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Five-Year Trend in the Number of Dermatologic Clinical Drug Trials Registered on ClinicalTrials.gov. Conclusions and relevance: The sky does not appear to be falling, at least not yet, with regard to continued development of treatments for patients with skin disease.Background: There is a reported global decrease in the number of clinical trials conducted in recent years. We aimed to determine if this declining trend can be extrapolated to dermatologic clinical trials.Methods: We conducted a query of ClinicalTrials.gov for dermatologic clinical trials from 2009 to 2013 for 6 common skin conditions: acne, psoriasis, rosacea, eczema and atopic dermatitis, actinic keratosis, and skin cancer. Results were sorted by condition and number of study subjects. This study did not involve any participants apart from the researchers.Results: Although there is an increasing trend in the number of trials performed annually, the results were not significant (P=.08). The average number of patients per study has not significantly changed (P=.12), but there was a significant increase in the number of large studies (201+ subjects) conducted over time (P=.002). Although there was significant variation based on dermatologic condition studied (global statistic P=.01), only skin cancer demonstrated a significant change in the number of studies registered annually (beta=10.6 studies/year, P=.04).

Pre-lithiated carbon-coated Si/SiOx nanospheres as a negative electrode material for advanced lithium ion capacitors. A high-performance lithium ion capacitor (LIC) composed of activated carbon (as the positive electrode) and pre-lithiated C-coated Si/SiOx nanospheres (as the negative electrode) is investigated as a potential energy storage system for high-power and high-energy applications. Under optimized pre-lithiation conditions, the feasibility of pre-lithiated C-coated Si/SiOx nanospheres is thoroughly examined as an advanced negative electrode compared with a conventional graphite LIC using pre-lithiated C-coated Si/SiOx nanospheres. The pre-lithiated C-coated Si/SiOx nanospheres show much improved reversible capacity and rate capability with higher capacity retention at a high current density of 10C up to 1000 cycles compared with a conventional LIC. Such improvements may be attributed to the unique physical and chemical properties of C-coated Si/SiOx nanospheres. We believe that this approach provides a practical guideline for developing and successfully implementing advanced LICs.

A high performance, area efficient TTA-like vertex shader architecture with optimized floating point arithmetic unit for embedded graphics applications. A fully programmable vertex shader based on Transport Triggered Architecture (TTA) is proposed in this paper to provide high efficiency of performance and connectivity for embedded applications. At the architecture level, fine-grained data transport in TTA datapath and multi-threading method are adopted to exploit instruction and data level parallelism respectively in the graphics applications. The datapath connectivity can be optimized mainly by native architectural visible bypass in TTA and hybrid result re-collection schemes. At the shader core level, a novel SIMD multi-functional dot-production unit and an area efficient special function unit are introduced for floating-point processing. The proposed processor which achieves peak capacity of 1.5 GFLOPS and 125 Mvertices/s can totally acquire 17.6% reduction in hardware cost and can provide 1.3 times improvement in performance per logic cost ratio under a 0.18 mu m CMOS process for real graphics benchmarks compared to previous expanded VLIW vertex processor. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Quantitative Identification of Yellow Rust and Powdery Mildew in Winter Wheat Based on Wavelet Feature. Powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis) and stripe rust (Puccinia striifounis f. sp. Tritici) are two of the most prevalent and serious winter wheat diseases in the field, which caused heavy yield loss of winter wheat all over the world. It is necessary to quantitatively identify different diseases for spraying specific fungicides. This study examined the potential of quantitative distinction of powdery mildew and yellow rust by using hyperspectral data with continuous wavelet transform at canopy level. Spectral normalization was processing prior to other data analysis, given the differences of the groups in cultivars and soil environment. Then, continuous wavelet features were extracted from normalized spectral bands using continuous wavelet transform. Correlation analysis and independent t-test were used conjunctively to obtain sensitive spectral bands and continuous wavelet features of 350 similar to 1300 nm, and then, principal component analysis was done to eliminate the redundancy of the spectral features. After that, Fisher linear discriminant models of powdery mildew, stripe rust and normal sample were built based on the principal components of SBs, WFs, and the combination of SBs & WFs, respectively. Finally, the methods of leave-one-out and 55 samples which have no share in model building were used to validate the models. The accuracies of classification were analyzed, it was indicated that the overall accuracies with 92.7% and 90.4% of the models based on WFs, were superior to those of SFs with 65.5% and 61.5%; However, the classification accuracies of Fisher 80-55 were higher but no different than leave-one-out cross validation model, which was possibly related to randomness of training samples selection. The overall accuracies with 94.6% and 91.1% of the models based on SBs & WFs were the highest; The producer' accuracies of powdery mildew and healthy samples based on SBs & WFs were improved more than 10% than those of WFs in Fisher 80-55. Focusing on the discriminant accuracy of different disease, yellow rust can be discriminated in the model based on both WFs and SBs & WFs with higher accuracy; the user' accuracy and producer' accuracy were all up to 100%. The results show great potential of continuous wavelet features in discriminating different disease stresses, and provide theoretical basis for crop disease identification in wide range using remote sensing image.

Effect of Cochlear Implantation on Hearing Fluctuation in Patients with Biallelic SLC26A4 Variants. Introduction: Fluctuating hearing loss is a distinctive feature caused by SLC26A4 variants. We investigated whether cochlear implantation had protective or deleterious effect on hearing fluctuation in patients with biallelic SLC26A4 variants. Methods: Patients with biallelic SLC26A4 variants (N = 16; age = 10.24 +/- 9.20 years) who had unilateral cochlear implantation and consecutive postsurgical, bilateral pure-tone audiograms more than 3 times were selected. We retrospectively reviewed the patients' medical records from 2008 to 2019 obtained from a tertiary medical center and used the auditory threshold change (Shift) over time as a marker of hearing fluctuation. Fluctuation events were counted, and the Shift of the implanted and contralateral ears was compared using logistic regression with a generalized estimating equation and linear mixed model. A total of 178 values were included. Results: The odds of fluctuating hearing frequency were 11.185-fold higher in the unimplanted ears than in the implanted ears postoperatively (p = 0.001). The extent of fluctuation at 250 and 500 Hz was also significantly lower in the implanted ears than in the unimplanted ears after adjusting for every other effect (p = 0.003 and p < 0.001, respectively). Notably, higher residual hearing was rather associated with lesser fluctuation in frequency and the extent of fluctuation at 500 Hz, indicating residual hearing function is not the positive predictor for hearing fluctuation. Conclusion: In patients with biallelic SLC26A4 variants, cochlear implantation may reduce the frequency and extent of hearing fluctuations.

Early complete response during chemotherapy predicts favorable outcome in patients with primary CNS lymphoma. In primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL), 2 international prognostic scores have been developed to estimate the outcome according to certain \\'prognostic groups\\'. However, these scores do not predict the individual course of a single patient under therapy. In this analysis, we addressed the question of whether early tumor remission in patients still under therapy, according to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) criteria, helps to predict long-term outcome. Eighty-eight patients treated with 6 polychemotherapy cycles within a pilot/phase II trial underwent MRI scanning within 72 hours prior to initiation of therapy, after the second chemotherapy cycle, and after completion of chemotherapy. Response was assessed by contrast-enhanced MRI of the brain according to the Macdonald criteria. Median follow-up was 42 months (range, 0-124 months). Patients achieving a complete radiographic response after 2 courses of chemotherapy (n = 18) had a significantly longer median overall survival (OS) (not reached) and median time-to-treatment failure (TTF) (not reached) than patients with complete response (CR) after termination of treatment but with only a partial response after the second cycle (n = 24) (OS: 55 months; TTF: 32 months) (P<.01). Early complete tumor response assessed by MRI after the second of sixth scheduled chemotherapy cycles was highly predictive for both OS and TTF in patients with PCNSL treated in this series.

How was the proton transfer process in bis-3, 6-(2-benzoxazolyl)-pyrocatechol, single or double proton transfer?. A theoretical analysis of proton transfer process for the symmetric systems with two intramolecular hydrogen bonds, bis-3,6-(2-benzoxazolyl)-pyrocatechol(BBPC) in hexane solvent, has been researched. In this study, we utilized omega B97X-D/6-311 + g (d,p) and B3LYP/6-31 + G(d) two procedures calculating the foremost bond length and bond angle, respectively. Our calculations demonstrate the two intramolecular hydrogen bonds were strengthened in S1 state, thus the proton transfer reaction can be facilitated. Furthermore, the calculated IR vibrational spectra confirmed hydrogen bonds were enhanced in S1 state. We found three local minima A B and C from the potential energy surfaces (PESs) on the S1 state, and the energy of B point and C point are identical. A new ESIPT mechanism has been proposed that was not equal to the previous conclusions. The new ESIPT mechanism elucidates that single proton transfer more likely occurs in the symmetric BBPC molecule in comparison with the double proton transfer reaction. And the frontier molecular orbitals(MOs) further illustrate the trend of ESIPT reaction.

Nanoquasicrystalline Al-Fe-Cr-based alloys. Part II. Mechanical properties. Nanoquasicrystalline Al-based alloys show considerable promise for elevated temperature applications compared with commercial Al-based alloys. In particular, a group of Al-Fe-Cr-based alloys-containing Ti, V, Nb or Ta have outstanding thermal stability. In the present work, the elevated temperature mechanical properties of these nanoquasicrystalline alloys were studied by tensile tests at a constant strain rate. Tests were designed in order to compare the mechanical behaviour at different test temperatures. Fractographic analysis was also carried out. The apparent activation energy for plastic deformation was found to be close to that for lattice self-diffusion for pure Al in the Al-Fe-Cr ternary alloy and in the Ti-containing alloy, and for grain boundaries diffusion for pure Al in the V-containing alloy, whereas the activation energy of the alloy with Ta additions was three times higher. All of the alloys showed similar sensitivity of plastic deformation to the strain rate in the range of 10(-3)-5 x 10(-6) s(-1) at 350 degrees C. The apparent true stress exponent was n(app) similar to 7, which can be associated with a deformation process controlled by dislocation mechanisms. (C) 2009 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

FIBRONECTIN AND 130-KDA MOLECULE COMPLEX MIMICS SNAKE-VENOM BOTROCETIN-LIKE STRUCTURE POTENTIALLY MODULATING ASSOCIATION BETWEEN VON-WILLEBRAND-FACTOR AND VASCULAR VESSEL WALL. We established seven hybridomas secreting monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) against the venom from Bothrops jararaca, Six of them were demonstrated to specifically recognize botrocetin, a venom protein which binds with von Willebrand factor (vWf) and induces platelet agglutination, Two of them, BCT4-3 and BCT115-2 MoAbs, could significantly inhibit botrocetin binding with plasma vWf.BCT4-3 could react slightly with a monolayer of human endothelial cells (ECs), and BCT4-3 binding to ECs was drastically enhanced by the coexistence of human plasma in a dose-dependent manner, indicating that a biological modulator structurally resembling botrocetin is created initially on the EC surface complexed with some plasma proteins, Botrocetin-like components could be immunopurified only by immobilized BCT4-3, but not by the other immobilized MoAbs, from umbilical vein extracts, Interestingly, the immunoisolated materials were identified to consist essentially of fibronectin (Fn) and a 130 kDa molecule, and this complex bound to vWf in the extracts, Depletion of Fn from plasma decreased BCT4-3 binding to ECs, The epitope of BCT4-3 expressed on the endothelial surface, comprising plasma Fn and the coisolated 130 kDa molecule, is proposed to be a physiological modulator structurally mimicking botrocetin, and essentially supporting vWf-binding to injured endothelium and subsequently to circulating platelets,

Exploratory Objects and Microworlds in university mathematics. This article is centred in university mathematics education. It reports the results of an extension to a research literature study identifying the competencies that mathematics majors acquire as they learn mathematics within the context of designing, programming and using Exploratory Objects, a requirement in a core mathematics programme called Mathematics Integrated with Computers and Applications (MICA) at Brock University. Some of the identified competencies are used to ascertain parallels between Exploratory Objects and Microworlds. The MICA programme was instituted in 2001 and it remains a core programme for mathematics majors. This study suggests that the research on Exploratory Objects can benefit from the rich knowledge about Microworlds, and reversely the Microworld community could benefit from research on the sustained, systemic implementation of MICA

Comparative Biomechanical Analysis of the Hurdle Clearance Technique of Colin Jackson and Dayron Robles: Key Studies. The purpose of the study was to compare the biomechanical parameters of the hurdle clearance technique of the fifth hurdle in the 110 m hurdle race of Colin Jackson of Great Britain (12.91 s world record was set in 1994) and Dayron Robles of Cuba (12.87 s world record was set in 2008), two world record holders. Despite the athletes having performed at different times, we used comparable biomechanical diagnostic technology for both hurdlers. Biomechanical measurements for both were performed by the Laboratory for Movement Control of the Institute of Sport, Faculty of Sport in Ljubljana. A three-dimensional video analysis of the fifth hurdle clearance technique was used. High standards of biomechanical measurements were taken into account, thus ensuring the high objectivity of the obtained results. The following program was used: the ARIEL kinematic program (Ariel Dynamics Inc., Trabuco Canyon, CA, USA). The results of the comparative analysis found minimal differences between the two athletes, which was expected given their excellence. Dayron Robles's hurdle clearance was more effective, as it was characterized by a smaller loss of horizontal center of mass (COM) velocity. Robles's hurdle clearance took 0.50 s: 0.10 s for the take-off, 0.33 s for the flight phase, and 0.07 s for the landing phase. Colin Jackson completed the hurdle clearance slightly slower, as it took him 0.54 s. Jackson's take-off phase also lasted 0.10 s, his flight phase 0.36 s, and his landing 0.08 s. The two athletes are quite different in their morphological constitution. Dayron Robles is 10 cm taller than Colin Jackson, resulting in a lower flight parabola of CM during hurdle clearance of the Cuban athlete. Dayron Robles has a more effective hurdle clearance technique compared to Jackson's achievement. It can be considered that their individual techniques of overcoming the hurdle, reached their individual highest efficiency at this time.

Distortion and Consumption of Identity, from Rousseau to Adorno. This paper examines how production and consumption models of the 1920s determined cultural obsession with authenticity. From the analysis made by Benjamin, Adorno and Kracauer, this article discusses how cultural industry fosters aesthetic identification with the stars of the so-called mass society. next, it also explores why the origin of this reality is to be found in Rousseau's literary and political project and in the way he, while restoring novel in the literary institution, merged moral virtue with natural passion.

Shear flow of a heterophase liquid interlayer and its structural-rheological model. The shear flow of micrometer n-hexadecane interlayers is studied using a rotary viscometer. The viscosity of the flow in such interlayers differs from the viscosity of the liquid in the bulk, which is measured by capillary viscometers. This is due to the fact that surface structured layers with different viscosity play a significant role in thin interlayers. To describe the features of the flow of an inhomogeneous interlayer including such layers, its rheological models is considered, in which molecules in the layers are reoriented by the flow; accordingly, their viscosity is determined by the strain rate. The model is used to calculate the parameters of the structured layer.

Bullous erythema nodosum leprosum: one observation in French Guyana. Background. Polar and borderline lepromatosis leprosy can be complicated by type 2 reactional states, including erythema nodosum leprosum.Case report. A 36-year-old man was treated for lepromatous leprosum. He consulted for recurrent erythema nodosum leprosum. Certain nodular lesions were bullous. Histopathology demonstrated major dermal edema causing bullous blisters. Treatment with thalidomide led to rapid regression.Discussion. The bullous form of erythema nodosum leprosum is rarely described in the literature. It raises the diffential diagnosis with other bullous dermatoses, particulary Sweet's syndrome.

Transient pores in stretched vesicles: role of leak-out. We have visualized macroscopic transient pores in mechanically stretched giant vesicles. They can be observed only if the vesicles are prepared in a viscous solution to slow down the leak-out of the internal liquid. We study here theoretically the full dynamics of growth (driven by surface tension) and closure (driven by line tension) of these large pores. We write two coupled equations of the time evolution of the radii r(t) of the hole and R(t) of the vesicle, which both act on the release of the membrane tension. We find four periods in the life of a transient pore: (I) exponential growth of the young pore; (II) stop of the growth at a maximum radius ih,; (III) slow closure limited by the leak-out; (IV) fast closure below a critical radius, when leak-out becomes negligible. Ultimately the membrane is completely resealed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

The influence of 3TC-resistance mutations E89G and M184V in the human immunodeficiency virus reverse transcriptase on mispair extension efficiency. Two nucleoside analog resistance mutations in HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT), E89G and M184V, were previously shown to increase the dNTP insertion fidelity of HIV-1 RT. However, forward mutation assays using a lacZ alpha reporter gene have revealed a lack of impact on the overall error rate of these variants. In an effort to investigate the basis for this discrepancy, we have examined whether the increases in misinsertion fidelity observed for E89G and M184V RTs are accompanied by an increase in mispair extension fidelity, The relative efficiencies with which the wild type, E89G, M184V and M184V/E89G HIV-1 RTs extend model template-primer duplexes containing 3'-OH terminal mismatches were measured. The calculated efficiencies of mispair extension (f(ext)) were, in general, not significantly decreased from the wild type HIV-1 RT In fact, the efficiency of extension from one of the mispaired primer-template duplexes was significantly increased for two of the mutants tested, These results suggest that amino acid substitutions that increase the fidelity of dNTP insertion do not necessarily increase misextension fidelity, and that the decreased misextension fidelity may counterbalance the increases in misinsertion fidelity observed for E89G and M184V RTs.

Successful growth hormone treatment in children after therapy for medulloblastoma. A 2 years follow up. Aim: Growth hormone deficiency is a major long-term side effect of therapy in children with medulloblastoma. The aim of our analysis was to find out if growth hormone therapy is as effective in children after medulloblastoma therapy as in children treated for idiopathic growth hormone deficiency.Conclusion: After 2 years growth hormone treatment growth was as a good in patients after medulloblastoma therapy as in patients treated for idiopathic growth hormone deficiency.Results: Growth velocity (cm/year) in the medulloblastoma group improved significantly from 3.8 (before therapy start) to 8.4 (1.year) and to 7.4 (2.year). The height standard deviation score for chronological age improved from -2.9 at start to -2.0 after 2 years treatment.Methods: We analysed 2 years auxological data of 6 children after medulloblastoma therapy who were in remission for at least 2 years. The data were compared to those of 8 children with idiopathic growth hormone deficiency.

PICOSECOND TIME-RESOLVED RESONANCE RAMAN-SPECTRUM OF A K-INTERMEDIATE IN THE PHOTOREACTION OF THE ARTIFICIAL BACTERIORHODOPSIN PIGMENT BR6.11. The resonance Raman (RR) spectrum of a K-intermediate formed during the photoreaction of an artificial bacteriorhodopsin (BR) pigment (derived from E-11,20 ethanoretinal) containing a six-membered ring spanning the C-11=C-12-C-13 region of the retinal chromophore (BR6.11) is recorded by picosecond time-resolved resonance Raman (PTR3) spectroscopy. A recent study of the BR6.11 photoreaction utilizing picosecond transient absorption and picosecond time-resolved fluorescence measurements revealed that (i) a J-intermediate (J6.11) appears within <3 ps and decays to form a K-intermediate, K6.11/1, with a 12 +/- 3 ps time constant and (ii) a second K-intermediate, K6.11/2, is subsequently formed from K6.11/1 with an almost-equal-to 100-ps time constant. The RR spectrum of K6.11/2, measured here by PTR3 at a 300-ps delay, differs significantly from that of BR6.11, thereby demonstrating that structural changes in the retinal chromophore occur as K6.11/2 is formed. Given the location of the six-membered ring in BR6.11, these structural changes cannot involve isomerization and/or rotation in the C-11=C-12-C-13 region of retinal. Changes in other regions of the retinal and/or involving the surrounding protein must account for the differences observed in the RR spectra of BR6.11 and K6.11/2. A comparison of the RR spectra from native K-590 (50-ps delay) and K6.11/2, recorded by PTR3 spectroscopy under the same experimental conditions, reveals both similarities and differences (e.g., the most prominent features appear in the C-C and C=C stretching regions while the maxima positions and relative intensities are significantly different).

The crystal structure of a cross-linked actin dimer suggests a detailed molecular interface in F-actin. The 2.5-angstrom resolution crystal structure is reported for an actin dimer, composed of two protomers cross-linked along the longitudinal (or vertical) direction of the F-actin filament. The crystal structure provides an atomic resolution view of a molecular interface between actin protorners, which we argue represents a near-native interaction in the F-actin filament. The interaction involves subdomains 3 and 4 from distinct protomers. The atomic positions in the interface visualized differ by 5-10 angstrom from those suggested by previous models of F-actin. Such differences fall within the range of uncertainties allowed by the fiber diffraction and electron microscopy methods on which previous models have been based. In the crystal, the translational arrangement of protomers lacks the slow twist found in native filaments. A plausible model of F-actin can be constructed by reintroducing the known filament twist, without disturbing significantly the interface observed in the actin dimer crystal.

A new hyper hybrid method of prediction with an intelligent system. Intelligent computing has attracted many scientists and researchers working on intelligent techniques for solving complex real-world problems. We use a method which combines an intelligent neural network system, genetic algorithm and multiple regression to predict the topographical properties of hardened specimens. We use fractal dimension to describe their complexity. Fractal dimensions are calculated by image processing of SEM micrographs in combination with a box-counting algorithm using the ImageJ software. Hybrid evolutionary computation is a generic, flexible, robust, and versatile method for solving complex global optimisation problems and can also be used in practical applications in industry. This paper explores the use of an intelligent system with such a hybrid method to improve the existing hybrids. It describes a new hybrid method based on the loop integration method. At the end, another new hybrid method is presented, a hyper hybrid.

Efficiency of dihydroxamic and trihydroxamic siderochelates to extract uranium and plutonium from contaminated soils. Actinide-based mineral phases occurring in contaminated soils can be solubilized by organic chelators excreted by plants, such as citrate. Herein, the efficiency of citrate towards U and Pu extraction is compared to that of siderophores, whose primary function is the acquisition of iron(III) as an essential nutrient and growth factor for many soil microorganisms. To that end, we selected desferrioxamine B (DFB) as an emblematic bacterial trishydroxamic siderophore and a synthetic analog, abbreviated (L-Cy,L-Pr)H-2, of the tetradentate rhodotorulic acid (RA) produced by yeasts. Firstly, the uranyl speciation with both ligands was assessed in the pH range 2-11 by potentiometry and visible absorption spectrophotometry. Equilibrium constants and absorption spectra for three [UO2(DFB)Hh](h- 1)+ (h = 1-3) and five [UO2(L-Cy,L-Pr)lHh]((2+h- 2l))+ (- 1 <= h <= 1 for l = 1 and h = 0-1 for l = 2) solution complexes were determined at 25.0 degrees C and I = 0.1 M KNO3. Similar studies for the Fe3+/(L(Cy,Pr)2-)system revealed the formation of five species having [Fe(L-Cy,L-Pr)]+, [Fe((LOH)-O-Cy,Pr)], [Fe(L-Cy,L-Pr)(OH)(2)]-, [Fe(L-Cy,L-Pr)(2)H], and [Fe-2(L-3(Cy,Pr))] compositions. Then, the ability of DFB, (L-Cy,L-Pr)H-2, and citrate to solubilize either U or Pu from pitchblende-rich soils (soils 1 and 2) or freshly plutonium-contaminated soils (LBS and PG) was evaluated by performing batch extraction tests. U was extracted significantly only by citrate after a day. After one week, the amount of U complexed by citrate only slightly exceeded that measured for the siderochelates, following the order citrate > ((LH2)-H-Cy,Pr) >= DFB approximate to H2O, and were comparatively very low. Pu was also more efficiently extracted by citrate than by DFB after a day, but only by a factor of -2-3 for the PG soil, while the Pu concentration in the supernatant after one week was approximately the same for both natural chelators. It remained nearly constant for DFB between the 1st and 7th day, but drastically decreased in the case of citrate, suggesting chemical decomposition in the latter case. For the Fe-rich soils 1 and 2, the efficiencies of the three chelators to solubilize Fe after a day were of the same order of magnitude, decreasing in the order DFB > citrate > ((LH2)-H-Cy,Pr). However, after a week DFB had extracted -1.5 times more Fe, whereas the amount extracted by the other chelators stayed constant. For the less Fe-rich LBS and PG soils contaminated by Pu, the amounts of extracted Fe were higher, especially after 7 days, and the DFB outperformed citrate by a factor of nearly 3. The higher capacity of the hexadentate DFB to extract Pu in the presence of Fe and its lower ability to mobilize U qualitatively agree with the respective complexation constant ratios, keeping in mind that both Pucontaining soils had a lower iron loading. Noticeably, ((LH2)-H-Cy,Pr) has roughly the same capacity as DFB to solubilize U, but it mobilizes less Fe than the hexadentate siderophore. Similarly, citrate has the highest capacity to extract Pu, but the lowest to extract Fe. Therefore, compared to DFB, (L-Cy,L-Pr)H-2 shows a better U/Fe extraction selectivity and citrate shows a better Pu/Fe selectivity.

Enabling policy-based access control in BI applications. Protecting the sensitive information in a company's data warehouse from unauthorized access is an important component of regulatory compliance and privacy protection for Business Intelligence (BI) applications. The access control features in current database systems are not suitable to meet this requirement since they are limited to base table accesses whereas BI applications typically use materialized views for better performance. In this paper, we provide a middleware-enabled policy-based framework that allows access control to be uniformly applied to both base tables and materialized views to enable selective access to data warehouse. We also provide empirical evaluation of our approach. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Role of the anterior lateral eyes of the wolf spider Lycosa tarentula (Araneae, Lycosidae) during path integration. Spiders of the species Lycosa tarentula (Linnaeus 1758) (Araneae, Lycosidae) use a vector navigation system while homing under natural conditions. Under laboratory conditions, in the absence of information relative to the sun's position or any pattern of polarized light, L. tarentula uses a path integration system which consists of turning at a fixed angle similar to one that could carry it to its burrow. In the absence of light, the angle is random. In this study we ask whether the spiders acquire the information about the angle turned during the outward journey through the anterior lateral eyes (ALEs), whose visual fields are directed towards the ground. To answer this question, two groups of animals were studied: one group with only the ALEs covered and another group with all eyes except ALEs covered. Our results show that ALE information alone is adequate to obtain the angle at which the animal should turn when homing.

Ribonuclease E organizes the protein interactions in the Escherichia coli RNA degradosome. The Escherichia coli RNA, degradosome is the prototype of a recently discovered family of multiprotein machines involved in the processing and degradation of RNA. The interactions between the various protein components of the RNA degradosome were investigated by Far Western blotting, the yeast two-hybrid assay, and coimmunopurification experiments. Our results demonstrate that the carboxy-terminal half (CTH) of ribonuclease E (RNase E) contains the binding sites for the three other major degradosomal components, the DEAD-box RNA helicase RhlB, enolase, and polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase). The CTH of RNase E acts as the scaffold of the complex upon which the other degradosomal components are assembled. Regions for oligomerization were detected in the amino-terminal and central regions of RNase E. Furthermore, polypeptides derived from the highly charged region of RNase E, containing the RhlB binding site, stimulate RhlB activity at least 15-fold, saturating at one polypeptide per RhlB molecule. A model for the regulation of the RhlB RNA helicase activity is presented. The description of RNase E now emerging is that of a remarkably complex multidomain protein containing an amino-terminal catalytic domain, a central RNA-binding domain, and carboxy-terminal binding sites for the other major components of the RNA degradosome.

Religious Education, Big Ideas and the study of religion(s) and worldview(s). This article outlines the 'Big Ideas' approach to curriculum reform, as applied in the 'Principles and Big Ideas of Science Education' project. A critical analysis follows of the outcomes of the University of Exeter's 'Identifying Principles and Big Ideas for Religious Education' project, which sought to apply the same approach to Religious Education (RE) in English schools. This project made great headway in generating 'Big Ideas' to inform and improve the selection and sequencing of RE curriculum content. However, its primary focus on subject content knowledge means that 'Big Ideas' about epistemology and methodology are lacking. The article recommends an additional focus on multi-disciplinary, multi-methodological, inquiry-based, reflexive learning, which would ask why, how, where and by whom our 'knowledge' of religion(s) and worldview(s) is generated. In this regard, the article posits four 'Big Ideas about the study of religion(s) and worldview(s)' to highlight the symbiotic relationship between knowledge and knower, and to reject the false dichotomy between the object of study and method of study. In so doing, it draws upon the theoretical framework underpinning the 'RE-searchers approach' to primary school RE, which correspondingly exemplifies how such ideas can be taught in practice.

Frequency domain down-conversion of HDTV using an optimal motion compensation scheme. In the MPEG-2 Test Model 5, the down-conversion of an interlaced sequence is obtained by prefiltering and subsampling each field of the image sequence after it has been fully decoded. Although the quality is very good, the cost of such a system is quite high owing to large memory requirements. As a result, low-resolution decoders have been proposed to reduce some of the costs incurred by this scheme. Here, incoming Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) blocks are subject to a down-conversion process within the decoding loop; hence, the motion compensation is performed using the down-converted images. In past work, it has been proven that the optimal filters for performing this motion compensation are intimately related to the method of down-conversion. Therefore, the choice of down-conversion filter is viewed as the primary variable affecting the quality of the down-converted sequence when such an optimal motion compensation scheme is considered. In the conventional method of frequency domain down-conversion, the 4 x 4 low-frequency coefficients are extracted from each 8 x 8 block. Two problems arise from this method: First, the discarding of high frequency data will introduce a disturbing amount of drift; and second, severe blocking artifacts will result in areas of large motion. To remedy the drift problem, a new method of down-conversion which better preserves high-frequency data is presented. This method is referred to as frame-based frequency synthesis. Then, to overcome the blocking artifacts, the previous method is extended to a field-based frequency synthesis method. Our simulation results clearly indicate that the amount of drift can be significantly reduced by retaining high-frequency data and that severe blocking artifacts are eliminated by using the field-based method. In addition, the quality achieved by the proposed field-based frequency synthesis is much closer to the high-quality results produced after full-resolution decoding. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 9, 274-282, 1998.

Extended lung expression and increased tissue localization of viral IL-10 with adenoviral gene therapy. IL-10 is a pleiotropic cytokine that acts as an important regulator of macrophage, T cell, and natural killer cell functions. Human IL-10 (hIL-10) has both stimulatory and inhibitory effects on a wide variety of cell types. Viral IL-10 (vIL-10) possesses only a subset of hIL-10's activities, predominantly its suppression of cytokine synthesis by T helper type 1 clones. In the present report, we evaluated tissue accumulation and biological activity of hIL-10 and vIL-10 in vivo in individual organs by using a first-generation adenoviral (Ad) vector administered intratracheally and intravenously. We report the observation that Ad vectors delivering vIL-10, but not hIL-10, are associated with prolonged expression in the lung (>42 days) when delivered intratracheally. In contrast, there was no prolongation in vIL-10 expression when Ad vectors were intravenously administered, although vIL-10 levels in the tissue, but not serum, were markedly increased relative to hIL-10. Moreover, we report an augmented capacity of expressed vIL-10 versus hIL-10 to suppress the acute inflammatory responses in the lung to intratracheal administration of Ad. These findings confirm fundamental differences in Ad-induced expression of vIL-10 and hIL-10 when administered to the lungs. The results further suggest that Ad vectors expressing vIL-10 may have a role as anti-inflammatory agents in the treatment of acute and chronic lung inflammation.

Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Episodic Memory in Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Pilot Study. Results: Active tDCS enhanced recognition memory relative to Sham stimulation.Objectives: Episodic memory is impaired in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), which is posited as a potential prodromal form of Alzheimer's disease. Reactivated existing memories become sensitive to modification during reconsolidation. There is evidence that the lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays causal role in episodic memory reconsolidation. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied to the PFC after a contextual reminder enhanced episodic memory performance up to 1 month, conceivably through reconsolidation, in older adults with subjective memory complaints, a condition that may represent a \\'pre-mild cognitive impairment\\' stage. The aim of this pilot study was to test the effect of PFC-tDCS (anode over left lateral PFC, cathode over right supraorbital area) after a contextual reminder on episodic memory in older adults with aMCI.Discussion: Modulating reconsolidation with PFC-tDCS might be a novel intervention to enhance episodic memories in aMCI.Method: Older adults with aMCI learned a list of words. Twenty-four hours later, tDCS (Active or Sham) was applied after a contextual reminder. Memory retrieval (free recall and recognition) was tested 48 hrs and 1 month after the learning session.

A geography of repoliticisation: Popularising alternative housing models in Oslo. The question of the political has gained renewed relevance in recent years. New movements are challenging what has been called 'the post-political consensus' and have facilitated the repoliticisation of a wide range of social, political and cultural phenomena-both on the left and the right. One task for geographers is to understand this repoliticisation spatially. The housing sector is a prime example of how such a repoliticisation occurs. With an emerging global urban housing affordability crisis, housing is becoming an important arena for engaging in emancipatory democratic politics. In this paper, we use Oslo as a case to analyse how housing, which has long been governed through liberal consensus, is being repoliticised. We investigate Oslo's agenda of establishing a 'third housing sector' beyond the privatised model, and its role in popularising alternative models in housing. We focus on the mobilisation and rearticulation of the genealogy of failure of housing in Oslo and the alternative housing solutions brought together in the city. Discussing the emerging geographical referencescape of housing as a distinctly spatial process of politicisation we show how arguments and positions gain legitimacy by situating references to other situations and places in a multiplicity of local and foreign arenas.

Dynamic Light Weight Recommendation System for Social Networking Analysis Using a Hybrid LSTM-SVM Classifier Algorithm. Social media has become one of the significant platforms for information sharing. At that same time, the influence of fake news is a growing cause for all people using social networking platforms. The entire world faces a difficult situation with the COVID-19 pandemic. Simultaneously, the leaking of info in social media concerning COVID-19 also increases exponentially. These information cause serious worries, which affects people psychologically. Several social media analysis methods are developed over years. However, those had several difficulties due to short text social media comments, which causes significant data sparsity. To overcome such difficulties, this paper proposed a recommendation system for social networking to predict whether the information is fake or real using a hybrid LSTM-SVM classifier. Initially, the proposed model gathered real-time COVID-19 related commands from Twitter social media to form a dataset. The collected data is preprocessed by splitting, stop word removal, lemmatization, and spell correction. After preprocessing, the features from the data are extracted and converted to binary with the assist of a count vectorizer. The obtained features are further classified with a hybrid LSTM-SVM model. The predicted data is compared with the preprocessed data, consisting of real information. If the predicted data is equal to the preprocessed data, it will be real news or else fake news. The proposed model is implemented to attain better performance. Some of the performance metrics such as accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and error are 90, 88, 97, and 0.1% respectively for the proposed model. The overall expected outcome of the recommendation system using hybrid LSTM-SVM is better than the existing techniques such as CNN-SVM, GRNN, LSTM, CNN, and SVM. The Hybrid LSTM-SVM model attained the best accuracy for predicting fake or real news.

Relationship between anion binding and anion permeability revealed by mutagenesis within the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator chloride channel pore. 3. High SCN- conductance was not observed, nor was there an anomalous mole fraction effect of SCN- on conductance under the conditions used. Iodide currents could not be measured under symmetrical ionic conditions, but under bi-ionic conditions I- conductance appeared low.4. Chloride currents through CFTR channels were blocked by low concentrations (10 mM) of SCN-, I- and ClO4-, implying relatively tight binding of these anions within the pore.5. Two mutations in CFTR which alter the anion permeability sequence, F337S and T338A, also altered the anion conductance sequence. Furthermore, block by SCN-, I- and ClO4- were weakened in both mutants. Both these effects are consistent with alter ed anion binding within the pore.6. The effects of mutations on anion permeability a,nd relative anion conductance suggested that, for most anions, increased permeability was associated with increased conductance. This indicates that the CFTR, channel pore does not achieve its anion selectivity by selective anion binding within the mutated region. Instead, it is suggested that entry of anions into the region around F337 and T338 facilitates: their passage through the pore. In wild-type CFTR channels, anion entry into this crucial pore region is probably dominated by anion hydration energies.2. Under symmetrical ionic conditions, wild-type CFTR channels showed the conductance sequence Cl- > NO3- > Br- greater than or equal to formate > F- > SCN- approximate to ClO4.-1. Anion binding within the pores of wild-type and mutant cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) Cl- channels, expressed in two different mammalian cell lines, was assayed using patch clamp recording. Specifically experiments measured both the conductance of different anions and the ability of other permeant anions to block Cl- permeation through the pore.

Robust Inference Against Imperfect Ranking in Ranked Set Sampling. This article develops robust statistical inference against imperfect ranking in a ranked set sample data obtained from a family of discrete distributions. We provide a class of disparity estimators that minimizes the disparities between the empirical and model distributions. It is shown that the Hellinger disparity estimator in this class is the most stable estimator in the neighborhood of an epsilon-contaminated judgment ranking model. When the true model is equal to assumed model and there is no ranking error, all disparity estimators are asymptotically efficient. A simulation study is provided to discuss the finite sample properties of the estimator. The proposed procedure is applied to a ranked set sample data in a water quality study.

Optimal surface segmentation in volumetric images - A graph-theoretic approach. Efficient segmentation of globally optimal surfaces representing object boundaries in volumetric data sets is important and challenging in many medical image analysis applications. We have developed an optimal surface detection method capable of simultaneously detecting multiple interacting surfaces, in which the optimality is controlled by the cost functions designed for individual surfaces and by several geometric constraints defining the surface smoothness and interrelations. The method solves the surface segmentation problem by transforming it into computing a minimum s-t cut in a derived arc-weighted directed graph. The proposed algorithm has a low-order polynomial time complexity and is computationally efficient. It has been extensively validated on more than 300 computer-synthetic volumetric images, 72 CT-scanned data sets of different-sized plexiglas tubes, and tens of medical images spanning various imaging modalities. In all cases, the approach yielded highly accurate results. Our approach can be readily extended to higher-dimensional image segmentation.

Validation of ultrasound strategies to assess tumor extension and to predict high-risk endometrial cancer in women from the prospective IETA (International Endometrial Tumor Analysis)-4 cohort. Objectives To compare the performance of ultrasound measurements and subjective ultrasound assessment (SA) in detecting deep myometrial invasion (MI) and cervical stromal invasion (CSI) in women with endometrial cancer, overall and according to whether they had low- or high-grade disease separately, and to validate published measurement cut-offs and prediction models to identify MI, CSI and high-risk disease (Grade-3 endometrioid or non-endometrioid cancer and/or deep MI and/or CSI). Methods The study comprised 1538 patients with endometrial cancer from the International Endometrial Tumor Analysis (IETA)-4 prospective multicenter study, who underwent standardized expert transvaginal ultrasound examination. SA and ultrasound measurements were used to predict deep MI and CSI. We assessed the diagnostic accuracy of the tumor/uterine anteroposterior (AP) diameter ratio for detecting deep MI and that of the distance from the lower margin of the tumor to the outer cervical os (Dist-OCO) for detecting CSI. We also validated two two-step strategies for the prediction of high-risk cancer; in the first step, biopsy-confirmed Grade-3 endometrioid or mucinous or non-endometrioid cancers were classified as high-risk cancer, while the second step encompassed the application of a mathematical model to classify the remaining tumors. The 'subjective prediction model' included biopsy grade (Grade 1 vs Grade 2) and subjective assessment of deep MI or CSI (presence or absence) as variables, while the 'objective prediction model' included biopsy grade (Grade 1 vs Grade 2) and minimal tumor-free margin. The predictive performance of the two two-step strategies was compared with that of simply classifying patients as high risk if either deep MI or CSI was suspected based on SA or if biopsy showed Grade-3 endometrioid or mucinous or non-endometrioid histotype (i.e. combining SA with biopsy grade). Histological assessment from hysterectomy was considered the reference standard. Results In 1275 patients with measurable lesions, the sensitivity and specificity of SA for detecting deep MI was 70% and 80%, respectively, in patients with a Grade-1 or -2 endometrioid or mucinous tumor vs 76% and 64% in patients with a Grade-3 endometrioid or mucinous or a non-endometrioid tumor. The corresponding values for the detection of CSI were 51% and 94% vs 50% and 91%. Tumor AP diameter and tumor/uterine AP diameter ratio showed the best performance for predicting deep MI (area under the receiver-operating characteristics curve (AUC) of 0.76 and 0.77, respectively), and Dist-OCO had the best performance for predicting CSI (AUC, 0.72). The proportion of patients classified correctly as having high-risk cancer was 80% when simply combining SA with biopsy grade vs 80% and 74% when using the subjective and objective two-step strategies, respectively. The subjective and objective models had an AUC of 0.76 and 0.75, respectively, when applied to Grade-1 and -2 endometrioid tumors. Conclusions In the hands of experienced ultrasound examiners, SA was superior to ultrasound measurements for the prediction of deep MI and CSI of endometrial cancer, especially in patients with a Grade-1 or -2 tumor. The mathematical models for the prediction of high-risk cancer performed as expected.The best strategies for predicting high-risk endometrial cancer were combining SA with biopsy grade and the subjective two-step strategy, both having an accuracy of 80%. Copyright (c) 2019 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Effects of combined therapy with atorvastatin and polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids on lipid profile, lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 and thromboxane. Aim. To study the effects of the combined therapy with atorvastatin and polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids (omega-3 PUFA) on lipid profile, lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA (2)), and thromboxane B2.Conclusion. Combined therapy with atorvastatin and omega-3 PUFA was associated with decreased levels of atherogenic lipoproteins, Lp-PLA (2) and thromboxane B2, which can result in cardiovascular risk reduction.Material and methods. The study included 60 patients with coronary heart disease (CH D), randomised into two groups: Group I (n=29) receiving atorvastatin monotherapy; and Group II (n=31) receiving combined therapy with atorvastatin (10 mg/d) and omega-3 PUFA (1 g/d). At baseline, 12 and 24 weeks later, all participants underwent the assessment of lipid profile, serum levels of Lp-PLA (2), and plasma levels of thromboxane B2.Results. Adding omega-3 PUFA to atorvastatin therapy did not change the lipid-lowering action of the latter, with an exception of a greater triglyceride level reduction (-32 %; p=0,001 vs. the baseline). In both groups, six-month therapy was associated with a significant decrease in Lp-PLA (2) level (-33 % and -34 % for monotherapy and combined therapy groups, respectively; p=0,002 for both comparisons). Thromboxane B2 concentration decreased by 26 % (p=0,07) in Group I and by 62 % in Group 11 (p=0,02), compared to baseline levels.

Energy and area efficient hierarchy multiplier architecture based on Vedic mathematics and GDI logic. Hierarchy multiplier is attractive because of its ability to carry the multiplication operation within one clock cycle. The existing hierarchical multipliers occupy more area and also results in more delay. Therefore, in this paper, a method to reduce the computation delay of hierarchy multiplier by employing CslA and Binary to Excess 1 Converter (BEC) is proposed. The use of BEC eliminates the n/4 number of adders, existing in the conventional addition scheme, where n denotes the multiplier input width. As the area of the hierarchy multiplier is determined by its base multiplier, the base multiplier is realized with the proposed Vedic multiplier, which has small area and operates with less delay than the conventional multipliers. In addition, the reduction of power consumption in the hierarchy multiplier can be ensured by implementing the designed multiplier with full swing Gate Diffusion Input (GDI) logic. The performances of the proposed and the existing multipliers are evaluated by Cadence SPICE simulator using 45 nm technology model. From the simulation results, the performance parameters namely, delay and power consumption are calculated. Further, the area is measured from the corresponding layout for the same technology model. It is examined from the results that the proposed multiplier operates with 17% lesser power delay product than the recently reported hierarchy multiplier. The Monte Carlo simulation is performed to understand the robustness of the proposed hierarchy multiplier. (C) 2016 Karabuk University. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Thimerosal-Derived Ethylmercury Is a Mitochondrial Toxin in Human Astrocytes: Possible Role of Fenton Chemistry in the Oxidation and Breakage of mtDNA. Thimerosal generates ethylmercury in aqueous solution and is widely used as preservative. We have investigated the toxicology of Thimerosal in normal human astrocytes, paying particular attention to mitochondrial function and the generation of specific oxidants. We find that ethylmercury not only inhibits mitochondrial respiration leading to a drop in the steady state membrane potential, but also concurrent with these phenomena increases the formation of superoxide, hydrogen peroxide, and Fenton/Haber-Weiss generated hydroxyl radical. These oxidants increase the levels of cellular aldehyde/ketones. Additionally, we find a five-fold increase in the levels of oxidant damaged mitochondrial DNA bases and increases in the levels of mtDNA nicks and blunt-ended breaks. Highly damaged mitochondria are characterized by having very low membrane potentials, increased superoxide/hydrogen peroxide production, and extensively damaged mtDNA and proteins. These mitochondria appear to have undergone a permeability transition, an observation supported by the five-fold increase in Caspase-3 activity observed after Thimerosal treatment.

Bus Bridging Disruption in Rail Services With Frustrated and Impatient Passengers. Urban rail networks play an important role in urban transportation. An unexpected disruption in a rail network can cause a significant degradation in the level of service. When a disruption occurs, it is crucial to provide quick and efficient substitution of services via alternative transportation modes, including bridging disconnected railway stations using bus services. The amount of disruptions, surprisingly, is high; for example, there are more than 15 000 disruptions in six months in Melbourne, Australia. The provision of bus bridging services calls for proper planning and designing of a temporary bus bridging network considering limited bus and driver resources, and prevailing urban traffic conditions. Among a number of tasks concerning bus bridging, the demand modeling of affected train passengers is a prerequisite for a satisfactory bus bridging practice. This paper explores this demand modeling problem based on the theory of compound Poisson processes and formulates it as a bulk queuing problem involving balking and reneging. The problem is carefully studied, with a series of analytical results delivered. Large-scale Monte Carlo simulations were designed and implemented to demonstrate a range of mathematical conclusions.

EVOLUTIONARY CONSERVATION OF SYNAPTOSOME-ASSOCIATED PROTEIN-25-KDA (SNAP-25) SHOWN BY DROSOPHILA AND TORPEDO CDNA CLONES. The neuron-specific proteins SNAP-25 (synaptosome-associated protein 25 kDa), synaptobrevin and syntaxin, are localized to presynaptic terminals in mammals and have been found to associate with proteins involved in vesicle docking and membrane fusion. We describe here SNAP-25 cDNA clones from the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and the ray Torpedo marmorata. In situ hybridization showed that SNAP-25 mRNA is exclusively found in brain and ganglia in Drosophila with a pattern suggesting expression in most neurons. The Drosophila and Torpedo proteins show 61 and 81% amino acid identity to mouse SNAP-25, a degree of conservation similar to that previously reported for synaptobrevin. None of the SNAP-25 sequences has a membrane-spanning region, but all contain a cluster of cysteine residues that can be palmitoylated for membrane attachment. SNAP-25 displays sequence similarity to syntaxin A and B. These data show that SNAP-25 and synaptobrevin, which are both implicated in vesicle docking and/or membrane fusion, have both been highly conserved during evolution. This supports the existence of a basic molecular machinery for synaptic vesicle docking in vertebrate and invertebrate synapses.

DYNAMIC MEAN-VARIANCE ASSET ALLOCATION WITH STOCHASTIC INTEREST RATE AND INFLATION RATE. This paper studies dynamic asset allocation with stochastic interest rates and inflation rates under the continuous-time mean-variance model in a more general market that may be incomplete. First, by the Lagrange method and the dynamic programming approach, we derive the associated Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation and solve it explicitly. Then, closed form expressions for the efficient strategy and the efficient frontier are derived by applying the Lagrange dual theory. In addition, we state a necessary and sufficient condition under which the efficient frontier is a straight line in the standard deviation-mean plane, and some degenerate cases are discussed. Finally, empirical analysis based on real data from the Chinese market is presented to illustrate applications of the results obtained in this paper.

The STAGE Technique (Superficial Tunica Albuginea Geometric-Based Excision) for the Correction of Biplanar Congenital Penile Curvature. ResultsMain Outcome MeasuresWe recommend the STAGE technique as the optimal surgical intervention for correcting both uniplanar and biplanar congenital deviations.IntroductionConclusionsThe study represents a retrospective analysis of 145 patients with disabling congenital biplanar ventrolateral (n=31; 90.3%) or dorsolateral (n=14; 9.7%) curvature of the penis, which underwent stepwise STAGEs between June 2006 and March 2012. Multiple 3-mm elliptical excisions of the superficial tunica albuginea were performed without compromising the inner layer of the tunica albuginea, thus resulting in a stepwise correction of the curvature and improved distribution of the bending force of the curvature.MethodsFunctional outcome regarding penile straightening, erectile function, and patient satisfaction were evaluated. Furthermore, clinical data concerning the early postoperative outcome were analyzed retrospectively.The study aims to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of our novel superficial tunica albuginea geometric-based excision (STAGE) technique based on multiple, small, superficial elliptical tunica albuginea excisions and geometrical principles for correcting biplanar congenital penile curvature.Congenital penile curvature can present with both uniplanar and biplanar defects, the latter of which entails more technically demanding surgery.AimThe mean follow-up period was 21 months (range 6-62 months). Mean age at surgery was 23.8 years (range 15-47 years). Mean degree of curvature was 65 degrees (range 45-90 degrees). There was no recurrent curvature. Complete correction of the penile axis was obtained in 98.6% (n=143). No change in erectile function according to International Index of Erectile Function-5 score was visible (P=0.748). The mean loss of penile length was 0.7 cm (range 0.3-0.9 cm). The excellent functional outcomes resulted in a high level of patient satisfaction, including improved self-esteem, libido, sexual intercourse, and psychosexual relief. Two patients had a residual curvature of up to 30 degrees requiring a reoperation. No intra- or postoperative complications were encountered.

Rapid formation and selective stabilization of synapses for enduring motor memories. Novel motor skills are learned through repetitive practice and, once acquired, persist long after training stops(1,2). Earlier studies have shown that such learning induces an increase in the efficacy of synapses in the primary motor cortex, the persistence of which is associated with retention of the task(3-5). However, how motor learning affects neuronal circuitry at the level of individual synapses and how long-lasting memory is structurally encoded in the intact brain remain unknown. Here we show that synaptic connections in the living mouse brain rapidly respond to motor-skill learning and permanently rewire. Training in a forelimb reaching task leads to rapid (within an hour) formation of postsynaptic dendritic spines on the output pyramidal neurons in the contralateral motor cortex. Although selective elimination of spines that existed before training gradually returns the overall spine density back to the original level, the new spines induced during learning are preferentially stabilized during subsequent training and endure long after training stops. Furthermore, we show that different motor skills are encoded by different sets of synapses. Practice of novel, but not previously learned, tasks further promotes dendritic spine formation in adulthood. Our findings reveal that rapid, but long-lasting, synaptic reorganization is closely associated with motor learning. The data also suggest that stabilized neuronal connections are the foundation of durable motor memory.

B cells and antibodies in progressive multiple sclerosis: Contribution to neurodegeneration and progression. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS) characterized by demyelination, axonal degeneration and gliosis. The progressive form of MS is an important research topic as not much is known about its underlying mechanisms and no therapy is available. Although progressive MS is traditionally considered to be driven by neurodegeneration, compartmentalized CNS inflammation is currently accepted as one of the driving processes behind neurodegeneration and progression. In this review, the involvement of B cells and antibodies in progressive MS is discussed. The identification of meningeal ectopic B cell follicles in secondary progressive MS (SPMS) patients and the successful use of B cell-depleting therapy in primary progressive MS (PPMS) patients have underlined the importance of B cells in progressive MS. Proof is also available for the role of antibodies in neurodegeneration and progression in MS. Here, oligoclonal immunoglobulin M (IgM) production and autoreactive antibodies are described, with a focus on antibodies directed against sperm-associated antigen 16 (SPAG16). Further research into the role of B cells and autoantibodies in MS progression can lead to novel prognostic and theranostic opportunities. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of Anatomical or Non-Anatomical Resection of Hepatocellular Carcinoma on Survival Outcome. Background: The relative benefit of anatomical resection (AR) versus non-anatomical resection (NAR) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains controversial. This study compared the survival outcomes and recurrence rates of HCCs analysed according to tumour size and the extent of resection. Methods: Consecutive patients with HCC who underwent curative resection at Asan Medical Center between January 1999 and December 2009 were included in this study. We performed propensity score matching (PSM) according to tumour size to compare the survival outcomes between AR and NAR. A total of 986 patients were analysed; 812 and 174 patients underwent AR and NAR, respectively. Results: Before PSM, regardless of tumour size, the AR group demonstrated significantly better 5-year overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) than the NAR group (p < 0.001). After PSM, the AR group demonstrated better OS and RFS rates than the NAR group when tumour size was less than 5 cm, but there was no significant difference in the OS and RFS rates between the two groups when tumour size was equal to or greater than 5 cm. In tumours less than 5 cm in size, AR was the most significant factor associated with OS and RFS. However, this prognostic effect of AR was not demonstrated in tumours with sizes equal to or greater than 5 cm. Conclusion: In patients with HCCs smaller than 5 cm, AR reduced the risk of tumour recurrence and improved OS. In HCCs larger than 5 cm, AR and NAR showed comparable survival outcomes.

Diagnosis and Management of Oral Extraintestinal Manifestations of Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) represent a group of chronic inflammatory disorders of the gastrointestinal tract that lead to impaired quality of life and substantial health care costs. Up to 50% of pediatric IBD cases present with manifestations in the oral cavity. These may develop in nearly every oral tissue, including the soft tissues, tongue, lips, teeth, and lymph nodes. The goal of this review is to offer a systematic approach to diagnose and manage commonly encountered oral manifestations of pediatric IBD. This knowledge is critical for enhancing the comprehensive care and quality of life of children with these debilitating diseases.

Promoting effects of isobavachin on neurogenesis of mouse embryonic stem cells were associated with protein prenylation. Results: With IBA treatment, nestin was highly expressed in the neural progenitors generated from EBs (d 4, d 8+0). EBs then further differentiated into neurons (marked by beta-tubulin III) and astrocytes (marked by GFAP), which were both up-regulated in a time-dependent manner on d 8+5 and d 8+10. Co-treatment with GGTI-298 selectively abolished the IBA-induced neuronal differentiation. Moreover, in the MAPK pathway, p38 and JNK phosphorylation were down-regulated, while ERK phosphorylation was up-regulated after IBA treatment at different neuronal differentiation passages.Conclusion: IBA can facilitate mouse ES cells differentiating into neuronal cells. The mechanism involved protein prenylation and, subsequently, phos-ERK activation and the phos-p38 off pathway.Aim: Some small molecules can induce mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells to differentiate into neuronal cells. Here, we explored the effect of isobavachin (IBA), a compound with a prenyl group at position 8 of ring A, on promoting neuronal differentiation and the potential role of its protein prenylation.Methods: The hanging drop method was employed for embryonic body (EB) formation to mimic embryo development in vivo. The EBs were treated with IBA at a final concentration of 10(-7) mol/L from EB stage (d 4) to d 8+10. Geranylgeranyltransferase I inhibitor GGTI-298 was subsequently used to disrupt protein prenylation. Neuronal subtypes, including neurons and astrocytes, were observed by fluorescence microscopy. Gene and protein expression levels were detected using RT-PCR and Western blot analysis, respectively.

Operational NoSQL Systems: What's New and What's Next?. Operational NoSQL systems are relatively new in the data-management ecosystem, and there is much confusion about their capabilities and how they differ from traditional relational database systems. This summary of characteristics clearly distinguishes the two system classes and provides a glimpse into directions for future work.

Numerical Modeling and Simulation of Wave Impact of a Circular Cylinder during the Submergence Process. Wave slamming loads on a circular cylinder during water entry and the subsequence submergence process are predicted based on a numerical wave load model. The wave impact problems are analyzed by solving Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations and VOF equations. Afinite volume approach (FV) is employed to implement the discretization of the RANS equations. A two-dimensional numerical wave tank is established to simulate regular ocean waves. The wave slamming problems are investigated by deploying a circular cylinder into waves with a constant vertical velocity. The present numerical method is validated using other numerical or theoretical results in accordance with varying free surface profiles when a circular cylinder sinks in calm water. A numerical example is given to show the submergence process of the circular cylinder in waves, and both free surface profiles and the pressure distributions on the cylinder of different time instants are obtained. Time histories of hydrodynamic load on the cylinder during the submergence process for different wave impact angles, wave heights, and wave periods are obtained, and results are analyzed in detail.

A CVD diamond beam telescope for charged particle tracking. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond is a radiation-hard sensor material that may be used for charged particle tracking near the interaction region in experiments at high-luminosity colliders. The goal of the work described in this paper is to investigate the use of several detector planes made of CVD diamond strip sensors for charged particle tracking. Toward this end, a tracking telescope composed entirely of CVD diamond planes has been constructed. The telescope was tested in muon beams, and its tracking capability has been investigated.

ROLE OF NEUTROPHILS IN ACETIC ACID-INDUCED COLITIS IN RATS. Intrarectal administration of 4% acetic acid produces diffuse inflammation that ultimately results in erosions and ulcerations of the rat colon. Although this model of colitis has been used extensively over the past several years, there are no quantitative data available regarding the relationship between neutrophil infiltration and mucosal injury during times of active inflammation. Therefore, the objective of this study was to define the role of extravasated neutrophils as mediators of mucosal injury and inflammation in acetic acid-induced colitis. We found the intrarectal administration of 4% acetic acid produced an 11-fold increase in colonic mucosal permeability, a 9-fold increase in colonic MPO activity, and a 1.6-fold increase in colon weight at 48 h following administration of acetic acid. In addition, we found significant correlations between colonic MPO activity and mucosal permeability and between colonic MPO activity and colon weight (P < 0.01 for both). These data suggested that inflammatory neutrophils may mediate mucosal injury and inflammation in this model of colitis. To assess the role of circulating neutrophils, rats were rendered neutropenic for 48 h by the intraperitoneal administration of antiserum directed toward rat neutrophils (ANS). Although ANS treatment reduced both the number of circulating neutrophils and colonic MPO activity to less than 10% of control values, it did not attenuate the increases in colonic mucosal permeability nor did it attenuate the increases in colon weight produced by acetic acid. Histological inspection confirmed that ANS treatment was not effective in attenuating the injury to the epithelial barrier. These data demonstrate that infiltrating neutrophils do not mediate the mucosal injury and inflammation observed in acetic acid-induced colitis.

A preliminary study on morphology and genesis of giant and mega pockmarks near Andu Seamount, Nansha Region (South China Sea). Pockmarks consists of depressions on the seafloor and are often considered to originate from fluid escape activities. In this study, we report 125 pockmarks near the Andu Seamount in the southern margin of the South China Sea (SCS) and preliminarily investigate their genesis based on multi-beam bathymetry and multichannel seismic reflection data. Most of them are giant and mega pockmarks and display circular, elliptical, elongated, crescent, comet and irregular shapes on a plan-view. The mapped pockmarks cover a total surface of 291.354 km(2). Most of them occur in strings or clusters, while some are isolated. The filled volume of pockmark is calculated for the first time in this region, which may have significant implications for sedimentary process. Beneath most of the pockmarks, high-angle faults, high-amplitude reflections, filled-up structures and other fluid escape features are imaged on seismic sections. The structural settings, especially the fault systems, may control the genesis and development of pockmarks in this area. We also speculate that seabed gradients may contribute to generation of crescent pockmarks. According to seismic sections, sediment types and morphological analysis, we finally proposed that the genesis of these pockmarks may mainly be triggered by gas escape activities in the study area. This work may have important implications for the gas exploration in the Nansha Region, southern South China Sea.

A systematic approach for integrated computer-aided design and finite element analysis of functionally-graded-material objects. Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of Functionally-Graded-Material (FGM) objects are generally regarded as separate domains of interest in CAD and Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) community. Such a separation of CAD modeling and FEA of FGM objects makes it cumbersome and tedious for both designers and engineers to exchange the necessary information in the entire design process. Without appropriate CAD models, complex material distributions can hardly be represented and the FGM objects under examination remain simple in material variations (e.g. unidirectional gradations). With CAD modeling tools only, the end users are still uncertain whether or not the designed objects can really meet the functional requirements in terms of structural, thermal or other prescribed properties. This paper proposes a systematic approach to integrate these domain-dependent design tools in FGM object design. Integrated solutions to CAD modeling and property analysis of FGM objects are utilized to design complicated (bidirectional or even tri-variate) FGM objects. Complex FGM distributions are encoded into the proposed Heterogeneous Feature Tree (HFT) structure; and the material compositions of a given point of interest are interrogated from the CAD models at runtime. Integrated FEA of FGM objects are then carried out by establishing a link between the proposed CAD modeler (CAD4D) and a commercial FEA package (COMSOL Multiphysics). Four different (three unidirectional and one bidirectional) FGM objects are modeled with traditional analytic function based approaches and the proposed methods. Under the same thermal and mechanical conditions, the properties of each model are compared in terms of temperature fields, residual thermal stresses and the strain energy densities. Results show that the proposed approach can facilitate the design of complex FGM objects in a systematic way. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Evaluation of Ocular Surface Disease in Patients with Glaucoma. Purpose: To evaluate the subjective and objective measures of ocular surface disease in patients with glaucoma.Conclusions: Glaucoma is associated with significant ocular surface disease, and topical glaucoma therapy burden seems predictive of corneal staining severity. However, OSDI is a poor metric for capturing ocular surface disease in glaucoma because symptoms seem to be related largely to VF loss. (C) 2013 by the American Academy of Ophthalmology.Results: Seventy-five percent (48/ 64) of glaucoma subjects and 41% (24/ 59) of glaucoma suspects were receiving topical medications. The corneal staining grade was greater in glaucoma subjects than in glaucoma suspects (6.4 vs. 4.1; P< 0.001), but groups did not differ with regard to TBUT or Schirmer's results (P> 0.20 for both). Multivariate regression models showed that topical glaucoma therapy burden was associated with a significantly higher total corneal staining grade (b, _0.9 for each additional glaucoma drop; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.5-1.3; P< 0.001), but not with TBUT or Schirmer's results (P> 0.20 for both). Glaucoma subjects had significantly higher total OSDI scores than glaucoma suspects (16.7 vs. 7.9; P< 0.001). This largely was the result of higher vision-related subscores in the glaucoma group (11.1 vs. 3.3; P< 0.001). Ocular discomforterelated subscores, however, were similar in both groups (5.7 vs. 4.6; P 0.30). In multivariate analyses, each 5-decibel decrement in better-eye VF mean deviation was associated with a 4.7-point increase in total OSDI score (95% CI, 1.9-7.5; P 0.001) and a 3.7-point increase in the vision-related subscore (95% CI, 1.7-5.6; P< 0.001) but did not predict a higher discomfort-related subscore (b, 1.1 point; P 0.07). Topical glaucoma therapy burden was not associated with higher total OSDI score or vision-or discomfort-related subscore (P> 0.20 for all).Design: Cross-sectional study. Participants: Sixty-four glaucoma subjects with bilateral visual field (VF) loss and 59 glaucoma suspects with normal VFs.Methods: Consecutive patients were recruited prospectively from the Wilmer Eye Institute Glaucoma Clinic. Main Outcome Measures: Tear film breakup time (TBUT), corneal staining score (OSDI), and Schirmer's test results were included as objective metrics, whereas the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) questionnaire was administered to assess symptoms. Total OSDI score, vision-related subscore (derived from questions about vision and task performance), and discomfort-related subscore (derived from questions about ocular surface discomfort) were calculated for each subject.

Particle production in f(R) gravity during structure formatione. We study particle production in infrared-modified gravitational theories in the contemporary universe. It is shown that in astronomical systems with rising mass density, the curvature scalar may oscillate with very high frequency. These oscillations lead to efficient particle production and in an interesting range of model parameters could be a source of energetic cosmic rays. This effect either excludes some models of modified gravity or suggests a new mechanism of cosmic ray production.

Bribes in a supply line. The paper models the practice of charging bribes for faster delivery of essential services. It then examines the possibility of curbing corruption by supervision and by introducing competition among delivery agents. It is argued that a supervisory solution eludes the problem because no hard evidence of the reduction of corruption can be established for this type of offence. It is then shown that using more than one supplier reduces the bribe rate and the waiting period for both bribe-payers and others; and the aggregate gain of consumers exceeds the cost of hiring additional suppliers.

MOLECULAR-GENETICS OF METACHROMATIC LEUKODYSTROPHY. Metachromatic leukodystrophy is an autosomal recessive inherited lysosomal storage disease. It can be caused by mutations in two different genes, the arylsulfatase A and the prosaposin gene. These genes encode two proteins that are needed for the proper degradation of cerebroside sulfate, a glycolipid mainly found in the myelin membranes; Deficiency of arylsulfatase A or of a proteolytic product of prosaposin leads to the accumulation of cerebroside sulfate, which causes a lethal progressive demy elination. Mutations in the arylsulfatase A gene are far more frequent than those of the prosaposin gene. So far 31 amino acid substitutions, one nonsense mutation, three small deletions, three splice donor site mutations, and one combined missense/splice donor site mutation have been identified in the arylsulfatase A gene. Two of these mutant alleles are frequent, accounting for about one-half of all mutant alleles, whereas the remainder are heterogeneous. Amino acid substitutions cluster in exons 2 and 3, a region that shows a high degree of conservation among sulfatases of different function and origin. Different mutations are associated with phenotypes of different severity, but there is a remarkable variability of severity when patients with identical genotypes are compared. Demonstration of an arylsulfatase A deficiency is not a proof of metachromatic leukodystrophy, since a substantial deficiency without any clinical consequences is frequent in the general population. This deficiency is caused by an arylsulfatase A allele, which due to certain mutations encodes greatly reduced amounts of functional enzyme. However, these amounts are sufficient to sustain a normal phenotype. In the diagnosis and genetic counseling, these deficiencies must be differentiated from those causing meta chromatic leukodystrophy. So far only six patients with mutations in the prosaposin gene have been described, in which three defective alleles two with amino acid substitutions and one with a 33-bp insertion have been identified. (C) 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Measurement of W-pair cross sections in e(+)e(-) interactions at root s = 183 GeV and W-decay branching fractions. We report on the measurement of W-boson pair-production with the L3 detector at LEP, In a data sample corresponding to a total luminosity of 55.47 pb(-1) collected at an average centre-of-mass energy of 182.68 GeV, we select 824 four-fermion events with pairs of hadronic jets or pairs of leptons with high invariant masses. Branching fractions of W decays into different fermion-antifermion pairs are determined, Assuming charged-current lepton universality, the branching fraction for hadronic W decays is measured to be: B(W --> hadrons) = 70.1 +/- 1.3(stat.) +/- 0.4(syst.) %. Combining all final states the total cross section for W-pair production is measured to be: sigma(WW) = 16.53 +/- 0.67(stat.) +/- 0.26(syst.) pb. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V, All rights reserved.

MURINE RADIATION MYELOID LEUKEMOGENESIS - RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INTERSTITIAL TELOMERE-LIKE SEQUENCES AND CHROMOSOME-2 FRAGILE SITES. While the specific nature of chromosomal fragile sites and their relationship to human leukaemogenesis remain obscure, there is evidence that chromosomal fragility may, in some circumstances, be associated with telomere-like repeat sequences and that chromosome 2 fragility in the mouse is involved in the initiation of myeloid leukaemia by ionising radiation. Here we describe the molecular cloning and characterisation of two murine telomere-like sequences, one having an inverted repeat structure and the other a simple tandem repeat organisation. The inverted telomere repeat clone generates an in situ chromosome 2 hybridisation pattern very similar to the distribution of the radiation-sensitive fragile sites previously found to be associated with leukaemogenic initiation. Furthermore, statistical comparison of the distributions of radiation induced breakpoints and sites of inverted telomere repeat hybridization indicates concordance at all chromosome 2 sites excluding the terminal regions. These data are discussed with respect to mechanisms of radiation-induced, site-specific chromosome 2 rearrangement and their implications for leukaemogenic initiation.

A collaborative approach to meeting oncology challenges in island communities in the Asia-Pacific region. Treatment of cancer in small island communities is frequently challenged by the isolation and scattered nature of target populations, limited economic resources and overburdened healthcare systems. Strategies that have been successful in improving access to nonsurgical treatment in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and West Timor include balancing centralised location of scarce resources (particularly health professionals) with minimisation of patient travel, in-country training by teams of oncology professionals from high-income countries (HICs), sending health professionals to train in HICs, sharing and adaptation of treatment protocols, and telehealth initiatives. A common feature of successful initiatives is a collaborative approach. Cancer service design and implementation needs to be led by local health professionals with the collaboration of local health authorities and government. There is greater scope for collaboration between low- and middle-income countries and for the use of virtual meetings, distance learning, and remote technical support.

Institutional adaptation to drought: The case of Fars Agricultural Organization. Recurrent droughts in arid and semi-arid regions are already rendering agricultural production, mainstay of subsistence livelihoods, uncertain. In order to mitigate the impact of drought, agricultural organizations must increase their capacity to adapt. Institutional adaptation refers to the creation of an effective, long-term government institution or set of institutions in charge of planning and policy, and its capacity to develop, revise, and execute drought policies. Using the Fars Agricultural Organization in Iran, as a case study, this paper explores the institutional capacities and capabilities, necessary to adapt to the drought conditions. The STAIR model was used as a conceptual tool, and the Bayesian network and Partial Least Squares (PLS) path modeling was applied to explain the mechanisms by which organizational capacities influence drought management. A survey of 309 randomly selected managers and specialists indicated serious weaknesses in the ability of the organization to apply adaptation strategies effectively. Analysis of the causal models illustrated that organizational culture and resources and infrastructure significantly influenced drought management performance. Moreover, managers and specialists perceived human resources and strategy, goals, and action plan, respectively, as the main drivers of institutional adaptation to drought conditions. Recommendations and implications for drought management policy are offered to increase organizational adaptation to drought and reduce the subsequent sufferings. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Amino acids 143 to 150 of the herpes simplex virus type 1 scaffold protein are required for the formation of portal-containing capsids. The herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) portal is composed of a dodecamer of UL6 protein molecules whose incorporation into the capsid is mediated by interaction with the HSV-1 UL26.5 scaffold protein. Previous results with an in vitro capsid assembly assay demonstrated that nine amino acids (amino acids 143 to 151) of the UL26.5 protein are required for its interaction with UL6 and for incorporation of the portal complex into capsids. In the present study an HSV-1 mutant, bvFH411, was isolated and contained a deletion that removed the codons for UL26.5 amino acids 143 to 150. The mutant virus failed to produce infectious virus in noncomplementing cells, and only B capsids that contained only minor amounts of portal protein were made. These data corroborate our previous in vitro studies and demonstrate that amino acids 143 to 150 of UL26.5 are required for the formation of portal-containing HSV-1 capsids.

Degree choosable signed graphs. A signed graph is a graph in which each edge is labeled with +1 or -1. A (proper) vertex coloring of a signed graph is a mapping 0 that assigns to each vertex nu is an element of V(G) a color phi(nu) is an element of Z such that every edge vw of G satisfies phi(nu) not equal sigma(nu w)phi(w), where sigma(vw) is the sign of the edge nu w. For an integer h >= 0, let Z(2h) = {+/- 1, +/- 2, . . . +/- h} and Z(2h+1) = Z(2h)U{0}. Following Macajova et al. (2016), the chromatic number chi(G) of the signed graph G is the least integer k such that G admits a vertex coloring phi with im(phi) subset of Z(k). As proved in Macajova et al. (2016), every signed graph G satisfies chi (G) <= Delta (G) + 1 and there are three types of signed connected simple graphs for which equality holds. We will extend this Brooks' type result by considering graphs having multiple edges. We will also prove a list version of this result by characterizing degree choosable signed graphs. Furthermore, we will establish some basic facts about color critical signed graphs. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Effect of Spinal Shortening After Total En Bloc Spondylectomy A Biomechanical Study in the Thoracic Spine. Summary of Background Data: There have been no studies that have examined the biomechanical effects of spinal reconstruction after multilevel TES or the biomechanical effects of spinal shortening in reconstruction after TES.Objective: To evaluate and compare the biomechanical effects of spinal shortening and cross-links in reconstruction after total en bloc spondylectomy (TES).Conclusions: The reconstructions using an anterior cage and multilevel posterior instrumentation provided a stiffer construct than that shown by the intact specimen. The reconstruction using a 10-mm shorter cage provided a stiffer construct than the reconstruction using the longer cage.Study Design: A biomechanical study using human cadaveric thoracic spine specimens.Results: All 3 reconstruction methods using an anterior cage and multilevel posterior instrumentation provides a stiffer construct than that shown by the intact specimen. The reconstruction method using the 10-mm shorter cage (S2C vs. L2C) provided more stiffness than the one using the longer cage. The reconstruction using 2 cross-links (S2C vs. S1C) did not provide a stiffer construct than the one using 1 cross-link.Methods: Eight human cadaveric spines (T2-T9) were used. After the intact specimen had been biomechanically tested to determine the stiffness in compression, flexion, extension, left and right lateral bending, and left and right axial rotation, a TES at T5-6 was carried out. Three reconstruction methods were tested biomechanically (same as for the intact specimen) for their ability to restore stiffness to the specimen: (1) anterior short cage and multilevel posterior instrumentation at T3-8 with 2 cross-links (S2C), (2) anterior short cage and multilevel posterior instrumentation at T3-8 with 1 cross-link (S1C), and (3) anterior long cage and multilevel posterior instrumentation at T3-8 with 2 cross-links (L2C). A cage that was 6-10 mm shorter in height than the space created by the TES at T5-6 was selected as the \\'short cage\\' and a cage 10 mm taller in height than the short cage was selected as the \\'long cage\\' in each specimen.

Electroencephalogram based communication system for locked in state person using mentally spelled tasks with optimized network model. Due to growth in population, Individual persons with disabilities are increasing daily. To overcome the disability especially in Locked in State (LIS) due to Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), we planned to design four states moving robot from four imagery tasks signals acquired from three electrode systems by placing the electrodes in three positions namely T1, T3 and FP1. At the time of the study we extract the features from Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) and trained with Optimized Neural Network model to analyze the features. The proposed network model showed the highest performances with an accuracy of 93.86 % then that of conventional network model. To confirm the performances we conduct offline test. The offline test also proved that new network model recognizing accuracy was higher than the conventional network model with recognizing accuracy of 97.50 %. To verify our result we conducted Information Transfer Rate (ITR), from this analysis we concluded that optimized network model outperforms the other network models like conventional ordinary Feed Forward Neural Network, Time Delay Neural Network and Elman Neural Networks with an accuracy of 21.67 bits per sec. By analyzing classification performances, recognizing accuracy and Information Transformation Rate (ITR), we concluded that CWT features with optimized neural network model performances were comparably greater than that of normal or conventional neural network model and also the study proved that performances of male subjects was appreciated compared to female subjects.

Population dynamics of plant-parasite interactions: Thresholds for invasion. Thresholds are derived for the invasion of plant populations by parasites. The theory is developed for a generic model that takes into account two features characteristic of plant-parasite interactions: a dual source of inoculum (infection from primary or externally introduced inoculum and secondary infection from contact between susceptible and infected host tissue) and a host response to infection load. Each of the threshold criteria is shown to be the sum of the individual components for primary and secondary infection. This indicates that if parasite invasion is not possible through primary or secondary infection alone, when the two modes of transmission are combined, the parasite may be able to invade. The invasion criteria demonstrate that there is a threshold population of susceptible hosts below which the parasite is unable to invade. If there are nonlinearities in the population dynamics (arising through either the transmission process or the host response), there are also threshold densities for the infected hosts and parasite populations below which invasion does not occur. The implications of the results for the control of plant disease are discussed. (C) 2000 Academic Press.

Non-linear time history analysis of reinforced concrete coupled shear walls: Comparison of old design, modern design and retrofitted with externally bonded CFRP composites. When appropriately designed, coupled shear walls (CSWs) are very effective lateral load resisting systems for medium to high rise buildings. They reduce the deformation demands on the building and distribute the inelastic deformation between the coupling beams (CBs) and the wall piers. Their seismic performance depends mainly on the ability of their CBs to provide adequate stiffness and strength. Therefore, the design of the CBs and the walls at their base is of paramount importance. However, many existing buildings with CSWs feature unsatisfactory behaviour under lateral loading as they were designed and constructed according to old codes and standards with insufficient requirements for seismic design. Their seismic retrofit is therefore inevitable. Many conventional retrofit techniques have been attempted in the past to improve the seismic behavior of CSWs. Recently, an innovative technique using externally bonded fibre reinforced polymer (EB-FRP) composite to strengthen existing reinforced concrete (RC) structural elements has emerged. The current study focuses on two objectives related to CSWs: (i) evaluate the seismic performance of old designed CSWs and highlight their deficiencies by comparing its response with that of corresponding modern design CSWs; and (ii) evaluate the effectiveness of EB-Carbon FRP (EB-CFRP) retrofitting on the seismic response of deficient CSWs. To achieve these objectives, two 20-story CSWs located in Western seismic Canadian zone were considered. One CSW was designed according to old National Building Code of Canada (NBCC) 1941 and the other one designed in conformity with modern NBCC 2015 and Canadian Standard Association (CSA) A23.3-14. The nonlinear time-history analyses of the two types of CSWs as well as the CFRP retrofitted one under simulated earthquake motions are carried out using RUAUMOKO program. The observed results confirmed the effectiveness of CFRP retrofitting in enhancing the seismic performance of deficient old CSWs in terms of story displacement, inter-story drift, CBs' rotation, and walls' curvature.

Statistical Approach for Classification of Dinosaur Eggs from the Heyuan Basin at the Northeast of Guangdong Province. The Zhutian and Dafeng formations (Upper Cretaceous) of the Heyuan Basin in northeastern Guangdong Province, China, have produced thousands of dinosaur eggs. Macromorphological features (egg diameter, egg shape, outer surface texture, and shell thickness) of 461 eggs were analyzed using non-destructive techniques and subjected to statistical analyses in order to assess their diversity and taxonomic affinities. Three types (1, 2 and 3) of eggs were discerned based on shape and outer surface morphology. Type 1 eggs are spherical to ellipsoidal in shape and have a rough surface. Three subtypes (Type 1-A-1, 1-A-2, and 1-B) are apparent from scatter plots and cluster analyses of egg diameters and shell thickness. Type 2 eggs are elongate with linear ornamentation on the surface, and are comparable to eggs that belong to the oofamily Elongatoolithidae. Type 3 eggs are elongate with a smooth surface, and are assigned to the oofamily Prismatoolithidae. Macromorphological features of the various egg types suggest that Type 1 could have been laid by ornithischian, sauropod or therizinosaur dinosaurs, Type 2 by oviraptorids, and Type 3 by troodontids. This study represents the first comprehensive statistical analysis of macrofeatures of dinosaur eggs, and reveals taxonomic diversity in the dinosaurs that were laying eggs in the Upper Cretaceous Heyuan area heretofore unrecognized in skeletal remains.

Effect of low-level GaAlAs laser irradiation on the proliferation rate of human periodontal ligament fibroblasts: an in vitro study. Results: The irradiated cells revealed a considerably higher proliferation activity than the controls. The differences were significant up to 72 h after irradiation (Mann-Whitney U-test, p < 0.05).Materials and Methods: PDLF obtained from third molar periodontal ligaments were cultured under standard conditions and spread on 96-well tissue culture plates. Subconfluent monolayers were irradiated with an 809-nm diode laser operated at a power output of 10 mW in the continuos wave (cw) mode at energy fluences of 1.96-7.84 Jcm(-2). The variable irradiation parameters were the time of exposure (75-300 s per well) and the number of irradiations (1-3). After laser treatment, the cultures were incubated for 24 h. The proliferation rate of the lased and control cultures was determined by means of fluorescence activity of a reduction-oxidation (REDOX) indicator (Alamar Blue(R) Assay) added to the cell culture. Proliferation, expressed in relative fluorescence units (RFU), was determined 24, 48 and 72 h after irradiation.Aim: The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate a potential stimulatory effect of low-level laser irradiation on the proliferation of human periodontal ligament fibroblasts (PDLF).Conclusion: A cellular effect of the soft laser application is clearly discernible. Clinical studies are needed to evaluate whether the application of low-level laser therapy might be beneficial in regenerative periodontal therapy.

Significant Improvement of Skin Conditions in Atopic Dermatitis by Synbiotic Bath Additives. Background It is becoming increasingly apparent that the gut as well as the skin microbiome are important for the health of the host. Playing a strategic role in the host immune function, the intestinal microbiota has been recently hypothesized to be involved in the etiology of atopy. There are also interactions between microbes on the skin surface and the adaptive immune system. Pro- and Prebiotics have been extensively reviewed during the last years and it has shown, that internal as well as external use of pro- or prebiotic preparations could be effective in the treatment of atopic diseases. Objectives The effects of a dietary synbiotic supplement (Madena Darmkur (R)) used as a bath additive on skin conditions have been investigated in a randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Materials and methods 30 volunteers with atopic dermatitis were studied over a two weeks period. At the beginning, after one week and at the end of the study the severity scores of pruritus, general skin condition, dryness, excoriation, desquamation and limitations during manual working or walking were determined Results The treatment with synbiotic baths led to significant and relevant changes in all scores after one and two weeks of topical application. There were no significant changes in the placebo group. Conclusions The external use of synbiotics could become a new therapeutic strategy for the treatment of atopic dermatitis. However, more studies are needed to identify suitable bacterial strains and to get more information on the required dosage and mechanism of action.

Application of Mathematical Models to Determine the Feasibility of Amorphous Drug Layering in Pan Coaters. Oral solid dosage forms that contain APIs in the amorphous state have become commonplace because of many drug substances exhibiting poor water solubility, which negatively impacts their absorption in the human GI tract. While micronization, solvent spray-drying, and hot-melt extrusion can address solubility issues, spray coating of the APIs onto beads and tablets offers another option for producing amorphous drug products. High-level comparisons between bead and tablet coating technologies have the potential for simpler equipment and operation that can reduce the cost of development and manufacturing. However, spray coating directly onto tablets is not without challenges, especially with respect to meeting uniformity acceptance value (AV) criteria, comprising accuracy (mean) and precision (variance) objectives. The feasibility of meeting AV criteria is examined, based on mathematical models for accuracy and precision. The results indicate that the main difficulty in manufacturing satisfactory drug-layered tablets by spray coating is caused by the practical limitations of achieving the necessary coating precision. Despite this limitation, it is shown that AV criteria can be consistently met by appropriate materials monitoring and control as well as processing equipment setup, operation, and maintenance.

A quality assurance test tool for high dose-rate remote afterloading brachytherapy units. A QA test tool is designed to quantitatively measure the HDR source positioning error, and to facilitate quick and dependable HDR timer linearity test and daily output constancy check. The test tool consists of two concentric disks. The lower disk has a cutout for inserting an HDR catheter, and the upper disk accepts a diode or miniature ionization chamber and can rotate relative to the lower disk. Ionization readings from the source (transferred to the center of the disks) are obtained at two rotational positions of the upper disk which houses the detector. The ratio of the readings is used to determine the source-positioning error of the HDR unit relative to the nominal source position by a simple triangulation principle. Experimental measurements confirm that the QA test tool is sensitive to approximately 0.2 mm variance in source positioning errors. In addition, the QA test tool is suitable for other common HDR QA tests such as the source travel step size test, the daily HDR unit output constancy check, and the timer linearity test. Its simple and robust design permits routine clinical use and provides a high confidence level in the accurate operation of HDR units. (C) 1998 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

An unusual auricular malformation accompanied by accessory tragus: macrotragus. Definition of malformations of the tragus is important for terminology and treatment. Most common entities are the skin tag, accessory tragus, preauricular sinus, and cyst, whereas macrotragus is an uncommon and unaddressed deformity that should be distinguished from these. In this report, three cases with diagnosis of the macrotragus are presented. The tragus was uniformly large and displaced anteriorly, and external auditory meatus was not obliterated in all cases. For correction, excision of the excess tragal cartilage and skin was performed. In all cases, bilaterally symmetric tragus was achieved. There were no complications in the early postoperative period and there was no enlargement after 6 months of observation. Macrotragus and accessory tragus are different entities that should be distinguished for accurate diagnosis. They have similar histopathological but distinct anatomical characteristics. Although both are treated by a simple excision, in the case of macrotragus, special effort should be taken to leave enough cartilage to restore normal tragal contours.

Phylogeographic Identification of Tench Tinca tinca (L.,1758) (Actinopterygii: Cyprinidae) from the Northern Balkans and Adjacent Regions and its Implications for Conservation. Jelena Lujic, Klaus Kohlmann, Petra Kersten, Zoran Marinovic, Miroslav Cirkovic, and Vladica Simic (2017) The tench, Tinca tinca, is an endangered freshwater fish species in the Balkans. However, there are no management and conservation strategies developed for this species so far. In order to be able to develop such strategies, we first determined the phylogeographic identity of 70 tench individuals from four countries (Serbia, FYRO Macedonia, Hungary and Croatia) by PCR-RFLP analyses of two nuclear markers (Act and RpS7) and one mitochondrial marker (Cytb). All makers enabled the identification of two major geographic clades of tench (Western and Eastern), while nuclear markers additionally enabled the identification of hybrids between the two clades. Based on the mitochondrial marker Cytb, tench populations can be separated into two distinct areas: areas north of the Danube River with the dominant Western origin, and areas south of the Danube River with the dominant Eastern origin. Data obtained for the Act gene demonstrated Eastern origin for most individuals (88.23%) while data obtained for the RpS7 gene demonstrated mixed origin with a high percentage of hybrids. The presence of high numbers of individuals with Western alleles for the RpS7 gene in areas south of the Danube may indicate a natural invasion of this phylogroup. According to these results, areas north and south of the Danube are identified as two main management units. Additionally, we identified the rare western haplotype W2 based on the Cytb marker which clearly indicated human-aided dispersals of tench in the investigated region and since some individuals with W2 origin were cultured, attention must be given to the genetic structure and identity of the introduced individuals, whether during introduction or reintroduction since biological and ecological consequences of the hybridization between the two major clades are still unknown. Finally, we propose and discuss management and conservation strategies for tench of both management areas.

Some basic geotechnical properties of expansive soil modified using pyroclastic dust. This paper reports an investigation of the influence of pyroclastic rock dust on the geotechnical properties of expansive soil. The plasticity, linear shrinkage, compaction. California bearing ratio (CBR) and shear strength characteristics of the soil when mixed with varying proportions of pyroclastic rock dust were investigated. The results show significant reduction in plasticity and linear shrinkage of expansive soil with increasing amount of pyroclastic rock dust. The maximum dry density, optimum water content, shear strength and CBR all increased with increasing pyroclastic rock dust content. Optimum CBR values were obtained with the addition of up to 8% pyroclastic rock dust. The behavior of the geotechnical properties of the expansive soil when blended with pyroclastic rock dust indicates that the rock dust is a good modifier for this problem soil. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Manure-Based Amendments Influence Surface-Associated Bacteria and Markers of Antibiotic Resistance on Radishes Grown in Soils with Different Textures. IMPORTANCE In working toward a comprehensive strategy to combat the spread of antibiotic resistance, potential farm-to-fork routes of dissemination are gaining attention. The effects of preharvest factors on the microbiota and corresponding antibiotic resistance indicators on the surfaces of produce commonly eaten raw is of special interest. Here, we conducted a controlled greenhouse study, using radishes as a root vegetable grown in direct contact with soil, and compared the effects of manure-based soil amendments, antibiotic use in the cattle from which the manure was sourced, composting of the manure, and soil texture, with chemical fertilizer only as a control. We noted significant effects of amendment type and soil texture on the composition of the microbiota and genes used as indicators of antibiotic resistance on radish surfaces. The findings take a step toward identifying agricultural practices that aid in reducing carriage of antibiotic resistance and corresponding risks to consumers.A controlled greenhouse study was performed to determine the effect of manure or compost amendments, derived during or in the absence of antibiotic treatment of beef and dairy cattle, on radish taproot-associated microbiota and indicators of antibiotic resistance when grown in different soil textures. Bacterial beta diversity, determined by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, bifurcated according to soil texture (P < 0.001, R = 0.501). There was a striking cross-effect in which raw manure from antibiotic-treated and antibiotic-free beef and dairy cattle added to loamy sand (LS) elevated relative (16S rRNA gene-normalized) (by 0.9 to 1.9 log(10)) and absolute (per-radish) (by 1.1 to 3.0 log(10)) abundances of intI1 (an integrase gene and indicator of mobile multiantibiotic resistance) on radishes at harvest compared to chemical fertilizer-only control conditions (P <.001). Radishes tended to carry fewer copies of intI1 and sul1 when grown in silty clay loam than LS. Composting reduced relative abundance of intI1 on LS-grown radishes (0.6 to 2.4 log10 decrease versus corresponding raw manure; P, 0.001). Effects of antibiotic use were rarely discernible. Heterotrophic plate count bacteria capable of growth on media containing tetracycline, vancomycin, sulfamethazine, or erythromycin tended to increase on radishes grown in turned composted antibiotic-treated dairy or beef control (no antibiotics) manures relative to the corresponding raw manure in LS (0.8- to 2.3-log(10) increase; P < 0.001), suggesting that composting sometimes enriches cultivable bacteria with phenotypic resistance. This study demonstrates that combined effects of soil texture and manure-based amendments influence the microbiota of radish surfaces and markers of antibiotic resistance, illuminating future research directions for reducing agricultural sources of antibiotic resistance.

Effect of radial void distribution within fuel assembly on assembly neutronic characteristics. The effect of radial subchannel-wise void distribution in a fuel assembly on assembly neutronic characteristics has been investigated using the assembly calculation code SRAC95 and the subchannel analysis code THERMIT2. With the iterative calculation of assembly calculation and the subchannel analysis (Method 1). subchannel-wise void fraction distribution, pin-power distribution and the infinite multiplication factor of the assembly are calculated. The results are compared with the result of the assembly calculation using uniform void distribution as input (Method 2). The calculation is performed for two assembly configurations in the present study: one is a fuel assembly that does not include a water rod (Case 1) and the other is the assembly that includes a water rod (Case 2). The differences in the infinite multiplication factor and pin-power peaking factor between the two methods are small in both cases. In typical BWR fuel assemblies that are investigated in the present study, the method that does not consider the radial subchannel-wise void fraction distribution within a fuel assembly (Method 2) is accurate enough for practical applications.

PERIOPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS OF LONG-TERM CENTRAL VENOUS CATHETERS IN HIGH-RISK PATIENTS - PREDICTORS VERSUS MYTHS. A prospective cohort of 126 patients having long-term central venous catheterization was collected over a 10-month period. The patients were preoperatively assessed for the following risk factors: previous catheter placement, an absolute neutrophil count less than 500/mm3, a platelet count less than 50000/mm3, a BUN value greater than 60 mg/dL or a serum creatinine level greater than 2.5 mg/dL, a prothrombin time greater than 1.5 times control, recent sepsis, and a Western blot test positive for HIV. The incidence of perioperative complications was 23%. Complications included pneumothorax, arterial puncture, tunnel hematoma, unsuccessful initial placement, and reaction to local anesthesia or blood products. No single risk factor had any statistical significance in predicting a complication. In the subpopulation of patients having two or more risk factors, the complication rate was 50%, with the majority of these being failed placement attempts. We conclude that inserting a permanent central venous catheter is not a benign procedure, but it can be safely done in critically ill patients. Furthermore, evaluation of preoperative risk factors in candidates for catheterization can be helpful to the surgeon with respect to counseling and operative planning.

Posture adjustment and robust microinjection of zebrafish larval heart. Unlike cells or embryos, zebrafish have a complex physiological structure, which poses challenges to posture recognition and adjustment during microinjection. Furthermore, zebrafish surface pigments exhibit strong interference with visual servo-based injection control, thus, affecting the success of microinjection and the subsequent survival rate. To address these challenges, we developed an automated microinjection system for the zebrafish heart that has advantages of high accuracy and success rate and avoids biological sample contamination. A convolutional neural networks (CNN) deep learning model is employed to determine the body axis posture. To solve the problems of blocked needle and abnormal tip positioning induced by zebrafish surface pigment during the injection process, an adaptive robust Kalman filter is proposed to suppress the abnormal values of visual feedback. Experimental results show that the success rate of body axis recognition based on the employed deep learning model exceeds 95%, and the proposed adaptive Kalman filter effectively suppresses the visual outliers, satisfying the requirements of high-precision injection for the zebrafish heart.

Azole resistance surveillance in Aspergillus fumigatus: beneficial or biased?. Azole resistance is a growing concern with Aspergillus fumigatus, and may cause increased mortality in patients with azole-resistant invasive aspergillosis (IA). Microbial surveillance has been recognized as a fundamental component of resistance management. Surveillance information may be used to inform decisions regarding health services and research funding allocation, to guide local infection control in hospitals and communities, and to direct local and national drug policies and guidelines. Azole resistance frequencies have been based on screening of unselected A. fumigatus isolates, on the number of azole-resistant cases within a cohort of patients with a specific Aspergillus disease, or on analysis of patients within a specific risk group. The various surveillance approaches differ in their aims, as well as in their associated advantages and drawbacks. Nevertheless, a wide range of azole resistance frequencies has been reported, partly due to the denominator used. As most azole resistance is believed to develop in the environment and, as a consequence, azole-naive patients may present with azole-resistant aspergillosis, experts recommended a 10% resistance frequency threshold above which the standard treatment choice, i.e. voriconazole, should be reconsidered. We believe that local resistance rates based on Aspergillus disease and/or risk group should be leading for decisions regarding empirical antifungal therapy in specific units. In addition, patient factors should be considered, such as admission to the ICU. Collecting valid surveillance data may be challenging in azole resistance due to numerous factors that present potential biases. Surveillance research may benefit from further standardization, which may be facilitated through the recently instituted International Society for Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM) Aspergillus Resistance Surveillance Working Group.

Study on the decision-making behavior of evacuation for coastal residents under typhoon storm surge disaster. Storm surge is one kind of meteorological tides which may cause serious destruction on coastal facilities. In the past, large death tolls have resulted from the rise of the ocean associated with many of the major typhoons that have made landfall. Although evacuation has been recognized as an effective protective action in responding to a typhoon emergency, it is still not clear why some people leave but others do not. Thus, it is important to identify which factors govern the behavior of at risk people on evacuation decision. The empirical work presented in this paper is the result of an original survey. The survey was designed to understand coastal resident's possible evacuation decision under alternate typhoon storm surge scenarios. The investigative team conducted surveys with evacuees to learn about the geophysical and social influences that had factored in their decision to evacuate. We obtained the basic information of coastal residents under typhoon storm surge disaster zone through questionnaire and interview. Based on the investigation and analysis, the analysis of these factors are summarized as follows: Demographic characteristics of the participants, disaster cognitive factors, the consideration of evacuation decision-making, the choice of evacuation site, evacuation behavior factors. A binary logistic regression analysis was performed, which resulted in an effective empirical model for evacuation behavior of coastal residents. This paper identified several independent variables whose effects on evacuation might interact with the effect of coastal residents. This result not only offers a strategy for improving disaster prevention, but also provides policy-makers with some insights to intensify and improve emergency plan of preventing typhoon storm surge.

MAGNETOSPHERIC RESPONSE OF TWO TYPES IN PSc GEOMAGNETIC PULSATIONS TO INTERACTION WITH INTERPLANETARY SHOCK WAVES. Using the June 22, 2015 event as an example, we present new data confirming the presence of a precursor of the sudden magnetic impulse caused by a powerful interplanetary shock wave (ISW). The precursor in the form of a train of oscillations (broadband pulse) with a falling frequency in the range 0.25 divided by 11 Hz with a duration of similar to 20 s, which had a spectral resonance structure, was recorded globally by a network of induction magnetometers at 18:33:27 UT. No significant phase delays of the signals were detected in four frequency bands at widely spaced observatories. It is suggested that the impulse can be excited in the Earth - ionosphere waveguide by a pulsed electric field which occurs in the ionosphere due to the short-term impact of ISW on the magnetosphere.

Sobbing Cupids, Lamenting Lovers, and Weeping Nymphs in the Early Zarzuela: Calderon de la Barca's El laurel de Apolo (1657) and Duron and Navas's Apolo y Dafne (circa 1700). How did the mythological zarzuela develop following its creation in 1657? And when did weeping, cross-dressed characters emerge as mainstays of this genre? In this essay I bring together the fields of literary studies and historical musicology to examine the lament, a climactic solo song that peaked in popularity in the zarzuela from the turn of the eighteenth century. I begin by providing an overview of the development and transformations in Spanish musico-theatrical lamenting traditions, and then turn to examine three laments in a little-known zarzuela produced circa 1700: Apolo y Dafne (text anonymous, music by Sebastian Duron and Juan de Navas), based on the same subject as Pedro Calderon de la Barca's first zarzuela, El laurel de Apolo (1657). Through the analysis of text, music, and performance, I explore changing musico-theatrical conventions in the later seventeenth century. To make this research accessible to a wider audience, I provide English translations of all excerpts in this essay.

Scholarship-In-Practice The Romance Reader and the Public Library. Romance fiction, romance authors and readers have been routinely marginalised, in spite of their significant role in contemporary popular culture. Sales figures for the book trade indicate that romance fiction is the most popular of all genres with ebook technologies being led by romance and erotica publishers. Yet, many public libraries have not collected romance fiction or collect only token examples of this genre. Drawing from data in the Australian Romance Readers Association annual survey on reader usage, this paper will discuss how the romance reader accesses their reading choices, impediments to the romance reader accessing reading materials, and the role of the public library and how library practitioners, through Readers' Advisory practices, can meet the romance reader's needs.

Immunological reactions in response to apicomplexan glycosylphosphatidylinositols. Apicomplexan protozoa are a phylum of parasites that includes pathogens such as Plasmodium, the causative agent of the most severe form of malaria responsible for almost 1 million deaths per year and Toxoplasma gondii causing toxoplasmosis, a disease leading to cerebral meningitis in immunocompromised individuals or to abortion in farm animals or in women that are infected for the first time during pregnancy. The initial immune reactions developed by the host are similar in response to an infection with Plasmodium and Toxoplasma in the sense that the same cells of the innate immune system are stimulated to produce inflammatory cytokines. The glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor is the major carbohydrate modification in parasite proteins and the GPIs are essential for parasite survival. Two immediate GPI precursors with the structures ethanolamine phosphate-6(Man alpha 1-2)Man alpha 1-2Man alpha 1-6Man alpha 1-4GlcN-PI and ethanolamine phosphate-6Man alpha 1-2Man alpha 1-6Man-alpha 1-4-GlcN-PI are synthesized by P. falciparum. Two main structures are synthesized by T. gondii: ethanolamine phosphate-6Man alpha 1-2Man alpha 1-6(GalNAc beta 1-4)Man alpha 1-4GlcN-PI and ethanolamine phosphate-6Man alpha 1-2Man alpha 1-6(Glc alpha 1-4GalNAc beta 1-4)Man alpha 1-4GlcN-PI. This review describes the biosynthesis of the apicomplexan GPIs and their role in the activation of the host immune system.

THE IMPACT OF LOW SELF-CONTROL ON ONLL\\TE HARASSMENT: INTERACTION WITH OPPORTUNITY. Developing Internet technology has increased the rates of youth online harassment. This study examines online harassment from adolescents with low self-control and the moderating effect of opportunity. The data used in this study were collected by the Korea Institute of Criminology in 2009. The total sample size was 1,091. The results indicated that low self-control, opportunity, and gender have a significant influence on online harassment. This study also showed a moderating effect of opportunity with low self-control on online harassment. However, these results differed according to gender; for males, low self-control and opportunity significantly impacted online harassment; for females, however, only low self-control significantly impacted online harassment. Furthermore, the interaction between low self-control and opportunity did not significantly influence online harassment for either gender. The results of multiple regression strongly supported Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) theory, but other models divided by gender only partially supported interacting effects. Thus, low self-control theory should be applied by genders. These results can help to guide investigations of online misconduct and application of digital forensics resources as well as suggest policies and practices to prevent and remediate it.

Seasonal polar cap radiation zones in dayside magnetosphere. The phenomenon of quasi-stable trapping of charged particles in the keV to MeV energy range within the polar cusp region of the Earth's magnetosphere is explored. The remote equatorial magnetic field lines on the dayside magnetosphere are compressed by the solar wind and exhibit two local minima in the geomagnetic field strength along the field line in high latitudes. These minima, on both sides of the equator, result in stable confinement structures. Numerical modeling of charged particle orbits that pass through the regions of these local field minima has been carried out using different seasonal Earth tilt and different magnetospheric disturbance level. These orbit tracings show when and where these off-equatorial trapped radiation zones would be situated. The existence and extent of these confinement zones depend on the tilt angle. Indeed, the northern cusp confinement zone appears only at the northern summer solstice, while the southern cusp particle capture zone appears around winter solstice. The particle orbits that pass through opposite off-equatorial field minimum during solstices reveal a bound of the geomagnetic equatorial plane on the day sector. During equinox, the particle confinement zones exist in both cusps at times of disturbed magnetosphere conditions. The trapped particles drift within the trapping zones with periods of the several minutes, conserving the 1st and 2nd adiabatic invariants.

Lower Concentrations of Microelements in Leaves of Citrus Infected with 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus'. Citrus trees affected by greening (huanglongbing, HLB) often develop symptoms that resemble those of Zn or Fe deficiency in their leaves. However, there have been few studies of mineral concentrations in infected leaves. To examine the effects of infection by 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus' (the causal organism of the Asiatic form of HLB) on mineral nutrition, Citrus jambhiri (Lush.), C. reticulata cv. Siem, and C. depressa Hayata were patch-grafted with infected bark squares and grown in pots in greenhouses in Japan and Indonesia. In addition, leaves were collected from field-grown C. tankan Hayata and C. unshiu Marc. in Japan and C. reticulata cv. Siem in Indonesia, and their disease status was determined by PCR. Leaf samples were homogenized in 2-(N-morpholino) ethanesulfonic acid buffer and the concentrations of water-soluble Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn in the macerate were determined using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (Japan) or atomic absorption spectrometry (Indonesia). In general, infected leaf samples had lower Fe and Zn. On average, the concentrations of Fe and Zn in infected plants were approximately half those in healthy plants. Cu was not significantly reduced by infection and Mn was occasionally lower. In C. unshiu, the concentrations of Fe and Zn were reduced before chlorosis appeared. These results suggested that the concentrations of particular elements (Fe and Zn) rather than element concentrations in general are reduced by infection by 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus'.

Grading system modification and management of blunt aortic injury. Conclusions This study based on our modified BAI grading system indicated that Grade I BAI can be managed conservatively. Grade II injury requires close observation and repeated computerized tomography angiogram (CTA) within 48-72 hours. If injury appears worse on follow up imaging, surgery should be performed. Delayed repair of Grade III BAI is acceptable if associated life threatening traumatic injuries need to be addressed first.Background The traditional approach to blunt aortic injury (BAI) has been emergent intervention. This study aimed to utilize a modified imaging grading system that may allow us to categorize these injuries as needing emergent, urgent, or non-operative management.Results Of the 28 patients, 22 were males and 6 were females with mean age of 38 (range, 7-69) years. Twenty-five (89.3%) had descending thoracic aortic injury, two (7.1%) had abdominal aortic injury and one (3.6%) presented with multiple aortic injuries. Three patients (10.7%) with Grade I, 1 (3.6%) Grade II, 22 (78.6%) Grade III, and 2 (7.1%) Grade IV injuries. Twenty-five patients underwent thoracic endovascular aortic repair and 3 were managed medically. Median time between injury and surgical intervention was (2 +/- 1) days. One (3.6%) patient developed paraplegia after thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR). One Type 2 endoleak spontaneously sealed within 1 month, and another patient died from ruptured Type 1 endoleak 3 years later. Median follow-up time was 16 (range, 1-96) months. Perioperative 30-day mortality rate was 3.6%.Methods From January 2003 to December 2011, 28 patients with BAI were managed at our institution. Imaging and medical records were reviewed retrospectively. BAI was classified into 4 grades based on imaging studies. Grade Ia: intimal tear, Grade Ib: intramural hennatoma; Grade II: intimal injury with periaotic hematoma; Grade IIIa: aortic transection with pseudoaneurysm, Grade IIIb: multiple aortic injuries; and Grade IV: free rupture. Progression and clinical outcomes of ABI were analyzed.

Trafficking in women and children in India: nature, dimensions and strategies for prevention. Trafficking in women and children is one of the worst abuses of human rights. But it is very difficult to estimate the scale of the phenomenon as trafficking is closely related to child labour, bonded labour, child marriage, kidnapping and abduction and prostitution even though these phenomena can exist also independent of trafficking. This paper has attempted to analyse the nature, causes, modes and volume of trafficking in a country that has recently become a soft target in the South Asian region for trafficking in persons. India has failed to comply with certain international standards to combat the crime. The paper highlights the need to develop a multidimensional approach and focuses attention on structural factors of trafficking for recommending meaningful stratagems to counter the social evil.

Novel ionisation vacuum gauge suitable as a reference standard: Influence of primary electron trajectories on the operation. A detailed study of the operation of a novel ionisation gauge, recently proposed as a reference standard by the consortium of the European project 16NRM05, is performed with focus on the influence of electron trajectories and the interaction of electrons with electrode surfaces. The strategy behind the gauge design was to provide well defined primary electron trajectories that form an electron beam. This investigation seeks to correlate experimental investigations of improper primary beam focusing, electron beam profiling, electron stimulated desorption and outgassing, with charged particle optics simulations that include space charge effects, and a detailed study of secondary electron emission. The main outcome of the research is that control of the primary electron trajectories, quantified by electron transmission efficiency, is essential for its proper operation mainly as a pressure measurement device but also as a vacuum gauge sensitivity reference standard. Once all primary electrons end their trajectories in a Faraday cup, being one of the gauge electrodes, two additional problems are identified: escape of a very small fraction of electrons from the Faraday cup and electron stimulated desorption of neutrals. Their contribution is of low significance when using this device as a sensitivity reference standard in the high vacuum range, which meets the major goal of the 16NRM05 project. However, these effects might represent an obstacle for the gauge application, mainly as a measurement device, at lower pressures. Approaches to mitigate the mentioned potential problems are discussed.

The catalase gene promoter and 5'-untranslated region variants lead to altered gene expression and enzyme activity in vitiligo. ObjectivesThe aims were (i) to assess erythrocyte CAT enzyme activity and lipid peroxidation (LPO) levels as well as CATmRNA expression in skin and blood; (ii) to investigate CAT gene promoter rs7943316, rs1001179, 5'-untranslated region rs1049982, and exon (rs17886350, rs11032709, rs17880442, rs35677492) polymorphisms; and (iii) to perform genotype/haplotype-phenotype correlation analyses in patients with vitiligo and controls from Gujarat.BackgroundOxidative stress is considered to be the initial event in the course of vitiligo. The enzyme catalase (CAT) is mainly involved in cellular defence against oxidizing agents through detoxifying H2O2.Linked Comment: Bohm. Br J Dermatol 2017; 177:1477. Plain language summary available online Respond to this articleWhat's already known about this topic?Oxidative stress is considered to be the initial event during the course of vitiligo. Epidermal H2O2 accumulation is associated with low epidermal catalase (CAT) levels in vitiligo. There is no association of the CAT exon 9 T/C polymorphism with Gujarat patients with vitiligo.Low levels/activity of antioxidant enzymes such as CAT in patients with vitiligo emphasizes the role of oxidative stress-mediated melanocyte damage. Outcomes of this study could be translated into the development of personalized medicines on the basis of an individual's genotypes/haplotype for key antioxidant enzymes, which could lead to better management of disease, in addition to predicting susceptibility to vitiligo.ConclusionsThe present study proposes the crucial role of CAT and its allelic variants in oxidative stress-mediated pathogenesis of vitiligo.ResultsPatients with vitiligo showed significantly decreased CATmRNA expression in lesional and nonlesional skin and in blood, with reduced CAT activity compared with that of controls. CAT -89A/T and -20T/C polymorphisms were significantly associated with patients, especially with active and generalized vitiligo, whereas no association was observed for -262G/A and exon polymorphisms. The A(-262)T(-89)C(-20) haplotype with variant alleles was found to be associated with 64-fold risk of vitiligo. Genotype/haplotype-phenotype correlation analyses revealed that individuals with susceptible genotypes/haplotype for CAT -89A/T and -20T/C polymorphisms showed significantly decreased CATmRNA/activity, and only -89A/T polymorphisms showed significantly increased LPO levels compared with wild-type genotypes/haplotype.What does this study add?Patients with vitiligo showed significantly decreased CAT mRNA expression in lesional and nonlesional skin and in blood, with reduced CAT activity.CAT -89A/T and -20T/C polymorphisms were associated with patients from Gujarat with active and generalized vitiligo. Susceptible genotypes/haplotype for CAT -89A/T and -20T/C polymorphisms showed significantly decreased CAT mRNA and CAT activity, while the -89A/T polymorphism showed significantly increased lipid peroxidation levels.What is the translational message?MethodsCAT activity and LPO levels were measured spectrophotometrically. CATmRNA levels were estimated using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) by the SYBR Green method. Single-nucleotide polymorphism genotyping was performed using PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism and amplification-refractory mutation system-PCR analyses.

Expression of arginase II in prostate cancer. Previous reports have shown elevated arginase activity in prostate cancer patients. This study was designed to compare expression levels of arginase II (AII) in various human prostate cancer cell lines and tissues. Expression levels of AII and other enzymes involved in arginine metabolism were examined in androgen-dependent (LNCaP, LAPC-4) and androgen-independent (PC3, DU145, CL-1, CL-2) prostate cancer cell lines by real-time RT-PCR and Western blot analysis. Further expression analysis of AII was accomplished by immunohistochemical staining of a tissue microarray comprised of 246 primary prostatectomy specimens. In addition, polyamine levels were measured within the prostate cancer cell lines by HPLC. Total polyamines were significantly lower in the androgen-dependent cell lines compared to the androgen-independent cell lines. AII expression was found to be most prominent in the androgen-dependent cell lines and least prominent in the androgen-independent cell lines. Additionally, we found expression of ornithine aminotransferase (OAT), an enzyme also responsible for ornithine production, to be inversely correlated with AII expression. The tissue microarray data revealed that the highest AII expression was seen in BPH, followed by PIN and normal samples, with the lowest expression levels observed in prostate cancer tissues. Moreover, we observed an expression gradient across Gleason grades revealing stronger AII expression in low-grade tumors. The polyamine data, combined with the expression analysis studies, support a possible correlation between AII, OAT, and polyamine synthesis. Based on these results, arginase II expression may play a role in prostate cancer progression. More specifically, the elevated AII expression seen in androgen-dependent and in more differentiated prostate cancers suggests that AII could be a potentially useful marker of early stage prostate adenocarcinoma.

White blood cell count: an independent predictor of coronary heart disease risk in middle-aged and elderly population with hyperuricemia. This study indicated that WBC count was associated with CHD risk in patients with hyperuricemia, suggesting that WBC count. an easily accessible biomarker, could probably predict CHD risk in middle-aged and elderly population with hyperuricemia.A total of 1148 hyperuricemia patients (855 males and 293 females) aged from 40 to 85 years were included and 418 (36.4%) of them were defined with relatively high 10-year CHD risk. Compared with the lowest tertile, the crude odds ratios (ORs) of high 10-year CHD risk were 1.43 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.06-1.92) and 1.56 (95% CI 1.16-2.11) in the 2nd and 3rd tertiles of WBC count (P for trend =.004), and the multivariable adjusted ORs of high 10-year CHD risk were 1.39 (95% CI 1.03-1.89) and 1.47 (95% CI 1.08-2.00) in the 2nd and 3rd tertiles of WBC count (P for trend =.015).Previous studies have shown that hyperuricemia is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The aim of the study was to examine the association between white blood cell (WBC) count and coronary heart disease (CHD) risk in middle-aged and elderly population with hyperuricemia.Data included in this analysis were from a population-based cross-sectional study, that is, the Xiangya Hospital Health Management Center Study. Hyperuricemia was defined as uric acid >= 416 mu mol/L in male population and >= 360 mu mol/L in female population. The WBC count was classified into 3 categories based on the tertile distribution of the study population. Framingham risk scores calculated by the Adult Treatment Panel III charts were used to estimate 10-year CHD risk for each participant. The relationship between WBC count and CHD risk in patients with hyperuricemia was examined using the multivariable logistic analysis.

The pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of atovaquone and proguanil for the treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria in third-trimester pregnant women. Objective: To investigate the pharmacokinetics, safety and efficacy of the recommended 3-day treatment regimen of Malarone in third-trimester pregnant women with acute uncomplicated falciparum malaria. Methods: Twenty-six pregnant women in their third trimester (gestational age: 24-34 weeks) with acute uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria who fulfilled the enrollment criteria were recruited from the antenatal clinics of Mae Sot Hospital, Tak Province, Thailand, (n=8) and the Tropical Diseases Research Centre, Ndola, Zambia (n=18). Patients were treated with four Malarone tablets (GlaxoSmithKline: each tablet contains 250 mg atovaquone and 100 mg proguanil) once daily for 3 consecutive days. Blood samples were taken for pharmacokinetic investigations of atovaquone, proguanil, and cycloguanil up to 288 h (day 14) after the last dose. Urine samples were collected for the evaluation of proguanil and cycloguanil 0-8, 8-16, 16-24 and 24-48 h after the last dose. Efficacy assessments included the clinical and parasitological evaluation of mothers and newborns. Adverse events were evaluated at each visit to the antenatal clinics. Results: Malarone appeared to be effective and well tolerated when used for the treatment of falciparum malaria in pregnant women. All patients showed prompt clinical improvement and the disappearance of parasitaemia after treatment. There were no serious adverse effects or unexpected adverse effects and no stillbirths or spontaneous abortions. The plasma concentration-time profiles of atovaquone and proguanil in most cases were best characterised by the two-compartment open model with zero-order input with/without absorption lag time and first-order elimination. There were no significant differences in any of the pharmacokinetic parameters of atovaquone, proguanil or cycloguanil between patients from Thailand and Zambia. For atovaquone, a C-max of 1.33-8.33 mu g/ml was reached at 2.0-9.3 h after the last dose on day 2. V/F, CL/F and t(1/2 beta) were 6.9-39.5 l/kg, 83-384 ml/h/kg, and 57.8-130.8 h, respectively. The C-max and t(max) values for proguanil versus cycloguanil were 383-918 versus 0-129 ng/ml and 3.3-8.6 versus 3-12 h, respectively. V/F, CL/F, and t(1/2 beta) values for proguanil were 10.7-34.0 l/kg, 431-1,662 ml/h/kg and 11.2-30.3 h. The CLR-CG, t(1/2z), (CG), proguanil/cycloguanil metabolic ratios, AUC ratios for proguanil to cycloguanil (AUC(PG/CG)) were 107.2-1,001 ml/h/kg, 5-95 ml/h/kg, 7.8-20.7 h, 5-57, and 4.7-20.2, respectively. Conclusion: The pharmacokinetics of atovaquone and cycloguanil appeared to be influenced by the pregnancy status, resulting in an decrease in the C-max and AUC of approximately twofold.

VIDEOMANOMETRY OF THE PHARYNX IN DYSPHAGIC PATIENTS WITH A POSTERIOR CRICOPHARYNGEAL INDENTATION. Rationale and Objectives. Patients with a posterior indentation in the pharyngoesophageal segment (PES) are generally considered to have an abnormality of the cricopharyngeal muscle (CPM). In this study we determined the actual width of the PES and the pressure circumstances during swallowing within the pharynx and PES in such patients.Results. Patients with CP bars had a significantly wider PES above (p = .0005) and below (p = .02) the CPM, whereas the diameter at the level of the CPM was smaller only in the patients with more than 50% indentation compared with the patients without a CP bar. The contraction pressure above the CP bar (i.e., at the level of the inferior pharyngeal constrictor) was significantly (p = .002) weaker in patients with a CP bar (131 +/- 16 mm Hg) than in those without a CP bar (222 +/- 20 mm Hg).Conclusion. Our findings in patients with a posterior CP bar suggest that the major abnormality is weak constrictors with outpouching of the gullet above and below. Only in patients with more than 50% indentation was there a slight narrowing at the level of the CP bar. The CPM showed no manometric abnormalities in terms of resting pressure, relaxation, and contraction pressure. Therefore, the CPM is likely to relax and distend normally during swallowing in patients with a CP bar.Methods. Simultaneous videofluoroscopy and solid state manometry, radiologic examination of the pharynx, PES, and cervical esophagus were performed in 16 dysphagic patients with a cricopharyngeal (CP) bar. In eight patients the indentation was 25-50%, and in eight it was more than 50% of the adjacent gullet. Sixteen dysphagic patients without a CP bar were used as control subjects. In each patient swallows of 10-ml barium bolus were recorded.

Keratin impact on PKC delta- and ASMase-mediated regulation of hepatocyte lipid raft size - implication for FasR-associated apoptosis. Keratins are epithelial cell intermediate filament (IF) proteins that are expressed as pairs in a cell-differentiation-regulated manner. Hepatocytes express the keratin 8 and 18 pair (denoted K8/K18) of IFs, and a loss of K8 or K18, as in K8-null mice, leads to degradation of the keratin partner. We have previously reported that a K8/K18 loss in hepatocytes leads to altered cell surface lipid raft distribution and more efficient Fas receptor (FasR, also known as TNFRSF6)-mediated apoptosis. We demonstrate here that the absence of K8 or transgenic expression of the K8 G62C mutant in mouse hepatocytes reduces lipid raft size. Mechanistically, we find that the lipid raft size is dependent on acid sphingomyelinase (ASMase, also known as SMPD1) enzyme activity, which is reduced in absence of K8/K18. Notably, the reduction of ASMase activity appears to be caused by a less efficient redistribution of surface membrane PKC delta toward lysosomes. Moreover, we delineate the lipid raft volume range that is required for an optimal FasR-mediated apoptosis. Hence, K8/ K18-dependent PKC delta- and ASMase-mediated modulation of lipid raft size can explain the more prominent FasR-mediated signaling resulting from K8/K18 loss. The fine-tuning of ASMase-mediated regulation of lipid rafts might provide a therapeutic target for death-receptor-related liver diseases.

Cleveland's Hough riots of 1966: ghettoisation and egalitarian (re)inscription. This article is concerned with Cleveland's Hough riots of 1966. The Hough neighbourhood experienced rapid racial transition and ghettoisation as a result of urban renewal, suburbanisation and freeway construction. The riots, it is argued, rather than being primarily a frustrated reaction to ghetto conditions, represented what Jacques Ranciere terms \\'democratic politics\\': an appearance of the people in the order of the police. Attention to political re-inscription processes may provide scholars and activists with the tools needed to build linkages between political events.

Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound Algorithms (CEUS-LIRADS/ESCULAP) for the Noninvasive Diagnosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma - A Prospective Multicenter DEGUM Study. Hintergrund Diese prospektive, multizentrische, DEGUM-geforderte Studie untersucht die diagnostische Genauigkeit standardisierter Algorithmen fur die Kontrastmittelsonografie (CEUS-Algorithmen) in der nichtinvasiven Diagnostik des hepatozellularen Karzinoms (HCC) bei Hochrisikopatienten.Methoden HCC-Hochrisikopatienten mit histologisch gesicherter Leberlasion im B-Bild-Ultraschall wurden prospektiv multizentrisch eingeschlossen. Klinische Daten und Bildgebungsbefunde wurden uber Online-Eingabemasken erfasst. Es erfolgte ein direkter Vergleich der diagnostischen Genauigkeiten fur die konventionelle CEUS-Befundung zum Untersuchungszeitpunkt (CEUS-on-site) und die CEUS-Algorithmen ESCULAP (Erlanger Synopsis for Contrast-enhanced Ultrasound for Liver lesion Assessment in Patients at risk) und CEUS LI-RADS (Contrast-Enhanced UltraSound Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System).Ergebnisse 321 Patienten an 43 Zentren wurden eingeschlossen (93,1% Leberzirrhose). Der histologische Befund ergab 256 HCCs und 23 intrahepatische cholangiozellulare Karzinome (iCCA). Die hochste Sensitivitat bei Zirrhose-Patienten (n=299) erzielten der CEUS-Algorithmus ESCULAP (94,2%) und CEUS-on-site (90,9%), die geringste Sensitivitat der CEUS LI-RADS-Algorithmus (64%; p<0,001). Die Spezifitat war hoher fur CEUS LI-RADS (78,9%) versus ESCULAP (50,9%) und CEUS on-site (64,9%; p<0,001). Der negativ pradiktive Wert (NPW) war fur CEUS LI-RADS niedriger als fur ESCULAP (34,1% vs. 67,4%; p<0,001) und CEUS-on-site (62,7%; p<0,001). Der positiv pradiktive Wert (PPW) war fur alle Modalitaten hoch (rund 90%).ZusammenfassungConclusion This is the first multicenter, prospective comparison of standardized CEUS and the recently developed CEUS-based algorithms in histologically proven liver lesions in cirrhotic patients. Our results reaffirm the excellent diagnostic accuracy of CEUS for the noninvasive diagnosis of HCC in high-risk patients. However, on-site diagnosis by an experienced examiner achieves an almost equal diagnostic accuracy compared to CEUS-based diagnostic algorithms.Results 321 patients were recruited in 43 centers; 299 (93.1%) had liver cirrhosis. The diagnosis according to histology was HCC in 256 cases, and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA) in 23 cases. In the subgroup of cirrhotic patients (n=299), the highest sensitivity for the diagnosis of HCC was achieved with the CEUS algorithm ESCULAP (94.2%) and CEUS on-site (90.9%). The lowest sensitivity was reached with the CEUS LI-RADS algorithm (64%; p<0.001). However, the specificity of CEUS LI-RADS (78.9%) was superior to that of ESCULAP (50.9%) and CEUS on-site (64.9%; p<0.001). At the same time, the negative predictive value (NPV) of CEUS LI-RADS was significantly inferior to that of ESCULAP (34.1% vs. 67.4%; p<0.001) and CEUS on-site (62.7%; p<0.001). The positive predictive values of all modalities were high (around 90%), with the best results seen for CEUS LI-RADS and CEUS on-site.Methods Patients at high risk for HCC with a histologically proven focal liver lesion on B-mode ultrasound were recruited prospectively in a multicenter approach. Clinical and imaging data were entered via online entry forms. The diagnostic accuracies for the noninvasive diagnosis of HCC were compared for the conventional interpretation of standardized CEUS at the time of the examination (=CEUS on-site) and the two CEUS algorithms ESCULAP (Erlanger Synopsis for Contrast-enhanced Ultrasound for Liver lesion Assessment in Patients at risk) and CEUS LI-RADS (Contrast-Enhanced UltraSound Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System).Background This prospective multicenter study funded by the DEGUM assesses the diagnostic accuracy of standardized contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) for the noninvasive diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in high-risk patients.Schlussfolgerungen Dies ist die erste prospektive, multizentrische Studie zum Vergleich der standardisierten Kontrastmittelsonografie mit den kurzlich entwickelten CEUS-Algorithmen in histologisch gesicherten Leberlasionen bei Zirrhose-Patienten. Unsere Ergebnisse bestatigen die exzellente diagnostische Genauigkeit der Kontrastmittelsonografie in der nichtinvasiven HCC-Diagnostik bei Hochrisikopatienten. Die On-site-Diagnose eines erfahrenen Untersuchers erzielt dabei eine beinahe ebenso gute diagnostische Genauigkeit wie die CEUS-basierten Diagnosealgorithmen

Imaging in pleural mesothelioma: A review of Imaging Research Presented at the 9th International Meeting of the International Mesothelioma Interest Group. Imaging of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) poses many challenges for imaging specialists and clinicians due to the anatomic location and unique growth pattern of this tumor. Nevertheless, imaging in MPM plays a critical role in diagnosis, prognostication, prediction or measurement of response to therapy, and monitoring of disease recurrence after aggressive surgical management. Imaging-based studies presented at the 9th International Conference of the International Mesothelioma Interest Group (IMIG) in October 2008 sought to further define the current practice and future potential of imaging for the mesothelioma patient. The Imaging Session was dominated by presentations that addressed the use of fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET), a clear indication of the expanding role of this modality. These uses included FDG-PET imaging at the point of diagnosis, in prognostication, and in the assessment of response to chemotherapy. Often FDG-PET studies were combined with computed tomography (CT) scans in an attempt to overcome limitations associated with either imaging modality alone. At diagnosis, FOG-PET parameters had a high sensitivity and specificity for differentiation of benign from malignant pleural disease. The use of FDG-PET to extract quantitative features from metabolically active tumor volume was shown to be a significant factor in the prediction of patient survival. The prognostic value of FDG-PET was not confounded by prior talc pleurodesis, despite the inflammatory response associated with the procedure. Metabolic response based on FDG-PET was found to be significantly correlated with progression-free survival. CT-based assessment of mesothelioma was determined to be inconsistent with spherical-model-based criteria so that changes in tumor area, a presumably more complete assessment of tumor burden, exhibited a 46% concordance rate with changes in linear measurements. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

UNIQUENESS AND NUMERICAL RECONSTRUCTION FOR INVERSE PROBLEMS DEALING WITH INTERVAL SIZE SEARCH. We consider a heat equation and a wave equation in one spatial dimension. This article deals with the inverse problem of determining the size of the spatial interval from some extra boundary information on the solution. Under several different circumstances, we prove uniqueness, non-uniqueness and some size estimates. Moreover, we numerically solve the inverse problems and compute accurate approximations of the size. This is illustrated with several satisfactory numerical experiments.