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Hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma: clinicopathologic, immunophenotypic, and molecular characterization of 17 Chinese cases. Hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma is a highly aggressive tumor with a poor outcome. About 210 cases were identified through PubMed, of which fewer than 20 originated in Asia. We reviewed 17 Chinese cases of hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma, including an unusual one with cutaneous pink papules, for clinicopathologic, immunophenotypic, and genotypic features; Epstein-Barr virus status; treatment; and outcome. The median age of the patients was 23 years. All patients had splenomegaly, and 88.2% of them had hepatomegaly as well. Bone marrow involvement was present in 53.3%. Eleven patients underwent splenectomy for diagnosis and treatment. Twelve specimens were collected by image-guided liver core biopsy or wedge resection. Histologically, the homogeneous small- to medium-size neoplastic lymphoid cells infiltrated the sinuses or sinusoids of the spleen, bone marrow, and liver. Diagnosis was based on image-guided core-needle biopsy of the liver alone in 41.2% of the cases. Immunohistochemically, 15 of the lesions were hepatosplenic gamma delta T-cell lymphoma, and the remaining 2 were hepatosplenic alpha beta T-cell lymphoma. Epstein-Barr virus was detected in both cases of hepatosplenic alpha beta T-cell lymphoma and one case of hepatosplenic gamma delta T-cell lymphoma. Most of the patients received cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone therapy or regimens similar to it. Followup data were available in 70.6% of the patients; half of them died of the tumor, and the median survival time was 6 months. The frequency of bone marrow involvement was lower than that reported in the literature. Image-guided core-needle biopsy of the liver is recommended for diagnosis. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. | [
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Ischemic chiasmal syndrome associated with posterior communicating artery (PCoA) and tuberothalamic artery (TA) infarction: a case report. Lesions affecting the body of the optic chiasm typically produce bitemporal hemianopia. The blood supply comes from the anterior communicating artery, anterior cerebral, posterior communicating, posterior cerebral, and basilar arteries. We herein report a young patient admitted to the emergency department with acute confusion, left-sided hemiparesis, hemihypoesthesia, and dysarthria. Bitemporal hemianopia was detected after resolution of confusion. On cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), infarction in the right anterolateral thalamus in the territory of tuberothalamic artery (TA) and in posterior chiasma in the territory of the posterior communicating artery (PCoA) was revealed. Cerebral MR angiography showed luminal irregularity of the PCoA. The patient was presented to draw attention to the rare entity ischemic chiasmal syndrome. | [
2,
298
] |
Evolutionary algorithm-based face verification. This paper proposes a novel face verification method using principal components analysis (PCA) and evolutionary algorithm (EA). Although PCA related algorithms have shown outstanding performance, the problem lies in making decision rules or distance measures. To solve this problem, quantum-inspired evolutionary algorithm (QEA) is employed to find out the optimal weight factors in the distance measure for a predetermined threshold value which distinguishes between face images and non-face images. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed method through the improved verification rate and false alarm rate. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. | [
8,
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Resonance Effect Reduction With Bandpass Negative Group Delay Fully Passive Function. This brief introduces an original reduction method of resonance effect dispersion by using bandpass negative group delay (NGD) function. The dispersion transfer function (TF) is model by lumped RLC circuit. The canonical parameters of NGD passive cell are innovatively formulated as a function of the resonance dispersion specifications. The developed method feasibility is validated with commercial tool frequency domain simulations. Proofs-of-concept constituted by passive RLC-resonant and NGD fully passive circuits are considered. The results confirm an obvious peak reduction of resonance magnitudes and GDs from (15-dB, 20-ns) to better than (11.5-dB, 8.6-ns) are realized in the NGD bandwidth of about 20 MHz. The NGD method robustness is also investigated with simultaneous and individual relative variations of the dispersion parameters. | [
6,
261
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Industrial applications of plasma, microwave and ultrasound techniques: Nitrogen-fixation and hydrogenation reactions. The MAPSYN project (Microwave, Acoustic and Plasma assisted SYNtheses) aims at nitrogen-fixation reactions intensified by plasma catalysis and selective hydrogenations intensified by microwaves, possibly assisted by ultrasound. Energy efficiency is the key motif of the project and the call of the European Union behind (NMP.2012.3.0-1; highly efficient chemical syntheses using alternative energy forms). The material (catalysis) and process innovations given in the literature for the two demonstration examples (of the project) are reviewed and added by the project's own ones derived from the latest state of the art. From there still a gap to industrialization needs to be closed which needs innovation as well on the level of process control and plant operation, finally opening gates to new business models (distributed production and modular plant-numbering up instead of scale-up). Such systemic solution shall be developed under the supervision of energy and cost analysis as well as life-cycle analysis to ensure following a holistic approach. This demands for a new science management not focusing only on the key innovation, but as well as on other assisting enabling technologies needed and for the systemic vision with plant view and process control - all centered around industrial reaction equipment. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. | [
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Ideals in atomic posets. The \\'bottom\\' of a partially ordered set (poset) Q is the set Q(l) of its lower bounds (hence, Q(l) is empty or a singleton). The poset Q is said to be atomic if each element of Q\\\\Q(l) dominates an atom, that is, a minimal element of Q\\\\Q(l). Thus, all finite posets are atomic. We study general closure systems of down-sets (referred to as ideals) in posets. In particular, we investigate so-called m-ideals for arbitrary cardinals m, providing common generalizations of ideals in lattices and of cuts in posets. Various properties of posets and their atoms are described by means of ideals, polars (annihilators) and residuals, defined parallel to ring theory. We deduce diverse characterizations of atomic posets satisfying certain distributive laws, e.g. by the representation of specific ideals as intersections of prime ideals, or by maximality and minimality properties. We investigate non-dense ideals (down-sets having nontrivial polars) and semiprime ideals (down-sets all of whose residuals are ideals). Our results are constructive in that they do not require any set-theoretical choice principles. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. | [
4,
15
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Using technological entropy to identify technology life cycle. Identification of technology life cycles(TLC) provides a crucial basis for managing national policy, regional planning, and enterprise investment. Thus, it is a significant challenge to determine the stages of TLC. To this end, an entropy-based indicator is proposed, as well as a quantitative method based on the S-curve of entropy is established to identify the stages of TLC. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the method is verified by the analogy of three typical cases (thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal displays, cathode ray tubes, and nano-biosensors). It is clear that the entropy calculation produces a sum of overall distributions for patent applications against the researchers in the field to be studied, which can be used to find out the stage changes of TLC, while the other analysis considers trends of many patent active measures such as patent applications and citations collectively, to figure out the changes. Thus, the former constructs an index that has clear meanings and then uses its characterization to identify the changes logically, while the latter can only try to identify them empirically often with no trivial difficulties as these trends are often inconsistent. Finally, three-dimensional (3D) printing is investigated as an empirical case study, which reveals that 3D printing is still in its growth stage.(c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. | [
3,
220
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Counting the losses: numbers as the language of language endangerment. This paper provides a set of critical reflections on the use(s) of numbers to communicate facts about the changing dynamics of speech communities undergoing language shift. Such numerical representations are widespread, and they are of importance in segments of language expertise. After a literature survey of counting practices, the paper focuses on three language-ideological decisions underpinning language counting: First, decisions need to be made as to who counts as a speaker. In discussions of language endangerment, speaker counts are the most important single index of the endangered character of the language. Secondly, in order to count the number of distinct languages in a region, country, or world area, decisions must be made which privilege a notion of languages as bounded, closed, and geographically fixed entities. Finally, decisions need to be made with respect to the domains in which 'small', endangered, or minority languages continue to be used. From the discussion of domains we develop an alternative vision that centres not on distinct, named, countable languages, but on speakers and repertoires, and on the actual resources that speakers deploy in actual contexts. The contemporary situation of speakers of indigenous Sami, African and Native American languages will be drawn upon for examples. | [
3,
146
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State of the art in benefit-risk analysis: Introduction. Risk-raking is normal in everyday life if there are associated (perceived) benefits. Benefit-Risk Analysis (BRA) compares the risk of a situation to its related benefits and addresses the acceptability of the risk. Over the past years BRA in relation to food and food ingredients has gained attention. Food, and even the same food ingredient, may confer both beneficial and adverse effects. Measures directed at food safety may lead to suboptimal or insufficient levels of ingredients from a benefit perspective. In BRA, benefits and risks of food (ingredients) are assessed in one go and may conditionally be expressed into one currency. This allows the comparison of adverse and beneficial effects to be qualitative and quantitative. A BRA should help policy-makers to make more informed and balanced benefit-risk management decisions. Not allowing food benefits to occur in order to guarantee food safety is a risk management decision much the same as accepting some risk in order to achieve more benefits. BRA in food and nutrition is making progress, but difficulties remain. The field may benefit from looking across its borders to learn from other research areas. The BEPRARIBEAN project (Best Practices for Risk-Benefit Analysis: experience from out of food into food; http://en.opasnet.org/w/Bepraribean) aims to do so, by working together with Medicines, Food Microbiology, Environmental Health, Economics & Marketing-Finance and Consumer Perception. All perspectives are reviewed and subsequently integrated to identify opportunities for further development of BRA for food and food ingredients. Interesting issues that emerge are the varying degrees of risk that are deemed acceptable within the areas and the trend towards more open and participatory BRA processes. A set of 6 'state of the art' papers covering the above areas and a paper integrating the separate (re)views are published in this volume. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. | [
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Can authorship policies help prevent scientific misconduct? What role for scientific societies?. The purpose of this article is to encourage and help inform active discussion of authorship policies among members of scientific societies. The article explains the history and rationale of the influential criteria for authorship developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, examines questions about those criteria that emerge from authorship policies adopted by several U.S. medical schools, and summarizes the arguments for replacing authorship with the contributor-guarantor model. Finally, it concludes with a plea for scientific societies to play a prominent role in the ongoing debates about authorship and the alternatives as part Of their efforts to encourage ethical conduct among their members. Whether or not scientific societies develop authorship policies of their own, they should undertake vigorous educational efforts to keep their new members adequately informed about the importance of authorship practices in ethical scientific research and publication. | [
3,
40
] |
On variants of the Johnson-Lindenstrauss lemma. Recently, Ailon and Chazelle showed, roughly speaking, that a good mapping can also be obtained by composing a suitable Fourier transform with a linear mapping that has a sparse random matrix M; a mapping of this form can be evaluated very fast. In their result, the nonzero entries of At are normally distributed. We show that the nonzero entries can be chosen as random +/-1, which further speeds up the computation. We also discuss the case of embeddings into R-k with the l(1) norm. (C) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.The Johnson-Lindenstrauss lemma asserts that an n-point set in any Euclidean space can be mapped to a Euclidean space of dimension k = O(epsilon(-2) log n) so that all distances are preserved up to a multiplicative factor between 1 - epsilon and 1 + epsilon. Known proofs obtain such a mapping as a linear map R-n -> R-k with a suitable random matrix. We give a simple and self-contained proof of a version of the Johnson-Lindenstrauss lemma that subsumes a basic versions by Indyk and Motwani and a version more suitable for efficient computations due to Achlioptas. (Another proof of this result, slightly different but in a similar spirit, was given independently by Indyk and Naor.) An even more general result was established by Klartag and Mendelson using considerably heavier machinery. | [
8,
273
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A high-throughput respirometric assay for mitochondrial biogenesis and toxicity. Mitochondria are a common target of toxicity for drugs and other chemicals and result in decreased aerobic metabolism and cell death. In contrast, mitochondrial biogenesis restores cell vitality, and there is a need for new agents to induce biogenesis. Current cell-based models of mitochondrial biogenesis or toxicity are inadequate because cultured cell lines are highly glycolytic with minimal aerobic metabolism and altered mitochondrial physiology. In addition, there are no high-throughput real-time assays that assess mitochondria! function. We adapted primary cultures of renal proximal tubular cells (RPTCs) that exhibit in vivo levels of aerobic metabolism, are not glycolytic, and retain higher levels of differentiated functions and used the Seahorse Bioscience analyzer to measure mitochondrial function in real time in multiwell plates. Using uncoupled respiration as a marker of electron transport chain (ETC) integrity, the nephrotoxicants cisplatin, HgCl2, and gentamicin exhibited mitochondrial toxicity prior to decreases in basal respiration and cell death. Conversely, using FCCP (carbonylcyanide p-trifluoromethoxyphenylhydrazone)-uncoupled respiration as a marker of maximal ETC activity, 1-(2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenyl)-2-aminopropane (DOI), SRT1720, resveratrol, daidzein, and metformin produced mitochondrial biogenesis in RPTCs. The merger of the RPTC model and multiwell respirometry results in a single high-throughput assay to measure mitochondrial biogenesis and toxicity and nephrotoxic potential. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. | [
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Epistemologies of the South and local elections in Spain: towards politics based on the commons?. This work explores the limits and extents of the Spanish new citizenship municipalities, that initiated the phase of \\'institutional assault\\' in the Spanish local elections on 24 May 2015, in order to build an institutive praxis of the commons as a horizon of sense and an articulation principle of democratic politics of emancipation, alternative to the hegemony of the neoliberalism. In this sense, the text establishes the political and epistemological coordinates from where this candidacies mobilize the Commons as an institutional trigger of counter-hegemonic processes, able to generate new manners of production and management of social and political issues, proposing elements of discussion to analyse and comprehend its challenges, implications and limits. | [
3,
251
] |
Simulation of humpback whale bubble-net feeding models. Humpback whales can generate intricate bubbly regions, called bubble nets, via blowholes. Humpback whales appear to exploit these bubble nets for feeding via loud vocalizations. A fully-coupled phase-averaging approach is used to model the flow, bubble dynamics, and corresponding acoustics. A previously hypothesized waveguiding mechanism is assessed for varying acoustic frequencies and net void fractions. Reflections within the bubbly region result in observable waveguiding for only a small range of flow parameters. A configuration of multiple whales surrounding and vocalizing towards an annular bubble net is also analyzed. For a range of flow parameters, the bubble net keeps its core region substantially quieter than the exterior. This approach appears more viable, though it relies upon the cooperation of multiple whales. A spiral bubble net configuration that circumvents this requirement is also investigated. The acoustic wave behaviors in the spiral interior vary qualitatively with the vocalization frequency and net void fraction. The competing effects of vocalization guiding and acoustic attenuation are quantified. Low void fraction cases allow low-frequency waves to partially escape the spiral region, with the remaining vocalizations still exciting the net interior. Higher void fraction nets appear preferable, guiding even low-frequency vocalizations while still maintaining a quiet net interior. | [
2,
319
] |
Becoming a baker in the Ottoman town of Rodoscuk (1546-1552): A textual analysis of the records of designation. In the history of Ottoman institutions, their roots in a \\'timeless Islamic culture and mentality\\' have been emphasized to such an extent that Ottoman state institutions appear as perfectly defined and applied ideals and myths rather than real entities. The myth of Ottoman guilds controlling all of the empire's economic activities is one of these. As court records, which show the details of the guilds' functioning, as well as other relevant records have been examined more often after the 1980s, a new image of institutional change has emerged, and the myth of continuity has been challenged. For the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, numerous sources demonstrate transformations in various local guilds; however, for the first half of the sixteenth century, from which scarcer records have survived, it is more difficult to disprove the myth of the guilds' static nature. In this study, I analyze the court records of Rodoscuk in order to explicate the type of changes that occurred in craft organizations between 1546 and 1552. The textual analysis of the designation records of bakers and other documents concerning the crafts help to bring to light modifications to the conditions of membership of the bakers' guild by 1551, challenging the assumed myth of the monopoly over membership, or the professional restrictions on crafts. | [
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20
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EXPRESSION OF MESSENGER-RNA FOR CYCLOOXYGENASE-1 AND CYCLOOXYGENASE-2 IN HUMAN TISSUES. The rate-limiting step in the formation of prostanoids is the conversion of arachidonic acid to prostaglandin H-2 by cyclooxygenase, also known as prostaglandin G/H synthase/cyclooxygenase. Two forms of cyclooxygenase have been characterized: a ubiquitously expressed form (COX-1) and a recently described second form (COX-2) inducible by various factors including mitogens, hormones, serum and cytokines. Here we quantitate by the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) the expression of COX-1 and COX-2 mRNA in human tissues including lung, uterus, testis, brain, pancreas, kidney, liver, thymus, prostate, mammary gland, stomach and small intestine. All tissues examined contained both COX-1 and COX-2 mRNA and could be grouped according to the level of COX mRNA expression. The highest levels of COX mRNAs were detected in the prostate where approximately equal levels of COX-1 and COX-2 transcripts were present. In the lung high levels of COX-2 were observed whereas COX-1 mRNA levels were about 2-fold lower. An intermediate level of expression of both COX-1 and COX-2 mRNA was observed in the mammary gland, stomach, small intestine, and uterus. The lowest levels of COX-1 and COX-2 mRNA were observed in the testis, pancreas, kidney, liver, thymus, and brain. | [
2,
193
] |
Are buoyancy forces important during the formation of rifted margins ?. Profiles of crustal thickness across rifted continental margins are examined in an attempt to understand the key observations and controlling parameters. Crustal stretching factor profiles from rifted continental margins supplemented by isochron data for early seafloor spreading have been used to determine a correlation between strain-rate ((epsilon) over dot) and stretching factor (beta). Despite the different methods, assumptions and data sources, our (epsilon) over dot (epsilon) over dot-beta relationship for rifted margins is consistent with that observed by Newman and White for intracontinental rift basins. The (epsilon) over dot-beta relationship we derive is also consistent with the dynamic models of Newman and White which include thermorheological strain-hardening and strain-softening, but omit crustal buoyancy forces generated by lateral crustal thickness variations. Whilst crustal buoyancy forces are not included in the above dynamic models, the (epsilon) over dot-beta data do not necessarily preclude their importance. Simple numerical models of buoyancy force evolution show that for the first similar to30 Myr after rifting the thermally-derived buoyancy forces within the lithosphere that assist extension are larger than the crustal buoyancy forces that oppose extension. This 'rift push' force acts as a positive feedback mechanism, is of the order of 3 x 10(12) N m(-1) and dominates over the opposing crustal buoyancy forces immediately after rifting. It is therefore clear that the delocalising effects of the crustal buoyancy force are dominant over a restricted range of conditions, namely at low strain-rate and at long times after rifting. Histograms of the lateral pressure gradients derived from crustal thinning factors along rifted margins show a dominant peak at 0.05 +/- 0.3 kPa m(-1) and a significant secondary peak at 0.8 +/- 0.3 kPa m(-1) . The lower lateral pressure gradient peak corresponds to thinned parts of the continental crust which is adjacent to unstretched continental crust and may define the edge of a zone of thermal strain-softening. Independent observations show that narrow margins are associated with rapid strain-rates and are consistent with thermal strain-softening predicted by thermorheological models. However the dominant near-zero pressure gradient peak is consistent with the operation of crustal buoyancy force processes during rifting, which attempt to remove variations in crustal thickness. | [
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Multilevel mesh adaptivity for discrete ordinates transport calculation with spatial-moment-ratio indicators. It is difficult to control discretization errors and reduce computational cost at the same time for multi-scale neutron transport problems, and the adaptive mesh refinement technique is one of the powerful and effective methods for high-resolution transport calculation. We propose a multilevel mesh adaptivity algorithm and develop a discrete ordinates calculation framework on 3-D Cartesian meshes. Data management and transport sweep are optimized based on the multilevel pyramid data structure containing pointer-type and array-type variables. A new spatial-moment-ratio error indicator is derived to measure the leading term of distribution functions and to drive the local mesh refinement. The numerical properties of spatial moment factors are better than the normalized gradient of angular flux. Compared with uniform refinement, our adaptivity algorithm reaches the same accuracy level with a computational cost saving of 60%-80% for heterogeneous problems. (C) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. | [
9,
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ORIENTATIONS TOWARD INTERPERSONAL ARGUING IN CHILE. This paper reports the first empirical results aiming to characterize argumentative practices in Chile. We described features of Chilean interpersonal arguing among university students, compared those results with others obtained in the United States, and also compared the associations among variables from country to country. Chilean men displayed more aggressive and self-oriented arguing profiles than Chilean women. Compared to U.S. Americans, Chileans were more motivated to argue and saw the practice of arguing as more cooperative and civil. Many results and correlational patterns were recognizable from one nation to the other, but some differences deserve notice. For example, several measures that are routinely seen as opposites in the U.S. (e.g., impulses to approach or avoid arguing) have only modest negative correlations in the Chilean data. | [
3,
92
] |
H- Negative Ion Production From a 2D Network of ECR Dipolar Plasma Sources. Hereby, five dipolar electron cyclotron resonance elementary sources are assembled to form a 2D network for H- negative ion production. The resultant magnetic field of the network is considered by means of numerical and experimental data, and an artistic photo of the produced plasma is presented. Laser photodetachment measurements in these plasmas confirm the applicability of such networks to this specific purpose. | [
6,
250
] |
Nanoscale SOI MOSFETs: a comparison of two options. We have carried out extensive numerical modeling of nanoscale SOI MOSFETs in order to compare two basic options for ultimate scaling. Both devices are double-gate MOSFETs with ultra-thin undoped (intrinsic) channel, and highly doped electrodes; they differ only in the way the channel is connected to the source and drain. Transistors of the first type feature channels connected directly to elevated (\\'bulk\\') electrodes, while in MOSFETs of the second type the channel has thin doped extensions. Our numerical model of the devices takes into account the two most important factors limiting the device scaling, namely the gate field screening by source and drain, and quantum-mechanical source-to-drain tunneling along the channel. The results show that the decrease of the gate length L leads to a gradual device performance degradation, including voltage gain reduction, power dissipation increase, and (most importantly) an exponentially growing sensitivity to parameter variations. The degradation is comparable in devices of both types if L of transistors with thin channel extensions is in-between L and the channel length L-c = L + 2t(ox) (with oxide thickness t(ox)) of MOSFETs with bulk electrodes. However, the total (\\'bulk-to-bulk\\') length L-BB of the latter devices is always smaller than that of their thin-extension counterparts (at comparable performance), making the transistors with bulk electrodes the most preferable option for ultimate CMOS scaling. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. | [
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Non-isothermal Crystallization Kinetics of Mold Fluxes for Casting High-Aluminum Steels. This paper investigates the crystallization behavior of CaO-SiO2- and CaO-Al2O3-based mold fluxes for casting high-aluminum steels using single hot thermocouple technology, developed kinetic models, and scanning electron microscope. The results showed that the crystallization ability of the typical CaO-SiO2-based Flux A (CaO/SiO2 0.62, Al2O3 2 mass pct) is weaker than that of CaO-Al2O3-based Flux B (CaO/SiO2 4.11, Al2O3 31.9 mass pct) because of its higher initial crystallization temperature. The crystallization kinetics of Flux A was \\'surface nucleation and growth, interface reaction control\\' in the overall non-isothermal crystallization process, whereas that of Flux B was \\'constant nucleation rate, 1-dimensional growth, diffusion control, in the primary crystallization stage, and then transformed into constant nucleation rate, 3-dimensional growth, interface reaction control in the secondary crystallization stage.\\' The energy dispersive spectroscopy results for Flux B suggested that the variations in the crystallization kinetics for Flux B are due to different crystals precipitating in the primary (BaCa2Al8O15) and secondary (CaAl2O4) crystallization periods during the non-isothermal crystallization process. | [
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Left ventricular function assessment using I-123/Tc-99m dual-isotope acquisition with two semi-conductor cadmium-zinc-telluride (CZT) cameras: a gated cardiac phantom study. Results: There was no significant difference between single-or simultaneous dual-isotope acquisition (I-123 and Tc-99m) for EDV, ESV, LVEF, or segmental wall motion and thickening. Myocardial volumes using single-(I-123, Tc-99m) and dual-isotope (reconstructed using both I-123 and Tc-99m energy windows) acquisitions were, respectively, the following: EDV (mL) 88 +/- 27 vs. 89 +/- 27 vs. 92 +/- 29 vs. 90 +/- 26 for DNM 530c (p = NS) and 82 +/- 20 vs. 83 +/- 22 vs. 79 +/- 19 vs. 77 +/- 20 for DSPECT (p = NS); ESV (mL) 40 +/- 1 vs. 41 +/- 2 vs. 41 +/- 2 vs. 42 +/- 1 for DNM 530c (p = NS) and 37 +/- 5 vs. 37 +/- 1 vs. 35 +/- 3 vs. 34 +/- 2 for DSPECT (p = NS); LVEF (%) 52 +/- 14 vs. 51 +/- 13 vs. 53 +/- 13 vs. 51 +/- 13 for DNM 530c (p = NS) and 52 +/- 16 vs. 54 +/- 13 vs. 54 +/- 14 vs. 54 +/- 13 for DSPECT (p = NS); regional motion (mm) 6.72 +/- 2.82 vs. 6.58 +/- 2.52 vs. 6.86 +/- 2.99 vs. 6.59 +/- 2.76 for DNM 530c (p = NS) and 6.79 +/- 3.17 vs. 6.81 +/- 2.75 vs. 6.71 +/- 2.50 vs. 6.62 +/- 2.74 for DSPECT (p = NS). The type of camera significantly impacted only on ESV (p < 0.001).Conclusions: The new CZT cameras yielded similar results for the assessment of LVEF and regional motion using different energy windows (I-123 or Tc-99m) and acquisition types (single vs. dual). With simultaneous dual-isotope acquisitions, the presence of I-123 did not impact on LVEF assessment within the Tc-99m energy window for either CZT camera.Background: The impact of increased energy resolution of cadmium-zinc-telluride (CZT) cameras on the assessment of left ventricular function under dual-isotope conditions (Tc-99m and I-123) remains unknown. The Amsterdam-gated dynamic cardiac phantom (AGATE, Vanderwilt techniques, Boxtel, The Netherlands) was successively filled with a solution of I-123 alone, Tc-99m alone, and a mixture of I-123 and Tc-99m. A total of 12 datasets was acquired with each commercially available CZT camera (DNM 530c, GE Healthcare and DSPECT, Biosensors International) using both energy windows (Tc-99m or I-123) with ejection fraction set to 33, 45, and 60 %. End-diastolic (EDV) and end-systolic (ESV) volumes, ejection fraction (LVEF), and regional wall motion and thickening (17-segment model) were assessed using Cedars-Sinai QGS Software. Concordance between singleand dual-isotope acquisitions was tested using Lin's concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) and Bland-Altman plots. | [
2,
13
] |
Effects of potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate at two application rates on fermentation and aerobic stability of maize silage. This study evaluated two potassium sorbate (PS) and sodium benzoate (SB) application rates in improving the aerobic stability of maize silage. Treatments included no additive, the addition of PS at 1 and 2gkg(-1) fresh matter (FM) and the addition of SB at 1 and 2gkg(-1) FM. Four replicates of each treatment were ensiled in 15-L plastic jars. The silages were analysed for their fermentative characteristics and were subjected to an aerobic stability test with pH and yeast and mould count measurements. Considering fermentation quality and aerobic stability, both additives were effective. The PS was more active against yeasts during aerobic exposure. When the additives were applied at 2gkg(-1), the silages were more stable (256h, on average) than those with 1gkg(-1) (119h, on average) and control (61h). Aerobic deterioration was more pronounced in the controls than in the treated silages. Silages treated at 2gkg(-1) had consistent effects on pH values and yeast counts over 288h of aerobiosis. Overall, PS and SB applied at 2gkg(-1) were more effective in improving aerobic stability. | [
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Pilot study on provenance and depositional controls on clay mineral coatings in active fluvio-eolian systems, western USA. Understanding the distribution of grain coating minerals in sandstones may be crucial in evaluating the reservoir quality of deeply buried lithologies since they can inhibit syntaxial overgrowth cementation and thus preserve intergranular pore space. In unconsolidated sediments, the presence of clay mineral grain coatings and their coverage are often related to the depositional subenvironment, grain size, sorting, and skewness. These properties are interpreted to reflect the amount of clay minerals present to form coatings and relate to sediment transport and reworking. Samples from three active fluvio-eolian depositional systems in the USA (Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, near Stovepipe Wells, CA; Algodones Dunes, near Brawley, CA; and Coral Pink Sand Dunes, near Kanab, UT) were studied using petrography (transmitted light and SEM) and XRD analyses to test and apply the available correlations to fluvio-eolian sediment samples. The frequently used correlations to the depositional subenvironment, grain size. sorting, and skewness only show poor fits (R-2 < 0.25). Highest grain coating coverages are present in fluvial channels near Algodones Dunes (81%). Remobilization and abrasion lead to slightly reduced average grain coating coverages (47%) in eolian deposits located in the transition zone to the main dune field. Deposits within the main dune field show smaller average grain coating coverages (29%). Sediments supplied from a limestone rich provenance in Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes contain grain coating coverages in a range from 20 to 42%. In Coral Pink Sand Dunes sediments sourced from mature Jurassic Navajo sandstones contain the smallest average grain coating coverages (15%) indicating that source rock maturity and composition can control the coating coverage. The sediment source area and the proximity to areas where clay mineral coated grains are formed are interpreted to be the main controls on inherited grain coating coverages in the studied recent fluvio-eolian deposits. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. | [
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Impact diamonds of the Popigai astrobleme: Main properties and practical use. In the 1960s, the so-called \\'schistose\\' placer diamonds were found in sandy sediments of Ukraine. Their primary source remained unknown and their origin was supposed to be cosmic, by analogy with the diamonds detected in some meteorites. In the early 1970s, similar diamonds were found in terrestrial rocks of the Popigai impact crater (astrobleme) in northern Siberia. It was shown that these diamonds are products of the transformation of graphite contained in gneisses (Masaitis et al., 1972). Later, such diamonds were found in other astroblemes in Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Finland, and Canada. Impact diamonds markedly differ from diamonds hosted in kimberlites and lamproites in their appearance and in other features. In the 1970s-1990s, diamonds from the Popigai astrobleme were studied in many research institutions of Russia, Ukraine, and outside the USSR. The results of these investigations have been mostly published, and my brief review is based on these data. | [
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Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Treatment of Food Allergy. The prevalence of food allergy is increasing. Food allergy can be life threatening and there is no approved treatment available. Allergen avoidance and rescue medication remain the sole management tools. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use is common in the United States; however, research into safety and efficacy for food allergy is limited. Continued scientific research into food allergy herbal formula 2, refined methods of formulation, purified compounds, and other modalities is needed. Traditional Chinese medicine is the main component of CAM in the United States. Conventional doctors, CAM practitioners, and patients' families must collaborate to comanage these patients. | [
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Effect of resveratral on 3-nitropropionic acid-induced biochemical and behavioural changes: possible neuroprotective mechanisms. Huntington's disease is a progressive, degenerative disease characterized by abnormal body movements called chorea, and a reduction of various mental abilities. 3-Nitropropionic acid, an inhibitor of complex 11 of the electron transport chain, causes Huntington's disease-like symptoms in rodents. Recently, it has been reported that oxidative stress, which is one of the pathological hallmarks of various neurodegenerative disorders, also plays an important role in the pathogenesis of Huntington's disease. The present study was designed to investigate effects of resveratrol, an antioxidant with cyclooxygenase I inhibitory activity, in the 3-nitropropionic acid-induced model of Huntington's disease. Intraperitoneal administration of 3-nitropropionic acid (20 mg/kg for 4 days) caused significant loss of body weight, a decline in motor function (locomotor activity, movement pattern and vacuous chewing movements) and poor retention of memory. Repeated treatment with resveratrol (5 and 10 mg/kg, orally), once daily for a period of 8 days beginning 4 days prior to 3-nitropropionic acid administration, significantly improved the 3-nitropropionic acid-induced motor and cognitive impairment Biochemical analysis revealed that systemic 3-nitropropionic acid administration significantly increased lipid peroxidation, nitrite levels, and depleted reduced glutathione levels, and decreased succinate dehydrogenase activity in the brains of rats. The results of the present study indicate that resveratrol (5 and 10 mg/kg, orally) significantly reversed 3-nitropropionic acid-induced motor and cognitive impairment, and that the beneficial effects of resveratrol might be attributed to its antioxidant activity. | [
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COLLAPSE OF A TRANSPORT CURRENT IN HARD SUPERCONDUCTORS. A phenomenon of compression of a transport current I by an external ac magnetic field in hard superconductors being in the critical stare is studied both theoretically and experimentally. This phenomenon occurs in a forceless configuration when the ac field and the transport current are parallel. The collapse takes place owing to forcing out the transport current by shielding currents flowing inside a surface region of a sample. Using the Hall probe we have directly observed such stratification of the currents with different orientations. The transport current tube contracts to the sample axis as the ac amplitude increases and occupies the whole sample core at some threshold amplitude H-t. As a result, the superconductor goes to the resistive state. A dependence of H-t on I is analyzed both theoretically and experimentally. It is shown, that the collapse in superconducting rings is accompanied by complex relaxation processes. The mechanism of decay of the circular current in rings under the action of an ac signal is investigated in detail. An application of the collapse to test the homogeneity of the critical current capability of superconductors is discussed. | [
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Expression of rho A and rho kinase mRNAs in porcine vascular smooth muscle. It has recently been indicated that rho A and rho kinase may be involved in the mechanism for the increase in Ca2+ sensitivity in smooth muscle myofilaments. In the present study, we investigated the mRNA expression of rho A and rho kinase in porcine vascular smooth muscle cells (aorta, coronary artery, pulmonary artery, and pulmonary vein). In reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) experiments, using total RNA from these tissue specimens and the primers designed in the conserved regions of each mRNA in human and bovine, rho A and rho kinase mRNAs were detected in all of these smooth muscle cells. An analysis of these PCR products by direct sequencing indicated that they were derived from each mRNA. The finding that both rho A and rho kinase mRNAs were expressed in the various porcine vascular smooth muscle cells strongly supports the idea that these proteins are involved in the mechanism dealing with the increase in Ca2+ sensitivity in the myofilaments of vascular smooth muscle cells. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc. | [
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Investigation of Refractory Corrosion by Na2O-B2O3 Flux and Its Ability of Dissolving of Mn Oxides during a Melting Process for a Copper Alloy in the Atmosphere, Including Mn as Easily Oxidized Element. In order to clarify a guideline for designing of composition of a flux which can achieve both minimizing a refractory corrosion by the flux and maximizing of solubility of Mn oxides into the flux, corrosion tests for refractory was conducted in the atmosphere. The basic composition of flux is Na2O-B2O3 and the refractory is Mullite (3Al(2)O(3)center dot 2SiO(2)), assuming a process of melting of a copper alloy containing Mn as easily oxidized elements. Although the corrosion ratio of refractory became larger with increasing of mole fraction of Na2O in flux, the concentration of refractory's constituents in the flux have different tendency predicted by the results of corrosion ratio. Through the corrosion test, the Na2O B2O3 based flux has penetrated inside the refractory with Mn, and a part of that Mn has reacted with Al2O3 to form MnAl2O4. However, in the refractory/flux interface no clear formation of the compound layer could be confirmed due to the reaction between the refractory's constituents and the flux. In addition, the relationship between the corrosion ratio and the equilibrium solubility of 3Al(2)O(3)center dot 2SiO(2) for Na2O-B2O3 flux calculated by thermodynamic database was investigated. The result shows that there is not a clear relationship between them. The cause of this can be explained by the affection of corrosion inside the refractory by the penetration of the flux through the pores in the refractory. Furthermore, it was shown that the amount of Mn oxide dissolved in the flux was strongly affected by the viscosity of the flux by calculation.Consequently, in order to design a proper composition of flux in this study, it became clear that the thermodynamic approach alone was not enough and more detailed examinations such as the wettability between the flux and refractory, properties of flux, especially penetration phenomena were also important. | [
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Ni-Ag Nanostructure-Modified Graphitic Carbon Nitride for Enhanced Performance of Solar-Driven Hydrogen Production from Ethanol. Solar-driven splitting of alcohol utilizing photo-catalysts is a promising route to obtain H-2 and fine chemicals. Ni nanoparticles have shown great potential for light-driven splitting of alcohol, and their size, exposed facets, and electronic properties play key roles in the performance of photocatalysts. Therefore, purposefully modifying Ni is of great importance. In this report, Ni-Ag nanostructures were fabricated in situ on graphitic carbon nitride by a sequential photodeposition method. The solar-driven hydrogen production from ethanol was dramatically enhanced on the Ni-Ag nanostructure-modified graphitic carbon nitride compared with pure Ni nanoparticle-modified graphitic carbon nitride. It was found that the beneficial role of Ag is to disperse and stabilize small Ni nanoparticles and, importantly, expose catalytic sites that are less prone to accumulate ethanol decomposition products (acetate species), as proven by in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy. | [
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Treatment of. murine collagen-induced arthritis by the stress protein BiP via interleukin-4-producing regulatory T cells - A novel function for an ancient protein. Methods. BiP was administered either subcutaneously or intravenously to DBA/1, HLA-DR1+/+, or interleukin-4 (IL-4)-knockout mice at the onset of arthritis. Immune cells were used in adoptive transfer studies or were restimulated in culture with BiP or type II collagen (CII). Proliferation and cytokine release were measured. In addition, serum anti-CII antibodies were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Disease progression was scored using a visual analog scale.Objective. Following the demonstration that the stress protein, BiP, prevented induction of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) in HILA-DRB*0101(+/+) (HLA-. DR1(+/+)) mice, we investigated the immunotherapeutic ability of BiP to suppress disease during the active phase of CIA in HLA-DR1(+/+) and DBA/1 mice.Results. BiP was successful in suppressing established CIA in HLA-DR1(+/+) and DBA/1 mice. Serum levels of anticollagen IgG antibodies were reduced in BiP-treated mice. T cells from BiP-immunized mice produced Th2 cytokines, in particular, IL-4. Treatment with BiP was also shown to increase the production of CII-specific IL-5, IL-10, and interferon-gamma at the termination of the study. Development of severe CIA was prevented by the intravenous transfer of BiP-specific cells at the time of CIA induction in HLA-DR1(+/+) mice or by transferring BiP-specific cells to DBA/1 mice at the onset of disease. BiP failed to ameliorate the development of CIA in IL-4(-/-), HLA-DR1(+/+) mice.Conclusion. These novel results show that BiP can suppress active CIA by the induction of regulatory cells that act predominantly via IL-4. Thus, BiP is a potential immunotherapeutic agent for the treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. | [
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A new theoretical analysis for the splitting of square columns subjected to axial loading. In this article, some theoretical relations are derived to predict instantaneous axial load during the splitting process of square columns on rigid pyramidal dies. For this purpose, it is assumed that kinetic energy is dissipated by four different deformation mechanisms: bending, friction, crack propagation and expansion. These mechanisms are carefully assessed. Based on the principle of energy conservation, the external work of axial force is equated with total dissipated energies during the plastic deformation, and final relations are obtained to predict the load-displacement diagram. Also, the curl radius of square columns during the splitting process is calculated theoretically. Then, some metal tubes are tested and compressed axially between a rigid plate and a pyramidal die. Cracks propagate along four corners of the column. Experiments show that all four free end sides roll up into curls with a constant radius, and applied load becomes constant after crack propagation. This mechanism results in a large stroke and a constant load. Therefore, splitting is introduced as an energy absorber mechanism with large stroke to length ratio and high specific absorbed energy. Comparison of the theoretical predictions by derived equations, with the experimental results, shows good correlation. (C) 2015 Sharif University of Technology. All rights reserved. | [
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Long-term followup of uncemented tumor endoprostheses for the lower extremity. Between 1982 and 1989, 100 primary lower limb reconstructions were done using the Kotz Modular Femur Tibia Reconstruction System after resection of a malignant tumor, In 32 patients a proximal femur prosthesis was implanted, in 40 patients a distal femur prosthesis was implanted, in 19 patients a proximal tibia component was implanted, in four patients a total femur prosthesis was implanted, and in five patients a total knee prosthesis was implanted. The Kaplan-Meier estimate of the overall survival rate of the prostheses was 85% after 3 years, 79% after 5 years, and 71% after 10 years. The most common reason for implant failure was aseptic loosening in 27% of patients (11 patients; range, 10-121 months) after the initial operation. The other reasons for revision surgery were implant fracture (n 5 4) and infection (n 5 4). Early repair of prostheses-related minor complications, such as worn polyethylene bushings, resulted in a statistically significant reduction of implant failure. After a median followup of 127.5 months after the initial surgery, 51 patients had died and eight patients were lost to followup. Forty-one patients were evaluated clinically and radiologically using the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society score and the radiologic implant evaluation system of the International Symposium on Limb Salvage; these 41 patients had a mean of 80 % (range, 40 %-100 %) of the normal functional capability. | [
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'How the Music was Made': Television, Musicology and BBC Four. This article focuses on BBC Four's original music programming, considering documentaries which, according to the channel's commissioning guidelines, 'tak[e] a musicology approach' to give audiences a 'privileged view' of 'how the music was made'. It focuses on two case studies: Tunes for Tyrants: Music and Power with Suzy Klein (2017) and Being Beethoven (2020). Drawing upon original interviews with key production personnel for each series, this article explores the roles of music scholars in the television production process. It examines how musicologists are engaged with a production, what roles they undertake, and the value of their work for programme makers. | [
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Partial cephalic and face duplicity (Diprosopia) in bovine: A clinical and pathologic study of one case. Partial duplicity of head and face (Diprosopia) is reported in a 10 day old female calf. The calf's mother was a second gestation crossbred zebu cow from a milk production farm with a natural breeding system. Unable to be fed by the mother, the calf received artificial feeding. This dicephalus monster was born alive showing partial duplicity of face, nares, tongue and supernumerary teeth. The cranial vault and neck were a unique piece and there was a single spinal cord. A complete clinical, haematological, radiographical and morphological study was performed. A physical exam demonstrated severe dehydration and other clinical signs associated with the anomaly. The radiographic study showed the two lower maxillary bones and an incomplete upper maxillary bone with a common line of supernumerary teeth. The haematological evaluation showed leucocytosis and neutrophilia with a left shift associated to a systemic bacterial infection. Due to dehydration, poor shape and a bad prognosis, necropsy was performed. Internal organs in natural cavities were not duplicated. A splacnological study showed congenital changes in the heart with oval cavities and incomplete formation of the septum secundum along with a patent arterious duct. There was also pneumonic foci in lungs. the patogenia of diprosopia is not clear, it depends on several factors. | [
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45
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Propylthiouracil-induced congenital hypothyroidism upregulates vimentin phosphorylation and depletes antioxidant defenses in immature rat testis. Congenital hypothyroidism was induced in rats by adding 0.05% 6-propyl-2-thiouracil in the drinking water from day 9 of gestation, and continually up to postnatal day 15. Structural alterations observed by light microscopy of seminiferous tubules and by transmission electron microscopy of Sertoli cells of treated animals were consistent with hypothyroid condition. Hypothyroidism was also associated with high phospho-p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase and decreased phospho-extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 levels. Furthermore, the phosphorylation and the immunoreactivity of cytoskeletal-associated vimentin were increased without altering vimentin expression, suggesting an accumulation of insoluble and phosphorylated vimentin. These alterations in intermediate filament dynamics could result in loss of Sertoli cell cytoskeletal integrity and be somewhat related to the deleterious effects of hypothyroidism in testis. In addition, the mitochondrial alterations observed could also be related to defective cytoskeletal dynamics implying in cell damage. Moreover, we observed decreased oxygen consumption and unaltered lipid peroxidation in hypothyroid testis. However, we demonstrated decreased enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant defenses, supporting an increased mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, contributing to biochemical changes in hypothyroid testis. In addition, the changes in the testis histoarchitecture could be ascribed to cytoskeletal alterations, decreased antioxidant defenses, and increased ROS generation, leading to oxidative stress in the organ. | [
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Phase I Trial and Pharmacokinetic Study of Ixabepilone Administered Daily for 5 Days in Children and Adolescents With Refractory Solid Tumors. Patients >= 2 and <= 18 years with relapsed or refractory solid tumors were enrolled onto sequential cohorts to the following five dose levels: 3.0 (n = 3), 4.5 (n = 4), 6.0 (n = 3), 8.0 (n = 6), and 10 (n = 3) mg/m(2)/d. Eligibility criteria, dose levels, definitions of DLT and MTD, and pharmacokinetic sampling times were designed to be as similar as possible to the adult phase I trial of ixabepilone on the same schedule.ConclusionThe objectives of this phase I trial were to determine the maximum-tolerated dose (MTD), toxicity profile, dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs), pharmacokinetics, and preliminary response rate for ixabepilone, a microtubule-stabilizing agent, administered intravenously daily for 5 days in children and adolescents.Patients and MethodsThe recommended dose of ixabepilone for phase II trials in solid tumors is 8 mg/m(2)/d daily for 5 days every 21 days. This dose is 33% higher than the MTD in adults receiving the same dosing schedule. Pharmacokinetic parameters in children and adolescents were highly variable but similar to adults.Nineteen children (median age, 10 years; range, 2 to 18 years) were enrolled, and 18 (12 with sarcomas) were assessable for toxicity. DLTs (grade 4 neutropenia for > 5 days and grade 3 fatigue) were observed in two of three patients receiving 10 mg/m(2)/d. The MTD of ixabepilone administered daily for 5 days every 21 days was 8 mg/m(2)/d. Myelosuppression, GI, and hepatic toxicities were common non-DLTs. Peripheral neuropathy was uncommon. Ixabepilone clearance was 475 +/- 247 mL/min/m(2), volume of distribution at steady-state was 12.2 +/- 5.4 L/kg, and half-life was 14 hours.ResultsPurpose | [
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Dynamic optimization of cutoff grade in underground metal mining. In order to maximize the overall economic gain from a metal mine operation, selection of cutoff grades must consider two important aspects: the time value of money and the spatial variation of the grade distribution in the deposit. That is, cutoff grade selection must be dynamic with respect to both time and space. A newly developed method that fulfills these requirements is presented. In this method, the deposit or a portion of it under study is divided into \\'decision units\\' based on the mining method and sample data. The statistical grade distribution and the grade tonnage relationship of each decision unit are then computed based on the samples falling in the unit. Each decision unit with its grade-tonnage relationship is considered as a stage in a dynamic programming scheme and the problem is solved by applying a forward dynamic programming based algorithm with an objective function of maximizing the overall net present value (NPV). A software package is developed for the method and applied to an underground copper mine in Africa. | [
5,
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Apolipoprotein E Triggers Complement Activation in Joint Synovial Fluid of Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients by Binding C1q. We identified apolipoprotein E (ApoE) as one of the proteins that are found in complex with complement component C4d in pooled synovial fluid of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. Immobilized human ApoE activated both the classical and the alternative complement pathways. In contrast, ApoE in solution demonstrated an isoform-dependent inhibition of hemolysis and complement deposition at the level of sC5b-9. Using electron microscopy imaging, we confirmed that ApoE interacts differently with C1q depending on its context; surface-bound ApoE predominantly bound C1q globular heads, whereas ApoE in a solution favored the hinge/stalk region of C1q. As a model for the lipidated state of ApoE in lipoprotein particles, we incorporated ApoE into phosphatidylcholine/phosphatidylethanolamine liposomes and found that the presence of ApoE on liposomes increased deposition of C1q and C4b from serum when analyzed using flow cytometry. In addition, posttranslational modifications associated with RA, such as citrullination and oxidation, reduced C4b deposition, whereas carbamylation enhanced C4b deposition on immobilized ApoE. Posttranslational modification of ApoE did not alter Clq interaction but affected binding of complement inhibitors factor H and C4b -binding protein. This suggests that changed ability of C4b to deposit on modified ApoE may play an important role. Our data show that posttranslational modifications of ApoE alter its interactions with complement. Moreover, ApoE may play different roles in the body depending on its solubility, and in diseased states such as RA, deposited ApoE may induce local complement activation rather than exert its typical role of inhibition. | [
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The regia solis in Ovid's Metamorphoses and the complex of Apollo on the Palatine: topographic and monumental reflections. The aim is to identify possible relations between the topographic and monumental situation of Augustan Rome and the examined text, combining urban reality and the world of myth.The subject of this paper is the analysis of the ekphrasis at the beginning of the second book of Ovid's Metamorphoses, in which Phaethon, after an uphill road, arrives at the palace of the Sun located next to the sky. | [
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Evaluation of the Preclinical Efficacy of Lurbinectedin in Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma. The marine drug lurbinectedin revealed an unprecedented efficacy against patient-derived malignant pleural mesothelioma cells, regardless of the histological type and the BAP1 mutation status. By inducing strong DNA damages, it dramatically arrested cell cycle progression and induced apoptosis. These results may be translated into the use of lurbinectedin as an effective agent for malignant pleural mesothelioma patients.Simple SummaryBackground: Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a highly aggressive cancer generally diagnosed at an advanced stage and characterized by a poor prognosis. The absence of alterations in druggable kinases, together with an immune-suppressive tumor microenvironment, limits the use of molecular targeted therapies, making the treatment of MPM particularly challenging. Here we investigated the in vitro susceptibility of MPM to lurbinectedin (PM01183), a marine-derived drug that recently received accelerated approval by the FDA for the treatment of patients with metastatic small cell lung cancer with disease progression on or after platinum-based chemotherapy. Methods: A panel of primary MPM cultures, resembling the three major MPM histological subtypes (epithelioid, sarcomatoid, and biphasic), was characterized in terms of BAP1 status and histological markers. Subsequently, we explored the effects of lurbinectedin at nanomolar concentration on cell cycle, cell viability, DNA damage, genotoxic stress response, and proliferation. Results: Stabilized MPM cultures exhibited high sensitivity to lurbinectedin independently from the BAP1 mutational status and histological classification. Specifically, we observed that lurbinectedin rapidly promoted a cell cycle arrest in the S-phase and the activation of the DNA damage response, two conditions that invariably resulted in an irreversible DNA fragmentation, together with strong apoptotic cell death. Moreover, the analysis of long-term treatment indicated that lurbinectedin severely impacts MPM transforming abilities in vitro. Conclusion: Overall, our data provide evidence that lurbinectedin exerts a potent antitumoral activity on primary MPM cells, independently from both the histological subtype and BAP1 alteration, suggesting its potential activity in the treatment of MPM patients. | [
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Recent updates of iodinated contrast media hypersensitivity. Previously, immediate reactions to ionic high-osmolar iodinated contrast media (ICM) were regarded as nonimmunological. However, despite the use of lower-osmolar ICM, ICM hypersensitivity still occurs in some patients and recent studies suggest that there would be a true allergic response, especially in more severe form. Currently, it is important to identify the sensitized ICM and avoid the agent; however, the usefulness of skin tests and challenge tests has not yet been established, since there are few large-scale studies on them. Although, skin test-negative ICM can be safely used in clinical practice, conflicting results have been reported through various studies, depending on the challenge protocols used. Therefore, standard protocols need to provided. Even if a culprit agent is not proven by skin tests, its use should be avoided. Reuse of contrast media increases the risk of occurrence of hypersensitivity reactions. For patients with previous hypersensitivity reactions to contrast media, premedication can help prevent recurrence, but breakthrough in hypersensitivity is not fully achieved by premedication, especially when the previous reaction was a severe form such as anaphylaxis. Therefore, it is necessary to establish an optimal strategy to choose alternative ICM and premedication protocols to prevent recurrence of hypersensitivity reactions to nonionic contrast media. | [
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High-Dose Immunosuppressive Therapy and Autologous Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation for Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (HALT-MS) A 3-Year Interim Report. INTERVENTIONS Autologous peripheral blood stem cell grafts were CD34(+) selected; the participants then received high-dose treatment with carmustine, etoposide, cytarabine, and melphalan as well as rabbit antithymocyte globulin before autologous HCT.DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation for Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (HALT-MS) is an ongoing, multicenter, single-arm, phase 2 clinical trial of HDIT/HCT for patients with RRMS who experienced relapses with loss of neurologic function while receiving disease-modifying therapies during the 18 months before enrolling. Participants are evaluated through 5 years after HCT. This report is a prespecified, 3-year interim analysis of the trial. Thirty-six patients with RRMS from referral centers were screened; 25 were enrolled.CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE At 3 years, HDIT/HCT without maintenance therapy was effective for inducing sustained remission of active RRMS and was associated with improvements in neurologic function. Treatment was associated with few serious early complications or unexpected adverse events.IMPORTANCE Most patients with relapsing-remitting (RR) multiple sclerosis (MS) who receive approved disease-modifying therapies experience breakthrough disease and accumulate neurologic disability. High-dose immunosuppressive therapy (HDIT) with autologous hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) may, in contrast, induce sustained remissions in early MS.RESULTS Grafts were collected from 25 patients, and 24 of these individuals received HDIT/HCT. The median follow-up period was 186 weeks (interquartile range, 176-250) weeks). Overall event-free survival was 78.4%(90% CI, 60.1%-89.0%) at 3 years. Progression-free survival and clinical relapse-free survival were 90.9%(90% CI, 73.7%-97.1%) and 86.3%(90% CI, 68.1%-94.5%), respectively, at 3 years. Adverse events were consistent with expected toxic effects associated with HDIT/HCT, and no acute treatment-related neurologic adverse events were observed. Improvements were noted in neurologic disability, quality-of-life, and functional scores.MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary end point of HALT-MS is event-free survival defined as survival without death or disease activity from any one of the following outcomes: (1) confirmed loss of neurologic function, (2) clinical relapse, or (3) new lesions observed on magnetic resonance imaging. Toxic effects are reported using National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events.OBJECTIVE To evaluate the safety, efficacy, and durability of MS disease stabilization through 3 years after HDIT/HCT. | [
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The first mayfly from the Lower Cretaceous of southern England (Insecta : Ephemerida equals Ephemeroptera). The first mayfly from the British Cretaceous, Durlophlebia radleyi gen. et sp. nov., is described on the basis of a subimaginal hind wing from the Berriasian Purbeck Limestone Group of Dorset, UK. Its presence in hypersaline deposits in the Lulworth Formation indicates that there were also fresher water bodies in the region at that time. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. | [
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Comparative laboratory evaluation of waste cooking oil rejuvenated asphalt concrete mixtures for high contents of reclaimed asphalt pavement. This study focuses on the ability of waste cooking oil (WCO) to recycle old asphalt pavement into new pavements. The application of WCO was contemplated in the pavement materials to reduce the stiffness effect of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP). Following the Marshall's method, a detailed laboratory investigation was conducted to evaluate some of the properties of the WCO rejuvenated mixture and compared with the mixture without any RAP (SM) and the mixtures rejuvenated by a commercial rejuvenator (CR). For this comparison, laboratory tests of indirect tensile strength (ITS), percentage of ITS loss and resilient modulus (MR) were conducted following the respective standard method. Three different percentages (13%, 20% and 27%) of WCO (by RAP binder content) were evaluated for three different percentages of RAP mixture (30%, 40% and 50%). The statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to quantify the effect of the WCO and the percentage of RAP on the mentioned properties of the rejuvenated mixture. It is observed that the values for ITS, percentage of ITS loss andMRof the WCO rejuvenated mixtures are compatible with those of the mixtures rejuvenated by CR and SM. However, the compatibility exists till a certain extent of RAP and WCO, and the increase in the percentage of RAP (>40%) and WCO (>13%) in the mixtures results in a deviation from the observed properties. | [
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Emissaries of the Modern: The Foreign Teacher in Urban China. Some of the most recognizable urban figures in China today are not even Chinese, but \\'foreigners.\\' Foreigners stand out from the crowd, not simply because of their perceived racial distinctiveness, but because they are seen to possess and successfully manipulate symbols of a globalized world that many Chinese desire but feel disconnected from. Based on fieldwork in the northeastern city of Shenyang, this article will focus specifically on foreign teachers, itinerant native speakers of English who come to China for adventure and a paycheck in return for teaching their language to others. They are encountered in foreign language classrooms, the media, and in public, acting as indexes of modernity in a rapidly changing urban landscape. While Chinese urban residents bemoan a sense of isolation and backwardness within globalized structures of power and capital, they identify the interloping foreign teacher-stereotypically seen as white, English-speaking, mobile, wealthy, and brand-conscious-as an exemplar of the possibilities of modern selfhood. Foreigners are objects of desire, curiosity, envy, and resentment; each emotion is linked to their status as representatives of a world perceived to be beyond the boundaries of the local, but which in reality permeates it at every level. While foreign teachers themselves are often oblivious to this wider context, they are implicated in everyday practices of Chinese self-fashioning, from education in global languages to marketing international brands. I argue that the image of the foreigner provokes reflections on the nature of Chinese ethnicity, culture, and national identity. Contemplating the foreign as a potential subject position, sometimes critically, is one way that urban Chinese articulate creative possibilities for their own futures. | [
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Energy conservation and potential of a sunspace: sensitivity analysis. The influence of different main design parameters on the heating/cooling potential of a sunspace connected with a building has been investigated in the present paper. The sunspace consists of a glazed enclosure, usually on the south side of a building and it is regarded as one of the most popular solar systems because of its potential as an energy collecting system and also because of its pleasant appearance. The dynamic thermal performance of the system for the winter and summer periods of the year and its operational limits have been calculated using an accurate transient thermal model environment. The simulated results showed that sunspaces can be an appropriate and effective system during the cold period of the year. However, they are, very often, responsible for overheating during the warm period of the year. An extensive sensitivity investigation is performed in order to analyse the impact of various main system's parameters, such as orientation, boundary conditions, glazing material, etc., on the energy potential of the system. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. | [
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Nature, incidence, and symptomatology of viruses infecting Vanilla tahitensis in French Polynesia. A survey was carried out to identify the viruses infecting vanilla in French Polynesia and to assess their incidence. Virus identification was based on enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and, for potyviruses, on the sequence of part of the coat protein and inoculation assays. Between 1998 and 1999, 3,610 vanilla plants from 49 plots in the Society Islands were indexed. Cymbidium mosaic virus (CymMV) was detected in 500 vines from 10 plots in the Leeward Islands. The data suggest that this virus has spread widely since its first detection in French Polynesia in 1986, most likely through the dissemination of symptomless infected cuttings. Viruses belonging to the Potyvirus genus were found in 674 plants from 27 plots in the four islands surveyed. Three distinct potyviruses have been identified: (i) Vanilla mosaic virus, (ii) Watermelon mosaic virus, and (iii) and a virus related to Bean common mosaic virus. The symptoms induced on Vanilla tahitensis by the three potyviruses can be differentiated from each other and from those due to CymMV. A significant proportion of the plants surveyed (97/476) were symptomatic but tested negative by ELISA for CymMV and the Potyvirus group. Odontoglossum ringspot virus was not detected in any sample tested. | [
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Impact of specimen geometry on dynamic modulus measurement test setup. A new mechanistic-empirical pavement design guide to better predict the service life of pavement systems is in its final stages of validation. One of the new input parameters recommended for the design is the dynamic modulus of the asphalt concrete mixes. The developers of the design guide have developed a laboratory test setup that can provide this parameter. To verify the accuracy and precision of the proposed test setup, several synthetic specimens with known material properties and different length-to-diameter ratios were procured and tested. Since the new design guide advocates the use of specimens with length-to-diameter ratios of less than two, the utility of using end friction reducing layers between the specimen and the end platens were also evaluated. In the end, the hot mix asphalt concrete specimens were also prepared and tested. Overall, the test setup is precise and can be used for dynamic modulus measurement of asphalt concrete mixes. The results also suggest that the specimen geometry and the end friction reducing layers affect the accuracy and precision of estimated dynamic modulus. | [
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When Forced Migrants Go Home: The Journey of Returnee Entrepreneurs in the Post-conflict Economies of Bosnia & Herzegovina and Kosovo. This paper examines forced migrants who fled their homeland due to conflict and later returned to undertake entrepreneurial activity. Drawing on qualitative interviews with returnees to Bosnia & Herzegovina and Kosovo, we contribute to the process-oriented view of entrepreneurship by showing how forced migration leads to historical bonds to the homeland which influence resultant entrepreneurial activity. We extend literature on institutional voids by demonstrating that they can be enabling, with formal voids substituted by informal networks. Returnees rely on informal ties due to mistrust of formal ties, and these are strengthened by shared experiences of conflict and lead to activities which satisfy non-monetary gains rather than profit. | [
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Transmission of two viruses that cause Barley Yellow Dwarf is controlled by different loci in the aphid, Schizaphis graminum. Clonal populations of the aphid, Schizaphis graminum, have been separated into biotypes based on host preference and their ability to overcome resistance genes in wheat. Recently, several biotypes were found to differ in their ability to transmit one or more of the viruses that cause barley yellow dwarf disease in grain crops, and vector competence was linked to host preference. The genetics of host preference has been studied in S. graminum, but how this may relate to the transmission of plant viruses is unknown. Sexual morphs of a vector and nonvector S. graminum genotype were induced from parthenogenetic females and reciprocal crosses made. Eighty-nine hybrids were generated and maintained by parthenogenesis. Each hybrid was evaluated for its ability to transmit Barley yellow dwarf virus-PAV and Cereal yellow dwarf virus-RPV, and for its ability to colonize two wheat genotypes each expressing a different gene that confers resistance to S. graminum. The F1 genotypes were genetically variable for their ability to transmit virus and to colonize the aphid resistant wheat, but these traits were not genetically correlated. Individual F1 genotypes ranged in transmission efficiency from 0-100% for both viruses, although the overall mean transmission efficiency was similar to the transmission competent parent, indicating directional dominance. The direction of the cross did not significantly affect the vector competency for either virus, suggesting that maternally inherited cytoplasmic factors, or bacterial endosymbionts, did not contribute significantly to the inheritance of vector competency in S. graminum. Importantly, there was no genetic correlation between the ability to transmit Barley yellow dwarf virus and Cereal yellow dwarf virus-RPV in the F1 genotypes. These results taken together indicate that multiple loci are involved in the circulative transmission, and that the successful transmission of these closely related viruses is regulated by different sets of aphid genes. | [
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Learning from labeled and unlabeled data using a minimal number of queries. The considerable time and expense required for labeling data has prompted the development of algorithms which maximize the classification accuracy for a given amount of labeling effort. On the one hand, the effort has been to develop the so-called active learning\\' algorithms which sequentially choose the pat_ terns to be explictly labeled so as to realize the maximum infor mation gain from each labeling. On the other hand, the effort has been to develop algorithms that can learn from labeled as well as the more abundant unlabeled data. Proposed in this paper is an algorithm that integrates the benefits of active learning with the benefits of learning from labeled and unlabeled data. Our approach is based on reversing the roles of the labeled and unlabeled data. Specifically, we use a Genetic Algorithm (GA) to iteratively refine the class membership of the unlabeled patterns so that the maximum a posteriori (MAP) based predicted labels of the patterns in the labeled dataset are in agreement with the known labels. This reversal of the role of labeled and unlabeled patterns leads to an implicit class assignment of the unlabeled patterns. For active learning, we use a subset of the GA population to construct multiple MAP classifiers. Points in the input space where there is maximal disagreement amongst these classifiers are then selected for explicit labeling. The learning from labeled and unlabeled data and active learning phases are interlaced and together provide accurate classification while minimizing the labeling effort. | [
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Recognition of pemphigus antigens in drug-induced pemphigus vulgaris and pemphigus foliaceus. Objective: Our purpose was to investigate patients with drug-induced pemphigus vulgaris and pemphigus foliaceus antigens and compare results of studies to detect antibody reactivity in sera of these patients with the serology of patients with idiopathic pemphigus.Results: The patient with pemphigus foliaceus and low levels of autoantibodies precipitated neither antigen. One patient with pemphigus vulgaris and high levels of antibody also failed to precipitate any specific antigen. Sera from eight patients with drug-induced pemphigus vulgaris had circulating autoantibodies directed to either the pemphigus vulgaris or pemphigus foliaceus antigen. Low levels of antibody in two of these eight patients precipitated only the pemphigus foliaceus antigen. High levels of antibody in five of the eight patients precipitated the pemphigus vulgaris antigen; two of these also reacted with the pemphigus foliaceus antigen.Methods: Ten patients with drug-induced pemphigus were studied. Antibody reactivity was determined against the pemphigus vulgaris antigen, desmoglein 3, and against desmoglein 1.Conclusion: The autoantibody response was similar in both spontaneous and drug-related disease. A similar molecular mechanism in the two types of pemphigus is suggested.Background: The clinical appearance and biologic behavior of drug-induced pemp | [
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Gemcitabine/nab-Paclitaxel versus FOLFIRINOX for palliative first-line treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer: A propensity score analysis. Background: Gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel (GN) and FOLFIRINOX are standard first-line treatment options for advanced pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (aPDAC), but currently no prospective randomised head-to-head comparison between these treatments has yet been performed. Methods: We conducted a comparative propensity score (PS) analysis of overall (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in a tri-centre cohort of patients with aPDAC undergoing palliative first-line treatment with either GN or FOLFIRINOX. Results: In unadjusted analysis, OS and PFS were highly similar between patients treated with GN (n = 297) and FOLFIRINOX (n = 158). In detail, median, 1-and 2-year OS estimates were 10.1 months, 42% and 18% in the GN group, as compared to 11.2 months, 45% and 12% in the FOLFIRINOX group, respectively (log-rank p = 0.783). Accordingly, median (4.6 versus 4.8 months), 6-month (40% versus 43%) and 1-year (9% versus 9%) PFS estimates did not significantly differ (log-rank p = 0.717). However, patients treated with FOLFIRINOX were significantly younger, had fewer comorbidities, and a better Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status. These imbalances were accounted for by weighting the data with the PS. In PS analysis of survival outcomes, OS and PFS remained comparable between the two treatment groups. In detail, PS-weighted median, 1-and 2-year OS estimates were 10.1 months, 42% and 18% in the GN group, as compared to 10.1 months, 40% and 13% in the FOLFIRINOX group (PS-weighted log-rank p = 0.449). PS-weighted PFS estimates again did not differ (PS-weighted log-rank p = 0.329). Conclusion: This real-world comparative effectiveness study indicates that FOLFIRINOX and GN have similar effectiveness in the palliative first-line treatment of aPDAC. & ordf; 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). | [
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Mechanisms of beneficial effects of probucol in adriamycin cardiomyopathy. Probucol, a lipid-lowering drug, has been shown to offer protection against adriamycin-induced cardiomyopathy. In order to define the mechanism of this protection, we examined changes in antioxidants and lipid peroxidation in hearts as well as lipids in hearts and plasma from rats treated with either adriamycin or adriamycin and probucol with appropriate controls. Any potential free radical quenching as well as growth inhibitory effects of probucol were also examined using Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells in culture. In animal model, adriamycin caused a significant depression in glutathione peroxidase and increased plasma and cardiac lipids as well as lipid peroxidation. Probucol treatment modulated adriamycin-induced cardiomyopathic changes and increased glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase activities. In the presence of adriamycin under hypoxic conditions, formation of adriamycin semiquinone radical was detected by ESR. The cell growth in these cultures was also inhibited by adriamycin in a dose-dependent manner. Probucol had no effect on adriamycin-induced growth inhibition as well as formation of semiquinone radicals. It is proposed that probucol protection against adriamycin cardiomyopathy is mediated by increased antioxidants and lipid-lowering without any effect on free radical production. | [
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Expression of biologically active human clotting factor IX in Drosophila S2 cells: ?-carboxylation of a human vitamin K-dependent protein by the insect enzyme. The Drosophila gamma-glutamyl carboxylase (d gamma C) has substrate recognition properties similar to that of the vertebrate gamma-carboxylase (gamma C), and its carboxylated product yield, in vitro, was shown to be more than that obtained with the human enzyme. However, whether the Drosophila enzyme is able to gamma-carboxylate the human vitamin K-dependent (VKD) proteins, such as the human coagulation factor IX (hFIX), as synthesized in cultured Drosophila cells was not known. To examine this possibility, the Drosophila Schnider (S2) cell line was transfected with a metallothionein promoter-regulated hFIX-expressing plasmid. After induction with copper ion, expression efficiency of the active hFIX was analyzed by performing enzyme-linked immunosorbent assey (ELISA) and coagulation test on the culture supernatant of the transfected S2 cells during 72 h of postinduction. In comparison with Chinese hamster ovary cell line, S2 cells showed higher (similar to 12-fold) expression level of the hFIX. The gamma-carboxylation of the Drosophila-derived hFIX was confirmed by evaluation of the expressed protein, after being precipitated with barium citrate. The biological activity of the S2 cell-derived hFIX indicated the capability of S2 cells to fulfill the required gamma-carboxylation of the expressed hFIX. Coexpression of the human gamma glutamyl carboxylases (h gamma C) was also shown to improve both expression and gamma-carboxylation of the hFIX. This is the first in vivo data to describe the ability of the d gamma C to recognize the human-based propeptide as substrate, which is an essential step for production of biologically active gamma-carboxylated VKD proteins. (c) 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 2012 | [
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Synthesis of Biodiesel by Interesterification of Triglycerides with Methyl Formate. In the conventional synthesis of biodiesel, not only fatty acid esters (biodiesel) are formed, but also the by-product is the glycerol phase, which amounts to about 10 wt.%. Recently, the studies on the interesterification of oil using carboxylate esters have been launched. In this case, no glycerol is formed, and esters of glycerol and short-chain organic acids soluble in biodiesel are produced. The biodiesel yield is increased, and the biodiesel production process is more economically viable. The process of interesterification with methyl formate yields a mixture of biodiesel and triformylglycerol, which is not inferior in quality to biodiesel, but also has better low-temperature properties. The paper analyzes the application of chemical and enzymatic catalysis methods for the interesterification of triglycerides with methyl formate. The influence of catalyst amount, reagent molar ratio, temperature, and process time on the product yield is presented. The quality indicators of the obtained fuel and their compliance with the requirements of the biodiesel fuel standard are discussed. | [
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Intimate partner violence and maternal depression during pregnancy: A community-based cross-sectional study in Ethiopia. The overall prevalence of IPV was 21% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 18.1-24.7). After adjusting for potential confounders, increased risk of IPV remained among rural women (adjusted odds ratio[AOR] = 2.09; 95% CI = 1.06-4.09), women who had parental exposure to IPV (AOR = 14.00; 95% CI = 6.43-30.48), women whose pregnancy was not desired (AOR = 9.64; 95% CI = 3.44-27.03), women whose husbands used alcohol (AOR = 17.08; 95% CI = 3.83-76.19), women with depression (AOR = 4.71; 95% CI = 1.37-16.18) and women with low social support (AOR = 13.93; 95% CI = 6.98-27.77). The prevalence of antenatal depressive symptom (with EPDS score above 13) was 6.8% (95% CI 6.2-11.3). Increased risk of depression was found among women who had been exposed to IPV (AOR = 17.60; 95% CI = 6.18-50.10) and whose husbands use alcohol (AOR = 3.31; 95% CI = 1.33-8.24).Intimate partner violence (IPV) is regarded an important public health and human rights issue, characterized by physical, sexual or emotional abuse. Globally more than one in three women report physical or sexual violence by their intimate partners. Though the association between IPV and depression is known, we found no study investigating depression as a risk factor for IPV and very few studies using standard tools in assessing both IPV and depression among pregnant women.ResultsMethodsIntroductionTo measure the prevalence of IPV and depression during pregnancy and assess the association between IPV and depression and other determinants.AimOne in five pregnant women experienced IPV and it was strongly associated with depression. Screening for IPV and depression at antenatal visits with referral to relevant care and service is recommended.A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 589 pregnant women living in Wondo-Genet district, southern Ethiopia. IPV experience was assessed using a structured questionnaire of the World Health Organization (WHO), and maternal depression was measured by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Descriptive statistics were computed and multivariable logistic regression was carried out to estimate risk and adjust for confounders.Conclusion | [
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Nagelamides M and N, new bromopyrrole alkaloids from sponge Agelas species. Two new bromopyrrole alkaloids, nagelamides M (1) and N (2), have been isolated from an Okinawan marine sponge Agelas species, and the structures and stereochemistry were elucidated from the spectroscopic data. Nagelamide M (1) is a novel bromopyrrole alkaloid possessing a 2-amino-octahydropyrrolo[2,3-d]imidazole ring with a taurine unit, while nagelamide N (2) is a new bromopyrrole alkaloid possessing a 2-amino-tetrahydroimidazole-4-one ring with a taurine unit and 3-(dibromopyrrole-2-carboxamido)propanoic acid moiety. Nagelamides M (1) and N (2) exhibited antimicrobial activity. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. | [
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Top-up transfusions in neonates with Rh hemolytic disease in relation to exchange transfusions. Study DesignConclusionTo study the effect of a restrictive guideline for exchange transfusion (ET) on the number of top-up transfusions in neonates with Rh hemolytic disease.ResultsObjectiveIn this study, restrictive ET criteria in neonates with Rh hemolytic disease lead to a reduction of the rate of ET but an increase in the number of top-up transfusions for neonatal anemia.The percentage of neonates requiring an ET decreased from 66% (103/156) in group I to 26% (7/27) in group II (P < 0 center dot 01). The percentage of neonates receiving a top-up transfusion increased from 68% (105/154) in group I to 81% (22/27) in group II (P = 0 center dot 25). The median number of top-up transfusions increased from 1 (interquartile range 0-2) in group I to 2 (interquartile range 1-3) in group II (P = 0 center dot 01).Retrospective study of all (near)-term neonates with Rh hemolytic disease admitted to our center between 2000 and 2008. In December 2005, policy changed from using liberal ET criteria to more restrictive ET criteria. We recorded the number of ETs and the number of top-up transfusions in the group of neonates before (group I, n = 156) and after (group II, n = 27) the guideline change. | [
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Does the Protection of River Basin Ecosystems Produce Broken Window Effect? Evidence From Spatial Choice Experiment in Xijiang River Basin, China. Eco-environmental protection of river basins and compensation for damages have been important issues for researchers around the world for a long time. Many studies have focused on the correlations among individual socioeconomic characteristics, ecological cognition, and differences in the willingness to pay. However, no research has been conducted from the perspective of perceived environmental quality. According to the Broken Windows Theory, the public's willingness and behaviors regarding environmental protection are determined largely by earlier perceptions of environmental quality. Therefore, we used a spatial choice experiment to investigate the willingness of the public to pay for ecosystem restoration in the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the Xijiang River Basin in China. This paper discusses if perceived environmental quality is a factor that creates different levels in the willingness to pay. Our results show that the Broken Window Effect can better explain these differences. Living in a better ecological environment, the upper-reaches public expect to pay for the restoration of the river basin's ecosystem to a higher state and is willing to be the \\'first person\\' to repair the \\'broken windows,\\' whereas those in the middle and lower reaches are willing to pay only for a restoration to a good state. | [
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PEER-COUNSELING TRAINING - ANALYSIS OF PERSONAL GROWTH FOR OLDER ADULTS. There is a burgeoning literature describing the form, function, and benefits of senior peer-counseling training programs. Little is known, however, about the characteristics of those who choose to participate in the training and what influence the training has on those characteristics. This study explored some of these between- and within-group differences with a sample of 21 seniors (ranging in age from 56 to 78 years) who completed a 12-month peer-counseling training program and a comparison group of 16 seniors (60 to 80 years) who were participants in other activities at the same community center. Both groups responded to a questionnaire on multiple occasions assessing demographical information, attitudes toward aging, sense of control, life satisfaction, and interpersonal capabilities and efficacy as both currently and retrospectively (i.e., \\'How did you respond at program onset?\\') evaluated. Analyses revealed that the counseling group was younger, better educated, and had lower life satisfaction. The comparison group did not change over time; the counseling group, however, became significantly more satisfied with their lives during the program and, although their \\'current\\' ratings of interpersonal capabilities did not change, their retrospective ratings were significantly lower at the subsequent assessments, indicating subjective improvement. Life-stage explanations are considered, and implications for programs and suggestions for future research are offered. | [
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Propan-2-ol on Ni(111): identification of surface intermediates and reaction products. The adsorption and reaction of propan-2-ol on Ni(1 1 1) has been followed by reflection absorption IR spectroscopy and temperature programmed desorption. At 110 K, nondissociative molecular adsorption is observed in the monolayer, with randomly oriented multilayers observed at higher exposures. On increasing substrate temperature to 200 K, scission of the OH bond is observed with formation of a 2-propoxide surface species which is adsorbed with C, site symmetry and oriented upright with the metal-O-C field close to a 180 degrees angle. The alkoxide species is stable to 320 K, above which scission of the alpha -CH bond occurs, with simultaneous formation and desorption of acetone. This selective dehydrogenation to acetone is the majority reaction pathway on the surface and is critically controlled by the high barrier to alpha -CH bond activation which ensures remarkable stability for the 2-propoxide intermediate. As a result, selective dehydrogenation occurs at a sufficiently high enough temperature so that acetone desorption competes very effectively with unselective decomposition to CO, H and CxHy. Acetone is, therefore, evolved in a reaction-limited process at 340 K, while the minority non-selective decomposition pathway evolves H: and CO in desorption-limited processes. The ease of bond breaking (O-H > alpha -CH > alpha -CC) identified for C-1 and C-2 alcohols on Ni(1 1 1) seems also to be valid for C-3 alcohol chemistry on this surface. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. | [
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Effect of taurine on ischemia-reperfusion injury. Taurine is an abundant beta-amino acid that regulates several events that dramatically influence the development of ischemia-reperfusion injury. One of these events is the extrusion of taurine and Na+ from the cell via the taurine/Na+ symport. The loss of Na+ during the ischemia-reperfusion insult limits the amount of available Na+ for Na+/Ca2+ exchange, an important process in the development of Ca2+ overload and the activation of the mitochondrial permeability transition, a key process in ischemia-reperfusion mediated cell death. Taurine also prevents excessive generation of reactive oxygen species by the respiratory chain, an event that also limits the activation of the MPT. Because taurine is an osmoregulator, changes in taurine concentration trigger \\'osmotic preconditioning,\\' a process that activates an Akt-dependent cytoprotective signaling pathway that inhibits MPT pore formation. These effects of taurine have clinical implications, as experimental evidence reveals potential promise of taurine therapy in preventing cardiac damage during bypass surgery, heart transplantation and myocardial infarction. Moreover, severe loss of taurine from the heart during an ischemia-reperfusion insult may increase the risk of ventricular remodeling and development of heart failure. | [
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Unveiling the Role of Tetrabutylammonium and Cesium Bulky Cations in Enhancing Na-O-2 Battery Performance. The use of two types of bulky cations, tetrabutylammonium (TBA(+)) and Cs+, as electrolyte additives in Na-O-2 batteries is investigated. These cations facilitate the stabilization of sodium superoxide in the electrolyte, promoting the solution-mediated pathway. Both the addition of TBA(+) and Cs+ favor the growth of larger NaO2 cubes than in the case of the electrolyte containing only sodium salt, particularly in the case of Cs+. In terms of full discharge capacity, both additives lead to an increase in the discharge capacity, which is greater in Cs+ (50% enhancement). TBA(+) also provides an improved stabilization of superoxide; nevertheless, the interaction is not as strong as in the case of Cs+ due to the steric hindrance set by the alkyl groups. The presence of these additives not only affects the NaO2 formation mechanism, but also influences the nature of the solid electrolyte interphase. The presence of Cs+ generates a more stable solid-electrolyte interphase, which increases the cycle life of Na-O-2 batteries. Overall, new insights are provided to control the growth of the discharge products, modify the oxygen reduction reaction mechanism, and protect the Na metal anode surface by adding bulky monovalent cations in the electrolyte formulation. | [
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A 8-year survivor of unresectable intrapelvic desmoplastic small round cell tumor treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Desmoplastic small round cell tumor is a rare malignant tumor that occurs primarily in young males. Here, a case of small round cell tumor in an adult male successfully treated with a curative concurrent chemoradiotherapy is presented. A 58-year-old man had an intrapelvic tumor. Surgical resection was attempted, but the tumor was unresectable. Needle biopsy was performed and the diagnosis was suggested to be desmoplastic small round cell tumor. Concurrent chemoradiotherapy was performed, and a complete response was obtained. This patient has been alive for 8 years after treatment with no evidence of disease. Concurrent chemoradiotherapy appears to be a useful treatment choice for unresectable desmoplastic small round cell tumor. Iran. J. Radiat. Res., 2011; 9(3): 201-205 | [
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Intrahepatic aneurysmal portohepatic venous shunt: Embolization with a tissue adhesive solution. Conclusions: Large IPSVS may be successfully treated percutaneously using a tissue adhesive solution, avoiding a more invasive procedure.Purpose: To report the endovascular treatment of an intrahepatic portosystemic venous shunt (IPSVS) using a tissue adhesive solution.Case Report: A 40-year-old woman without diagnosed liver disease presented for evaluation of vague abdominal pains. A latent portosystemic encephalopathy was diagnosed only during hospitalization, when ultrasound examination disclosed a venous-venous right hepatic communication. The patient was treated with selective percutaneous embolization using a tissue adhesive after blocking the lesion's venous inflow and outflow tracts. The result was excellent, and the patient recovered completely in a few days. After 5 months, the patient is asymptomatic and event-free. | [
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The regional perspective of the 1.5 degrees C target and its difference to other scenarios. We analyzed climate projections from CMIP5 to assess the global and regional differences between the 1.5 degrees C and the 2.0 degrees C target as well as the differences to the climate protection and the business as usual scenario. Due to the lack of scenarios leading to a global warming of 1.5 degrees C by the end of the 21st century, we choose for our analysis those time periods from the available CMIP5 simulations which show a global mean temperature of 1.5 degrees C (WP1.5) and 2.0 degrees C (WP2) above the pre-industrial level as representatives for such conditions. In our novel approach, we used the average over the last 200 years of the pre-industrial control simulation of each model as pre-industrial reference value for that model. Our analysis showed that tropical regions and regions located on the southern hemisphere show less warming compared to the global average and the strongest warming appears in the high northern latitudes. In some of the regions in the high northern latitudes, the additional warming is more pronounced in fall and especially in winter. To attach value to our analysis, we carried out several statistical tests which agreed, that the temperature values for WP1.5 are statistically significantly different from the temperature values in WP2 on the global, regional as well as on the seasonal level. The difference in the precipitation amount is small in all regions. This is underpinned by the results of statistical tests, which indicate that the precipitation values for the two warming periods are not significantly different for most of the regions. Regions in the high northern latitudes and continental regions would benefit more than tropical regions and regions on the southern hemisphere if global warming is limited to 1.5 degrees C instead of 2.0 degrees C. In the business as usual scenario the continental regions and the regions in the high northern latitudes are confronted with warming values which are 3 degrees C to 5 degrees C above the values of the respective region when the 1.5 degrees C target would be met. | [
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Introduction to the practice of telemedicine. Telemedicine is the delivery of health care and the exchange of health-care information across distances. It is not a technology or a separate or new branch of medicine. Telemedicine episodes may be classified on the basis of: (I) the interaction between the client and the expert (i.e. realtime or prerecorded), and (2) the type of information being transmitted (e.g. text, audio, video). Much of the telemedicine which is now practised is performed in industrialized countries, such as the USA, but there is increasing interest in the use of telemedicine in developing countries. There are basically two conditions under which telemedicine should be considered: (I) when there is no alternative (e.g. in emergencies in remote environments), and (2) when it is better than existing conventional services (e.g. teleradiology for rural hospitals). For example, telemedicine can be expected to improve equity of access to health care, the quality of that care, and the efficiency by which it is delivered. Research in telemedicine increased steadily in the late 1990s, although the quality of the research could be improved - there have been few randomized controlled trials to date. | [
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Age and Sex-Associated Changes of Complement Activity and Complement Levels in a Healthy Caucasian Population. Methods: Complement levels and functional activity were determined in 120 healthy volunteers, 60 women, 60 men, age range 20-69 year. Serum functional activity of the classical pathway (CP), lectin pathway activated by mannan (MBL-LP) and alternative pathway (AP) was measured in sera, using deposition of C5b-9 as readout. In addition, levels of C1q, MBL, MASP-1, MASP-2, ficolin-2, ficolin-3, C2, C4, C3, C5, C6, C7, C8, C9, factor B, factor D, properdin, C1-inhibitor and C4b-binding protein, were determined. Age- and sex-related differences were evaluated.Results: Significantly lower AP activity was found in females compared to males. Further analysis of the AP revealed lower C3 and properdin levels in females, while factor D concentrations were higher. MBL-LP activity was not influenced by sex, but MBL and ficolin-3 levels were significantly lower in females compared to males. There were no significant differences in CP activity or CP components between females and males, nevertheless females had significantly lower levels of the terminal components. The CP. and AP activity was significantly higher in the elderly, in contrast to MBL-LP activity. Moreover, C1-inhibitor, C5, C8, and C9 increased with age in contrast to a decrease of factor D and C3 levels. In-depth analysis of the functional activity assays revealed that MBL-LP activity was predominantly dependent on MBL and MASP-2 concentration, whereas CP activity relied on C2, C1-inhibitor and C5 levels. AP activity was strongly and directly associated with levels of C3, factor B and C5.Introduction: The complement system is essential for an adequate immune response. Much attention has been given to the role of complement in disease. However, to better understand complement in pathology, it is crucial to first analyze this system under different physiological conditions. The aim of the present study was therefore to investigate the inter-individual variation in complement activity and the influences of age and sex.Conclusion: This study demonstrated significant sex and age -related differences in complement levels and functionality in the healthy population. Therefore, age and sex analysis should be taken into consideration when discussing complement-related pathologies and subsequent complement-targeted therapies. | [
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Augment reality and virtual reality for the improvement of spatial competences in Physical Education. Young and mobile are an intense combination in entertainment. Mobile phones can also be a powerful tool in improving some teaching parameters, also in Physical Education. This research aims to test if Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality with mobile phones can have an impact on Physical Education students and their abilities in spatial orientation and distance estimation. In the investigation we have created two virtual and augmented scenarios, and a quantitative methodology has been used to analyze and contrast the learning tests carried out. The results show that these augmented worlds improve spatial orientation and estimation capacity. The study shows that it is convenient to develop activities and digital scenarios to incorporate mobile augmented reality in the learning of spatial orientation, at the same time as teaching skills are improved. | [
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Structural and Functional Overview of the Lectin Complement Pathway: Its Molecular Basis and Physiological Implication. The complement system is an effector mechanism in immunity. It is activated in three ways, the classical, alternative and lectin pathways. The lectin pathway is initiated by the binding of mannose-binding lectin (MBL) or ficolins to carbohydrates on the surfaces of pathogens. In humans, MBL and three types of ficolins (L-ficolin, H-ficolin, and M-ficolin) are present in plasma. Of these lectins, at least, MBL, L-ficolin, and H-ficolin are complexed with three types of MBL-associated serine proteases (MASPs), MASP-1, MASP-2, and MASP-3 and their truncated proteins (MAp44 and sMAP). In the lectin pathway, the lectin-MASP complex (i.e., a complex of lectin, MASPs and their truncated proteins) binds to pathogens, resulting in the activation of C4 and C2 to generate a C3 convertase capable of activating C3. MASP-2 is involved in the activation of C4 and C2. MASP-1 activates C2 and MASP-2. The functions of MASP-3, sMAP, and MAp44 in the lectin pathway remain unknown. MASP-1 and MASP-3 also have a role in the alternative pathway. MBL and ficolins are able to bind to a variety of pathogens depending on their carbohydrate binding specificity, resulting in the activation of the lectin pathway. Deficiencies of the components of the lectin pathway are associated to susceptibility to infection, indicating an important role of the lectin pathway in innate immunity. The lectin-MASP complex is also involved in innate immunity by activating the coagulation system. Recent findings suggest a crucial role of MASP-3 in development. | [
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Emotions in Jerusalem's Prayer: Baruch and Lamentations. The narrator of the so-called book of Baruch ultimately remains unknown. What is more, the book speaks about Baruch himself only in the third person. Beginning at Bar 4:5, two different messages are delivered. First, an ultimately unidentifiable prophetic speaker conveys his message in Bar 4:5-9a and in Bar 4:30-5:9. This narrator then lets Jerusalem, who is incarnated as mother and widow, have her say in Bar 4:9b-4:29. The highly emotional speech of Jerusalem expresses in a very colourful way the departure of her children into exile and their happy return from that exile because of the Eternal's grace. This dense language is almost without parallel in the Septuagint, although there are affinities with other biblical books. It is not these affinities but the composition that is in the end crucial. | [
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AVO Analysis Combined With TeagerKaiser Energy Methods for Hydrocarbon Detection. An improved amplitude variation with offset (AVO) attribute analysis method combined with the Teagerx2013;Kaiser energy methods for hydrocarbon detection is proposed in this letter. It has a stronger ability to reveal the subtle amplitude anomaly changes caused by hydrocarbons than the traditional AVO analysis method. The Teagerx2013;Kaiser energy operator (TKEO) algorithm is used for enhancing the hydrocarbonsx2019; characteristics of the prestack gathers. The cross Teagerx2013;Kaiser energy operator (CTKEO) is further employed to efficiently highlight the AVO feature of the gathers by calculating the energy interaction between the first trace and the other traces. Finally, the intercept and gradient product (PG) parameters are obtained through AVO analysis for hydrocarbon detection. The model test and the field data applications show that the proposed method can effectively target the gas reservoirs. This letter presents a complementary approach to current AVO analysis methods. | [
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277
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Evaluation of urinary Tamm-Horsfall protein in post-menopausal diabetic women. Tamm-Horsfall protein (THP), a glycoprotein produced in the thick ascending limb (TAL) and the early distal convoluted tubule (DCT), is normally excreted in large amounts in urine. Urinary THP may be a useful marker for renal damage. The goal of this research project was to determine the THP excretion in control and diabetic post-menopausal women. Twenty-four hour urine samples were collected from 19 controls and 19 diabetic patients (11 non-insulin dependent diabetic mellitus (non-IDDM) patients, and 8 insulin dependent diabetic mellitus (IDDM) patients). Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), Western blotting, and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) methods were used. It was determined that urinary THP concentrations were significantly decreased in patients with IDDM compared to patients with non-IDDM and controls. In conclusion, laboratory quantitation of urinary THP may be a useful indicator of cellular abnormalities such as reduced protein (THP) synthesis of the cells of the TAL and early DCT in some IDDM patients. (Journal of Diabetes and Its Complications 13;4:204-210, 1999.) (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc. | [
2,
143
] |
Pulse radiolysis of carboxylic acids used as ligands of metal oxide nanocluster resists. The radiation-induced reactions of ligands play an important role in the sensitization of metal oxide nanocluster resists. However, the details in the radiation chemistry of ligands for metal oxide nanocluster resists are still unknown. In this study, the radiation-induced reactions of carboxylic acid ligands were investigated using a pulse radiolysis method. The rate constants for the reactions of molecular and ionic forms of tiglic, angelic, o-toluic, and p-toluic acids with hydrated electrons were determined. The rate constants for the reactions of tiglic, angelic, benzoic, o-toluic, and p-toluic acids with dodecane radical cations were also determined. The radical ions of tiglic and angelic acids were more unstable than those of benzoic, o-toluic, and p-toluic acids. The results obtained in this study indicate that the molecular structures of ligands affect their reactivity to cationic and anion species and the stability of their radical cations and anions. (C) 2019 The Japan Society of Applied Physics | [
6,
153
] |
SELENIUM NANOPARTICLE PROTECTED STRAWBERRY AGAINST SALT STRESS THROUGH MODIFICATIONS IN SALICYLIC ACID, ION HOMEOSTASIS, ANTIOXIDANT MACHINERY, AND PHOTOSYNTHESIS PERFORMANCE. Since plant responses to selenium nanoparticles (nSe) had not been clarified, this study was carried out to evaluate the effects of nSe (10 and 100 mu M) on photosynthesis performance, ion homeostasis, antioxidant system, and phenylpropanoids in strawberry exposed to salt stress. Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectroscopy analyses indicated that foliar-applied nSe can be taken up by leaves and trans-located to roots. Salinity led to an increase in Na concentration and reductions in Ca and K contents which were relieved by the nSe applications. Moreover, the nSe treatment at 10 mu M alleviated the NaCl-induced lesion to PSII functioning, contributing to improvement in water-splitting complex (F-v/F-o) under salinity. The exposure to nSe at a concentration of 100 mu M exhibited a moderate stress, determined by the increases in hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and lipid peroxidation rate (membrane integrity index). The nSe10 treatment increased catalase activity and phenylpropanoid derivatives contents (salicylic acid, catechin, and caffeic acid) and decreased the content of oxidants under salinity condition. Consequently, nSe utilization at a suitable dose can be an effective method to alleviate signs of salt stress via improvements in photosynthesis, ion hemostasis, photosynthesis performance, salicylic acid (a vital signaling defensive hormone), and antioxidant machinery. | [
5,
69
] |
Pylorus resection in partial pancreaticoduodenectomy: impact on delayed gastric emptying. BACKGROUND: Partial pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) is complicated by postoperative delayed gastric emptying (DGE) in up to 45% of patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of pylorus resection on DGE following PD.METHODS: Forty PD patients underwent pylorus resection with complete stomach preservation (prPD). They were compared with a pair-matched group of PD patients with pylorus preservation (ppPD) in a 1:1 ratio (age, sex, histopathology). The objectives were operative parameters, DGE incidence, morbidity, and length of hospital stay.RESULTS: DGE incidence was significantly lower after prPD (15.0% vs 42.5%; P =.0066). Operative parameters and surgical morbidity (other than DGE) were not different (27.5% prPD vs 30.0% ppPD). There was a trend toward a shorter hospital stay in the prPD group.CONCLUSIONS: Resection of the pylorus with stomach preservation significantly reduces the frequency of DGE after PD without showing any disadvantage when compared with standard ppPD. This finding could be of high relevance for the clinical practice in routine PD and should consequently be investigated in a large randomized multicenter trial to create further evidence. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. | [
2,
229
] |
Common and recurrent HPGD mutations in Caucasian individuals with primary hypertrophic osteoarthropathy. Methods. Five previously unreported families of Caucasian European origin, with one or more individuals affected with typical PHO, were characterized clinically and by complete sequencing of the HPGD coding exons.Results. Biallelic HPGD mutations were identified in affected individuals in all the five families, confirming a very specific association of this phenotype with HPGD mutations. The previously described c. 175_176delCT frameshift mutation was observed in association with two different alleles of an adjacent single nucleotide polymorphism.Conclusions. Biallelic HPGD mutations are found in the majority of patients with typical PHO, and sequencing of the HPGD gene is a highly specific first-line investigation for patients presenting in this way, particularly during childhood. The c. 175_176delCT frameshift mutation appears to be recurrent and to be the commonest HPGD mutation in Caucasian families.Objective. Homozygous recessive germline mutations of the 15-hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase (HPGD) gene, encoding 15-hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase, result in persistent elevation of circulating PGE(2) levels, causing the syndrome of primary hypertrophic osteoarthropathy (PHO). Homozygous HPGD mutations have so far been reported in 10 families, all but one displaying parental consanguinity. Only two of these families were of European origin. We wished to determine the role of HPGD in causing PHO in non-consanguineous European families. | [
2,
126
] |
Measurement and Simulation of Flow Properties of Coal Ash Slag in Coal Gasification. The viscosities of 45 coal ash slag samples at high temperature have been measured under different temperatures and shear rates. The computer thermodynamic software package FactSage has been used to predict liquidus temperatures, volume fractions of crystallized solid particles (phi), and the compositions of remaining liquid phase for 45 coal ash slag samples. The flow properties of completely liquid and partly crystallized coal ash slag samples have been predicted by three viscosity models. The Urbain formalism has been modified to describe the viscosities of fully liquid slag and homogeneous remaining liquid phase in coal ash slag samples. The modified Einstein equation and Einstein-Roscoe equation have been used to describe the viscosities of heterogeneous coal ash slag samples of phi < 10.00 vol % and phi >= 10.00 vol %, respectively. These three models provided a good description of the experimental data of fully liquid and heterogeneous coal ash slag samples. The new models also predicted flow properties of mixtures of coal ash slags with CaO, Fe2O3, MgO, SiO2, and Al2O3. (C) 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 57: 801-818, 2011 | [
9,
100
] |
Kinematic Couplings for Assemblage and Deployment of Multi-Mirror Space Reflectors and Analogies from the Classical Optics. Fixtures that ensure high accuracy and repeatability of installation of optical elements on an optical bench, were proposed by Kelvin and Maxwell in order to solve problems of experimental physics. These surprisingly simple devices were known as kinematic couplings in English-language literature and have been used for many years in various scientific and applied researches. Based on the idea behind these devices, we consider the possibility of developing mechanical self-setting locks for assembly and automatic deployment of solid multi-mirror reflectors of space telescopes. The results of kinematic analysis and physical simulation of the proposed devices are presented. | [
9,
161
] |
High-Throughput Quantitation of Key Cocoa Tastants by Means of Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry and Application to a Global Sample Set. Historically often described as the food of gods, cocoa-based products exhibit a pleasant aroma as well as a desirable astringent, bitter, and sour taste, which results in a high consumer preference. The key taste components of cocoa were identified and characterized by combining sensory analysis, fractionation, and structure elucidation. Cocoa astringency is driven by N-phenylpropenoyl-L-amino acids, polyphenol glycosides, and flavan-3-ols, while the latter compound class also contributes to bitterness. The key principle for cocoa bitterness was shown to be the combination of alkaloids and 2,5-diketopiperazines. To understand the influence of plant genetics, breeding, and processing on the sensory profile of cocoa products, high-throughput sensometabolite quantitation must be performed throughout all of these steps. In this work, we present a rapid, sensitive, and robust quantitation method on a single ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) platform, requiring minimal workup for any sample type from farm to fork. This method was applied to a global set of 75 cocoa bean samples from all over the world before and after using a uniform roasting protocol. Within this world map, geographical origin did not predetermine cocoa taste profiles, whereas simulated processing by roasting was confirmed to be crucial in profile development. This method will open avenues for further studies to ultimately enable chocolate producers to control and optimize the taste properties of products as well as to monitor raw material selection and processing. | [
5,
282
] |
Safety of Percutaneous Cryoablation in Patients with Painful Bone and Soft Tissue Tumors: A Single Center Prospective Study (SCIRO-1502). This single center prospective study is being conducted to evaluate the safety of the cryoablation for patients with pathologically diagnosed painful bone and soft tissue tumors. Enrollment of 10 patients is planned over the 3-year recruitment period. Patients have related local pain after receiving medications or external radiation therapies will be included in this study. Cryoablation will be percutaneously performed under imaging guidance, and a temperature sensor will be used during treatment as necessary. The primary endpoint is prevalence of severe adverse events within 4 weeks after therapy. The secondary endpoint is effectiveness 4 weeks after the procedure. | [
2,
37
] |
THE CRYSTAL-STRUCTURES OF MO4AL17 AND MO5AL22. Single crystals of two phases in the binary Mo-Al system were obtained from heat treated aluminum-rich alloys after the dissolution of the remaining solidified aluminum in hydrochloric acid. The crystal structures have been investigated using four-circle diffractometer data: Mo4Al17 was found to be monoclinic (space group C2, a = 9.158(1) Angstrom, b = 4.9323(8) Angstrom, c = 28.935(5) Angstrom, beta = 96.71(1)degrees, Z = 4), while Mo5Al22 was determined to be orthorhombic (space group Fdd 2, a = 73.82(3) Angstrom, b = 9.161(3) Angstrom, c = 4.933(2)Angstrom, Z = 8). Three different polyhedrons represent the atomic environment: a hexagonal cuboctahedron (CN = 12), a defect cuboctahedron (CN = 11) and a combination from cuboctahedron and rhombododecahedron (CN = 13). The crystal structures are interpreted in terms of the ''intergrowth'' concept as being built from slab segments taken from the closest packing with the composition TAl5, (related to WAl5, structure type, T - transition metal) and segments taken from the TiSi2 structure type (composition TAl2). The composition of the unit cell is described by the formula Mo2m+2nAl10m+4n(m - number of TAl5-segments and n - number of TiSi2-segments in the unit cell). | [
6,
262
] |
Anionic Ring Opening Polymerization Mechanism and Dynamics of Hexamethylcyclotrisiloxane (D-3). The advantages in the living anionic polymerization of hexamethylcyclotrisiloxane(D-3) in terms of polymerization mechanism and dynamics are summarized. Frye suggested that three kinds of initiation compounds were formed in hydrocarbon solvents and no polymerization proceeded without promotor. The mechanism proposed by Frye is accepted by follower and validated by some researches based on MALDI-TOF technology. During the polymerization, promotors, solvents, initiators and process can change the equilibrium between the association and disassociation of living chains, which can effect the \\'back-biting\\' and redistribution side reaction in anionic ring opening polymerization of D-3. First-order kinetics is obtained in monomer concentration. Promotors and initiators change the association ability of living chain end, also the polymerization dynamics. | [
1,
253
] |
Effects of human endothelial gene polymorphisms on cellular responses to hyperglycaemia: Role of NOS3 (Glu298Asp) and ACE (I/D) polymorphisms. The functional relevance of NOS3 and ACE genetic variations to endothelial cell function is largely unstudied. Here we tested the functional relevance of the NOS3 (Glu298Asp) polymorphism and ACE (I/D) polymorphism in endothelial cells in vitro. Our hypothesis was that these genetic polymorphisms alter endothelial cell sensitivity to glucose and 3-nitrotyrosine (3NT). Genotyped HUVECs were incubated with glucose, free 3NT or a combination of these two toxicants. Significant differences in glucose-induced cell death and free 3NT-induced cell death were observed among the NOS3 genotypes. Combined glucose/3NT caused increased toxicity among the NOS3 genotypes. No differences were observed among the ACE genotypes in their responses to glucose/3NT. These data demonstrate that the NOS3 genotype may be an important predictor of, or be mechanistically involved in, endothelial vulnerability, whereas the ACE I/D genotype is apparently less important. Thus this NOS3 genetic variation may play a role in vulnerability to endothelium-dependent diabetic vascular complications. | [
2,
190
] |
Monitoring Trehalose Uptake and Conversion by Single Bacteria using Laser Tweezers Raman Spectroscopy. Having the ability to monitor metabolic activity at the scale of single bacterial cells noninvasively would enable us to follow changes in the distribution of activity in bacterial systems which is of major importance for topics such as integration of metabolism and development, metabolic engineering, microbial activity and drug resistance, cell-cell interactions, and quorum sensing. Here, we used laser tweezers Raman spectroscopy to monitor the in vivo real-time uptake and conversion of trehalose by single bacterial cells. This approach can be used for the quantitative determination of sugar uptake by a single bacterium and its metabolic response to the sugar application with time. We show that uptake of trehalose can be quantified in single living bacterial cells held in place by an optical trap while simultaneously collecting Raman spectra upon application of sugar to the medium. This technique yields real-time chemical information in a label-free manner, thus eliminating the limitations of toxicity of the isotopic probes common in studying transport processes. It can substitute the laborious and time-consuming analytical evaluation. Although the single-cell Raman spectroscopy method demonstrated here is focused on the study of trehalose uptake by Sinorhizobium meliloti, the demonstrated approach is applicable to many different organisms and carbohydrates in general. | [
1,
58
] |
Human cytomegalovirus: Latency and reactivation in the myeloid lineage. Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) persists as a sub-clinical, lifelong infection in the human host which is maintained at least in part by its carriage in the absence of detectable infectious virus: a hallmark of latent infection. In contrast, reactivation from latency in immuno-compromised individuals can result in serious disease. Understanding virus latency and reactivation, therefore, is essential for a full understanding of the biology and pathogenesis of this persistent human herpesvirus. However, the precise cellular sites in which HCMV is carried and the mechanisms regulating its latency and reactivation, during natural infection, remain poorly understood.Recent work, however, has led to a consensus opinion that cells of the myeloid lineage are one site of carriage of HCMV in vivo and that in myeloid dendritic cell (DC) progenitors the viral genome is carried latently in the absence of virus lytic gene expression. In contrast, differentiation of these cells to a mature DC phenotype is linked with reactivation of infectious virus resulting from differentiation-dependent chromatin remodelling of the viral major immediate-early promoter. Thus there is a crucial link between the differentiation of myeloid cells and transcriptional reactivation of latent virus which is likely to play a key role in viral pathogenesis. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. | [
2,
326
] |
Inversion of dynamical Bragg intensities to complex structure factors by iterated projections. For Ultramic. 2020. ('Pico' Festschrift, May 2021). A method for recovering complex structure factors from many simultaneously excited Bragg beam in- tensities is described. The method is applied to simulated transmission electron diffraction data over a wide range of crystal thickness and beam energies. The method is based on iterated projections between structure and scattering matrices, which are related by a matrix unit ary transformation, exponential, which we invert. The algorithm removes multiple-scattering perturbations from diffraction data and might be extended to other fields, including X-ray and neutron diffraction and cryo-electron microscopy. Because coherent multiple scattering involves interference between Bragg beams, the method also solves the phase problem. Unlike dynamical inversion from electron microscope images or ptychography data, the method, which starts with Bragg beam intensities, provides complex structure factors unaffected by focusing errors or resolution limitations imposed by lenses. We provide inversions from simulated data with 441 simultaneously excited Bragg beams over a range of thickness and beam energy. We discuss the retrieval of chirality information from enantiomorphs, the efficient incorporation of symmetry information using the irreducible representation of the group of structure matrices, and the effect of HOLZ lines to provide three-dimensional information. | [
6,
210
] |
Two shifted Jacobi-Gauss collocation schemes for solving two-dimensional variable-order fractional Rayleigh-Stokes problem. Because of the non-local properties of fractional operators, obtaining the analytical solutions of partial differential equations with fractional variable order is more challenging. Efficiently solving these equations naturally becomes an urgent topic. This paper reports an efficient numerical solution of the Rayleigh-Stokes (R-S) problem with variable-order fractional derivative for a heated generalized second grade fluid. The shifted Jacobi polynomials are employed as basis functions for the approximate solution of the aforementioned problem in a bounded domain, and the variable-order derivative is given by the means of Riemann-Liouville sense. The proposed method is a combination of the shifted Jacobi-Gauss collocation (SJ-G-C) approach for the spatial discretization and the shifted Jacobi-Gauss-Radau collocation (SJ-GR-C) approach for temporal discretization. The aforementioned problem is then reduced to a problem that consists in a system of easily solvable algebraic equations. Finally, numerical problems are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed numerical method. | [
4,
213
] |
DXA estimates of vertebral volumetric bone mineral density in children: Potential advantages of paired posteroanterior and lateral scans. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) estimates of areal bone mineral density (BMD) are confounded by bone size in children. Two strategies have been proposed to estimate vertebral volumetric BMD: (1) bone mineral apparent density (BMAD) is based on the posteroanterior (PA) spine scan; (2) width-adjusted bone mineral density (WABMD) is based on paired PA lateral scans. The objective of this study was to compare DXA estimates of vertebral bone mineral content (BMC), volume and volumetric BMD obtained from Hologic PA scans (Hologic, Inc., Bedford, MA) alone, and paired PA lateral scans in 124 healthy children, ages 4 to 20 yr. The PA scans were used to estimate bone volume (PA Volume) as (PA Area)(1.5) and BMAD as [(PA BMC)/(PA Volume)]. Paired PA lateral scans were used to estimate width-adjusted bone volume (WA Volume) as [(pi/4)(PA width)(lateral depth)(vertebral height)] and WABMD as [(lateral BMC)/(WA Volume)]. Generalized estimating equations were used to compare the relationship between scan type (PA vs. paired, PA lateral) and bone outcomes, and the effects of height and maturation on this relationship. The estimates of BMC and volume derived from PA scans and paired PA lateral scans were highly correlated (r > 0.97); WABMD and BMAD were less correlated (r = 0.81). The increases in BMC, volume, and volumetric BMD with greater height and maturation were significantly larger (all p < 0.001) when estimated from paired PA lateral scans, compared with PA scans alone. The proportion of spine BMC contained within the vertebral body, versus the cortical spinous processes, increased significantly with age (p < 0.001) from 28% to 69%. The smaller increases in bone measures on PA scans may have been due to magnification error by the fan beam as posterior tissue thickness increased in taller, more mature subjects, and the distance of the vertebrae from the X-ray source increased. In conclusion, paired Hologic PA lateral scans may increase sensitivity to growth-related increases in trabecular BMC and density in the spine, with less bias due to magnification error. | [
2,
48
] |
Patterns of managing chronic hepatitis B treatment-related drug resistance: a survey of physicians in Mainland China, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. Randomly selected CHB-treating physicians in Mainland China, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand underwent a face-to-face interview. A standardized questionnaire was used to assess how physicians identify, monitor, and manage suspected resistance and its associated medical costs.Limited access to HBV resistance tests causes physicians in Asia to manage suspected resistance by various HBV DNA assays and ALT tests. This raises concerns that resistance may not be detected early enough to be rescued efficiently.We interviewed 575 physicians from January to May 2008. Most physicians preferred a \\'prevention-of-antiviral resistance\\' strategy over a \\'rescue-once-resistance-develops\\' strategy. Physicians had encountered lamivudine resistance most frequently (96-100% of respondents), followed by the resistance to adefovir (18-58%) and entecavir (3-7%). While physicians in South Korea and Taiwan have access to resistance testing, physicians in Mainland China and Thailand have limited access to resistance testing but rely on HBV DNA and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) tests to identify resistance. Once resistance is suspected, 60% of the physicians in Mainland China, South Korea, and Thailand monitored these patients quarterly and the remaining 40% opted for monthly follow-up. In comparison, 70% of the Taiwanese physicians monitored these patients monthly. The average total direct medical costs, excluding antiviral costs, to manage a patient during the first year after suspected resistance is identified ranged from USD $319 to USD $709.The emergence of antiviral resistance can negate the benefits of antiviral therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). This study aimed to assess how physicians in Asia manage suspected antiviral resistance. | [
2,
124
] |
DETECTION OF OUTLIERS AND INFLUENTIAL OBSERVATIONS IN REGRESSION-ANALYSIS USING STOCHASTIC PRIOR INFORMATION. When stochastic prior information is available there can be a considerable improvement in the estimation of beta in the usual model Y = X beta + e. Test statistics and diagnostics are developed to test for outliers and to detect influential observations when the residuals are analysed after these residuals have been computed using stochastic prior information. Applications to Ridge, Generalized Ridge and Stein type estimators and some examples are given. | [
4,
296
] |
The origin of sub-surface source waters define the sea-air flux of methane in the Mauritanian Upwelling, NW Africa. Concentrations and flux densities of methane were determined during a Lagrangian study of an advective filament in the permanent upwelling region off western Mauritania. Newly upwelled waters were dominated by the presence of North Atlantic Central Water and surface CH4 concentrations of 2.2 +/- 0.3 nmol L-1 were largely in equilibrium with atmospheric values, with surface saturations of 101.7 +/- 14%. As the upwelling filament aged and was advected offshore, CH4 enriched South Atlantic Central Water from intermediate depths of 100-350 m was entrained into the surface mixed layer of the filament following intense mixing associated with the shelf break. Surface saturations increased to 198.9 +/- 15% and flux densities increased from a mean value over the shelf of 2.0 +/- 1.1 mu mol m(-2) d(-1) to a maximum of 22.6 mu mol m(-2) d(-1). Annual CH4 emissions for this persistent filament were estimated at 0.77 +/- 0.64 Gg which equates to a maximum of 0.35% of the global oceanic budget. This raises the known outgassing intensity of this area and highlights the importance of advecting filaments from upwelling waters as efficient vehicles for air-sea exchange. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. | [
7,
113
] |
Development of Condition Assessment Index of Ballast Track Using Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR). The condition of the ballast is a critical factor affecting the riding quality and the performance of a track. Fouled ballast can accelerate track irregularities, which results in frequent ballast maintenance requirements. Severe fouling of the ballast can lead to track instability, an uncomfortable ride and, in the worst case, a derailment. In this regard, maintenance engineers perform routine track inspections to assess current and future ballast conditions. GPR has been used to assess the thickness and fouling levels of ballast. However, there are no potent procedures or specifications with which to determine the level of fouling. This research aims to develop a GPR analysis method capable of evaluating ballast fouling levels. Four ballast boxes were constructed with various levels of fouling. GPR testing was conducted using a GSSI (Geophysical Survey Systems, Inc.) device (400, 900, 1600 MHz), and a KRRI (Korea Railroad Research Institute) GPR device (500 MHz), which was developed for ballast tracks. The dielectric permittivity, scattering of the depth (thickness) values, signal strength at the ballast boundary, and area of the frequency spectrum were compared against the fouling level. The results show that as the fouling level increases, the former two variables increase while the latter two decrease. On the basis of these observations, a new integrated parameter, called a ballast condition scoring index (BCSI), is suggested. The BCSI was verified using field data. The results show that the BCSI has a strong correlation with the fouling level of the ballast and can be used as a fouling-level-indicating parameter.</p> | [
7,
277
] |
MG-APP: an open-source software for multi-GNSS precise point positioning and application analysis. To meet the demands of research and precise point positioning (PPP) in a multi-GNSS environment, we developed a GNSS data processing software named multi-GNSS automatic precise positioning software (MG-APP). MG-APP is an open-source software that can be run on Windows/Linux/UNIX and other operating systems. It can simultaneously process GPS/GLONASS/BDS/Galileo observations using a Kalman filter or a square root information filter (SRIF). Compared to the Kalman filter, the SRIF has better numerical stability and maintains stable convergence even with a significant round-off error. MG-APP has a comprehensive and friendly graphical user interface that conveniently allows the user to select models and set parameters. It also contains several types of tropospheric and estimation models that make it easy to analyze the impact of different models and parameters on PPP data processing. After the data processing finishes, zenith tropospheric delays, receiver clock offsets, satellite ambiguity parameters, observation residuals, and other results will be saved into files. Users can further analyze the solution results and construct graphs easily. | [
7,
162
] |
CONSERVATIVE TREATMENT IN THE MANAGEMENT OF INFLAMMATORY AURAL POLYP. We found that treatment with topical steroid/antibiotic deceases disease activity and renders subsequent surgery less extensive.All cases of aural polyp that presented to the department during 1990 were included. Patients with obvious cholesteatoma or in whom inner ear or intracranial pathology was suspected were excluded as were children and patients who had undergone previous ear surgery.This prospective study assesses the role of intensive outpatient based conservative treatment in the management of aural polyp. | [
2,
122
] |
Initial results in the assessment of multiple myeloma using F-18-FDG PET. This prospective study was undertaken to investigate the appearance of multiple myeloma on fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET). Furthermore, the accuracy of FDG-PET in detecting myeloma lesions and its influence on patient management were evaluated. Forty-three patients with known multiple myeloma (n=28) or solitary plasmacytoma (n=15) underwent FDG-PET. The results of routinely performed radiographs and of scans obtained using all available imaging modalities (MRI, CT), as well as the clinical course, were used for verification of detected lesions. Focally increased tracer uptake was observed in 38 of 41 known osteolytic bone lesions (sensitivity 92.7%) in 23 patients. In addition, 71 further bone lesions which were negative on radiographs were detected in 14 patients. Twenty-six (36.6%) of these lesions could be confirmed in ten patients. As a result of FDG-PET imaging, clinical management was influenced in five (14.0%) patients. The positive predictive value for active disease was 100% in patients with focal or mixed focal/diffuse skeletal FDG uptake and 75% in patients with diffuse bone marrow uptake. Depending on the interpretation of the PET scans in patients with diffuse bone marrow uptake, the sensitivity ranged from 83.8% to 91.9% and the specificity from 83.3% to 100%. FDG-PET thus proved highly accurate in detecting multiple myeloma, and revealed a greater extent of disease than routine radiographs in 14 of 23 (60.9%) patients who had osteolytic bone lesions. FDG-PET might contribute to the initial staging of solitary plasrnacytoma. | [
2,
158
] |
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