Seventy-three patients have been treated with Gamma Knife radiosurgery (GKR) for pituitary adenomas. 12 had undergone surgery prior to GKR. Three had had previous radiation therapy. The prescription dose administered to the tumor margin ranged from 9 to 35 Gy. 65 patients were followed up for an average of 29 months. A slight expansion of tumor volume occurred in 3 cases. Otherwise, the tumor volume remained unchanged or decreased in the remainder. Endocrine changes were present in all except 3 cases. GKR was followed by a speedy decrease in raised serum hormone levels in the case of both growth hormone (GH)and adrenocortico-tropic hormone (ACTH). In 3 patients there was some visual deterioration associated with a slight increase in tumor volume. In 2 cases, the tumors were removed surgically. Some preliminary conclusions may be drawn. The dose required to correct an endocrinopathy may be higher than that required for control of tumor growth. The recommended prescription dose for endocrine-active adenomas may be more than 30 Gy. While clinical improvement may be noted in patients with raised serum prolactin levels (PRL), normalization of the endocrinopathy may be less readily achieved than in the case of raised GH and ACTH levels. Gamma Knife radiosurgery as a primary treatment of pituitary adenomas can be safe and effective.


Abstract Microtextured surfaces are commonly used to study complex hydrodynamic phenomena such as spreading and splashing of liquid droplets. However, although surface topography is known to modify near-surface flow, there is no theory able to quantitatively predict the dramatic changes in dynamics of liquid spreading and splashing. Here, we investigate experimentally water bells formed on micropatterned surfaces in order to characterize the hydrodynamics of inertia-dominated flows through regular porous layers. Water bells are self-suspended catenary-shaped liquid films created when a jet impinges on a horizontal disc called an impactor. We show that the presence of micrometre-sized posts regularly arranged on the impactor results in a decrease of the water bell radius and the loss of axisymmetry as open water bells adopt polygonal shapes. We introduce a simple model that captures the main features of the inertia-dominated flow and reveals the role of the hydrodynamic interactions between neighbouring posts. In addition to their applications for tunable jet atomization, these polygonal sheets provide a paradigmatic system for understanding inertia-dominated flow in porous media.


1 In the Great Basin of the western United States of America, the invasive annual grass Bromus tectorum has extensively replaced native shrub and bunchgrass communities, but the native bunchgrass Elymus elymoides has been reported to suppress Bromus. Curlew Valley, a site in Northern Utah, provides a model community to test the effects of particular species on invasion by examining competitive relationships among Elymus, Bromus and the native shrub Artemisia tridentata. 2 The site contains Bromus/Elymus, Elymus/Artemisia and monodominant Elymus stands. Transect data indicate that Elymus suppresses Bromus disproportionately relative to its above‐ground cover. Artemisia seedlings recruit in Elymus stands but rarely in the presence of Bromus. This relationship might be explained by competition between the two grasses involving a different resource or occurring in a different season to that between each grass and Artemisia. 3 Time reflectometry data collected in monodominant patches indicated that in spring, soil moisture use by Bromus is rapid, whereas depletion under Elymus and Artemisia is more moderate. Artemisia seedlings may therefore encounter a similar moisture environment in monodominant or mixed perennial stands. However, efficient autumn soil moisture use by Elymus may help suppress Bromus. 4 In competition plots, target Artemisia grown with Bromus were stunted relative to those grown with Elymus, despite equivalent above‐ground biomass of the two grasses. Competition for nitrogen in spring and autumn, assessed with 15N tracer, appears to be secondary to moisture availability in determining competitive outcomes. 5 Elymus physiology and function appear to play an important role in determining the composition of communities in Curlew Valley, by maintaining zones free of Bromus where Artemisia can recruit.


To have more information about the English words known by second language (L2) speakers, we ran a large-scale crowdsourcing vocabulary test, which yielded 17 million useful responses. It provided us with a list of 445 words known to nearly all participants. The list was compared to various existing lists of words advised to include in the first stages of English L2 teaching. The data also provided us with a ranking of 61,000 words in terms of degree and speed of word recognition in English L2 speakers, which correlated r = .85 with a similar ranking based on native English speakers. The L2 speakers in our study were relatively better at academic words (which are often cognates in their mother tongue) and words related to experiences English L2 students are likely to have. They were worse at words related to childhood and family life. Finally, a new list of 20 levels of 1,000 word families is presented, which will be of use to English L2 teachers, as the levels represent the order in which English vocabulary seems to be acquired by L2 learners across the world.


This contribution addresses the anthropocenic challenge from a dialectical perspective, combining a diagnostics of the present with a prognostic of the emerging future. It builds on the oeuvres of two prominent dialectical thinkers, namely Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955). Hegel himself was a pre-anthropocenic thinker who did not yet thematise the anthropocenic challenge as such, but whose work allows us to emphasise the unprecedented newness of the current crisis. I will especially focus on his views on Earth as a planetary process, emphasising that (in the current situation) the "spirit" of technoscience is basically monitoring the impacts of its own activities on geochemistry and evolution. Subsequently, I will turn attention to Teilhard de Chardin, a palaeontologist and philosopher rightfully acknowledged as one of the first thinkers of the Anthropocene and whose oeuvre provides a mediating middle term between Hegel's conceptual groundwork and the anthropocenic present. Notably, I will discuss his views on selfdirected evolution, on the on-going absorption of the biosphere by the noosphere, and on emerging options for "sublating" the current crisis into a synthetic convergence towards (what Teilhard refers to as) the Omega point. I will conclude that (a), after disclosing the biomolecular essence of life, biotechnology must now take a radical biomimetic turn (a shift from domesticating nature to the domestication of domestication, i.e., of technology); that (b) reflection itself must become distributed and collective; and (c), that the anthropocenic crisis must be sublated into the noocene.


Proceedings: AACR 106th Annual Meeting 2015; April 18-22, 2015; Philadelphia, PA

Background: Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs) are poised to become an extremely important class of therapeutics in oncology. By conjugating cytotoxic payloads to antibodies that target proteins found primarily on cancer cells, ADCs represent a novel mechanism for directing extremely toxic small molecules specifically to tumor cells. Due to the unique mechanism of ADCs, patient selection should involve screening not only for the presence of the antibody target, but also screening for the presence of any markers of resistance or response to the payload. Several proteins, such as multi-drug effluxers and tubulin-beta 3, have been implicated in resistance to small molecule cytotoxins and microtubule inhibitor drugs. OncoPlex Diagnostics has built a multiplexed ADC biomarker panel that simultaneously quantifies the levels of the antibody target and putative resistance markers for several known payloads, such as maytansinoids, auristatins and taxanes, as well as response markers for the topoisomerase inhibitor payloads SN-38 and doxorubicin.

Methods: Liquid Tissue-Selected Reaction Monitoring (LT-SRM) is a multiplexed, quantitative method that uses mass spectrometry to quantify proteins based on a unique sequence of amino acids, and thus does not have the same limitations as traditional antibody-based, semi-quantitative protein detection methods, such as immunohistochemistry. We developed a LT-SRM assay to quantify protein levels of EGFR, FRalpha, Her2, CD30 and Mesothelin (antibody targets) and MCL1, MDR, MRP1, tubulin-beta3, Topo1 and Topo2a (payload response and resistance markers) simultaneously from FFPE biopsies. Calibration curves for all the proteins in the ADC panel are linear over 5-orders of magnitude, with limits of detection for each analyte between 25 and 400 amol/ug of tissue.

Results: Analysis of FFPE tumor tissues show a broad range of expression for the ADC proteins, with some tissues showing no detectable levels of some payload markers. Clinical analysis of FRalpha showed a range of expression from <LOD to 13500 amol/ug. An examination of Her2 positive tissue showed a wide range of Her2 expression (over 20-orders of magnitude), as well as a wide range of expression for the payload markers. The differences seen in the payload markers suggest differing responses to Her2-targeted ADCs, independent of Her2 levels, and indicate that different patient populations might respond better to different payloads, depending on tumor biology.

Conclusions: The OncoPlexDx ADC panel can determine of a cutoff for expression levels of the antibody-target protein necessary for ADC response as well as identify markers of payload response or resistance to further understand how these markers affect therapeutic efficacy. This panel can be used to predict which patients will derive the most benefit from ADC therapy based on the specific biology of their tumor.

Citation Format: Adele Blackler, Wei-Li Liao, Sheeno Thyparambil, Eunkyung An, Fabiola Cecchi, Marlene Darfler, Todd Hembrough, Jon Burrows. Development of a mass spectrometry based antibody-drug conjugate biomarker panel. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 3398. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-3398


The interwar Japanese economy was unsettled by chronic banking instability, and yet the Bank of Japan (BOJ) restricted access to its liquidity provision to a select group of banks, i.e. BOJ correspondent banks, rather than making its loans widely available "to merchants, to minor bankers, to this man and to that man" as prescribed by Bagehot (1873). This historical episode provides us with a quasi-experimental setting to study the impact of Lender of Last Resort (LOLR) policies on financial intermediation. We find that the growth rate of deposits and loans was notably faster for BOJ correspondent banks than the other banks during the bank panic phase of the Great Depression from 1931-1932, whereas it was not faster before the bank panic phase. Furthermore, BOJ correspondent banks were less likely to be closed during the bank panics. To address possible selection bias, we also instrument a bank's corresponding relationship with the BOJ with its geographical proximity to the nearest branch or the headquarters of the BOJ, which was a major determinant of a bank's transaction relationship with the BOJ at the time. This instrumental variable specification yields qualitatively same results. Taken together, Japan's historical experience suggests that central banks' liquidity provisions play an important backstop role in supporting the essential financial intermediation services in time of financial stringency.


OBJECTIVE
Establishing system study of endangerment medicinal animals is essential for the protection of certain species of medicinal wild fauna.

METHOD
It was analyzed and summed up according to the study and protection actuality of endangerment medicinal animal in recent years.

RESULT AND CONCLUSION
It was essential to research endangerment medicinal animals for realizing modernization, industrialization, internationalization and stabilization development of Chinese Materia Medica.


Ultrasonically assisted turning (UAT) is a novel material-processing technology, where high frequency vibration (frequency f ≈ 20kHz, amplitude a ≈15μm) is superimposed on the movement of the cutting tool. Advantages of UAT have been demonstrated for a broad spectrum of applications. Compared to conventional turning (CT), this technique allows significant improvements in processing intractable materials, such as high-strength aerospace alloys, composites and ceramics. Superimposed ultrasonic vibration yields a noticeable decrease in cutting forces, as well as a superior surface finish. A vibro-impact interaction between the tool and workpiece in UAT in the process of continuous chip formation leads to a dynamically changing stress distribution in the process zone as compared to the quasistatic one in CT. The paper presents a three-dimensional, fully thermomechanically coupled computational model of UAT incorporating a non-linear elasto-plastic material model with strain-rate sensitivity and contact interaction with friction at the chip–tool interface. 3D stress distributions in the cutting region are analysed for a representative cycle of ultrasonic vibration. The dependence of various process parameters, such as shear stresses and cutting forces on vibration frequency and amplitude is also studied.


– surveys of the diatom assemblages from Aïn Bou Rkhiss and Aïn Kibrit, two springs that flow out into the Merguellil Wadi, and Aïn Ben Ali, a well located a few kilometers to the east, in the same geological formations (Kairouan district, Central Tunisia), were conducted in 2014 and 2016. The aim of this study was to characterize the species diversity of these water points, establish their ecological status and test the water quality using diatom indices standardized in France [Biological Diatom index (BDi) and specific Polluosensitivity index (sPi)]. several physical-chemical variables were measured in 2016. Aïn Bou Rkhiss and Aïn Kibrit are in close proximity to one another but differ in terms of their bio-geochemical characteristics and uses (drinking water for domestic use and sulfur-rich water). We discuss the population's growing anxiety with respect to their water supply and explore the traditional knowledge concerning the region's groundwater circulation. The BDi index, reveals a lower quality than that assumed by local users. This may be due to a lack of knowledge about some other local water supplies of good quality that would have served as reference, and inadequacy of these methods designed for European freshwaters without consideration of more southern diatoms. A new variety of luticola is described. BACiLLARiOPHYCEAE ECOLOGiCAL iNDiCATORs WATER suPPLiEs HYDROGEOLOGY sOCiAL usEs AND KNOWLEDGE


The peripheral nervous system demonstrates an exceptional plasticity after nerve injury and Schwann cells remyelinate newly regenerated axons. However, myelin sheath thickness does not reach its original thickness and axons remain hypomyelinated after injury.
During peripheral nerve development, the transmembrane growth factor neuregulin-1 type III is expressed on the axonal surface and regulates Schwann cell development as well as myelin sheath thickness. After peripheral nerve injury, Wallerian degeneration is induced and Schwann cells remain without axons and, hence, axonal neuregulin-1 type III stimulation. We demonstrate that during this time period, denervated Schwann cells strongly induce the expression of the paracrine type I isoform of neuregulin-1 which is barely detectable in non-injured nerves. Mutant mice with a specific deletion of the neuregulin-1 gene in Schwann cells are fully myelinated during development, but exhibit impaired remyelination after experimental peripheral nerve injury. We suggest a model in which loss of axonal contact triggers denervated Schwann cells to transiently express neuregulin-1 as an endogeneous signal that promotes Schwann cell redifferentiation and remyelination.


Due to the complexity of frame structures, a simple shear model is frequently adopted for the frame to model its dynamic responses when performing structural damage detection. The estimated story stiffnesses of the shear model are used to infer the damage status of the frame. However, as pointed out in many studies, due to the existence of modeling error, using a shear model to carry out damage detection for the frame often leads inaccurate damage detection results. In this paper, a novel reduced model is proposed for the damage detection of frame structures, which, compared with shear model, can significantly reduce the modeling error and, thus, improve damage detection accuracy for the frame structure. Moreover, an iterative substructure identification method is proposed to identify the parameters of the reduced model. Finally, a numerical example of an eight-story frame structure is utilized to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed damage detection method; the results show that, by using the reduced model, the damage detection accuracy of the frame structure is greatly improved, compared with using a shear structure model. doi: 10.12783/SHM2015/169


Sixty male lambs were used in this experiment to study the effect of energy level of diets on the performance, nutrient digestibility and carcass traits for 90 days. The animals were allotted into 3 groups, 4 animals per each. The first group was fed a medium energy diet (3.20 Mcal/kg diet), while the second group fed on diet contained high energy level (3.50 Mcal/kg diet) and the third group fed on low energy diet (2.90 Mcal/kg diet). All diets contained 14.70% crude protein in dry matter. The average daily feed intake was affected significantly (P < 0.05) by the level of energy and lambs group fed on low energy ration had significantly (P < 0.05) increased feed intake compared with other treatment groups. Lambs that received the highest energy level diet had a higher significant (P < 0.05) average daily gain than that received the medium and low energy diets. Feed conversion was deteriorated in lambs group fed on low energy diet. The digestion coefficient of nutrients and total digestible nutrient were increased significantly (P < 0.05) with high-energy diet. Dressing percentage and body fat was increased with feeding high dietary energy. It could be concluded that the high dietary energy produced the best performance, nutrient digestibility and carcass traits of lambs in addition to economical benefit.


Recordings of Bornean frog calls from the genus Hylarana were conducted at seven study sites in Sarawak, Malaysia.
As many as 12 individuals from five species of Bornean frogs were successfully recorded and analysed. From 38 calling
parameters, only 27 could explain call characteristics of the Bornean frogs. The size of male frogs influenced the energy
of calling significantly between 90:50% of the peak amplitude, frequency of note between 50%, duration of calling to
reach half of the frequency modulation, and the rate of repeated note. The size of Bornean frog showed a marginally
significant difference in the basic frequency and dominant calls. Additionally, distribution of calling parameters and
Euclid dendogram support taxonomic identifications of each of the Bornean frog species studied.


BACKGROUND
Fear of falling scales typically have a strong floor effect in active people and use short phrases to state overall context of fear-related activities. We developed the Iconographical Falls Efficacy Scale (Icon-FES), which includes more demanding activities and uses pictures to provide more complete environmental contexts.

METHODS
Two-hundred and fifty community-dwelling older people (70-90 years) were assessed on the Icon-FES in conjunction with the Falls Efficacy Scale International (FES-I).

RESULTS
Overall structure and measurement properties of the 30-item Icon-FES (evaluated with item-response theory) were good. It measured a single factor with 2 dimensions assessing fear about less and more demanding daily activities. It had high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.96) and excellent test-retest reliability. The Icon-FES distribution was considerably closer to normal compared with FES-I, indicating absence of floor and ceiling effects. Construct validity of the Icon-FES was supported by its relation with FES-I and its ability to discriminate between groups relating to demographic characteristics and fall risk factors. A shortened 10-item Icon-FES showed similar psychometric properties to the 30-item Icon-FES.

CONCLUSIONS
The Icon-FES is an innovative way of assessing fear of falling using pictures to describe a range of activities and situations. This initial validation study showed that the Icon-FES has excellent psychometric properties and showed close continuity with the FES-I. Main advantages of the Icon-FES over the FES-I are its normal distribution and its ability to assess fear of falling in high functioning older people.


Modal curvature difference (MCD) method is an effective damage detection technique for beams but not very feasible for plane member structures, because the MCD of each member is difficult to calculate with the structural modal shapes which are expressed in a global coordinate system. By improving MCD method, this paper develops a general and convenient damage detection method for plane member structures. The new method introduces coordinate transformation technique to settle the calculation difficulty of MCD. To validate the availability of the method, the finite element damage model of a typical structure is built up, and detection effects on the case of single member damage and multiple member damages are studied respectively. The results show that the improved method is especially suitable for the damage detection of plane member structures.


Removing undesirable reflections from a single image captured through a glass window is of practical importance to visual computing systems. Although state-of-the-art methods can obtain decent results in certain situations, performance declines significantly when tackling more general real-world cases. These failures stem from the intrinsic difficulty of single image reflection removal -- the fundamental ill-posedness of the problem, and the insufficiency of densely-labeled training data needed for resolving this ambiguity within learning-based neural network pipelines. In this paper, we address these issues by exploiting targeted network enhancements and the novel use of misaligned data. For the former, we augment a baseline network architecture by embedding context encoding modules that are capable of leveraging high-level contextual clues to reduce indeterminacy within areas containing strong reflections. For the latter, we introduce an alignment-invariant loss function that facilitates exploiting misaligned real-world training data that is much easier to collect. Experimental results collectively show that our method outperforms the state-of-the-art with aligned data, and that significant improvements are possible when using additional misaligned data.


This article chronicles the interactions between the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China (PRC) during the years of the Sino-Soviet alliance (1949–1960) as experienced by the Soviet advisers in China. Based on interviews, archival sources, and other materials, the article shows that the Soviet advisers who came to the PRC during that time brought with them the management techniques of the late Stalin period, known as High Stalinism (meaning strict Communist Party control over all aspects of political, cultural, and economic life and severe management methods including a heavy reliance on mass methods, education and reeducation techniques, coercion, and the threat of imprisonment). High Stalinism was a useful management tool that fit into Mao Zedong's own plan for the "economic Stalinization" of China and helped to pave the way for Mao's later radicalization. After differences emerged between the two countries in 1956 about the merits of de-Stalinization, Mao and the Chinese Communist Party began promoting radical policies such as the Great Leap Forward, which dramatically deviated from the Soviet experience and led to the removal of Soviet advisers in 1960.


For finding a shortest path in a network the bidirectional~A* algorithm is a widely known algorithm. An A* instance requires a heuristic estimate, a real-valued function on the set of nodes. %This algorithm distinguishes between the main phase and the postprocessing phase. %As long as the search processes of the two sides do not meet, we are in the main phase. %As soon as a meeting point is obtained, the post-phase is in progress. \\\\ The version of bidirectional~A* that is considered the most appropriate in literature hitherto, uses so-called balanced heuristic estimates. This means that the two estimates of the two directions are in balance, i.e., their sum is a constant value. In this paper, we do not restrict ourselves any longer to balanced heuristics. A generalized version of bidirectional A* is proposed, where the heuristic estimate does not need to be balanced. This new version turns out to be faster than the one with the balanced heuristic.


ABSTRACT While adoption rates for inorganic fertiliser are relatively high in Ethiopia, application rates are generally considered agronomically suboptimal. Using recent data on Ethiopian smallholder maize producers, we showed that maize response to nitrogen, and the profitability of fertiliser use depended on maize agronomy. The agronomic optimum ranged from 0 to 344 kg/ha with a mean value of 209 kg/ha. The actual nitrogen application rates were only about half the agronomic optimum, on average, and were less than the farm-specific economic optimum on 80% of maize fields. The average economic optimum level was 145 kg N/ha, but when we account for risk aversion, the resulting average optimum level is very close to the average observed usage level of 88 kg N/ha. Addressing risk aversion may help to induce greater levels of fertiliser investments at current prices and yield response rates. Our analysis also suggests that key pathways for increasing the economic returns to smallholder fertiliser investments include: complementing nitrogen inputs with phosphorus inputs and improved varieties, using lower levels of nitrogen under intercropping and manure inputs, enabling farmers to delay output sales beyond the immediate post-harvest period, and lowering the costs of accessing input and output markets.


I could say that my attachment to the Federation and the closeness I feel for it comes from my childhood. My father, Abel Villegas Botero, used to remember the 7 th  Colombian Gynaecology and Obstetrics Congress held in the city of Cucuta in December 1967 with great affection as it brought together (officially) the different societies and regional associations involved with the specialisation in the name of Fecolsog. He always attended the national conferences and enjoyed the scientific conferences and social activities with equal vigour and energy as they presented an opportunity for him to meet and become reunited with national colleagues and friends as well as foreigners; this continues being a structural part of our organisation. Fecolsog today, seen as a scientific and professional organisation, organically conserves the ideas which led to its formation and the sense of belonging instilled in its affiliates. However, today it has additional momentum and aspirations produced by new challenges and the needs of Colombian gynaecologists-obstetricians. The current setting forces our Federation (without forgetting its roots) to understand its members' expectations and adapt them to the reality of Colombia and how healthcare is defined in Colombia today. The times are far gone when the doctor-patient relationship which governed medical practice in my father's time; they led to a real link between professionals and the sick. The times when doctors were protagonists of society and we formed a fundamental part of the country's decision-making groups are also long gone. Our Federation's challenges today are thus different and complex. We must adjust ourselves to our reality; we must work towards assuming our leadership again and constructing spaces defining our speciality and guiding the Federation towards sustainable paths involving leadership and teamwork. We cannot waste the Federations' opportunity regarding national and international leadership. We must exploit the space which we have gained during the last few years and move decisively towards the type of organisation which we have envisaged.


Using conventional deep drawing method, it is difficult to make cups or containers taller than the diameter of the cup in only one stage drawing. This is because, in case of using a blank with large diameter, the drawing resistance of the blank material is too high to draw material into die hole by punch. From simple consideration, by using the developed blank, the flange portion of which is divided into four elements just like a petal, the drawing resistance of blank material can be reduced considerably, and so this problem can be overcome. In this investigation, a deep drawing process was attempted using a developed blank instead of a conventional circular or square blank. At first, by introducing two assumptions of the parallel moving and the constant arc length, the shape of developed blank was designed. After that, the effects of the shape of developed blank on the drawn cup were investigated. Finally, it was clarified that, when developed blanks with appropriate shape was employed, very tall cups could be obtained in one stage drawing.


The human hepatoma-derived HuH-7 cell line and its derivatives (Huh7.5 and Huh7.5.1) have been widely used as a convenient experimental substitute for primary hepatocytes. In particular, these cell lines represent host cells suitable for propagating the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in vitro. The Huh7.5.1-8 cell line, a subline of Huh7.5.1, can propagate HCV more efficiently than its parental cells. To provide genomic information for cells' quality control, we performed whole-genome sequencing of HuH-7 and Huh7.5.1-8 and identified their characteristic genomic deletions, some of which are applicable to an in-house test for cell authentication. Among the genes related to HCV infection and replication, 53 genes were found to carry missense or loss-of-function mutations likely specific to the HuH-7 and/or Huh7.5.1-8. Eight genes, including DDX58 (RIG-I), BAX, EP300, and SPP1 (osteopontin), contained mutations observed only in Huh7.5.1-8 or mutations with higher frequency in Huh7.5.1-8. These mutations might be relevant to phenotypic differences between the two cell lines and may also serve as genetic markers to distinguish Huh7.5.1-8 cells from the ancestral HuH-7 cells.


Data-driven modeling, action, and strategies have become popular, and the education community has witnessed increased interest in data-driven decision-making (DDDM). DDDM values and prioritizes decisions supported by high-quality, verifiable data that has been effectively processed and analyzed. The objective of our study is to describe the design, development, and implementation of a data-driven, evidence-based model of academic development in the context of CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) utilizing SMAART (Sustainability Multisector Accessible Affordable Reimbursable Tailored) model. The alignment of academic and student affairs within CUNY SPH brought with it several challenges. Defining roles and responsibilities across different student and academic affair units with a goal of collaborative leadership model and lack of meaningfulness were key challenges. It was important to listen to the experiences and recommendations of various individuals performing various functions in different capacities. A unified framework of key data indicators was needed to create a transparent and equitable model. An innovative interactive SMAART SPH dashboard designed, developed, and implemented to guide data-driven, evidence-based decision-making. Institutions can use a large amount of data from various sources to improve students' learning experience, enhance research initiatives, support effective community outreach, and develop campus infrastructure to bring in sustainability.


In the discourse around theories explaining scientific progress, natural philosophy of the Late Medieval Period is seen as playing the role of apologetics. For philosophers of science, with their repudiation of metaphysics, the task of providing a rational reconstruction of how scientific progress has occurred is nigh on impossible. Even explanations such as the Popperian and the Kuhnian strain under great difficulty and provide only partly satisfactory results. In his "Logik der Forschung" (1934) Karl Raimund Popper argues that metaphysics plays an accidental part in the emergence of new scientific ideas. Correspondingly, in "Structure of Scientific Revolutions" (1962), by carrying out theoretical interpretations and classification of empirical facts without their metaphysical premises, Thomas Kuhn comes to the conclusion that natural science was formed under the influence of erroneous interpretations of Aristotelian natural philosophy presented by medieval natural philosophers. These are some of the reasons why medievalists are still made to defend late medieval natural philosophy from shallow convictions that at medieval universities nothing of any significance to contemporary science and philosophy took place at all. Seeking to render a fragment of a coherent reconstruction of the development of natural philosophy, I will investigate one idea of late medieval philosophy – the explanation of motion (impetus). The main statement of the paper holds that the ideas of late medieval natural philosophy have a decisive significance for the development of modern natural science instead of accidental or negative one. In the paper, following Aristotelian philosophical approach, premises of Jean Buridan's theory of impetus will be exposed. Then, debates over the explanation of projectile motion are going to be presented, and finally, the necessary significance of this metaphysical idea on the modifications of natural philosophy is going to be ascertained.


Treatment of cyclobutanone or cyclopentanone with N-hydroxybenzenesulfonamide under basic conditions yields the ring-expanded cyclic hydroxamic acid in 18-69% yield. Reactions of substituted cyclobutanones give ring expanded products where the -NOH group regio- and stereoselectively inserts to the more substituted position. This expansion likely proceeds through a mechanism that includes addition of the N-anion of N-hydroxybenzenesulfonamide to the ketone and a C-nitroso intermediate that rearranges to the final product.


With onset of puberty, the sebaceous glands of the scalp start to secrete a sebum which contains, in higher concentration than before, lowboiling saturated fatty acids with selective fungistatic and fungicidal action on M. audouini. Highly active normal aliphatic monobasic acids having odd numbers of carbon atoms, including pelargonic acid, have been isolated from hair fat of adults. The "adult type" of hair fat does not kill the fungus spores within the hair but prevents infection of the new hair following the old infected hair in the process of shedding. Detailed reports are to be published elsewhere.


The aim of the study was to describe student's accounts of school nursing and nursing activities. A purposive sample of nine informants was used, spanning students from two different schools aged between 17 and 19 years. Four categories with sub categories emerged. (i) The students express emotions of being fond of the school nurse, but expect more caring attitudes from her (ii) The school nurse is seen as a good resource; however, the students' confidence is partial. (iii) Reasons for consulting are mostly physical problems, despite psychological caring needs and (iv) SNHC activities are seen as useful, although too basic. These data expose a caring dilemma between the student's needs and the professional/institutional achievements.


OBJECTIVE To determine whether hypertension, high sympathetic tone, resting and exercising arrhythmias, and echocardiographic changes consistent with hypertensive cardiomyopathy were associated with equine metabolic syndrome (EMS) in ponies. DESIGN Prospective case-control study. ANIMALS 19 privately owned ponies with a diagnosis of EMS (history of laminitis, body condition score ≥ 7/9, cresty neck score ≥ 3/5, and abnormal oral sugar test result; cases) and 20 healthy control ponies. PROCEDURES Heart rate (HR), noninvasively measured arterial blood pressure (BP), markers of autonomic tone (splenic volume and HR variability), 24-hour and exercising ECGs, and echocardiograms were compared between cases and controls. RESULTS Compared with controls, cases had a higher mean ± SD HR (44.5 ± 7.5 beats/min vs 38.6 ± 6.8 beats/min) and median mean left ventricular wall thickness (2.0 cm vs 1.8 cm). No differences were identified between groups in BP, splenic volume, HR variability, and number of premature complexes in ECGs. Mean wall thickness was correlated with BP (r = 0.54), high-frequency power (r = -0.71), and ratio of low-to high-frequency power (ϕ = 0.66). Relative wall thickness was correlated with serum insulin concentration (r = 0.71). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Ponies with EMS had myocardial hypertrophy that was correlated with insulin response to an oral sugar test, sympathetic and parasympathetic tone, and BP. The heterogeneity and limited sample size of this preliminary study should be considered when drawing conclusions. Cardiovascular changes associated with this syndrome deserve further attention.


Current electronic healthcare record (EHR) systems utterly fail to assist doctors and nurses in their work; designed without recognizing the actual needs of those users, but rather solving mostly administrative problems instead. This failure results in an ongoing lack of safety and efficiency in care delivery. We need to do much better. This book lays out how an effective EHR system should be built to deliver effective support for a doctor throughout the phases of her profession, from how a doctor learns her profession, to how she examines a patient, analyzes clinical findings, reaches conclusions, and finally applies therapy. The result is accurate, economic, safe, and consistent healthcare.


The photoreduction, without reductant dithionite, of N2 to NH3 or acetylene to ethylene catalysed by nitrogenase in the presence of Mg2+. ATP, eosin and NADH in the light has been established. There is an optimum NADH concentration for each particular eosin concentration. When the ratio of the iron protein component of nitrogenase from Azotobacter vinelandii (Av2)/the molybdenum-iron protein component of nitrogenase from A. vinelandii (Av1) is equal to 3 for 4 x 10(-5) M eosin the optimum NADH concentration is 5 x 10(-4) M. The rate of photoreduction (per one electron) of acetylene or N2 under identical conditions was shown to be similar. The photoreductant-dependent ATPase activity, in the presence of a given photochemical system in the light, was revealed. Eosin is shown to be the inhibitor of the coupling site. Concentrations of 8 x 10(-6) -1 x 10(-4) M eosin do not inhibit the ATPase activity. The inhibition of substrate-reduction activity depends on the ratio of the nitrogenase components. Under conditions where the Av2/Av1 ratio is equal to 1 the rate of photochemical reduction is higher than in the presence of dithionite: the total electron flux through nitrogenase being increased 2.2-fold. We suggest that in this case the nitrogenase complex (1:1) works without dissociation.


Though Zambia is well endowed with natural resources, its agricultural sector is extremely underdeveloped, and almost half of the small-scale farmers do not even achieve food security. While internal political problems are a major cause for this, external disturbances such as climate change and economic shocks are additional threats to the sector.

This study explores the main challenges and presents suggestions for resolutions based on empirical research. The e-voucher system, crop diversification and conservation agriculture belong to the bundle of suggested measures, which – when implemented together – could lead to pro-poor agricultural development. They would not only buffer climate and economic shocks but also increase income in a pro poor manner and show spill-over effects. Accompanied by suitable "software" measures at all levels in order to increase knowledge as well as adaptive and organisational capacity, farmers' resilience can be comprehensively strengthened.

However, political will and more commitment from all stakeholders, including the engagement of the private sector and the self initiative of farmers, are needed to really make things happen.


Layered double hydroxides (LDH) consist of positively-charged metal hydroxide layers and negatively-charged anions and water in the interstitial layers. Due to the unique properties of LDH including (i) tunable basicity, (ii) tailorable acidity, (iii) cation-exchange ability of the Brucite-like layer, (iv) anion-exchange ability of the interlayer space, (v) thermal stability, and (vi) large adsorption capacity, LDH-based materials could offer significant breadth for the conversion of biomass, either directly as catalysts or active supports in multifunctional catalysts. This review specially concentrates on the relationship between properties and their performances in the transformation (e.g. oxidation, hydrogenation, dehydration, isomerization, steam reforming and so on) of biomass-derived model molecules. This review demonstrates that LDH and their derived metal oxides (DMO) can be successfully applied over a broad spectrum for the conversion of biomass with advantages such as improved activity, selectivity, and metal dispersion, less waste production, and an improved recuperation of immobilized catalysts. LDH and their DMO are also excellent materials for designing bifunctional redox-base catalysts or controlling the acid–base properties around a heterogenized metal center.


Secondary lymphoid organs have a key role in the initiation of adaptive immune responses to infection. Organogenesis occurs in foetal development, and the use of genetic tools, imaging technologies, and ex vivo culture systems has provided significant insights into the cellular components and associated signalling pathways that are involved. However such approaches tend to be reductionist and descriptive, focusing on the contribution of individual components, and cannot fully explain how lymphoid organs develop through interaction between biological components.

In this study, a set of simulation and statistical tools have been developed that provide further insights into the molecular and biophysical mechanisms of lymphoid tissue organogenesis. Specifically, the formation of Peyer's Patches, gut-associated secondary lymphoid organs, is examined. In collaboration with experimental immunologists, a structured process in the design and calibration of a computer simulation of the biological process has been conducted, leading to the development of a publicly accessible scientific tool where cell behaviour emerges that is statistically similar to that observed in ex vivo culture. Robust biological hypotheses can be generated through use of the tool to perform in silico experimentation that simulates different physiological conditions. A lack of available statistical tools to analyse in silico simulation results has been addressed through the development and release of the spartan toolkit, a set of techniques that can suggest the influence that pathways and components have on simulation behaviour, offering valuable biological insight into the system being explored.

An analysis of simulation results using spartan suggests the influence of biological pathways on tissue formation changes during development, in contrast to hypotheses in
the literature that suggest the process is chemokine driven. Data presented suggests the development period is biphasic, with cell adhesion the key factor early in development, and chemokine expression influential at later point. Through novel application of the statistical tools in spartan to perform a time-lapse analysis of cell behaviour, it is suggested this change in phase occurs between hours 24 and 36. Novel in silico experimentation performed has suggested the key biological factors in causing cell aggregation, and suggested a role for LTin cells in limiting size and number of Peyer's Patches. A range of potential laboratory investigations have been suggested that could validate whether these simulation derived hypotheses are valid.


Thick photoresist coating for electrode patterning in an anisotropically etched V-groove is investigated for electrically controlled liquid crystal photonic bandgap fibre devices. The photoresist step coverage at the convex corners is compared with and without soft baking after photoresist spin coating. Two-step UV exposure is applied to achieve a complete exposure for the thick photoresist layer at the bottom of the V-groove, and minimise the reduction in resolution and image distortion. The resolution reduction of the different open window width for electrode pattern transfer is also experimentally found.


Cloud computing is a computing concepts, which enables when required and low maintenance usage of resources, but the data is shares to some cloud servers and various privacy related concerns emerge from it. Various schemes like based on the attribute-based encryption have been developed to secure the cloud storage. Most work looking at the data privacy and the access control, while less attention is given to the privilege control and the privacy. In this paper, we present a privilege control scheme Anonymity Control to address and the user identity privacy in existing access control. Anonymity Control decentralizes the central authority to limit the identity leakage and thus achieves partial anonymity. It also generates the file access control to the privilege control, by which privileges of all operations on the cloud data can be managed in a proper manner. We present the Anonymity Control-F, which prevents the identity and achieve the anonymity. Our security analysis shows that both Anonymity Control and Anonymity Control-F are secure under the Diffie– Hellman assumption and our performance evaluation exhibits the feasibility of our schemes.


This study investigates the marketing of software products and services in
small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Due to the nature of software products'
intangibility and the high failure rate of small high tech organisations, the study
incorporates the concept of Relationship Marketing (RM) and Integrated
Marketing Communications (IMC). These concepts are especially pertinent to
organisations within highly competitive and innovative markets as they attempt
to build market share by delivering fast, high quality and innovative solutions.
The methodology combines qualitative and quantitative methods. The
qualitative methods include two case studies of SMEs in the Welsh software
industry and in-depth interviews with their customers and employees. The
researcher was also able to employ participant observation of the marketing
activities and development of relationships within the SMEs. Content analysis
and text mining analysis was conducted on the in-depth interviews to establish
customer perceptions of the dyadic relationships and customers' general
expectations of software organisations. Adaptive Conjoint Analysis (ACA) was
subsequently employed as a quantitative method to investigate the trade-offs
organisations make when making software purchase decisions.
The findings indicate that development of long-term relationships with
customers is valuable within the software industry, and such long lasting
relationship has to have roots in important attributes especially `Software
Quality', 'Understanding of customer requirements' and `Professionalism' of
the software supplier. The importance of service quality as well as product
quality is evident in the ACA findings and the constructs are presented in a
model, which can be used by high tech SMEs as a guide to managing customer
expectations and improving their Relationship Marketing activities. Important
facets of high tech marketing are also included in the model as critical success
factors for SMEs in the software industry. These factors include forming
alliances, and developing Integrated Marketing Communications as a tool
supporting RM.


In 2010, The Nature Conservancy completed the Mojave Desert Ecoregional Assessment, which characterizes conservation values across nearly 130,000 km2 of the desert Southwest. Since this assessment was completed, several renewable energy facilities have been built in the Mojave Desert, thereby changing the conservation value of these lands. We have completed a new analysis of land use to reassess the conservation value of lands in two locations in the Mojave Desert where renewable energy development has been most intense: Ivanpah Valley, and the Western Mojave. We found that 99 of our 2.59-km2 planning units were impacted by development such that they would now be categorized as having lower conservation value, and most of these downgrades in conservation value were due to solar and wind development. Solar development alone was responsible for a direct development footprint 86.79 km2: 25.81 km2 of this was primarily high conservation value Bureau of Land Management lands in the Ivanpah Valley, and 60.99 km2 was privately owned lands, mostly of lower conservation value, in the Western Mojave. Our analyses allow us to understand patterns in renewable energy development in the mostly rapidly changing regions of the Mojave Desert. Our analyses also provide a baseline that will allow us to assess the effectiveness of the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan in preventing development on lands of high conservation value over the coming decades.


Campeau examines the scope and consequences of what seems to be implied by the possibility that objects can produce their own visible radiation, thereby challenging the very notion of photographic reproduction. If light emanates from the body of the object itself, changing its amplitude according to the states of the subject being recorded, then it no longer interferes between the object and the photosensitive surface. Light no longer strikes the object to reveal it. Rather, what occurs between the sensitive plate and the object is instead an exchange and conduction between objects with connections that are still unknown, but can be recorded and seen in the image.


This paper describes unique research efforts relating to the development of nanoscale devices to replace standard integrated circuits, and eventually entire electronic systems. Standard integrated circuits (IC) have limitations or restrictions in size, speed, reliability, complexity and finding suitable replacements for discontinued items. Nanoscale device development and understanding has dramatically grown. One of the key properties of quantum physics that quantum computers rely on is the ability of certain atoms or nuclei to work together as quantum bits. These computing devices are a fraction of the size of typical ICs (nanoscale). Nanoscale devices developed using quantum physics principles have unlimited potential to revolutionize the methods and design of fabricated printed circuit cards and complete systems. They can replace an entire PC board or the set of PC boards that comprise a Line Replaceable Unit (LRU). This would be a good and practical jumping-off point. to going direct to the complete device, system or function level. This might include a nanoscale computer (general purpose or flight control), transmitter, GPS receiver, position and/or attitude sensors in either a standalone configuration, or combined within conventional devices (e.g., a nanoscale communications suite (xmtr/rcvr, etc.). encapsulated within the Plexiglas canopy or the control yoke of an F16 rather that, behind the instrument panel or maybe the whole comm suite into the pilot's helmet.


Ceramic-supported manganese dioxide catalyst, MnO2-ceramic, prepared by impregnation- precipitation method and calcined at 350 degree C, was exposed to flue gases to investigate the catalytic oxidation of sulphur dioxide in flue gas at seawater buffering system. The results showed that compared with acid treated ceramic, MnO2-ceramic gained 2%-46% higher Desulfurization efficiency in temperature range of 15-75 degree C. MnO2-ceramic exhibited 57% desulfurization efficiency at its favorable temperature (60 degree C) while ceramic showed 11% Desulfurization efficiency at 60 degree C. MnO2-ceramic was found to catalyze S(IV)oxidation even at low pH (pH<4) while the reaction rate of noncatalytic S(IV) oxidation is negligible under the identical conditions. No catalytic activity decay was observed after 40 hours' run. XPS reveals that the Mn was in the oxidation state of +4 for the MnOx-ceramic. SEM-EDS and XRD indicated that the good catalytic activity of MnO2-ceramic at low temperature could be attributed to high dispersion of MnO2 on ceramic support. The high performance of MnO2-ceramic on the SO2 removal appeared to be promising in the seawater flue gas desulfurization industrial application when high sulfur coals were burned.


Abstract Background: Patient and public involvement (PPI) is increasingly becoming a requirement in the effort to improve the relevance and quality of healthcare research. We examined how involving patients with lower education levels affected PPI in the development of the MyHealth randomized clinical trial of breast cancer follow-up from the perspectives of the patients and professionals. Material and methods: Eight women who had completed breast cancer treatment, four with fewer than 10 years of education, were recruited as members of a patient panel advising researchers in the development of the trial. We carried out individual and focus group interviews with panel members and recruiting nurses between April and September 2016. Researcher observations and changes made based on panel feedback were also documented. Patients were asked to evaluate the process according to a PPI theoretical framework with four dimensions: (i) ways of involvement, (ii) research vs. patient concerns, (iii) strength of the patient's voice, and (iv) degree of change. A combination of inductive and deductive thematic analysis was conducted whereby emerging themes were organized using the above framework. Results: All patient contributors reported high satisfaction with being involved and PPI improved trial materials and recruitment strategy. However, contradictory perspectives between lay and expert approaches to research led to dilemmas not related to educational background. Patients were often more concerned with unmet needs after cancer than with research, and the scientific hierarchy made it difficult for researchers to include the patient perspective if it challenged research requirements. Nurses also faced ethical dilemmas when recruiting patients as PPI contributors. Conclusions: Our findings challenged the assumption that PPI automatically leads to a broad range of patient perspectives that can directly improve research relevance and quality. This highlights the need for more research and better guidance on the use of PPI in research.


: Despite provision of adequate calories and nitrogen, patients receiving current nutrition support formulations often have suppression of immune function. Certain nutrients may act pharmacologically on the immune system. The choice of nutrients appropriate for a given disease state must take into consideration the nutritional status of the subject, presence of infection, injury or hypermetabolism, and the specific immune defect. Nutritional therapy specific for certain disease states is complex and in its infancy but may hold promise for improved patient outcome. Randomized prospective trials to evaluate efficacy are mandatory. Continued research into individual nutrients to elucidate mechanisms of immunomodulation must follow. In the meantime, broad application of products shown to be effective for a specific indication is inappropriate.


High temperatures and low rainfall consistently constrain reproduction in arid-zone bird species. Understanding the mechanisms underlying this pattern is critical for predicting how climate change will influence population persistence and to inform conservation and management. In this study, we analyzed Southern Pied Babbler Turdoides bicolor nestling survival, daily growth rate and adult investment behavior during the nestling period over three austral summer breeding seasons. High temperatures were associated with lower body mass, shorter tarsi, and reduced daily growth rates of nestlings. Our piecewise structural equation models suggested that direct impacts of temperature had the strongest influence on nestling size and daily growth rates for both 5-day-old and 11-day-old nestlings, followed by temperature-related adjustments to provisioning rates by adults. Rainfall and group size influenced the behavior of provisioning adults but did not influence nestling growth or survival. Adjustments to adult provisioning strategies did not compensate for direct negative effects of high air temperatures on nestling size or daily growth rates. Detailed mechanistic data like these allow us to model the pathways by which high temperature causes nest failure. In turn, this could allow us to design targeted conservation action to effectively mitigate climate effects.


This paper presents an evaluation of an English Language Intensive Course for Overseas Students (ELICOS) language program, conducted with application of a context-adaptive model of language program evaluation. It reports on a causal-comparative examination of both an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course, and an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) course, which sought to examine which of the two programs of study was the most effective in the preparation of ELICOS students for the International English Language Testing System, with particular reference to the academic writing component of the test. This emphasis was selected due to the significance of writing skills in the academic contexts to which both IELIS and EAP students seek access. The context of the study allows for an examination of the effectiveness of the context-adaptive model of language program evaluation. An analysis of both the quantitative and qualitative data gathered within the research program is presented. The quantitative data analysis suggests that IELTS preparation programs are more successful in preparing students for the IELTS test than EAP courses. The qualitative data informs an analysis of the causes of this. The maintenance of focused instructional emphasis on International English Language Testing System writing task completion, together with the development of skills in writing, planning, and systematic tuition in strategies for writing under examination conditions, seem to assist students of IEL TS preparation programs to achieve an average gain of one IEL TS bandscore over a ten-week course of instruction.


Automated Scoring (AS), the natural language processing task of scoring essays and speeches in an educational testing setting, is growing in popularity and being deployed across contexts from government examinations to companies providing language proficiency services. However, existing systems either forgo human raters entirely, thus harming the reliability of the test, or score every response by both human and machine thereby increasing costs. We target the spectrum of possible solutions in between, making use of both humans and machines to provide a higher quality test while keeping costs reasonable to democratize access to AS. In this work, we propose a combination of the existing paradigms, sampling responses to be scored by humans intelligently. We propose reward sampling and observe significant gains in accuracy (19.80% increase on average) and quadratic weighted kappa (QWK) (25.60% on average) with a relatively small human budget (30% samples) using our proposed sampling. The accuracy increase observed using standard random and importance sampling baselines are 8.6% and 12.2% respectively. Furthermore, we demonstrate the system's model agnostic nature by measuring its performance on a variety of models currently deployed in an AS setting as well as pseudo models. Finally, we propose an algorithm to estimate the accuracy/QWK with statistical guarantees (Our code is available at https://git.io/J1IOy).


BACKGROUND
The Nordic Aortic Valve Intervention (NOTION) was designed to compare transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) to surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in patients 70 years or older with isolated severe aortic valve stenosis. Clinical and echocardiographic outcomes are presented after 5 years.

METHODS
Patients were enrolled at three Nordic centers and randomized 1:1 to TAVR using the self-expanding CoreValve prosthesis (n=145) or SAVR using any stented bio-prostheses (n=135). The primary composite outcome was the rate of all-cause mortality, stroke, or myocardial infarction at 1 year defined according to Valve Academic Research Consortium-2 criteria.

RESULTS
Baseline characteristics were similar. The mean age was 79.1±4.8 years and mean STS-PROM score was 3.0%±1.7%. After 5 years, there were no differences between TAVR and SAVR in the composite outcome (Kaplan-Meier estimates 38.0% vs. 36.3%, log-rank test p=0.86) or any of its components. TAVR patients had larger prosthetic valve area (1.7 cm2 vs. 1.2 cm2, p<0.001) with a lower mean transprosthetic gradient (8.2 mm Hg vs. 13.7 mm Hg, p<0.001), both unchanged over time. More TAVR patients had moderate/severe total aortic regurgitation (8.2% vs. 0.0%, p<0.001) and a new pacemaker (43.7% vs. 8.7%, p<0.001). Four patients had prosthetic re-intervention and no difference was found for functional outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS
These are currently the longest follow-up data comparing TAVR and SAVR in lower risk patients, demonstrating no statistical difference for major clinical outcomes 5 years after TAVR with a self-expanding prosthesis compared to SAVR. Higher rates of prosthetic regurgitation and pacemaker implantation were seen after TAVR.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION
URL: http://www.ClinicalTrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01057173.


Today, globally distributed software development is an unstoppable trend in Information Technology (IT) all over the world due to the benefits it provides such as cost benefits, time saving, accessing the large labor pool and available resources. However, globally distributed software companies face some issues in this regard. Cultural differences are introduced and discussed as one of the fundamental issues in globally distributed IT companies. Further, it is evident from the literature that business analysis process is the fundamental phase of software development process that affects the entire process of software development, and requires effective communication and collaboration among teams and between team members. Globally distributed software development makes the business analysis process and its related sub-phases even much more complicated than it is. Therefore, in this study, the influence of cultural differences on globally distributed business analysis process is analyzed. In order to do that, I conduct a qualitative study in which employees of the Turkey and Poland branches of the GTECH IT Company are interviewed. Hence, in this study remote project team member are asked about varying cultural differences that I extract from several existing cultural models and unify them into an integrated model. There are many studies exist about cultural differences in literature and these studies has similarity and differences which are creating complexity for readers and researchers. Hence, in this research Hofstede's, Hall's and Trompenaars' cultural frameworks are unified and then I develop a new cultural model. By applying this new framework or model I investigated the influence of varying cultural differences on business analysis process that is conducted in a globally distributed IT company.


AIM: To investigate the possible role of the systemic IgA immune system in the pathogenesis of IgA nephropathy METHODS: J chain mRNA expression in the IgA cells of the bone marrow was studied. Bone marrow trephine biopsy specimens from seven patients with IgA nephropathy and seven matched controls were examined by (1) non-isotopic in situ hybridisation (ISH) and (2) combined immunofluorescence and non-isotopic ISH to identify the plasma cell type. Serum polymeric IgA was also determined using standard high pressure liquid chromatography and sandwich enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: Non-isotopic ISH revealed a similar number of J chain mRNA positive cells/unit length in biopsy specimens from patients (16.5 +/- 2.7 cells/mm) and controls (17.7 +/- 2.4 cells/mm). Combined immunofluorescence and ISH revealed a greater proportion of J chain mRNA positive IgA cells in patients (7.6 +/- 1.45%) compared with controls (3 +/- 0.8%). Serum polymeric IgA was similar in both patients (91 +/- 22 mg/l) and controls (77 +/- 24 mg/l). CONCLUSION: These data suggest that excess production of dimeric IgA occurs in the bone marrow in IgA nephropathy.


PURPOSE
Collagen barrier membranes were first introduced to regenerative periodontal and oral surgery to prevent fast ingrowing soft tissues (ie, epithelium and connective tissue) into the defect space. More recent attempts have aimed at combining collagen membranes with various biologics/growth factors to speed up the healing process and improve the quality of regenerated tissues. Recently, a new formulation of enamel matrix derivative in a liquid carrier system (Osteogain) has demonstrated improved physico-chemical properties for the adsorption of enamel matrix derivative to facilitate protein adsorption to biomaterials. The aim of this pioneering study was to investigate the use of enamel matrix derivative in a liquid carrier system in combination with collagen barrier membranes for its ability to promote osteoblast cell behavior in vitro.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Undifferentiated mouse ST2 stromal bone marrow cells were seeded onto porcine-derived collagen membranes alone (control) or porcine membranes + enamel matrix derivative in a liquid carrier system. Control and enamel matrix derivative-coated membranes were compared for cell recruitment and cell adhesion at 8 hours; cell proliferation at 1, 3, and 5 days; and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) at 3 and 14 days for genes encoding Runx2, collagen1alpha2, alkaline phosphatase, and bone sialoprotein. Furthermore, alizarin red staining was used to investigate mineralization.

RESULTS
A significant increase in cell adhesion was observed at 8 hours for barrier membranes coated with enamel matrix derivative in a liquid carrier system, whereas no significant difference could be observed for cell proliferation or cell recruitment. Enamel matrix derivative in a liquid carrier system significantly increased alkaline phosphatase mRNA levels 2.5-fold and collagen1alpha2 levels 1.7-fold at 3 days, as well as bone sialoprotein levels twofold at 14 days postseeding. Furthermore, collagen membranes coated with enamel matrix derivative in a liquid carrier system demonstrated a sixfold increase in alizarin red staining at 14 days when compared with collagen membrane alone.

CONCLUSION
The combination of enamel matrix derivative in a liquid carrier system with a barrier membrane significantly increased cell attachment, differentiation, and mineralization of osteoblasts in vitro. Future animal testing is required to fully characterize the additional benefits of combining enamel matrix derivative in a liquid carrier system with a barrier membrane for guided bone or tissue regeneration.


The objective was to study the effects of microencapsulated organic acids (OA) and essential oils (EO) on growth performance, immune system, gut barrier function, nutrient digestion and absorption, and abundance of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli F4 (ETEC F4) in the weaned piglets challenged with ETEC F4. Twenty-four ETEC F4 susceptible weaned piglets were randomly distributed to four treatments including (1) sham-challenged control (SSC; piglets fed a control diet and challenged with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS)); (2) challenged control (CC; piglets fed a control diet and challenged with ETEC F4); (3) antibiotic growth promoters (AGP; CC + 55 mg·kg-1 of Aureomycin); and (4) microencapsulated OA and EO [P(OA+EO); (CC + 2 g·kg-1 of microencapsulated OA and EO]. The ETEC F4 infection significantly induced diarrhea at 8, 28, 34, and 40 hours post-inoculation (hpi) (P < 0.05) in the CC piglets. At 28 days post-inoculation (dpi), piglets fed P(OA+EO) had a lower (P < 0.05) diarrhea score compared to those fed CC, but the P(OA+EO) piglets had a lower (P < 0.05) diarrhea score compared to those fed the AGP diets at 40 dpi. The ETEC F4 infection tended to increase in vivo gut permeability measured by the oral gavaging fluorescein isothiocyanate-dextran 70 kDa (FITC-D70) assay in the CC piglets compared to the SCC piglets (P = 0.09). The AGP piglets had higher FITC-D70 flux than P(OA+EO) piglets (P < 0.05). The ETEC F4 infection decreased mid-jejunal VH in the CC piglets compared to the SCC piglets (P < 0.05). The P(OA+EO) piglets had higher (P < 0.05) VH in the mid-jejunum than the CC piglets. The relative mRNA abundance of SGLT1 and B0AT1 was reduced (P < 0.05) by ETEC F4 inoculation when compared to the SCC piglets. The AGP piglets had a greater relative mRNA abundance of B0AT1 than the CC piglets (P < 0.05). The ETEC F4 inoculation increased the protein abundance of OCLN (P < 0.05), and the AGP piglets had the lowest relative protein abundance of OCLN among the challenged groups (P < 0.05). The supplementation of microencapsulated OA and EO enhanced intestinal morphology and showed anti-diarrhea effects at a one-time point in weaned piglets challenged with ETEC F4. Even if more future studies can be required for further validation, this study brings evidence that microencapsulated OA and EO combination can be useful within the tools to be implemented in strategies for alternatives to antibiotics in swine production.


The aim of this research was to analyse the effect of social houses on the neighbourhood attractiveness. Neighbourhood attractiveness is reflected by residential property prices because homebuyers will bid up for the most desirable places. The literature review describes the impact of multiple characteristics on the valuation of residential properties. The characteristics are: Structural, Locational, Neighbourhood and Environmental. An explanation of their influence on the valuation of residential properties is given for each category. Thereafter, the measurement techniques are described. Subsequently, the impact of social houses is explained. Social houses seem to have a negative impact on the valuation of residential properties. Tenants of social houses have more problems, and a high concentration of social houses is seen as problematic. The data of social houses is obtained from the municipality of Rotterdam and Maaskoepel (umbrella organisation for housing associations in Rotterdam) and geographical information software made it possible to link the data to residential property prices. An OLS panel regression with Entity and Time fixed effects is used to analyse theses effects. It resulted in a negative effect of the amount of social houses in the immediate vicinity on the valuation of residential properties. This effect decreases over distance. The effect of the share of social houses in a neighbourhood on the valuation of residential properties is unsure. The outcomes of different models are not in line with each other.


3D basin modelling of the northern North Sea region covering 4886km2 is performed in order to understand the petroleum system elements within the area. The approach used to obtain the most likely model is to analyze and determine quantitatively the faults properties controlling the hydrocarbons accumulations in the Gullfaks, Visund, Kvitebjorn, and Huldra fields. This approach is made by varying the faults properties defined by shale gauge ratio until the reserves in place in the four fields are reached. Therefore, the oil accumulation in the Gullfaks field is controlled by three main faults. The first fault bounding the field is a non- sealing fault with SGR= 10%. The second located further south in field is a sealing fault and the third located in the North is a non-sealing fault. In the Visund field, the NE-SW trending fault is a non sealing fault. In the Kvitebjorn field, another NE-SW trending fault surrounding the field is defined by SGR= 30%. In the Huldra field, the gas in place is controlled by two N-S trending faults. The first fault is located in the west of the field and is defined by SGR= 40% and the other located in the east is a non-sealing fault. Throughout this study, it is observed that the faults properties vary from field to field and the gas accumulation is more sensitive to SGR than the oil accumulation. They have an important effect especially on the migration paths of the hydrocarbon but not on the other petroleum system elements. After analyzing the fault properties, the petroleum system elements are analyzed from the obtained most likely model. Therefore, the burial history analysis shows that the uplift in late Jurassic-early Cretaceous is more pronounced in the footwall of the graben whereas in the axis of graben, this period is characterized by non-deposition of sediments. This uplift phase is also evident in the paleo-temperature distribution within the area. The source rocks, in the Draupne and Heather Fms, started to be mature at 135Ma and 155Ma and became more mature as the burial depth increased. The hydrocarbons generation occurred also very early, at the same time of the maturation with 120Mtons for Draupne Fm and 18Mtons for Heather Fm. The properties of the reservoir rocks vary largely due to differences in compaction. For the Brent Group, the porosity varies from 5 to 34% and the permeability from 0.01mD to 10000mD. For the Statfjord Fm, the porosity varies from 3 to 25% and permeability from 0.01mD to 1000mD.


The use of implants for the growing child is not routinely recommended. The concerns about placing implants for patients in this age group are related to jaw growth. However, not all children with missing teeth need to wait for growth to be completed prior to implant placement. In this paper, the authors will discuss the indications for implant placement in the growing child. The decision for implant placement is based not only on growth, but also the number and location of the missing teeth.


Conventional unassisted electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) has severe limitations as a liquid chromatography (LC) interface due to the few solvent compositions which can be electrosprayed without some type of assistance. LC mobile phases which have high flow rates (over 5 microL/min), high conductivity, or high surface tension are normally unsuitable for use with ESI. For this reason, an ultrasonic nebulizer has been developed which mechanically creates the fine spray of droplets needed for ESI and thus functions independently of the solvent composition. This device also operates at considerably higher liquid flow rates, up to several hundred microliters per minute. To characterize the system's performance, the ultrasonic nebulizer frequency, source electrode potentials, and drying and focusing gas flow rates were studied and optimized. Also, droplet size measurements were taken using a phase-Doppler anemometer, which showed consistent nebulizer performance up to a liquid flow rate of several hundred microliters per minute. Finally, the ultrasonic nebulizer was used for an LC application involving the separation of proteins on 1.0 and 2.1 mm i.d. columns. LC flow rates of up to 200 microL/min of mobile phases containing 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid could be easily nebulized. With the 1.0 mm i.d. column, as little as 32 fmol of cytochrome c could be detected in selected ion monitoring mode.


Maximizing the use of existing topside facilities is an attractive approach to reduce project CAPEX and therefore unlock new reserves. However, as the tieback length to the host increases, technical and economic challenges arise. These include flow assurance, and costs of the umbilical and flowlines which inherently increase with length. These aspects, together with others independent from the length, such as power and space availability, have a significant impact and could result in making the project unfeasible or uneconomical.
 Technologies developed in recent years, or in their final stage of qualification, play a significant role, not only in solving the technical challenges, but also in finding cost-effective configurations, either by reducing and/or staggering capital and operational expenditures or by extending reserves recoverability or also by reducing significantly the risks associated with a development.
 In order to appreciate these advantages, different configurations have been outlined starting from those allowed by the conventional technologies and comparing them to the ones enabled by the new technologies. Actual advantages of each technological "bricks", considered alone or in synergies, depend on the specific projects and can be identified in a timely manner thanks to early engagement of Contractor in the architecture and associated pricing of subsea tiebacks.
 The paper will present a platform of technologies, their maturity status and how they can be integrated in novel architectures in an economic manner. Such technologies include:
 Boosting
 Distributed and local heating
 Subsea water treatment and injection
 Subsea separation
 Subsea chemical storage and injection
 All electric control system
 Local power generation


Electricity and gas-based heat treatment of metal is an energy-intensive process. To mitigate the use of such high-grade energy the concept of an open volumetric air receiver-based solar convective furnace (SCF) system is developed for the heat treatment of metal. This system includes an in-situ waste heat recovery mechanism. This paper presents a Joule heating-based, controlled, experimental assessment of a laboratory-scale, retrofitted, SCF system for generating benchmark data. The reported measurements illustrate the heat transfer for (a) the charging and discharging process of thermal energy storage and (b) the two-stage heat treatment of metal with an in-situ heat recovery process. The overall system efficiency, including heat recovery, heat storage, and heat transfer, is found to be 24%. Thus, the SCF system can serve as a viable alternative to an electrical energy-based heat treatment furnace.


Common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in miRNAs may affect miRNA functions and their target expression and thus may affect biological activities and cancer etiology as well as prognosis. Thus, we determined whether the 9 SNPs in microRNAs modify the risk of recurrence of squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx (SCCOP) in a cohort of 1008 patients. The log-rank test and multivariate Cox models were used to evaluate the associations. We found that the SNPs in the miRNA146, miRNA196, and Gemin3 were associated with a significantly reduced and increased risk of SCCOP recurrence after multivariate adjustment (aHR, 0.6, 95%CI, 0.4-0.9, aHR, 2.1, 95%CI, 1.6-2.8, and aHR, 0.6, 95%CI, 0.5-0.9, respectively). Furthermore, the similar effect of these 3 SNPs on SCCOP recurrence risk was found in HPV-positive SCCOP patients only. However, no significant associations were found for other SNPs. To evaluate the aggregate effects of these SNPs, we performed a combined risk genotype analysis. We found that, compared with the low-risk reference group with less than 4 risk genotypes, the medium-risk group with 4 or 5 risk genotypes exhibited a 1.7-fold (1.2-2.4) increased risk whereas the high-risk group with more than 5 risk genotypes exhibited a 3.0-fold (1.7-4.2) increased risk (Ptrend < 0.001). Such combined effects were particularly pronounced in HPV-positive SCCOP patients. Taken together, this is the first study with a large cohort of SCCOP patients showing that miRNA-related genetic variants may modify risk of SCCOP recurrence individually and jointly. Larger studies are needed to validate these results.


Reducing child malnutrition is one of the most important development goals. This study adopts a quantile regression approach to estimate the socioeconomic determinants of a child's nutritional status and to explore for whom policy intervention matter the most. Using the data of children under five in Tanzania, the effects of several variables on child's height-for-age z-score (HAZ) and hemoglobin level are examined. HAZ is influenced by age, sex, preceding birth interval, mother's height and body-mass-index (BMI), and wealth, among others. The results from quantile regressions suggest that the intervention to improve mother's education, especially higher than primary school, is effective to reduce the child's malnutrition at the lower end of distribution. The interventions to upgrade drinking water or toilet facilities may not be sufficient in raising malnourished child's nutritional status. Hemoglobin level is influenced by age, sex, mother's hemoglobin level, parental education, and household size, among others. Conditional distributions make little difference with regard to hemoglobin level. Since common interventions of deworming or sleeping under the net are not significant, other interventions such as nutritional ones might be more effective for reducing anemia. 3 Large effects of mother's nutritional status on child's nutritional status imply that malnutrition is handed down from one generation to another, which could keep children trapped in the cycle of poverty. It would be effective to carefully integrate applicable interventions according to the objective and target population in order for wellbeing of individuals and for the development of the country.


We have successfully prepared monofilamentary MgB2 wires and tapes with different sheathed metals such as Cu, Ta/Cu and Fe by the powder-in-tube method. The phase composition, superconducting properties and microstructure features are investigated by x-ray diffractometer, the standard four-probe technique, SQUID magnetometer, SEM and TEM. The results indicate that Jc in MgB2/Ta/Cu wires is higher than 105 A cm−2 at 5 K in 0.1 T and 104 A cm−2 at 20 K in 1 T. By Ti-doping, Jc can be significantly improved. MgB2/Fe wires show very high transport critical current densities of 1.43 × 105 A cm−2 (4.2 K, 4 T), 3.72 × 104 A cm−2 (15 K, 4 T) and 2.34 × 104 A cm−2 (25 K, 3 T). Also the results indicated that small grain size should respond to the large Jc in Ti-doped MgB2 tape and MgB2/Fe wire.


Background & Objective: Parapharyngeal and infratemporal masses are rare head and neck tumors that constitute about 0.5% of all of them. To assess the distribution of infratemporal and parapharyngeal masses, this study was carried out in ENT department of Hazrat Rasoul Hospital as a sample of Iranian population. Method: In this retrospective study, we evaluated parapharyngeal and infratemporal tumors in Hazrat Rasoul-e-Akram Hospital in Tehran, from Jan. 1991 until Jan. 2001. Results: The sampled population was 39 patients suffering from these masses. The mean age of the patients was 44.9 years. The most frequent complaint was asymptomatic neck mass(69.2%). Conclusion: The findings reported masses of these areas in descending order of frequency: salivary gland tumors(51.2%-esp. PMA: Pleomorphic Adenoma), paraganglioma (15.3%), schwanoma (7.7%), angiofobroma and lymphoma. All patients had been evaluated by imaging techniques, the most common of which was contrast-enhanced CTscan. All patients except one case of NHL(Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma) were candidates to be operated on and with the exception of 4 cases, surgery via transcervical approach(with or without a combined approach) was done on them.


Recently-devised 3-dimensional (3D) diagnostic modalities such as magnetic resonance imaging and multi-slice computed tomography(MSCT)allow visualization of the heart and great vessels from any angle of view and perspective. Among them, the MSCT examination provides highly contrasted 3D images of complicated congenital heart diseases (CHD) and is now widely used instead of cardiac angiography. Here we introduce several applications of the MSCT examination in children with CHD. The MSCT examinations were performed without electorocardiogram (ECG)-gating in order to minimize radiation exposure. The 3D images of CHDs were exhibited with color-coded reconstruction to visualize clearer images of arteries and veins. The tortuous arteries and veins in the hypoplastic left heart, total anomalous pulmonary venous drainage, pulmonary atresia and ventricular septal defect associated with major aortopulmonary collateral arteries are clearly visualized with non-ECG-gated MSCT, which were very informative for cardiac surgery. We are now trying to make plastic replicas of complicated CHDs by the use of laser stereolithography technique. These replicas can be used for simulations of each surgical operation and for development of novel surgical procedures. The MSCT is a promising tool for the precise diagnosis and planning of surgical operation in complicated CHDs.


We present a new tree-search algorithm for solving mixed-integer nonlinear programs (MINLPs). Rather than relying on computationally expensive nonlinear solves at every node of the branchand-bound tree, our algorithm solves a quadratic approximation at every node. We show that the resulting algorithm retains global convergence properties for convex MINLPs, and we present numerical results on a range of test problems. Our numerical experience shows that the new algorithm allows us to exploit warm-starting techniques from quadratic programming, resulting in a reduction in solve times for convex MINLPs by orders of magnitude on some classes of problems.


The present paper discusses the concept of entrepreneurship in relation to emerging challenges of global markets and changing enterprise, and the ability of higher education to adjust to these challenges and deliver high quality learning outcomes for both students and SMEs. Immigrant entrepreneurship is emphasized as a tool to provide the necessary knowledge and real life experiences that may promote entrepreneurial learning in cross-cultural environments. It is believed that learning through the experiences of immigrant entrepreneurs can lead to a better understanding of the obstacles, challenges, and facilitating factors for successful entrepreneurship in times of economic hardship and globalization. This knowledge can later be infused into higher education curricula in order to better reflect the needs of students and SMEs in developing international and cross-cultural capability. Although immigrant entrepreneurship has been mostly studied in relation to ethnocultural characteristics and processes, we offer a new approach that may potentially lead to culturally-sensitive lifelong learning and training programs, and thus increaseaccess to global markets.


Reactive oxygen species are produced during normal mitochondrial respiration processes. Intracellular homeostasis is among other factors dependent on the balance between ROS production and antioxidant systems. When this balance is threatened or ceases to exist pathologies can arise (cancer, degenerative diseases, and reproductive disorders). In this thesis we focus on how molecular peroxidation affects the fertility characteristics of bovine cryopreserved sperm. Firstly it is described how new methodologies can be used to detect sperm plasma membrane susceptibility to peroxidative damage before and after cryopreservation processes. These techniques are useful for selection of sires to be used in insemination programmes. Furthermore it is shown that cholesterol oxidation products (COPs) are already present in ejaculated sperm, whilst for other lipid molecules such as phospholipid- phosphatidylcholine, peroxidation is observed after cryopreservation. One of the most toxic COPs- triol was almost absent on sperm lipid extracts. However, exposure to pro-oxidants dramatically increased the total COPs content, but surprisingly did not elevate the concentration of triol. In addition the oxidative challenge increased levels of triol on sperm membrane reconstituted lipid vesicles suggesting that sperm cells may metabolize this toxic COP. Furthermore, COPs may play signaling roles on pathways that drive sperm to capacitation and acrosome reaction, contributing for acquisition of fertilizing ability. Several methodologies that are currently available not only on lipid peroxidation detection but also for protein and DNA oxidation are described in detail in this thesis. It is also shown how determined oxidation conditions influence frozen-thawed fertilizing ability and subsequent embryo development in vitro. Frozen-thawed sperm was exposed prior to IVF during three hours to three different oxidative treatments, (a) 100 µM H2O2; (b) 500 µM H2O2 and (c) 500 µM H2O2 and 20/100 µM Fe2+/Ascorbate. These pro-oxidants are known for their peroxidative properties namely in lipids and DNA. Two control groups were considered, (d) where sperm was equally incubated for 3 h without oxidants and (e) where IVF procedure occurred according to protocol without any previous incubation. The results showed that fertilization took place in all conditions, although incubations (c) showed the lowest cleavage rate compared to all the other groups followed by incubation (b) that had significantly lower cleavage rates than incubations (d) and (e). Embryo development was impaired for condition (c) where a 2-cell block was observed, and condition (b) had lower percentage of Day 9 blastocysts than both control incubations [(d) and (e)]. Flow cytometry analysis showed that DNA oxidation was observed for incubations with highest concentration of oxidants (b) and (c), whereas plasma membrane oxidation was highest from incubation (c). On the other hand percentages of viable and acrosome intact sperm cells were lower only between sperm samples that were incubated for 3 hours and group (e), despite the presence or absence of oxidants. Equally mitochondrial and intracellular oxidations were highest in incubation (c). These results suggest that frozen-thawed sperm can withstand a certain degree of oxidative damage without impairing its acquisition of fertilizing ability (capacitation, acrosome reaction) or impair fertilization itself. And the oocyte plays a very important role in repairing damage that is brought by the sperm upon fertilization and allowing further embryo development.


PV Hybrid system performance is closely tied to the control strategy employed. To develop integrated optimal control strategies, a better understanding of component and system behaviour is required. Natural Resources Canada has developed a comprehensive set of PV component models for system simulation, called PV Toolbox. These models will help researchers find ways to reduce the life-cycle cost of remote photovoltaic/genset hybrid power plants and improve their over-all performance. PV Toolbox is built under the Matlab/Simulink environment which offers an open, flexible and extensible architecture to create complex system models by interconnecting individual components. This tool performs continuous-time simulations of electrical, thermal, environmental and financial parameters in order to draw conclusions about system operation and to facilitate system analysis and optimisation. Extensive theoretical and practical validations have been performed on PV Toolbox. Individual components were examined and whole PV systems were compared against literature, against monitored data from real sites and from CETC-Varennes hybrid test bench and against other simulation tools to verify that their behaviour was sound. Results show that PV Toolbox appears to meet the expectations of a flexible tool for R&D purposes, which can suit research requirements in terms of input data, types of load, types of output, components included and their configuration.


Alterations in global DNA methylation have been suggested to play an important role in cancer development. We evaluated the association of global DNA methylation in peripheral blood with the risk of lung cancer in nonsmoking women from six countries in Central and Eastern Europe. This multicenter case–control study included primary, incident lung cancer cases diagnosed from 1998 to 2001 and controls frequency-matched for geographic area, sex, and age. Global methylation was assessed in peripheral blood DNA from 83 nonsmoking female cases and 181 nonsmoking female controls using the luminometric methylation assay (LUMA). Unconditional logistic regression models were used to estimate associations between DNA methylation in the blood and the risk of lung cancer. LUMA methylation level was not associated with the risk of lung cancer in nonsmoking women. Associations were not significantly different according to different strata of age, BMI, alcohol drinking, or second-hand tobacco smoke exposure status. In our study of nonsmoking women, the LUMA methylation level in peripheral blood was not associated with the risk of lung cancer. Our findings do not support an association of global blood DNA methylation with the risk of lung cancer in nonsmoking women.


: Indirect care for gerontopsychiatric patients by means of patient-centered group discussions under the heading "How to deal with Difficult Patients" is presented as a succession of case reports concerning the progress and course of the first year of a team counselling project in a home for aged persons. The theoretical results outline the framework of such patient-centred group discussions with the following cornerstones: Specialist training or continuing education, supervision, sociopsychiatric counselling and advising the institution; these topics are dealt with in detail. Our model of group discussions is subdivided into the following patient-centred developmental stages: Initiation, acceptance of the psychiatric line of thought, increasing specialist competence. Our paper supplies pointers with regard to the demands made on the discussion leaders, together with hints as to which factors connected with the individual cornerstones and developmental stages should be given special attention. It became evident that these group discussions help to impart more knowledge to the individual partners of the team and hence promote a greater amount of understanding of the psychological patterns of linkups in the development of each patient, thus enabling the medical staff to respond better and more adequately to the psychological needs of the individual patient. As the feeling grows in each individual that he can now cope better with the demands his profession makes on him, a feeling of satisfaction also grows among the team members and there is less job fluctuation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


This paper proposes a new evolution algorithm, M_GEP, based on the concept of multi-gene chromosome in gene expression programming. The algorithm has two characters: (1) a chromosome is composed of more than one gene; (2) the sub-genes are linked together according to the linking gene which may conclude more than one kind of function. We give two examples, whose results show that the models set up by M_GEP are better than the models set up by GEP.


In the field of tissue engineering, the properties of the scaffolds are of crucial importance for the success of the application. Hybrid materials combine the properties of the different components that constitute them. In this study hybrid gels of Elastin-Like Recombinamer (ELR) and fibrin were prepared with a range of polymer concentrations and ELR-to-fibrin ratios. The correlation between SEM micrographs, porosities, swelling ratios and rheological properties was discussed and a poroelastic mechanism was suggested to explain the mechanical behavior of the hybrid gels. Applicability as scaffold materials for cardiovascular tissue engineering was shown by the realization of cell-laden matrixes which supported the synthesis of collagens as revealed by immunohistochemical analysis. As a proof of concept, a tissue-engineered heart valve was fabricated by injection moulding and cultivated in a bioreactor for 3 weeks under dynamic conditions. Tissue analysis revealed the production of collagen I and III, fundamental proteins for cardiovascular constructs.


Problem statement: Peripheral neuropathy due to diabetes has been studied for several decades. Until recently, we associate the involvement of peripheral nerves with an inappropriate glycemic control in the most advanced stages of the disease. Currently, it is considered that the onset of the neural injury can occur in the initial phase of this metabolic abnormality, during the period of glucose intolerance. Approach: The clinical aspects of the sensory neuropathy associated to the impaired glucose tolerance were analyzed in 35 Brazilian patients. All patients met the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria for glucose intolerance. Results: We studied 20 male and 15 female, with a mean age of 62.5, ranging from 30-83 years. A distal symmetrical lower limb involvement with positive (neuropathic pain) and/or negative (reduced temperature and pinprick sensations) symptoms and clinical signs of autonomic neuropathy were seen in most patients. The glycemic levels were not related to the severity of the symptoms or to the presence of any specific symptom. Conclusion: The Impaired Glucose Tolerance (IGT) neuropathy can be included in the chronic axonal polyneuropathy and usually the patients suffer from chronic pain and disability before the diagnosis. The determination of the prevalence of symptoms is essential to recognize this disease. The early diagnosis and the aggressive treatment can be crucial for the control, development and progression of the small fiber neuropathy in glucose intolerant patients.