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4,507,500 | A Discrete-Time Filter for the Generation of Signals With Asymmetric and Variable Bounds on Velocity, Acceleration, and Jerk Reference signals, which are used to drive feedback control loops, are often evaluated on the fly on the basis of the operating conditions. As a consequence, they can be too demanding for the actuation system whose outputs could saturate, thus worsening the tracking performances of the feedback loop. Improved answers can be obtained by smoothing rough references by means of proper filters that are also able to impose bounds on the signal dynamics. This paper proposes a filtering system whose output mimics at best any given input signal compatibly with some smoothness requirements. In particular, generated signals are continuous up to the second time derivative, and their first three time derivatives are constrained between assigned bounds that can be asymmetric and that can also be changed on the fly. The filter, which is internally characterized by minimum time transients, is able to follow, with zero tracking error, piecewise-continuous signals given by combinations of steps, ramps, and parabolas. | 18286201 |
4,507,501 | EM algorithms for fitting multistate cure models. Multistate cure models are multistate models in which transitions into one or more of the states cannot occur for a fraction of the population. In the study of cancer, multistate cure models can be used to identify factors related to the rate of cancer recurrence, the rate of death before and after recurrence, and the probability of being cured by initial treatment. However, the previous method for fitting multistate cure models requires substantial custom programming, making these valuable models less accessible to analysts. In this article, we present an Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm for fitting the multistate cure model using maximum likelihood. The proposed algorithm makes use of a weighted likelihood representation allowing it to be easily implemented with standard software and can incorporate either parametric or non-parametric baseline hazards for the state transition rates. A common complicating feature in cancer studies is that the follow-up times for recurrence and death may differ. Additionally, we may have missingness in the covariates. We propose a Monte Carlo EM (MCEM) algorithm for fitting the multistate cure model in the presence of covariate missingness and/or unequal follow-up of the two outcomes, we describe a novel approach for obtaining standard errors, and we provide some software. Simulations demonstrate good algorithmic performance as long as the modeling assumptions are sufficiently restrictive. We apply the proposed algorithm to a study of recurrence and death in patients with head and neck cancer. | 4397801 |
4,507,502 | Retraction of: RT McGrath, et al; Evaluation of Blood Glucose Meter Efficacy in an Antenatal Diabetes Clinic. Diabetes Technol Ther. 2016;18(2):68-74. DOI: 10.1089/dia.2015.0104. The article entitled, ‘‘Evaluation of Blood Glucose Meter Efficacy in an Antenatal Diabetes Clinic,’’ 2016;18(2):68–74. DOI: 10.1089/dia.2015.0104, is being officially retracted from Diabetes Technology and Therapeutics (DTT). One year after the publication of this article, the lead author, Dr. Rachel T. McGrath (Royal North Shore Hospital; Sydney, Australia), contacted the Editor-in-Chief of DTT to ask for a significant number of corrections be made to the published text due to erroneous analyses of the data. After reviewing the pervasive nature of the requested changes, the Editor determined that the corrections do not qualify as errata, but instead warrants a full retraction. While the errors in the reported analyses were unintentional, DTT and its editorial leadership are committed to maintaining the highest level of scientific reporting and publishing, and therefore officially retracts the article. DIABETES TECHNOLOGY & THERAPEUTICS Volume 19, Number 6, 2017 a Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. DOI: 10.1089/dia.2015.0104.retract | 206162751 |
4,507,503 | Effect of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Neurorehabilitation of Task-Specific Dystonia: A Double-Blind, Randomized Clinical Trial. UNLABELLED Task-specific focal hand dystonia can disable affected individuals. Although neurorehabilitation techniques such as sensory motor retuning can result in complete recovery in some patients, it requires many months of treatment. Combining transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) with neurorehabilitation is a new and promising approach that can help these patients. However, the results in different studies are contradictory. OBJECTIVE Analyze whether delivering tDCS (cathode over left and anode over right parietal region) during the neurorehabilitation process for musicians with dystonia can increase the effectiveness of therapy. METHOD A parallel double-blind randomized design was used to study 30 musicians with right-hand primary focal dystonia. All patients underwent a 2-week course of neurorehabilitation based on sensory motor retuning therapy coupled with either real or sham tDCS for the first 30 minutes of each daily 1-hour therapy session (total 10 sessions). The therapist and patient were blind to the tDCS condition. A dystonia severity score was obtained before and after the 2-week protocol. The therapist also rated the evolution of each patient. RESULTS Both groups significantly improved their dystonia severity score during the 2 weeks. Score differences were 88.23 (±40.51) and 63.36 (±30.57) for the active and sham groups, respectively. The active group showed a statistically significant greater improvement. CONCLUSIONS Biparietal tDCS with left-sided cathode is a safe technique that does not interfere with the neurorehabilitation procedure and can increase therapy effectiveness in rehabilitation patients with right-hand task-specific focal dystonia. | 11139251 |
4,507,504 | Deflectins, new antimicrobial azaphilones from Aspergillus deflectus. Five structurally related, angular azaphilones, the deflectins, were isolated from the mycelia of Aspergillus deflectus. The structures of all compounds have been established. Besides the inhibitory effects on the growth of bacteria and fungi, these compounds showed lytic activity towards bacteria and erythrocytes and cytotoxic activity towards cells of the ascitic form of Ehrlich carcinoma of mice. The inhibitory effects of the deflectins could be reversed by the addition of serum or serum albumin. | 36662701 |
4,507,505 | Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis Virus Variants Lacking Transcription Inhibitory Functions Demonstrate Highly Attenuated Phenotype ABSTRACT Alphaviruses represent a significant public health threat worldwide. They are transmitted by mosquitoes and cause a variety of human diseases ranging from severe meningoencephalitis to polyarthritis. To date, no efficient and safe vaccines have been developed against any alphavirus infection. However, in recent years, significant progress has been made in understanding the mechanism of alphavirus replication and virus-host interactions. These data have provided the possibility for the development of new rationally designed alphavirus vaccine candidates that combine efficient immunogenicity, high safety, and inability to revert to pathogenic phenotype. New attenuated variants of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) designed in this study combine a variety of characteristics that independently contribute to a reduction in virulence. These constructs encode a noncytopathic VEEV capsid protein that is incapable of interfering with the innate immune response. The capsid-specific mutations strongly affect neurovirulence of the virus. In other constructs, they were combined with changes in control of capsid translation and an extensively mutated packaging signal. These modifications also affected the residual neurovirulence of the virus, but it remained immunogenic, and a single immunization protected mice against subsequent infection with epizootic VEEV. Similar approaches of attenuation can be applied to other encephalitogenic New World alphaviruses. IMPORTANCE Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) is an important human and animal pathogen, which causes periodic outbreaks of highly debilitating disease. Despite a continuous public health threat, no safe and efficient vaccine candidates have been developed to date. In this study, we applied | 27413551 |
4,507,506 | accumulated knowledge about the mechanism of VEEV replication, RNA packaging, and interaction with the host to design new VEEV vaccine candidates that demonstrate exceptionally high levels of safety due to a combination of extensive modifications in the viral genome. The introduced mutations did not affect RNA replication or structural protein synthesis but had deleterious effects on VEEV neuroinvasion and virulence. In spite of dramatically reduced virulence, the designed mutants remained highly immunogenic and protected mice against subsequent infection with epizootic VEEV. Similar methodologies can be applied for attenuation of other encephalitogenic New World alphaviruses. | 27413551 |
4,507,507 | Enhancement of quality management and knowledge management initiatives by using novel process systems frameworks This study first develops reviews goals associated with quality management system efficiency, and analyzes the steps involved in knowledge management. The study then examines how process management impacts information searching, service quality, and brand loyalty. In the last section, this study proposes that effectively promoting a quality management system requires managers to grade service quality levels, and increase information openness. | 34601251 |
4,507,508 | Alpha-particle-induced charge transfer between closely spaced memory cells A detailed analysis of various mechanisms involved in α-particle-induced charge transfer between two trench-type DRAM cells is reported. An analytical model has been developed to describe the charge-transfer mechanisms. The charge-collection process consists of two phases. In the first phase, funneling is tile dominant mechanism, and the axial current is calculated based on the drift component. In the second phase, the structure behaves similarly to a bipolar transistor, and both the drift and diffusion components contribute to the charge transfer. A discussion of the dependence of the charge transfer on stored charge, cell separation, charge in the α-particle track, and the substrate doping concentration is presented. | 20021901 |
4,507,509 | STD Method Based on Hash Function for NTCIR11 SpokenQuery&Doc Task In this paper, we describe a spoken term detection (STD) method which is used in Spoken Query and Documents task of NTCIR-11 meeting. Our STD method extracts sub-sequences from the syllable-based speech recognition candidates of the target speech and converts them into bit sequences using a hash function. The query is also converted into a bit sequence in the same way. Term detection candidates are detected by calculating the hamming distance between the bit sequence of the query and those of the target documents. Then, our method calculates the distances between the query and these candidates using DP (Dynamic Programming) matching. At the same time, our method based on the suffix array searches the query term from the wordbased speech recognition candidates. Finally, our method detects the query term by combining these results. Using this method, we submitted the results for the SQ-STD (Spoken Query Spoken Term Detection) task at NTCIR-11. | 678101 |
4,507,510 | Do we really know how to evaluate tooth prognosis? A systematic review and suggested approach. Periodontal treatment is based on tooth prognosis evaluation. Different approaches for determining tooth prognosis have been described in the literature. The vast majority are based on clinical and radiographic findings, as well as patient-related factors. The availability of various systems for assigning tooth prognosis complicates both the assignment process and the communication between clinicians regarding patient status and treatment plan. In addition, performance evaluation of several systems reveals that the accuracy of prediction differs between teeth of various conditions in most methods, as well as the factors providing significant predictive power. As a standardized prognostic classification system is still lacking, an overall evaluation based on a uniform dataset could provide an objective comparison of all methods, and help progress towards developing novel approaches. The main features of such approaches should include the selection of predictive factors, their assigned weights in accordance with different tooth conditions, and the estimated period of time applicable for reevaluation of prognosis. In this paper, we propose a different approach for prognosis evaluation, suggesting reevaluating tooth prognosis at several time points during the treatment plan, and taking into consideration some of the most important issues of patient compliance, oral hygiene, and plaque control. The suggested approach attempts to address prognosis from a different perspective, viewing the process as a dynamic and recurring evaluation embedded within each step of the treatment plan. Due to the fact that accurate tooth prognosis evaluation is still (and might forever be) unavailable, | 10239051 |
4,507,511 | a more humble and less aggressive approach should be adopted, trying to preserve more and extract less. | 10239051 |
4,507,512 | Optimal Replacement Policy Based on Cumulative Damage for a Two-Unit System This article studies a two-unit system with failure interactions. The system is subject to two types of shocks (I and II). A type I shock, removed by a minimal repair, causes a minor failure of unit A and type II shock causes a complete system failure that calls for a corrective replacement. Each unit A minor failure also results in a random amount of damage to unit B and such a damage to unit B can be accumulated to trigger a preventive replacement or a corrective replacement action. Besides, unit B with cumulative damage of level z may become minor failed with probability π(Z) at each unit A minor failure and fixed by a minimal repair. This paper proposes a more general replacement policy which prescribes that a system is preventively replaced at the Nth type I shock, or the time which the total damage to unit B exceeds a pre-specified level Z (but less than the failure level K where K>Z) or is replaced correctively either at the first type II shock or when the total damage to unit B exceeds a failure level K, whichever occurs first. | 34915901 |
4,507,513 | Toward a Theory of Permanent Environmental Reassignment for Residential Childcare: A Comprehensive Research Agenda for the 21st Century Historically there have been two residential childcare institutions in Armenia: orphanages and special boarding schools. The children housed in these facilities are either natural orphans (i.e., children who have no living family or whose biological parents have had their familial rights terminated) or social orphans (i.e., children with living biological parents who are unable or unwilling to care for them but whose rights have not been terminated). In recent years, Armenia’s “transitional centers” have offered a residential alternative for older teenage girls who have outgrown the traditional orphanage but who are not yet ready for independent living. While institutionalization has historically been castigated as contrary to a child’s best interests, our previous research suggests that residential childcare facilities (RCF) provide vulnerable children with a safe haven during times of crisis, a loving environment through intimate relationships with staff and peers, emotional stability during formative years, an improved standard of living, and superior opportunities upon reaching the age of majority. These transitional centers, invaluable to the continuum of care, suggest that permanent environmental reassignment is the ideal path when familial care is surrendered or expropriated. | 252502651 |
4,507,514 | Abnormal pro-opiomelanocortin processing in Alzheimer's disease. A case report. Several authors have reported reduced levels of pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC)-related peptides in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), but the mechanisms regulating the CSF content of these substances are still debated. In this case report the processing of POMC peptides has been investigated post-mortem (HPLC and RIA methods) at the pituitary and hypothalamic level in an AD patient and in a control subject. From the results obtained it seems likely that defects of axonal transport and/or secretion rather than synthesis could account for the abnormalities of POMC peptides in the CSF. | 12962151 |
4,507,515 | Neuropsychological Lateralization of Brain Dysfunction in Children With Mesial Temporal Sclerosis: A Presurgical Evaluation Presurgical evaluation of children with mesial temporal sclerosis has shown severe neurocognitive impairments. There is debate about lateralized material-specific deficits in memory in children with mesial temporal sclerosis. The authors examined lateralization of brain dysfunction and age appropriate development of cognitive functions in 17 children (7-15 years) with mesial temporal sclerosis who had histories of uncontrolled epilepsy. The National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) neuropsychological battery for children was employed and each participant’s performance was compared with the norms. Results showed that the battery was sensitive to deficits in learning and memory associated with mesial temporal sclerosis. However, a lack of clearly lateralized material-specific memory deficits in children with left/right mesial temporal sclerosis was also observed. Performance on tests that assess learning, attention, working memory, and visuospatial functions was found to be below the age appropriate level. Children with mesial temporal sclerosis showed widely distributed neuropsychological deficits. | 20193601 |
4,507,516 | Performance increase through the use of multiple sub-carriers in WSN In this paper we propose a cross-layer design of a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) to increase communications efficiency. A simple and low cost wireless physical layer using multiple carrier frequencies is proposed, utilising pulse shaping to increase the system's resistance to carrier frequency variations. Experiments which emulate the physical layer show that the BER performance is still acceptable for frequency offsets within ±1/4 Δf. In contrast to estimating and correcting such offsets, this solution greatly decrease the complex of the RF chip which is a requirement for low-cost WSNs. Simulation results show that such a system could increase the network performance in terms of throughput, delivery time, as well as power efficiency when used in a CSMA style MAC layer. In particular, the proposed system produces most benefit in heavy traffic loading which shows that it is most suitable for data intensive WSN which are required by advanced sensing applications. | 18719851 |
4,507,517 | Exposure of Soil and Groundwater to Spills of Hazardous Materials Transported by Rail: A Geographic Information System Analysis The environmental impact of a hazardous material spill is a complex function of the material's physical and chemical characteristics and the local environmental conditions in which it is spilled. This study develops a geographical probability distribution for two important environmental parameters affecting this impact: soil type and groundwater depth. The paper assesses the probability of exposure of various soil types and groundwater depth regions to hazardous material spills from railroad tank car accidents. The State Soil Geographic database (STATSGO), a geographic information system (GIS) database from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was used to analyze soils, and real-time ground-water data from the U.S. Geological Survey were used to analyze groundwater. The "rail2m" GIS database available from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics was used to conduct overlay analyses with the soil GIS data to obtain the probability of occurrence of various soil types under rail lines. The same method could n... | 14338951 |
4,507,518 | Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Breastfeeding-An Extensive Review Breastfeeding has been accepted as the most vital intervention for reducing infant mortality and ensuring optimal growth and development of children. Breastfeeding is also considered as the most economical and easily accessible complete nutrition for every new born child1. Poor breastfeeding practices are widespread. It is estimated that sub-optimal breastfeeding, especially non-exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months of life, results in 1.4 million deaths and 10% of the disease burden in children younger than 5 years of age2. Reviews of studies from developing countries showed that infants who were not breast fed were 6 to 10 times more likely to die in the first months of life than infants who are breast fed3. The World Health Organization has stated that in 2000, only 16% of mothers in Pakistan exclusively breast feed for a period of three months, as compared to other developing countries where the ratio is higher like Bangladesh (46%), India (37%), and Sri Lanka (84%)4. More than 15% of 24 lakh child deaths could be averted in India by optimal breastfeeding practices5. The key to successful breastfeeding is Information, Education and Communication (IEC) strategies aimed at behavior change6. The World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) strongly recommends exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for the first six months of life7. Variables that may influence breastfeeding include race, maternal age, maternal employment, level of education of parents, socio-economic status, insufficient milk supply, infant health problems, method of delivery, maternal interest and other related related factors8,9. | 81434051 |
4,507,519 | Over the last decade, overwhelming scientific evidence supporting the integral role of breastfeeding in the survival, growth and development of a child, as well as the health and well-being of a mother has come to light10. Different studies were designed at national and international level to explore the knowledge, attitude and practices (kap) towards breastfeeding among postnatal mothers and factors that determine them1. Journal of Armed Forces Medical College Bangladesh Vol.11(2) 2015: 76-83 | 81434051 |
4,507,520 | Design of HIC compliant aircraft bulkheads and cabin class divider panels Abstract The need for head injury protection has been addressed with the inclusion of the Head Injury Criteria, (HIC), in the dynamic seat certification requirements specified in paragraph 562 of the Federal Aviation Regulations Part 23, 25, 27, and 29. Compliance with the HIC poses a significant problem for many segments of the aircraft industry. The certification requires engineers to demonstrate that a head strike into any one of several cabin furnishing complies with a HIC threshold of 1000. The problem encountered in the certification of 16G seats, referred to as the front row HIC problem, occurs for seats located behind bulkheads and cabin class dividers. These structures are typically stiff and hence produce unacceptably large HIC values. This paper deals with the design and fabrication of a bulkhead for HIC attenuation, meeting the industry's appearance and aesthetic requirements as well. This paper addresses the study conducted on various honeycomb materials for HIC attenuation. MADYMO biodynamic simulations, supported by simple quasi-static tests, were developed for the design of HIC compliant bulkheads which effectively attenuated HIC below the injury levels. The validated MADYMO models were utilized for a parametric study of the effects of stiffness and strength of the bulkhead on HIC levels and to develop design heuristics for the fabrication of HIC compliant bulkheads. New bulkhead designs and materials were derived, statically tested for the loaddeflection properties and the results were compared with design curves. The compliance of the new bulkheads for HIC was then | 109283751 |
4,507,521 | assessed by conducting full-scale dynamic sled tests on these structures at both small and large seat setback distances. A detailed methodology for the design and development of HIC compliant bulkheads is also explained in this paper. | 109283751 |
4,507,522 | On the Upper Bounds of Spread for Greedy Algorithms in Social Network Influence Maximization Influence maximization, defined as finding a small subset of nodes that maximizes spread of influence in social networks, is NP-hard under both Independent Cascade (IC) and Linear Threshold (LT) models, where many greedy-based algorithms have been proposed with the best approximation guarantee. However, existing greedy-based algorithms are inefficient on large networks, as it demands heavy Monte-Carlo simulations of the spread functions for each node at the initial step [7]. In this paper, we establish new upper bounds to significantly reduce the number of Monte-Carlo simulations in greedy-based algorithms, especially at the initial step. We theoretically prove that the bound is tight and convergent when the summation of weights towards (or from) each node is less than 1. Based on the bound, we propose a new Upper Bound based Lazy Forward algorithm (UBLF in short) for discovering the top-k influential nodes in social networks. We test and compare UBLF with prior greedy algorithms, especially CELF [30]. Experimental results show that UBLF reduces more than 95 percent Monte-Carlo simulations of CELF and achieves about 2-10 times speedup when the seed set is small. | 15021701 |
4,507,523 | WEAPONIZATION OF LIVENESS: STREAMING DEATH AS A HYBRID MEDIA EVENT OF TERRORIST VIOLENCE This paper offers a critical exploration of the notion of liveness and, in particular, the production of liveness in the context of hybrid media event of terrorist violence. With Christchurch mosque attacks of March, 2019, as the empirical context of study, the paper demonstrates i) how the perpetrator produced liveness through the live streaming of the massacre in digital media; ii) how this material circulated in diverse digital platforms; and iii) what kind of struggles emerged around visibility and erasure by way of removal as carried out by different platforms (e.g. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter). The empirical data collection and analysis is based on a method of digital media ethnography. We posit that live streaming of the Christchurch mosque attacks resulted in the weaponization of liveness (Callahan 2017), accelerating the experience of ‘real time’ witnessing of death on multiple levels. While a relatively small number of people watched the massacre take place in ‘real time’ (en direct), a much larger audience captured the ‘re-enactment’ of liveness through the active circulation and sharing of the video on different platforms. This, the paper argues, shapes the hybrid media events of terrorist violence of today not only as a phenomenon of intensified and accelerated death experienced online, but also as a phenomenon that amplifies the process of disgracing and dishonoring the dignity of human life as unique. | 225162751 |
4,507,524 | The Moral Status of Profit There is a common fallacy, among critics of capitalism, that because firms are licensed to pursue profits, the purpose of the economic system as a whole must be to facilitate the realization of such profits. This is manifestly not the case, because the design of markets, including the insistence on competition between firms, is intended to bid profits down to zero. The lure of profit is what leads firms to compete with one another, which creates an institutionally enforced collective action problem that drives prices toward the level that allows for a more efficient allocation of labor, resources, goods, and services. The achievement of these “market clearing” prices is the actual purpose of the system. This explains why many people find the profit orientation of firms to be morally counterintuitive. Most of everyday morality is aimed at getting people to act more cooperatively, whereas profit-maximization is essentially a free-rider strategy. | 211801001 |
4,507,525 | Experimental studies on human health effects of air pollutants. III. Two-hour exposure to ozone alone and in combination with other pollutant gases. Adult male volunteers were exposed to ozone (O3) at 0.25, 0.37, or 0.50 ppm, and to O3 in combination with nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and carbon monoxide (CO), with secondary stresses of heat, intermittent light exercise, and repeated exposure. Few important physiological changes, and only mild symptoms, were found with 0.25 ppm O3, with 0.25 ppm 03 plus 0.30 ppm NO2, or when 30 ppm CO was added to the latter mixture. With 0.37 ppm O3, more symptoms were present and some subjects developed definite decreases in pulmonary function. With 0.50 ppm O3, most subjects had symptoms and about half showed substantial pulmonary function decrement. In reactive subjects exposed on two successive days, changes were usually greater the second day, indicating that effects of successive exposures were cumulative. | 35175601 |
4,507,526 | Atrioventricular conduction and right atrial volume in children with and without secundum atrial septal defects. Atrioventricular conduction intervals and right atrial end-diastolic volumes were studied in 43 patients (26 with secundum atrial septal defect and 17 controls) to test the hypothesis that the increase in intra-atrial conduction in atrial septal defect is due to right atrial dilatation. There was no relation between any of the atrioventricular conduction intervals and right atrial dilatation. The PH, PR, and AH intervals were, however, related to both age and the RR interval. | 41735951 |
4,507,527 | Assessing the impact of climate change on crop management in winter wheat – a case study for Eastern Austria SUMMARY Climate change is expected to affect optimum agricultural management practices for autumn-sown wheat, especially those related to sowing date and nitrogen (N) fertilization. To assess the direction and quantity of these changes for an important production region in eastern Austria, the agricultural production systems simulator was parameterized, evaluated and subsequently used to predict yield production and grain protein content under current and future conditions. Besides a baseline climate (BL, 1981–2010), climate change scenarios for the period 2035–65 were derived from three Global Circulation Models (GCMs), namely CGMR, IPCM4 and MPEH5, with two emission scenarios, A1B and B1. Crop management scenarios included a combination of three sowing dates (20 September, 20 October, 20 November) with four N fertilizer application rates (60, 120, 160, 200 kg/ha). Each management scenario was run for 100 years of stochastically generated daily weather data. The model satisfactorily simulated productivity as well as water and N use of autumn- and spring-sown wheat crops grown under different N supply levels in the 2010/11 and 2011/12 experimental seasons. Simulated wheat yields under climate change scenarios varied substantially among the three GCMs. While wheat yields for the CGMR model increased slightly above the BL scenario, under IPCM4 projections they were reduced by 29 and 32% with low or high emissions, respectively. Wheat protein appears to increase with highest increments in the climate scenarios causing the largest reductions in grain yield (IPCM4 and MPEH-A1B). Under future climatic | 90583051 |
4,507,528 | conditions, maximum wheat yields were predicted for early sowing (September 20) with 160 kg N/ha applied at earlier dates than the current practice. | 90583051 |
4,507,529 | On-line ionic liquid-based dynamic microwave-assisted extraction-high performance liquid chromatography for the determination of lipophilic constituents in root of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge. On-line continuous sampling, ionic liquid-based dynamic microwave-assisted extraction high performance liquid chromatography has been developed and applied to the extraction of lipophilic constituents from root of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge. Several operating parameters were optimized by single-factor and Box-Behnken design experiments. The type and concentration of ionic liquids, power of microwave irradiation, flow rate of sample suspension, amount, and particle size of sample were investigated. The limits of detection for tanshin-one I, cryptotanshinone, and tanshinone II(A) are 0.014, 0.009, and 0.009 mg/g, respectively. The RSDs of interday and intraday were lower than 2.02 and 2.16%, respectively. The recoveries for target analytes were in the range of 90.7-101.8%. The homogeneity of the suspension and stability of the analytes were investigated and the results were satisfactory. The proposed method was compared with the off-line ionic liquid-based dynamic microwave-assisted extraction, off-line ethanol-based dynamic microwave-assisted extraction, ionic liquid-based ultrasonic-assisted extraction, and ionic liquid-based maceration extraction. The results indicated that the proposed method is effective for the extraction of the active components in Chinese herbal medicine and has some advantages over the other methods. | 29444001 |
4,507,530 | Immunogenicity of biological therapeutics: from assay to patient Purpose of reviewTo give an overview of the current knowledge on assay techniques and clinical implications of immunogenicity of biological therapeutics. Recent findingsAssay techniques for the measurement of immunogenicity have improved, expanding the understanding of the immune response against biological therapeutics. Knowledge on the clinical effect of immunogenicity enables the treatment of patients in a targeted fashion, as a step towards personalized medicine. SummaryBiological medications are able to induce an antidrug immune response. Immunogenicity impairs clinical response and is associated with adverse events. Several confounding factors influence the measurement of immunogenicity, including drug interference and background problems. Concomitant administration of methotrexate lowers the frequency and amount of antibodies formed, whereby the efficacy of biologicals is improved. Algorithms for therapeutic drug monitoring could aid in adapting treatment strategies in a controlled setting. | 23665751 |
4,507,531 | Evaluating Intelligent Tutoring Systems with Learning Curves The evaluation of Intelligent Tutoring Systems, like any adaptive system, can have its difficulties. In this paper we discuss the evaluation of an extension to an existing system that uses Constraint-Based Modelling (CBM). CBM is a student modelling technique that is rapidly maturing, and is suited to complex, open-ended domains. A problem with complex domain models is their large size, necessitating a comprehensive problem set in order to provide sufficient exercises for extended learning sessions. We have addressed this issue by developing an algorithm that automatically generates new problems directly from the domain knowledge base. However, evaluation of this approach was complicated by the need for a lengthy (and therefore uncontrolled) study as well as other unavoidable differences between the control and experimental systems. This paper presents the evaluation and discusses those issues, and the way in which we used learning curves as a tool for comparing disparate learning systems. | 18110051 |
4,507,532 | Solar power and the electric grid, energy analysis In today’s electricity generation system, different resources make different contributions to the electricity grid. This fact sheet illustrates the roles of distributed and centralized renewable energy technologies, particularly solar power, and how they will contribute to the future electricity system. The advantages of a diversified mix of power generation systems are highlighted. Grid 101: How does the electric grid work? | 107883901 |
4,507,533 | Outer Synchronization of Complex Networks by Impulse This paper investigates outer synchronization of complex networks, especially, outer complete synchronization and outer anti-synchronization between the driving network and the response network. Employing the impulsive control method which is uncontinuous, simple, efficient, low-cost and easy to implement in practical applications, we obtain some sufficient conditions of outer complete synchronization and outer anti-synchronization between two complex networks. Numerical simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed impulsive control scheme. | 250891451 |
4,507,534 | [Ball thrombus in the right atrium: report of a case]. A 63-year-old man visited our hospital because of intermittent claudication due to an embolic episode in the left femoral artery. He had a long history of arterial fibrillation but had received no anticoagulant therapy. Echocardiography showed a large floating ball-shaped shadow in the right atrium, without any sign of tricuspid stenosis. Pulmonary perfusion scintigram was normal. At the operation, the thrombus which attached to the superior atrial septum with a thin string was removed. The thrombus was 54 x 40 x 25 mm in size and 23.8 g in weight, whose cut surface was in layers. There was neither atrial septal defect nor foramen ovale to suggest possibility of paradoxical embolism. The postoperative course was uneventful and he was discharged on the 9th postoperative day. Although the mechanism of the thrombus formations is unknown, it is considered to be important to continue anticoagulant therapy to avoid reccurence of intracardiac thrombus. | 25270401 |
4,507,535 | Correspondence about war in The Listener, October–November 1955 John Connell responded to Martin Wight’s BBC broadcast, ‘War and International Politics’, published in The Listener, 13 October 1955, by asserting that Wight had presented a ‘misleading and incomplete definition’ of ‘the aim of foreign policy’—that is, in Wight’s words, ‘to preserve the balance of power’. In Connell’s view, ‘the basic purpose of foreign policy’ is ‘to preserve and enhance the security, prosperity, and welfare of this country’. Connell accused Wight of supplying ‘the very grammar of appeasement’ at a time ‘in which a whole new vast wave of appeasement is imminent’. Wight replied that Connell’s definition of the goal of foreign policy was ‘included’ in his own, because the balance of power is ‘the condition of the independence and liberties of states’. Wight observed that appeasement is ‘a language’ that he ‘never learned’, and that ‘western diplomacy at the moment does not lead’ him ‘to believe that “a whole new vast wave of appeasement is imminent”’. | 245405251 |
4,507,536 | Inverted Papilloma of the Middle Ear and Mastoid From the Departments of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (Drs. Stone, Berktold, and Wiet) and Pathology (Dr. Ranganathan), Northwestern University Medical School. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, San Antonio, Texas, Sept. 14-18, 1986. Submitted for publication May 30, 1986; revision received Aug. 26, 1986; accepted June 8, 1987. Reprint requests: Robert E. Berktold, MD, Department of Otolaryngology-Head andNeckSurgery, Northwestern University Medical School, 303 East Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL 60611. His medical history revealed heavy drinking and cigarette smoking. A medial maxillectomy was performed I \12 years before his admission for treatment of an inverted papilloma of the right lateral nasal wall and maxillary sinus. At that time, an aural polyp extruded via a perforated tympanic membrane of the right ear. An excisional biopsy revealed squamous papilloma. Six months later, a modified radical mastoidectomy was performed. During surgery, the middle ear was noted to have extensive polypoid and granulation tissue, which was found to be epithelial papilloma with focal atypia. Because of recurrence, several more excisional biopsies of this middle ear and mastoid papilloma were performed. Specimens revealed squamous papilloma with focal moderate dysplasia. The patient was referred for further treatment. Evaluation at this time revealed a large friable, pink mass in the right ear canal. A well-healed maxillectomy cavity with no evidence of tumor was noted. The nasopharyngeal exam was unremarkable. Audiologic evaluation confirmed a moderately severe right-sided mixed hearing loss with a 63 dB pure-tone average. Computerized tomography demonstrated | 34479601 |
4,507,537 | a mastoidectomy cavity in the right temporal bone with an associated bony destructive process (Fig. I). The patient was operated on February 27, 1986. Extensive | 34479601 |
4,507,538 | Reliability of solder joints assessed by acoustic imaging during accelerated thermal cycling A robust feature extraction and blob analysis system was developed for high quality solder joint assessment during accelerated thermal cycling (ATC). Thermal cycling test performed on flip chip type devices were inspected by Acoustic Micro Imaging (AMI). An automated image analysis system has been developed to provide enhanced images and facilitate the solder joint inspection process. The proposed system consists of three stages: solder joint detection, feature extraction and defect evaluation. The existence and location of solder joints in an ultrasound C-scan image are through detection by a gradient-based circular Hough Transform. Subsequently, useful features and parameters are extracted based on a region growing algorithm. The method is verified by inspecting test samples before, during and after accelerated thermal cycling. Informative features and analysis results are presented. The results clearly distinguish between normal and abnormal joints and show the cracks between the chip-to-bump interfaces after accelerated thermal cycling tests. | 31762751 |
4,507,539 | Educating Patients About Anesthesia: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials of Media-Based Interventions In this systematic review, we compared the effectiveness of media-based patient education about anesthesia. Fifteen randomized controlled trials (n = 1506) were identified after a systematic search of electronic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PSYCINFO, The Cochrane Controlled Trials Registry), published articles, and contact with authors. Outcomes assessed were anxiety, knowledge, and patient satisfaction. Anxiety levels before anesthesia were less intense in subjects receiving the video and printed information compared with those receiving no intervention (weighted mean difference of 3; 95% confidence interval [95%CI], 1–5 Spielberger’s State and Trait Anxiety Inventory). Patients in the video group were more likely to answer all knowledge questions correctly compared with patients with no intervention (relative risk of 6.64; 95%CI, 2.05–21.52). The level of knowledge about pain management was higher in the video group compared with patients with no intervention (weighted mean difference of 17%; 95%CI, 9–25). However, the level of patient satisfaction with the intervention (expectation versus actual anesthetic experience) was similar between the groups (relative risk of 1.06; 95%CI, 0.93–1.22). This systematic review supports the use of video and printed information about general process and risks of anesthesia for patient education before surgery. | 29837501 |
4,507,540 | [Iridociliary cysts on ultrasound biomicroscopic examinations]. PURPOSE To present the prevalence of iridociliary cysts in eyes of patients submitted to UBM examination. METHODS We analyzed retrospectively the UBM images of 1157 patients in the period from September 1995 to June 2004. The inclusion criterion was the UBM examination had been made on the four quadrants (superior, inferior, nasal and temporal) of the eyes. The cysts were assessed and classified in relation to their number in each quadrant; localization and morphology. Using the UBM Pro 2000 software we took the measurements of the largest diameter, wall thickness and area of the cysts besides the angle recession area (ARA). RESULTS The prevalence of the cysts was 4.9%. No statistical difference was found between the prevalence of cysts regarding gender or between the right and left eyes. They were more prevalent in the inferior (39.8%) and temporal (29.1%) quadrants. The cysts with the largest diameter and area were located in the temporal and superior quadrants. No difference was found in relation to cysts' wall thickness in all quadrants. CONCLUSIONS No statistical difference was found between the prevalence of cysts as concerns gender or between the right and left eyes. However, the cysts were more prevalent in the inferior and temporal quadrants. The locations of the largest cysts are preferentially the temporal and superior quadrants. The angle recession area was smaller in the temporal and superior quadrants. The cysts' wall thickness is practically the same in all quadrants. The diagnosis of iridociliary cysts was an occasional finding in 64.3% of | 1573001 |
4,507,541 | the patients. | 1573001 |
4,507,542 | Concept detection in longitudinal brain MR images using multi-modal cues Advances in medical imaging techniques and devices has resulted in increased use of imaging in monitoring disease progression in patients. However, extracting decision-enabling information from the resulting longitudinal multi-modal image sets poses a challenge. Radiologists often have to manually identify and quantify certain regions of interest in the longitudinal image sets, which bear upon the patient's condition. As the number of patients increases, the number of longitudinal multi-modal images grows, and the manual annotation and quantification of pathological concepts quickly becomes impractical. In this paper we explore how minimal annotations provided by the user at a few time points can be effectively leveraged to automatically annotate data in the entire multi-modal longitudinal image sets. In particular, we investigate the required number of annotated images per time point and across time for obtaining reasonable results for the entire image set, and what multi-modal cues can help boost the overall annotation results. | 17341451 |
4,507,543 | Statistical Model of Dielectronic Recombination of Heavy Ions in Plasmas Calculation of the total dielectronic recombination (DR) rates was done in the frame of a statistical model of atoms. The model is based on the idea of collective excitations of atomic electrons with the local plasma frequency, which depends on atomic electrons density distribution. The electron density is described in a frame of the Thomas‐Fermi model of atoms. Simple scaling laws for temperature Te and nuclear charge Z dependences follow from the statistical model of DR. Results of the statistical model were compared with other numerical data following detailed level‐by‐level computations for different multielectron ions. The specific attention is paid to Ni‐like ion sequences of different chemical elements in order to check the Z ‐dependence of DR rates. A comparison with numerical data of Flexible Atomic Code (FAC) is presented for tungsten ions. The reasonable correspondence between the statistical model and the detailed numerical data is demonstrated. The application of the statistical model provides very simple and fast calculations of the DR rates useful in modern plasma modelling. (© 2016 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) | 124579451 |
4,507,544 | Amplitude quantization for CELP excitation signals The authors present a computationally expensive method for tuning the innovation coding of a CELP (code excited linear prediction) coder to the LTP coding. Evidence is given, both from vector quantization (VQ) theory and from simulations, that coding the innovation gain with only one bit is feasible by introducing an adaptive procedure. A stochastic codebook of innovations is selected for the simulations. Simulations demonstrate that the density function for the amplitude of an innovation vector is distinctly bimodal. In an analogy to coding of Gaussian vectors, it is shown that this property is in agreement with classical VQ theory.<<ETX>> | 122474401 |
4,507,545 | Long-term survival and infectivity of Salmonella choleraesuis. It is believed that Salmonella Choleraesuis, the host-adapted serotype of swine, does not survive well outside the host. We examined the survival capability as well as the presence of latent DNA of S. Choleraesuis in swine feces. Pigs were infected with S. Choleraesuis and feces was collected and pooled on days 2, 4, 7, and 10 post inoculation (PI). Feces was stored in a wet and a dry form and survival was measured over 13 months. Salmonella Choleraesuis was recovered from wet feces through 3 months of storage. In a desiccated (dry) form, S. Choleraesuis was recovered from at least 13 months. Direct PCR analysis did not detect S. Choleraesuis subsequent to the final culture recovery for any stored sample. We also examined the infectivity of S. Choleraesuis resident in dry feces. Six or 13 week old pigs were inoculated with dry feces that had been stored either 2 months or 4 months, respectively. Pigs were inoculated either intranasally or by mixing dry feces with the swine ration. Although clinical signs were mild, S. Choleraesuis was widely disseminated among the tissues of all the pigs inoculated. This study demonstrates that S. Choleraesuis remains viable and infective in the environment. Therefore, contaminated fecal matter can serve as a reservoir for S. Choleraesuis as well as other Salmonella spp. Control measures must consider this environmental reservoir as a source of new infections. | 23294601 |
4,507,546 | Hypoxia in striatal and cortical neurones: membrane potential and Ca2+ measurements SIMULTANEOUS measurements of membrane potential and intracellular Ca2+ were used to study the effects of hypoxia on striatal and cortical neurones. Striatal neurones responded to hypoxia with a reversible membrane depolarization coupled with a transient increase in intracellular Ca2+. Thirty minutes of hypoxia caused an irreversible membrane depolarization associated with a massive raise in Ca2+ levels, leading to cell death. Conversely, cortical neurones were more resistant to O2 deprivation. Hypoxia (4–10 min) induced minimal changes in both membrane potential and Ca2+ signals. Longer periods (20–30 min) caused an initial membrane hyperpolarization followed by a large but reversible depolarization coupled with a transient increase in Ca2+ signals. These results support the hypothesis of a differential sensitivity of central neurones to hypoxia, suggesting that striatal neurones are more vulnerable than cortical cells. | 37684551 |
4,507,547 | Constructing a Multi-Production Function for Investment in Agricultural Organizations The development of intelligent systems of agricultural management increases the requirements for models that describe the process of agricultural production. To date, there is a need to develop a new class of production functions that describe simultaneous delivery of several types of products by one agricultural organization. The article analyzes the results of various studies devoted to the construction of production functions in relation to the economy, examines the theoretical foundations of constructing a multi-production function, explores various aspects of such work, in particular, the list of available and used economic indicators, the methods used to estimate parameters. Based on the data on organizations of the Nizhny Novgorod region, an algorithm was proposed for constructing a production function that describes the production of grain and potatoes, based on the application of the stochastic gradient method and combining elements of production possibility frontier and the Cobb-Douglas function. The quantity of grain and potato produced (in centners) was used as a dependent indicator, capital (the value of the capacity of fixed assets, in hp), labor (the number of employees) and the number of sown areas of both types of crops were used as independent variables. The author's approach to measuring errors and the degree of accuracy of the approximation of multi-production functions was proposed. It is concluded that the presented algorithm has prospects for further application, further research prospects are described, and it is noted that multi-production functions can become a more precise tool for identifying agricultural production patterns. | 233918201 |
4,507,548 | Keywords—innovation, agricultural production, production functions | 233918201 |
4,507,549 | Stage-specific suppression of basal defense discriminates barley plants containing fast- and delayed-acting Mla powdery mildew resistance alleles. Nonspecific recognition of pathogen-derived general elicitors triggers the first line of plant basal defense, which in turn, preconditions the host towards resistance or susceptibility. To elucidate how basal defense responses influence the onset of Mla (mildew resistance locus a)-specified resistance, we performed a meta-analysis of GeneChip mRNA expression for 155 basal defense-related genes of barley (Hordeum vulgare) challenged with Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei, the causal agent of powdery mildew disease. In plants containing the fast-acting Mla1, Mla6, or Mla13 alleles, transcripts hyper-accumulated from 0 to 16 h after inoculation (hai) in both compatible and incompatible interactions. Suppression of basal defense-related transcripts was observed after 16 hai only in compatible interactions, whereas these transcripts were sustained or increased in incompatible interactions. By contrast, in plants containing wild-type and mutants of the delayed-acting Mla12 allele, an early hyper-induction of transcripts from 0 to 8 hai was observed, but the expression of many of these genes is markedly suppressed from 8 to 16 hai. These results suggest that the inhibition of basal defense facilitates the development of haustoria by the pathogen, consequently delaying the onset of host resistance responses. Thus, we hypothesize that the regulation of basal defense influences host-cell accessibility to the fungal pathogen and drives allelic diversification of gene-specific resistance phenotypes. | 13533001 |
4,507,550 | Fast data association approaches for multi-target tracking Gaussian-Mixture Probability Hypothesis Density (GM-PHD) filter is one of the implementation of PHD filter based on Random Finite Set (RFS). The algorithm performs well in jointly estimating the number of targets and their states with low computation demanding. However, the GM-PHD filter can't provide trajectories of individual targets. This paper proposes two approaches to combine the GM-PHD filter with the Multiple Hypothesis Tracking (MHT). On the one hand, GM-PHD filter effectively reduce the computation complexity of MHT; On the other hand, the data association problem is successfully solved by MHT. The simulation shows that the calculation cost is decreased remarkably and the association accuracy is improved at the same time compared with MHT. | 1949951 |
4,507,551 | NCCN Chemotherapy Order Templates: Enhancing patient safety through standardization. e17537 Background: NCCN Chemotherapy Order Templates (COT), which delineate antineoplastics and associated supportive care agents, monitoring and safety parameters, and instructions for self-administered agents, were launched in 2008 to complement the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology and NCCN Drugs and Biologics Compendium for nine cancers. Through COT, NCCN sought to enhance patient safety by reducing medication errors, anticipating and managing adverse events, and standardizing care. NCCN developed and distributed a survey to evaluate the reception, use, and impact of COT on oncology practice. METHODS The survey included multiple-choice questions with filtering logic. Questions included 5-point Likert scale. The survey was emailed on December 18, 2008 to a convenience sample of 10,183 registered users of NCCN.org who had clicked at least once to the COT; 110 (1%) survey emails were undeliverable. 734 (7%) responded by 1/5/09 and 588 (6%) completed the survey (80% completion rate). 28 (<1%) recipients opted out of participating. RESULTS 476 (64%) respondents were providers, including MDs (47%), mid-level (8%) and nurses (10%); 11% were pharmacists. Of the 734 respondents, 465 (63%) had used COT. Among the 465 users, the median number COT accessed was 2 (range 0 - 9) with physicians accessing more than other providers (p = 0.002). Breast cancer COT were accessed most (68%). COT were used as a reference (52%) and for setting up chemotherapy orders (42%). 292 users (63%) agreed that COT impacted patient safety; with MDs more likely to agree (p = 0.001) compared to other providers. Of | 2135501 |
4,507,552 | these, 89% responded that COT made chemotherapy ordering safer. 271 users (58%) agreed that using NCCN COT in practice impacted the ordering of supportive care agents. Among providers, MDs were more likely to agree (p = 0.002). Of those who agreed, 86% responded that COT made it more likely that appropriate supportive care orders were included. CONCLUSIONS Adding NCCN Chemotherapy Order Templates to the core NCCN content was done to make the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology more accessible to providers. Survey results indicate that COT users feel that template use improves the safety of chemotherapy and supportive care agents. Throughout 2009, NCCN will continue to develop COT to cover most cancers. [Table: see text]. | 2135501 |
4,507,553 | THE USE OF BIOLOGICAL VARIABLES TO PREDICT OUTCOME IN MULTIPLE MYELOMA In multiple myeloma a number of useful prognostic factors have been derived from the analysis of clinical trial data. These include indirect measurements of disease bulk such as paraprotein levels and b2 microglobulin, and variables related to complications including serum calcium, renal function, haemoglobin, and age at presentation. Recently, a general model of the pathogenesis of myeloma has begun to emerge which may be a useful tool in understanding the cellular factors which determine the natural history of the disease in individual patients. The main phenotypic features of myeloma plasma cells include abnormal localization within the bone marrow with the replacement of normal bone elements and dysregulation of immunoglobulin secretion. There has been much debate about the origin and nature of the proliferating cell. Normal bone marrow plasma cells are derived from cells which have passed through a germinal centre in a lymph node or other organ. Within the germinal centre, these cells will have undergone somatic hypermutation and class switching of their immunoglobulin genes. This is followed by selection by antigen-binding affinity and only cells with high binding affinity survive to become plasma cells. This process provides a useful marker for the analysis of the stages of differentiation in myeloma. In myeloma the immunoglobulin genes from individual plasma cells show the same pattern of hypermutation (Bakkus et al, 1994), consistent with the clonal expansion of a single post-germinal-centre B cell. This contrasts with the situation in monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) where there | 27600651 |
4,507,554 | is intraclonal variation in the pattern of mutation (Sahota et al, 1996). An interpretation of this data is that MGUS is due to transformation of a virgin or memory B cell, the progeny of which are continuing to pass through the normal process of germinal centre selection before becoming plasma cells. Detection of a clonal VDJ sequence linked to a m heavy chain has been used to suggest the presence of a pre-switched cell as part of the myeloma clone; however, this sequence would also be consistent with the presence of a marginal zone memory B cell. One group has reported the detection of a large number of circulating clonal B cells, some of which express CD34, suggesting that these are precursor B cells and may act as stem cells for myeloma plasma cells (Bergsagel et al, 1995; Szczepek et al, 1997). This finding has not been confirmed by other groups and may be explained by technical differences. It is now generally thought that the proliferating cell in myeloma lies close to or within the plasma cell compartment as it appears that only a low number of cells within the B-cell compartment are clonally related to the myeloma plasma cells (Chen & Epstein, 1996). Within this general model there is evidence of wide variation between patients in factors which determine cell proliferation and survival, interaction with the marrow microenviroment, and dysfunction of the normal immune system. A wide range of cytogenetic and molecular genetic abnormalities have also been described, although these have not yet been closely | 27600651 |
4,507,555 | correlated with particular phenotypes. The purpose of this review is to consider the potential of the analyses of these variables for predicting prognosis and response to treatment. | 27600651 |
4,507,556 | Accion Poverty Outreach Findings & Analysis, Apoyo Integral, El Salvador This report evaluates the poverty levels of microfinance clients at Apoyo Integral in El Salvador relative to national and international poverty lines. The study also describes certain client characteristics and how they vary with poverty level. Finally, the authors describe the tool they developed for Apoyo Integral to monitor the poverty distribution of clients on a regular basis, using data collected during the credit evaluation process. | 155440901 |
4,507,557 | Ultrastructure of Gyrodinium spirale, the type species of Gyrodinium (Dinophyceae), including a phylogeny of G. dominans, G. rubrum and G. spirale deduced from partial LSU rDNA sequences. A detailed ultrastructural analysis of the type species of Gyrodinium, G. spirale, was made based on cells collected from Skagerrak and southern Kattegat (Denmark). This material is considered very similar to the type material studied by Bergh from southern Kattegat. The analysis revealed many characters typical for dinoflagellates as well as a number of previously undescribed features. Here, emphasis was given to a three-dimensional configuration of the flagellar apparatus, the surface ridges, and the nuclear capsule. The latter had a rather complex ultrastructure consisting of two wall-like layers surrounded by membranes, with nuclear pores restricted to globular invaginations of these layers. To overcome difficulties with culturing of many auto- and heterotrophic dinoflagellates, we designed a specific reverse primer to amplify ca. 1800 base pairs of nuclear-encoded LSU rDNA. Using this approach, LSU rDNA sequences were determined from three heterotrophic species of Gyrodinium, including the type species. Using other alveolates (i.e. ciliates and Apicomplexa) as outgroup species, phylogenetic analyses based on Maximum Likelihood, Maximum Parsimony, and Neighbor-Joining supported Gyrodinium as a separate lineage. Unfortunately, the nearest sister group to Gyrodinium could not be established due to low bootstraps support for the deep branching pattern. | 11774151 |
4,507,558 | Blending ultra-high resolution optical sensor and lidar data to identify mobile living creatures The urban environment are characterized by various materials and land cover surfaces than found in common scenes. Data gotten from satellite imagery has been used to map the detail of urban environment. However, there is very limited scientific documentation on the identification procedure of living creatures in urban areas till date. This study describes the small scale geometric properties (i.e., human) based-on blending ultrahigh resolution optical and LIDAR data. We additionally illustrated how new remote detecting innovations can enhance our capacities to outline regions in ultra-high spatial and portioned detail. The result appears promising for detecting mobile living creatures. This study used only the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) to promote FOSS in urban remote sensing studies. | 46745901 |
4,507,559 | Combustion Instability and Blowout Characteristics of Fuel Flexible Combustors Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. " 3 1. ABSTRACT Under this program, Georgia Institute of Technology investigated the blowout characteristics of fuel-flexible combustors. Particular attention was given to coal-derived and high hydrogen gaseous fuels which are of interest to the DOE. The program consists of three main focuses. Under the first research focus, we performed extensive chemical kinetic analyses of such quantities as flame speeds and stretch sensitivities of syngas fuels in order to develop the mixture characteristics information needed to correlate test data. In addition, we developed and distributed a software utility that utilizes these calculations, determines other basic mixture properties, and has such features as outputting all fuel mixture combinations with a given flame speed, adiabatic flame temperature, or heating value within some given tolerance. Under the second research focus, we made extensive measurements of the combustor's | 12268401 |
4,507,560 | blowout characteristics as a function of fuel composition. We designed and fabricated a gas-mixing facility to blend syngas-type fuels of arbitrary compositions of H 2 , CO, CO 2 , N 2 , and CH 4. We then measured the equivalence ratios at lean blow off for a large number of H 2 /CO/CH 4 mixtures at different inlet temperatures and combustion pressures. Consistent with prior studies, these results indicate that the percentage of H 2 in the fuel dominates the mixture blowout characteristics. It is shown that standard well stirred reactor based correlations, based upon a Damköhler number with a diffusivity ratio correction, can capture the effects of fuel composition variability on blowoff limits. Under the third research focus, we performed more detailed diagnostics of near blowoff flames in order to characterize the blowoff phenomenology better and to provide further insight into how fuel composition (particularly H 2 levels in the fuel) … | 12268401 |
4,507,561 | LncRNA UCA1 Promotes Mitochondrial Function of Bladder Cancer via the MiR-195/ARL2 Signaling Pathway Background/Aims: This study aims to identify whether Urothelial Cancer Associated 1 (UCA1) regulates mitochondrial metabolic reprogramming in bladder cancer, and to explore how UCA1 participates in mitochondrial metabolism by the UCA1/miR-195/ARL2 signaling pathway; these findings may be aid in the development of tumor diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. Methods: Bladder tissues were obtained from patients. Stable cell lines were constructed, with ectopic expression of UCA1 in UMUC2 cells and knockdown of UCA1 in 5637 cells. The expression levels of UCA1, miR-195, and ARL2 were detected by real-time PCR, western blotting, and immunohistochemistry Cell viability was detected by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK8) assay; mitochondrial DNA copy numbers were tested by realtime PCR; ATP level was evaluated by ATP assay kit; mitochondrial membrane potential was analyzed by 5,5’,6,6’-tetrachloro-1,1’,3,3’- tetraethylbenzimidazolylcarbocyanine iodide (JC-1) fluorescent probe. miRNAs between UCA1 and ARL2 were predicted by TargetScan and RNAHybrid, and then determined by real-time PCR. Dual-luciferase activity assay and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay were used to verify the relationship between UCA1 and miR-195. The expression level of ARL2 was silenced by small interfering RNA(siRNA). For in vivo experiments, UCA1-silencing 5637 cells were subcutaneously injected into BALB/C nude mice to evaluate the effects of UCA1 on tumor progression by the regulation of miR-195 and ARL2. Results: We demonstrate here that UCA1 enhances mitochondrial function in bladder cancer cells. UCA1 contributes to ARL2-induced mitochondrial activity, which plays an important role in mitochondrial function. UCA1, as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA), regulates mitochondrial function | 6210051 |
4,507,562 | through upregulating ARL2. In this way, it inhibited the miR-195 signaling pathway to enhance mitochondrial function in bladder cancer. Additionally, ARL2 is a direct target of miR-195 and can be repressed by either miR-195 overexpression or UCA1 inhibition. Knockdown of ARL2 was analogous to the inhibition of UCA1 and the upregulation of miR-195. Animal experiments further indicated that UCA1 promoted bladder tumor growth by regulating miR-195 /ARL2. Conclusion: These data suggest that UCA1 enhanced mitochondrial function and cell viability through the UCA1/miR-195/ARL2 axis in vitro and in vivo. The elucidation of this signaling network provides a more adequate theoretical basis for understanding the molecular pathology of bladder cancer, and also UCA1 as a potential diagnosis and treatment target for bladder cancer. | 6210051 |
4,507,563 | Sources and fate of nitrate in a groundwater‐fed estuary elucidated using stable isotope ratios of nitrogen and oxygen We used δ15N‐nitrate (NO−3) and δ18O‐NO−3 to unravel the provenance and fate of NO−3 in a groundwater‐fed estuary. A total of 13 monthly and two time series surveys were undertaken in the Werribee River estuary near Melbourne, Australia. The different survey timescales provided a comprehensive evaluation of the hydrological effects on the biogeochemistry of NO−3, which accounted for tidal variability and episodic runoff events. The distribution of δ15N and δ18O of the estuarine NO−3 along a mixing line between shallow and deep groundwater provided strong evidence for the predominance of groundwater‐derived NO−3 in the estuary. During dry periods when water residence time in the estuary was extended, shallow groundwater contributed 60% to 76% of the NO−3 (calculated from δ15N‐NO−3 and δ18O‐NO−3) to the estuary, and assimilation removed ∼ 70% of this groundwater‐derived NO−3. During wet periods, deep groundwater provided more (62%) NO−3 than shallow groundwater, and there was no indication of NO−3 consumption. Occasional sources of NO−3, which were also reflected by their δ15N‐NO−3 and δ18O‐NO−3 values, included NO−3 from nitrification and sewage‐derived NO−3 particularly at the bay entrance to the estuary. Greater emphasis should be placed upon the role of groundwater as a substantial NO−3 end member when assessing NO−3 biogeochemistry using methods relying on the dual isotopic composition of NO−3. | 85946901 |
4,507,564 | COSCAnet-FT: Transparent network support for highly available cloud services More and more applications move to the cloud, even critical systems that need high availability. In current clouds, faults can be handled for stateless HTTP applications. Other protocols and stateful applications cannot be supported. Highly-available stateful services could use active replication, but it typically needs client-side code for supporting complex totally-ordered multicasts. This paper first presents a transport-level router as a service in the network that transparently multicasts TCP traffic to actively replicated service instances. Second, it demonstrates the integration of this concept into a PaaS cloud as a value-added service to customers so that applications can be replicated on demand. Finally, an evaluation of our prototype shows reasonable throughput, latency and recovery time. | 14844701 |
4,507,565 | Antagonism to estradiol in the mouse: reduced entry of receptors complexed with 4-hydroxytamoxifen into a Mg2+-soluble chromatin fraction. Antagonism to estradiol has been examined in murine uteri. When tamoxifen was administered simultaneously with estradiol (0.05 microgram/mouse), it was able to act as an antagonist over the dosage range 0.05-50 micrograms/mouse. The metabolite 4-hydroxytamoxifen (4OH-tamoxifen) had high affinity for estrogen receptors and was a slightly better antagonist over the dosage range 0.005-1 microgram/mouse. After uteri were exposed to either [3H] estradiol or [3H]4OH-tamoxifen, receptors complexed with [3H] estradiol penetrated a chromatin region, which was released as the Mg2+-soluble chromatin fraction after DNAase I treatment more readily than receptors complexed with [3H]4OH-tamoxifen. [3H]4OH-tamoxifen-receptor complexes could not be driven into the Mg2+-soluble chromatin fraction by increasing the ligand concentration during translocation. Relative to [3H]estradiol, significantly more [3H]4OH-tamoxifen was observed to associate with uterine cells and to penetrate the nucleus so that neither restricted entry nor extranuclear partitioning could explain the failure of [3H]4OH-tamoxifen-receptor complexes to enter the Mg2+-soluble chromatin. Bleomycin, an agent that interrupts DNA continuity, did not interfere with the appearance of estrogen receptor activity in the Mg2+-soluble chromatin fraction. Preincubation of intact uteri in the presence of molybdate (20 mM) did inhibit the appearance of receptor activity in this chromatin fraction; however, this effect did not occur through inhibition of receptor activation, but, rather, through the lowering of receptor activity in all chromatin fractions. In the studies reported here, the chromatin positioning of estrogen receptors complexed with estradiol appeared to be distinct from the positioning of receptors | 9936051 |
4,507,566 | complexed with 4OH-tamoxifen. These observations suggest an additional basis from which the mechanisms separating the actions of estrogen agonists and antagonists can be approached. | 9936051 |
4,507,567 | Assessment of higher level cognitive-communication functions in adolescents with ABI: Standardization of the student version of the functional assessment of verbal reasoning and executive strategies (S-FAVRES) Abstract Background: Childhood acquired brain injuries can disrupt communication functions needed for success in school, work and social interaction. Cognitive-communication difficulties may not be apparent until adolescence, when academic, environmental and social-emotional demands increase. Objective: The Functional Assessment of Verbal Reasoning and Executive Strategies for Students (S-FAVRES) is a new activity-level measure of cognitive-communication skills in complex, contextual and integrative tasks that simulate real world communication challenges. It is hypothesized that S-FAVRES performance would differentiate adolescents with and without acquired brain injury (ABI) on scores for Accuracy, Rationale, Reasoning Subskills and Time. Methods: S-FAVRES was administered to 182 typically-developing (TD) and 57 adolescents with mild-to-severe ABI aged 12–19. Group differences, internal consistency, sensitivity, specificity, reliability and contributing factors to performance (age, gender, brain injury) were examined statistically. Results: Those with ABI attained statistically lower Accuracy, Rationale and Reasoning sub-skills scores than their TD peers. Time scores were not significantly different. Performance trends were consistent across tasks, administrations, gender and age groups. Inter-rater reliability for scoring was acceptable. Conclusion: The S-FAVRES provides a reliable, functional and quantifiable measure of subtle cognitive-communication difficulties in adolescents that can assist speech-language pathologists in planning treatment and integration to school and real world communication. | 27627751 |
4,507,568 | Historical research: examining documentary sources. In this paper John Sweeney outlines key principles for conducting a study employing an historical design based on documentary analysis. It derives in part from his PhD study, in which he employs an historical design based on documentary analysis to investigate the delay in introduction of intellectual disability nursing into the Republic of Ireland from 1921 until 1958. This study examines the social, political and professional context to the decision to forgo the recognition of a professional nursing qualification and education process in intellectual disability until 1958. | 44806801 |
4,507,569 | Development of a Motor Control Algorithm Used in a Shift-by-Wire System This thesis was done at DaimlerChrysler AG in Stuttgart,Germany. The aim of the thesis is to develop an algorithm for controlling a motor used in a Shift-by-Wire System. The control algorithm is to be implemented in a prototype car for further testing. The Shift-by-Wire System can be described as follows: An electrical actuator is mounted in an automatic gearbox to select gears instead of the gear stick. The actuator is controlled by a microcontroller, which runs a control algorithm. The position of the actuator is measured with a linear position sensor and sent to the controller. | 110156401 |
4,507,570 | Single port surgery for rectal cancer-going up or down? Diseases of the Colon & ReCtum Volume 56: 11 (2013) transabdominal access to the low rectum for the purpose of total mesorectal excision (tme) for cancer can be difficult, regardless of whether the surgery is performed using an open or laparoscopic approach. this is especially true in male patients with a narrow pelvis and in those with visceral obesity. moreover, thanks to improvements in neoadjuvant radiotherapy there is greater potential for sphincter preservation and reconstruction; consequently, an increasing number of patients now seek to avoid transperineal resection. the recent emergence of single port access technology represents a step advance in the armamentarium of minimally invasive options for the colorectal surgeon. While many continue to investigate the potential patient benefits of this approach as an alternative to more standard multiport options, its greatest impact on clinical practice may instead lie in its use as a complimentary modality. indeed, it is already becoming established as a platform for convergence of the previously parallel trajectories of laparoscopy and transanal endoscopic microsurgery/operation (tem/teo). it is from this perspective that the importance of the publication by sourouille et al is perhaps best appreciated. though a relatively small experience overall, the authors achieve consistently satisfactory pathological and short-term clinical outcomes by using a transanally placed Gelpath Device (applied medical) as a means to access the low and middle rectum (in conjunction with a transperitoneal approach for the ‘abdominal’ component of the surgery). the horizontal positioning of the transanal single port device aligns directly | 10628651 |
4,507,571 | with the horizontal position of the ultralow and low rectum in the lithotomized patient (fig. 1). in addition, the high definition camera in combination with positive pressure carbon dioxide sufflation augments the mesorectal clearance, especially caudally and anteriorly. it should be realized too that, regardless of what it is called, this style of operating represents a very real embodiment of n.o.t.e.s. − ie, it is a true transluminal endoscopic operation performed via a natural orifice, a point likely to surprise many who say that such concepts are clinically irrelevant. others have very impressively described using a transanal approach, either entirely or with minilaparoscopic assistance, for complete removal of the rectum and mesorectum in conjunction with sigmoid and left colonic mobilization, subsequent transanal extraction, and handsewn (descending colon to anorectal) anastomosis. for most surgeons, however, the reality will be that the posterior and posterolateral dissection is still most easily performed from above, and that transanal access is most useful for the portion of the rectum relating to Denonvillier’s fascia as it is there that the acute angulation all too often confounds easy plane appreciation and dissection when approached from above. of course, there is no requirement that any upper component be performed laparoscopically. a ‘minimally invasive’ technique from the perineal side could compliment an open approach if that best suits the patient or, indeed, the surgeon’s practice style. as transanal, transrectal access gains acceptance and more clinical traction, further innovation is likely not only in the areas of access devices and instrument optimization (potentially including a real | 10628651 |
4,507,572 | use for the Da Vinci Robotic system), but also in modalities related to patient selection, which would enable further individualization of the operative extent. for example, more accurate perioperative oncological staging through improved radiological investigation, new intraoperative techniques (eg, in situ filtered-light or fluorescence laparoscopy and in situ tissue interrogative analysis) or biomarker profiling may open the door enabling partial tme for the purpose of majority rectal preservation with selective sparing of the left colic artery, and perhaps even the superior haemorrhoidal artery in certain situations. in all of this, current cancer outcomes must of course be maintained or, indeed, improved, and priority must be given both to the individual requiring treatment and the overall practice and specialty evolution. Widespread adoption of tme has already contributed greatly to the field and has clearly defined the standard required for anatomical dissection of mid-rectal cancers and the associated specimens. additional, carefully audited experience from around the world is now needed to ascertain whether this is most reliably achieved from above or below or (most likely) through a combination stratified to the individual body habitus and disease stage. Single Port Surgery for Rectal Cancer—Going up or Down? | 10628651 |
4,507,573 | Effects of stacking sequences on static, dynamic mechanical and thermal properties of completely biodegradable green epoxy hybrid composites Hybrid composites reinforced with the hemp (H) and sisal (S) in various layering arrangements were fabricated, using hot press moulding technique and their properties were investigated. The flexural, impact and thermal properties of the sisal fibre reinforced composites improved significantly with the introduction of hemp in their stacking sequence. However, the hybrid composite configurations at which the optimum properties occur vary from one stacking sequence to the other. The hybrid composites with sisal in skin and hemp at core (SHHS) showed balanced mechanical properties, while the HHSS composites provided the best thermal resistance. The increased strength, stiffness and thermal stability for certain hybrid configurations indicate their suitability for structural engineering applications. | 202949451 |
4,507,574 | Hepatitis B in a residential population with a mental handicap. Hepatitis serology was used to assess the nature and extent of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in the population of a residential centre for people with a mental handicap comprising 56 with Down's Syndrome (DS) and 193 with other mental handicaps (OMH). Markers of HBV were present in 170 cases (68%), of which 25 (10%) were HBsAg positive and potential carriers and 145 IgG anti-HBc positive (58%) indicating exposure to but not necessarily immunity from the virus. Of 25 who were HBsAg positive five were HBeAg positive, 17 were anti-HBe positive, two were HBsAg positive only and one was anti-HBe plus IgM anti-HBc positive. Age and length of residence were significantly associated with HBsAg, IgG anti-HBc and total markers of infection but the degree of mental handicap was not and the DS/OMH ratio only with HBsAg. The results indicated widespread HBV infection, no acute disease cases, relatively few infectious cases and a pre-disposition of DS residents to retain HBsAg in their sera. Vaccination of staff and at risk residents is recommended. | 35371451 |
4,507,575 | Current treatment of congenital pseudarthrosis of the tibia: a systematic review and meta-analysis To compare the current treatments for congenital pseudarthrosis of tibia, a total of 33 studies were reviewed. Vascularized fibular graft with external fixation or combined fixation had the fastest time till initial union (P<0.05). Bone morphogenetic protein had no advantage in terms of initial union, time till union, and refracture rates. This meta-analysis supports that fixation methods with corticocancellous bone autograft utilizing the combined technique of Ilizarov external fixation and intramedullary rod stabilization ensure a statistically significant reduction in the number of refractures compared with standalone fixation methods and would be the preferred method for preventing long-term complications in patients with congenital pseudarthrosis of tibia. | 46971151 |
4,507,576 | Healthcare expenses for treatment of acute myeloid leukemia ABSTRACT Introduction: The cost of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) treatment is substantial and increasing. Inpatient treatment costs for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) and intensive chemotherapy are the main cost drivers in AML, however this pattern may change as new, expensive oral therapies enter the market. Areas covered: The authors provide an overview of the healthcare costs in patients with AML treated with various modalities (intensive chemotherapy, allogeneic HSCT, low-intensity treatment and supportive care only). The authors review both the impact of the recently approved novel AML agents and an increasingly personalized treatment approach on healthcare resources. Finally, the authors discuss whether these treatments are cost-effective from a societal perspective and how the increase in AML-associated costs can potentially be slowed. Expert opinion: The direct healthcare costs of AML are substantial and vary depending on the treatment approach, the country studied, and in the United States, a patient’s insurance status. Treatment costs have increased out of proportion to general inflation and this trend is likely going to continue or even accelerate. Societal consensus on cost-effectiveness is essential. It remains to be seen how advances in diagnostic techniques and the incorporation of novel agents will impact medical outcomes, costs and influence health policy. | 174807801 |
4,507,577 | Assessment of the role and significance of the dairy subcomplex for solution of food supply and the national economy The purpose of the article is to assess the role of the modern dairy subcomplex of Ukraine in solving food supply and its importance for the national economy. Research methods. Based on the dialectical method of cognition and a systematic approach to the analysis of the role and significance of the dairy subcomplex, the following methods were used: analysis and synthesis - when assessing the dairy subcomplex in the context of its components and with the subsequent combination of these components into a system; empirical - in the complex assessment of the current state of the research object; abstract-logical - to summarize scientific research and substantiate conclusions; comparative assessment - when comparing the dairy subcomplex of Ukraine and the world; monographic - for the analysis of scientific achievements of Ukrainian and foreign scientists; graphic - illustrative representation of the calculation results. Research results. The concept of "dairy subcomplex" is generalized and a scheme of its production and economic relations is proposed. The advantages of the dairy subcomplex from the standpoint of milk producers and the dairy industry are characterized. The values of dairy products in Ukrainian food rations have been determined and factors influencing changes in consumption have been established. The main positions of the impact of the dairy subcomplex on the functioning of the national economy are highlighted. Scientific novelty. On the basis of a comprehensive assessment of the importance of milk and dairy products for | 234573051 |
4,507,578 | Ukrainian consumers and the role of the dairy subcomplex for the national economy of Ukraine, the objective necessity and obvious priority of the industry among other sectors has been proved, which requires appropriate reflection in the development of state strategies for ensuring food security. Practical significance. The main provisions and conclusions are presented aimed at the factual confirmation of the important role of the dairy subcomplex in the formation of food security of the country and for strengthening the national economy, which can be used by government bodies in substantiating development strategies for the subcomplex in terms of characterizing its value and, accordingly, giving priority with the priority introduction of effective measures public policy. The work may be of interest to the participants of the dairy subcomplex, consumers and public organizations. Tabl.: 2. Figs.: 4. Refs.: 28. | 234573051 |
4,507,579 | UV-visible scanning spectrophotometry and chemometric analysis as tools for carotenoids analysis in cassava genotypes (Manihot esculenta Crantz). In this study, the metabolomics characterization focusing on the carotenoid composition of ten cassava (Manihot esculenta) genotypes cultivated in southern Brazil by UV-visible scanning spectrophotometry and reverse phase-high performance liquid chromatography was performed. Cassava roots rich in β-carotene are an important staple food for populations with risk of vitamin A deficiency. Cassava genotypes with high pro-vitamin A activity have been identified as a strategy to reduce the prevalence of deficiency of this vitamin. The data set was used for the construction of a descriptive model by chemometric analysis. The genotypes of yellow-fleshed roots were clustered by the higher concentrations of cis-β-carotene and lutein. Inversely, cream-fleshed roots genotypes were grouped precisely due to their lower concentrations of these pigments, as samples rich in lycopene (red-fleshed) differed among the studied genotypes. The analytical approach (UV-Vis, HPLC, and chemometrics) used showed to be efficient for understanding the chemodiversity of cassava genotypes, allowing to classify them according to important features for human health and nutrition. | 27881801 |
4,507,580 | [Oral antiplatelet therapy in the treatment of acute coronary syndrome]. In recent years, there have been rapid developments in cardiology, particularly regarding the diagnosis and treatment of acute coronary syndromes (ACS). In this article, we reviewed the position of oral antiplatelet therapy in current guidelines. Since plaque rupture in ACS leads to a contact between atheroma content and platelets, resulting in rapid platelet aggregation and formation of thrombus plug, the ACS treatment must provide an effective inhibition of platelet aggregation. Therefore, dual antiplatelet therapy with aspirin and a P2Y(12) inhibitor is the cornerstone of ACS treatment. The fact that the genetic and pharmacokinetic properties of clopidogrel, a P2Y(12) inhibitor, cause insufficient antiplatelet efficacy and inadequate offset of action has led to the introduction of new P2Y(12) inhibitors such as prasugrel, ticagrelor and cangrelor, which offer an improved antiplatelet efficacy with a bleeding risk within acceptable limits. Prasugrel, which is currently approved in Turkey, is used in ACS only for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in the patients with a known coronary anatomy and without an intended bypass surgery. It has been found prasugrel is found to be efficient in the diabetic patients and for the prevention of subacute thrombus. However, it has limitations such as being contraindicated in the patients with a TIA history, and recommended not to be used (or used with dose reduction) in the patients above the age of 75 years and those with a body weight less than 60 kg. The other approved agent in Turkey is ticagrelor. It allows starting treatment without | 40346451 |
4,507,581 | coronary angiography and can be used in a wide spectrum including PCI and medical treatment, and decreases mortality, all of which are advantages; however, it causes dyspnea in some patients and is dosed twice daily, which are considered as limitations. The widespread use of new P2Y(12) inhibitors in daily practice will demonstrate the antithrombotic efficacy, bleeding risk, effect on mortality and patient compliance associated with these drugs. | 40346451 |
4,507,582 | Running Asymmetries during a 5-Km Time Trial and their Changes over Time Gait Asymmetry during Running Was Proven to Be Inefficient, Uneconomical and a Possible Risk Factor for injury. Research has either been conducted in laboratory settings or only discontinuous data were collected. Hence, the present study evaluated gait asymmetries in elite runners by quantifying the differences between ground contact times (GCT) of the right and left foot and their continuous changes over the course of a 5-km time trial. Data of 25 female and male runners of the Swiss orienteering national team were obtained during a 5-km competition on a 400-m outdoor track. By means of the inertial sensor PARTwear, GCT of every step were assessed, divided into GCT of the left and right foot and averaged over 200-m sections. The results revealed an overall asymmetry of 2.6%, significant (p < 0.01) longer GCT during left than right foot contacts and no changes in asymmetry over the course. This is the first study presenting data on asymmetries in elite athletes during a competitive time trial. In conclusion, low and consistent GCT asymmetries were observed. The examined athletes had a balanced running style and showed no adverse asymmetry with emerging fatigue, which in turn could affect acute performance and increase injury risk. | 29686301 |
4,507,583 | Effects of repeated injections of interleukin 1beta or lipopolysaccharide on the HPA axis in the newborn rat. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is stimulated during immune and inflammatory processes. Interleukin 1beta (IL-1beta) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) are known to be potent stimulators of this axis. During postnatal development, the rat seems to be hyporesponsive to many stimuli. The effects of repeated systemic injections of IL-1beta and LPS on the HPA axis were investigated in neonatal rats. IL-1beta (0.02 microg/pup, administered twice daily from postnatal day 1 to 4) induced marked elevation in plasma corticosterone (CORT) level as compared to controls and LPS groups (0.4 microg or 1.2 microg LPS/pup, injected once daily from postnatal day 1 to 4). Adrenal wet weight was significantly higher, thymus weight was significantly lower. In contrast to the organ weights, there were no differences in CORT concentrations between LPS-exposed groups and controls. However, the weights of the adrenals in rats treated with LPS were significantly increased in a dose-dependent manner as compared to controls. The high LPS dose was associated with significantly lower thymus weights as compared to controls and 0.4 microg LPS rats. Thymus weights were significantly lower following IL-1beta- than LPS-administration. It is supposed that a developing endotoxin tolerance could account for the observed absence of CORT rise after the last LPS injection. | 25127151 |
4,507,584 | Component Selections for Preventive Maintenance with Cost Maintenance Priority In reliability engineering, while failed components in a system is being repaired, preventive maintenance (PM) may be conducted on the other components to improve the reliability of the system. Several recently published papers have considered how to select components for PM under this setting, but they did not consider related costs as an important factor. This paper proposes several novel measures on component selection for PM. The relevant costs include the cost of system failure, the cost of repairing the failed component, and the PM cost. Meanwhile, according to the proposed cost-based improvement potential, this paper investigates the optimal component maintenance level. A numerical example is used as a case study to illustrate the applicability of the proposed methods. | 246531951 |
4,507,585 | Bacterial Profiling of Soil Using Genus‐Specific Markers and Multidimensional Scaling * Abstract: Forensic identification of soil based on microbial DNA fingerprinting has met with mixed success, with research efforts rarely considering temporal variability or local heterogeneity in soil’s microbial makeup. In the research presented, the nitrogen fixing bacteria rhizobia were specifically examined. Soils were collected monthly from five habitats for 1 year, and quarterly in each cardinal direction from the main collection site. When all habitats were compared simultaneously using Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism analysis of the rhizobial recA gene and multidimensional scaling, only two were differentiated over a year’s time, however pairwise comparisons allowed four of five soils to be effectively differentiated. Adding in 10‐foot distant soils as “questioned” samples correctly grouped them in 40–70% of cases, depending on restriction enzyme used. The results indicate that the technique has potential for forensic soil identification, although extensive anthropogenic manipulation of a soil makes such identification much more tentative. | 7119351 |
4,507,586 | Alanine and leucine transport in unfertilized pig oocytes and early blastocysts Amino acid transport is facilitated by specific transporters within the plasma membrane of the cell. In mouse oocytes and cleavage‐stage conceptus Na+‐dependent L‐alanine and L‐leucine transport are nearly undetectable. Sodium‐dependent transport via system BO,+ in the mouse conceptus increases greatly between the 8‐cell and blastocyst stages. By contrast, data presented here for the pig show that L‐alanine and L‐leucine transport is mainly Na+‐dependent in the oocyte; this Na+‐dependent component of transport becomes undetectable by the blastocyst stage. The Na+‐dependent component of transport in oocytes is inhibited by BCH (2‐aminoendo‐bicyclo[2.2.1] hexane‐2‐carboxylic acid) and L‐lysine and thus could be a form of system BO,+. In both oocytes and blastocysts Na+‐independent L‐leucine transport is inhibited by BCH, which is consistent with the presence of system L. The dramatic decrease in Na+‐dependent amino acid transport activity could occur in pig conceptuses in association with the onset of RNA synthesis during the 4‐cell stage. Regardless of the precise time during development at which it occurs, however, this dramatic, developmentally regulated decrease in Na+‐dependent alanine and leucine transport activity contrasts sharply with the large increase in Na+‐dependent system BO,+ activity that occurs during preimplantation development of murine conceptuses. Elucidation of the molecular mechanisms by which these changes occur should contribute to an understanding of regulation of gene expression during early development. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. | 25127951 |
4,507,587 | Evaluation of Martensite Fraction in 1026 Steel by Infrared Thermography Combined with the Koistinen-Marburger Model In the present work, the martensite formation during heat treatment of 1026 steel was studied in order to acquire process knowledge and reinforce the effectiveness of infrared thermography method to evaluate the temperature distributions. Several tests were carried out and monitored by an infrared camera and thermocouples. Martensite fraction was evaluated with the aid of the Koistinen-Marburger model and adequate parameters describing phase transformations were obtained for 1026 steel samples. This research revealed the need of model adjustment in order to accurately describe the martensite transformation kinetics according to experimental results. | 138268801 |
4,507,588 | The update of methane emission parameters for natural gas operations in Russia The gas sector makes a significant contribution to fugitive emissions in the national greenhouse gas inventory of the Russian Federation. A cooperative research project by the Institute of Global Climate and Ecology, Gazprom VNIIGAZ Ltd. and Gazprom JSC is being conducted, aimed at the update of the parameters used for the estimation of methane emission due to natural gas extraction and pipeline transport, which are among the basic operations of the natural gas sector in the country. The update was performed based on average density and chemical content of the natural gas produced. The values derived were recalculated for the standard thermodynamic conditions. Following the update, the methane emissions were calculated with the incorporation of the parameters derived. | 156044701 |
4,507,589 | Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumour causing intestinal obstruction in a patient with neurofibromatosis type 1. Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumours (IMTs) are rare tumours with unpredictable biological behaviour ranging from benign to locally invasive and rarely, distant metastasis. While neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) may manifest with gastrointestinal soft tissue tumours, this is the first report in the literature that describes an IMT occurring in a NF1 patient who presented with intestinal obstruction. Our patient presented with intestinal obstruction secondary to an obstructing terminal ileum mesenteric tumour. En bloc bowel resection was performed, with histology revealing an IMT and an adjacent neurofibroma. The resection margins were clear and the patient was free of recurrence at six months. | 231863001 |
4,507,590 | Assessing the Mortality Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Florida State Prisons Background The increased risk of COVID-19 infection among incarcerated individuals due to environmental hazards is well known and recent studies have highlighted the higher rates of infection and mortality prisoners in the United States face due to COVID-19. However, the impact of COVID-19 on all-cause mortality rates in incarcerated populations has not been studied. Methods Using data reported by the Florida Department of Corrections on prison populations and mortality events we conducted a retrospective cohort study of all individuals incarcerated in Florida state prisons between 2015 and 2020. We calculated excess deaths by estimating age-specific expected deaths from mortality trends in 2015 through 2019 and taking the difference between observed and expected deaths during the pandemic period. We calculated life table measures using standard demographic techniques and assessed significant yearly changes using bootstrapping. Findings The Florida Department of Corrections reported 510 total deaths from March 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020 among the state prison population. This was 42% higher (rate ratio 1.42, 95% CI 1.15 to 1.89) than the expected number of deaths in light of mortality rates for previous years. Reported COVID-19 deaths in a month were positively correlated with estimated excess deaths (80.4%, p <.01). Using age-specific mortality estimates, we found that life expectancy at age 20 declined by 4 years (95% CI 2.06-6.57) between 2019 and 2020 for the Florida prison population. Interpretation The Florida prison population saw a significant increase in all-cause mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic period, leading | 233306501 |
4,507,591 | to a decrease in life expectancy of more than four years. Life years lost by the Florida prison population were likely far greater than those lost by the general United States population, as reported by other studies. This difference in years lost highlights the need for increased interventions to protect vulnerable incarcerated populations during pandemics. Funding Vital Projects Fund, Arnold Ventures, US Centers for Disease Control | 233306501 |
4,507,592 | miRNA expression profile during osteogenic differentiation of human adipose‐derived stem cells Human adipose‐derived stem cells (hADSC) are capable of differentiating into an osteogenic lineage. It is believed that microRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in regulating this osteogenic differentiation of human adipose‐derived cells, although its molecular mechanism remains unclear. We investigated the miRNA expression profile during osteogenic differentiation of hADSCs, and assessed the roles of involved miRNAs during the osteogenic differentiation. We obtained and cultured human adipose‐derived stems cells from donors who underwent elective liposuction or other abdominal surgery at our institution. miRNA expression profiles pre‐ and post‐osteogenic induction were obtained using microarray essay, and differently expressed miRNAs were verified using quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction (qRT‐PCR). The expression of osteogenic proteins was detected using an enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. Putative targets of the miRNAs were predicted using online software MiRanda, TargetScan, and miRBase. Eight miRNAs were found differently expressed pre‐ and post‐osteogenic induction, among which four miRNAs (miR‐17, miR‐20a, miR‐20b, and miR‐106a) were up‐regulated and four miRNAs (miR‐31, miR‐125a‐5p, miR‐125b, and miR‐193a) were down‐regulated. qRT‐PCR analysis further confirmed the results. Predicted target genes of the differentially expressed miRNAs based on the overlap from three public prediction algorithms: MiRanda, TargetScan, and miRBase Target have the known functions of regulating stem cell osteogenic differentiation, self‐renewal, signal transduction, and cell cycle control. We identified a group of miRNAs that may play important roles in regulating hADSC cell differentiation toward an osteoblast lineage. Further study of these miRNAs may elucidate the mechanism of hADSC differentiation into adipose tissue, and thus provide | 28449151 |
4,507,593 | basis for tissue engineering. J. Cell. Biochem. 113: 888–898, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. | 28449151 |
4,507,594 | Using Natural Clusters Information to Build Fuzzy Indexing Structure Efficient and accurate information retrieval is one of the main issues in multimedia databases. However, the key for this is how to build an efficient indexing structure. In this paper, we demonstrate how to use a fuzzy clustering algorithm, Sequential Fuzzy Competitive Clustering (SFCC), to get the natural clusters information from the data. Then use the information to build an efficient indexing structure, SFCC-binary tree (SFCC-b-tree). We will show in the experimental results that SFCCb-tree performs better that VP-tree in most of the cases. | 16967551 |
4,507,595 | The bactericidal activity of β-lactam antibiotics is increased by metabolizable sugar species. Here, the influence of metabolizable sugars on the susceptibility of Escherichia coli to β-lactam antibiotics was investigated. Notably, monitoring growth and survival of mono- and combination-treated planktonic cultures showed a 1000- to 10 000-fold higher antibacterial efficacy of carbenicillin and cefuroxime in the presence of certain sugars, whereas other metabolites had no effect on β-lactam sensitivity. This effect was unrelated to changes in growth rate. Light microscopy and flow cytometry profiling revealed that bacterial filaments, formed due to β-lactam-mediated inhibition of cell division, rapidly appeared upon β-lactam mono-treatment and remained stable for up to 18 h. The presence of metabolizable sugars in the medium did not change the rate of filamentation, but led to lysis of the filaments within a few hours. No lysis occurred in E. coli mutants unable to metabolize the sugars, thus establishing sugar metabolism as an important factor influencing the bactericidal outcome of β-lactam treatment. Interestingly, the effect of sugar on β-lactam susceptibility was suppressed in a strain unable to synthesize the nutrient stress alarmone (p)ppGpp. Here, to the best of our knowledge, we demonstrate for the first time a specific and significant increase in β-lactam sensitivity due to sugar metabolism in planktonic, exponentially growing bacteria, unrelated to general nutrient availability or growth rate. Understanding the mechanisms underlying the nutritional influences on antibiotic sensitivity is likely to reveal new proteins or pathways that can be targeted by novel compounds, adding to the list of pharmacodynamic adjuvants that increase the efficiency | 3368501 |
4,507,596 | and lifespan of conventional antibiotics. | 3368501 |
4,507,597 | Effect of nitrogen fertilizer on growth, form, and wood quality of eastern cottonwood A· 9-year-old cottonwood plantation near Fitler, Mississippi was fertilized with a monium nitrate (150 and 300 1bs N/A) in May 1970. Fertilizer increased diameter (b.h.) growth of dominant, codominant, and intermediate cr 7n classes by 109, 174 and 482 percent, respectively. Form class of fertilized trees also increased. On a vh le-stem b is, specific gravity declined 3% following treatment. There d·id not appear to be any significant changes in fiber length due to fertilizer application. We concluded that positive effects of fertilization on volume growth far outweigh the slight reduction in specific gravity. Crown Zellerbach' s Fit1er Managed Forest in Issaquena County, Mississippi is the largest cottonwood de1toides Bartr. ) plantation in the United States. It supplies a major portion of the fiber requirements for CZ' s groundwood pu1pmi11 at St. Francisville, Louisiana. If growth and yield of cottonwood at Fit1er Managed Forest could be enhanced by cultural practices, more company-grown wood could be supplied to the St. Francisville mill. Previous studies by ez' s Southern Timber Division and the U. S. Forest Servic;:e,indicated that radial growth of cottonwood could be accelerated greatly (100% or more) by application of nitrogen fertilizer (1, 8). With this magnitude of response there may be associated changes (beneficial andl or detrimental) in tree form and woqd quality. Such changes may affect actual fiber volumes, mill processing costs, and quality of final products. CrownZellerbach Central Research (dominant, codominant, _ l1d intermediate)-in�the-controI; -I5-6--ibs; and--300 " Thus, the work | 210613801 |
4,507,598 | reported in this note evaluated the ffects of nitro gen fertil:i.. zer on some of these traits. METHODS The present study was conducted on a sub-sample of 27 trees obtained from a fertilizer trial established at Fitler Managed Forest in May 1970. At the time of fertilization, the stand was 9 years old, had good survival at a 9' x 10' spacing, b ut had b ,een growing very slowly. Soils were Commerce sandy and silty loams (Mississippi Delta soils) with good physical properties, and had been previously cropped in cotton and beans. Response to applications of 150 and 300 lbs N p'eracre as ammon ium nitrate was excellent and has been reported previously (8). During the 1973 dormant season, the 27 sample trees were harvested 3 trees from each of three crown classes lbs N per acre treat ments. Cross-sectional disks were cut at 4.5, 10. 0, and 17.0 feet above ground. On each cross-section, radial growth was measured tO,the nearest l/lOO th inch for the 3 years prior to and 3 years after fertiliz er application. Specific gravity was determined by the maximum moisture content method for wood produced during the above-named 3-year periods. Length of wood fiber produced 3 years prior to and 3,years after fertiliz er application was determined on cross-sections taken at 4.5 feet' from a sub-sample of 12 trees (4 from each fertilizer treatment) 'which represented the 'range of growth rates. Fiber lengths were measured by TAPPI Standard Method T237, su-68. The data were analyzed by standard variance and covariance | 210613801 |
4,507,599 | techniques to determine the relationships of growth, form, and wood quality to ' ammonium nitrate levels. Results are summarized and discussed below under four sub-headings: diameter growth, form class, specific gravity, and ' fiber length. . ' RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Diameter Growth Nitrogen applications accelerated diameter growth greatly for trees of all crown classes. However, the relative growth response (i. e. " in terms of percent) of codominant and intermediate trees was greater than for trees in the dominant crown class. Because this finding was unexpected and con: ' trary to published results for other species (primarily conifers), we examined diameter growth response patterns of 15 additional trees in each treatment. Evalua ion of the larger sample (24 trees per treatment) yielded | 210613801 |
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