocene, extinct genus extended into the Eocene in western North America as it did in Asia. Associated staminate catkins containing coryloid pollen and Corylus‐like leaves also occur at Republic along with P. barksdaleae. The presence in the Okanogan Highlands floras of a suite of coryloid plants including both extinct and extant genera demonstrates that, like the birch subfamily Betuloideae, the subfamily Coryloideae was also a significant and diverse group in western North America during the middle Eocene.


In the ongoing "war against terrorism," the United States has been detaining thousands of individuals without charge or trial until "the end of hostilities." Should these individuals receive legal counsel during military administrative proceedings, which may result in long-term, if not lifelong, deprivation of liberty? This article addresses the thorny question of why due process and, specifically, legal representation, is critical in the status determination hearings of detainees in U.S. military custody at the Bagram Theater Internment Facility. As a preliminary matter, one must recognize that the authority for preventive indefinite detention as proffered by Hamdi v. Rumsfeld may be reaching its limit given the realities in the current U.S. conflict against Al-Qaeda and affiliated groups. Factors, such as the lack of temporal and geographical boundaries, and the fact that the "enemy" is stateless and dressed as a civilian, argue that the "understanding" of preventive detention under traditional laws of war by the Hamdi Court has unraveled. This creates the need for more, not less, due process in status determination proceedings, as well as questions the authority to indefinitely detain such individuals. Second, the Boumediene Court's discussion of Eisentrager and its heavy criticism of the Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRTs) highlight the need for counsel and an adversarial process to better achieve accurate status determinations of people picked up in the "war against terrorism." Further, a comparison of the practical concerns and challenges in the Bagram status determination hearings to those in the CSRTs reveal that while the Bagram process has improved, it has not gone far enough. In conclusion, both the rationale underlying counsel as fundamental to due process and the practical circumstances involved in the "war against terrorism" combine to make legal representation a strategic imperative in status determinations of detainees. This paper was originally presented as a response to Geoffrey Corn and Peter Chickris' article, "Unprivileged Belligerents, Preventive Detention, and Fundamental Fairness: Rethinking the Review Tribunal Representation Model," at the symposium, "Emerging Issues in International Humanitarian Law," sponsored by Santa Clara University Law School.


This chapter states and explains that a Learning Design is the result of a knowledge engineering process where knowledge and competencies, learning design and delivery models are constructed in an integrated framework. We present a general graphical language and a knowledge editor that has been adapted to support the construction of learning designs compliant with the IMS-LD specification. We situate LD within our taxonomy of knowledge models as a multi-actor collaborative system. We move up one step in the abstraction scale, showing that the process of constructing learning designs can itself be viewed as a unit-of-learning (or a "unit-of-design"): designers can be seen as learning by constructing learning designs, individually, in teams and with staff support. This viewpoint enables us to discuss and compare various "design plays". Further, the issue of representing knowledge, cognitive skills and competencies is addressed. The association between these "content" models and learning design components can guide the construction of learning designs and help to classify them in repositories of LD templates.


Centromere organization has evolved dramatically in one clade of fungi, the Saccharomycotina. These yeasts have lost the ability to make normal eukaryotic heterochromatin with histone H3K9 methylation, which is a major component of pericentromeric regions in other eukaryotes. Following this loss, several different types of centromere emerged, including two types of sequence-defined ("point") centromeres, and the epigenetically-defined "small regional" centromeres of Candida albicans. Here we report that centromeres of the methylotrophic yeast Komagataella phaffii (formerly called Pichia pastoris) are structurally-defined. Each of its four centromeres consists of a 2-kb inverted repeat (IR) flanking a 1-kb central core (mid) region. The four centromeres are unrelated in sequence. CenH3 (Cse4) binds strongly to the cores, with a decreasing gradient along the IRs. This mode of organization resembles Schizosaccharomyces pombe centromeres but is much more compact and lacks the extensive flanking heterochromatic otr repeats. Different isolates of K. phaffii show polymorphism for the orientation of the mid regions, due to recombination in the IRs. CEN4 is located within a 138-kb region that changes orientation during mating-type switching, but switching does not induce recombination of centromeric IRs. The existing genetic toolbox for K. phaffii should facilitate analysis of the relationship between the IRs and the establishment and maintenance of centromeres in this species.


had a higher percent of encounters [87 (16.8%) vs. 12 (2.3%), p < 0.001], urine cultures [83 (16.0%) vs. 4 (0.8%), p < 0.001], positive urine cultures [23 (4.4%) vs. 2 (0.4%), p < 0.001], and hospitalizations [3 (0.6%) vs. 1 (0.2%), p [ 0.367] when compared to the disposable scope group. CONCLUSIONS: The use of disposable cystoscopes decreased the number of post-procedure encounters, ordered urine cultures, positive urine cultures, and hospitalizations.


This project focuses on the design and implementation of PID voltage control for DC motor. DC motor is a machine that widely used due to excellence speed control for acceleration and deceleration with effective and simple torque control. The PID controller is employed to control the output voltage of three phase controlled rectifier to run a DC motor as a load. The function of this PID controller is to correct the error in order to achieve the target value of desired voltage. The modelling, control and simulation of this project has been implemented using MATLAB/Simulink Software version 2013a. The Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) signals generated from MATLAB/Simulink model will be downloaded into Arduino microcontroller. Arduino microcontroller board is an interfacing device between MATLAB/Simulink model and actual hardware. The PWM signals from Arduino will step up using gate driver and then will be sent to power MOSFET gates for triggering rectifier. The output produced from this controlled rectifier is in DC form. The open loop and closed loop simulations analyses for PID control voltage were successfully conducted. Results show that the error of voltage for closed loop is lower compared than open loop. Furthermore, hardware has been setup to verify the MATLAB/Simulink model. From here, the speed of DC motor is increased as the controlled output voltage is increased. This project contributes to the efficiency and robustness of controlling output voltage for DC motor being used in industry based on PID controller rather than using conventional method like rheostat armature control and direct on line (DOL) starter.


This article is devoted the investigation ofcriminological factors establishing of criminal liability for the illegal searching works on the object of archaeological inheritance, destruction or damage of cultural inheritance. Researched social danger, the relative prevalence and dynamics ofcommitting the offenses under Art. 298 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.


There are 37 national parks in Turkey, encompassing the most important mountain ecosystems, with high biological, natural, cultural and historical diversity. These parks also have aesthetic and recreational potential, and are valuable components within the country's nature protection programmes. Globally, a landscape can be regarded as the face of an ecosystem and constitutes a relationship between natural structure and visual features. There have been several studies on whether visual quality can provide indicators for landscape planning. Visual quality can also be assessed as a manifesto for community participation. This paper attempts to extend the understanding of visual quality assessment for national parks, using the Kackar Mountains National Park (KMNP) in north-eastern Turkey as an example. A detailed survey of visual quality preferences, landscape factors (10 main and 40 sub-factors) and semantic factors (naturalness, variety, fascination, vividness, unity, interesting and exciting) affecting these preferences was made using 30 represenative slides selected from the park. The highest preference was found to be 6.54, while the lowest was 2.30. Regression analysis enabled us to determine the relationship between visual quality and visual landscape attributes. The R2 value for naturalness was 0.482, while naturalness together with lake and fog percentage was 0.641. The assessment of preferences for the studied views in various landscape units can be evaluated and used for land-use decisions and future planning in KMNP.


Why do we need e-learning in primary school classrooms? We think there are lots of reasons why primary teachers
might like to get involved and explore e-learning opportunities with this age range.
The multitude of projects submitted by the various local authorities, individuals or institutions, even though there will be implemented only partially or not at all, however, clearly shows a trend and a clear perspective that will evolve the education system in Romania and in primary school also.
Just getting familiar with some technologies and already appear: now discussing about that smart phone and Tablet could get rid of the dozens of investments in interactive books. There are already software about animals or with children's stories for such equipment, I will support this presentation up who knows what will show up ...
It is clear: we must learn at the same pace as technology develops!
Moodle e-learning is absolutely brilliant but is not usually Primary Schools in Romania.. Within SEI V 250 lessons were created for primary education which run in AeL. There are a large number of firms that create lessons for primary education, because it seems like the primary students buy most of these CDs with lessons. However, there is still a unitary system, national or international level, to provide a proper and complete training pupils in primary classes. Clasa3.ro, clasa4.ro project and other related sites aims to form a platform where teachers, students and parents to have free access to educational resources specific to their class is learning.


Abstract Objective: To critically appraise the literature characterizing unique health needs, barriers to access healthcare services and propose research as well as programmatic priorities for interventions to overcome them. Method: Using scoping review, we appraised peer-reviewed published studies and gray literature from three databases, PubMed, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar. The literature included a total of 67 articles met the inclusion criteria for a review. Results: The review highlights that transgender individuals live on the margins of society, facing stigma, discrimination, socio-economic and educational exclusion, violence, and poor health including mental health. Transgender individuals experience difficulties accessing quality healthcare services, whether general health needs or specific to their gender needs. Key barriers to access health services reported were discrimination at healthcare facilities, lack of treatment protocols, low health literacy, and poor healthcare-seeking behaviors among the transgender individuals. Other barriers include: their education, gender-based violence, socio-economic barriers, lack of health insurance, exclusion from social protection schemes, and health systems barriers. Conclusion: Transgender individuals in India are deprived of right to healthcare. A rights-based approach for programming and research should be prioritized to address barriers to healthcare services.


Blood manipulations (e.g. blood transfusion, recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) injections) are currently being used by athletes to enhance their sporting performance despite these methods being prohibited by the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA). Recent advances in "omics" technologies have provided new high-throughput techniques that may facilitate the discovery of new biomarkers for anti-doping purposes [1, 2]. This study aimed to test the application of whole transcriptome analysis to the detection of autologous blood transfusion (ABT). 15 healthy Caucasian male (20-35 yrs old, BMI ≤ 30 kg/m2) donated 500 mL of blood that was stored and then infused 36 days later. Whole blood samples were collected 4 days and 1 day before blood transfusion and at 3, 6 and 12 hours, 1,2,3,6,9 and 15 days after blood transfusion. Total RNA was extracted and 100 ng/ul of total RNA used for gene expression analysis using the GeneChip HTA 2.0 from Affymetrix UK Ltd ( > 285,000 full-length transcripts). One-way repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to identify differential expressed genes following ABT. Changes considered significant at ANOVA p-value < 0.05 and a fold change (FC) of 1.5. As the study is ongoing, we present the results of 8 subjects and only 5 time points (baseline one day before, 3, 6, 9 and 15 days after ABT). Compared to baseline, 202 genes were differentially expressed 3 days after ABT, 170 genes after 6 days, 218 genes after 9 days and 51 genes after 15 days. Approximately 91 genes were differentially expressed among time points, with 23 genes overlapping and upregulated 3, 6 and 9 days after ABT; fold changes varied from 1.5 to 2.9. Of these differentially expressed genes, three overlapped with 45 previously identified rHuEPO genes. Specifically, ALAS2 was downregulated 6 days (FC = −1.77, ANOVA p = 0.003), 9 days (FC = −1.84, ANOVA p = 0.007) and 15 days after ABT (FC = −1.5, ANOVA p = 0.011). CCR7 was upregulated (FC = 1.83, ANOVA p = 0.049) 3 days after ABT and SLC4A1 was downregulated (FC = −1.65, ANOVA p = 0.023) 6 days after ABT. Although preliminary, these results are encouraging and support the detection of autologous blood transfusion using whole genome expression. References Pottgiesser T, et al. Gene expression in the detection of autologous blood transfusion in sports-a pilot study. Vox Sang, 2009. 96(4):333–6 Durussel J, et al. The blood transcriptional signature of recombinant human erythropoietin administration and implications for anti-doping strategies. Physiol Genomics, 2016: physiolgenomics.00108.2015


The effects of a cytotoxic drug, cyclophosphamide, and an antioxidant, vitamin E, both individually and also in combination were studied in fibrosarcoma-induced rats. The rate of formation of lipid peroxides was analyzed in untreated, cyclophosphamide- (20mg/kg body weight) and α-tocopherol- (400 mg/kg body weight) administered animals along with that of their respective controls. The levels of non-enzymic antioxidants, like glutathione and vitamin E, and enzymic antioxidants, viz., catalase, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione peroxidase, were analyzed as well. Significantly increased level of lipid peroxides was observed with a concomitant decrease in enzymic and non-enzymic antioxidants in fibrosarcoma-bearing rats when these levels were compared with those of the respective controls. A further increase in lipid peroxides and a decrease in the level of antioxidants were observed in the cyclophosphamide-treated animals. In vitamin E-treated, fibrosarcoma-bearing rats, there was a decrease in lipid peroxide level, and an increase in antioxidant level, probably due to the free radical-quenching activity of vitamin E. When cyclophosphamide was administered in combination with vitamin E to the fibrosarcoma-bearing rats, the corrected levels of these parameters were observed to approach the control values. From these results, we infer that vitamin E is beneficial combinative factor for controlling the increased risk of lipid peroxidation induced by cyclophosphamide. Thus, vitamin E augments the anticarcinogenic activity of cyclophosphamide by decreasing its cytotoxic effect, which is enhanced by lipid peroxidation.


Three recent audit studies on nonemployment discrimination report results consistent with the long-term jobless having significantly lower chances of being invited to job interviews. Given the design of previous studies unfavorable treatment can be due to a marginal preference among employers for hiring applicants with shorter spells or to stronger negative beliefs about the long-term nonemployed. Using a résumé audit study, I explore the extent to which employers become forgiving of longer nonemployment spells when other merits appear on an applicant's résumé: in this case relevant work experience. Responses indicate a strong distaste for applicants with long spells of nonemployment—even in a situation characterized by observationally superior résumés in comparison to applicants with short nonemployment spells. The findings reveal a sharp drop-off in the number of interview requests for those whose nonemployment spell topped six months, implying that those experiencing long jobless spells might become trapped in nonemployment, regardless of their prior experience. To interpret the findings, a nonstationary job search model under duration-dependent unemployment benefits and endogenous job search intensity is constructed. It is shown that in the spirit of Lockwood (1991), the model can generate a unique equilibrium for plausible parameter values, with unemployment benefits expiration date becoming a focal point around which job search intensifies and employer screening becomes optimal. JEL CLASSIFICATION: J64


Prolactinomas are the most common hormone-secreting pituitary tumors
and represents approximately 40% of all pituitary adenomas. Pharmacology
therapy with dopamine agonists is the mainstay treatment for prolactinomas
Usually, patients respond to these drugs with decreased level of the serum
prolactin and with time, by tumor shrinkage. Less than 10% of patients
with prolactinomas exhibit resistance to the action of dopamine agonists, as
defined by the lack of normalization of the serum prolactin levels despite long-
term treatment at high doses of these drugs. However secondary resistance
to dopamine agonists therapy has also been described in patients who were
initially responsive to treatment, either with Cabergoline or Bromocriptine
but later develop dopamine agonist resistance, with elevated prolactin levels
and sometimes an enlarging tumor volume several years afterwards. We
report a case of a male patient with prolactinoma who developed drug resistance
13 months after initial dopamine agonist therapy.


The NiCoFeCrAl3 high entropy alloy coating with a little addition of C, Si, Mn, Mo has been succesively synthesized by laser cladding. The results show that simple solution phases of ordered BCC and a small fraction of FCC are obtained with fine equaixed dendrites morphology. Because the fine grain strengthening obtained by rapid solidification and the additived small atomic elements like C, Si further increase the distortion of the solid solution lattice, The microhardness of the coating reached above 800 HV and is 50 % higher than previous study on the similar composition by arc melting technique.


Objectives & Background SIGN guideline 111 makes recommendations on the optimal management of patients with a hip fracture.1 It is clear from the use of care bundles in other conditions, eg sepsis, that these perform very well in time-critical settings and ensure that all necessary actions for person-centred care are achieved timeously. Given the success of our Emergency Department (ED) compliance with the Sepsis 6 bundle (100%–unpublished data) the principal author (JK) rationalised that a bundle applied to the SIGN hip fracture recommendations would ensure that all actions were achieved in a timely manner. Methods We used an improvement methodology strategy to devise a bundle of care for patients with a fractured neck of femur. This work culminated in a list of 7 actions that could be captured in an acronym devised by the principal author as an aide-memoir (see table 1). The principal author ran training sessions on the bundle with all ED medical and nursing staff and data were captured over a four-month period (October 2013–February 2014) to examine compliance and to compare with data from the same period in the previous year. All actions in the bundle had to be achieved within the hour. Table 1 FEMORAL-Hip 7 Bundle of Care F - Fasttrack to ED Procedure Room E - Establish IV access & take bloods M - Medical assessment, including SIRS chart & ECG O - Opiates & fascia iliaca block R - Radiology – fasttrack for pelvis and hip X rays A - Abbreviated Mental Test Score L - Liaise with Orthopaedic Ward for admission Results Analysis of data from the study period showed a significant improvement in compliance with a) intravenous fluid therapy administration: 37% pre- and 91.4% post-bundle; b) opiates and regional nerve block administration: 35% pre- and 75% post-bundle; c) documentation of SIRS score: 40% pre- and 91% post-bundle, and d) inspection of pressure areas: 5% pre- and 100% post-bundle. Conclusion Although fractures of the neck of femur do not necessarily result in the physiological derangement associated with sepsis, it is evident that the use of a bundle of care will ensure that hip fracture patients are managed in a timely, person-centred and safe fashion as recommended in SIGN 111. Future work will concentrate on improving compliance with all seven actions within one hour of patient attendance.


Complex numerals (e.g., four hundred) have a multiplicative structure (four hundred = 4 x 100). This paper investigates whether children are sensitive to the meaning of the multiplicative structure. We designed a novel word learning paradigm and taught 4to 6-year-old children the meaning of a novel numeral phrase (e.g., 'one gobi houses' to mean a group of three houses). We then asked whether they could generalize it to a novel context (e.g., 'two gobi butterflies' to mean two groups of three). Experiment 1 showed that only English-speaking children who received multiplier syntax training were able to generalize. Experiment 2 extended findings from Experiment 1 to Cantonese-speaking children and found that they could also generalize a novel multiplier to novel contexts. These results suggest that children as young as 4 can create a mapping between the structure of complex numerals and a multiplicative meaning.


Although graph structures have proved useful in high level vision for object recognition and matching, they can prove computationally cumbersome because of the need to establish reliable correspondences between nodes. Hence, standard pattern recognition techniques cannot be easily applied to graphs since feature vectors are not easily constructed. To overcome this problem, we turn to the spectral matrix. We show how the elements of this matrix can be used to construct symmetric polynomials that are permutation invariant. The coefficients of these polynomials can be used as graph-features which can be encoded in a vectorial manner. Hence, the symmetric polynomials lead to a representation which is invariant under node permutations and so represents the graph structure without the need for labelling or correspondence operations. We demonstrate that these features are complete and continuous for 'simple' graphs (those without repeated eigenvalues in their spectrum). The notions of stability and discrimination are discussed, and we present experimental evaluation of these properties. Finally, we show that these graph characterizations can be used to cluster graphs from real datasets.


Abstract A motive for fatiguing wood prior to defibration would be to reduce the energy consumption needed in mechanical pulping processes. Therefore, the effects of fatiguing pre-treatment were here studied on wood samples, on defibration and also on produced paper. The results indicate that pre-fatiguing changes the mechanic response of wood to be more favorable for harsh defibration which in turn is positive for the process efficiency.


Apophyseal avulsion fractures of the ischial tuberosity (AFIT) in pediatric athletes are relatively uncommon injuries with treatment and return to sport (RTS) outcomes being largely unknown. The purpose of this review is to perform a systematic review analyzing RTS and predictors of successful RTS for pediatric athletes sustaining AFIT. Studies reporting on athletes strictly under the age of 18 years sustaining an AFIT with reported RTS status were included. RTS was analyzed based on injury acuity, mechanism, and management, whereas the incidence of any complications was recorded. A total of 33 studies comprising 90 cases of AFIT were identified. The mean age of athletes sustaining injuries was 14.7 + 1.4 years (range, 9–17 years), most commonly participating in soccer (n = 25), sprinting (n = 21), and gymnastics (n = 7). Acute trauma during sporting activities was responsible for 74.4% (n = 77/90) of injuries. A total of 82% (n = 74/90) of athletes reported successful RTS at an average of 7.0 + 5.0 months. Athletes undergoing surgery had a significantly higher RTS rate (n = 36/38, 94.7%) compared with athletes treated nonoperatively (n = 38/52, 73.08%; P = 0.008). When reported, a high rate of misdiagnosis was reported (39.4%, n = 28/71). Complications were reported in 15.8% (n = 7/38) and 32.7% (n = 17/52) of athletes managed surgically and conservatively, respectively. As such, the high rate of misdiagnosis and subsequent high rate of complications and poor rate of RTS highlight the importance of accurate diagnosis and treatment. Future prospective studies evaluating patient outcomes based on fracture displacement, sporting activity, and management strategies are warranted to better treat pediatric athletes. Study design: Level IV, systematic review.


Dr Peter Sowerby has written an important criticism of Michael Balint's work based on his understanding of Karl Popper's writings. I dispute Sowerby's interpretation of Popper and disagree with his conclusions, which I suggest would lead general practice into a retreat. I believe Balint made a major contribution to general practice and has helped us towards practising whole-person medicine.


In the honey market, botanical and geographical mis-labeling has become common. Therefore, the aim of this study was to use pollen analyses to authenticate the botanical origin and labeling of seven kinds of Egyptian honey and to identify sources of pollen used by honey bees in Egypt. Honeys are labeled, based on sources of pollen, which are usually provided by Egyptian beekeepers are classified as; clover, sidr, citrus, banana, cotton, Brazilian peppertree, and sunflower honey. During 2016–2017, absolute and relative numbers of pollen types were collected synchronously from apiaries and recta of worker bees from which samples of honey were also collected. Pollen from 20 plant taxa, belonging to 14 families was observed. Results of pollen analysis confirmed identities of sources of honey and nectar, as indicated and labeled during collection for all honeys except cotton, sunflower, and Brazilian pepper honeys, where, the predominant types of pollen identified in honey and recta of bees were: Zea mays (69%) in cotton honey, Cucurbitaceae (79%) in sunflower honey, and Eucalyptus sp. (52%) in Brazilian pepper honey. These data suggest that these honey should be re-classification (labeling) as Zea mays, cucurbits, and Eucalyptus honey instead of cotton, sunflower, and Brazilian pepper honey, respectively. Most of the honeys screened contained pollen grains (PGs) of Echium sp. and Trifolium alexandrinum, which indicated their wide geographical distributions in Egypt. Quantitative data of PGs per 10 g of honey indicated unequal geographical distributions of appropriate plants for use by bees in Egypt.


With the donation in 1973 of their extraordinary art collection to the University of East Anglia, Sir Robert and Lady Sainsbury sought to establish the Sainsbury Centre as an academic and social focus within the campus. They believed that the study of art should be an informal, pleasurable experience, one not bound by the traditional enclosure of object and viewer. As a result the Sainsbury Centre is much more than a conventional gallery. The original building brought a new level of refinement to the practice's early explorations into lightweight, flexible enclosures and set the scene for Norman Foster's international reputation.


Landscape patterns of broadleaved noxious weeds across the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument are examined in the context of environmental and management factors to improve our understanding of weed dynamics. Environmental factors include a range of topographic edaphic variables, while management factors provide insight about historic vegetation manipulation, road construction and forage utilization by wildlife and livestock. Distribution patterns of Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense) and yellow starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis) across the Monument are best described by a combination of topographic, edaphic, biotic, and management factors. Variables incorporated within models describing landscape patterns of weeds varied with response variable (actual weed locations versus weed density at random locations throughout the landscape) and the incorporation of private lands, characterized by less intense or localized lack of weed surveys, with public lands. Optimization of data quality by restriction of analysis to public lands in a landscape context identified elevation, maximum forage utilization by livestock and native ungulates, and past management treatments as predictors common to both Canada thistle and yellow starthistle distribution. Additional variables associated with the pattern of Canada thistle included heat-load and soil depth. The optimal model describing yellow starthistle distribution also included soil classification as vertisol, NRCS ecological type, woody vegetation cover, and average utilization by livestock and native ungulates. Analysis of individual variables indicated that roads and distance from water influenced the distribution of weeds. The association between roads, water, and forage utilization 1 Suggested citation: Hosten, P.E. 2007. Factors Controlling Patterns of Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense) and Yellow Starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis) Across the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Medford District. http://soda.sou.edu/bioregion.html


Неге we investigate disc accreting neutron stars with low magnetic fields (atoll sources) by systematically analysing all the available X-ray spectra of these sources from the Rossi X- ray Timing Explorer database, provided by the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center. From these we show that all atoll sources show broadly similar spectral evolution as a function of mass accretion rate with hard spectra at low luminosities switching to soft spectra at high luminosities. This is similar to the well known hard/soft spectral dichotomy in black holes. However, we also show that there are subtle but significant differences in the hard/soft transitions for individual atoll sources. There are two different types of hard/soft transition, those where the spectrum softens at all energies, leading to a diagonal track on a colour-colour diagram, and those where only the higher energy spectrum softens, giving a vertical track. The luminosity at which the transition occurs is correlated with this spectral behaviour, with the vertical transition at L/L(_Edd) ~ 0.02 while the diagonal one is at ~ 0.1. Superimposed on this is the well known hysteresis effect, but we show that classic, large scale hysteresis occurs only in the outbursting sources, indicating that its origin is in the dramatic rate of change of mass accretion rate during the disc instability. We show that the long term mass accretion rate correlates with the transition behaviour, and speculate that this is due to the magnetic field being able to emerge from the neutron star surface for low average mass accretion rates. While this is not strong enough to collimate the flow except in the millisecond pulsars, its presence may affect the inner accretion flow through changing the jet properties.


The ability to accelerate visible-light photochemical reactions in a simple setup and with little photocatalyst modification is an important challenge. We report that the adsorption of a widely used organometallic photocatalyst ([Ru(bpy)3]Cl2) on unmodified silica particles provides opportunities in the intensification of photochemical oxidations with an almost 10-fold increase in reactivity. This outstanding performance is attributed to noncovalent outer-sphere interactions between the substrate and the solid particles, because higher concentrations of reactive species are produced at the interface. This simple catalytic system is efficiently recycled and shows an up to 4-fold increase in stability, compared to its homogeneous counterpart. As a proof of concept, we apply this straightforward immobilization strategy to the semisynthesis of the antimalarial drug artemisinin from dihydroartemisinic acid. Our results demonstrate that the surface has a cooperative and bifunctional role, which avoids the use o...


Behavioral, electrophysiological and electroacoustic methods of assessing hearing in infants and young children are reviewed. Pediatric hearing evaluations include determination of pure tone thresholds and speech perception abilities. Behavioral methods for determining pure tone thresholds are based upon operant conditioning techniques and are applicable for infants aged 6 to 24 months of age. Below that age, behavioral observation of the infant's response to sound will yield unrepeatable results unless the rigors of an observer-based psychophysical procedure are adopted. Electrophysiological methods for estimating hearing threshold include electrocochleography, auditory brainstem response and auditory steady-state responses. Electroacoustic methods include measurement of evoked otoacoustic emissions that indicate the integrity of cochlear outer hair cells. There is a heavy reliance upon electrophysiological and electroacoustic methods for infants too young (i.e. <6 months) or those with visual or motor impairments that preclude testing with behavioral techniques. Methods for assessing infant speech perception abilities are not well developed. Standardized tests of speech sound discrimination require a receptive language age of nearly 3 years. Speech sound discrimination may be tested using a visual-reinforcement procedure similar to that used for threshold tests; however, the stimuli and response recording methods do not have widespread clinical use at this time. Event-related (evoked) potentials to speech sounds offer promise as a method for assessing speech perception abilities, but the variability of results limits the technique to evaluating group (not individual) performance.


Rock-physics Greensands are composed of a mixture of stiff clastic quartz grains and soft glauconite grains. Glauconites are porous and composed of aggregates of ironbearing clay. Greensands from the two formations in the Nini field of the North Sea were studied in this thesis. Hermod Formation is weakly cemented, whereas Ty Formation is characterized by microcrystalline quartz cement. A series of laboratory experiments including core analysis, capillary pressure measurements, NMR T2 measurements, acoustic velocity measurements, electrical properties measurements and CO2 injection experiments were done on greensand samples. Thin sections and BSE images are also available for this study. The objective of the first part of this study is to predict petrophysical properties from nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) T2 distributions. NMR is a useful tool in reservoir evaluation. Estimated petrophysical properties from NMR measurements were correlated with measurements from core analysis. NMR underestimates the total porosity due to the presence of iron bearing clay minerals in greensand. Permeability may be predicted from NMR by using Kozeny's equation when surface relaxivity is known. The surface area measured by the BET method is associated with the micro-porous glauconite grains. The effective specific surface area as calculated from Kozeny's equation is associated with macro-pores. Capillary pressure drainage curves may be predicted from NMR T2 distribution when pore size distribution within a sample is homogeneous. The central part of this study is rock-physics modelling of greensand. The first of the models is a grain contact model of the North Sea Paleocene greensand. First a Hertz-Mindlin contact model is developed for a mixture of quartz and glauconite. Next step is to use the moduli predicted from this Hertz-Mindlin contact model of two types of grains as the initial moduli for a soft-sand model and a stiff-sand model. Results of rock-physics modelling and thin section observations indicate that variations in the elastic properties of greensand can be explained by two main diagenetic phases: silica cementation and berthierine cementation. Initially greensand is a mixture of mainly quartz and glauconite; when weakly cemented, it has relatively low elastic modulus and can be modeled by a Hertz-Mindlin contact model of two types of grains. Silica-cemented greensand has a relatively high elastic modulus and can be modeled by an intermediate-stiff-sand or a stiff-sand model. Berthierine cement has a different growth patterns in different part of the greensand, resulting in a soft-sand model and an intermediate-stiff-sand model. The second rock-physical model predicts Vp-Vs relations and AVO of a greensand shale interface. The relationship between Vp and Vs may be used to predict Vs where only Vp is known. In published work, focus is primarily on the Vp-Vs relationship of quartzitic sandstone. In order to broaden the picture Vp-Vs relationships of greensand were presented. A Vp-Vs relationship derived from modelling is compared with empirical Vp-Vs regressions from laboratory data. The quality of Vs prediction is quantified by statistical analysis. The Vp-Vs relationship derived from modelling works well for greensand shear-wave velocity prediction. AVO modelling shows that brine saturated glauconitic greensand may have similar seismic response to oil saturated quartzitic sandstone and that strongly cemented greensand with oil saturation can have similar AVO response to brine saturated weakly cemented greensand. The third rock-physical model predicts pore fluid effects on elastic properties of greensand. NMR studies were included to describe the fluid related dispersion in greensand. NMR studies show that Biot's flow should occur only in large pores in the greensand, while Biot's flow should not occur in micro-pores. Differences of fluid flow in macro-pores and micro-pores are described as high frequency squirt flow in greensand. The objective of the last part of this study is to investigate CO2 injection effects on physical properties of greensand. Laboratory results indicate that CO2 injection has no major effect on porosity, electrical properties and elastic properties of greensand. In contrast Klinkenberg permeability of greensand increased after CO2 injection. An NMR permeability modelling approach was tested to evaluate the effect on matrix permeability of CO2 injection. It appears that permeability after CO2 injection increased not due to fracturing but rather due to the increase of macro-pores in the greensand. The increase of macro-pores size is probably due to migration of fine pore-filling minerals. Rock-physics modelling indicates that the presence of CO2 in a greensand decreases Vp by 2%-41% relative to Vp of brine saturated greensand. CO2 flooding would at the same time increase Vs, typically 1%-2%, while decreasing density by 3%-5%.


Background: β 2-adrenoceptors ( β 2-ARs) are expressed on the surface of immune cells, including tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). Previous studies have demonstrated that the expression of β 2-ARs in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is signi fi cantly increased in vitro. However, the role of β 2-AR in M2-polarized macrophages remains unclear. G protein-coupled receptor kinase 2 (GRK2) can regulate G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR). Previous studies showed that down-regulation of GRK2 in HCC contributes the HCC progression, but it still remains unclear whether the regulation of β 2-AR in M2-polarized macrophages by GRK2 can promote HCC. Purpose: The present study was designed to investigate the role of activated β 2-AR in M2-polarized macrophages in the HCC progression and GRK2 regulatory effect, as well as the underlying mechanisms involved. Results: The results demonstrated that the M2-polarized macrophages were increased with HCC progression. In vitro, the activation of β 2-AR by terbutaline in M2-polarized macrophages elevated the proliferative, migratory and invasive attributes of HCC cells. Furthermore, GRK2 down-regulation in β 2-AR activated M2-polarized macrophages activated the downstream cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)/protein kinase A/cAMP-response element binding protein and cAMP/interleukin-6/signal transducer and the activator of transcription 3 signaling pathways, contributing to the secretion of tumor-associated cytokines, and thus resulting in the promotion of malignant biological behavior in HCC cells. Conclusion: These fi ndings suggest that the regulation of β 2-AR occurs through the silencing of GRK2 in M2-polarized macrophages, which is conducive to HCC development, through its engagement in the activation of downstream signaling. and VEGF were elevated when M2-polarized macrophages were stimulated with selective β 2-AR agonist Terb. Whereas only the expression levels of IL-6, MMP-9 and VEGF were elevated signi fi cantly in M2-polarized macrophages following transfection with GRK2 siRNA. No signi fi cant elevation was observed in other cytokines. * P <0.05 and ** P <0.01 compared with the control group; # P <0.05 and ## P <0.01 compared with the Terb-CM group.


This paper uses data from the Current Population Survey to analyze determinants of cigarette demand. Price elasticities for smoking participation and quantity of cigarettes smoked are between −0.4 and −0.6 for both men and women. These effects diminish for high-income individuals. The family earnings elasticity of demand is weak, but education has strong negative effects on smoking, especially for high-income respondents. Own-earnings decrease individuals' price sensitivity. Employment status is influential even after controlling for income, education, and other factors. The presence of young children reduces smoking, with the effect most pronounced for women.


Background Globally, schistosomiasis affects at least 240 million people each year with a high proportion of cases in sub-Saharan Africa. The infection presents a wide range of symptoms mainly at the gastrointestinal and urogenital level. Cases of schistosomiasis-related appendicitis are seldom reported. The aim of the present study is to identify the prevalence of schistosomiasis-related appendicitis in Beira, Mozambique and compare to global prevalence. Methods We retrospectively reviewed all cases of appendicitis recorded from January 2017 to March 2020 at a single pathology department located in Beira in order to assess the prevalence of schistosomiasis. Moreover, we performed a systematic review on the prevalence of schistosomiasis-related appendicitis in all countries. Findings A total of 145 appendicitis cases in Beira showed a 13.1% prevalence of schistosomal-related appendicitis. The mean age of patients was 29.1 years, and 14 (73.7%) were male. The systematic review identified 20 studies with 34,790 inpatients with schistosomiasis-related appendicitis with a global prevalence of 1.31% (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.72 to 2.06); a high heterogeneity (I2 = 96.0%) was observed. Studies carried out in Africa reported a significantly higher prevalence of schistosomiasis-related appendicitis (2.75%; 95% CI: 1.28 to 4.68) than those in Middle East (0.49%; 95% CI: 0.18 to 0.95) (p for interaction < 0.0001). Conclusions Schistosomiasis infection should be considered as possible cause of appendicitis not only in endemic areas but also in developed countries. Considering that prevention is the best way to control the infection, more efforts should be put in place in order to increase the prevention coverage and avoid the cascading implications for health. This is even more so important in this Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) era where the majority of attention and funds are used to fight the pandemic.


Lung ultrasound images have shown great promise to be an operative point-of-care test for the diagnosis of COVID-19 because of the ease of procedure with negligible individual protection equipment, together with relaxed disinfection. Deep learning (DL) is a robust tool for modeling infection patterns from medical images; however, the existing COVID-19 detection models are complex and thereby are hard to deploy in frequently used mobile platforms in point-of-care testing. Moreover, most of the COVID-19 detection models in the existing literature on DL are implemented as a black box, hence, they are hard to be interpreted or trusted by the healthcare community. This paper presents a novel interpretable DL framework discriminating COVID-19 infection from other cases of pneumonia and normal cases using ultrasound data of patients. In the proposed framework, novel transformer modules are introduced to model the pathological information from ultrasound frames using an improved window-based multi-head self-attention layer. A convolutional patching module is introduced to transform input frames into latent space rather than partitioning input into patches. A weighted pooling module is presented to score the embeddings of the disease representations obtained from the transformer modules to attend to information that is most valuable for the screening decision. Experimental analysis of the public three-class lung ultrasound dataset (PCUS dataset) demonstrates the discriminative power (Accuracy: 93.4%, F1-score: 93.1%, AUC: 97.5%) of the proposed solution overcoming the competing approaches while maintaining low complexity. The proposed model obtained very promising results in comparison with the rival models. More importantly, it gives explainable outputs therefore, it can serve as a candidate tool for empowering the sustainable diagnosis of COVID-19-like diseases in smart healthcare.


BACKGROUND
Fiber supplements added to a caloric diet have additional effects on weight reduction in overweight subjects. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of various commercial fiber supplements (glucomannan, guar gum and alginate) on weight reduction in healthy overweight subjects.

MATERIAL/METHODS
One hundred and seventy six men and women were included to receive either active fiber substance or placebo in randomized placebo-controlled studies. The fiber supplements consisted of the viscous fibers glucomannan (Chrombalance), glucomannan and guar gum (Appe-Trim) and glucomannan, guar gum and alginat (Glucosahl).

RESULTS
All fiber supplements plus a balanced 1200 kcal diet induced significantly weight reduction more than placebo and diet alone, during a five week observation period. However, there were no significant differences between the different fibers in their ability to induce weight reduction, which was approximately 0.8 kg/week (3.8 +/- 0.9, 4.4 +/- 2.0, 4.1 +/- 0.6 in the Chrombalance, Appe-Trim and Glucosahl group, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS
Glucomannan induced body weight reduction in healthy overweight subjects, whereas the addition of guar gum and alginate did not seem to cause additional loss of weight.