e14629 Background: Patients with highly extensive non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) whose invasion area is too vast to be removed through TURBT should receive radical cystectomy in clinical practice. Clinical practice showed that nab-paclitaxel (Nab-P) or RC48-ADC (Disitamab Vedotin, DV) in combination with tislelizumab (BGB-A317, immune checkpoint inhibitor, ICI) had good effects on these patients with acceptable adverse events (AEs). This study was to compare the efficacy and safety of these two regimens. Methods: Retrospectively collected and analyzed data from two single-center clinical trials. Eligible patients were aged 18 years or older with unresectable NMIBC who received their first dose of Nab-P/ICI or DV/ICI between July 2020 and December 2022. The primary outcome was the pathological complete response (pCR) rate in a propensity score matching (PSM) population that was performed matching using a 1:4 ratio for the DV/ICI and Nab-P/ICI groups by propensity score. The main secondary outcome was treatment-related adverse events (trAEs), assessed in all eligible populations. Results: The eligible population was 12 for DV/ICI and 69 for the control group (Nab-P/ICI). The PSM population was 12 for DV/ICI and 48 for Nab-P/ICI. pCR was 66.7% (39.1%-86.2%) for DV/ICI and 60.4% (46.3%-72.9%) for the Nab-P/ICI group (OR: 0.76; 95% CI: 0.23–2.78; Fisher's exact test P = 0.75) in the PSM population. The most common trAE in the Nab-P/ICI group was alopecia, and the incidence was significantly lower in DV/ICI (Fisher's exact test, P < 0.05). Grade 3–4 trAEs were observed at 8.70% and 8.33% in Nab-P/ICI and DV/ICI, respectively. No trAE-related deaths were reported. Conclusions: The pooled results of the two studies with the efficacy and safety data showed promising ICI-based microtubule antagonist regimens in pts with highly extensive non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC), and DV/ICI may be preferred by pts for the low incidence of alopecia in clinical practice.


Summary As part of a project to introduce Virginian-type flue-cured tobacco varieties into a new area, a number of experiments on the effect of time of planting showed that returns declined according to the delay in planting after the start of the rains. This decline was not arrested by differential fertilization, soil fumigation or the use of quicker maturing varieties. The early plantings appeared to have a greater growth potential, which could often be more fully realised under improved cultural techniques. Thus, early plantings gave substantial positive responses to applications of nitrogen which had little effect on, or were detrimental to, later plantings. It is suggested that the responses noted were linked with weather conditions during the first few weeks after planting. The drier and more sunny these were, the better, and the possibility therefore arises of using rainfall probability data, with a minimum of field experimentation, in future problems of this nature.


This paper documents the conglomerate discount for all available German firms and the DAX 30 firms in detail. It shows a moderate discount of about 0.06 based on German comparable firms and of about 0.20 for a combined sample of German and European peer groups. I further examine the relationship between the discount and industry concentration as well as uncertainty of valuation. Finally, I document that corporate governance behavior affects the conglomerate discount.


Objective To evaluate whether a change in the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR)/American College of Rheumatology (ACR) systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) classification criteria threshold score affects accurate classification of SLE cases compared to disease-based control subjects. We evaluated a range of threshold scores to determine the score that maximizes the accurate classification of early SLE. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study comparing SLE cases and control patients. A EULAR/ACR criteria score was calculated using baseline information. Sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratios (+LRs), and negative likelihood ratios (−LRs) with 95% CIs were used to evaluate operating characteristics. Threshold scores of 6 to 12 were evaluated in subjects with early disease (ie, disease duration of ≤ 5 years). +LRs > 10 and −LRs < 0.1 provide evidence to rule in or rule out SLE. Results A total of 2764 patients were included: 1980 SLE cases who fulfilled either the ACR or Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics criteria and 784 control subjects. The EULAR/ACR SLE criteria had a sensitivity of 98% (95% CI 97-98), a specificity of 99% (95% CI 98-100), a +LR of 95.5 (95% CI 48.0-190), and a −LR 0.03 (95% CI 0.02-0.03). The criteria operated well in those with early disease, in women, in men, and in White, Black, Chinese, and Filipino people. A score of 10 maximized the accurate classification of patients with early disease (+LR 174.4, 95% CI 43.8-694.6; −LR 0.03, 95% CI 0.02-0.04). An increase in the threshold score from 10 to 11 resulted in significant worsening in the −LR (threshold score 10: −LR 0.03, 95% CI 0.02-0.03 vs threshold score 11: −LR 0.05, 95% CI 0.04-0.06). Conclusion The EULAR/ACR SLE classification criteria threshold score of 10 performs well, particularly among those with early disease and across sexes and ethnicities.


Fracture under biaxial tension is one of important problems in the engineering design. Although there has been a great deal of reasearch made on this problem, it is difficult to say which procedure is better to solve the problem. With an aid of the photoelasticity method. successfully the authors determined plastic stress concentration factors concerning a circular hole under equal biaxial tension. And these were in good agreement with theoretical values.


carcinoma. We proceeded with bilateral We report a 60 year old man diagnosed to have modified neck dissection and patient bilateral tonsillar carcinoma. He presented underwent Radiation therapy. (Rawal Med J with bilateral neck swelling with suspicious 2013;38:79-80). looking tonsils. Bilateral wide excision


Pleomorphic adenoma arises very rarely in the palate of children, although it is the most common benign salivary gland tumor in adults. This paper describes a case of pleomorphic adenoma arising in the palate of a 9 -year-old girl. She was referred to our hospital for evaluation of a swelling in the right side of the palate. The clinical diagnosis was a benign palatal tumor. Histopathological examination of a biopsy specimen, taken with the patient under local anesthesia, revealed a pleomorphic adenoma. The tumor was removed under general anesthesia, and macroscopic examination disclosed a firm, opaline, encapsulated nodule. The microscopic diagnosis of the entire nodule was also pleomorphic adenoma of a palate. Healing was completed by 50 days after the operation, and there has been no clinical evidence of recurrence as of 30 months there after.


Terminal Archaic hunter-gatherers explored and heavily uti l ized deep passages of 3rd Unnamed Cave, which l ies at the bottom of the Western Cumberland Plateau Escarpment in north central Tennessee. Footprints, torch stoke marks, chert mining pits with d igging stick marks, fl intknapping debris accumulations and associated fireplaces, and petroglyphs remain as evidence of this intensive uti l ization. The focus of this thesis is largely technological, centering on the chert mining and subsequent reduction activities that fol lowed. Specifically, insight into four major issues is developed, including the nature of the flintknapping activities practiced deep within 3rd Unnamed Cave, the goal(s) of the reduction episodes, the chronology of the mining exploitation, and the possible reasons for this exploitation. The first two issues concern techniques and technology and are addressed primarily through core refitting. Refitting is the most rel iable and straightforward means by which to address the technological questions. Core refitting has demonstrated that the prehistoric miners tested and reduced cobbles using the bipolar, or split cobble, technique. Objects of export were relatively large exterior flakes. Refitting was also used to test the general uti l ity of three other methods of l ithic analysis. Results suggest that refitting provides a much finer-grained analysis and that other methods may not be generally applicable. Mass analysis was used as an independent l ine of analysis to complement the refitting and to test whether the flintknapping


The Carnival of Binche and the Processional giants and dragons of Mons and Ath are the first Belgian elements recognized as Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. This communication introduced them and thinks about the importance of this heritage and about the dangers that get to it.


Cytogenetic studies were carried out in Hariana, Holstein Friesian and their crossbreds using C- and G-banding techniques to characterize these breed groups and identify breed specific chromosomal markers if any. Blood samples were collected from the animals and processed for whole blood lymphocyte culture. Metaphase chromosomes were subjected to treatment for CBG- and GTG-banding. The diploid number of chromosome in these animals was 60. Prominent C-bands on all the autosomes were observed, while sex chromosomes were C-band negative. GTG-banding exhibited approximately 235 G-bands and no heteromorphism was noticed for G-banding pattern among the genetic groups; however, it helped in unequivocal identification of chromosomes.


Abstract Not Available – First paragraph follows:
The various deciduous fruit industries in California are attempting to improve quality, flavor, and appearance of their products to attract more consumer dollars to their commodities.


A study is made on some room acoustical parameters in view of establishing a possible relationship between them. The investigation is theoretical and concerns the Inter-Aural Cross-Correlation Coefficient, IACC, the Early Lateral Energy Fraction ELEF, or a related measure, the spaciousness S, and finally the Initial Time Delay Gap, ITDG. To this end the impulse response (IR) for a symmetrical rectangular room with two side balconies is calculated by means of the image source method. Furthermore, and for a more realistic determination of the parameters in question, especially the IACC, diffraction around the head is taken into account in evaluating the IR of the room through convolving it with the Head Related Transfer Function (HRTF) for both ears as measured on a dummy head (KEMAR) in an anechoic environment. Three-dimensional mappings for the values of the parameters from filtered IRs are processed where the directional characteristics of the different components of the IR are accounted for in the IACC, but to a different degree in the ELEF, whereas the ITDG is not affected by diffraction around the head. An attempt is made in view of determining some correlation between these parameters, and it is found that simple relations may in fact be established between them. A further practical implication of this work in room acoustical applications is to estimate one of the concerned parameters, when inaccessible, from the knowledge of the value of any of the other ones.


—Due to emerging and growing of technology, there are changes in trading systems and world economic systems. The world seems to be narrowed. The manufacturing countries make up with several strategies to keep their customers. Canned pineapple is one of the important products which create income to the country. The researcher, therefore, use to econometric model to develop the demand forecasting model to forecast the exporting demand. The model shows that price of our products, price of our competitor's product, and income affects demand. The result obtained is in line with the theory of demand which price of product is an inverse proportion with the demand. The result from the model also clearly shows the seasonal pattern of demand. The researcher hopes that the result obtained in this research will be used by the manufacturer in preparing its product to serve the exporting demand.


In this paper, we propose the converged profile and authentication scheme for supporting converged media services of broadcasting & communications convergence in fixed mobile convergence networks. The proposed scheme supports the management of access, service, mobility and IPTV profiles on subscriber and a function of open API(Application Program Interface) for providing the subscriber profile for the third party service provider with the PUSH/PULL method. The open API is based on a web service and a REST(Representational State Transfer) and provides various services for the third party service provider with ease. In addition, the proposed scheme supports a function of SSO(Single Sign-on). After user succeeded in establishing an access connection, user can sustain the same authentication state with this function although connected access network is changed or IMS(IP Multimedia Subsystem) service network is attached. We evaluate and analyze the performance of the proposed scheme through the implementation of CUPS(Converged User Profile Server) system test-bed.


ABSTRACT Three events in late 2005—Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath in New Orleans, the Muslim riots in the suburbs of Paris, and the Cronulla 'uprising' in Australia—were interpreted by the American extreme right as confirmation of a long-feared impending racial cataclysm. Michael and Mulloy examine analyses of these events from various representatives of the American extreme right. While the mainstream media were often diffident about reporting frankly on the more sensitive implications of these events, this phenomenological approach may provide insight on how various controversial issues—such as immigration, race and multiculturalism—impinge on contemporary American society, culture and politics.


The Scapegoat, in its two versions by William Holman Hunt (color pl. V and fig. 23), represents the goat from Leviticus sent to its death in the wilderness by the Jews on the Day of Atonement as an annual expiation of their sins, which became a type of Christ in his death agony bearing the sins of others.1 Perhaps as much as any painting of the PreRaphaelites, it has, however, resisted attempts at elucidation; in spite of a body of art-historical criticism devoted to decoding its typological symbolism, it continues to perplex.2 In this sense, the painting has, we might say, almost lived up to its name, the goat having borne the criticisms of the Pre-Raphaelites in general, and Hunt himself in painting it having become the black sheep of the Brotherhood. Critics have variously considered the painting an aesthetic and iconographical failure, primarily because of their persistent attempts to interpret the image in terms of a traditional realist mode. Contemporary reviewers, in particular, were at a loss as to how to begin to read it, not because they did not recognize the reference to Leviticus (since it was a common text for symbolic treatment) but because the extent of its literality was such that they found it difficult to see beyond the fact that the painting represented a dying goat. Their confusion may be summed up in the words of one reviewer, in the Athenaeum, who pronounced it: "a mere goat [which] has no more interest for us than the sheep that furnished our yesterday's dinner."3 But what does it mean for the painting to be considered one of "a mere goat"? What does it imply to privilege its literality? These ques-


With the introduction of fuzzy number into comprehensive evaluation field, a new comprehensive evaluation model based on fuzzy arithmetic operations is proposed. By introducting the basic arithmetic operation principles of triangular fuzzy numbers and trapezoidal fuzzy numbers, fuzzy numbers are used to determine evaluation values and weight ones. Evaluation steps are listed by taking the example of policy decision model for type selection of mechanism. Because the proposed method applies simplified fuzzy arithmetic operations of fuzzy numbers, its effection is much quick and concise. Therefore, it is worthy of study and practicality in engineering application.


Abstract Background: Cognitive and behavioural changes are an important aspect in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). The Edinburgh Cognitive and Behavioural ALS Screen (ECAS) briefly assesses these changes in ALS. Objective: To validate the ECAS against a standardised neuropsychological battery and assess its sensitivity and specificity using age and education adjusted cut-off scores. Method: 30 incident ALS cases were assessed on both, ECAS and neuropsychological battery. Age and education adjusted cut-off scores were created from a sample of 82 healthy controls. Results: ECAS composite scores (Total, ALS Specific and Non-Specific) were highly correlated with battery composite scores. High correlations were also observed between ECAS and full battery cognitive domains and subtests. The ECAS Total, ALS Specific and Non-Specific scores were highly sensitive to cognitive impairment. ECAS ALS-Specific cognitive domains also evidenced high sensitivity. Individual subtest sensitivity was medium to low, suggesting that caution should be used when interpreting these scores. Low positive predictive values indicated the presence of false positives. Conclusions: Psychometric properties of the ECAS using age and education adjusted norms indicate that the ECAS, when used as an overall measure of cognitive decline, is highly sensitive. Further comprehensive assessment is required for patients that present as impaired on the ECAS.


At the core of regional smart specialisation strategies (RIS3) is the bottom-up identification of a limited set of priorities for which regions think they have potential to obtain a comparative advantage. For setting such priorities entrepreneurs are in the driver seat, by identifying business opportunities together with other research and innovation actors. Such process, also referred to as an entrepreneurial process of discovery (EDP), has been widely described in theory, but reported experiences on its implementation are scarce. This policy brief takes stock of a novel experience on implementing an EDP process in the Greek region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, drawing on practices from a European Parliament Preparatory Action through which the Knowledge for Growth Unit of the JRC-IPTS has been engaged in the refinement and implementation of a RIS3 strategy in this region. The region one of poorest regions in Europe and was heavily hit by the crisis. The challenge of implementation of a RIS3 strategy in this context offers lessons not only for the region itself but also for other convergence regions in Greece and Europe.


With the development of urbanization and the extension of city boundaries, the expansion of rapid transit systems based on the existing lines becomes an essential issue in urban transportation systems. In this study, the network expansion problem is formulated as a bi‐objective programming model to minimize the construction cost and maximize the total travel demand covered by the newly introduced transit lines. To solve the bi‐objective mixed‐integer linear program, an approach called minimum distance to the utopia point is applied. Thus, the specific trade‐off is suggested to the decision makers instead of a series of optimal solutions. A real‐world case study based on the metro network in Wuxi, China, is conducted, and the results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed model and solution method. It is found that the utopia method can not only provide a reasonable connecting pattern of the network expansion problem but also identify the corridors with high priority under the limited budget condition.


objective:To investigate the effect of povidone-iodine gauze Drainage on the infection rate and the healing courses after the open procedures of the suppurative appendicitis,which was managed by povidone-iodine gauze drainage. Methods:The infection rate,manifestation of the incision,and the mean time in hospital were observed after the drainage in the incision was employed.results:The infection rate and the mean time in hospital dropped significantly(P0.05).conclusions:The use of povidone-iodine gauze drainage can contribute to the decrease of the infection rate of incision of the suppurative appendicitis and the mean time in hospital.


This article addresses an important question: do nonprofit organizations have an advantage over public organizations in fostering individual–organizational value congruence? The authors argue that nonprofit organizations do have an advantage. This is because institutional differences between the two sectors become manifest through nonprofit status and the extent of external control, which influences the organization and the individual. External control and sector status (nonprofit versus public) determine the extent of centralization, organizational goal ambiguity, and work autonomy. In turn, these three organizational characteristics shape individual–organizational value congruence. Although the results provide support for the nonprofit advantage thesis, it is worth noting that organizational effects on individual–organizational value congruence are more powerful. Indeed, the results suggest that managerial and organizational actions, compared with sector status, are more likely to influence individual–organizational value congruence.


This article examines the major contributions made by Preston and Post in Private Management and Public Policy from the dual perspectives of a doctoral student in the late 1970s and midcareer professor in the mid-1990s. It also identifies the roots of contemporary issues and concepts in the business and society field in this early book, published in 1975. Finally, four questions are raised about what is missing, unforeseen, and subject to further scrutiny. The author's assessment is that the book is both a classic in the evolution of the field and highly relevant to contemporary analyses of corporate social performance.


Phenolic resin has the excellent properties of fire resistance, low smoke production during burning, and a good balance between its cost and mechanical properties compared with other types of resin used in fire-resistant polymers (FRPs). If phenolic resin can be employed as a matrix of FRP, such FRP can have a higher fire safety factor which will be a desirable property in the structures of vessels and railway carriages. However, for the case of the resole type of phenolic resin, water formed from the condensation reaction remains in the matrix, and this water evaporates resulting in the formation of voids during the curing process. In order to develop a new type of phenolic composite that can overcome this weakness, we used a foam type of phenolic resin and glass fibers as the matrix and the reinforcement, respectively. We, then, developed a new pultrusion technique for the new phenolic foam composite and examined its mechanical properties and thermal conductivity.In this paper, we report a new technique to mold not only a phenolic foam composite but also a sandwich beam in which the phenolic foam composite as a core and a thin phenolic FRP layer as a faceplate are used. We also investigated the compressive strength and elastic modulus under high temperatures and compared the result with that at room temperature. Finally, we show that the compressive properties of the phenolic foam composite and the sandwich beam are stable at higher temperatures.


The concentrations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in the Finnish aquatic environment were measured in riverine waters and in inland, coastal and open sea fish. In addition, the PFAS load to the Baltic Sea from 11 rivers was calculated. Measurements show that PFASs, including restricted perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), are widely present in the Finnish aquatic environment. At three out of 45 sampling sites, the concentration of PFOS in fish exceeded the environmental quality standard (EQS) of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). The annual average (AA) ∑23PFAS concentration in surface waters ranged from 1.8 to 42 ng L−1 and the concentration of PFOS exceeded the AA-EQS in three out of 13 water bodies. In European perch (Perca fluviatilis) and Baltic herring (Clupea harengus membras), the ∑PFAS concentration ranged from 0.98 to 1 µg kg−1 f.w. (fresh weight) and from 0.2 to 2.4 µg kg−1 f.w., respectively. The highest concentrations in both surface water and fish were found in waters of southern Finland. The riverine export of ∑10PFAS to the Baltic Sea from individual rivers ranged from 0.4 kg yr−1 to 18 kg yr−1. PFAS concentrations in fish of point-source-polluted sites and coastal sites were higher compared to fish of open sea or diffusely polluted sites. The PFAS profiles in surface waters of background sites were different from other sites. This study shows that PFASs are widely found in the Finnish aquatic environment. Different PFAS profiles in samples from background areas and densely populated areas indicate diverse sources of PFASs. Although atmospheric deposition has a substantial influence on PFAS occurrence in remote areas, it is not the dominant source of all PFASs to the aquatic environment of Finland. Rather, wastewaters and presumably contaminated land areas are major sources of PFASs to this aquatic environment.


We present an easily deployable distributed system for gas sensing and analysis based on an Android application functioning as a real-time comparator between the measurements of a molecular spectroscopy sensor and an online spectroscopic database. The application wirelessly reads via Bluetooth the optical spectrum captured by a tunable laser gas sensor and compares it to a simulated spectrum performing molecule identification and concentration estimation. The simulations are computed in real-time using spectroscopic parameters retrieved from online databases providing a high degree of flexibility and adaptability. The experimental validation of the performance of the system has been carried out using a specially designed Wavelength Modulation Spectroscopy (WMS) instrument, spectroscopic data from HITRAN and methane as the target gas.


AbstractAlthough discussions have taken place concerning the possible sources of textbook distortions of experiments and other material, researchers have not investigated the possible effects of these distortions on students' responses. The present study considered this issue. Students were presented with three different versions of two topics commonly discussed in introductory psychology textbooks. The three versions varied in complexity and completeness. Analyses of test responses indicated that students presented with oversimplified versions did not respond at a chance level of correctness but actually went beyond the information given and made incorrect inferences. Complex presentations, however, did not adversely affect the students' test responses. These results argue against presentation styles that use oversimplified treatments of topics. Further implications of these results are discussed.


The dangers posed by ethnic conflict and unrealized popular hopes for economic progress are two major stumbling blocks to democratic consolidation. When Mauritius became independent in 1968 the many serious difficulties it faced included ethnic conflicts, economic stagnation, rapid population growth and high unemployment. Yet, three decades on Mauritius is a flourishing democracy and an economic success. The explanation seems to be good luck, a favourable colonial inheritance, good leadership and five consequences of that leadership: the development of competent and representative state bureaucracy; restraint of population growth; economic diversification; the integration of minority communities in the policy process through a civic network; and the accomodation of diverse ethnic communities. Democracy in Mauritius has been consolidated but not perfected. But the dangers of corruption, personalization of political parties and the exclusion of the ti‐kreol from power, while real, have a greater potential f...


The present invention relates to a wind power installation, comprising a transmission (54), of the transmission input shaft and a rotor (50) coupled to the rotor shaft having a separate bearing, which is characterized in that: between the bearing and the transmission provided a clamping means (10), the clamping means in a state where the rotor shaft assembly (50) is held in a predetermined position.


Introduction:
 Gender minority (e.g., transgender, gender nonbinary) adults have been shown to be at higher risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) compared to cisgender adults. However, prior research has primarily examined differences in individual cardiovascular health (CVH) metrics rather than composite measures. We examined gender identity differences in ideal CVH using the American Heart Association's Life's Simple 7, which includes three health behaviors (i.e., tobacco use, diet, and physical activity) and four health factors (i.e., body mass index, hypertension, diabetes, and total cholesterol).

 Methods:
 We analyzed self-reported data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (2015-2019). Participants received a score of 0 (nonideal) or 1 (ideal) for each CVH metric and scores were summed to calculate ideal CVH scores (continuous; range 0-7). We ran regression models, adjusted for demographic and clinical factors, to compare ideal CVH scores and the odds of meeting criteria for ideal CVH (i.e., ≥5 CVH metrics with score of 1) between gender minority and cisgender adults. We separately compared all groups of gender minority participants (i.e., transgender women, transgender men, gender nonbinary) to both cisgender women and men.

 Results:
 The sample included 368,541 participants, of which 99.6% were cisgender, 0.3% were transgender, and 0.1% were nonbinary. Transgender women (
 B
 = -0.22,
 p
 <0.01) and gender nonbinary (
 B
 = -0.42,
 p
 <0.01) participants had lower ideal CVH scores than cisgender women. No differences in ideal CVH scores were found when comparing gender minority adults to cisgender men. Transgender women (AOR 0.54, 95% CI = 0.50, 0.76) and gender nonbinary (AOR 0.46, 95% CI=0.30, 0.71) adults were less likely to meet criteria for ideal CVH than cisgender women. In contrast, transgender men were more likely to meet criteria for ideal CVH than cisgender men (AOR 1.61, 95% CI = 1.10, 2.36).

 Conclusions:
 Findings indicate that transgender women and gender nonbinary participants are at higher risk of CVD than cisgender women. Transgender men had a lower risk of CVD than cisgender men. Future research is needed to examine factors that may contribute to the CVH disparities observed among transgender women and gender nonbinary adults.


To mark the 100 years of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, this paper presents a tour of its history, from the Royal University of Mexico, its founding in 1910 and for different times, such as when it received its autonomy, the creation of the University City and beyond, to 2010. In this context, the brief history of the unam Library System is inserted. The creation of the General Directorate of Libraries marks a new development period for academic libraries that will be particularly highlighted by the work and initiatives of each of the directors who have been leading it, as well as its library staff.


OBJECTIVE To study the application of quantitative detection of bacterial endotoxin in large volume injections by Kinetic turbidimetric assay. METHODS According to the appendix of China Pharmacopoeia(2000 edeition)study the feasibility of quantificationally detecting bacterial endotoxin in large volume injections. RESULTS Kinetic turbidimetric assay can accurately detect bacterial endotoxin in injections. CONCLUSION The technology of quantitative detection of bacterial endotoxin can replace the rabbit pyrogen test or gel-clot TAL test to guarantee the safety of end-product drugs as well as in-process solutions and raw materials.


Bayesian inference requires all unknowns to be represented by probability distributions, which awkwardly implies that the probability of an event for which we are completely ignorant (e.g., that the world's greatest boxer would defeat the world's greatest wrestler) must be assigned a particular numerical value such as 1/2, as if it were known as precisely as the probability of a truly random event (e.g., a coin flip). Robust Bayes and belief functions are two methods that have been proposed to distinguish ignorance and randomness. In robust Bayes, a parameter can be restricted to a range, but without a prior distribution, yielding a range of potential posterior inferences. In belief functions (also known as the Dempster-Shafer theory), probability mass can be assigned to subsets of parameter space, so that randomness is represented by the probability distribution and uncertainty is represented by large subsets, within which the model does not attempt to assign probabilities. Through a simple example involving a coin flip and a boxing/wrestling match, we illustrate difficulties with robust Bayes and belief functions. In short: robust Bayes allows ignorance to spread too broadly, and belief functions inappropriately collapse to simple Bayesian models.


Engaged in a physical culture and sport create terms for comprehensive, harmonious development of personality. The large variety of motive actions allows to decide the difficult complex of tasks of teaching and education of rising generation. Different maintenance and orientation of physical exercises is instrumental in harmonization of personality. Exercises are directed on development of basic high-quality sides of motive activity. Also on education morally-volitional qualities and perfection of aesthetically beautiful presentations. Exercises are instrumental in harmonization of personality. A choice of physical exercises of predetermines is scalene complex education of man.


The creation of semantically annotated corpora has lagged dramatically behind. As a result, the need for such resources has now become urgent. Several initiatives have been launched at the international level in the last years, however, they have focussed almost entirely on English and not much attention has been dedicated to the creation of semantically annotated Dutch corpora. The Flemish-Dutch STEVIN-programme has identified semantic annotation as one of its priorities.Within the project "Dutch Language Corpus Initiative" (D-Coi) we are developing guidelines for the semantic annotation of Dutch and our focus is on two types: semantic role assignment and temporal and spatial semantics. 67 Proceedings of the Sixteenth Computational Linguistics in the Netherlands. Edited by: Khalil Sima'an, Maarten de Rijke, Remko Scha and Rob van Son. Copyright c © 2007 by the individual authors. 68 / INEKE SCHUURMAN AND PAOLA MONACHESI


The article discusses the early Norwegian reception of Ibsen's Brand , starting with six reviews published in April 1866 and ending with Kristian Winter-Hjelm's essay from early December. A new emphasis is given both to the chronolog-ical order in which the reviews and articles were published and to their interpretive and evaluative differences. The article argues that this early reception has been underrated or overlooked in Norwegian literary history as well as in Ibsen studies. Special attention is given to critics who have been given only minimal or distorted attention: Johan L. Vibe


B. P. Chandra, considered as the Father of Mechanoluminescence Research in India, died on 29 October 2015, while on his way to deliver a lecture 'Recent advances in physics' at SGG Govt PG College, Kurud in Chhattisgarh. He was born on 3 April 1946 in the remote village of Bargaon in Janjgir-Champa district of Chhattisgarh, then part of Central Provinces and Berar under British India.


Precipitation of silicas in the emulsion medium from sodium silicate with hexane as the organic phase and hydrochloric or sulphuric(VI) acids as the precipitation agent, has been studied. The effect of the conditions of the reaction of precipitation on the physical and chemical properties of the products has been analysed and the optimum conditions have been established. Synthetic silicas made of spherical particles have been obtained, showing high uniformity for certain contents of the emulsifiers used. By adjusting the amount of the emulsifiers and with hydrochloric acid as the precipitating agent, uniform silicas have been obtained showing a low tendency towards aggregate and agglomerate formation. The physical and chemical properties of the precipitation products obtained have been observed to deteriorate with sulphuric(VI) acid as the precipitating agent, as indicated by particle size distribution curves and SEM images. Agglomeration of the silicas enhances their sedimentation in water, as follows from the sedimentation profiles taken.


The study of international experience in professional education and specialists' professional activity is extremely important for Ukraine to integrate into the European and world educational area effectively. The features of physical education specialists' professional training in the European Union are not studied enough, and it led to the purpose of this article.
The article analyzes current trends of physical education specialists' professional training of in the European Union, in particular the countries of Western and Central Europe: Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Great Britain, of Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. The specialized higher educational institutions of the EU, providing basic and secondary vocational education, training of physical education teachers, coaches for clubs and sports associations, training athletes are given. There are educational programs for bachelors and masters in physical education characterized. The features of leading Western and Central Europe higher education establishments' physical education specialists' professional training programs are specified. A professional training programs of the Technical University of Munich and the Free University of Brussels are given.The term of studies and number of credits for a bachelor's degree, master's degree and doctorate in higher education institutions of the European Union are characterized.The purpose of higher education in the European Union is the creation and development of specialist's competencies. The feature of European higher education area is funded credit-transfer system (ECTS), which is based on determining the higher education applicant's workload required to achieve specified learning outcomes and it calculated in ECTS credits recorded in order to promote: his mobility while study period; stockpiling, transfer and evaluation of credits and recognition of learning outcomes (formal, non-formal and informal) acquired in different countries, the implementation of lifelong learning, transparency (clarity in the description) qualifications.
The analysis of European experience has shown that the students' preparation educational trajectory expressed in the sequence of stages of study carried out by a student to acquire knowledge, skills, and competencies and provides an opportunity to combine a sequence of formal and informal learning.


Objective
To explore the effect of simvastatin combined with cyclosporin A treatment on the development of obliterative bronchiolitis in a murine heterotopic tracheal transplantation model.

Methods
Murine tracheals were heterotopically transplanted from BALB/c donors into C57BL/6 recipients. Transplanted animals received either control chow, chow containing simvastatin, chow containing cyclosporine A, or chow containing simvastatin and cyclosporine A. beginning immediately after transplantation. Epithelial loss and luminal obstruction were analyzed by morphometry. Immunohistochemistry assay was used for quantifying inflammatory cell infiltration and expression of chemokine in tracheal allografts. collagen deposition was studied by picro sirius red staining.Group t test was used to calculate the difference between groups.

Results
simvastatin combined with cyclosporin A treatment reduced chemokine(MCP-1, RANTES)release, inhibited CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and macrophages accumulation in tracheal allografts, resulting in limited bronchial inflammation and diminished epithelial loss. simvastatin plus cyclosporin A treatment also inhibited proliferation of myofibroblast cells, reduced MMP-2 release and decreased the amounts of type I and III collagen deposition, resulting in preserved luminal patency and inhibited development of OB compared with those of controls.

Conclusions
When simvastatin was used in combination with CsA, the development of OB was significantly inhibited.

Key words:
Lung transplantation; Statin; Cyclosporin A; Bronchiolitis obliterans


Abstract Regression calibration estimation procedure is proposed in linear errors-in-variables regression model when the measurement error follows a normal distribution. The improvement is made feasible by the Tweedie's formula. Large sample properties, including the weak consistency and the asymptotic normality are established under some mild conditions. Simulation studies are conducted to evaluate the finite sample performances via comparing with existing estimation methods.


Abstract The network model of organization plays a central role in recent sociological accounts of the information economy. This model is also often presented in organization and information and communication technologies (ICT) literature with an air of enthusiasm that underscores its advantages—flexibility, cooperative culture, innovativeness, and knowledge and technology intensity. Such themes are usually based on a "networking logic" that assumes the trustful cooperation of large and small production firms in a rapidly changing economic environment. We believe that both the logic and the themes based upon it are too narrow to be able to explain the complex dimensions of interorganizational networking. Using Enron as a case study, our goal in this article is to enrich the logic just described and to develop an extended model of the network enterprise. We argue that this is only possible by extending the unit of analysis beyond the production firm, to include, among others, subsidiaries, banks, investors, auditors, and government agencies. The proposed extended model allows the broadening of many of the aforementioned themes, making it possible to arrive at a realistic picture of the complexities of the network enterprise. The managerial advantages of the model are also discussed.


Guizhou is a place where the people of minority nationalities live.In their social life over a long period of time many people of minority nationalities have created a variety of traditional minority national sports events.It has been the national wisdom and national spirit and national character of the the specific expression.The features of it aredistinctive traditional cultural and entertainment.The paper on the development of traditional sports status,problems were analyzed and the corresponding countermeasures and recommendations.


A review of 185 obstetrical patients, having a family history of diabetes mellitus without medical history of glucose intolerance in the non‐pregnant state was conducted. A 3‐hour 100‐g oral glucose tolerance test was performed on all patients between 20 and 34 weeks of gestation. According to O'Sullivan's criteria for glucose tolerance testing, normal glucose tolerance occurred in 89.7%, while Class A diabetes was identified in 10.3% of patients tested. 3.8% of the study population fulfilled the O'Sullivan criteria for abnormal glucose intolerance and required insulin treatment during pregnancy.


The Flora Europaea organisation List of contributors Preface Preface to the first edition Acknowledgements Acknowledgements to the first edition Introduction List of standard floras Synopsis of families in volume 1 Keys to major taxa Explanatory notes to the text Text Appendices Index Maps.


Low cost micro drip kit is being touted in South Asia and other developing countries by International Development Enterprises (iDE) with an objective to empower 'poor' smallholder farmers to invest their way out of poverty. 'Success' stories are told of the technology being adopted by farmers in India. With this assumption, the development of drip was replicated in Zambia without the much anticipated success. Thousands of low-cost drip kits were sold to targeted farmers but, after a few years, only few were still functional on farmers' fields. Most of the farmers either did not use the technology or abandoned it after using it for a brief period of time. A number of social, economic, physical, technical as well as institutional challenges can explain this. This study reviewed conditions that characterized the success and challenges of drip in India and Zambia respectively, focusing on the technical configuration of drip systems in the latter. The authors argue that the drip technology was transferred from India to Zambia without the support system or network of organization that made it work in India thus imposing constraints on the use of the kit by farmers in Zambia. Few farmers who used the kit configured their drip systems by modifying its characteristics to overcome these constraints. The study concludes that the configuration of drip on farmers' field was determined largely by farmer innovation, availability of spares and costs of drip equipment, profitability of markets, labour, system capacity and technical knowledge of farmers as well as the availability and depth of groundwater


The question of macro-micro links has been one of the most challenging is-sues in contemporary sociological theory (e.g., Alexander, Bourdieu, Collins, and Giddens). In this context, Gary Alan Fine is known for his long-standing quest to connect an approach to sociology grounded on the micro level, in which dyads, tri-ads and other tiny groups create social processes, to sociological analyses focused on institutions and organizations on the macro level. As exemplified by Fine's early article on Little League baseball teams [Fine 1979] as well as his 1993 review article, he places symbolic interactionist theory within the broadest possible context of sociological theory. Extending this perspective still further, Fine and Harrington's 2004 article offered a powerful theoretical reassessment of civil society – usually a terrain of macro political and institutional analysis – from the viewpoint of small groups and tiny publics. The authors emphasized that civil society can be parsed into small-group components in order to gain a more nuanced understanding of it. The current paper co-authored by Fine, Harrington, and Segre builds on this earlier work by offering a reassessment of classical sociology. It is a welcome addition to the development of a theory of civil society rooted in the micro realities of small-group dynamics. When the editors of this journal invited me to respond to their article, I thought at first that I would be able to add some value to their interpretation of classical sociology and if possible, even challenge them on some points in order to invigorate public discourse in this journal. But I found the task difficult since I share many basic points with these authors in terms of my understanding of classical sociology. I also share a basic assumption with them, the centrality of fluid interactional processes in understanding social realities. My empirical research came very close to their topic Abstract: The structure of society is shaped within small groups, a feature of social order that we have termed "tiny publics." These tiny publics provide the basis of collective action and political change. Yet, in current sociological theorizing this meso-level of analysis has often been downplayed. In this article, we argue that classical sociological theorists, particularly Simmel, Durkheim, and Weber, recognized the essential role of small groups in political and economic life, creating a local sociology. To focus on small groups as a field of action recognizes the centrality of interaction and negotiated order as standing at the heart of the political process.


Using the Maxwellian macroscopic approach and analysing the formulation of the dielectric constant, it is shown that the concept of energy has not been properly incorporated into the current kinetic plasma theory. The difficulties are due to the Boltzmann collisional term (∂F/∂t)coll which accounts for a change in the velocity distribution due to collisions alone. If one attempts to rephrase the Boltzmann-Vlasov theory in terms of the Maxwcllian macroscopic formulation, one obtains an expression for energy which is not consistent with the meaning of this concept in generalized dynamics. In a revised version developed in this analysis the Boltzmann collisional term has been eliminated and an appropriate collisional operator is introduced which is believed to describe more adequately collisional processes in a plasma. It is assumed that the collisional operator can be applied directly to the electrical intensity of the field interacting with the plasma and is effective in transforming the intensity in a col...


Objective: to analyze the characteristics of oncology patients with home parenteral nutrition HPD collected from the NADYA registry. Method: cross-sectional study of the data collected from the NADYA's group registry related to home and outpatient artificial nutrition. Patients with HPD and explicit oncological diagnosis were selected. Data were collected from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2016. Results: Within the 7 years studied, 1463 patients were collected, of which 599 had a cancer diagnosis (40.94%) with an increase of 43% from the beginning. The mean age was 57 years IIQ [46-64], registering 5 children. The majority of the patients were oncologic palliative (51.3%). There were 3.18 septic catheter-related complications per 1000 days of nutrition, most frequently in the radiation enteritis group (ANOVA p <0.001). The main cause of end of treatment was death 61%, palliative patients in higher proportion than the other diagnoses (x 2 = 53,819, p <0.001). Conclusions: palliative represent the majority of cancer patients with HPD. Intestinal obstruction and short bowel syndrome was the main reason for indicating it, almost 80% of cases. Patients with radiation enteritis were the ones with the least metabolic and septic complications not related to the catheter, being the ones with the most septic complications related to the catheter. Quality of life is a parameter that would provide a very valuable information of these patients. It is a limitation of this study not to have data based on this parameter.


Most dementia care occurs in the community with support from informal caregivers who are often distressed. Dementia caregiver distress is known to be hazardous to the caregiver's health, but the impact on the dementia care recipient is not well known.


Over the past few decades, many studies conducted in the field of learning science have described that scaffolding plays an important role in human learning. To scaffold a learner efficiently, a teacher should predict how much support a learner must have to complete tasks and then decide the optimal degree of assistance to support the learner's development. Nevertheless, it is difficult to ascertain the optimal degree of assistance for learner development. For this study, it is assumed that optimal scaffolding is based on a probabilistic decision rule: Given a teacher's assistance to facilitate the learner development, an optimal probability exists for a learner to solve a task. To ascertain that optimal probability, we developed a scaffolding system that provides adaptive hints to adjust the predictive probability of the learner's successful performance to the previously determined certain value, using a probabilistic model, i.e., item response theory (IRT). Furthermore, using the scaffolding system, we compared learning performances by changing the predictive probability. Results show that scaffolding to achieve 0.5 learner success probability provides the best performance. Additionally, results demonstrate that a scaffolding system providing 0.5 probability decreases the number of hints (amount of support) automatically as a fading function according to the learner's growth capability.


Under Swedish law, an alien convicted of an offence punishable by imprisonment may be sentenced to deportation if there is reason to assume that the alien will reoffend, or if the offence is so ser ...


Todays big problem in Indonesian state enforcement and governmental system is corruption in both national and local level Corruption in public service bureaucracy can only be minimised ifthere is a hollistic and compre hensive understanding within dimension network and background of corruption and some areas in public service bureaucracy that are highly touched by corruption Without this understanding efforts ofcorruption elimination in public service bureaucracy would be hard to achieve In order to support the process ofcorruption elimination in public service sector the role ofpublic institutions that is built to control the execution ofpublic service institution must be maximised therefore


ABSTRACT We examine insider selling for initial public offering (IPO) firms using a sample of 1868 IPOs between 1988 and 2012. We find that overvalued IPOs have higher probability of offering secondary shares, higher proportion of secondary shares offered, and more upward revision in the total number of shares offered. They also have higher probability of insider sale in the open market both before and after lockup expiration. The size of insider sale in the open market also increases with the degree of overvaluation. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that IPO insiders try to sell their shares opportunistically into overvalued markets.


The RYR1 gene encodes the ryanodine receptor isoform 1 (RYR1), a homotetrameric calcium channel found on the terminal cisternae of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) of skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, smooth muscle cells, and the endoplasmic reticulums of B-lymphocytes and cerebellar Purkinjie cells. RYR1 plays a critical role in calcium release and muscle contraction in skeletal muscle. Many RYR1 variants are implicated in neuromuscular diseases of varying severity and dozens of genetic variants in RYR1 influence patient risk for developing drug-induced myopathies such as malignant hyperthermia (MH) [1, 2]. MH is a potentially lethal condition triggered by potent inhalational anesthetics and depolarizing muscle relaxants. The incidence of MH is rare; estimates of the incidence of MH range from 1 of 10,000 to 1 of 250,000 anesthesias. However, the genetic prevalence of MH susceptibility (MHS) has been estimated to be as high as 1 out of 400 individuals [2]. The American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG) 2013 report on recommendations for clinical exome and whole genome sequencing analyses includes RYR1 in its list of genes to report in incidental findings [3]. This review will focus on RYR1 in skeletal muscle because it is the primary locus for MHS and will also explore the potential impact of genetic variation in RYR1 on other drug-induced myopathies accompanying the use of HMG Co-A reductase inhibitors (statins). An interactive version of this review can be accessed at (https://www.pharmgkb.org/gene/PA34896).


KEYWORD: cultural tradition in architecture design; modern function in architecture design; fusion method ABSTRACT: The tradition of architecture design is a complete set of expression symbol formed within a specific region, with the edification of the region's unique culture and after a long time of precipitation It is in line with people's aesthetic, is a summary of the people's living demands, and also a unique "culture" with regional features. However, with the development of society and economy, people's living demands are also changing, which means blindly following regional architectural tradition cannot meet the requirements of contemporary people. The correct way is to combine with external characteristics of natural environment and resources and new living demand characteristics, design architecture complying with traditional aesthetic requirements, meeting contemporary people's living demands, and fitting in external environment as well, and to advocate energy conservation and environment protection and sustainable development, thus requiring architecture design to have the "function" in accordance with the current era. In fact, the fusion of tradition and modern in architecture design is the fusion of "culture" and "function", and is also the expression of architecture design advancing with the times. This thesis conducted research on the fusion method of tradition and modern in architecture design provided.


In this paper, we consider a mobile molecular communication (MC) system consisting of two mobile nanomachines, a transmitter and a receiver, propelled by a positive drift velocity and Brownian motion in a realistic blood-vessel-type flow regime. Considering the nonlinear movement of the nanomachines, an extended Kalman filter is employed to estimate the distance from the transmitter. Furthermore, based on the predicted distance, to keep the number of received molecules for bit 1 at a stable level, we employ power control on the number of transmitted molecules based on the distance between the transmitter and the receiver and the residual molecules in the channel from the previous transmission. Finally, the optimal detection threshold is obtained by minimizing the error probability. It is verified that a fixed optimal detection threshold can be effective for the power control scheme in the mobile MC. The bit error rate (BER) performance of our scheme is verified via simulation results.


Hot corrosion(HC) of the APS(atomospheric plasma spraying)CoNiCrAlTaSiY coating on a nickel-base superalloy GH864 has been studied. The effect of laser-treatment on hot corrosion resistance was also examined.It was shown that CoNiCrAlTaSiY coating had superior properties in resistance to hot corrosion due to the readiness of the formation of a protective Cr2O3 scale on the coating surface.A model for the mechanism of hot corrosion of this coating has been suggested. Hot corrosion resistance of this coating was significantly increased by the laser treatment simply because the surface of the as sprayed coating was densified by the high power laser beam.


Dr. Lana W. Jackman, President of the National Forum on Information Literacy, recently sat down with Ms. Helen Osborne, an early pioneer of health literacy practice and President of Health Literacy Consulting, to discuss the current state of health literacy. In the interview highlights presented below, Ms. Osborne offers some keen insights into how health literacy practice is ultimately a shared community responsibility. The interview was conducted at the Morse Institute Library in Natick, MA. The full interview is available on the National Forum on Information Literacy Website—www.infolit.org.


Introduction: The CD19 antigen is broadly and homogeneously expressed across different B-cell malignancies, including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). MOR208 is an Fc-enhanced, humanized, monoclonal antibody that targets CD19, leading to natural killer (NK) cell-mediated antibody-dependent cytotoxicity, macrophage-mediated antibody-dependent phagocytosis and direct cytotoxicity. The immunomodulatory drug, lenalidomide (LEN), has both antiproliferative and antiangiogenic effects, and can stimulate the activity of immune effectors, such as NK cells. MOR208 and LEN have each shown single agent activity in patients with relapsed or refractory (R-R) DLBCL. In addition, MOR208 and LEN have shown synergy in in vitro and in vivo lymphoma models. We present results of an ongoing, multicenter phase II study designed to assess the safety and efficacy of MOR208 combined with LEN in patients with R-R DLBCL (NCT02399085).
 Methods:Patients >18 years of age diagnosed with DLBCL, an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status 0-2, and adequate organ function, who had relapsed after or were refractory to at least one but not more than three prior systemic therapies, including at least one CD20-targeting regimen, and who were not candidates for high-dose chemotherapy (HDC) and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT), were eligible. Patients with primary refractory disease (defined as no response to or progression during or within 6 months after completion of frontline therapy for DLBCL) were excluded. Treatment comprises up to twelve 28-day cycles of MOR208, administered intravenously at a dose of 12 mg/kg weekly during cycles 1-3 (plus a loading dose on day 4 of cycle 1), and every second week during cycles 4-12. LEN was administered orally at a daily dose of 25 mg on days 1-21 of each cycle, for up to 12 cycles. Patients who were progression-free after 12 cycles received MOR208 every second week until progression. The primary endpoint is the objective response rate (ORR), centrally assessed, as per the International Working Group criteria 2007, incorporating PET-based imaging. Secondary endpoints include ORR as per investigator assessment, duration of response (DoR), progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS), safety, and analysis of outcomes by cell of origin and other biomarkers.
 Results: As of November 2017, 81 patients had been enrolled and recruitment is complete. We report here updated preliminary results with a data cutoff of 5 June 2018. Median age was 72 years (range 41-87); 40 (49%) patients had received ≥2 prior lines of therapy (median 2, range 1-4); 31 (38%) had rituximab refractory disease; 33 (41%) were refractory to the previous line of therapy, 43 (53%) had Ann Arbor stage ≥III disease; and 42 (52%) had an International Prognostic Index of 3-5 at study entry, indicating poor prognosis. The most common treatment-emergent adverse events (any grade/grade ≥3) were neutropenia in 39/35 (48%/43%) patients, thrombocytopenia in 26/14 (32%/17%), anemia in 25/7 (31%/9%), diarrhea in 24/1 (30%/1%), pyrexia in 18/1 (22%/1%) and asthenia in 16/2 (20%/2%) patients. Thirty-four (42%) patients required dose reduction with LEN, 58 (72%) patients overall could stay on a daily LEN dose of 20 mg or higher. Based on investigator assessments, complete and partial responses were observed in 27 (33%) and 20 (25%) patients, respectively, resulting in an ORR of 58%. A further 12 (15%) patients had stable disease. With a median follow-up of 12 months, the median PFS was 16.2 months (95% CI: 6.3-not reached [NR]). Responses were durable with a median DoR not reached (95% CI: NR-NR) and 70% of responding patients were without progression at 12 months (Kaplan-Meier estimate). A significant proportion of patients (37/81; 46%) are still on study treatment, with 19 having been treated for over 12 months. Median OS has not been reached (95% CI: 18.6-NR); the 12-month OS rate was 73% (95% CI: 63-85).
 Conclusions: MOR208 in combination with LEN has shown highly encouraging activity in patients with R-R DLBCL who were ineligible for HDC and ASCT and who had a poor prognosis. These results indicate a significant improvement in outcome for these patients who have very limited treatment options. MOR208 plus LEN was well tolerated in this population, without evidence of additive toxicity. Treatment and follow-up are currently ongoing, as are cell of origin and other biomarker analyses.

 Salles: Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria; Epizyme: Honoraria; Gilead: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria; Merck: Honoraria; Morphosys: Honoraria; Pfizer: Honoraria; Servier: Honoraria; Takeda: Honoraria; Amgen: Honoraria; Acerta: Honoraria; AbbVie: Honoraria; Celgene: Honoraria, Research Funding; Roche: Honoraria, Research Funding. González-Barca:Roche: Speakers Bureau; Celtrion: Consultancy; Gilead: Consultancy; janssen: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau. Jurczak:Pharmacyclics: Research Funding; MorphoSys: Research Funding; Merck: Research Funding; Nordic Nanovector: Research Funding; Janssen: Research Funding; Epizyme: Research Funding; Celgene: Research Funding; Beigene: Research Funding; Bayer: Research Funding; Afimed: Research Funding; Sandoz-Novartis: Consultancy; Janssen: Consultancy; European Medicines Agency: Consultancy; AstraZeneca: Consultancy; Acerta: Consultancy, Research Funding; Gilead: Consultancy, Research Funding; Servier: Research Funding; Roche: Research Funding; TG Therapeutics: Research Funding. Gaidano:Morphosys: Honoraria; AbbVie: Consultancy, Honoraria; Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria; Gilead: Consultancy, Honoraria; Roche: Consultancy, Honoraria; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria. Kalakonda:Celgene: Research Funding. Dreyling:Bayer: Consultancy, Honoraria; Gilead: Consultancy, Honoraria; Acerta: Consultancy; Roche: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Mundipharma: Consultancy, Research Funding; Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Sandoz: Consultancy. Zinzani:Janssen: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; BMS: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Roche: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Merck: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Astra Zeneca: Speakers Bureau; Gilead: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; MSD: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; SERVIER: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; PFIZER: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; TG Pharmaceuticals: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; TG Pharmaceuticals: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Merck: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Celltrion: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Bayer: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Verastem: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Bayer: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Takeda: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Celgene: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; PFIZER: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Dirnberger-Hertweck:MorphoSys: Employment. Weirather:MorphoSys: Employment. Ambarkhane:MorphoSys: Employment. Maddocks:Pharmacyclics: Research Funding; Novartis: Research Funding; Pharmacyclics/Janssen: Honoraria; AstraZeneca: Honoraria; Teva: Honoraria; Merck: Research Funding; BMS: Research Funding.


Interfacial structure evolution and degradation are critical to the electrochemical performance of LiCoO2 (LCO), the most widely studied and used cathode material in lithium ion batteries. To understand such processes requires precise and quantitative measurements. Herein, we use well-defined epitaxial LCO thin films to reveal the interfacial degradation mechanisms. Through our systematical investigations, we find that surface corrosion is significant after forming the surface phase transition layer, and the cathode electrolyte interphase (CEI) has a double layer structure, an inorganic inner layer containing CoO, LiF, LiOH/Li2O and Li x PF y O z , and an outmost layer containing Li2CO3 and organic carbonaceous components. Furthermore, surface cracks are found to be pronounced due to mechanical failures and chemical etching. This work demonstrates a model material to realize the precise measurements of LCO interfacial degradations, which deepens our understanding on the interfacial degradation mechanisms.


A constraint on a long-range spin-dependent interaction $\alpha^{\prime\prime}({\bf s}_1\cdot{\bf s}_2)\,{\rm e}^{-\lambda r}/r$, which can be induced by a pseudovector light boson, is presented. We study theoretical and experimental data on a specific difference $8\times E_{\rm hfs}(2s)-E_{\rm hfs}(1s)$ for light two-body atoms. The spin-dependent coupling constant $\alpha^{\prime\prime}$ of electron-nucleus interaction in hydrogen, deuterium and helium-3 ion is constrained at the level below a part in $10^{16}$. The derived constraints are related to the range of masses below $4\;{\rm keV}/c^2$.


The present paper reports studies on polyurethane networks formed by the reaction of polyoxypropylene (POP) triols and tetrols with hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) in nitrobenzene as solvent and in bulk. The effects of reactant structures (molar mass, functionality, chain stiffness) and reaction conditions (dilution) on gel points and the shear moduli of the networks formed at complete reaction have been investigated


Today, aluminium matrix composites (AMC) are widely used for the manufacturing of lightweight, yet highly stressed components in automotive, aeronautic and electrical engineering. In order to achieve particle distributions as homogeneous as possible within these component's volumes and thus ensure optimum component properties, efforts are being made to simulate the manufacturing process prior to production. In this paper, AMC with extremely high particle fractions of more than 25 vol.% are considered in particular, as their processing still poses significant technological challenges. To model the particle motion in a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of the semi-solid forming process of this type of materials, a Lagrangian multiphase approach combining CFD and discrete element method (DEM) was used. Here, the DEM allowed all particle-particle interactions to be considered. Thus, different parameters influencing particle agglomeration, particle distribution as well as particle interaction with the cavity can be investigated during a numerical study. More specifically, the influence particle parameters such as cohesion forces and the influence of the forming speed onto the particle distribution in the final component ́s volume was analysed. The simulations were performed for a symmetric disc geometry. A forming tool was already available for this geometry, with which components could be manufactured to validate the simulation results. In the end, the study shows that by using four-way CFD-DEM coupling, simulation predictability for the semi-solid forming process of AMC could be significantly improved.


About two years ago the United States passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act, also called the "Simpson-Rodino" bill of 1986. The Act called for increased enforcement of migration policy, employer sanctions, and amnesty for those who could prove continuous residence since 1982. Despite considerable discussion and debate prior to the act, the legislation was passed without any comprehensive economic analysis of its potential impact on the United States or its main source of undocumented immigration, Mexico. Notwithstanding the politically charged atmosphere surrounding the bill, the sense among many in Congress and the White House that "we need to restore control over our borders," and the determination by Mexico to stay out of what it regarded as a domestic U.S. legislative matter, the absence of attention to basic economics in a bill so fundamental to the performance of both countries was surprising. In this paper we shall look at some implications of the recent immigration law for both economies, given their widely differing levels of income and productivity, the challenges each faces to restructure its economy given increased international competitiveness, and the particular problems and opportunities presented by a common border with growing labor market interdependence. By our calculations, the economic opportunity cost of Simpson-Rodin o as compared to continuation of the prior status quo will add up to a present value of $110 billion between now and the year 2000. A general equilibrium approach to the problem of migration policy indicates that the United States has even more to gain than Mexico from greater accessibility to Mexican labor in the next decade than Simpson-Rodino would permit. However, the gains to capital and the majority of higher skilled workers would be partially offset by slower earnings growth for the lowest 10 percent of its wage earners. Mexico, on the


Measuring the (private) information content of stock trades is an important topic in market microstructure research. A common problem of stock markets is that it is ex-ante not possible to separate phases where the scope for asymmetric information is likely to be broader from those, where there is less exposure to traders with superior information. Such a distinction is needed to directly test the reliability of the proposed measures. This paper applies a unique data set from the betting market to provide such a direct test. We exploit the fact that betting occurs preplay, i.e. before match start, as well as inplay. We test the hypothesis that measures of private information will be less pronounced for inplay betting quotations (where all actions on the court are publicly observable, and trading on private information is unlikely) than for preplay betting quotations. Based on more than 23,000 transactions for the 2008 Wimbledon final, and five additional matches, we present first empirical support for this relation.


Studying and understanding the changes in the molecular sequences of plants are important to better identification and classifying the species. Internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions are consider an informative genetic sequence to find out the variation among species of the same genus. In this study, ITS regions of Haplophyllum collected in Ashdagh Mountain were amplified, analyzed, and compared with reference species gathered from gene bank. The results showed that the collected species was closely related to Haplophyllum blanchei and Haplophyllum tuberculatum. In addition, there were differences in the number of the base pairs in the ITS1 region between Haplophyllum sp. and H. blanchei and H. tuberculatum. The transition to transversion ratio between Haplophyllum sp. and H. tuberculatum was lower (=1) than with other species. The results reveals that the studied plant is could be a new species in Iraq. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first molecular taxonomic study done to identify Haplophyllum species in Ashdagh mountain in Sangaw/Suleimani.


The purpose of this study is to identify the relationships among information search activities, of which perceived risk, cognitive dissonance, and involvement play a role. A survey of 155 students who have a recent experience on information search activities. Total six hypotheses the research already reported on information search effort, thereby giving decision maker a richer understanding of information search behavior.


With this special issue on religion and spirituality (R/S) and communication, our goal was to increase awareness of the role of R/S in communication phenomena and to stimulate scholarship in this domain. Given the number of individuals who claim some type of religious affiliation or spiritual belief system, it is somewhat surprising that as a field we have paid so little attention to R/S. Of course there are notable exceptions, predominately in the area of health communication. The establishment of the National Communication Association's Spiritual Communication Division also indicates increased interest in this area. We sought to include original data-driven studies as well as thoughtful essays as both can serve heuristic functions. We also desired to include manuscripts representative of a wide range of perspectives, topics, and methodologies. We believe we have achieved these goals. Perhaps we had underestimated the interest in religion and spirituality among communication scholars, or perhaps this area is on the cusp of a major breakthrough or perhaps other outlets have provided little opportunity for such scholarship. Whatever the reason, we received numerous submissions, four times as many as we could include and thus had to make tough decisions. Ultimately we believe we have selected a set of manuscripts that together provide fodder for future research in numerous avenues. The studies also represent a range in methods including, experimental design (Huston), participant observation (McNamee), interviews (Peterson), focus groups (Anderson; Thatcher), and textual analyses (Kline).


We calculate nuclear matrix elements (NME) of neutrinoless double beta decay in four different candidate nuclei (Ge-76, Se-82, Mo-100, Te-130) within the quasiparticle random phase approximation (QRPA) and its uncertainties. We assume (up to) four coexisting mechanisms for neutrinoless double beta decay, mediated by light Majorana neutrino exchange, heavy Majorana neutrino exchange, R-parity breaking supersymmetry, and squark-neutrino, interfering either constructively or destructively with each other. We find that, unfortunately, current NME uncertainties appear to prevent a robust determination of the relative contribution of each mechanism to the decay amplitude, even assuming accurate measurements of decay lifetimes. The near-degeneracy of the decay mechanisms is analyzed with simple algebraic techniques, which do not involve assumptions about the statistical distribution of errors. We discuss implications of such degeneracy on prospective searches for absolute neutrino masses.


The purpose of the paper is to compares the effectiveness of the three media i.e. newspaper, internet and the television utilized by the financial industry so as to get positive consumer attitude. The study identified the important factors present in the specific media which will increase the effectiveness and makes that media preferred ones as compared to other media. Primary data had been collected from the 481 respondents belonging to the northern part of India using the survey method. Exploratory Factor analysis, Confirmatory factor analysis and Manova test was applied to draw the findings. The result reveals that the internet and the newspaper financial advertisements provide the receiver the more detailed, trustworthy, and useful information. The results confirmed that information broadcasted on the television is much slower processed by the audience as compared to information broadcasted on the internet and newspaper. Making the comparison analysis between the three media, the derived results are beneficial for the advertisement designers and makers so that they can focus on the important factors while drafting the financial advertisements. Strategic managers and policymakers can get important insights about the most preferred media so that they can exploit that media which is more effective in bestowing the advertisements.


Aim of the research – to evaluate the effectiveness, to analyze the complications and long-term results of total hip arthroplasty (THA) in patients with active psoriatic arthritis (PsA).Materials and methods. The results of THA were studied in 26 patients with PsA (19 men, 7 women; average age 54.8±3.1 years, from 38 to 56 years) up to 2 years after surgery. The diagnosis of PsA was established according to CASPAR criteria.Results. The visual analogue scale assessment showed a significant decrease in the intensity of pain in the hip joint in the postoperative period. The average DAPSA activity index before surgery was 25.9 (11–34), after 2 months – 31.3 (16–38), after 6 months – 30.5 (12–37), with a further decrease to 26.1 (12–35) by 24th month. The results of clinical and functional assessment according to Harris in 19 (73%) patients corresponded to an excellent level, in 7 (27%) – to a good level. No infectious, thromboembolic complications were detected. In 1 (4%) patient periprosthetic intraoperative fracture of the femur was diagnosed No new skin psoriatic elements in the field of surgical intervention was fixed.Conclusion. Our data indicate the effectiveness of THA in active PsA, provided that the requirements for careful planning of the intervention, prevention of possible complications and an individualized approach to rehabilitation are met.


Disclosed are a method and an apparatus, wherein a voltage change rate dV/dt is obtained when the voltage (V) of a secondary battery is changed to a predetermined voltage (Vpre) during a time when the secondary battery is being charged, a charge current (I), with which the secondary battery is charged, is detected, and on the basis of the detection results, the change rate dQ/dt of the charging electric quantity (Q) of the secondary battery is calculated. The voltage (Vpre) is equal to or higher than the voltage at which discharging ends but below the voltage at which charging ends. Then, the ratio X:dQ/dV, i.e., the ratio between the change rate dQ/dt of the charging electric quantity and the change rate dV/dt of the voltage, is calculated. The ratio (X) thus calculated is compared with a reference value (Xref), and on the basis of the results of the comparison, deterioration of the secondary battery is determined.


Theuseofgenomic DNA-based techniques inecological andevolutionary studies hasbeenlimited bythe availability ofsuitable probes for species ofinterest due tothetechnical difficulty ofIsolating andapplying such probes. We havedeveloped asimple technique that directs polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification toregions rich Invariable numberoftandemrepeats (VNTRs). Byusing published VNTRcoresequences as primers InPCRs, fragments wereamplified that showed little variation within a species, butdidshow differences betweenspecies. Whentheamplified fragments wereusedasprobes withgenomic DNA Southern blots theyproduced hypervariable singlelocus orfew-locus pattems Infish, birds, andhumans. We havenamedthisprocedure as Directed Amplification ofMlnisatellite-re gion DNA(DAMD).


PURPOSE: Sockets for module extension and a memory system using the sockets are provided to use a through socket and a turn around socket, so as to easily extend memory modules, without increasing a size of a PCB(Printed Circuit Board). CONSTITUTION: A socket pin fixing unit(400) mounts two memory modules, that is, a first memory module(41) and a second memory module(42) in mutually different directions. A first socket pin(401) perforates the socket pin fixing unit(400), to connect a tap positioned on one surface of the first memory module(41) with a tap positioned on one surface of the second memory module(42). And a second socket pin(402) perforates the socket pin fixing unit(400), to connect a tap positioned on the other surface of the first memory module(41) with a tap positioned on the other surface of the second memory module(42).


We read with interest the article by Mitsuhashi et al. (1) concerning the role of carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) measurements in the detection of coronary artery disease (CAD) in Japanese type 2 diabetic patients. The article suggested that carotid IMT was significantly greater in diabetic patients with CAD (1.27 ± 0.07 mm) than in those without CAD (termed "control subjects") (1.03 ± 0.04 mm, P < 0.05). In the subgroup with CAD, IMT was significantly greater in those who had undergone coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) than in the non-CABG group (1.47 ± 0.11 vs. 1.07 ± 0.07 mm, P < 0.05). Although statistical differences in IMT between the CABG …


Social media platforms are popular, multiplying, and potentially a way to reach patients with reliable information that could help build doctor-patient relationships and improve adherence to glaucoma medication.


Some buring testing were carried out on the grassy massland in Da Xing-An-Ling combining with burning control-line in spring and Autumn and under the forest ofPopulus, Betula, Ourecus, Larix in Xiao Xing-An-ling The wild fire burning testing were also simulated in a laboratory. Based on the observing data collected for three years. The effect factors to the fire spread are the wind, the slope, the atmosphere temperature, the fuel moisture, the fuel loading, and the fuel surfacearea-to-volume ratio. their effects and the regularity are analysed by the regression method. As a result, some fire spread models had been found . Fire spread speed is a linear combination of the factors mentioned above. The mathematical models reveal that the wind speed and the fuel moisture are the most significant factors affecting the fire spread speed; then is the slope, the fuel loading, the fuel surface-area-to-volume, the temprature; the effect of humidity is relatively small. The flame length is mainly detemined by the fuel loading, the wind, the fuel moisture; then is the temperature, the slope, the fuel surface-area-to-volume ratio. Key Word: The Ground Surface Fire, Fire spread Speed, Flame Length


Objective To investigate the condition of stressors of nurses in third-grade class-A hospitals. Methods A total of 1 413 nurses from eight domestic third-grade class-A hospitals were investigated by the Chinese Nurses Stressor Scale (CNSS). Results Among the 35 factors, all the 5 most highly scored factors belonged to the " nursing specialty and work problems" dimension, among which "low income and benefits" scored the highest (3.46 ± 0.63). Of the 5 dimensions of stressors, unmarried nurses scored (3.01 ± 0. 52), (2.93 ± 0.65),(2.50 ±0.84),(2. 73 ±0.52), (2. 37 ±0.69), respectively, while married nurses scored (3. 15 ±0.55),(3.15 ±0.67),(2.71 ±0.94),(2.81 ±0.51),(2.46 ±0.69), respectively. The differences were statistically significant (t =4. 815, 6. 155, 4. 391, 2. 788, 2. 343;P < 0. 05). Significant differences were found among different education levels on "workload and time allocation" and "nursing care of the patients" (F =8. 083 ,6. 551;P < 0. 05) and those with bachelor's degree or above scored the highest. There was significant difference of the four dimensions of stressors among nurses of different professional titles(F = 12. 253,20. 315, 17. 229,6. 812; P < 0. 05). Conclusions The stressors of nurses came from the nursing profession, working environment, interpersonal relationships, hospital management, etc. Stressor differs among nurses. Reasonable and effective measures should be adopted to reduce nurses' stress and improve their physical and mental health.

Key words:
Third-grade class-A hospital;  Nurs;  Stressor;  Measure


Abstract This paper deals with map-based self-localization in a dynamic environment. In order to detect localization features, laser range finders traditionally scan a horizontal plane: we hypothesize the existence of a "low frequency cross-section" (informally, over people heads), where even highly dynamic environments become more "static" and "regular". We show that, by accurately choosing the scanning plane, problems related to moving objects, occluded features, etc. are simplified. Experimental results showing hours of continuous work in a real-world scenario, with an accuracy of about 2.5cm and a speed of 0.6m/sec, demonstrate the reliability of the approach.


The University of Massachusetts participated in ve tracks in TREC-5: Ad-hoc, Routing, Filtering , Chinese, and Spanish. Our results are generally positive, continuing to indicate that the techniques we have applied perform well in a variety of settings. Signiicant changes in our approaches include emphasis on identifying key concepts/terms in the query topics, expansion of the query using a variant of automatic feedback called \Local Context Analysis", and application of these techniques to a non-European language. The results show the broad applicability of Local Context Analysis, demonstrate successful identiication and use of key concepts, raise interesting questions about how key concepts aaect precision, support the belief that many IR techniques can be applied across languages, present an intriguing lack of tradeoo between recall and precision when ltering, and connrm once again several known results about query formulation and combination. Regrettably, three of our oocial submissions were marred by errors in the processing (an unde-tected syntax error in some queries, and an incomplete data set in an another case). The following discussion analyzes corrected runs as well as those (not particularly meaningful) submitted runs. Our experiments were conducted with version 3.1 of the INQUERY information retrieval system. INQUERY is based on the Bayesian inference network retrieval model. It is described elsewhere 5, 4, 12, 11], so this paper focuses on relevant diierences to the previously published algorithms. The emphasis in this year's Ad-Hoc experiments was on how to create very eeective queries from short natural language topics. In particular, how to create several rather diierent queries from the Description eld of the topic. The underlying assumption, based on past experience, was that a combination of several \pretty good" queries would be more eeective (or, at least easier to create) than one \excellent" query. Three techniques were explored. The rst, which we call basic query processing in this paper, is an extension of the query processing techniques we used in previous TREC evaluations. The second, which we call core query processing, attempted to identify and emphasize the most critical query terms. The third, local context analysis, is a new approach to query expansion 14]. Each technique is discussed in more detail in the subsections that follow. Two Ad-Hoc runs were submitted. Each query in INQ301 was a combination of three queries created from the Description (<desc>) elds of topics 251-300. Each query in INQ302 was a


Objective
To understand the effect of using reduced paracentral defocused glasses to treat children's myopia and the influence of accommodative facility and accommodative lag.

Methods
Fifity-seven cases of myopia patients (114 eyes) were selected with ages between 7 and 14 years old. All the cases were randomly divided into two groups, the group A was using reduced paracentral defocused glasses, and the group B was using the regular mono-focal glasses. The sight ability, diopter, length for eyes' axial, accommodative facility and accommodative lag were monitored and compared between two groups after wearing the glasses every 3-6 months.

Results
In the cases of group A, after wearing the glasses for 1 year, the diopter increased with (-0.48±0.36)D and the length for eyes' axial increased with (0.23±0.12)mm, but there was no statistical significant (t=-1.39, -1.69 respectively, P >0.05). The difference of accommodative facility and accommodative lag was (2.38±1.03)cpm and (0.56±0.11)D, which suggested that the statistical result was with a significant level of 5% (t=-3.57, 2.98 respectively, P 0.05). However, after one year wearing the glasses, the difference of the two groups had a 5% level of significance (t=-5.47, -3.48, 3.96 and 4.88 respectively, P <0.05).

Conclusions
Using reduced paracentral defocused glasses can significantly slow down the process of children's myopia, and the increase of diopter as well as length for eyes' axial. Moreover, this method can also relieve the accommodative facility and accommodative lag. In conclusion, using reduced paracentral defocused glasses is an effective treatment for children's myopia.

Key words:
Myopia; Reduce paracentral defocused glasses; Refraction,ocular; Axial length,eye; Accommodation, ocular


The non-return-to-zero (NRZ) and return-to-zero (RZ) formats are two well-known cost-effective candidates for the optimum modulation in all-optical networks (AON). This paper focuses on the effects of novel active/passive optical devices, such as photonic switches and erbium doped fibre amplifiers (EDFA), and the effects of modulation formats on the overall system performance, under metropolitan environments without dispersion control/compensation. The overall system performance of an AON metropolitan WDM testbed is investigated by numerical simulation while using NRZ and RZ modulation respectively. Q factor (equivalent to bit error ratio) is selected as the criterion for the comparison. The testbed is based on commercially available photonic switches, which support dynamic wavelength switching. The testbed operates at 10 Gbit/s per channel. The effects of transmitter optical powers and the extinction ratios are numerically analyzed. Based on these results the system parameters, such as transmitter power and extinction ratio are optimized for the AON testbed.


The average diet contains a great number of compounds with antioxidant activity1, among which polyphenols, plant metabolites occurring widely in plant food, possess outstanding antioxidant and free radical scavenging properties suggesting a possible protective role in man2. Green tea is an excellent source of polyphenols, particularly of a group of compounds known as green tea catechins (GTCs)3. The content of the different GTC isomers could vary among different green teas, depending on the species, the climate, the cultural practices and, in the case of green tea extracts (GTEs), also on the condition and the technology used for the extraction and the conservation. Therefore, the antioxidant ability of different GTEs could vary according to their GTC qualiquantitative composition. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of different GTEs in reducing free radical-mediated damage in comparison to a well known antioxidant agent, α-tocopherol4, using cultured cardiomyocytes as an experimental model system. Cultured cardiomyocytes are a suitable model to evaluate the possibility of counteracting peroxidative damage by the supplementation with exogenous antioxidants since free radical-induced damage is implicated in different cardiovascular diseases (i.e. ischemia/reperfusion, cardiomyopathy, etc.), and the heart has low antioxidant defenses5. Primary cultures of neonatal rat cardiomyocytes were exposed to a free radical generating system (FRGS) catalyzed by xanthine oxidase, in the presence of different GTEs and α-tocopherol. The protective effect of the different supplementations was evaluated by measuring the conjugated diene production, as an index of lipid peroxidation, and the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release from cell cultures. Furthermore, GTEs were analyzed by reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and their qualitative and quantitative composition was correlated with their antioxidant ability in cardiomyocytes.


[1] Current, salinity and temperature measurements from repeated ship transects, complemented by observations from long duration current profilers, are used to characterize the variability and structure of subtidal flow in western Long Island Sound, a region prone to seasonal hypoxia. Subtidal flow plays a leading role in the transport of oxygen and organic matter and must, therefore, be simulated as accurately as possible. We show that during periods of light wind in March and July, the subtidal along-sound flow is vertically and horizontally sheared with lower salinity water in the top 7 m moving eastward toward the ocean at approximately 10 cm s−1 with a counterflow of similar magnitude elsewhere. Velocity contours were found to slope downward to the south, and maximum eastward velocities were found near the surface on the southern half of the section. We find that there is a net transport in the direction of the East River (westward.) The velocity distribution is broadly consistent with theoretical predictions for the steady, frictional, baroclinic pressure gradient driven flow modified by Coriolis acceleration, despite its neglect of advective effects which were found to be important in the present observational analysis. Our estimates of the pressure gradient, the Coriolis acceleration and stress divergence have similar magnitudes. Observation-based estimates of terms in the momentum balance suggest that advection is more important to along-estuary momentum than across-estuary momentum. Along-estuary advection is overestimated in recent hydrodynamic simulations when compared to observed values at sampling locations.


19th and 20th Century Women Poets presents a selection of 100 poems by Emily Bronte, Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath, Elizabeth Jennings, Carol Ann Duffy, and Eavan Boland. Introductions about the poets shed light on each selection. Notes and critical approaches on topics such as relationships, the spiritual perspective, individual voices, rhyme, rhythm, and form, support readings of the poems and show the links and contrasts in women's writing across two centuries.


One of the contemporary problems is the widespread use of medicaments, which leads to an increased occurrence of these substances in the environment. The efficiency of conventional treatment processes for removing drugs from water is in most cases very little, if not zero. Treatment processes for removal of drugs include adsorption on activated carbon, membrane processes, and advanced oxidation processes. Within a specific university research project, a laboratory test was performed at the Institute of Municipal Water Management of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Brno University of Technology, to monitor the effectiveness of diclofenac removal by selected sorption materials. Diclofenac was chosen for this experiment as a representative of one of the most widespread groups of drugs - non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The removal of diclofenac from water was performed using columns filled with sorption materials Filtrasorb F100, GEH and Bayoxide E33. The aim of the test was to compare the selected sorption materials in terms of their effectiveness in removing diclofenac from water. From analyses of water taken at predetermined time intervals after filtration through said materials, it was found that the most suitable material for removing diclofenac from water is Filtrasorb F100.