Abstract This article examines the multifaceted process of queer subjectivity (re)formation that queer Maghrebi subjects undergo as they (re)interpret their relationship to and orientation toward social norms, masculinity, and the spaces of exchange they inhabit. Bahaa Trabelsi's Une vie à trois [A Life of Three] (2000) assembles an intricate literary text to signal the inequalities many non-normative or queer Maghrebi subjects encounter via conservative discourse. This article understands Trabelsi's work as a critique of masculinity and society, in which she does reconfigure masculinity to develop a plural form, which is to say, "masculinities," to go beyond singular, essentialized interpretations of the concept. To engage with Trabelsi's apparent critique of Moroccan society, this article postulates that the several narratives in the novel assemble figures of revolt, which involve subjects purposefully eliding societal pressures, therefore, situating themselves as "others" within their communities to maintain agency and individual subjecthood.


As mobile robots are taking on more and more of the tasks that were normally delegated to humans, they need to acquire higher degrees of autonomous operation, which calls for accurate and efficient position determination and/or verification. The critical geometric dimensions of a standard pattern are used here to locate the relative position of the mobile robot with respect to the pattern; by doing so, the method does not depend on values of any intrinsic camera parameters, except the focal length. In addition, this method has the advantages of simplicity and flexibility. This standard pattern is also provided with a unique identification code, using bar codes, that enables the system to find the absolute location of the pattern. These bar codes also assist in the scanning algorithms to locate the pattern in the environment. A thorough error analysis and experimental results obtained through software simulation are presented, as well as the current direction of our work.


We formalize a design process as a synthesis. One important phase of the process is utilization of the designed object, either it is concrete or abstract. This phase is a service provision. We define "X service" as a provision and utilization of X, where X is something or some system. Value cocreation by the provider and the user through use has been discussed in the society of Serviceology. We claim that the concept of co-creation also applies to design. We have been working on formalizing the process of design and synthesis, or constructive science, as FNS diagram. It is an infinite loop of generation, interaction (of the system) with the environment, analysis and scripting (and then back to generation). This loop is infinite in the sense that to design is never ending activity of making and improving a certain type of artifacts recursively towards a preferable situation even though each artifact has its lifetime. Service in its narrow sense corresponds to generation and interaction phase where a generated system is actually put into use. Service in its wider sense corresponds to the whole loop. When we take the definition of "design" to its widest meaning, service becomes an important part of a design process. Provision and utilization of designed system forms a twin FNS loops, one for the provider and the other for the user. Information technology (IT) plays an important role when we design an innovative service system. As an example, we report our design and implementation of Smart Access Vehicle System in Hakodate.


Cold plasma (CP) is an effective strategy to alter the limitations of biopolymer materials for food packaging applications. Biopolymers such as polysaccharides and proteins are known to be sustainable materials with excellent film-forming properties. Bio-based films can be used as an alternative to traditional plastic packaging. There are limitations to biopolymer packaging materials such as hydrophobicity, poor barrier, and thermos-mechanical properties. For this reason, biopolymers must be modified to create a packaging material with the desired applicability. CP is an effective method to enhance the functionality and interfacial features of biopolymers. It etches the film surface allowing for better adhesion between various polymer layers while also improving ink printability. CP facilitates adhesion between two or more hydrophobic materials, resulting in significantly better water vapour permeability (WVP) properties. The sputtering of ionic species by CP results in cross-linkage reactions which improve the mechanical properties of films (tensile strength (TS) and elongation at break (EAB)). Cross-linkage reactions are reported to be responsible for the improved thermal stability of CP-treated biopolymers. CP treatment is known to decrease oxygen permeability (OP) in protein-based biopolymers. CP can also enable the blending of polymers with specific antimicrobial substances to develop active packaging materials. In this review article, we have presented an overview of the recent advancements of CP in the food packaging application. Furthermore, the influence of CP on the properties of packaging materials, and recent advancements in the modification of polymeric food packaging materials have been discussed.


ABSTRACT The increasing importance of resilience in supply chain management (SCM) has driven managers and scholars to seek ways to evaluate it. However, in the SCM literature, the conceptualisation of what resilience is and how supply chains are resilient in practice remains vague, which makes measuring it difficult. Based on an analysis of what resilience and being resilient means in different disciplines, combined with extant SCM literature about resilience, this paper clarifies the concept and posits that resilience, in the SCM context, is a process combining three interactive capabilities that operates at three intertwined levels of organisation: firm, supply chain and supply network. This multi-level analysis gives rise to a framework of overall supply network resilience (SNRES) that provides insights for both academics and practitioners and also leads to a useful analytical approach to evaluate resilience at different levels of a supply network.


This study describes the investigation conducted for flood risk assessment in urban areas using SIR-C data. The Athens basin is a densely populated area with approximately four million inhabitants, affected very often by destructive flash-floods. These flood phenomena occur mainly at the margins of the urban area very close to the surrounding mountains. The SIR-C image, acquired on October 2nd, 1994, has been processed for speckle reduction and additionally a non-linear stretching has been applied. After the first observations at every single image, a false colour composite image was created using L-band HV, C-band HH, and L-band HH as R,G,B. The captured information concerns morphology (topography, slopes, gullies), land use and land cover, drainage characteristics and building shell extension, density and block orientation.


Abstract Background Cardiac myxomas are the most common primary benign tumour of the heart. Most of them occur between the 4th and 6th decade of life, are most frequent in the woman, and most frequently localized in the left atrium. Case summary We present a case of a 41-year-old female who presented with a history of left-sided heart failure. A left atrial mass of 87 × 88 × 65 mm was documented by cardiac magnetic resonance. She was taken to surgical resection of the mass. Histopathologic findings were diagnostic of cardiac myxoma. Generally, myxomas that are bigger than 6 cm are associated with the worst prognosis. Discussion Primary cardiac tumours are mostly benign, being in 50% of the cases a cardiac myxoma. The rest of them correspond to papillary fibroelastoma (26%), fibromas (6%), lipomas (4%), and others including calcified tumours, haemangiomas, teratomas, cysts, and rhabdomyomas. Our clinical case illustrates an unusual and rare presentation of cardiac myxoma with a double mitral lesion.


Objective
To introduce the method of prior-localization femoral tunnel by using a special positioning tool under the C-arm radiographic machine before surgery, and to study the effect on the knee function recovery after medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) reconstruction.

Methods
Between January 2014 and January 2016, 32 patients with recurrent unilateral knee patellar dislocation were treated by arthroscopic patellofemoral lateral retinaculum release and MPFL reconstruction. The femoral tunnel position during MPFL reconstruction was prior-localizated under C-arm radiographic machine before operation. There were 8 males and 24 females, aged from 15 to 37 years, with an average of 23.8 years. The time from injury to admission ranged from 1 to 24 months, with an average of 9.7 months. Isometric point distance was measured on CT three-dimensional reconstruction image after operation to evaluate whether the position of femoral tunnel was isometric, and knee joint function was evaluated by Lysholm score. Spearman correlation analysis was performed between isometric point distance and Lysholm score.

Results
All the 32 patients were followed up 12-18 months (mean, 14.2 months). No symptoms of patellar subluxation or dislocation was found during follow-up. Patellar extrapolation test and patellar extrapolation fear test were negative. The isometric point distance was 1.5-5.9 mm (mean, 3.44 mm) at 3 days after operation. All femoral tunnels were located in equidistant tunnels. At last follow-up, the Lysholm score of the patients was 92.8±2.1, which was significantly improved when compared with preoperative score (54.4±2.8) ( t=61.911, P=0.000). Isometric point distance was negatively correlated with Lysholm score ( r=-0.454, P=0.009).

Conclusion
C-arm radiographic machine can locate the femoral tunnel position of MPFL easily and accurately before operation. The short-term and medium-term effectiveness are satisfactory, and the ionizing radiation injury caused by multiple fluoroscopy during operation is avoided.


Objective: In this report, three dimensional structure of lanosterol 14-α demethylase (CYP51) protein of Candida albicans was modeled and used for docking studies with eighteen synthetic triazole derivatives. Methods: The model was generated by multiple threading alignment and iterative structure assembly simulation by I-TASSER and validated by Ramachandran plot using PROCHECK and MolProbity servers. The eighteen 1,2,3-triazole compounds were previously synthesized using two different synthetic routes by our research group in the search of new antifungal agents. The binding affinity and interaction of all triazole compounds with predicted model of CYP51 were determined by AutoDock Vina. Results: I-TASSER generated five models in which Model 1 was selected as best predicted structure on the basis of C-score 1.30, TM-score 0.89 ± 0.07, and RMSD 4.7 ± 3.1 A. It showed 89.2% residues in most favoured region and 7.1% residues in additional allowed regions. Docking results showed that all the derivatives have good binding energy in the range -9.8 to -7.4 kcal/mol. Moreover, compound NT- 03 (-9.8 kcal/mol) was found as best inhibitor as it binds nicely into the active site of the enzyme. Conclusion: The study suggests that I-TASSER is very easy and reliable tool for three dimensional structure predictions. The N-atom in quinoline ring of compound NT- 03 involved in the additional interaction with predicted model of CYP51. Finally, I-TASSER might be used as an important tool in drug designing process in search of more effective therapies.


An efficient method of moments (MoM) solution of the volume-surface integral equation (VSIE) is presented for the analysis of electromagnetic (EM) scattering and radiation of composite objects comprising arbitrarily contacted dielectrics and conductors. In contrast to the conventional Schaubert-Wilton-Glisson (SWG) and Rao-Wilton-Glisson (RWG) basis functions, which were widely used in the MoM solutions of the VSIE, a new hybrid pulse-rooftop basis function is proposed to explicitly enforce the boundary condition of vanishing tangential electric field at the dielectric-conductor interface. As a consequence, the displacement currents in the dielectrics can be efficiently modeled by a reduced number of volume bases on the same set of meshes, particularly when thin dielectric slabs are involved in the composite structures. The numerical results of EM scattering and radiation of several composite objects are shown to illustrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed scheme. Since the new hybrid basis function can be easily implemented into the existing fast algorithms, the VSIE solution presented in this paper is promising for EM problems of composite targets with large size.


Nursing-home case mix adjusted payment systems typically base payments on estimates of patients' care needs, but to date the data on their effectiveness are ambiguous. Studies mainly show that access for patients most in need of care appears to improve under these systems. Case mix based payment systems have both positive and negative effects on quality of care and require compensating mechanisms for the potentially harmful incentives they can generate. On the positive side, nursing homes are paid more equitably; the negative aspect is reflected in higher costs, particularly for administration. A Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) demonstration project may provide insights, but its limited number of predominantly small, rural, participating states, its tandem quality assurance system, and potentially confounding market variables may restrict the value of this project. We do not yet have the data to assess the impact of instituting case mix adjustment systems.


This article proposes to consider the theoretical and methodological framework of the intersectional approach to the study of migration experience, discrimination and problems of sociocultural integration in general. The article describes an intersectional model of modern capitalist society, which is divided into micro and macro contexts of inequality production. Class, race, ethnicity, gender, and physicality can be viewed as structural positions (statuses) that produce unequal access to labor markets, distribution of income and public goods, and form cultural and social distance between different groups of people, including between the host society and migrants. In intersectional logic, the intersection of statuses generates a system of oppression (domination matrix), which allows a new assessment of the risks and potential of incorporated capitals. Migration experience is heterogeneous, due to the intersection of different statuses (gender, corporeality, ethnicity, race, class), it can have different effects in terms of producing inequality. Social inequality within the migration community (intracategory analysis of the social group of migrants) determines the direction of the trajectories of integration; they will be completely different, taking into account the intersection of statuses for one or another considered social subgroup. It is more and more difficult for people with migration experience to concentrate on the integration process under the influence of two groups of factors: (a) the availability of the digital information environment and transport, which make it possible to maintain intensive contact with the culture and language of the country of origin; (b) lack of an effective integration infrastructure (inclusive, transparent conditions for integration) and xenophobia of the host society. An analytical review of the social, cultural, theoretical prerequisites for the emergence and development of the intersectional approach allows assessing the prospects for intersectionality both in the context of social policy and in the field of academic research of issues at the intersection of diversity, discrimination and integration. With reference to the empirical material of the author's own qualitative research, an attempt is made to conceptually reflect the applicability of this approach in the conditions of Russian society. On the one hand, the ideas that are described in the framework of the intersectional approach seem quite obvious, but at the same time they are classic for the sociological theory of stratification and for the understanding of the root causes of existing inequalities.


Backside cracks were found universally in the ultra-low carbon austenitic stainless steel (316LMod) inner linings of urea reactors in recent years, and led to urea reactors leakage. Analyses on the sample revealed that, the backside cracks were caused by the interaction of wet hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and chloride ions (Cl-) stress corrosion cracking (SCC), and H2S played a dominant role. The source of H2S and chloride ions was the leak detection steam. Furthermore, measures to avoid backside cracks in 316LMod inner linings of urea reactors were put forward and verified.


Ten cases of thymoma associated myasthenia were seen in the last 7 years. They constitute 17.2% of all cases of Myasthenia gravis seen during the same period. Five of these patients presented in the third decade, all of them presenting with acute generalised Myasthenia (Osserman stage-III). Two patients presented with tumour related symptoms of chest pain, cough and dyspnea both of them having large, invasive and partially resectable tumours. Five patients underwent complete thymectomy and 3 patients underwent partial resection of tumour. Two patients underwent radiotherapy subsequently. Histologically, mixed lymphoepithelial tumours were common (70%). Tumour recurrence was seen in one patient. Two patients died, one in the post operative period. The surviving 8 patients followed up over 1-8 years remained in partial remission, on maintenance dose of steroids. The special problems related to thymomatous MG and practical approach to management are highlighted.


Due to high phenotypic variation and synonyms of Suncus murinus based on different geographic region, a study on the systematics of Suncus murinus population focusing on Malaysia Borneo samples were conducted by inferring the mitochondrial DNA gene sequences accompanied by morphological variation analysis of the cranio-dental characters. The aim of this study was to identify the phylogenetic relationship based on mtDNA cytochrome b marker of Malaysian Borneo S. murinus population in comparison with other populations from Peninsular Malaysia and other Southeast Asia countries. The phylogenetic inference was obtained based on Maximum Likelihood, Maximum Parsimony, Neighbour Joining and Bayesian inference conducted in MEGA v7.2 and MrBayes software. The SPSS v 21.0 software was utilised to conduct the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) based on 14 cranio-dental characters looking into characters overlapping and best characters to distinguish between populations. A total of 56 partial cytochrome b gene sequences with 940 base pair in length were used in the phylogenetic interpretation which resulted in distinct grouping of Malaysian Borneo (Sarawak) population from the Peninsular Malaysia population and other Southeast Asia countries. Based on the phylogenetic inferences, four major clades of S. murinus subspecies was recovered as S. m. caerulescens group, S. m. murinus group, S. m. subspecies 1 group and S. m. kandianus/montanus complex group. According to the generated phylogeny, it can hypothesised that the Malaysian Borneo population can be considered as a separate subspecies or a new subspecies due to unique cladding of the representatives. Malaysian Borneo S. murinus was more closely related to the population from Myanmar and Perak compared to the other geographic region and the highest genetic distance (8.8%) was between populations from Sri Lanka and Japan. Comparing the populations within Malaysia,
vii
the highest genetic distance (6.5%) was between Terengganu-Perak and Terengganu-Sarawak. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) conducted on 14 cranio-dental characters were not able to separate the between populations. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) conducted on greatest length skull (GLS) measurement resulted in distinction between Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo Malaysia population for male individuals. Following that, the study was intrigued to pinpoint the diversification route and dispersal events that was undergone by Malaysian Borneo S. murinus population. This was examined by utilising BEAST v6.2 to estimate the divergence time of S. murinus between geographic regions and the S-DIVALIKE via BioGeoBears conducted in RASP v1.1 software to identify the ancestral range probability of each node. Following the results, it is evident that the earliest split of S. murinus in Asia started ~2.66 Mya during the Pliocene separating the Sri Lanka population, the parental ancestor, from the other populations. Moving into the Pleistocene, the divergence was observed beginning at ~2.01 Mya and the most recent splits was ~0.13 Mya. The ancestral range distribution showed that S. murinus ancestor in Asia originate from the Indian plate. This was supported by ancestral distribution probability of p=0.717. In conclusion, the findings suggest an early dispersal of the ancestral population to Malaysian Borneo as a result of exposed land bridges and hull fouling during the Holocene. It was shown that the Malaysian Borneo lineages possibly distinct from the lineages that occur in the other Sunda plate countries and was directly descended from the Sri Lankan population. This was later depicted by the morphological variation of the population. Thus, the Sarawak population should be considered as a potential biological subspecies and regarded as a distinct subspecies of S. murinus. Further examination involving other existing S. murinus subspecies should be conducted using different genetic marker.


We report on the controlled growth of novel self-assembled nanostructures (nanoaeroplanes, nanocombs, and tetrapod-like networks of zinc oxide) by a simple thermal evaporation technique in a single-stage furnace. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy are used to investigate their morphologies and structures. Shapes are regular and unit sizes vary from 80 nm to 5 µm. The relationship between the preparation conditions and the nanomorphologies in the experiments is helpful for controlling the physical properties of the nanosystems and, hence, is described in some detail. A possible growth mechanism is discussed.

http://nano.iphy.ac.cn/N04/subgroup/cvd-chem lab publication/1-Controlled self-assembled nanoaeroplanes.pdf


ABSTRACT:The article revisits some Athenian Black-Figure vases that depict Herakles and a monster. While it is indebted to previous iconographic analyses, it adopts a broader, contextual methodology, firmly situating them within the socio-religious setting of Archaic Athens. Adducing relevant data, it opens new lines of investigation. The implications of visual humour for civic theology are explored in light of recent studies, rejecting a postulated derivation of these scenes from theatrical plays. Rather, it is proposed that the vases had a cultic function, with their imagery deployed as an allusion to the rites of the Panathenaia, referencing the aetiological myth of the festival.


Objective: To evaluate whether non-contrast chest CT (NCCT) images are as reliable as contrastenhanced chest CT (CECT) images for the assessment of treatment response after chemotherapy in patients with stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Material and A total of 87 patients with the stage IV NSCLC underwent chest CT for the assessment of tumor response after chemotherapy at Thammasat University Hospital between January 2014 and December 2016. Tumor response after chemotherapy of each patient was evaluated by using follow-up NCCT and CECT in comparison with the baseline CECT before chemotherapy based on RECIST criteria (version 1.1).
Result: Eighty-six (99%) of the 87 patients had the same treatment response results from both imaging sets. Only one case (1%) had a different result that was caused by a minimal difference in the target lesions size. However, there was no change in the management of this patient. The statistical analysis showed almost perfect agreement between using follow-up NCCT and CECT in the assessment of tumor response after chemotherapy with a kappa value of 0.982 (95% confidence interval; 0.947, 1.017). There was no statistically significant difference in the target lesions size in the follow-up study obtained by NCCT and CECT (P - value = 0.350).
Conclusion: Using follow-up NCCT in comparison with the baseline CECT provides almost perfect agreement with follow-up CECT in the assessment of the tumor response after chemotherapy. Therefore, NCCT can be a reasonable alternative to CECT for follow-up tumor response after chemotherapy especially in a patient with impaired renal function.


It is well established that in the CNS, endogenous adenosine plays a pivotal role in neurodegeneration. A low, nanomolar concentration of adenosine is normally present in the extracellular fluid, but it increases dramatically during enhanced nerve activity, hypoxia or ischemia. In these pathological conditions, adenosinergic transmission-potentiating agents, which elevate adenosine level by either inhibiting its degradation (adenosine deaminase and kinase inhibitors) or preventing its transport, offer protection against ischemic or excitotoxic neuronal damage. The directly acting adenosine A1 receptor agonists are known to mediate neuroprotection, mostly by the blockade of Ca2+ influx, which results in the inhibition of glutamate release and reduction of its excitatory effects at a postsynaptic level. More recent data have shown that antagonists of adenosine A2A receptors markedly reduce cerebral ischemic damage in animal models of focal and global ischemia. Moreover, these compounds attenuate the neuronal loss induced by excitatory amino acids (EAA). A neuroprotective effect of adenosine A2A receptor antagonists was also shown in animal models of Parkinson's disease (MPTP, 6-OHDA, methamphetamine). Hence, it might be suggested that adenosine A2A receptor antagonists may represent a novel strategy in the therapeutic approach to pathologies characterized by acute or chronic neurodegenerative events, since they not only reverse motor impairment but can act as neuroprotective compunds by promoting cell survival.


Mutaqin AZ, Kurniadie D, Iskandar J, Nurzaman M, Partasasmita R. 2020. Ethnobotany of suweg, Amorphophallus paeoniifolius: Utilization and cultivation in West Java, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 21: 1635-1644. Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (Dennst.) Nicolson, locally known as suweg, is a bulbous plant that has many benefits, but has not been cultivated as intensively as other species from the Araceae family. Suweg grows scattered in various rural areas in Indonesia, including West Java. Some suweg plants are cultivated by villagers, while the others grow wildly in forested areas. Suweg is commonly cultivated in several types of agroecosystems, such as home gardens (pekarangan) and gardens (kebun), using traditional ecological knowledge inherited from generation to generation. This study aims to investigate the utilization and cultivation of suweg by a community in Cisoka Village, Cikijing Sub-district, Majalengka District, West Java. This study used a qualitative method using ethnobotany approach, i.e. an emic analysis of the perception and local knowledge of community on suweg, and then validated using scientific or ethical knowledge. Field data collection was done by observation and semi-structured interviews with key informants chosen purposively considered having expertise and knowledge about suweg. The results showed that suweg has long been cultivated or growing naturally in Cisoka Village. The species has been culturally utilized by the rural community as additional food sources of carbohydrates, fish feed, and traditional ceremonies. However, the use of traditional ceremonies has been lost its importance. Suweg is generally used by the elderly, with certain groups, such as rural fish farmers and some younger age groups or children who like suweg. The rural people of Cisoka Village also mentioned that suweg was not cultivated as intensively as other. This is partly because it is considered not to have a high economic value as other agricultural commodities.


Using magneto optical imaging a comparative study of YBa2Cu3Oδ thin films grown on Gd-10at% doped CeO2 buffered Ni and SrTiO3 bicrystals with tilt angles ranging from 3° to 16° has been made. The Ni substrates have been chosen as a model system for the RABiTS coated conductor technology. It is found that the YBa2Cu3Oδ grain boundaries on Ni exhibit improved superconducting transport properties, while for the intra-granular critical currents a moderate decrease is observed. The improved Jgb/Jc ratio could be detected for all studied grain boundary angles as well as over the whole accessible temperature range from 8 to 60 K. Extensive x-ray measurements on the in- and out-of-plane texture of all layers have been performed to explain the change in the intra- and inter-granular critical currents.


Cohort-based multidrug therapy (MDT) completion rates are used to assess adherence to MDT. However this measure gives no information about when during the treatment period defaulting occurs. Two districts in Cabo Delgado province in Northern Mozambique were selected for evaluation of multibacillary patient defaulter data between 1993 and 1997 to examine when patients default during the treatment penod. In all, 548 (59.2%) of 926 MB patients completed treatment and 378 (40.8%) defaulted between 1993 to 1997. The percentage of defaulters fell steadily from 59.8% in 1993 to 23.2% in 1997. Of the 378 defaulters 57.7% defaulted treatment within 6 months and 83.1% within 1 year of starting treatment. It was observed that patients tend to default early rather than late in the treatment period and that this pattern is maintained over time despite a fall in defaulter rates. Patients established early into a treatment routine were more likely to complete treatment. A comprehensive effort to improve and maintain leprosy control services will probably influence adherence more than any single, specific strategy. Shortening MDT treatment from 2 years to 1 year is unlikely to affect the defaulter rate.


The treatment of displaced and impacted upper canines is one of the standard tasks in every orthodontic practice. Affected patients often suffer from their dental appearance and decide for a treatment, especially if the canine displacement creates associated findings, such as gap opening, rotation of the adjacent teeth or midline deviation. The aim of this study was an independent assessment of the overall aesthetic outcome after surgical uncovering and orthodontic treatment. For this purpose, 20 photo documentations (post-treatment, intraoral situation) were randomly selected from an appropriate group of patients and delivered at 5 laymen and 3 professionals without any prior information only asking for aesthetic assessment respectively for visible aesthetic disorders. The identification of formerly displaced canines was at 5 % in the lay group and at 15 % in the group of specialists. All recognized canines were originally in high vestibular displacement and they were exposed with flap surgery. Here, post-treatment findings were mainly alterations of the gingiva, gingival invagination in the apical regions and color changes of the gingiva. Gingival aesthetics of formerly palatally displaced canines and their subsequent movement towards the intact vestibular soft tissue proved to remain undetected by all examiners. Palatally displaced canines without midline deviation were not recognized by any of the 2 study groups. Only in the group of specialists, there was a complaint due to persisting midline deviation resulting from a unilateral palatal displacement. Concluding, periodontal lesions and dental inaccuracies (midline deviation, imperfection of canine position and torque) mainly lead to diagnosis of displaced canines.


Ongoing global urbanization is imposing tremendous pressure on the eco-environment. Research on the coupling of the eco-environment and urbanization has important significance for the sustainable development of urban metropolitan. Looking at the Wuhan Metropolitan Area, which includes nine cities, as a case study area, this paper describes an empirical study done to uncover the interactive coupling relationship between the eco-environment and new-type urbanization in the urban metropolitan area from the perspective of eco-environment carrying capacity. The eco-environment carrying capacity evaluation index system was set up using the pressure-state-response (PSR) model, and then the coupling model was built. The results indicate that the eco-environment carrying capacity in the Wuhan Metropolitan Area is generally sustainable and has three grades. The quality of new-type urbanization in the nine cities in the Wuhan Metropolitan Area shows clear spatial heterogeneity. There are five types of the coupling relationship including moderate coordinated development, elementary coordinated development, reluctant coordinated development, edge of maladjustment, and mild maladjustment between the eco-environment carrying capacity and new-type urbanization level in the Wuhan Metropolitan Area. Therefore, this paper proposes corresponding policies from the aspects of coordinating the industrial division of labor, focusing on the eco-environment carrying threshold and strengthening policy guidance.


Summary The Stamford Brook Project is a major demonstration of sustainable housing in the UK, involving the construction of over 700 dwellings over a 5 year period. The first phase of the project is being built to a comprehensive Environmental Performance Standard. This has been developed over a period of 2 years by two large house-builders, Redrow Homes and Taylor Woodrow, in collaboration with National Trust and the Leeds Metropolitan University Buildings and Sustainability Group, with support from ODPM and DTI - the departments of state responsible for energy and industrial policy in the UK. A major component of the Environmental Performance Standard is a prototype energy performance standard [1], which was originally designed to achieve reductions in CO2 emissions from space and water heating of more than 50% compared with 1995 Building Regulations and around 30% compared with 2002 Regulations. Evaluation of this standard is designed to support the on-going review of the Building Regulations requirements for energy performance in new UK dwellings, which in turn forms an important part of the UK's CO2 reduction strategy, as set out in the White Paper, Our Energy Future [2]. Key features of the Stamford Brook Project are that it has a near-term technical goal and that it is based on load bearing masonry construction. These features were an attempt to maximise the relevance of the project to mainstream UK house-building and to support the process of regulatory development. The second also challenges the received wisdom that high levels of energy and environmental performance require framed construction and/or off site manufacture. Stamford Brook has been designed to demonstrate a challenging but achievable target for mass housing, and to extend, rather than supersede the most common current construction methods. The project is being undertaken using a Participatory Action Research approach. This makes it possible to evaluate both dwelling performance and impacts on participants in the procurement process. The first batches of dwellings are expected to be completed and occupied early in 2005. Pressurisation and coheating tests will be undertaken on completion, and energy use, internal temperatures and indoor air quality will be monitored in a sample of 10 of dwellings over the subsequent year. The purpose of this paper is to report on the experience of the design and construction processes, and on initial results of performance monitoring.


We have characterized Plasmodium falciparum genotypes among the Mossi and Fulani sympatric ethnic groups in villages in Burkina Faso during the rainy season. Differences in clinical malaria presentation and in immune responses to malaria occur between the two groups. Asexual parasite rate, density, and gametocyte rate were higher among the Mossi than the Fulani. There was no difference in frequencies of alleles of the P. falciparum merozoite surface protein 1 (msp-1), msp-2, and glutamate-rich protein (glurp) genes among the parasites in each group. However, there were significant differences in the mean number of P. falciparum clones in the two populations, with there being more in the Mossi than in the Fulani. This effect was especially marked in older children. These differences can most probably be attributed to genetic differences in immune responsiveness to malaria between the two ethnic groups.


During the United Nations conference on Environment and Development, in Rio de Janeiro 1992, the concept Sustainable Development was established to reach a future Development that is Sustainable and not damaging the environment. To do this, environmental, economical and social aspects must be seen as linked. Since then the progress of the understanding and practice of the concept in different parts of the world is unknown. This study therefore gives a comparison between two countries, Sweden and Brazil, and offers knowledge about the ongoing work with Sustainable Development. The study describes and compares the understanding, attitude and practice of the concept Sustainable Development among students and professionals. It also provides knowledge about the current state of implementation of the concept. The study was divided into two parts. The first, a quantitative study made through subjective measurements, through questionnaires, to evaluate university students' understanding, attitude and ways of practicing Sustainable Development. The second study was a qualitative study that took place at Environmental Department where the professionals were studied to enable a description of their work with Sustainable Development. The two studies were also compared and analyzed jointly to see if the results seemed to reflect on each other. The Swedish and the Brazilian students have a different understanding of what is most important to Sustainable Development. Brazilian students are generally more interested in environmental issues. The Brazilian students also feel that they have a greater opportunity to affect the environment positively and save more energy. Swedish students however recycle and sort their waste more. The Brazilian´s interest for the environment is increasing while it is decreasing in Sweden. Possible reasons could be the different ways the Environmental Departments work with education towards the public. Students from a higher level of education show a greater understanding for Sustainable Development, so do the Environmental students compared to the others. This shows that education has a positive effect on the awareness for the environment. Education to the public as a whole could furthermore contribute to reaching a Sustainable Development.


This paper presents a method for emergency landing of a fleet of quadcopters on an unknown terrain using a sonar sensor. Quadcopters are equipped with sonar sensors for estimation of heights and the terrain is analysed. These data from the quadcopters are used for determining the landing area. Landing zone is considered in such a way that each quad is landed using lesser Energy. Multiple objective Swarm Optimisation technique (MOSO) is used for determining the landing surfaces and guiding each quad to its corresponding landing zones. Algorithms for terrain estimation, surface detection and landing are simulated for a swarm size of three.


As a new member of the glucose-phosphorylating enzymes, the ATP-dependent hexokinase from the hyper- thermophilic crenarchaeon Sulfolobus tokodaii was purified, identified, and characterized. Our results revealed that the enzyme differs from other known enzymes in primary structure and its broad substrate specificity for both phosphoryl donors and acceptors. the optimal The assay (cid:5) Tris-HCl ATP, , The reaction was started by the 10 (cid:5) l of the enzyme solution. After incubation for 90, and 120 the reaction was stopped by rapid cooling on ice. Then the coupled assay mixture (250 (cid:5) l) mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5), 4 mM MgCl 2 , 0.4 (cid:1) , and Unit was added to the reaction mixture. After incubation at 25°C for 5 min, the absorbance at 340 nm was measured. The specific activity was 169 U mg (cid:2) 1 at 80°C. To examine the thermal stability of StoHK, 10 (cid:5) g of purified enzyme was incubated in 100 (cid:5) l of 100 mM Tris-HCl (pH at 80°C and 90°C for up to 120 min, and then the remaining activity was measured at 50°C. StoHK retained 86 and 20% of the initial activity even after incubation for 120 min at 80°C and 90°C, respectively, indicating that it is a highly thermostable enzyme. These results indicate that StoHK effectively functions under in vivo conditions.


The first generation of haloes forms from the collapse of the smallest peaks in the initial density field. $N$-body simulations of this process suggest a prompt formation of a steep power-law cusp, but these calculations are plagued by numerical artifacts which casts some doubt on this result. Here, we develop new simulation methods based on the dark matter phase-space sheet approach and present results which are entirely free of artificial clumps. We find that a cusp with density $\rho\propto r^{-1.5}$ is indeed formed promptly, subsequently accreting a more extended halo and participating in the hierarchical growth of later halo generations. However, our simulations also suggest that the presence of artificial clumps just before peak collapse can significantly shallow the inner profiles of the cusps. We use $N$-body simulations with controlled amounts of small-scale power to place a conservative upper limit on the scales affected by artificial clumps. Finally, we used these results to simulate the collapse of the first generation of peaks of various types and in different cosmologies, finding prompt cusps to form in all cases. We conclude that prompt cusps are a generic feature of the collapse of peaks on the free-streaming scale of the initial density field, and their structure can safely be studied using $N$-body simulations provided care is taken to excise the region potentially affected by artificial clumps.


Whispering gallery resonators made from nonlinear crystals offer high quality factors combined with small mode volumes leading to an enhanced effective χ(2) nonlinearity. These properties facilitate studying quantum optical effects in the nonlinear regime with interacting fields differing in frequency by up to four orders of magnitude. Furthermore, the small size results in a large mode spacing allowing for heralded single photon generation in a single mode


Pierce's disease is of major concern for grapevine (Vitis vinifera) production wherever the bacterial pathogen Xylella fastidiosa and its vectors are present. Long-term management includes the deployment of resistant grapevines such as those containing the PdR1 locus from the wild grapevine species Vitis arizonica, which do not develop Pierce's disease symptoms upon infection. However, little is understood about how the PdR1 locus functions to prevent disease symptom development. Therefore, we assessed the concentrations of plant defense-associated compounds called phenolics in healthy and X. fastidiosa-infected PdR1-resistant and susceptible grapevine siblings over time. Soluble foliar phenolic levels, especially flavonoids, in X. fastidiosa-infected PdR1-resistant grapevines were discovered to be significantly lower than those in infected susceptible grapevines. Therefore, it was hypothesized that PdR1-resistant grapevines, by possessing lowered flavonoid levels, affects biofilm formation and causes reduced X. fastidiosa intra-plant colonization, thus limiting the ability to increase pathogen populations and cause Pierce's disease. These results therefore reveal that differences in plant metabolite levels might be a component of the mechanisms that PdR1 utilizes to prevent Pierce's disease.


The tradition of representing young women to emphasize the ephemeral nature of beauty is very old, as is that of showing older, physically worn women to encourage reflection on time's work. Beauty tends to be idealized and eternal, while age takes the features of a particular body. Photography, condemned to uniqueness, though it sometimes achieves archetype, shows us old bodies only through "portraits," always returning to the unique and the intimate. Evergon shows viewers, simply and respectfully, the nude body of his aged mother — evidence of a situation that existed between Margaret Lunt and her son. Then Evergon poses, like his mother, "a la Olympia," placing the pair as an OEdipal couple.


This paper introduces a methodology approach to forecast the growth of publications on environmental and financial performance of firms. It explores the Engineering and Technology Management, and Business Management literature on Green Innovations, Green Investments and Green Venture Capital by using Bibliometric analysis and presents the trends in the scholarly and professional publications in these areas from 1990 to 2009. The 1990 to 2009 period, with more than 5 million publications, is analyzed by using the Fisher-Pry model. Projections are made for publication trends on the basis of the model forecasts. The analysis indicates sustainability-related publications in the three areas studied are in the emerging and rapid development stages of development.


Understanding the decision-making process of a machine/deep learning model is crucial, particularly in security-sensitive applications. In this study, we introduce a neural network framework that combines the global and exact interpretability properties of rule-based models with the high performance of deep neural networks. Our proposed framework, called $\textit{Truth Table rules}$ (TT-rules), is built upon $\textit{Truth Table nets}$ (TTnets), a family of deep neural networks initially developed for formal verification. By extracting the set of necessary and sufficient rules $\mathcal{R}$ from the trained TTnet model (global interpretability), yielding the same output as the TTnet (exact interpretability), TT-rules effectively transforms the neural network into a rule-based model. This rule-based model supports binary classification, multi-label classification, and regression tasks for tabular datasets. Furthermore, our TT-rules framework optimizes the rule set $\mathcal{R}$ into $\mathcal{R}_{opt}$ by reducing the number and size of the rules. To enhance model interpretation, we leverage Reduced Ordered Binary Decision Diagrams (ROBDDs) to visualize these rules effectively. After outlining the framework, we evaluate the performance of TT-rules on seven tabular datasets from finance, healthcare, and justice domains. We also compare the TT-rules framework to state-of-the-art rule-based methods. Our results demonstrate that TT-rules achieves equal or higher performance compared to other interpretable methods while maintaining a balance between performance and complexity. Notably, TT-rules presents the first accurate rule-based model capable of fitting large tabular datasets, including two real-life DNA datasets with over 20K features. Finally, we extensively investigate a rule-based model derived from TT-rules using the Adult dataset.


The obligations of non-discrimination in international economic law hinge upon the question of what constitutes 'like products'. It is not clear that it is appropriate to transpose the competition-oriented approach to product likeness or substitutability under Article III of GATT to other provisions of WTO Agreement, including, Article 2.1 of the TBT Agreement. For the first time in WTO dispute settlement, the Panel in US – Clove Cigarettes was tasked with determining likeness in the TBT context. At issue was whether the US government may ban sales of clove cigarettes while exempting menthol cigarettes. The panel held that Article 2.1 of TBT Agreement should not be interpreted primarily from a competition perspective of dealing with a technical regulation with legitimate public health objectives. The panel noted the significance of public health objectives of a technical regulation and how certain features of the relevant products must be evaluated given the legitimate public health objective. The declared objective of the measure must inform the likeness analysis. Based upon these criteria, the Panel ruled that clove and menthol cigarettes are like products since the US measure has the primary objective of protecting health of minors against carcinogenic substances which both types of cigarettes contain. Is this a resurrection of the aim-and-effect test; or, an updated version of EC-Asbestos rationale? Fundamentally, is it wrong to apply an aim-and-effect approach in the TBT context, given that there is no general exception provision equivalent to Article XX of GATT in TBT Agreement? What implications can be drawn from this decision to future disputes over technical regulations imposed for health protection purposes? The author answer these intriguing questions through a comprehensive review and examination on newly-emerging WTO case law and decades-old jurisprudence on product likeness. WTO tribunals must suggest a better interpretive solution for many future disputes and regulatory policies concerning this enigmatic topic.


The article deals with the question of the creation and popularization of kriptovaljuty from a mathematical point of view. In particular it is a question of bitcoin, which is the most known kind of cryptocurrency today. This theme is important enough at present as in a society there is a demand for the decentralised alternative instrument of payment which irrespective of the state and on sense reminds system of the gold standard with the limited offer of currency. In the presented work the basic accent is made not only on occurrence history of bitcoin, but also on an action mathematical apparatus of cryptosystem. The elliptic curves are considered as the main tool of cryptography which is base at working out bitcoin. One of the basic properties of the given curves, and also a principle of their application are resulted at creation cryptocurrency. Mathematical formulas of calculation of a public key from a private key, process mining of bitcoins and their exchange for the goods and services are specified. The purposes of creation of specialised electronic stock exchanges on which bitcoins began to be on sale for the basic world currencies are described. The main reasons of use of the elliptic curves taken as a principle of work cryptosystem are allocated.


The use of conventional video cameras at standard broadcast rates permits 30 frame per second videocapture and recording. Even when moving events are recorded with fast shuttering to preclude blurring (e.g. 1000th second) each recorded consecutive stopped action still has a 33 millisecond interval between them. The reason for this is the finite time necessary to serially dump recorded information from the microchip sensor, and reinitialize the sensor for the next capture event. By designing a parallel video chip with multiple, independently capable segments for sensor input/output/re-initialization, the duration of the interval required for unloading and resetting the entire sensor is decreased by the number of discrete segments in the chip, and the number of unloading ports to transfer data. Silicon Mountain Design, Inc. (SMD) developed a 16 parallel channel output 512 by 512 by 8 bit digital video camera, and a suitable memory buffer to absorb 256 full images. This camera has the uniquely advantageous feature that no image data is absorbed while the camera discharges its image to the parallel output ports. With this parallel video camera it is possible to record events at 1000th second (or faster) continuously, or at least until the memory buffer fills. The use of structured light stereo numerical camera technology requires the collection of a series of video images, each video-image containing a different 'exposure' of an object with a different pattern of structured laser beams projected onto it. The complete series of images creates a temporal-spatial encoding of the laser beams necessary to calculate a 3-D numerical recreation of the object. By using a parallel video camera, the collection of a complete series is limited by the time it takes to expose each video-image, plus the time it takes to change the light pattern being projected. Using a rapid ferric liquid crystal electro-optic modulator with a 1 millisecond cycle time, and an SMD parallel video camera cycling at 1 millisecond, each pattern is projected and recorded in a cycle time of 1/500th second. An entire set of patterns can then be recorded within 1/60th second. This pattern set contains all the information necessary to calculate a 3-D map. The use of hyper-speed parallel video cameras in conjunction with high speed modulators enables video data rate acquisition of all data necessary to calculate numerical digital 3-D metrological surface data. Thus a 3-D video camera can operate at the rate of a conventional 2-D video camera. The speed of actual 3-D output information is a function of the speed of the computer, a parallel processor being preferred for the task. With video rate 3-D data acquisition law enforcement could survey crime scenes, obtain evidence, watch and record people, packages, suitcases, and record disaster scenes very rapidly.


The integration of a closed bipolar electrode (c-BPE) array and electrochemiluminescence (ECL) detection received a boost in applications in the detection of cell adhesion and disease-related biomarkers. This work proposed a gold nanorod array based c-BPE-ECL system to realize an in situ image of endogenous hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) efflux from living cells and parallel analysis of endogenous H2O2 released from multiple cells by converting electrochemical signals into optical signals. The gold nanorod array with high density was prepared by a repeating chronopotentiometry procedure with anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membrane as a template. The c-BPE array was fabricated by assembling poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) chips on both sides of the gold nanorod array. When an appropriate driving potential is applied, H2O2 generated from living cells at the sensing pole was reduced on the gold nanorod, triggering the oxidation of the ECL reagent at the reporting pole, which allowed the detection of H2O2 released from living cells. Under phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) stimulation, H2O2 released from living HeLa, HepG2, MCF-7, and LO2 cells was determined to be 47, 32.4, 25.7, and 6.3 μM, respectively. This indicated that the amount of H2O2 released from PMA-stimulated cancer cells was significantly higher than that from the stimulated normal cells. This work presented a new approach for in situ imaging of H2O2 released from living cells and could also be used to detect other electrochemically active or non-electrochemically active molecules through simple cell surface modification, which may have potential applications in cell apoptosis study and disease diagnosis.


Recognition of human bodies in images is a challenging task that can facilitate numerous applications, like scene understanding and activity recognition. In order to cope with the highly dimensional pose space, scene complexity, and various human appearances, the majority of existing works require computationally complex training and template matching processes. We propose a bottomup methodology for automatic extraction of human bodies from single images, in the case of almost upright poses in cluttered environments. The position, dimensions, and color of the face are used for the localization of the human body, construction of the models for the upper and lower body according to anthropometric constraints, and estimation of the skin color. Different levels of segmentation granularity are combined to extract the pose with highest potential. The segments that belong to the human body arise through the joint estimation of the foreground and background during the body part search phases, which alleviates the need for exact


Abstract Context/objective To describe preinjury alcohol and drug use and opportunities for secondary prevention among persons with recent spinal cord injury (SCI). Design Survey. Setting Acute inpatient rehabilitation program. Participants Participants were 118 (84.8%) of 139 consecutive admissions who met inclusion criteria and were screened for preinjury alcohol and drug use. Interventions None. Outcome measures Alcohol and drug use, toxicology results, alcohol problems, readiness to change, and treatment preferences. Results Participants were on average 37 years old, 84% were men, and 85% were white. Fifty-one percent of the sample was considered 'at-risk' drinkers. Significant lifetime alcohol-related problems were reported by 38% of the total sample. Thirty-three percent reported recent illicit drug use and 44% of the 82 cases with toxicology results were positive for illicit drugs. Seventy-one percent of at-risk drinkers reported either considering changes in alcohol use or already taking action. Forty-one percent reported interest in trying substance abuse treatment or Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Motivation to change alcohol use was significantly and positively associated with self-reported indicators of alcohol problem severity. Conclusion Preinjury alcohol and drug abuse are common among persons with recent SCI. Substance abuse screening is feasible and detects not only salient clinical problems but also significant motivation to change and interest in AA or treatment, all of which represent an important window of opportunity for appropriate brief interventions and referrals. In contrast with the idea that alcoholism is a 'disease of denial', the majority of at-risk drinkers with new onset SCI indicate they are considering making changes.


The aim of this paper are threefold: it explores methods for the detection of affective states in text, it presents the usage of such affective cues in a conversational system and it evaluates its effectiveness in a virtual reality setting. Valence and arousal values, used for generating facial expressions of users' avatars, are also incorporated into the dialog, helping to bridge the gap between textual and visual modalities. The system is evaluated in terms of its ability to: i) generate a realistic dialog, ii) create an enjoyable chatting experience, and iii) establish an emotional connection with participants. Results show that user ratings for the conversational agent match those obtained in a Wizard of Oz setting.


To the Editor.— This case is reported because of the recent awareness of the association of malignant melanoma with the halo nevus and the increasing investigative work in trying to understand the relationship. Report of a Case.— A 28-year-old blond woman was seen recently with a pink, raised tumor with a wide peripheral area of depigmentation on the middle of the upper back, a typical halo nevus that had been noticed for only a few months (Fig 1). This was removed surgically, and the histological examination proved it to be a malignant melanoma (Fig 2 through 4). The patient was then referred to a general surgeon specializing in melanomas who did a wider and deeper excision. The pathological report of the surgical specimen showed no residual melanoma. Comment.— The halo nevus is distinctive: a pigmented nevus becomes surrounded by a halo of depigmented skin, then gradually diminishes


The stability and structure of 10 states of B2- have been investigated with highly correlated MRD-CI wavefunctions. This radical possesses the largest number of stable states (positive electron affinity) so far reported for a diatomic anion: no less than eight states lie below B2.


Open surgery is recommended for complex fractures whenever primary conservative treatment fails to satisfactorily reduce the femoral head and the weight-bearing dome of the acetabulum. Surgical exposure has been a major problem in attempting open reduction of these fractures. The classification of acetabular fractures noted above is a useful guide to the indications for open operation. A transtrochanteric lateral approach provides a good extra and intraarticular access to the acetabulum. The excellent clinical results achieved in 28 cases of complex acetabular fractures with a mean of 5.7 year follow-up testify to the value of this approach.


The 2012 M7.7 Haida Gwaii earthquake radiated waves that likely dynamically triggered the 2013 M7.5 Craig earthquake, setting two precedents. First, the triggered earthquake is the largest dynamically triggered shear failure event documented to date. Second, the events highlight a connection between geologic structure, sedimentary troughs that act as waveguides, and triggering probability. The Haida Gwaii earthquake excited extraordinarily large waves within and beyond the Queen Charlotte Trough, which propagated well into mainland Alaska and likely triggering the Craig earthquake along the way. Previously, focusing and associated dynamic triggering have been attributed to unpredictable source effects. This case suggests that elevated dynamic triggering probabilities may exist along the many structures where sedimentary troughs overlie major faults, such as subduction zones' accretionary prisms and transform faults' axial valleys. Although data are sparse, I find no evidence of accelerating seismic activity in the vicinity of the Craig rupture between it and the Haida Gwaii earthquake.


CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2008 Abstracts

Abstract #3071

Background: We have previously reported that in vitro and in vivo leptin signaling mediates proliferation of mouse 4T1 mammary tumor (MT) cells and levels of VEGF and VEGFR2. Therefore, we hypothesize that leptin can contribute to MT growth by augmenting angiogenesis through the regulation of VEGF expression. To test this we assessed whether leptin regulates VEGF promoter activity in mouse MT cells and if leptin-induced factors (HIF-1α, NFκB, AP1, SP1) regulate the VEGF promoter. Materials and Methods: Mouse MT cells (4T1, EM6 and MMT) were transiently transfected with molecular engineered luciferase-reporters (pGL3) for mouse VEGF promoter (full-length) and transcription factor-binding deletions for hypoxia responsive element (HRE), AP1, SP1 and NFκB. Leptin dose-response effects on reporter activity and VEGF levels (protein and mRNA) were investigated using ELISA, Western blot and real-time PCR, respectively. To further assess leptin regulation of VEGF expression in MT cells the effects of hypoxia (CoCl2, hypoxia mimetic agent) alone and combined with leptin on VEGF promoter activity were investigated. To assess which leptin-induced signaling pathways/transcription factors are linked to VEGF regulation in MT cells inhibitors for: (1) JAK2/STAT3, MEK-1/MAPK and PI-3K/Akt-1 pathways and; (2) target molecules NFκB; SP1; AP1 and HIF-1α were used. The effects of leptin/CoCl2 and inhibitors on luciferase activity of transfected cells were compared using pRL-TK renilla luciferase as control and the Dual-Luciferase Reporter Assay System. Results: Our data suggest that leptin signaling can regulate the transcriptional activity of VEGF gene in breast cancer cells by activating gene transcription at several sites of the VEGF promoter. Leptin-induced HIF-1α has a relevant role in the regulation of VEGF expression in MT cells. Leptin can also increase VEGF-levels (protein and mRNA) through the specific activation of AP1, SP1, and NFκB. PI-3K activity was mainly linked to leptin regulatory effects on VEGF. However, diverse mechanisms for leptin regulation of VEGF expression were found in the different MT cells. Discussion: Our results provide novel information on the molecular mechanisms for leptin-induced angiogenic effects in breast cancer. Our data further suggest that disruption of leptin signaling could impact angiogenesis and MT growth by inhibiting VEGF expression. Thus targeted disruption of leptin-signaling could serve as method of prevention/treatment of breast cancer. This work was supported in part by the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure (to R.R.G.; BC 504370); UAB Breast SPORE Award (to R.R.G) and Contraceptive Research and Development Program (CONRAD; CIG-07-114 to R.R.G).

Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(2 Suppl):Abstract nr 3071.


BACKGROUND
Sepsis is a life-threatening disease caused by the dysregulated host response to the infection, and being the major cause of death to patients in intensive care unit (ICU).

OBJECTIVE
Early diagnosis of sepsis could significantly reduce in-hospital mortality. Though generated from infection, the development of sepsis follows its own psychological process and disciplines, alters with gender, health status and other factors. Hence, the analysis of mass data by bioinformatic tools and machine learning is a promising method for exploring early diagnosis manners.

METHODS
We collected miRNA and mRNA expression data of sepsis blood samples from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and ArrayExpress databases, screened out differentially expressed genes (DEGs) by R software, predicted miRNA targets on TargetScanHuman and miRTarBase websites, conducted Gene Ontology (GO) term and KEGG pathway enrichment based on overlapping DEGs. The STRING database and Cytoscape were used to build protein-protein interaction (PPI) network and predict hub genes. Then we constructed a Random Forest model by using the hub genes to assess sample type.

RESULTS
Bioinformatic analysis of GEO dataset revealed 46 overlapping DEGs in sepsis. The PPI network analysis identified five hub genes, SOCS3, KBTBD6, FBXL5, FEM1C and WSB1. Random Forest model based on these five hub genes was used to assess GSE95233 and GSE95233 datasets, and the area under curve (AUC) of ROC are 0.900 and 0.7988, respectively, which confirmed the efficacy of this model.

CONCLUSION
The integrated analysis of gene expression in sepsis and the effective Random Forest model built in this study may provide promising diagnostic methods for sepsis.


Mouse myeloma NS0 cells widely used in hybridoma technology lack the expression of a major stress protein Hsp70 which is the principal component of the basic cellular defense mechanism. These cells rapidly undergo apoptosis at the late-stationary phase of batch culture following nutrient exhaustion. Since Hsp70 was recently demonstrated to protect cells against numerous apoptotic stimuli, the aim of the present study was to examine the protective potential of the protein expression in engineered myeloma NS0 cells and in resulting hybridomas. Myeloma cells were transfected with the hsp70 gene under beta-actin gene promoter. To imitate harmful conditions that hybridoma or myeloma cells often experience when cultivated in large scale for an antibody production, NS0(wt) and NS0(hsp70) cell cultures were maintained without changing the medium for a few days, and the expression of apoptotic markers has been studied. It was found that long-term cultivation induced apoptosis in original cells manifested by typical nuclei fragmentation, DNA ladders and activation of caspase-3. In contrast, in transfected cells under the same conditions the outcome of apoptosis was postponed for 24 hours. Most relevant was that the fusion of transfected myeloma cells with immune splenocytes resulted in twofold hybridomas output compared with wild-type fusion partner. Almost half of the hybridomas continued to be hsp70-positive and maintained higher robustness in culture. The level of monoclonal antibodies production by hybridoma cells obtained with the use of NS0(wt) and NS0(hsp70) was similar, however, the secreted product was better preserved in culture supernatants of Hsp70-positive cells. It is concluded that transfection of mouse myeloma cells with the hsp70 gene can be a novel means to increase hybridoma yield and reduce the sensitivity of myeloma and hybridoma cells to culture conditions insults accompanying monoclonal antibody production.


This survey intends to find out the attitudes of the consumers towards health products such as organic food, healthy foodstuffs and their information seeking behavior on wholesome nutrition. A survey is applied to 480 respondents selected via stratified sampling from Eski?ehir, a city of Turkey with 700.000 inhabitants where 470 of the responses are found eligible... The respondents are required to answer 50 questions of which five are related to demographic characteristics of these respondents. The rest 45 are statements which are designed to reflect the behavior of these people. The study consists of five parts. The first part is an introduction where the scope and the purpose of the study are concisely stated. The second part relates to the theoretical background of the subject matter and the prior researches carried out so far. The third part deals with research methodology, basic premises and hypotheses attached to these premises. Research model and analyses take place in this section. Theoretical framework is built and a variable name is assigned to each of the question asked or proposition forwarded to the respondents of this survey. 42 statements or propositions given to the respondents are placed on a five-point Likert scale. Three questions are on an ordinal scale reflecting the most-used information sources of the respondents. The remaining five questions about demographic traits as age, gender, occupation, educational level and monthly income are placed either on a nominal or ratio scale with respect to the nature of the trait. Ten research hypotheses are formulated in this section. The fourth part mainly deals with the results of the hypothesis tests and a factor analysis is applied to the data on hand. Here exploratory factor analysis reduces 42 variables to eight basic components as: " Nutritional knowledge, nutritional labels and health claims; care for health products; consumer positive and negative attitudes toward organic foods; fast-food involvement; prior product knowledge; e-health information search; information search behavior; and system beaters". In addition non-parametric bivariate analysis in terms of Chi-Square is applied to test the hypotheses formulated in this respect. The fifth part is the conclusion where findings of this survey is listed.


Energy loss spectroscopy in combination with AES and HEED is used to study and clarify the nature of intrinsic and oxygen-associated surface states. The c(2 x 8), (4 x 6), and (1 x 1) GaAs(100) surfaces obtained by in situ molecular beam evaporation exhibit different intrinsic surface states. The oxygen adsorption rates also differ, being largest for the Ga-stabilized (4 x 6) surface and smallest for the As-stabilized c(2 x 8) surface. Oxygen chemisorbs to form an unknown molecular complex common to all three surfaces. The oxidation behavior on Ge suggests two different adsorption sites, one saturating at approximately 50 percent of a monolayer. It is established that oxygen chemisorbs to form GeO molecules, which are weakly bound to the surface. 11 fig, 45 references. (auth)


One of the major problems in horticultural sector is value addition of raw products by processing as horticultural crops are perishables. On average less than one percent of vegetables produced are processed as most of the processing takes place by the traditional method and for the traditional use as results vegetables are processed at the very small scale. The goal of the project is to improve livelihood opportunities through vegetable processing. The objectives of the project was value addition in fresh leafy vegetables by processing through solar drying method; upgrade the technical knowledge and skills of improved vegetables processing techniques, and increasing food security in the community. The researcher used multiple research methods and techniques including Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) methodology with various research tools such as conducting interviews with key informants, organizing Focused Group Discussion (FGD), observation, questionnaires and interviews in data collection, secondary data in form of published and unpublished documents for each of four assessments i.e. Community, Socioeconomic, Environmental and Health. The findings include the fact that leafy vegetables losses is very high as majority of community members lack knowledge and technical skills in food processing, lack of market for processed vegetables and inadequate capital for investment. However, the income generating activity identified to improve livelihoods was leafy vegetables processing by solar dryer method. Vegetable processors group implemented the project which was designed based on the specified objectives. Participatory monitoring and evaluation realized project output at 86.4% for the enhancing knowledge of vegetables processing techniques. Then project report recommended the importance of using participatory approach in building the sense of ownership of the project paralleled by the use of Logical Framework Approach as an essential for project planning tool.


Abstract Gruel, G., Voisin, P., Vaurijoux, A., Roch-Lefèvre, S., Gré goire, E., Maltère, P., Petat, C., Gidrol, X., Voisin, P. and Roy, L. Broad Modulation of Gene Expression in CD4+ Lymphocyte Subpopulations in Response to Low Doses of Ionizing Radiation. Radiat. Res. 170, 335–344 (2008). To compare the responses of the different lymphocyte subtypes after an exposure of whole blood to low doses of ionizing radiation, we examined variations in gene expression in different lymphocyte subpopulations using microarray technology. Blood samples from five healthy donors were independently exposed to 0 (sham irradiation), 0.05 and 0.5 Gy of ionizing radiation. Three and 24 h after exposure, CD56+, CD4+ and CD8+ cells were negatively isolated. RNA from each set of experimental conditions was competitively hybridized on 25k oligonucleotide microarrays. Modifications of gene expression were measured after both intervals and in all cell types. Twenty-four hours after exposure to 0.5 Gy, we observed an induction of the expression of BAX, PCNA, GADD45, DDB2 and CDKN1A. However, the numbers of modulated genes greatly differed between cell types. In particular, 3 h after exposure to doses as low as 0.05 Gy, the number of down-modulated genes was 10 times greater for CD4+ cells than for all other cell types. Moreover, most of these repressed genes were taking part in the cell processes of protein biosynthesis and oxidative phosphorylation. The results suggest that several biological pathways in CD4+ cells could be sensitive to low doses of radiation. Therefore, specifically studying CD4+ cells could help to understand the mechanisms involved in low-dose response and allow their detection.


This article theoretically compares the British and American fee-shifting rules in their influences on the behavior of the litigants and the outcomes of litigation. We build up a comprehensive litigation model with asymmetric information and agency costs, which makes it possible to make comparison on a broad arrays of issues in a single unified framework. We then solve for the equilibria under both American and British rules, and thereby compare their equilibrium settlement amounts and rates, expenditures incurred in trials, as well as the plaintiff's chances of winning and incentive to sue. The theoretical results are broadly consistent with existing empirical evidence.


Any comparison between two philosophical trends so different, indeed so clearly opposed, as Marxism and existentialism (that is, the Sartre variety of existentialism which alone plays a certain role in Poland) is bound to begin with an attempt to locate the essential differences between the two. As compared with Marxism, existentialism not only involves a different set of problems, a different vocabulary, or a different world outlook; it also represents a completely different world of thoughts and emotions. If we fail to grasp the central point of the controversy, discussion may prove hopeless.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.


Background
Blood pressure (BP) rises as a result of isometric exercise, but if such type of exercise is done on a regular basis both resting diastolic and systolic blood pressures (SBP and SBP) have been reported to decrease. However, the blood pressure responses to handgrip (isometric) exercise may vary. The aim of this study is to find out whether there is a significant relation between blood pressure responses due to handgrip (HG) exercise and family history of hypertension.

Methods
This is cross sectional study conducted in Khyber Medical College on healthy students of first and second year MBBS. After taking informed consentand history, the students were made to perform the hand grip exercise for 5 minutes at 30 % of their maximum pressure. BP was recorded before during and after the procedure. The data was then analyzed using SPSS version 20.0 keeping, P value ? 0.05.

Result
The change in SBP was significant both during (p=0.024) and after (p=0.033) hand grip exercise. The relation between 30% of maximum pressure applied and change in SBP is significant (p<0.001) in the familial hypertension present group only.

Conclusion
 There was significant change in systolic blood pressure in response to handgrip exercise in the group of subjects with familial hypertension positive group. Hence concluded that a relation does exist between blood pressure responses to handgrip exercise and familial hypertension.


Esophageal cancer is the ninth most common cancer and the sixth most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide, and the esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) subtype accounts for about 90% of all cases of esophageal cancer globally. Currently, ESCC is usually diagnosed in late stages, and targeted therapy is lacking. Therefore, the development of ESCC-specific recognition molecules for an early detection and targeted treatment of ESCC is urgently needed. Aptamers are an excellent molecular recognition tool with unique advantages. In this manuscript, three aptamers (S2, S3, and S8) specific to ESCC cells were successfully screened via cell-SELEX. The experimental results displayed the high affinities of the three aptamers for target KYSE150 cells with dissociation constants in the nanomolar range. The specificity evaluation showed that S2 only bound target KYSE150 cells, but S3 and S8 were capable of targeting a series of ESCC cells. Moreover, several truncated aptamers were generated through sequence optimization. In particular, an ultrashort aptamer S3-2-3 with only 18 bases was successfully obtained; after labeling with Cy5 dyes, it was feasible for the specific imaging of ESCC tissues. Furthermore, the target types of the selected aptamers were preliminarily identified as membrane proteins, and target proteins could be captured by S3-2-3, which may be useful for biomarker discovery. Therefore, the selected aptamers hold great potential for clinical diagnosis, biomarker discovery, and the targeted therapy of ESCC.


Cytokines form a complex network of interaction which is crucial in maintaining the homeostasis of the immune and hemopoietic organs and in controlling the balance between different responses of these two systems. The International Congress held in Osaka (17-21 October 1993) was an opportunity to summarize all the information accumulated in the field of cytokines and to evaluate the impact of new approaches and ideas which have invaded laboratories these last two years (the 7th International Congress was held in San Antonio in 1991). In this paper, we will summarize some striking points that were presented in Osaka.


PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTOR-LIKE 6 (PIL6) is a member of the large family of basic/helix-loop-helix (bHLH) factors in Arabidopsis thaliana. This circadian-controlled transcription factor was previously suggested to interact with the clock component, TIMING OF CAB EXPRESSION 1 (TOC1). In this study, we isolated a loss-of-function mutant of PIL6, together with a transgenic line aberrantly expressing PIL6 in a manner independent of circadian rhythm. These mutant plants were simultaneously examined with special reference to circadian rhythm and light-signal transduction. The results suggested that PIL6 appears to be not directly involved in the clock function per se. However, the loss-of-function mutant (pil6-1) showed a remarkable phenotype in that it is hypersensitive to red light in seedling de-etiolation. This phenotype was similar to that observed for transgenic lines overexpressing TOC1 (or APRR1). Conversely, transgenic plants overexpressing PIL6 (PIL6-ox) are hyposensitive to red light under the same conditions. This phenotype was very similar to that observed for phyB mutants. The developmental morphologies of PIL6-ox, including the phenotype of early flowering, were also similar to those of phyB mutants. We propose that PIL6 acts as a negative regulator for a red light-mediated morphogenic response (e.g., elongation of hypocotyls in de-etiolation). Taken together, PIL6 might function at an interface between the circadian clock and red light-signal transduction pathways.


19-Hydroxytestosterone and 19-hydroxyandrostenedione have been identified as secretory products of the testes in the mature male domestic pig. Their isolation and identification were made by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography and capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (CGC-MS) of extracts from testicular vein blood and media of incubations with Leydig cells. Blood was collected from veins on the surface of the testes of anaesthetized boars. Collagenase-dispersed Percoll-purified cells (> 90% pure) were incubated (20 x 10(6) cells/flask) with androstenedione (8.75 mumol/l) or [3H]androstenedione (5 x 10(6) c.p.m.) for < 60 min. Steroids were recovered from plasma or media by solid-phase extraction and the unconjugated fractions chromatographed isocratically in two solvent systems (acetonitrile:water, 37:63 (v/v) and methanol:water, 70:30 (v/v)) before CGC-MS analysis. 19-Hydroxytestosterone was present in greater quantities than 19-hydroxyandrostenedione in testicular vein blood; it was also seen as a quantitatively significant metabolite of unlabelled and radioactive androstenedione in the incubation studies. The demonstration of the secretion of 19-hydroxyandrogens from porcine testes thus raises questions concerning the physiological significance of a testicular, rather than an adrenal, secretion of these compounds.


Abstract From 1947 to 1948 the Dizzy Gillespie orchestra with Chano Pozo produced some of the most important recordings that contributed to the development of Afro-Cuban jazz. Pozo had already led a successful career as a professional musician in Havana before he moved to New York City, where he met Gillespie and joined his bebop big band. The integration of a black Cuban percussionist into Gillespie's all-black band raises important questions about the racial politics enveloping the popularization of bebop, Afro-Cuban jazz, and the work of others in contemporaneous political, cultural, and intellectual arenas. This article provides new documentation of Pozo's performances with the Gillespie band in the United States and Europe and shows the ideological concerns that Pozo and Gillespie shared with West African political and cultural activists, Melville Herskovists and his students, and early jazz historians in the 1940s. The article suggests an alternative methodology for scholarship on jazz in the United States that approaches jazz's extensive engagements with Cuban and other Afro-Atlantic musicians as embodying the crux of jazz's place in the Afro-Atlantic.


The media offer, on a daily basis, an idea of sport that influences citizenship's understanding of physical activity. In the case of photography, the visual narrative that appears in the press has a great aesthetic beauty and a show character, focusing mostly on the professional and competitive dimension. This research studies the winning photographs in the World Press Photo photojournalism contest, the most prestigious international photojournalism competition. In particular, the winning works of the 2017 edition were analysed from the perspective of content analysis, with a particular focus on formal and compositional aspects, including photographic technique, as well as the didactic values contained in these images. One of the most important conclusions of this research is the epic and elite-focused dimension of the activity in the most influential photos published in the press. The message of these images associates sport with the professional elite and not with everyday activity or healthy lifestyle habits.


Delamination of board in sheet fed offset printing has become a frequent source of complaints. Both printing parameters and structural properties of board affect delamination tendency however little attention has been given to the printing parameters. The purpose of this study was, through printing trials and physical simulation, to find out the effect of printing parameters on delamination. High printing speed promotes delamination. Similarly, high ink viscosity at low shear rate, among other ink and printing parameters, had an obvious effect on delamination. Both printing speed and ink properties affect the maximum ink tack in ink splitting. The force at the delaminating interface is proportional to this ink tack. Other printing parameters which contributed to delamination of board to a certain degree were printing press configuration, number of dry backtrap nips, ink density, printing blanket compressibility, blanket smoothness, nip pressure, nip indentation, and fibre-orientation in the printing sheet.


Four patients with extra-articular synovial chondromatosis and one patient with combined intra-articular and extra-articular involvement are described. In all five patients the lesion was anomalously located (knee, shoulder, hip, and ankle). The lesion usually occurs in the hands and feet. Accurate diagnosis is important, because if the synovial origin of the cartilaginous proliferations is ignored, the evidence of cellular activity may lead to an erroneous diagnosis of chondrosarcoma. All five patients had a benign clinical course.


ABSTRACT Introduction: The challenges of achieving timely cancer diagnosis in adolescents and young adults are recognised. However, contributing factors and associated clinical and psychosocial outcomes are poorly understood. Areas covered: We present a scoping review of existing evidence into time intervals to diagnosis and potential mechanisms influencing the identification of cancer symptoms and impact on a timely diagnosis. Charting data using Walters 'pathways to treatment' we summarise the diagnostic pathway into four interval categories: appraisal, help-seeking, diagnostic, and pre-treatment, and illustrate where evidence exists and where unanswered questions remain. Expert commentary: Whilst the research base has expanded over the last decade in cancer care there continues to be limited research that reveals the complexity of the timeliness of diagnosis in this population. There are unique issues facing this age group in terms of rarity of cancer, complexity of symptoms and problems with healthcare system access that create a constellation of challenges. We offer explanations for diagnostic difficulties in this age group, and explain how, with the limited available evidence, we are still seeking solutions to what is a uniquely complex problem.


igh plasma total homocystein (tHcy) level, as a source of free radicals, hydrogen peroxide may affect vascular resistance via changes in endothelial cell function. This study was designed to investigate the possible indirect effect of Hcy and common C677T Methylentetrahydrofolate Reductas (MTHFR) gene mutation (a mutant genotype revealed to be accompanied with high plasma Hcy level) on the mean arterial blood pressure (MABP). Materials and Methods: From among 280 postmenopausal women selected on the basis of simple randomized sampling, 266 women participated in this study. Ninety-Five were known cases of hypertension under antiypertensive therapy with controlled blood pressure and 171 were normotensive subjects. Anthropometrics, blood pressure, plasma tHcy, plasma folic acid and vitamins B12 as well as C677T mutation in MTHFR gene were assessed for each postmenopausal female. Results: MABP was positively and significantly associated with plasma tHcy level(r=0.230, P=0.003) but not with the common C677T MTHFR gene mutation. In regression analysis, plasma tHcy was the only predictor of MABP (R2=0.05, P=0.004). High plasma tHcy level increased hypertension risk in comparison to normal plasma tHcy level (OR=3.11, CI=1.07-9.18) whereas the mutant MTHFR genotype, TT allele, in comparison to the wild MTHFR genotype, CC allele, did not. Conclusions: Mean arterial blood pressure was significantly associated with plasma tHcy level but not with the common C677T MTHFR gene mutation.


The effects of acetoacetic acid, acetone, bilirubin, beta-carotene, three cephalospoprin antibiotics, glucose, hemoglobin and lipid on the kinetic Jaffé reaction and an enzymatic reaction for the determination of creatinine concentration were studied in bovine, canine, feline and equine serum. There were no obvious species' differences. The kinetic Jaffé reaction was unaffected by the addition of beta-carotene and hemoglobin. Acetone, cefazolin, cefoxitin, ceftiofur and glucose caused a positive bias while acetoacetic acid, bilirubin, and lipid caused a negative bias when added to the kinetic Jaffé reaction. The enzymatic reaction was unaffected by the addition of acetoacetic acid, acetone, beta-carotene, cefazolin, cefoxitin, glucose and hemoglobin while added lipid, bilirubin and ceftiofur caused a negative bias in the test results. Over all species and interferents, there was no difference in the precision of the two assay methods. In a series of sera from hospitalized patients, the two methods were highly correlated in a linear fashion. The enzymatic creatinine assay deals effectively with most interferents but has a greater cost and shorter shelf-life compared with the kinetic Jaffé reaction.


Increasingly, global statistics have pointed out that young citizens are disengaged from democratic participation. This has captured public attention and led some countries to start creating educational policies as an attempt to implement educational citizenship programs to prepare young citizens to be active participants in a democratic society. Nevertheless, little is known regardless of the impact of those programs on democratic countries like Ecuador and the role of active citizenship at the educational level. It has led Ecuadorian younger population to avoid engaging in active social and political participation. Therefore, some national policies, international reports, specific topics related to citizenship education, and classroom practices will be analyzed in this literature review. The main goal is to invite not only policymakers but also teachers to increase their awareness about citizenship aspects so that they can truly invite students to maximize student citizenship education and active participation.


First passed by Congress in 1954, section 170 of the Internal Revenue Code allows individuals and corporations to deduct from their income taxes monetary contributions they make to charitable organizations. However, there has never been a comparable provision that allows deductions for volunteer community service hours on behalf of those same organizations for which money donors benefit from section 170's incentives to give. This paper proposes that section 170 be amended to allow taxpayers to deduct the value of their volunteer community service hours at the federal minimum wage rate, and outlines mechanisms to account for those hours and properly audit those claiming community service tax benefits. Such a provision would provide a small but measurable incentive for more people to get directly involved and invested in the charitable services and grassroots development programs they value most in their communities. This incentive could help engage people in charitable activities who otherwise cannot afford to give money to those worthy causes. Further, the President's proposed budget for 2010 includes limiting or eliminating line-item deductions, including those for charities, which threatens to dry-up resources for those foundations and make it difficult or impossible for them to continue their work. This paper proposes the volunteer service deduction as a compliment to the current monetary donation deduction, not as a measure envisioned to supplement entirely the operational capabilities that community services and charities will lose if the budget passes as-proposed. But the looming possibility that existing incentives for charitable giving could soon be quite limited makes it even more important to facilitate the continued operation of invaluable charitable foundations and community services through volunteers, impassioned about their organizations' respective missions, for the benefit of their neighbors in need. This proposal was presented at American University's Graduate Leadership Council's conference: Urban Transformation: Public and Private Practices for Social Change. Currently posted are the principal proposed amendments to section 170, and Treasury Regulation section 1.170A-1. The full paper is forthcoming.


In this paper, an efficient method for face recognition based on the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT), Fisher Linear Discriminant (FLD) and classifier is presented. First, the dimensionality of the original face image is reduced using the DCT and illumination variations are alleviated by discarding the first few low-frequency DCT coefficients. FLD is applied to the selected DCT coefficients to discriminate the invariant facial features. The KNN classifier is used for the recognition of the faces using the features extracted from the FLD. Simulation results show that the proposed system achieves better performance with high training and high recognition rate as well as very good illumination robustness.


Abstract : An approximate analytic solution has been developed for the ablated volume and shape of a metal sphere at hypersonic speeds in the early stages of aerodynamic ablation. The process of ablation, due to aerodynamic heating, is a very complicated phenomenon because of the possible existence of two layers - gas and liquid. If the metal surface is molten, then a liquid layer of molten metal is formed between the boundary layer of gas and the solid surface. The interdependent factors flight time, flight conditions, and body shape cause a variation of aerodynamic characteristics as a function of the trajectory. Furthermore, the aerodynamic ablation is responsible for a change in the shape of the body. Two cases of aerodynamic ablation were investigated. The first case considered the melting of body material alone, and the second considered melting with partial evaporation. The analysis given in this report is useful to determine the flight conditions under which the metal sphere may travel with little or no ablation. With the assumption that the flow over the sphere is laminar, Newton's impact theory is applicable and the gas does not dissociate; the total ablated volume and shape of the sphere can be computed as a function of flight trajectory by using the analysis developed in this report. (Author)


BACKGROUND
Since COVID-19 outbreak, hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) has been tested for effective therapies and the relevant researches have shown controversial results.

METHODS
Systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted after a thorough search of relevant studies from databases. Trials that have evaluated HCQ for COVID-19 treatment were recruited for statistical analysis with fixed- and random-effect models.

RESULTS
Nine trials involving 4,112 patients were included in present meta-analysis. It was seen that hydroxychloroquine-azithromycin (HCQ-AZI) combination regimen increased the mortality rate in COVID-19 (OR 2.34, 95% CI 1.63-3.36) patients, however, it also showed benefits associated with the viral clearance in patients (OR 27.18, 95% CI 1.29-574.32). HCQ-alone when used as a therapy in COVID-19 did not reveal significant changes in mortality rate, clinical progression, viral clearance and cardiac QT prolongation. Subsequent subgroup analysis showed that HCQ treatment could decrease mortality rate and progression to severe illness in severely-infected COVID-19 patients (OR 0.27, 95% CI 0.13-0.58). A lower risk of mortality rate was also noted in the stratified group of >14 days follow-up period (OR 0.27, 95% CI 0.13-0.58) compared to ≦14 days follow-up period group that conversely showed an increased mortality rate (OR 2.09, 95% CI 1.41-3.10).

CONCLUSION
Our results indicated that HCQ-AZI combination treatment increased mortality rate in COVID-19, but it also showed benefits associated with viral clearance in patients. HCQ-alone used for treatment has revealed benefits in decreasing the mortality rate among severely-infected COVID-19 group and showed potential to be used for COVID-19 treatment in long-term follow-up period group. Accordingly, more rigorous, large-scale and long follow-up period studies in patients with COVID-19 are needed.


The authors studied the effect of instilling Adriamycin intravesically in 21 patients with urothelial dysplasia and early carcinoma in situ. The effectiveness of the treatment was assessed by repeated urine cytology, cystoscopy and repeated biopsy of the bladder mucosa. No serious side effects were noted. Adriamycin causes the death of malignant cells, general improvement in the appearance of the bladder mucosa at cystoscopy and histologic evidence of endothelial damage to the bladder mucosa. The cytologic changes continue for many months after treatment.