An augmented life cycle model is used in order to characterize capital accumulation in an overlapping generations economy with altruistic agents. Precautionary savings serve as an instrument to face two different types of idiosyncratic income uncertainty: i) individual's income uncertainty.* in the future and ii) future generation's income uncertainty. By performing a calibrated simulation of the model, it is shown that precautionary savings aimed at providing bequests can account for a vast portion of capital accumulation. Empirical evidence on income uncertainty calls for further tests on the impact of future generation's income uncertainty on precautionary savings.


Intrinsic variations and challenging leakage control in today's bulk-Si MOSFETs limit the scaling of SRAM. Design tradeoffs in six-transistor (6-T) and four-transistor (4-T) SRAM cells are presented in this work. It is found that 6-T and 4-T FinFET-based SRAM cells designed with built-in feedback achieve significant improvements in the cell static noise margin (SNM) without area penalty. Up to 2/spl times/ improvement in SNM can be achieved in 6-T FinFET-based SRAM cells. A 4-T FinFET-based SRAM cell with built-in feedback can achieve sub-100pA per-cell standby current and offer the similar improvements in SNM as the 6-T cell with feedback, making them attractive for low-power, low-voltage applications.


The paper considers instantaneous processes in electrical circuits produced by the stepwise change of the capacitance of the capacitor and the inductance of the inductor and by the switching on and switching off of the circuit. In order to determine the set of electrical circuits, for which it is possible to explicitly obtain the values of the currents and the voltages at the end of the instantaneous process, a classification of the networks with nonlinear elements is introduced in the paper. The instantaneous switching process in the moment t0 is approximated when T->t0 with a sequence of processes in the interval [t0, T]. For quasi-linear inductive and capacitive circuits; we present the type of the system satisfied by the currents and the voltages, the charges, as well as the fluxes in the interval [t0, T]. From this system, after passage to the limit T->t0, we obtain the formulas for the values of the circuits at the end of the instantaneous process. The obtained results are applied for the analysis of particular processes.


This paper attempts to convert the strictly positive real (SPR) conditions for rational functions and matrices to conditions involving only positivity of polynomials. The new polynomial formulation provides efficient SPR criteria for functions and matrices with uncertain parameters. To establish the robust SPR property it suffices to test positivity of only two uncertain polynomials for functions and three for matrices. The most interesting feature of the proposed polynomial approach is that all coefficients of the uncertain functions and matrices can have polynomial uncertainty structures. This generality is easily handled in numerical computations by applying the Bernstein expansion algorithm.


The goal of this study was to examine the extent to which maternal depressive symptoms is linked with later maternal sensitivity through maternal causal attributions about infant crying. The present study utilized a multi-method approach for examining parenting and maternal behaviors. In addition, the extent to which these paths were moderated by socioeconomic risk was also examined. Maternal depressive symptoms were examined prenatally and when infants were 6 months old, and maternal sensitivity was observed when infants were 1 and 2 years of age. Mothers reported causal attributions (negative, minimizing, and situational) about infant crying when infants were 6 months of age. In the final model, no direct links was found between maternal depressive symptoms and later maternal sensitivity, however, a positively associated link was found between maternal depressive symptoms and negative causal attributions. No significant pathways were found with situational or minimizing attributions and depressive symptoms, as well as no interaction effects were found with SES risk as a moderator, however SES risk was significantly associated with maternal sensitivity. Results suggest that SES risk and maternal depressive symptoms while parenting leave infants at risk for receiving insensitive caregiving when they are in distress.


Buchbinder and Underwood are to be commended for providing useful information regarding back pain. However, they may not have had problems in understanding heterogeneity between studies outlined in a related CMAJ article had the studies taken physical examinations into account. Chronic back pain may be due to either an ongoing nociception or neuropathy affecting spinal nerves, both of which have different causes and therefore present with completely dissimilar physical findings. A correct diagnosis and proper treatment would lead to a quicker resolution. Without a correct diagnosis, treatment would be empirical and haphazard.


A Thesis Submitted for Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Science (Applied Parasitology) In the School of Pure and Applied Sciences of Kenyatta University. May, 2019


The aim of this study was to evaluate phytoavailability of cadmium to lentils after the application of composted animal manures. In a greenhouse experiment, two lentil (Lens culinaris) cultivars were grown in the soils applied with different levels of Cd from animal manure compost, and compared with Cd applied as cadmium chloride or their combination. Phytotoxicity of Cd was determined as plant growth, Cd accumulation, and the uptake of macronutrients. Addition of Cd significantly reduced plant growth and plant weight as well as plant water content. Phytotoxicity of Cd applied through manure composts was significantly less than the same rate of Cd amended with soluble CdCl2, suggesting the lower potential hazard of composted manure-applied Cd. Plants accumulated substantial amount of Cd in different plant parts. Most of the Cd taken up was retained in roots, and lentil roots had higher concentrations of Cd than the stem. Phytotoxicity of applied Cd in Ziba was significantly greater than that in Zabol cultivar. Cadmium addition especially as metal salt reduced nutrient concentrations in the shoot, and caused more nutrient accumulation in roots, probably due to the inhibition of their translocation to plant shoots. The results of this experiment point to the fact that the Cd source and loading rate are important factors in evaluation of Cd phytoavailability.


Rotating Saving and Credit Associations (RoSCA) (known as tontines in francophone Africa) are financial systems involving groups of individuals who put money together periodically and take turns to collect the kitty. They are off-line systems and are very popular in the developing world. However, they now face several challenges (e.g. geographical distance between participants, safety risks related to manual financial operations). An evolution towards on-line systems is now a necessity and this paper is a first step in that direction. It proposes an architecture which handles the participants of ROSCAs as end-users of a social network. The proposed social network accommodates poorly literate end-users who may live in areas with no Internet connection. It also integrates an on-line payment system. The rich cellular network connectivity that is commonplace in most developing countries is used to offset the poor Internet connectivity. Speech technologies (e.g. Interactive Voice Response -- IVR, speech to text -- STT, text to speech -- TTS) are used to address the literacy issue.


The Journal Of American History Sept 1998 - T.Stephen Whitman "Above all, these esays inject a much-needed political perspective on free black life...To recapitualte, the strengths of these essays lie in their complexifying our understanding of free black thought and action within slave societies, while developing common themes for further exploration by future scholarship...Both scholars and students will find Against the Odds a rewarding collection for those teaching colonial or African history, this book may well be a valuable adoption." The Journal of Southern History - reviewed by Edward L Cox "Taken together, the essays chart new ground through their concentration on the strivings and activities of free people of colour rather than the larger societal structure of which they were a part." Sage Race Relations Abstracts, Vol 22 No 1, Feb 97 "Throughout the book, the authors make excellent use of the source material available and provide the reader with a remarkable collection of essays.


The study of effective cuttings transports and understanding fluid rheological properties is a major concern in the drilling industry. Poor hole cleaning can lead to cuttings accumulations inside the annulus, low rate of penetration (ROP), eccentric borehole, fluid loss and stuck pipe. However, introduction of low-shear-rate viscosity (low-end-rheology) mud system into drilling activities can significantly reduce aforementioned problems. In this study, both theoretical analysis and experimental investigation were performed to estimate effects of low-end-rheology mud on particle settling velocity in a vertical cylinder, for static condition and steady state laminar flow in vertical annulus. Experimental tests were carried out in a flow-loop, using a low-end-rheology and standard rheology (water). Variables evaluated were particle size (0.3 mm, 1 mm, 2 mm), tube inner diameter or annular size (39.58 mm, 49.37 mm, 60.2 mm, 75 mm), fluid rheological parameters (water, mixtures of 5, 10 and 20 gram of PHPA Polymer per liter water), fluid condition (static and dynamic flow), particle sphericity (0.91 and 1). Fluid rheological parameters, particle size, and annular flow velocity were the most important variables. Annular flow velocities were 0 m/s for static and 0.00001-0.004 m/s for dynamic flow conditions. The experimental data showed that particles dropped in low-end-rheology fluid had a lower slip velocity compared to standard rheology. Study of the rheology and factors influencing its properties were also part of this thesis work. During the tests, a fluid sample of 10% PHPA polymer-water mixture showed unexpected behavior. A detailed laboratory study verified that the rheological properties may change under the influence of mixing and no-action times and they are sensitive to the fluid shaking (shearing/stirring). A comparison of the experimental particle settling velocities with particle settling velocities calculated by applying Stokes Law equation are also presented. Their results agree closely with experimental data for the slip velocity for particle settling in static and at steady state laminar flow for vertical annulus for the most of the cases. In other words, predicting of slip velocity by applying Stokes Law equation based on effective viscosity determined through Power Law fluid model showed favorable results for both quiescent and flowing fluid. Sensitivity analysis based on the results concluded that particle transport in low-shear-rate-viscosity mud system provides better hole cleaning since the slip velocities of particles are lower compared to the standard rheology for the given experiment.


The new decade started with a devastating outbreak of Wuhan viral pneumonia which is currently known is 2019-nCoV and questions about this new coro-navirus remain. On December 31, 2019, a mystery cluster of pneumonia-like symptoms were reported in late 2019 from Wuhan Province in China. As the alarming confirmed cases as well as fatalities in China continues to rise, the global health community may face a pandemic potential of 2019-CoV. Although the epidemic is not declining as of February 2020, some insights can be reflected. The source of Wuhan viral pneumonia as reported by the Chinese health authorities, was presumably related to the Hunan Seafood Market in the city of Wuhan. Most recent-ly, researchers at South China Agricultural University who tested more than 1000 samples from wild an-imals, reported a 99% match between the genome sequences of a virus found in pangolins and those in 2019-nCoV infected patients - such observation must be further validated. The Chinese scientists posted the full genome of the 2019-nCoV in GenBank. The genome sequences obtained from the nine infect-ed patients (a cohort of 10 patients) were markedly similar and exhibited about 99% sequence homolo-gy within the patient cohort and was closely related (with 88% identity) to two bat-derived severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-like coronaviruses. Analysis of the clinical specimens also showed the virus belongs to a subfamily of betacoronavirus. Fur-ther investigation revealed 2019-nCoV share same receptor with SARS-CoV, Angiotensin-converting en-zyme-II. The virus appears to be more virulent in el-derly and those with comorbid conditions. Although asymptomatic transmission has been reported in Germany, much questions remain about the biol-ogy of asymptomatic carriers since our current un-derstanding of the mode(s) of transmission this this novel virus is limited. It is now evident 2019-nCoV is the third epidemic of the coronavirus family in the past decades which has crossed species infecting vul-nerable and at-risk individuals. Much of the investi-gational work has been attributed to the infected pa-tients, and to date, there are no published papers on human handlers of the animals serving as the source of the virus. What has been documented so far is like outbreaks caused by SARS-CoV and MERS-Cov, this novel outbreak causes severe respiratory syndrome indicating a virulent capacity of the virus causing vi-ral pneumonia especially in elderly and those with comorbid conditions with an average fatality rate of almost 3% in Hubei province. Understanding the vir-ulent factor in an error-prone RNA-dependent RNA polymerase virus such as 2019-nCoV is highly import-ant in order to access the efficacy viral transmission as mutations and recombination of viral polymerase frequently occurs. It has been reported in critically ill patients who present with acute respiratory distress syndrome, there is reduction in peripheral blood lymphocytes. This finding in the context of adaptive immune response should be fully investigated since lymphocytes appear to be responsible in immuno-pathogenic events for Wuhan viral pneumonia. Par-ticularly, the evidence of viral presence in peripheral lymph organ may provide insight for further under-standing of immunopathogenesis of 2019-nCoV, let alone it provides better understanding of the patho-genic process in lung microenvironment. To effectively unlock the ambiguous mode of trans-mission (so far animal-human, person-to-person, Euro Clinical Microbiology 2020 Reflections on Wuhan Viral Pneumonia (2019-nCov)Reza NassiriDepartments of Pharmacology and Toxicology, and, Family and Community Medicine, Michigan State Uni-versity, East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Plant Biotechnology and Microbiology Short Communication2020Vol. 3, Iss. 2
Plant Biotechnology and Microbiology Short Communication2020Vol. 3, Iss. 2symptomatic carriers, and super spreaders have been reported) international research exchanges are urgently needed to coherently address so many questions about the biological, immunological and pathological characteristics of this novel virus. It appears the transmission of 2019-nCoV occurs fast by the means of miniscule contact droplets or pos-sibly via airborne transmission. Measures to pre-vent or reduce transmission should be implement-ed in populations at risk applying the principles of public health prevention and control with emphasis on contact tracing and surveillance issues. In addi-tion, deeper investigation of the specific immune response to acute infection will shed more lights on pulmonary and systemic inflammatory responses as-sociated with 2019-nCoV. The immune response to coronaviruses in general is presumed to be triggered by the innate immune system when it recognizes the corona family viruses. Regarding the presumptive si-lent carriers of the virus in the endemic regions who present non-respiratory symptoms such as diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, should be promptly evaluated for possible coronavirus infection. Because of sever-al uncertainties of 2019-nCov, the full scientific ev-idenced-based investigations necessitate stakehold-ers of various agencies collaborate and communicate efficiently through transparency, openness, and most importantly, unbiased data sharing – One Health concept. One Health integrates collaboration and communication of a broad range of biological, micro-biological, biomedical and other related disciplines to focus on 2019-nCoV parameters such as animal reservoir(s), transmission route(s), epidemic curve, viral kinetics in the host system, clinical microbiolog-ical findings, unusual symptoms presentation in few clusters, and most importantly, autopsy findings that will help to foster more effective care and preventive strategies. Dr. Nassiri is hematologist with a fellowship training in biochemical pharmacology. He is currently Profes-sor of Pharmacology and Toxicology, and, Family and Community Medicine, lecturer in Global Health, In-fectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. He has served as director of the MSU Institute of Inter-national Health and as a former Associate Dean of Global Health. He currently works on global health issues particularly antibiotic resistance and viruses without borders. He has made significant contribu-tions in various fields of medical sciences including clinical investigation, health education, and academic medicine. Based on his extensive experience and ex-pertise in chronic infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS and diseases of the tropics, he had previously developed clinical research programs in Brazil, South Africa, Haiti, Dominican Republic and Mexico. He had served as editorial board member for the journal of HIV and AIDS Review. He is currently on editorial board member for AIDS Patient Care and STDs. Prof. Nassiri has delivered seminar presentations on Tropi-cal Medicine, HIV/AIDS, Antibiotic Resistance, deadly viral epidemics and Global Health, in numerous na-tional and international conferences and workshops. He is internationally recognized for his work in the areas of building effective international partnerships particularly in global health, community health, clin-ical care capacity building, and technical assistance mechanisms. He is the founder of Michigan State University Osteopathic and Primary Health Clinic in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. He has developed academ-ic and research partnership programs with Federal University of Para Institute of Tropical Medicine in Belem, Brazil. His research interests are clinical phar-macology of anti-infective agents, deadly viral epi-demics, antibiotic resistance, prevention and control of infectious diseases, tropical diseases, community health, global health, and community-based public health interventions. In collaboration with his Bra-zilian colleagues, he conducts research in the eastern Brazilian Amazon population on incidence and prev-alence of HIV, TB, Hepatitis C, HPV, and antimicrobial resistance


The Bretton Woods System frequently appears in the scholarly literature as a model for international monetary reform. This paper briefly considers its operation. It argues that the system's principal achievement, the maintenance of stable exchange rates, was product not of the agreement finalized at the Bretton Woods Conference alone but of two exceptional features of the postwar world. One was the limited international mobility of capital. Capital controls provided policymakers room for maneuver; they softened the tradeoff between domestic objectives and defense of the exchange-rate peg. The other was singular scope for growth resulting from postwar reconstruction and catch-up. In these circumstances, countries felt little need to engage in discretionary monetary and fiscal policies that might have undermined the currency peg.


There is a great need for research that would provide empirical support for interventions and approaches to acute care that reduce the morbidity and mortality of suicide-related thoughts and behaviors in adolescents (Corcoran et al., 2011). The treatment adolescents currently receive on inpatient psychiatric units is sub-par, and this is not due to the experience and skills of clinicians, but rather, the larger system of psychiatric care in the United States. When parents agree to psychiatric hospitalization for their adolescents, they typically believe their adolescents will receive treatment at these units. However, rather than receive the active treatment they need on these units, they are essentially held there until they are "stable enough" to receive community-based residential treatment or outpatient treatment. This is an extremely ineffective way to treat adolescents with active suiciderelated thoughts and behaviors. Why not take advantage of the time when they are in crisis to deliver evidence-based treatments in brief formats but intensive doses? Currently, there are no evidence-based psychiatric inpatient treatments that have been found to reduce the frequency of suicide-related behaviors or suicide attempts subsequent to discharge (Knesper, 2010). Therefore, there is a critical need for the development and testing of brief, but intensive, treatments that can be delivered in acute psychiatric care settings (Knesper, 2010).


Recently, wet blasting is generally used such as liquid honing and water jet machining in surface before plating of stainless steel. The outstanding feature of wet blasting is to prevent generation of static electric charge, to use micro abrasive grain, and to have cushioning for workpiece. On the other hand, the disadvantage of wet blasting is to generate corrosion of equipment and liquid waste under processing. Moreover, the using abrasive grain is available on a limited basis. In particular, improvement disposal of liquid waste under processing is crucial in the near future. This paper makes proposal for improvement of surface texture by utilizing dry blasting, and it conducts improvement of surface texture about martensite stainless steel (SUS420J2 In JIS), which is used in material for scale applications. As a result, it is cleared that relationship between surface texture and blasting conditions. Furthermore, based on these results, it reports relationship between surface texture and wettability.


This attempt to correlate Jung's work with practical psychiatry is concerned mainly with his conception of clinical types. Jung went far away from the provinces of clinical medicine and psychiatry for his evidence, and the possible cause for this is discussed.He expands his view of introversion and extraversion, and so the suggestion is made that for practical purposes his early limitation of these terms should be maintained. The difficulties encountered in type description by comparison and contrast are emphasized. The value of his conception of basic functions is discussed and criticized.A review is made of the personalities he describes, and a simplification of his resulting classification suggested for practical purposes. The notion is put forward that Jung describes one type in psychological adaptation much better than any others, and it is hinted that his psycho-pathological description of this type in nerve disorder constitutes his main contribution to clinical psychiatry. A review of the treatable nerve disorders suggests that this disorder has received more adequate description from Jung than any other, and reveals a unique method of investigation and therapy. This does not apply to his other descriptions. Possibly some of the vagueness attributed to Jung is because he did not give this disorder an adequate diagnosis, and an explanation for this is offered.The correlation between the simplified classification and the classification of treatable nerve disorders is close, and it is suggested that this constitutes Jung's contribution to clinical psychiatry in general. The application of Jung's principles is of daily help to the practising psychiatrist.


This article presents multi-layered basic research culminating in what we call the Master Code of Biology. First, we review the "Formula for Life" discovery. This simple formula unifies all the components of life, structuring them in a kind of "Periodic table of Biology". These components include bio-atoms, CONHSP, nucleotides, UTCAG, amino acids, DNA and RNA strands, proteins, genes, chromosomes and genomes. This discovery opens the door to powerful insights in exobiology, proposing a specific life-emerging constraint on the tuning and balancing of isotope proportions. Second, we introduce the "Master Code of Biology", digital language supplying a common alphabet to the three fundamental languages of Genetics, Biology and Genomics. This synthesis goes above and beyond their three representative DNA, RNA and amino acids codes. There is a universal common code which unifies, connects and contains all these three languages. This "Master Code of Biology" provides a great Unification between the Master Code patterned images of Genomics (DNA) and Proteomics (amino acids), which appear highly correlated while RNA images curiously appear flat like a neutral or zero-like code. Third, the functionality of this discovery is evidenced by two examples. Analyzing textures of the Genomic and Proteomic patterned curves reveals the emergence of binary codes and discrete waveforms. These predict the well-known karyotypes- white/grey/black bands overlapping and characterizing the human chromosomes. Mapping "the Master Code of Biology" to SNP genomic areas, we show that SNPs are determined to be more functional by their location within the genome than by their local values– TCAG nucleotide changes. Finally, we demonstrate that a chromosomal DNA sequences systematic reshaping combined with periodic waves highlighted above brings out, at whole chromosome scale, interferometry-like interference fields manifested by resonances, tunings, and even resonances that exhibit Fibonacci number proportions differentiating human and great primates at whole chromosome4 scale.


Introduction: We performed a 12-week randomized placebo-controlled crossover study to examine the effects of sodium and potassium supplementation on blood pressure (BP) and arterial stiffness in untreated (pre)hypertensive individuals on a low-sodium, low-potassium diet. Methods: During the study, subjects were on a fully controlled diet that provided on average 2.4 g/d of sodium (equals 6 g/d of salt) and 2.2 g/d of potassium. After a 1-week run-in period, 37 subjects received capsules with supplemental sodium (3 g/d, equals 7.5 g/d of salt), supplemental potassium (3 g/d), or placebo, for four weeks each (not separated by wash-out), in random order. Fasting office BP, 24-h ambulatory BP, and measures of arterial stiffness (SphygmoCor®) were assessed at baseline and after each treatment. Results: Subjects had a mean pre-treatment BP of 145/81 mmHg and 68% (25 of 37) had systolic BP (SBP) ≥140 mmHg. In 36 subjects who completed the study, sodium supplementation increased urinary sodium by 97.6 mmol/24h (2.2 g/d) and potassium supplementation increased urinary potassium by 62.9 mmol/24h (2.5 g/d), compared to placebo (Table). Sodium supplementation significantly increased office BP by 7.5/3.3 mmHg, 24-h BP by 7.0/2.1 mmHg and central BP by 8.5/3.6 mmHg. Potassium supplementation significantly reduced 24-h BP by 4.0/1.7 mmHg. Measures of arterial stiffness did not change. Conclusion: Increasing the intake of sodium has a strong adverse effect on BP in untreated (pre)hypertensive individuals. Increased potassium intake, however, lowers BP even when people are on a reduced sodium diet. Short-term changes in sodium and potassium intake have little effect on arterial stiffness. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01575041


Drawing on data from the Socio-economic Panel (SOEP) for 2018, we use a sample of 2,145 heterosexual couples with children below age 13 to investigate the paternal involvement in domestic childcare and the relation of the underlying mechanisms to the two job-related "Covid-19 factors" systemic relevance (SR) and capacity to work from home (WfH). Based on bi- and trivariate analyses of the intra-couple distribution of time, income and gender roles before the crisis and their likely change during the pandemic depending on parents' job characteristics SR and WfH, we nominate three couple constellations which are most likely to manifest an increase in the proportion of paternal childcare in the post-pandemic period. Depending on the specification of access to emergency care, we quantify a share of 7-8% of couples as 'sources of hope'. We further expect positive impulses for gender equality not only in the private but also in the corporate sphere, especially through multiplier effects, which are likely to emanate from fathers in managerial positions.


Most modern definitions of professions connect professional knowledge to higher scientific studies and a higher education degree. One example is Talcott Parsons' definition of professions requiring formal technical training for the mastery of a generalized cultural tradition in a manner giving prominence to an intellectual component as applied to a particular field. Another is the definition of Eliot Freidson, which describes professions as links between high levels of formal education and rewards in the social division of labour. Basil Bernstein (2000) discusses this in relation to teacher education as professional knowledge based on and achieved following years of higher education training. This issue is discussed and illustrated in the present paper in relation to teacher education policy developments in two European countries; Sweden and England. Some common elements are described as is a tendency to turn away from scientific professional knowledge in the two countries in recent decades towards a more generic professional knowledge.


The objective of this study was to elucidate the natural rodent host relationships of Guanarito and Pirital viruses (family Arenaviridae) in the plains of central Venezuela. Ninety-two arenavirus isolates from 607 animals, representing 10 different rodent species, were characterized to the level of serotype. The 92 isolates comprised 19 Guanarito virus strains and 73 Pirital virus strains. The 19 Guanarito virus isolates were from Zygodontomys brevicauda; 72 (98.6%) of the 73 Pirital virus isolates were from Sigmodon alstoni. These results indicate that the natural rodent associations of these 2 sympatric arenaviruses are highly specific and that Z brevicauda and S. alstoni are the principal rodent hosts of Guanarito and Pirital viruses, respectively.


This study is to ascertain the present status of cholelithiasis in our environment. Six hundred and seventy (670) consecutive abdominal, ultrasounds done for various abdominal complaints at the University College HospitaL Ibadan from January 1977 to December 1998 were studied for gall stones in addition to other studies of the abdomen. Only twelve (12) gallstones were found, giving a prevalence of 1.79%. Only 25% were silent stones. The male:female ratio was 1:3. The mean age was 30 years (S.D = 2.8) and peak age was between 30 and 40 years. The average body mass index (B.M.I) was 23.49 kg/m2 (S.D = 3.9). The average parity among the women was four (4). Only one ultrasound was false (false negative). This study shows an increase. In prevalence over previous figures (1.79%) as against 0.007% in the sixties). The peak age is a decade lower and the anthropometric measurements in our patients do not support the typical caucassian model.


In the 1980's, nontuberculous myobacteria (NTM) was recognized as the common cause of disseminated infection in patients who were severely immunocompromised. In Thailand, a study was reported where almost half of the disseminated NTM infections in HIV negative cases were related to farming. NTM contaminated soil and water lead to tissue invasion and cause disease. In recent years, Bangkok Hospital Medical Center has observed a constant rise of patients diagnosed with NTM with or without accompanying disease or infection. Diagnosing NTM has been made easier with the availability and aid of endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) in collecting specimens for culture and to indicate sensitivity.
OBJECTIVES:
To illustrate 10 different cases and management of NTM.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
From 2012-2014, data from NTM positive patients from culture and sensitivity results were collected.
RESULTS:
10 HIV negative cases of NTM were identified by bronchoscopy, endobronchial ultrasonogram guided sheath (EBUS-GS) and sputum culture. The age ranged from 41 to 89 years old with a mean of 64 years. There were eight females (80%), most were menopausal (87.5%) and two males (20%). Underlying conditions included diabetes mellitus (30%), coexisting Tuberculosis (50%) and 10% with lung cancer. All suffered from respiratory symptoms such as fever, dyspnea, sputum production and abnormal chest x-ray and chest CT scan results. All were identified by using EBUS (70%) or sputum culture (20%) or bronchoscopy (10%). Bacteria recorded were myobacterium avium complex (MAC) (30%), myobacterium intracellulare complex (MIC) (10%) and 60% were unidentified specific NTM bacteria. All responded well to Macrolide and Quinolone treatment. Specimens obtained from EBUS are highly reliable with the right laboratory setting to identify specific types of NTM.


Ocean wave energy is one of the cleanest renewable energy sources around the globe, but wave energy varies widely from place to place and from time to time. The long-term variability of wave power at 20 locations in the Indian shelf seas from 1979 to 2018 is described here using the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts recently released ERA5 reanalysis hourly data. The variability is calculated on a yearly and monthly basis for the locations based on the coefficient of variation. The annual average wave power varied from 2.3 (at location 16 in the western Bay of Bengal) to 11 kW/m (at location 2 in the northeastern Arabian Sea). Along the western shelf seas, the maximum value of wave power is during the southwest monsoon period and along the east coast, it is during the tropical cyclone period. The standard deviation in wave power is more than the mean value at locations along the northern shelf seas of India, indicating a large variability in wave power in an annual cycle. The west coast locations are shown to have a slightly higher increasing trend with an average of 0.024 kW/m per year, while the increasing trend in wave power of east coast locations is with an average of 0.015 kW/m per year. The study also examines the variation in wave power from deep to shallow water at 2 locations using the wave characteristics obtained from the numerical model SWAN. The electric power output from a few wave energy converters are calculated for all the locations and found that the southernmost locations have a steady and higher percentage of power production.


I can think of no way by which to prevent the more ambitious from taking the C.M.B. and of limiting the number of candidates except by creating a whole-time midwives, service and thus guaranteeing a proper living wage, pension, etc. Another advantage might arise from such a whole-time service-namely, that the midwives would more readily seek the advice of medical practitioners concerning their patients, whereas at present, in spite of the C.M.B. regulations, it would appear to be rather helpful in their practice to say: " I seldom have to call in a doctor. "-I am, etc.,


Nacrtak The work was carried out in Caprarola (Viterbo, Central Italy), in an aged Quercus cerris L. coppice positioned in hill zones, with 45% average slope. Harvesting was conducted according to the shortwood system (SWS). Felling and processing were done by chainsaw, while the bunching was performed with three different systems: in Plot 1 with mules, in Plot 2 with a tractor-mounted winch, in Plot 3 with poliethylene chutes. Logs were then forwarded to the roadside landing with a farm tractor, equipped with front and rear container bins. Finally, transportation from the landing to the company depot was performed with a truck and trailer unit. In order to speed up loading, a tractor equipped with a loader was used during this stage. On the basis of time consumption, product output and energy consumption, the authors estimated both the productivity and the energy balance obtained with each system. The best extraction productivity (PSH0) was achieved in Plot 2 (winching, 0.8 td.w. h–1 worker–1), while the lowest one was achieved in Plot 1 (mules, 0.5 td.w. h–1 worker–1). The energetic efficiency was high in all the plots (on average, 97.6±0.3%). No correlation between time consumption and energy efficiency was observed. For Plot 3, high productivity, low time consumption and high system efficiency suggest that chutes are the most efficient bunching method from the energetic viewpoint. As the site was in a Nature Reserve and chutes are known to minimize damage to soil and seedlings, this system is to be recommended from both the energetic and environmental point of view, provided that wood can be extracted downhill.


Since it is generally assumed that creativity is desirable, the question arises of how can schools be improved to foster its development. To investigate one aspect of this problem, a study was undertaken by the writer. The purpose of this research was to examine longitudinally, the relationship between the creativity of elementary school children and the school organizational climate to which they had been exposed. The instruments utilised to gather data were the Organizational Climate Descriptive Questionnaire and the Torrance Tests of Creativity (Verbal Form A).4 The O.C.D.Q. describes the behavioral interaction of a school's faculty. This interaction can be classified along a continuum of climates: Open, Autonomous, Controlled, Familiar, Paternal, Closed. Also, there are eight subtests of climate, four of which pertain to the behavior of teachers as a group: Disengagement, Hindrance, Esprit, Intimacy; and four which pertain primarily to the principal's behavior: Aloofness, Production Emphasis, Thrust, and Consideration. Torrance's Tests of Creativity sampled the creative traits of Fluency, Flexibility, and Originality on seven parallel tasks.


Activities and constraints of artisanal fishers in the Lower Taylor Creek in the Niger Delta Area were studied for a period of one year (January–December 2011). Data was obtained from a sample of 150 selected artisanal fishers cutting across the major fishing communities in the area namely Asingbene, Okolobiri, Obunagha, Koroama and Polaku. A two stage random sampling technique was used in the selection of fishers. Instrument used in gathering information from the fishers was structured interview schedule. Data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics such as frequency counts and percentages. The results revealed that 42.22% of the fishers were within the active age range of 31–40 years while 4.44% were within the non-active age range (51 – 60 years). Male fishers recorded 72.22% while 27.78% were females. The survey showed that 30.00% had no formal education indicating that the level of illiteracy is high among the fishers while 3.33% had tertiary education. Most of the fishers (98.89%) used crafts such as paddles and canoes while 1.11% used outboard engines. Commonest gear used included traps (45.56%) hook and longline (5.56%). The most pressing constraints faced by fishers include lack of potable water, epileptic power supply and no good markets. Therefore, basic social infrastructures should be provided for the artisanal fishing communities in order to promote their social lives, welfare, standard of living and the capacity to have sustainable fishing activities in the interest of food security and poverty alleviation. Keywords: Challenges, condition, small-scale fishers, Taylor Creek, Niger Delta Journal of Aquatic Sciences 28 (1): 1-8 (2013)


Online shops such as Amazon, eBay, and Etsy continue to expand their presence in multiple countries, creating new resource-scarce marketplaces with thousands of items. We consider a marketplace to be resource-scarce when only limited user-generated data is available about the products (e.g., ratings, reviews, and product-related questions). In such a marketplace, an information retrieval system is less likely to help users � nd answers to their questions about the products. As a result, questions posted online may go unanswered for extended periods. This study investigates the impact of using available data in a resource-rich marketplace to answer new questions in a resource-scarce marketplace, a new problem we call cross-market question answering . To study this problem's potential impact, we collect and annotate a new dataset, XMarket-QA, from Amazon's UK (resource-scarce) and US (resource-rich) local marketplaces. We conduct a data analysis to understand the scope of the cross-market question-answering task. This analysis shows a temporal gap of almost one year between the � rst question answered in the UK marketplace and the US marketplace. Also, it shows that the � rst question about a product is posted in the UK marketplace only when 28 questions, on average, have already been answered about the same product in the US marketplace. Human annotations demonstrate that, on average, 65% of the questions in the UK marketplace can be answered within the US marketplace, supporting the concept of cross-market question answering. Inspired by these � ndings, we develop a new method, CMJim, which utilizes product similarities across marketplaces in the training phase for retrieving answers from the resource-rich marketplace


BackgroundThere is a high incidence of ventricular arrhythmia and sudden death in patients with heart failure. Unfortunately, currently available antiarrhythmic agents have only limited efficacy and may result in proarrhythmia and hemodynamic deterioration in these patients. Methods and Results We studied the acute effect of intravenous Methods and ResultsWe studied the acute effect of intravenous magnesium chloride on the frequency and severity of ventricular arrhythmia in 30 patients with symptomatic heart failure using a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover design. The left ventricular ejection fraction was 23.0±8.0% (mean±SD). No patient had a history of symptomatic ventricular arrhythmia or was receiving antiarrhythmic agents, calcium channel antagonists, or P-blockers. Patients were randomized to receive placebo (5% dextrose [D5W] in water alone) or magnesium chloride in D5W given as a bolus of 0.3 mEq/kg over 10 minutes followed by a maintenance infusion of 0.08 mEq/kg per hour for 24 hours. The magnesium concentrations 30 minutes and 24 hours after the bolus were 3.6±0.1 and 4.2±0.1 mg/dL, respectively. There was no significant change in serum potassium concentration during magnesium administration. Blinded analysis revealed that administration of intravenous magnesium chloride, compared with placebo, significantly decreased total ventricular ectopy per hour (mean±SEM, 70±26 versus 149±64. P < .001), couplets per day (23±11 versus 94±59, P = .007), and episodes of ventricular tachycardia per day (0.8±0.2 versus 2.6±1.0, P = .051). ConclusionsIntravenous magnesium chloride administration reduces the frequency of ventricular arrhythmia in patients with symptomatic heart failure.


Sir .—The optimal treatment of patients with histiocytosis X remains uncertain. Preliminary clinical studies 1-6 have demonstrated that a thymic hormone preparation may be a useful therapy for this disease. The Food and Drug Administration is sponsoring a clinical trial of Suppressin A, one such thymic hormone drug. The purpose of this prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study is to determine if Suppressin A is biologically active in histiocytosis X. I am the principal investigator of this study and am writing to you at this time to solicit patient referrals. The study includes both children and adults with histiocytosis X and patients can be either newly diagnosed or recently relapsed. Please write or call me collect ([617] 638-4182) for further information. Thank you very much for your cooperation in this regard.


We study the running of power spectra in inflationary cosmology by reformulating the slow roll expansion as a renormalization-group flow from the de Sitter fixed point. The beta function is provided by the equations of the background metric. The spectra of the scalar and tensor fluctuations obey RG evolution equations with vanishing anomalous dimensions in the superhorizon limit. By organizing the perturbative expansion in terms of leading and subleading logs, we calculate the spectral indices, their runnings, the runnings of the runnings, etc., to the next-to-leading log order in quantum gravity with fakeons (i.e., the theory R+R2+C2 with the fakeon prescription/projection for C2). We show that these quantities are related to the spectra in a universal way. We also compute the first correction to the relation r=−8nT and provide a number of quantum gravity predictions that can be hopefully tested in the forthcoming future.


The seeds of jojoba [ Simmondsia chinensis (Link) Schneider] contain a unique oil known as jojoba oil. It mainly consists of liquid wax monoesters with structures similar to human sebum wax and is popular as a cosmetic ingredient. We previously observed that the oxidative stability and antioxidant activity of crude jojoba oil are higher than those of many other vegetable oils. In this study, these two parameters were determined and compared among crude jojoba oils from different companies, countries, and years of production, together with deodorized or refined oils. Oxidative stability and antioxidant activity vary among crude oils, and there was a negligible correlation between these two parameters. Both deodorized and refined oils showed lower antioxidant activities than crude oils. In addition to wax esters, triglycerides and squalene are other major oil components of human sebum. To compare the autooxidation of jojoba oil (wax ester), olive oil (triglyceride), and squalene, we measured their acid, peroxide, and carbonyl values after heat treatment at 60°C for 60 d. The acid value did not change in jojoba oil but increased in the other ones. In addition, the peroxide and carbonyl values were the lowest in jojoba oil following heat treatment. These results suggest that jojoba oil was the most stable in terms of autooxidation among these three investigated oils. Finally, we determined the cytotoxicity of olive and jojoba oils in human epidermal cells, and concluded that they were non-toxic after heating at 60°C for 30 or 60 d.


This paper proposed a fault diagnosis based on multi-sensor information fusion for rolling bearing. This method used the energy value of multiple sensors is used as feature vector and a binary tree support vector machine (Binary Tree Support Vector Machine, BT-SVM) is used for pattern recognition and fault diagnosis. By analyzing the training samples, penalty factor and the kernel function parameters have effects on the recognition rate of bearing fault, then a approximate method to determine optimum value are proposed, Compared with the traditional single sensor by using the components energy of EMD as feature, the results show that the proposed method in this paper significantly reduce feature extraction time, and improve diagnostic accuracy, which is up to99.82%. This method is simple, effective and fast in feature extraction and meets the bearing diagnosis requirement of real-time fault diagnosis.


This dissertation focuses on the design, fabrication, and study necessary for a renal cell device that mimics the bioreactor component of a bioartificial kidney. The motivation behind the project is to further the development toward an implantable bioartificial human kidney that will improve the quality of life for end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. The bioartificial kidney system contains two units: i) a hemofilter based upon nanoporous silicon membranes, and ii) a bioreactor composed of kidney proximal tubule (PT) cells. The Roy group has pioneered work in membranes that have been engineered with the use of silicon-based microfabrication techniques to attain pore slits with a width of 8-11 nm. The fabricated nanopore membranes allow for a device with tight pore size distribution, complete immunoisolation, and modifiable surface chemistry. These are critical membrane specifications that make them well suited for this application. These silicon nanopore membranes (SNMs) serve the basis of a hemofilter for a bioartificial kidney. The function of the hemofilter is to selectively pass molecules in the blood that are smaller than proteins and cells found in the blood to produce filtrate. The filtrate, essentially plasma, then can be passed to the bioreactor for sufficient reabsorption of water and vital molecules back into the blood, thereby concentrating the remaining filtrate and passing it on to the bladder as waste. In order to prevent an immune response by the host one needs to design the bioreactor with a sufficient immunoisolation barrier between the cells and the blood. The aforementioned membranes are a likely candidate.In order to evaluate the performance of the overall bioreactor module the mass transport through each layer of this system has been characterized. First, a process flow system has been designed to measure the membrane permeability to specific solutes of therapeutic interest NaCl (MW 58 Da), urea (MW 60 Da), creatinine (MW 113 Da), beta 2-microglobulin (B2M) (MW 11,800 Da) dissolved in a phosphate buffered saline (PBS) solution with bovine serum albumin (BSA) (66,000 Da). Second, a device compatible with commercially available Corning SnapwellTM inserts was designed to characterize proximal tubule cell function in planar flow. Lewis Lung Cancer Porcine Kidney Cells (LLC-PK1) were statically cultured on the porous membranes of the Snapwells before assembly into the devices and exposing cells to physiological shear stress levels. Finally, using rapid fabrication techniques a SNM cell culture scaffold has been developed in order to fix a SNM membrane adjacent to a commercial polycarbonate tissue culture membrane for viability and characterization of solute reabsorption. It has been shown that the diffusive permeability through the SNM is on the same order as commercial hemodialyzer membranes. Moreover, membrane resistance is sufficiently low to allow the bioreactor system to be cellular-transport limited. Additionally, the Snapwell system maintains LLC-PK1 barrier function with 3.5 fold increase in reabsorption performance with increasing shear stress rates. Finally, the SNM tissue culture system shows viability on SNM for up to 1 week with sustained creatinine and urea barrier performance.


Of Ancient Greek origins, the concept of prosthetics unfolds across centuries, denoting an 'addition', 'application', or 'attachment'. For most part, it is used in its medicalised sense, as an 'instrument' especially designed to restore the functionality of missing or disabled body parts. This issue of M/C Journal seeks to explore the meaning of 'prosthetics' beyond its iatric employment. It aims to emphasize prosthetics' functions and resulting outcomes as 'application' or 'attachment' to a structure, either natural – innate, or artificial – cultural, that needs further development or transformation. The ten contributions significantly align with the editorial scope, unpacking the concept of 'prosthetics' and offering a vast array of alternative uses of the term. In the feature article of the issue, Pamela See (Xue Mei-Ling) examines branding as prosthesis of identity. See frames the practice of branding from the Halaf Period (6100-5100 BCE) to the present as a method of imbuing the identity of a person, family, clan, organisation or kingdom. Brands, then, propose a system that assists consumers to convey and recognizes identities at prima facie. Ultimately, individuals evoke the subsequent brands as prosthetics in the process of value attribution, writes See, but, also, to signal to one another.A different take on the role of prosthetics in identity formation is advanced by Alexander Hudson Beare. Drawing upon the HBO original series The Sopranos, Beare argues how the characters of Tony and his friends, severed from their Italian origins, employ prosthetic memories to create hybrid ethnic identities. Filmmaking industry proves to be an inspiring field for the investigation on alternative uses of the concept of prosthetics. Sharon Jane Mee focuses on Errol Morris's documentary Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. to demonstrate how various apparatuses – such as the cinematic one – operates prosthetically. Eventually, Mee expands her argument, contending that cinema itself is a prosthesis of film spectatorship. At her turn, Maria Alberto examines how Steven Spielberg's 2001 film A.I. Artificial Intelligence complicates the 'prosthetic impulse' by depicting prosthetics as technologies that enhance, augment, or replace parts of social bodies such as the nuclear family.This use of prosthetics is also explored by Fiona Andreallo and Chris Chesher in their commentary upon the sex robots market. Rather than simply rejecting the possibility that sexbots can be sexual partners or companions, the authors argue that they can be considered as a medium for companionship. Therefore, in field literature terms, the sex robots represent extensions, or prostheses, that support sexuality and parasocial companionship. A new contribution to the debate is made by Pamela J Kincheloe who considers how the American Sign Language (ASL), is used in media as a narrative prosthetic. Excerpted from a longer chapter for a book in progress, her article takes a very quick look at how American Sign Language is becoming more and more visible in mainstream visual culture, how it is being commodified and serves a prosthetic device that reinforces normalcy in various cultural narratives. The essay poses questions about the possible consequence, positive and negative, of this use of a living language.The impact of media technology on the various developments of the concept of prosthetics, is discussed by Lekhaa A Nair and Lauren Cruikshank. Through her article, Nair positions self-tracking technology (STT) as an interactive media technology, a tool for surveillance and regulation, and, specifically, an 'extension of man'. She argues that STT is able to extend man's natural capabilities as a result of datafication and regulation, and shows how this process can compromise personal autonomy. In this context, Cruikshank's article reaches a significant conclusion. Only by acknowledging and exploring how our embodied relationships with media technologies are complex, contested, and often uncomfortable, emphasizes Cruikshank, we can construct alternative, more equitable models for media prosthesis.An introspective look on prosthetics is taken by Elaine M Laforteza's examination on how prosthetic devices are used to treat chronic and auto-immune conditions. Reflecting upon her experiences with surviving Type 1 diabetes for 28 years, Laforteza raises a number of challenging questions: What happens when insulin pump technologies fail? What then happens to the human body that is attached to the pump? How can we speak, write and think about re-organised bodies in which, for example, an internal organ's pancreatic beta cells (those that secrete insulin), are external to the body and battery operated? The possibilities of the body are further explored, in an artistic context this time, by Ali Na. Analysing the contemporary art installations The Slug Princess of the Degenerate Art Ensemble (DAE) and the performance installation Cultural Animal of Xu Bing, Na examines the prosthetic prospects and capacities of the body around issues of race, animality, and aesthetics. Although far from exhausting the multiplicity of alternative meanings and interpretations of the term, this issue of M/C Journal opens up new perspectives for the re-defining and re-inventing of the concept of prosthetics, and, we hope, encourages future research avenues. We are highly grateful to our contributors and reviewers for accepting this challenge.


Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the name given to a condition characterised by inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Although there are many historical descriptions of these behaviours in children,1 definitions of ADHD as a disease emerged in the 1980s, when the practice of classifying mental disorders became popular and the DSM-III and ICD-9 diagnostic systems shifted the scientific focus on mental illness from aetiological debates to finding practical and reliable disease descriptions.

The term ADHD, drawn from the DSM-III, was initially used only in North America. In Europe, the term 'hyperkinetic disorder' was used and was initially reserved only for the most severe cases. The broader definition afforded by the DSM eventually led to a corresponding rise in diagnosis rates in Europe, although they were still dwarfed by the much higher rates seen in the US. This historic diversion in practice has been partly explained by differing diagnostic criteria, but also by the power of the pharmaceutical industry, advocacy groups, and the internet.2 A comprehensive 2015 meta-analysis included 175 ADHD prevalence studies and suggested an overall pooled estimate of 7.2%, although few included studies were from outside of Europe and North America.3

Prescribing rates are naturally closely linked to prevalence and have also received much attention. A 2016 study explored prescribing patterns of ADHD drugs in children in the UK using primary care records, finding a dramatic increase in use from 1992 until around 2008, with stable levels of use since then.4 Indeed, ADHD drug use in children aged <16 years increased a staggering 34-fold overall in that 16-year period. The steadying of prevalence in …


A single-ion microbeam facility has been constructed by the microbeam research group in ASIPP (Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Science). The system was designed to deliver defined numbers of hydrogen ions produced by a van de Graaff accelerator, covering an energy range from 200 keV to 3 MeV, into living cells (5 μm–20 μm diameter) growing in culture on thin plastic films. The beam is collimated by a 1- μm inner diameter HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography) capillary, which forms the micron-dimensional beam-line exit. A microbeam collimator, a scintillation ion counting system and a fast beam shutter, which constitute a precise dosage measuring and controlling system, jointly perform quantitative single-ion irradiation. With this facility, we can presently acquire ion-hitting efficiency close to 95%.


Caching strategies can improve the overall performance of a system by allowing the fast processor and slow memory to at a same pace. One important factor in caching is the replacement policy. Advancement in technology results in evolution of a huge number of techniques and algorithms implemented to improve cache performance. In this paper, analysis is done on different cache optimization techniques as well as replacement algorithms. Furthermore this paper presents a comprehensive statistical comparison of cache optimization techniques.To the best of our knowledge there is no numerical measure which can tell us the rating of specific cache optimization technique. We tried to come up with such a numerical figure. By statistical comparison we find out which technique is more consistent among all others. For said purpose we calculated mean and CV (Coefficient of Variation). CV tells us about which technique is more consistent. Comparative analysis of different techniques shows that victim cache has more consistent technique among all.


Bones are complex objects with considerable variation in the shape and structure often attributed to anatomical, environmental or genetic differences. In addition, bone shape has been of interest in relation to its associations with disease processes. Hip shape is an important determinant of hip osteoarthritis and osteoporotic hip fracture; however, its quantification is difficult. While previous studies largely focused on individual geometrical indices of hip geometry such as neck-shaft angle or femoral neck width, statistical shape modelling offers the means to quantify the entire contour of the proximal femur, including lesser trochanter and acetabular eyebrow. We describe the derivation of independent modes of variation (hip shape mode scores) to characterise variation in hip shape from dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) images in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) offspring, using statistical shape modelling. ALSPAC is a rich source of phenotypic and genotypic data which provides a unique opportunity to investigate the environmental and genetic influences on hip shape in adolescence, as well as comparison with adult hip shape.


The Sung Home tells the story of Kurdish singer-poets (dengbejs) and the political context in which they perform. Their lyrics, life stories, and live performances offer fascinating insights into cultural practices, local politics and the contingencies of state borders.


We have combined electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), geologic information from boreholes and outcrops, and hydrogeologic data to investigate field-scale fault-zone cementation of the Loma Blanca Fault in the Rio Grande Rift. We have collected electrical resistivity data from 16 transects and geologic samples from 29 boreholes (completed as groundwater wells to 30 m depth) across and around the fault. The 2D ERT profiles, whose interpretations are constrained by geologic data, indicate (1) a high resistivity zone in cemented portions of the fault below the water table and (2) in the unsaturated zone, a low-resistivity feature along the cemented portions of the fault. The high-resistivity zone below the water table is consistent with a 10% reduction in porosity due to the fault zone cementation. With the same porosity in the unsaturated zone, the low-resistivity feature in the cemented fault zone is consistent with saturation >0.7, in contrast to saturation 0.2–0.7 for sediment outside of the cemented fault zone. In addition, subsurface samples and ERT profiles delineate a buttress unconformity (i.e., steeply dipping erosional contact) corresponding to a paleovalley margin. This unconformity truncates the cemented fault zone and separates Pliocene axial-fluvial sand (deposited by an ancestral Rio Grande) from late Quaternary sand and gravel (deposited by the Rio Salado, a Rio Grande tributary). The cemented fault zone in the southern portion of the study area is a hydrogeologic barrier; north of the buttress unconformity, where the cemented fault zone has been removed by erosion, the fault is not a hydrogeologic barrier. The integration of geologic, geophysical, and hydrogeologic observations is key to developing our understanding of this complex system, and it allows us to demonstrate the utility of ERT in detecting subsurface fault-zone cementation.


In 2014, the provincial government unveiled a new courthouse in Thunder Bay, Ontario, featuring a conference area designed to emulate an Anishinaabe roundhouse. The "Aboriginal Conference Settlement Suite" epitomizes efforts to support Indigenous justice within the criminal justice system. However, despite similar efforts in the past, the circumstances of Indigenous peoples in Canada have not improved. This ongoing commitment to legal solutions is emblematic of mainstream views of law as a problem-solving instrument. Notwithstanding awareness of its failings, law reformers remain dedicated to using law as a tool for social change. Employing a case study method focusing on the new courthouse, I challenge a prevailing wisdom that law reform outputs are manageable and in our control. I argue that similar to a courthouse, which is a concrete, physical structure as well as a symbol of justice, so too is the legal instrument both material and metaphorical, with concrete outcomes and symbolic forms. While treating law as a literal tool may give law reformers a longed-for sense of mastery, this approach belies law's diffuse constitutive power and the various paradoxes in reformers' actions. Accepting law's dual nature is essential for candid and accurate assessments about the possibilities and limits of change through law.


: In a search for dry socket five hundred and thirty six (536) impacted third molars were surgically removed among 435 patients. Each patient was examined clinically and radiographically before surgery. 108 impacted teeth were removed for prophylactic and 428 for therapeutic reasons. A standard operating procedure was performed for each case and pre-operative and post-operative regimens was employed. After surgery each case was followed to determine the absence or presence of signs and symptoms of dry socket. It was found that total incidence of alveolar osteitis (dry socket) was 10.26%.


Full-combination multi-band approach has been proposed in the literature and performs well for band-limited noise. But the approach fails to deliver in case of wide-band noise. To overcome this, multi-stream approaches are proposed in literature with varying degree of success. Based on our observation that for a classifier trained on clean speech, the entropy at the output of the classifier increases in presence of noise at its input, we used entropy as a measure of confidence to give weightage to a classifier output. In this paper, we propose a new entropy based combination strategy for full-combination multi-stream approach. In this entropy based approach, a particular stream is weighted inversely proportional to the output entropy of its specific classifier. A few variations of this basic approach are also suggested. It is observed that the word-error-rate (WER) achieved by the proposed combination methods is better for different types of noises and for their different signal-to-noise-ratios (SNRs). Some interesting relationship is observed between the WER performances of different combination methods and their respective entropies.


Land leveling is one of the most important steps in soil preparation for agricultural and other purposes. . New techniques based on artificial intelligence, such as Artificial Neural Network, integrating Artificial Neural Network and Imperialist Competitive Algorithm (ICA-ANN), or Genetic Algorithms (GA-ANN), or Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO-ANN) have been employed for developing predictive models to estimate the energy related parameters and the results were compared to SPSS and Sensitivity Analysis results. In this study, several soil properties such as cut/fill volume, compressibility factor, specific gravity, moisture content, slope of the area, sand percent, and swelling index were measured and their effects on energy consumption were investigated. Totally 90 samples were collected from 3 land areas by grid size of 20m×20m. The aim of this work was to develop predictive models based on artificial intelligence techniques to predict the environmental indicators of land leveling. Results of sensitivity analysis illustrated that only three parameters consist of soil density, soil compressibility, and soil cut/fill volume had meaningful effects on energy consumption. Among the proposed methods, the GA-ANN had the most capability in prediction of the environmental energy parameters. However, for prediction of LE and FE the ANN and ICA-ANN algorithms had better performance


Left atrial pressure (LAP) and pulmonary artery wedge pressure (PWP) were measured at different heights during graded increases in positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP). Six healthy anesthetized dogs were placed in lateral decubitus positions with a balloon-tipped pulmonary artery catheter inserted in each lung. PWP in the gravitationally superior lung overestimated LAP at 15 and at 20 cm H2O PEEP (p less than 0.05). PWP in the dependent lung was virtually identical to LAP at all degrees of PEEP. Wedge blood could be aspirated through the distal lumen of the pulmonary artery catheters during balloon inflation at all degrees of PEEP except for 3 attempts. PCO2 in wedge blood in both the nondependent and dependent lungs at all degrees of PEEP was consistently lower than PCO2 in arterial blood (p less than 0.05). Wedge blood was arterialized, i.e., oxygen saturation greater than 95%, in all but 4 specimens. Surgical elimination of the bronchial artery supply to the lung in 3 dogs did not affect PWP or blood gas measurements. We conclude that in this animal model: (1) the tip of a pulmonary artery catheter must be below the level of the left atrium, Zone III location, to accurately reflect LAP at high degrees of PEEP; (2) arterialization of wedge blood samples does not guarantee that PWP reflects LAP; (3) bronchial artery blood supply does not affect PWP or wedge blood gas measurements, even at high degrees of PEEP.


Cyber-insurance is considered as appropriate means to absorb financial losses caused by computer security breaches. Since insurance markets at the same time create incentives to construct more secure systems, they are regarded as particularly desirable tools. However, this paper argues that the typical market structure in IT businesses may thwart the formation of a proper insurance market for cyber-risks: The worldwide dominance of a few system platforms leads to correlated losses, which require premium surcharges and are thus hard to insure. This paper refers to an indemnity insurance model to evaluate the conditions under which coverage for cyber-risks can be granted despite monocultures of installed platforms. Different premiums for users of dominant and alternative platforms are also addressed. Acting as a counterweight to the market leader's strong economies of scale, a cost advantage for users of less widespread platforms could foster a more balanced market structure.


The two-ligand model for allosteric regulation of complex polymeric enzymes is offered. Two types of cooperative interactions are observed--the cooperative transformations inside the promoter and interactions of promoters themselves--along with the direct interaction of two ligands inside each subunit. The solution of the model is given and its kinetic properties are discussed.


Oil recovery from naturally fractured reservoirs with low permeability rock remains a challenge. To provide a better understanding of spontaneous imbibition, a key oil recovery mechanism in the fractured reservoir rocks, a pore-scale computational study of the water imbibition into an artificially generated dual-permeability porous matrix with a fracture attached on top is conducted using a recently improved lattice Boltzmann color-gradient model. Several factors affecting the dynamic countercurrent imbibition processes and the resulting oil recovery have been analyzed, including the water injection velocity, the geometry configuration of the dual permeability zones, interfacial tension, the viscosity ratio of water to oil phases, and fracture spacing if there are multiple fractures. Depending on the water injection velocity and interfacial tension, three different imbibition regimes have been identified: the squeezing regime, the jetting regime, and the dripping regime, each with a distinctively different expelled oil morphology in the fracture. The geometry configuration of the high and low permeability zones affects the amount of oil that can be recovered by the countercurrent imbibition in a fracture-matrix system through transition of the different regimes. In the squeezing regime, which occurs at low water injection velocity, the build-up squeezing pressure upstream in the fracture enables more water to imbibe into the permeability zone closer to the fracture inlet thus increasing the oil recovery factor. A larger interfacial tension or a lower water-to-oil viscosity ratio is favorable for enhancing oil recovery, and new insights into the effect of the viscosity ratio are provided. Introducing an extra parallel fracture can effectively increase the oil recovery factor, and there is an optimal fracture spacing between the two adjacent horizontal fractures to maximize the oil recovery. These findings can aid the optimal design of water-injecting oil extraction in fractured rocks in reservoirs such as oil shale.


Multipath ring oscillators have been used to generate multiple clock phases and higher oscillation frequencies. This paper presents a modified linear analysis to find an accurate expression for the oscillation frequency and phase noise. The analysis shows that for the same power consumption, the number of phases can be increased without decreasing the oscillation frequency or degrading the phase noise. The expression further indicates factors that determine the oscillation frequency and shows that in principle, the maximum oscillation frequency can exceed that of a three-stage ring oscillator. The analytical results can be used to find the optimum coupling structure of the oscillator to achieve a desired operating frequency and phase noise performance.


The problem of efficiency of anti-corruption policy in Russia after the adoption of the Federal law "On combating corruption" is always the focus of extensive debate and analysis. The attention of the public and researchers especially involved with corruption in the public service, persons occupying positions of the Russian Federation, positions of constituent entities of the Russian Federation. A significant amount of relevant information on this topic gets in the media, journalists write about corruption, exposed the corruption, give the public information about the actions of the investigative agencies to combat corruption. However, corruption in the education system is on the periphery of public discussions. It is a well-known fact that the most characteristic sign of corruption is the conflict between the activities of the authorized person (officer, Deputy, judge, law enforcement officer, administrator, teacher, physician, etc.) and interests of society. The main determinant of this is the use of authority to obtain benefits in circumstances when the risk of being exposed and punished is minimal.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of our study was to evaluate intraoperative low-field MRI for the frequency and duration of imaging sessions needed during surgery, the direct additional procedure time attributable to imaging, and the proportion of cases in which information provided by intraoperative MRI led to a change in the procedure or otherwise was deemed valuable by operating surgeons.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
One hundred twenty-two patients (65 males, 57 females; age range, 6-77 years; mean age, 43.8 years) underwent 130 neurosurgical and ENT procedures (106 craniotomies, 17 transsphenoidal pituitary resections, three biopsies, three intracranial cyst aspirations or injections, and one skull base resection) in a specially designed surgical MRI suite equipped with a 0.2-T imager and a prototype rotating, tiltable surgical table. The intraoperative MR sequences included free induction with steady-state precession (fast imaging with steady-state precession [FISP]), steady-state free precession T2-weighted, reverse fast imaging with steady-state free precession (PSIF), FLASH, spin-echo T1-weighted, turbo spin-echo (TSE) T2-weighted, and TSE FLAIR. Each case was analyzed for the number of imaging sessions, duration of each session, total imaging time during surgery, and impact of imaging information on procedure.

RESULTS
Each patient underwent between one and five intraor postoperative imaging sessions. Imaging times were 1.7 seconds-8 minutes 31 seconds per sequence. The mean total imaging time was 35 minutes 17 seconds per surgical procedure. Imaging was continuous during biopsy and cyst aspiration procedures and averaged 200.67 and 54.66 minutes, respectively. Additional surgical resection based on intraoperative imaging findings was performed in 72.8% of the cases.

CONCLUSION
Intraoperative low-field MRI provides valuable information for surgical decision making that is predominantly related to detection of residual tumor and the exclusion of complications. The benefits of this technology surpass the time cost associated with its implementation when using proper imaging strategies.


Objective: Contrasting results are reported on the clinical course of acute diverticulitis (AD) in the geriatric population. The aim of this study is to compare the AD clinical outcomes between patients aged up to 80 years and those ≥80 years. Methods: A total of 1,139 patients were enrolled: 276 patients aged ≥80 years were compared with a group of 863 patients aged <80 years. The primary outcome was to compare the overall mortality. Secondary outcomes included major complications, in-hospital length of stay (LOS), and need for surgical procedures. Results: Patients ≥80 years with AD had different clinical presentation compared with younger patients: they had less fever (21.4 vs. 35.2%; p < 0.001) and abdominal pain (47.8 vs. 65.6%; p < 0.001) rates, but a higher digestive tract bleeding (31.5 vs. 12.3%; p < 0.001) and fatigue (12.7 vs. 7.1%; p = 0.004) rates. Median LOS, cumulative major complications, and mortality rates were higher for patients ≥80 years.Multivariate analysis identified age, absence of abdominal pain, and dyspnea at presentation as independent predictors of intrahospital death or major complications. Conclusions: Patients with AD and age ≥80 years have a higher mortality rate and cumulative major complications as compared with younger patients. Invasive treatments were associated to a poor prognosis in this group.


Bartonella henselae and B. quintana infections in man are associated with various clinical manifestations including cat-scratch disease, bacillary angiomatosis and bacteraemia. While cats are the natural reservoir for B. henselae, the source of B. quintana is unclear. In this study, the sera of 713 cats from Germany were examined for the presence of antibodies against B. henselae, B. quintana or Afipia felis by an indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA). Bartonella-specific antibody titres of > or =50 were found in 15.0% of the cats. There was substantial cross-reactivity among the various Bartonella antigens, although single sera showed high titres against B. henselae but not against B. quintana and vice versa. Antibodies against A. felis were not detected in any of these cats. Statistical analysis indicated that there is no correlation between Bartonella infections and the sex, age or breed of the cat or its hunting behavior. There was also no correlation between bartonella and toxoplasma infections in cats. However, whereas 16.8% of cats from northern Germany had B. quintana-specific antibodies, only 8.0% of cats from southern Germany were seropositive for B. quintana. No statistically significant difference was found for B. henselae. IFA-positive and IFA-negative sera were used for immunoblot analysis including B. henselae and B. quintana. Marked reactivity was observed with protein bands at 80, 76, 73, 65, 37, 33 and 15 kDa. The results of this study suggest that B. henselae, and possibly a B. quintana-related pathogen, but not A. felis, are common in cats in Germany, and that there are differences in the geographic distribution of bartonella infections in cats.


Varieties of Modernism discusses the art of the middle third of the twentieth century. It consists of a short general introduction and four parts, each concentrating on a key aspect of the art of the period. With the rise of the European dictatorships of the 1930s, Paris regained its position at the forefront of the modern movement. Accordingly, the first part looks at developments in French art: abstraction, the figurative tradition and Surrealism, in the years leading up to the Second World War. In the next two parts, the focus moves across the Atlantic, charting the shift from the widespread social realism of the Depression years to the triumphant modernist abstraction of the postwar period. The final part discusses the challenge posed to canonical modernism by various new approaches ranging from 'combine paintings' to Pop Art, 'happenings' and the Situationist International. Varieties of Modernism is the third in a series of four books about twentieth-century art. Each book can be read independently and is accessible to the general reader. However, as a series they form the main texts of an Open University third-level course, Art of the Twentieth Century, which examines the fundamental changes that took place in the concepts and practices of art during the twentieth century.


The population growth rate in the region of Tijuana, Mexico has been approximately 7% annually. This explosive population growth has produced several negative environmental impacts in the Tijuana River Basin and a great burden on the regional water resources. At the moment, more than 90% of the water used in the city of Tijuana is imported from the Colorado River Basin located approximately 200 Km to the east. Therefore, the efficient use and the reuse of water, as well as the search of alternative water sources, have begun to be very important in this region. The Tecate River is part of the Tijuana River Basin, which is a binational basin shared by Mexico and the United States of America. The river used to be dry for most of the year, except in the rainy season. However, the discharges of wastewater treatment plants located in the town of Tecate have produced a perennial stream of poor quality water (170 L s -1 ), because wastewater production has exceeded treatment capacity and part of it is discharged without treatment. The objective of this study is to evaluate the seasonal behavior of selected pollutants in the river and identify the point where the water quality is suitable for reuse for agriculture purposes or aquifer recharge by infiltration. Four sites were sampled during a period of 12 months in 2003-2004 and samples were analyzed for chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total nitrogen, ammonia nitrogen, nitrite, nitrate and phosphate. A reduction of 60% in BOD and 70% in COD concentrations was observed 19 Km from the discharge of the municipal wastewater treatment plant. A similar trend was found for phosphate. Nitrate concentration reaches its minimum levels at 12 Km (1.52 mg/L). The results have shown that this water resource cannot be reused for agriculture, but it can be used for aquifer recharge.


Objective: To determine the frequency of beta lactamase producing Staphlococcus aureus and their sensitivity to Amoxicillin clavulanate in major cities of Pakistan. Setting: Various laboratories of the country with one as the central Laboratory. Materials and Methods: Seven hundred and ninety two consecutive clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus were collected from 8 laboratories all over Pakistan i.e. Karachi, Peshawar, Lahore, Sukkhur, Islamabad, Quetta, and Mirpur, Azad Kashmir. Antibiotic sensitivity was done by Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method and Beta lactamase production was identified by using Nitrocefin test. Results: Forty two percent of the isolates were found to be Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) out of which 87.9% were positive for Beta lactamase production 52.1% of these Beta lactamase producing MRSA were sensitive to amoxicillin-clavulanate and the remaining (47.9%) were resistant. Conclusion: If beta lactamase producing Staphlococcus aureus are tested against beta-lactam antimicrobial agents in combination with clavulanic acid or sulbactam (Beta-lactamase inhibitors), they become susceptible to the Beta-lactam antimicrobial agents. This might have therapeutic and epidemiological implications in near future.


The explosive growth in wireless systems and services has led to spectrum
scarcity in wireless communications due to ever-increasing demand for
higher data rates. The shortage of useful radio spectrum is due to static
allocation to specific services and rigid regulation of the spectrum usage
rather than efficient utilization of the radio spectrum. Cognitive radio
(CR) technology has been proposed to alleviate the spectrum shortage
problem and the spectrum underutilization of current radio spectrum by
allowing the cognitive users (CUs) to access spectrum of the licensed or
primary user (PU) under sufficient protection to the PU. Therefore, spectrum
sensing is a fundamental component for the CU to accurately detect
the activities of the PU. However, spectrum sensing using single CU results
in poor detection performance due to mulipath and hidden terminal
problem. Therefore, cooperative spectrum sensing (CSS) is proposed to
enhance the detection accuracy by taking the advantage of spatial diversity
in the multiple CU observations. In this thesis, we consider decision
based CSS, where in each CU makes a binary decision on the activity of
the PU and the decisions are reported to the FC, where they are combined
using N-out-of-K rule, i.e., at least N CUs must favour for the presence
of the PU out of K CUs.
Most existing works in the literature on N-out-of-K rule are for homogeneous
CR networks, where CUs are assumed to have identical local false
alarm and identical detection probability. However, in practice, the sensing
accuracy will vary since the CUs are at different distances from the
PU. In this thesis, we consider heterogeneous CSS using the N-out-ofK
rule, wherein spatially dispersed CUs operate at different local false
alarm, detection probabilities and detect the activities of the PU using
the N-out-of-K rule. We obtain the generalized expressions for the global
false alarm and global detection probabilities for the N-out-of-K rule for
the heterogeneous CR network in the presence of control channel errors
and the proposed solution specializes to various existing results. We then
propose Neyman-Pearson (N-P) test which maximizes the global detection
probability of the N-out-of-K rule for a given target global false
alarm probability at the FC. We show limitations on the target global
false alarm probability due to control channel errors. We then consider
the optimization of N-out-of-K rule for the heterogeneous CR network
under Bayesian test and show that several existing works are special cases
of the proposed solution. We also obtain a most generalized expression
for optimal K for the homogeneous CR network and show that various
results are special cases of the proposed solution. A joint optimization
problem is formulated to optimize both N and K under Bayesian test.
The performance of the CSS obtained using joint optimized values of N
and K results in significant improvement.
Finally, we propose, optimization of N-out-of-K rule for maximizing the
average channel throughput (ACT) of the heterogeneous CR network. We
present asymptotic expressions for the optimal N and the optimal K by
maximizing the ACT under adequate protection to the PU. Note that the
mathematical results derived in this thesis are general and are applicable
to any detector used in CSS. However, we choose the energy detector (ED)
as an example to verify the theoretical findings


p16 is an important tumor suppressor gene, which is inactivated in many kinds of tumors. The common variants of p16 may be associated with the risk of certain tumors development. We analyzed the frequency of two adjacent polymorphisms in p16 exon 3 (540C-->G and 580C-->T) and their haplotype in blood samples from epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) patients and healthy controls using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. The results showed that the genotype frequency of p16 580C-->T polymorphism was significantly different among histologic subtypes of EOC (P= 0.02). T allele carriers significantly reduced the risk of serous EOC; the adjusted odds ratio was 0.40 (95% CI = 0.19-0.84). There are neither association between p16 540C-->G polymorphism and EOC development, progression, nor association between the haplotypes of two single nucleotide polymorphisms and the tumor development. Our results suggested that the p16 580C-->T polymorphism might affect the individual susceptibility to specific subtypes of EOC. Different types of ovarian cancer might adopt distinct carcinogenetic pathways. However, this result may be further validated in a larger sample of patients.


A replication-competent, vesicular stomatitis virus vaccine expressing the Ebola virus (EBOV) glycoprotein (GP) (rVSV-ZEBOV) was successfully used during the 2013-16 EBOV epidemic1. Additionally, chimeric and human monoclonal antibodies (mAb) against the EBOV GP showed promise in animals and EBOV patients when administered therapeutically2-6. Given the large number of at-risk humans being prophylactically vaccinated with rVSV-ZEBOV, there is uncertainty regarding whether vaccination would preclude use of antibody treatments in the event of a known exposure of a recent vaccinee. To model a worst-case scenario, we performed a study using rhesus monkeys vaccinated or unvaccinated with the rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine. One day after vaccination, animals were challenged with a uniformly lethal dose of EBOV. Five vaccinated animals and five unvaccinated animals were then treated with the anti-EBOV GP mAb-based therapeutic MIL77 starting 3 days postexposure. Additionally, five vaccinated macaques received no therapeutic intervention. All five macaques that were vaccinated and subsequently treated with MIL77 showed no evidence of clinical illness and survived challenge. In contrast, all five animals that only received the rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine became ill and 2/5 survived; all five macaques that only received MIL77 only also became ill and 4/5 survived. Enhanced efficacy of vaccinated animals that were treated with MIL77 was associated with delayed EBOV viremia attributed to the vaccine. These results suggest that rVSV-ZEBOV augments immunotherapy.


It is well documented that language learning success or failure is influenced by the affective side of the learner. Self-efficacy and anxiety are among the affective factors influencing language learning. This study first explores the relationship between EFL learners' self-efficacy in reading comprehension and their reading anxiety. Secondly, it explores the relationship between EFL learners' self-efficacy and their reading achievement. It also investigates whether high self-efficacious EFL learners experience higher anxiety than low self-efficacious EFL learners and whether high self-efficacious EFL learners perform better in reading or not. 150 sophomores majoring in English literature at three universities participated in the present study. Two instruments were used in this study: a) an author-designed scale on EFL learners' self-efficacy in reading comprehension, b) the Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS) developed by Saito et al.,. The Pearson formula and an independent T-Test were used to analyze the data. The results indicated that there was a significant negative correlation between the participants' reading self- efficacy and their reading anxiety. The results also showed that high self-efficacious participants achieved higher scores in reading comprehension course than low self-efficacious participants. The findings of the study draw the attention of EFL teachers to encourage their learners seek ways to reduce their anxiety in reading L2 texts by improving their self-efficacy


PURPOSE
To verify the effect of consumption of grape extract isolated or combined with α-tocopherol supplementation on atherosclerosis model with Apo E -/- mice.

METHODS
After six weeks of atherogenic diet, Apo E -/- mice were divided into the following groups: Control, Grape, Tocopherol and Grape plus Tocopherol. The treatment progressed for 11 weeks when animals were submitted to euthanasia.

RESULTS
All the treatments presented hypocholesterolemic effect with reduction of serum and liver cholesterol levels. This effect was parallel to an increase in the fecal excretion of cholesterol. There was also a higher fecal excretion of saturated fatty acids in groups receiving grape extract or α-tocopherol. All the groups treated presented a tendency to show higher levels of vitamin E. The fatty acid profile showed a tendency for monounsaturated fatty acid preservation after grape extract and α-tocopherol consumption. Morphological analysis revealed a lower degree of evolution of the atherosclerotic plaque of the animals that were fed α-tocopherol combined with grape extract, even when no difference was found in the size of the largest lesion.

CONCLUSION
A synergistic effect between the polyphenols and α-tocopherol was observed, resulting in diminished evolution of atherosclerosis and a greater beneficial effect on atherosclerosis than the isolated consumption of antioxidants.


Background Patients with cancer of unknown primary (CUP) have metastatic malignant disease without an identifiable primary site; it is the fourth most common cause of cancer death. Objectives To explore patients' informal and professional carers' experiences of CUP to inform development of evidence-based, patient-centred care. Methods Qualitative study involving development of multiple exploratory case studies, each comprising a patient and nominated informal and professional carers, with contextual data extracted from medical records. Results 17 CUP patients, 14 informal and 13 professional carers participated in the study. Two inter-related themes distinct to CUP emerged: uncertainty and continuity of care. In the absence of a primary diagnosis, patients and informal carers experienced uncertainty regarding prognosis, possible recurrence and the primary's hereditary potential. Professional carers experienced difficulty communicating uncertainty to patients, ambiguity in deciding optimal treatment plans in the absence of trial data and a test or treat dilemma: when to discontinue seeking the primary and start treatment. Common problems with care continuity were amplified for CUP patients relating to coordination, accountability and timeliness of care. The remit of multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) often excluded CUP, leading to "MDT tennis" where patients were "bounced" between MDTs. Conclusions The experience of those with CUP is distinctive and it can serve to amplify some of the issues encountered by people with cancer. The clinical uncertainties related to CUP compound existing shortcomings in continuity of care, increasing the likelihood of a disrupted patient journey. However, while little can be done to overcome uncertainty, more could be done to address issues regarding continuity of care.


The article discusses a number of concepts of ideologists in Russian neo-paganism of the Slavs ancestral homeland. The myth of the ancestral homeland is one of the major myths in Russian neo-paganism, regardless of the direction of the neo-pagan religious organization or group. It has the features of ethno-political myth, and it also serves as a source for a number of ideological, fundamentalist, and nationalist notions.


A method was developed for the determination of 134Cs/137Cs and 135Cs/137Cs in rainwater samples using a triple quadrupole ICP-MS, with the objective of investigating radioactive cesium isotope ratios released by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident. The high background caused by Ba ions and Xe impurities in argon plasma gas has made it difficult to carry out determination of the 134Cs/137Cs and 135Cs/137Cs ratios on conventional ICP-MS instruments without prior chemical separation. In this study, nitrous oxide was used as the reaction gas for reducing the isobaric interference by 134Ba, 135Ba, 137Ba and 134Xe, and an additional quadrupole in front of the reaction cell was shown to effectively remove Sn and Sb that could have produced possible interference such as SbO and SnO by the N2O reaction. The detection limit for 134Cs, 135Cs and 137Cs in solution containing Ba was successfully improved. In order to confirm the applicability of this method to the measurement of 134Cs/137Cs and 135Cs/137Cs ratios of rainwater, four samples were collected for analysis from 40–200 km away from the FDNPP. The measured 134Cs/137Cs ratios in the samples are consistent with the values determined by Ge semiconductor analysis to within the analytical error, suggesting that the developed method can provide reliable isotopic data without any correction of the mass-discrimination effect. No variation was found in the 135Cs/137Cs ratios of the four samples, suggesting either the same contamination source or a uniformly consistent mixing ratio between contamination sources. The measured 135Cs/137Cs ratios in the samples are different from global fall-out values and from that of Chernobyl. This result indicates that the value of the rainwater samples can be used as a radiocesium tracer in the environment.