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Severe Arthralgia and Myalgia due to High-Dose Methylprednisolone Pulse Therapy Cured by Potassium Infusion in a Patient with Diffuse Proliferative Lupus Nephritis Accessible online at: www.karger.com/journals/nef Dear Sir, High-dose intravenous (pulse) methylprednisolone (HDM) is used in the treatment of autoimmune diseases. Side effects of the pulse therapy include infections, arrhythmias, seizures, and hypokalemia [1–4]. HDM was effective in controlling the activity of lupus nephritis [5]. We report an unusual side effect of HDM therapy characterized by severe arthralgias and myalgia in a patient with diffuse proliferative lupus nephritis. The patient’s complaints were resolved with potassium infusions, even though the serum potassium level was normal. A 35-year-old man was admitted to the hospital because of nephrotic syndrome and acute renal failure due to systemic lupus erythematosus. Routine laboratory investigations revealed 24-hour urinary protein excretion 6 g, erythrocyte sedimentation rate 120 mm/h, hemoglobin 12.8 g/dl, creatinine 3.2 mg/dl, antinuclear antibody 1/320 positive, and anti-dsDNA 87 IU/ml. Serum electrolytes were normal (Na 138 mEq/l, K 4.5 mEq/l). The renal histology revealed class IV diffuse proliferative lupus nephritis. Methylprednisolone was started with 500 mg/day for 3 days. During the 2nd day of methylprednisolone infusion, the patient presented with severe arthralgias of knees, ankles, and hands and diffuse myalgia. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and paracetamol were ineffective. There were no electrocardiographic abnormalities related to hypokalemia. Even though the serum potassium level was normal (4.5 mEq/l), the patient’s arthralgias and myalgia resolved with potassium infusion (3 g/8 h). It is possible that life-threatening hypokalemia occurs during HDM therapy [1–3]. This metabolic disorder can

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cause arrhythmias, arthralghias, and myalgia. During the treatment with HDM symptoms and laboratory findings of hypokalemia can be seen even though the patient’s serum potassium level is normal [4]. It is postulated that the speed of the HDM infusion could induce an acute change of the potassium pool responsible for clinical and electrocardiographic signs usually observed in the setting of wellproven hypokalemia. This acute change of the potassium pool caused by HDM infusion can be seen before any measurable serum potassium level [4]. It must be kept in mind that patients who are treated with HDM therapy can have hypokalemia and that, if necessary, potassium infusion must be given before HDM therapy.

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The internet of everything Presents a collection of slides that address the topic of the Internet of Everything (IoE). Some of the following topics are addressed: the special features and technologies that comprise the IoE; factors driving the market for IoE; IoE connectivity and networks; IoE smart cities and global cities; and trends that will drive the market for the IoE.

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Magnesium and cardiovascular system. Hypomagnesemia is common in hospitalized patients, especially in the elderly with coronary artery disease (CAD) and/or those with chronic heart failure. Hypomagnesemia is associated with an increased incidence of diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome, mortality rate from CAD and all causes. Magnesium supplementation improves myocardial metabolism, inhibits calcium accumulation and myocardial cell death; it improves vascular tone, peripheral vascular resistance, afterload and cardiac output, reduces cardiac arrhythmias and improves lipid metabolism. Magnesium also reduces vulnerability to oxygen-derived free radicals, improves human endothelial function and inhibits platelet function, including platelet aggregation and adhesion, which potentially gives magnesium physiologic and natural effects similar to adenosine-diphosphate inhibitors such as clopidogrel. The data regarding its use in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is conflicting. Although some previous, relatively small randomized clinical trials demonstrated a remarkable reduction in mortality when administered to relatively high risk AMI patients, two recently published large-scale randomized clinical trials (the Fourth International Study of Infarct Survival and Magnesium in Coronaries) failed to show any advantage of intravenous magnesium over placebo. Nevertheless, there are theoretical potential benefits of magnesium supplementation as a cardioprotective agent in CAD patients, as well as promising results from previous work in animal and humans. These studies are cost effective, easy to handle and are relatively free of adverse effects, which gives magnesium a role in treating CAD patients, especially high-risk groups such as CAD patients with heart failure, the elderly and hospitalized patients with hypomagnesemia. Furthermore, magnesium therapy is indicated in life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias such as Torsades de

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Pointes and intractable ventricular tachycardia.

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Memory Encoding by Oscillator Death We study associative-memory properties of networks of neural oscillators which are described by the phase degrees of freedom (phase-rotators). It is shown that a certain network of phase rotators exhibits an associative-memory function created by the cessation of oscillations rather than the synchronization. The phenomenon corresponds to the memory retrieval by oscillator death. The equilibrium properties of the model network are both analytically and numerically investigated using the self-consistent signal-to-noise analysis which was proposed for the analogue-neuron networks with a wide class of input-output functions of a neuron. Besides the standard type of storage capacity which ensures the presence of retrieval solutions, there exists another critical storage level below which the network ceases to have perfect cessation of oscillations in retrieval. A similar critical storage level is obtained for spin glass solutions.

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Search for binary central stars of the SMC PNe Aims. The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE), originally designed to search for microlensing events, provides a rich and uniform data set suitable for studying the variability o f certain types of objects. We used the OGLE data to study the photometry of central stars of planetary nebulae (PNe) in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). In particular, we searched for close binary central stars with the aim to constrain the binary fraction and perio d distribution in the SMC. We also searched for PNe mimics and removed them from the PNe sample. Methods. We identified 52 counterparts of PNe in the SMC in the I-band im ages from the OGLE-II and OGLE-III surveys. We analysed the time-series photometry of the PNe. Spectra of the photometric variables were obtained to constrain the nature of the objects or search for additional evidence for binarity. Results. Eight variables were found. Of these, seven objects are PNe mimics, including one symbiotic star candidate. One close binary central star of PN with a period of 1.15 or 2.31 day was discovered. The obtained binary fraction for the SMC PNe and the observational biases are discussed in terms of the OGLE observations.

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Implementation of risk assessment and classification of pressure ulcers as quality indicators for patients with hip fractures. The aims of the study were (i) to investigate the prevalence of pressure ulcers in patients with hip fracture, on arrival at a Swedish hospital, at discharge, and two weeks post-surgery; (ii) to test whether clinical use of the Modified Norton Scale (MNS) could identify patients at risk for development of pressure ulcers; and (iii) to compare the reported prevalence of pressure ulcer in the experimental group, where risk assessment and classification of pressure ulcers was performed on a daily basis, with that of the control group, where it was not. The study design was prospective, with an experimental and a control group. The intervention in the experimental group consisted of risk assessment, risk alarm and skin observation performed by the nurse on duty, in the A & E Department, and daily throughout the hospital stay. To facilitate the nurse's assessment, a 'Pressure Ulcer Card' was developed, consisting of the MNS and descriptions of the four stages of pressure ulcers. On arrival at the hospital, approximately 20% of patients in both groups had pressure ulcers. At discharge, the rate had increased to 40% (experimental) and 36% (control). Clinical use of the MNS made it possible to identify the majority of patients at risk for development of pressure ulcers. Patients who were confused on arrival developed significantly more pressure ulcers than patients who were orientated to time and place. No significant difference was found in the reported prevalence of pressure

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ulcers between the experimental and control groups.

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Planar suspended line technique based UWB-MIMO antenna having dual-band notching characteristics Abstract This communication reports significant isolation improvement utilizing planar suspended line (PSL) technique in ultra wideband (UWB) antenna for Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) application. The antenna exhibits dual-band notched characteristic in Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) band covering 5.45–5.85 GHz range; and in 7.15–7.95 GHz range for X-band downlink operations in satellite communication. Band-notching characteristics have been obtained by employing a single Elliptical Split Ring Resonator (ESSR) placed adjacent to each microstrip feed line of the radiating element and duo of “Y”-shaped strips employed within the circular ring of individual radiating elements. Two elements antenna occupy a compact space of 20 × 36 × 1.6 mm3 exhibiting huge measured impedance bandwidth (S11/S22 < −10 dB) covering 3.1–11.5 GHz and significant isolation of >21 dB in the almost entire band of operation. The electrical performance of antennas has been analyzed in terms of various MIMO parameters. Measured results demonstrate good accord with simulated results proving the competency of proposed antenna in high-density package systems and massive MIMO applications.

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Abnormal Ultraviolet Spectra in Solvent Dried over Molecular Sieve Molecular sieves are commonly used for drying a var iety of solvents. 1-6 During an investigation of phenolic compounds of plant origin, we found tha t ultraviolet spectra recorded in methanol which was dried over molecular sieve can differ substantially from spectra recorded in distilled methanol. Ei ther distilled methanol or distilled methanol which was stored over 8 to 12 mesh beads of Davison-Grace 3A molecular sieve was used to prepare solutions of 2,3dihydro-5,7-dihydroxy-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-4H-l-benzopyran-4-one [also known as 4' ,5,7-trihydroxyfiavanone (I)] and 2-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde (II) (used as received from the Aldrich Chemical Co.). The concentrations were adjusted to give a maximum absorbance of 0.6 to 2.0, and the spectra were recorded between 200 and 500 nm on a Cary 15 spectrophotometer . In distilled methanol the spectrum of I had a peak at 289 nm (relative intensity 1.0) and a shoulder at 324 nm (relative intensi ty 0.2). In contrast, the spect rum of I recorded in methanol stored over sieve had shoulders at 248 and 289 nm (relative intensities of 0.3 and 0.3, respectively) and a peak at 324 nm (relative intensi ty 1.0). The spectrum of II in distilled methanol had peaks at 220, 264, and 342 nm (relative intensities of 0.9, 1.0, and 0.3, respectively). In methanol stored over sieve, peaks at 223, 264, and 350 nm (relative intensities 1.0, 0.5, and 0.2, respectively) and a broad shoulder around 390 nm (relative intensity 0.15) occurred. It appears tha t a component in the molecular sieve dissolves

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or becomes suspended in the methanol and then interacts with I and II to al ter their spectra. Other spectra recorded with I tend to confirm this hypothesis. When the methanol stored over sieve was filtered

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257 Sodium-glucose CO-transporter-2 inhibitors eligibility in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction The sodium–glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors dapagliflozin and empagliflozin have been demonstrated to reduce adverse cardiovascular outcomes in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Limited data are available characterizing the generalizability of SGLT2 inhibitors treatment in the clinical practice. The aim of the study was to evaluate the proportion of outpatients with HFrEF that would be eligible for SGLT2 inhibitors in a contemporary real-world population. We retrospectively evaluated patients with chronic stable HFrEF followed-up at the HF outpatient clinic of our institution. Patients’ eligibility was assessed according to the entry criteria of DAPA-HF (dapagliflozin) and EMPEROR-Reduced (empagliflozin) trials and to US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) label criteria (only dapagliflozin). A total of 441 HFrEF patients was enrolled. According to the major inclusion and exclusion criteria from DAPA-HF and EMPEROR-Reduced trials, 198 (45%) patients would be candidates for initiation of both dapagliflozin and empagliflozin, 61 (14%) would be eligible only to dapagliflozin and 23 (5%) only to empagliflozin, without significant differences between diabetic and non-diabetic patients (P = 0.23). Among patients not suitable for gliflozins treatment (159 patients; 36%), the major determinant of ineligibility was the failure to achieve the predefined NT-proBNP inclusion threshold. Excluding NTproBNP as per FDA label criteria, dapagliflozin eligibility increased to 86%. In our real-world analysis a large proportion of HFrEF patients would be candidates for initiation of SGLT2 inhibitors, supporting its broad generalizability in clinical practice. This would be expected to reduce morbidity and mortality

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in eligible patients.

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Detailed description of FCs1: NRC’s cesium fountain primary standard The first cesium fountain primary standard built at the National Research Council Canada is described in details. Dimensional measurements and functions of components of the standard are given. We expect the standard to perform with a short term stability of 7times10-14 at one second and have a relative inaccuracy below the 1times10-15 level.

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Bayesian inference reveals a complex evolutionary history of belemnites Belemnites are an extinct group of Mesozoic coleoid cephalopods, common in Jurassic and Cretaceous marine sedimentary rocks. Despite their significance, their total group phylogeny has rarely been considered in recent decades. In contrast, most researchers restricted the assignment of families to one of the two usually recognized subgroups, the Belemnitina and the Belemnopseina. As for many fossil cephalopods, researchers have been reluctant to employ modern phylogenetic methods to illuminate belemnites’ evolutionary history. To overcome the “dead end” of belemnite systematics, we performed the first tip-dated Bayesian analysis of belemnite phylogeny. In our analysis, the Aulacoceratida are found as the monophyletic sister group to belemnites. The Sinobelemnitidae are resolved as paraphyletic and fall outside the Belemnitina and Belemnopseina, which make up the remaining belemnites. Belemnitina is restricted to Jurassic species with generally no or apical furrows. Holcobelidae are the earliest branching Belemnopseina. Cylindroteuthids sensu lato (including Oxyteuthidae) are nested within Belemnopseina, contrary to the common hypothesis placing them within the Belemnitina. Duvaliidae and Dicoelitidae are recovered as members of the Belemnopseina, but their precise relationship has to be evaluated based on more taxa and additional characters. We introduce the well-supported unranked clade Pseudoalveolata, which includes Dimitobelidae, Belemnitellidae, and members of the paraphyletic “Belemnopseidae”. The phylogeny presented here, based on reproducible and quantitative methods, contrasts with the usually applied authoritative “stratophenetic” approach to belemnite systematics, based on the overemphasis of single characters. This result is considered the basis for future studies on belemnite phylogeny, allowing for a rigorous testing

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of evolutionary hypotheses. PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY Belemnites were common extinct cephalopods that were closely related to today’s squid and cuttlefish. The most common fossil remains of belemnites are bullet-shaped calcitic “cones” (rostrum) that cover their internal shells. Belemnites’ evolutionary history is not well known. Our study revealed an evolutionary tree of belemnites based on the statistical analysis of morphological features of the rostrum and calibrated to the known geological ages of the studied belemnite species. This approach was for the first time applied to belemnites and changed several aspects that were believed about their evolution.

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Egg production in relation to the results of a long term serological survey of 73 flocks of fowl. Seventy-three flocks of fowl were tested at regular intervals for the presence of precipitins to fowl adenovirus (AV) and infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), haemaggluinating inhibiting antibodies to BC in 14 virus, and of agglutinins to Mycoplasma gallisepticum (M.g.) and Mycoplasma synoviae (M.s.). In all the eight flocks affected with Egg Drop Syndrome (EDS '76), egg production problems were associated with increasing numbers of BC14 virus reactors and AV reactors. In flocks showing production problems other than EDS'73 without any apparent cause, the average percentage of AV reactors increased significantly after the rearing period; this was not true of IBV reactors. BC14 reactors were either absent or present only once, in small numbers and with low titres, during the test period. The average percentage of AV reactors did not increase after the rearing period either in normally producing flocks or in flocks with production problems for which other diseases or dietary errors plausibly accounted for these problems. All this suggests a pathogenic role of AV in production problems. One can conclude from the high percentage of reactors in all groups of flocks that subclinical IBV infections are common. The percentage of IBV reactors during the laying period of flocks with EDS'76 was significantly higher than that of normally producing flocks. It is therefore suggested that subclinical IBV infection could be among the factors causing stress, acting as a trigger for EDS'76. All M.g.-infected flocks showed production problems; M.s. infections

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could not be related to egg production disturbances.

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Complexity of liver mRNA from normal and thioacetamide-treated rats. The complexity and diversity of polysomal poly(A)-containing RNA (mRNA) isolated from livers of normal and thioacetamide (TAA)-treated rats were compared by mRNA/complementary DNA hybridization technique. Three kinetic components (frequency classes) representing in normal mRNA about: I-34, II-32 and III-34% of RNA, apparently contained about 3, 60 and 3400 different sequences of 1 kb each, respectively. The corresponding values for mRNA from TAA-treated rats were about: I-24, II-36, and III-40%, comprising about 1, 30 and 3200 different sequences. It appeared that abundant mRNA sequences (from components I and II) may be 2-5 times more frequently represented in mRNA from TAA-treated than from normal rats. About 15% of mRNA sequences in TAA-treated rats were apparently transcribed from repetitive DNA reassociated to a Cot of 100. The results suggested that thioacetamide, a potent hepatocarcinogen, modulates the transcription or post-transcription regulatory steps of a few selected mRNA species, leading to their accumulation in the cell.

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Probiotics and prebiotics: can regulating the activities of intestinal bacteria benefit health? The colonic microflora is important to health. The growth and metabolism of the many individual bacterial species inhabiting the large bowel depend primarily on the substrates available to them, most of which come from the diet. 1 2 This has led to attempts to modify the structure and metabolic activities of the community through diet—using probiotics and prebiotics. Probiotics are live microbial food supplements. The best known are the lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria, which are widely used in yoghurts and other dairy products (fig 1). These organisms are non-pathogenic and non-toxigenic,retain viability during storage, and survive passage through the stomach and small bowel. Prebiotics are non-digestible food ingredients which selectively stimulate the growth or activities, or both, of lactobacilli or bifidobacteria in the colon, thereby improving health. #### Summary points Fig 1 A selection of “bio” yoghurts available in supermarkets Since probiotics do not permanently colonise the host, they need to be ingested regularly for any health promoting properties to persist. Most studies on probiosis have been observational rather than mechanistic, and thus the processes responsible for many probiotic phenomena are seldom explained. Some probiotics are members of the normal colonic microflora and are not …

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A quantitative evaluation of aspect-oriented software quality model (AOSQUAMO) Aspect-Oriented (AO) technology is a new paradigm and emerging field of software development. Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP) cleanly encapsulates crosscutting concerns which cannot be encapsulated or modularized by traditional programming approaches like Module-Oriented (MO) and Object-Oriented (OO). In order to evaluate quality of software systems, researchers and practitioners have proposed their software quality characteristics and models. As AO is a new abstraction, there is no dedicated software quality model, which can describe and include new features of AO technology. In this paper, a new Aspect-Oriented Software Quality Model (AOSQUAMO) has been proposed. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to evaluate quality of AO software systems as a single parameter. This proposed quality model further may be used to compare AO software systems which will help consumer to choose better quality software.

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In vitro and in vivo study of dye diffusion into the human skin and hair follicles. We present experimental results on the in vitro and in vivo study of dye diffusion into human skin and hair follicles. We have studied some commercially available dyes for potential using in the laser selective thermolysis. The degree and the depth of hair follicle dyeing inside the skin were determined. For hairs in different stages the sebaceous gland was stated as a reservoir for a dye administration. It was found that the penetration depth of dyes is about 1.2 mm from the skin surface. We have developed the biocompatible Indocyanine Green lotions and the method for in vivo dyeing and dye in depth monitoring. Shift on 16-21 nm of absorption peak of Indocyanine Green to the longer wavelengths due to Indocyanine Green binding with cell proteins in the human skin was found.

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Winds of Change: Hurricanes and the Transformation of Nineteenth-Century Cuba (review) Winner of the American Society for Environmental History's George Perkins Marsh Prize in 2001, this book is a pioneering environmental history of Cuba during the long nineteenth century. Only a handful of works in Latin American environmental history deal with this period of critical transformation in the relationship between human beings and the natural world. Perez integrates Cuban history with insights from recent scholarship on the anthropology and sociology of natural disasters to show how hurricanes shaped the course of nineteenth-century Cuban history.

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SHYSTER: A Pragmatic Legal Expert System Most legal expert systems attempt to implement complex models of legal reasoning. Yet the utility of a legal expert system lies not in the extent to which it simulates a lawyer's approach to a legal problem, but in the quality of its predictions and of its arguments. A complex model of legal reasoning is not necessary: a successful legal expert system can be based upon a simplified model of legal reasoning. Some researchers have based their systems upon a jurisprudential approach to the law, yet lawyers are patently able to operate without any jurisprudential insight. A useful legal expert system should be capable of producing advice similar to that which one might get from a lawyer, so it should operate at the same pragmatic level of abstraction as does a lawyer-not at the more philosophical level of jurisprudence. A legal expert system called SHYSTER has been developed to demonstrate that a useful legal expert system can be based upon a pragmatic approach to the law. SHYSTER has a simple representation structure which simplifies the problem of knowledge acquisition. Yet this structure is complex enough for SHYSTER to produce useful advice. SHYSTER is a case-based legal expert system (although it has been designed so that it can be linked with a rule-based system to form a hybrid legal expert system). Its advice is based upon an examination of, and an argument about, the similarities and differences between cases. SHYSTER attempts to model the way in which lawyers argue with cases, but

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it does not attempt to model the way in which lawyers decide which cases to use in those arguments. Instead, it employs statistical techniques to quantify the similarity between cases. It decides which cases to use in argument, and what prediction it will make, on the basis of that similarity measure. SHYSTER is of a general design: it provides advice in areas of case law that have been specified by a legal expert using a specification language. Four different, and disparate, areas of law have been specified for SHYSTER, and its operation has been tested in each of those legal domains. Testing of SHYSTER in these four domains indicates that it is exceptionally good at predicting results, and fairly good at choosing cases with which to construct its arguments. SHYSTER demonstrates the viability of a pragmatic approach to legal expert system design.

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Influence of Micro-Emulsified Biodiesel on Combustion and Emission Characteristics of a Turbocharged Diesel Engine In this paper, two kinds of micro-emulsified biodiesel containing 5.6% and10% water are prepared. The effects of micro-emulsified biodiesel on engine’s power, combustion and emission characteristics are investigated in a DI diesel engine. The results show that under the rated speed and full load operating conditions, the maximum pressure rise rate and peak heat release rate for micro-emulsified biodiesel increase dramatically, while the ignition delay is prolonged and the combustion duration becomes shorter. Compared to base diesel, the HC, CO and smoke emissions from the engine fueled with biodiesel decrease sharply, except for a 9% increased NOx at large loads. However, micro-biodiesel could significantly reduce the NOx and smoke emissions, except for the higher HC and CO emissions at low and medium loads. When fuelled with 10%MB, the NOx and smoke emissions are 9% and 90% lower than that of diesel, respectively. Results reported here suggest that the application of micro-emulsified biodiesel in diesel engines has a potential to improve combustion process and reduce NOx, PM emissions simultaneously.

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In vivo kinetics of micronuclei induction by bifunctional alkylating antineoplastics. The aim of the present study was to determine in vivo the kinetics of micronucleated polychromatic erythrocyte (MN-PCE) induction in mice, as an approach for studying the mechanism of micronuclei induction by mitomycin C, cis-diamine dichloroplatinum, busulfan and bis-chloroethylnitrosourea, bifuctional alkylating antineoplastic agents having different patterns of crosslink induction. The kinetics of MN-PCE induction was established by scoring the frequency of MN-PCE in 2000 PCE in peripheral blood, for periods of 8 or 10 h after acute treatment and up to 80 h, with different doses of the agent. The kinetics of MN-PCE induction and particularly the times of maximal induction by different bifunctional alkylating agents were compared with the kinetics previously obtained for ethylnitrosourea, methylnitrosourea and 6-mercaptopurine, agents that cause MN-PCE mainly in the first, second and third divisions after exposure, respectively. The results obtained in the present study allow us to conclude that: (i) bifunctional alkylating agents have very different efficiencies of genotoxic and cytotoxic action; (ii) all assayed bifunctional alkylating agents induced micronuclei during the first cell division, owing to the mistaken repair of primary lesions, e.g. excision; (iii) busulfan and bis-chloroethylnitrosourea showed an additional late mechanism of micronuclei induction, which is expressed at the third division and seems to be related to the mismatch repair process.

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[Use of an immunoperoxidase method in situ for detecting recombinant clones of vaccinia virus containing an expressed gene of influenza viral hemagglutinins]. The vaccine L-IVP strain of vaccinia virus (VV) was used to construct the recombinant viral clones containing the influenza A hemagglutinin gene. The recombinant T plasmid was obtained with HA gene inserted in the vector pGS-20 (B. Moss) under the 7.5 K promoter of VV. A homologous recombination technique was used to insert the gene with the flanking TK sequences into vaccinia virus genome. The recombinant clones were selected by dot-hybridization with [32P]-labeled HA-probe. These recombinants were analysed for HA gene expression by the indirect immunoperoxidase method in situ using the peroxidase conjugate of the staphylococcal A-protein. This technique allows to obtain stable stained preparation and analyse the protein behavior at the ultrastructural level.

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502 Introduction of a consistent clinical tutor in undergraduate clinical placement during COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative survey among students and tutors BackgroundA consistent clinical tutor has been used to lessen the impact on undergraduate medical education during the coronavirus pandemic. In lieu of formal patient bedside teaching, the tutor replicated clinical experience through the use of videos, case based discussions, tutorials and simulation sessions. Over a short period, the clinical tutor can personalise teaching, maximise learning opportunities, promote students’ self-directed learning and provide continuity. This not only develops rapport between student and teacher but also provided easily accessible educational and pastoral support. This new format was also aimed to foster junior doctors’ role as effective clinical teachers and promote future interest in medical education.ObjectivesThe response to this new role among students and tutors was evaluated qualitatively through the use of a questionnaire.MethodsClinical Tutor introduced in 4th year clinical placement in medical paediatrics in response to the changes made to undergraduate clinical placements as a result of the coronavirus pandemicJunior doctor (ranging from ST1–8) assigned to group of 4–5 students during their placement with expectation to meet daily throughout weekQuestionnaire circulated to all students and tutors (anonymously) evaluating this near peer teaching programme at the end of the weekResults50 out of 60 questionnaires returned (83%)98% ranked teaching as either good, very good or excellent98% students preferred a consistent clinical tutorAll junior doctors enjoyed being clinical tutor with majority (73%) preferring this arrangement as opposed to previous intermittent teaching sessionsPositive aspects from both students and tutors included greater

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interactivity, continuity, development of rapport and ability to tailor teaching,Conflicting clinical duties was a common challenge among tutorsConclusionsAlthough initial qualitative results are promising and adds to the growing reports evaluating the benefits of near peer teaching programmes in medical education, only a small number of students and tutors have been involved. Furthermore, the implementation of a consistent clinical tutor may not be practical in certain clinical placements due to conflicting clinical duties. However, this is certainly a strategy that may be put in place during and after the coronavirus pandemic to minimise disruptions and improve clinical teaching in undergraduate medical education.

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Accuracy Analysis of Redundantly Actuated and Overconstrained Parallel Mechanisms With Actuation Errors A general accuracy analysis method of redundantly actuated and overconstrained parallel mechanisms is proposed. Coupled effects of actuation errors and internal elastic forces arose from the elastic deformation are both considered. The accuracy analysis approach is based on the Lie-group theory and screw theory, and it includes three steps. First, stiffness matrices of serial legs are obtained. Second, the movement of each leg is modeled based on group theory and the elastic forces arose from the deformation are represented using the stiffness matrices, following which the multiclosed-loop structure constraint and self-balanced force constraint are modeled. Finally, the error pose is estimated. The proposed method is illustrated by the accuracy study of a redundantly actuated and overconstrained Stewart platform. The error modeling is easy as the use of stiffness matrix can model the passive joint motions and deformation together. Moreover, the proposed method is computationally cheap as all computations are linear.

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Incidence of mental retardation as compared with other psychiatric disorders and necessary support to persons placed at the Public Institution for Placement of Persons with Mental Disabilities "Drin" Fojnica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Aim To compare the frequency of mental retardation with other psychiatric disorders at the Institute for Mentally Disabled Persons "Drin" Fojnica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, to asses psychosocial condition and necessary support to persons with mental retardation. Methods In this retrospective, descriptive and epidemiologic study neuropsychiatric findings and reports of the Institute's social services of 527 residents (beneficiaries) were analyzed in the period 2013-2014 (age, gender, mobility, years of life spent in the Institute, visits of family members and close relatives, visits to families, mental retardation - degree, required support). Results The research included 213 (40.42%) women and 314 (59.58%) men. The average age was 39.64 years. The average number of years spent in the Institute was 10.42.Fifty-four 25.47%) examinees with mental retardation had occasional visits to their families, while 69 (32.54%) had regular visits. Thirty-four (16.04%) examinees had mild mental retardation, 70 (33.02%) had moderate retardation, 52 (24.52%) were with severe, and 56(26.42%) with profound retardation. It was found that 66 (31.13%)beneficiaries with the diagnosis of mental retardation completely depended on other persons. Conclusion The degree of mental retardation has a direct impact on the process of resocialization. A very small number of people diagnosed with mental retardation had been successfully involved in the process of resocialization. It is necessary work intensively on thecreation of conditions for the realization of the Independent Living Support

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program, thus making a step forward to deinstitutionalization.

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Polypropylene-based conducting nanocomposites Powder-mixed polypropylene (PP)–graphite binary composites exhibit an electrical percolation threshold at 10 wt% graphite signifying insulator-semiconductor transition. Three conducting fillers such as carbon black (CB), sonicated expanded graphite (s-ExGr), and carbon nanofiber (CNF) are mixed with PP-7 wt% graphite binary composites. The electrical percolation threshold has been found to have inverse relation to the aspect ratio of second conducting fillers in hybrid composites. The aspect ratio of second conducting fillers varies in the order CB < ExGr < CNF. The electrical percolation threshold is found to vary for the hybrid composites as 2.2 wt% for CB addition, 0.75 wt% for ExGr addition, and 0.2 wt% for CNF addition in the PP-7 wt% graphite binary composites. When the aspect ratio of second conducting fillers increases, they reduce the barrier for the charge transport. The second conducting fillers occupy the interspace of graphite and alternating current studies show that the effective dielectric constant increases with the concentration of second conducting filler in the hybrid composites. The composites are characterized by transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Melt-crystallized PP-7 wt% graphite-CNF composites exhibit higher percolation threshold due to decrease in the polymer viscosity which increases the interparticulate distance.

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Investigation of structures in a highly turbulent mixing layer by using LDA and SPIV A mixing layer is one of the most important free shear flows. Downstream of splitter plate trailing edge, two streams merge, and transport and diffusive terms initiate mixing, and further downstream, velocity (or any property) discontinuity gradually smoothes out. Mixing layers are ubiquitous and occur frequently in natural phenomena or man-made apparatus. From a practical point of view, mixing enhancement is a key topic for many industrial applications. It plays a vital role in performance of flow reactors, combustion chambers and also a variety of aerospace applications such as jet engine combustors and noise generation in propulsion systems.1,2 There is abundant literature discussing mixing layers analytically, experimentally and computationally. The analytical method is mostly concerned with the boundary layer approximation employed at locations well beyond splitter plate trailing edge. Moreover, the initial development of a mixing layer has been described very satisfactorily by linear stability. Its formation and development are described in a review by Ho & Huerre3 and Liu.4

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The Impact of the Closure of Primary Schools on the Economic Development of Rural Areas in Małopolska Voivodeship In the last two decades, the map of the primary school network in Poland has undergone a significant transformation, especially in rural areas that are suffering depopulation. These changes generally involve the closing of small rural schools and this leads to numerous conflicts between residents and local government. However, it is rarely pointed out that closing a school can be a fatal blow to the local community, not only due to the reduction in the social activity of residents but also the loss of jobs which contributes to the economic decline of a village. However, few studies can confirm this thesis. Therefore, this article aims to present the spatial diversity of the reorganisation process of the primary school network in rural areas of Malopolska Voivodeship and attempts to determine the impact of school closures on the economic development of those villages. To achieve this, the author compared the average value of the entrepreneurship indicator for 2018 with changes in the number of businesses for 2009–2018 for individual villages. The calculated values were compiled for those communities where the primary school was closed and for those villages in which the residents decided to take over a school from the local government with their own organisation or association. For comparison of selected indicators, differences in the average values for the two types of localities were presented using a one-way ANOVA variance analysis. The research showed much higher economic activity in

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places where the school was taken over compared to where the school was closed. In addition, the places where the school was taken over showed a stronger rate of growth for the number of businesses registered in the REGON system.

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Lithium-induced nephropathy: Rate of progression and prognostic factors. BACKGROUND Long-term lithium administration in humans may lead to chronic tubulointerstitial nephritis, which develops very slowly. Its progression to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) has been rarely reported. The aim of this study is to document the rate of progression of lithium-induced nephropathy and its prognostic factors, and to provide an estimation of the percentage of lithium-induced ESRD in France. METHODS Two groups have been studied: 54 patients with lithium-induced renal failure, nine of whom underwent renal biopsy; and 20 patients who were referred for systematic renal biopsy, 14 of whom were subsequently followed up. In addition, a survey of lithium-induced ESRD was conducted in French dialysis centers. RESULTS The mean annual loss of creatinine clearance in patients with lithium-induced nephropathy was 2.29 mL/min. Among 74 patients, 12 reached ESRD at a mean age of 65 years. Creatinine clearance at referral and at last follow-up was inversely related to the duration of lithium therapy in both univariate and multivariate analyses adjusting for age, gender, hypertension, and proteinuria. The degree of interstitial fibrosis on renal biopsy was also related to the lithium duration and cumulative dose. It was predictive of the final creatinine clearance. About 35% of the patients tested had moderate hypercalcemia, due to hyperparathyroidism. The prevalence of lithium-related ESRD in France was estimated as two per 1000 dialysis patients. The average latency between onset of lithium therapy and ESRD was 20 years. CONCLUSION Lithium-induced chronic renal disease is slowly progressive. Its rate of progression is related to the

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duration of lithium administration. Lithium-related ESRD represents 0.22% of all causes of ESRD in France. Regular monitoring of estimated creatinine clearance is mandatory in long-term lithium-treated patients.

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Characterization of the gut microbiota of Nicaraguan children in a water insecure context The gut microbiota varies across human populations. The first years of life are a critical period in its development. While delivery mode and diet contribute to observed variation, the additional contribution of specific environmental factors remains poorly understood. One factor is waterborne enteric pathogen exposure. In this pilot study, we explore the relationship between household water security and the gut microbiota of children.

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Are We Passing on Violence to the Next Generation?: Gender Norms and Gender-based Violence Attitudes among Early Adolescents in Indonesia Intensification of gender norms during puberty affects adolescents’ perceptions and behavior related to violence. This study examined the association between gender norms and gender-based violence (GBV) among early adolescents considering socio-ecological variables using cross-sectional data from 3,618 Indonesian Global Early Adolescent Study pupils. Chi-square tests with simple and multiple logistic regression analyses examined how different factors' levels predict GBV. Among boys, GBV attitudes were found high (53%). Furthermore, they also had high heteronormative expectations, threatened feelings, experiences of violence, porn access, and 5+ adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Logistic regression results revealed that adolescent boys having one or two scores of gender norms at the above-median are 1.3 times more likely to commit GBV and even 2.2 times higher if all were above median [AOR(CI) =1.3(1.1-1.6); 2.2(1.7-2.8)], respectively. Boys, having 5+ ACEs, and stronger endorsement on heteronormative relationships were also more likely to commit GBV [AOR(CI) =1.5(1.3-1.7); 1.5(1.2-1.9); 1.5 (1.3-1.7)], respectively. This research concluded that unequal gender norms intensified during puberty strongly correlate to attitudes towards GBV among early adolescents. Strengthening the individual aspects by providing a more conducive environment, such as comprehensive sexual education at school, is essential to prevent GBV.

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Impact of transposable elements on the human genome Presence of transposable elements (TEs) in the human genome has profound effects on genome function, structure and evolution. TE mobility and inter-TE recombination are the origin of a large spectrum of mutations and genome reorganization leading to diseases. From the data provided by the Human Genome Project and from information on the detection and dynamics of TEs within and between species acquired during the last two decades, we now know that these elements are not only involved in mutagenesis but can also participate in many cellular functions including recombination, gene regulation, protein-coding RNA messages and, possibly, cellular stress response and centromere function. TEs also promote a general genome shuffling process that has been important for the evolution of several gene families and for the development of new regulatory pathways.

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Qualitative analysis in simulating analog circuits The authors address the problem of troubleshooting analog circuits. An expert system prototype is presented, capable of diagnosing faults by means of a qualitative analysis of the circuit being examined, i.e. by considering the values of quantities not in exact terms but in terms of belonging to prefixed intervals. The proposed system pursues the modern approach to realizing expert systems, in the sense that, unlike the early solutions in this domain, it exploits not only shallow knowledge (e.g. production rules) but also, and especially, deep knowledge about the behaviour of the individual components, the circuit topology, and the laws of electrotechnics. The problem of diagnosing analog circuits is formalized and its basic features are illustrated in relation to the qualitative analysis procedure. A details account of the expert system is then provided both from a conceptual point of view and in regard to its implementation in Prolog, and its advantages, limitations, and possible developments are discussed.<<ETX>>

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Results of the 2010 national resident matching program: family medicine. The results of the 2010 National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) reflect a small but promising increased level of student interest in family medicine residency training in the United States. Compared with the 2009 Match, 75 more positions (with 101 more US seniors) were filled in family medicine residency programs through the NRMP in 2010, at the same time that seven more positions were filled in primary care internal medicine (one more US senior), 14 fewer positions were filled in pediatrics-primary care (16 fewer US seniors), and 16 more positions were filled in internal medicine-pediatrics programs (58 more US seniors). Multiple forces including student perspectives of the demands, rewards, and prestige of the specialty; national dialogue about health care reform; turbulence in the economic environment; lifestyle issues; the advice of deans; and the impact of faculty role models continue to influence medical student career choices. Ninety-four more positions (90 more US seniors) were filled in categorical internal medicine. Fifty-seven more positions (29 more US seniors) were filled in categorical pediatrics programs. The 2010 NRMP results suggest that there is a small increase in primary care careers; however, students continue to show an overall preference for subspecialty careers. Despite matching the highest number of US seniors into family medicine residencies since 2004, in 2010 the production of family physicians remains insufficient to meet the current and anticipated need to support the nation's primary care infrastructure.

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The Parasite Fauna of Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) in Iceland: Prevalence, Intensity, and Distribution Within the Host Population Abstract One hundred rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta), including 30 each of juvenile males and females, and 20 each of adult males and females, were collected in October 2006 in northeast Iceland to study their parasite fauna. Fourteen different parasite species were identified: 6 endoparasites (including the protozoans Eimeria muta, Eimeria rjupa; the heterokontophyt Blastocystis sp.; the nematodes Capillaria caudinflata and Trichostrongylus tenuis; and the cestode Passerilepis serpentulus) and 8 ectoparasites (including the feather mites Metamicrolichus islandicus, Strelkoviacarus holoaspis, Tetraolichus lagopi, and Myialges borealis; the feather lice Goniodes lagopi, Lagopoecus affinis, and Amyrsidea lagopi; and the louse fly Ornithomya chloropus). Blastocystis sp., P. serpentulus and A. lagopi are new host records. All parasite species showed aggregated distributions. Six species, E. rjupa, P. serpentulus, M. islandicus, G. lagopi, L. affinis, and O. chloropus, were more prevalent in juveniles than in adults, and 2 species, Blastocystis sp. and T. tenuis, were more prevalent in adults than in juveniles. The remaining species did not show age-related differences in prevalence. Blastocystis sp. is the only possible zoonotic parasite.

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The use of ondansetron to treat pruritus associated with intrathecal morphine in two paediatric patients. Intrathecal morphine is an effective technique for providing postoperative analgesia after major surgical procedures in children. Pruritus is a common side effect associated with intrathecal morphine. We report two patients who experienced significant pruritus associated with intrathecal morphine administration and were successfully treated with ondansetron. Ondansetron appears to be a beneficial and safe method of relieving pruritus associated with intrathecal morphine.

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The use of biological materials as coupling agents in acoustic analyses of materials Ab s t r a c t . The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of organic materials used as coupling agents in acoustic analyses of biological materials. Ultrasonic wave propagation velocity was tested in steel with the application of coupling agents frequently applied in industry: Sonagel W, ŁT machine lubricant, 4W-40 motor oil and wallpaper adhesive. Ultrasonic wave propagation velocity is generally known, therefore, it was treated as a standard value. Ultrasound velocity was then determined for steel using the following organic materials as coupling agents: mains water, distilled water, liquid honey, crystallised honey, butter and vegetable oil. The evaluation criterion was the thickness of natural layer formed at the contact point between the head and the tested material which influenced measurement results, and the substances used in industry, in particular Sonagel W, liquid honey and butter were found to be such substances. K e y wo r d s : biological materials, ultrasonic non-destructive testing, coupling agent

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Aneurysmal bone cysts: percutaneous embolization with an alcoholic solution of zein--series of 18 cases. PURPOSE To assess the efficacy of percutaneous embolization with an alcoholic solution of zein in the treatment of aneurysmal bone cysts. MATERIALS AND METHODS Eighteen patients with aneurysmal bone cysts were treated percutaneously with alcoholic zein. The cysts were in the lower limb (n = 7), upper limb (n = 5), pelvis (n = 3), cervical spine (n = 2), and mandible (n = 1). All patients were symptomatic, three had previously undergone surgery. Percutaneous embolization was performed with fluoroscopic or computed tomographic guidance with the patient under general anesthesia. Clinical and imaging follow-up lasted 18 months to 4 years. RESULTS Percutaneous embolization was performed in 16 cases. In two cases, cystograms showed marked venous drainage and thus embolization was not attempted. Six patients underwent repeat embolization. Complications consisted of a local transitory inflammatory reaction (n = 5), aseptic osteitis (n = 1), and a small pulmonary infarct without sequelae (n = 1). Relief of symptoms was achieved in all patients except one, who underwent surgery. At imaging, improvement was total in 13 cases (87%) and partial in two cases (13%). No recurrence was noted during follow-up. CONCLUSION Percutaneous embolization of aneurysmal bone cysts with alcoholic zein should be considered a reliable alternative to surgery, especially in cases with a difficult surgical approach or cases of postsurgical recurrence.

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Risk Factors for Fatality in HIV-Infected Patients with Dideoxynucleoside-Induced Severe Hyperlactataemia or Lactic Acidosis Background Lactic acidosis (LA) and severe hyperlactataemia (HL) are infrequent but serious complications of antiretroviral therapy that have been associated with a high fatality rate. Methods In a multinational retrospective cohort study, LA was defined as arterial blood pH<7.35, bicarbonate <20 mmol/l and lactate above normal, and HL as con-firmed blood lactate >5 mmol/l. Logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with fatality. Sensitivity and specificity of different case definitions as predictors of death were compared. Results The overall case-fatality rate was 19/110 (17.3%), but among acidotic patients it was 33% (16/49 cases). There were 10 asymptomatic patients and none of them died as a consequence of the event. The median lactate for fatal, non-fatal and all patients was 8.3 mmol/l (IQR 7.2–13.1), 6.4 mmol/l (IQR 5.4–7.8) and 6.7 mmol/l (IQR 5.5–8.1), respectively. After adjusting for age and current CD4+ T-cell count, lactate >7 mmol/l (OR 6.27, 95% CI 1.13–34.93), blood bicarbonate <12 mmol/l (OR 10.02 relative to >18 mmol/l, 95% CI 1.33–75.65) and concurrent opportunistic infections (OR 8.69, 95% CI 1.45–52.22) were independently associated with case fatality. Blood lactate >7 mmol/l showed a sensitivity of 84% for fatality with a specificity of 60%, whereas bicarbonate <12 mmol/l showed a better specificity (85%) but a poorer sensitivity (42%). Bicarbonate <18 mmol/l appears to be as good as lactate <7 mmol/l at predicting death (sensitivity 90% and specificity 54%). Conclusions Our data suggest that blood lactate >7 mmol/l and blood bicarbonate <18

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mmol/l appear to predict death and might help clinicians in selecting patients who may benefit from more intense monitoring.

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Bacterial adhesion and disease activity in Helicobacter associated chronic gastritis. Ultrastructural examination of biopsies showing Helicobacter pylori associated chronic gastritis reveals close attachment between gastric surface epithelial cells and the organism. The finding of 'adhesion pedestals', which represents a cellular response to the presence of the organism, is analogous to the response of intestinal cells to enteropathogenic E coli. Thus the development of bacterial attachment sites in H pylori associated gastritis might be an indication of pathogenicity. We have therefore explored the relationship between the proportion of organisms forming attachment sites and histological indices of disease 'activity'. Antral biopsies from 40 patients with H pylori positive gastritis were examined histologically and ultrastructurally, and the percentage of attached organisms compared with subjective assessments of epithelial degeneration, mucin depletion, polymorphonuclear and chronic inflammatory cell infiltration. We found a significant increase in the proportion of attached bacteria in cases showing histological epithelial degeneration, and a significant decrease in cases showing intraepithelial polymorph infiltration. The direct relationship between bacterial attachment and cellular degeneration lends further support to a pathogenic effect. Reduced attachment in the face of polymorph infiltration might indirectly reflect aspects of the immune response--namely, blocking of adhesion by IgA, with complement activation and generation of leucotactic factors.

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[Effect of Ad-Gax transfection on apoptosis of human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells and its mechanism]. BACKGROUND Apoptosis is closely related to development of lung cancer. It is a strategy of lung cancer therapy to induce apoptosis. The aim of this study is to explore the effects of growth arrest-specific homeobox (Gax) transfection on apoptosis and expression of Bcl-2 and Bax proteins of human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells. METHODS A549 cells were transfected with Gax gene by a replication-deficient adenovirus expressing the hemagglutinin-tagged Gax cDNA (Ad-Gax). Apoptosis of A549 cells was observed by transmission electronic microscope and terminal-deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated nick end labeling (TUNEL) positive staining. Apoptotic rate of A549 cells was evaluated by flow cytometry. Expressions of Bcl-2 and Bax proteins in A549 cells were detected by immunocytochemistry. RESULTS Before Ad-Gax transfection, none or few of TUNEL-positive A549 cells were detected. After Ad-Gax transfection, a marked increase in TUNEL-positive staining occurred, especially at 24 h later. The ratio of apoptosis of A549 cellsin non-transfection group and transfection groups at 12 h, 24 h, 48 h were 0.25%, 12.57%, 17.29%, 15.03%, respectively. Compared with non-transfection group, the apoptotic rates of transfection groups increased significantly (Chi-square value was 7.357, 11.126 and 9.943 respectively, P < 0.01). The average optical density (AOD) of Bcl-2 protein in A549 cells in non-transfection group and transfection groups at 12 h, 24 h, 48 h were 2.02±0.07, 1.79±0.02, 1.25±0.51 and 1.21±0.24 respectively. Compared with non-transfection group, AOD of Bcl-2 protein in A549 cells in transfection groups decreased significantly (t value was 6.651, 7.089

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and 7.438 respectively, P < 0.01). On the other hand, Bax protein expression in transfection groups increased, the AODs of Bax were 4.49±0.61, 4.24±0.37 and 3.95±0.43, respectively. Compared with non-transfection group (3.12±0.42), AOD of Bax protein in A549 celle in transfection groups increased significantly (t value was 7.469, 7.287 and 6.473 respectively, P < 0.01). In the Ad-Gax transfection groups the lower Bcl-2/Bax ratio was, the higher the apoptotic rate of A549 cells was (r=-0.49, P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Ad-Gax transfection can induce A549 cells apoptosis. Possible mechanism is that Gax can downregulate Bcl-2 protein expression and upregulate Bax protein expression, and A549 cells apoptosis is related to the Bcl-2/Bax ratio.

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Labeling of Carbon Pools in Bradyrhizobium japonicum and Rhizobium leguminosarum bv viciae Bacteroids following Incubation of Intact Nodules with CO(2). The aim of the work reported here was to ascertain that the patterns of labeling seen in isolated bacteroids also occurred in bacteroids in intact nodules and to observe early metabolic events following exposure of intact nodules to (14)CO(2). Intact nodules of soybean (Glycine max L. Merr. cv Ripley) inoculated with Bradyrhizobium japonicum USDA 110 and pea (Pisum sativum L. cv Progress 9) inoculated with Rhizobium leguminosarum bv viciae isolate 128C53 were detached and immediately fed (14)CO(2) for 1 to 6 min. Bacteroids were purified from these nodules in 5 to 7 min after the feeding period. In the cytosol from both soybean and pea nodules, malate had the highest radioactivity, followed by citrate and aspartate. In peas, asparagine labeling equaled that of aspartate. In B. japonicum bacteroids, malate was the most rapidly labeled compound, and the rate of glutamate labeling was 67% of the rate of malate labeling. Aspartate and alanine were the next most rapidly labeled compounds. R. leguminosarum bacteroids had very low amounts of (14)C and, after a 1-min feeding, malate contained 90% of the radioactivity in the organic acid fraction. Only a trace of activity was found in aspartate, whereas the rate of glutamate and alanine labeling approached that of malate after 6 min of feeding. Under the conditions studied, malate was the major form of labeled carbon supplied to both types of bacteroids. These results with intact nodules confirm our earlier

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results with isolated bacteroids, which showed that a significant proportion of provided labeled substrate, such as malate, is diverted to glutamate. This supports the conclusion that microaerobic conditions in nodules influence carbon metabolism in bacteroids.

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Failure to express the P-selectin gene or P-selectin blockade confers early pulmonary protection after lung ischemia or transplantation. Endothelial P-selectin expression contributes to the first wave of neutrophil (polymorphonuclear leukocyte: PMN) influx in several inflammatory conditions. Although remote tissue ischemia, such as a crush injury to the hindlimb, may result in P-selectin-mediated pulmonary leukosequestration, it is not known whether the lungs exhibit a similar response after hypothermic preservation or when subjected to a direct ischemic insult. To determine if P-selectin may mediate early primary graft failure, left lungs harvested from male Lewis rats were preserved for 6 hr at 4 degrees C and transplanted orthotopically into isogeneic recipients. Recipients immunodepleted of PMNs before transplantation demonstrated improved graft function; pulmonary vascular resistance was reduced approximately 6-fold, arterial oxygenation was increased approximately 3-fold, and recipient survival was increased approximately 4-fold (P < 0.05, 0.05, and 0.005, respectively). Administration of a blocking anti-P-selectin IgG 10 min before reperfusion diminished graft PMN infiltration and resulted in improved graft function and recipient survival compared with controls. To establish the role of P-selectin in normothermic pulmonary ischemia, mice were subjected to temporary left pulmonary artery ligation. After functional removal of the nonischemic right lung, mice deletionally mutant for the P-selectin gene (P-selectin-/-) exhibited reduced PMN infiltration (approximately 2-fold), improved arterial oxygenation (approximately 2-fold), and improved survival (approximately 3-fold) compared with P-selectin +/+ control mice (P < 0.05, 0.01, and 0.05, respectively). These studies isolate and identify the central role of a single gene product (P-selectin) in early PMN recruitment and tissue injury

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after frank pulmonary ischemia and in the setting of lung transplantation after hypothermic preservation.

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Raising Backyard Chickens for Eggs Raising backyard chickens is an increasingly popular way to explore self-sufficiency, connect with how our food is produced, and gain experience for future dabbling in food production. This 13-page publication is designed primarily for those considering raising backyard chickens for eggs for personal consumption. Written by Mary E. Henry, Jessica M. Ryals, Alicia Halbritter, and Derek L. Barber, and published by the UF/IFAS Department of Animal Sciences, revised November 2019. https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/an239

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Real-time cow action recognition based on motion history image feature In this paper, a cow behavior recognition algorithm is proposed to detect the optimal time of insemination by using the support vector machine (SVM) classifier with motion history image feature information. In the proposed algorithm, area information indicating the amount of movements is extracted from MHI, instead of motion direction which has been widely used for person action recognition. In the experimental results, it is confirmed that the proposed method detects the cow mounting behavior with the detection rate of 72%.

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The Morphology of Ice and Liquid Brine in the Environmental SEM: A Study of the Freezing Methods Abstract. The microstructure of polycrystalline ice with a threading solution of brine controls its numerous characteristics, including the ice mechanical properties, ice-atmosphere interactions, sea-ice albedo, and (photo)chemical behavior in/on the ice. Ice samples were previously prepared in laboratories to study various facets of ice-impurities interactions and (photo)reactions to model natural ice-impurities behavior. We examine the impact of the freezing conditions and solute (CsCl used as a proxy for naturally occurring salts) concentrations on the microscopic structure of ice samples via an environmental scanning electron microscope. The method allows us to observe in detail the ice surfaces, namely, the free ice, brine puddles, brine-containing grain boundary grooves, individual ice crystals, and imprints left by entrapped air bubbles at temperatures higher than −25 °C. The amount of brine on the external surface is found proportional to the solute concentration and is strongly dependent on the sample preparation method. Time-lapse images in the condition of slight sublimation reveal sub-surface association of air bubbles with brine. With rising temperature (up to −14 °C), the brine surface coverage increases to remain enhanced during the subsequent cooling and until the final crystallization below the eutectic temperature. The ice recrystallization dynamics identifies the role of surface spikes in retarding the ice boundaries propagation (Zeener pining). The findings thus quantify the amounts of brine exposed to incoming radiation, available for the gas exchange, and influencing other mechanical and optical properties of ice. The results have straightforward implications

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for artificially prepared and naturally occurring salty ices.

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Uricostatic and uricosuric effect of grapefruit juice in potassium oxonate-induced hyperuricemic mice. The aim of this study was to examine the preventive action of grapefruit juice (GFJ) against potassium oxonate-induced hyperuricemic mice. The results showed that GFJ significantly (p < .05) inhibit the serum and hepatic xanthine oxidase enzyme, lower uric acid level, serum creatinine, uromodulin, and blood urea nitrogen levels to normal and lower inflammation related genes IL-1β, caspase-1, NLRP3, and ASC. Furthermore, histopathology analysis revealed that GFJ markedly improve the renal and intestinal morphology. The mRNA expression of urate transporter 1, glucose transporter 9 were downregulated, whereas ATP-binding cassette transporter (ABCG2) was upregulated in the GFJ-treated group. The results of immunohistochemistry revealed that the ABCG2 protein expression in the small and large intestine was significantly upregulated after the GFJ administration. These results suggested that GFJ can be used as a urate lowering agent and future mechanistic studies should be conducted. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: The results of current study indicated that utilization of GFJ as an anti-hyperuricemic agent for the treatment of hyperuricemia. This article will be very valuable for all those peoples which are directly or indirectly linked with this disease.

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Exercise ameliorates diabetic cardiomyopathy by inducing beta2‐adrenergic receptors and miR‐133a, and attenuating MMP‐9 To test the hypothesis that exercise ameliorates diabetic cardiomyopathy by inducing beta2‐adrenergic receptors (AR) and microRNA‐133a (miR‐133a), and attenuating matrix metalloproteinase‐9 (MMP‐9); ten weeks male db/db (a model for T2D)‐ DB (i) mice were treated with salbutamol (a beta2‐AR agonist‐200μg/kg/i.p)‐DBS (ii), exercised (swimming‐1hr/daily)‐DBE (iii), and both treated with salbutamol and exercised (DBES) (iv) for ten days. The cardiac function was determined by echocardiography and contractile function of cardiomyocytes. The levels of beta2‐adrenergic receptors (AR), miR‐133a and MMP‐9 were measured by Western blot, RT‐PCR and qPCR. The results show decrease in percentage fractional shortening (%FS=~30) in db/db mice. The improvement in contractile function (±dL/dt) of cardiomyocytes was evident from significant decrease in the time (sec) to attain 90% peak height in DBE (0.175±0.004) and DBES (0.168±0.002) as compared to DB (0.178±0.002) cardiomyocytes, and corroborated by calcium consumption ratio during the same duration DBE (19.02±1.09), DBES (24.13±1.69), and DB (15.46±0.80). The beta2‐AR and miR‐133a were up regulated, and MMP‐9 was down regulated in DBS, DBE and DBES heart as compared to DB group. Based on these findings, we conclude that exercise ameliorates cardiac dysfunction in db/db mice by improving beta2‐AR response and miR‐133a, and attenuating MMP‐9.

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In-frame neighbor indexing schemes for multichannel mobile ad hoc networks Utilization of multiple channels in ad hoc networks provides the benefits of reducing the probability of collisions, decreasing the normalized propagation delay and support of QoS. However, problems like busy waiting or deadlock existence degrade the bandwidth utilization. In this paper, we introduce two neighbor indexing schemes which assign different sequence numbers to the neighbors of every nodes to avoid the collision when communicating. Our neighbor indexing schemes are integrated into MAC protocols. The first is a basic neighbor-sequenced scheme, which we call static neighbor indexing scheme (SNI). SNI can be employed in the ad hoc network where the maximal number of neighbors every nodes could have is restricted to a fixed number. The second method we propose is the adaptive neighbor indexing scheme (ANI) which can reassign a new sequence number to a registered neighbor for reducing the maximal sequence number assigned to its neighbors. The proposed schemes can adequately adjust to station movements so as to support the high mobility network.

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Development of two major resources for pea genomics: the GenoPea 13.2K SNP Array and a high-density, high-resolution consensus genetic map. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays represent important genotyping tools for innovative strategies in both basic research and applied breeding. Pea is an important food, feed and sustainable crop with a large (about 4.45 Gbp) but not yet available genome sequence. In the present study, 12 pea recombinant inbred line populations were genotyped using the newly developed GenoPea 13.2K SNP Array. Individual and consensus genetic maps were built providing insights into the structure and organization of the pea genome. Largely collinear genetic maps of 3918-8503 SNPs were obtained from all mapping populations, and only two of these exhibited putative chromosomal rearrangement signatures. Similar distortion patterns in different populations were noted. A total of 12 802 transcript-derived SNP markers placed on a 15 079-marker high-density, high-resolution consensus map allowed the identification of ohnologue-rich regions within the pea genome and the localization of local duplicates. Dense syntenic networks with sequenced legume genomes were further established, paving the way for the identification of the molecular bases of important agronomic traits segregating in the mapping populations. The information gained on the structure and organization of the genome from this research will undoubtedly contribute to the understanding of the evolution of the pea genome and to its assembly. The GenoPea 13.2K SNP Array and individual and consensus genetic maps are valuable genomic tools for plant scientists to strengthen pea as a model for genetics and physiology and enhance breeding.

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Nanoscale reduction of graphene fluoride via thermochemical nanolithography. Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) would be the ideal building blocks for all carbon electronics; however, many challenges remain in developing an appropriate nanolithography that generates high-quality ribbons in registry with other devices. Here we report direct and local fabrication of GNRs by thermochemical nanolithography, which uses a heated AFM probe to locally convert highly insulating graphene fluoride to conductive graphene. Chemically isolated GNRs as narrow as 40 nm show p-doping behavior and sheet resistances as low as 22.9 KΩ/□ in air, only approximately 10× higher than that of pristine graphene. The impact of probe temperature and speed are examined as well as the variable-temperature transport properties of the GNR.

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Relationships between daily mood states and real-time cognitive performance in individuals with bipolar disorder and healthy comparators: A remote ambulatory assessment study ABSTRACT Objective Neuropsychological impairments are observed in individuals with Bipolar Disorder (BD), yet knowledge of how cognitive deficits unfold in real-time remains limited. Given intraindividual variability in mood observed in people with BD, and the potential for mood and cognition to be mutually influential, we employed ambulatory assessment technologies to examine potential contemporaneous (same survey) and lagged (next survey) relationships of congition and mood. Methods Outpatients with BD (n = 46) or no psychiatric disorders (heathy volunteers [HV]; n = 20) completed in-laboratory neurobehavioral assessments and 14 days of smartphone-administered mobile cognitive tests and ratings of affective variables. Linear mixed-effects models were used to analyze real-time relationships between mobile cognitive test performance and mood. Results On in-laboratory tests, participants with BD showed worse cognitive performance than HVs as well as mild depression severity; mood and cognitive performance were unrelated. On mobile cognitive tests and surveys, participants with BD showed somewhat worse cognitive performance and ratings of lower energy and greater sadness relative to HV participants. Among those with BD, mania and sadness earlier in the day related to worse processing speed and better working memory performance, respectively, on the next survey. In contrast, same survey ratings of greater stress related to better working memory, and greater happiness related to better processing speed. Conclusions Real-time assessments of mood and cognition provide incremental information beyond what can be gleaned from laboratory assessments. Understanding how these affect-related

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changes in processing speed emerge and play out in daily life may provide clinically useful information for treatment planning.

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Stop the Insanity. Introducing a new hobby for other people may inspire them to join with you. Reading, as one of mutual hobby, is considered as the very easy hobby to do. But, many people are not interested in this hobby. Why? Boring is the reason of why. However, this feel actually can deal with the book and time of you reading. Yeah, one that we will refer to break the boredom in reading is choosing stop the insanity as the reading material.

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European Society of Endodontology position statement: the use of antibiotics in endodontics. This position statement represents a consensus of an expert committee convened by the European Society of Endodontology (ESE) on Antibiotics in Endodontics. The statement is based on current scientific evidence as well as the expertise of the committee. The goal is to provide dentists and other healthcare workers with evidence-based criteria for when to use antibiotics in the treatment of endodontic infections, traumatic injuries of the teeth, revascularization procedures in immature teeth with pulp necrosis, and in prophylaxis for medically compromised patients. It also highlights the role that dentists and others can play in preventing the overuse of antibiotics. A recent review article provides the basis for this position statement and more detailed background information (International Endodontic Journal, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1111/iej.12741). Given the dynamic nature of research in this area, this position statement will be updated at appropriate intervals.

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Improving Mental Health Services Through the Measurement of Attitudes and Knowledge of Mental Health Professionals and the General Population in Cyprus Despite the magnitude of mental health problems worldwide, many cases of deinstitutionalization have failed to achieve their targets for a number of reasons including lack of appropriate community psychiatric services and lack of knowledge of new approaches. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the attitudes, beliefs, and mental health literacy of mental health professionals and the general population toward mental illness. Method: The Attitudes toward the Severe Mental Illness (ASMI) scale was administered in both mental health professionals (n = 311) and to the general population (n = 933) to compare stereotypes and optimism with regard to mental health patients and their abilities to integrate into the society. Results: The results indicate that the general population holds less negative stereotypes (M = 2.55, SD = 0.61) than mental health professionals (M = 1.93, SD = 0.59), t(734) = 13.34, p < .001, d = 1.04. However, mental health professionals are less optimistic about the competences of a patient with a mental illness (M = 1.92, SD = 0.61) than the general population (M = 2.2, SD = .37), t(854) = 8.1, p < .001, d = .56. Discussion: The use of scales, such as the ASMI, not only make it possible to map out attitudes and views but also to measure mental health professionals' beliefs toward inclusion of these people. Results indicate that the core of the treatment needs to be shifted

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from the medical compliance to the satisfaction of psycho-social needs of service users. Finally, educational programs targeted at secondary education and young adults may lead to lower rates of social isolation and include more incidents of social integration.

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Effective Piezoelectric Area for Hitting-Type Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting System The effective piezoelectric material area was determined by comparing data for different lengths of piezoelectric material on a substrate plate for a hitting-type piezoelectric module. Experimental results show that longer piezoelectric material lengths enable higher output power per unit volume. Further, as the piezoelectric material length increases, the maximum output power frequency increases and the matching impedance, or resistive load, decreases. In modeling the piezoelectric modules (cantilever beam), a UV resin coating was used to enhance the output power per unit volume in a hitting-type piezoelectric energy harvesting system. Comparison results of with UV and without UV coating showed that as the piezoelectric material length increases, UV coating has a greater effect on increasing the output power.

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EuroCorr 2015 ‘Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Corrosion Happens Everywhere’: Part 4 The 2015 Eurocorr Meeting was held in Graz, Austria from 6 to 10 September 2015. The focus of the meeting was ‘Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Corrosion Happens Everywhere’. The meeting attracted over 805 delegates from 52 countries with Austria, France, Germany and UK providing around half the delegates between them. Over 360 papers and 120 posters were presented during the 18 sessions and 5 workshops. Parts 1, 2 and 3 of this report were presented in CST 2016 issues 1, 2 and 4, respectively. Part 4 will conclude the review with the technical sessions on corrosion by hot gases, coatings for high temperatures, corrosion of steel in concrete, corrosion in oil and gas, hydrogen in oil, marine and ESF, corrosion of polymer materials and refractory metals and their alloys being covered in this report (Fig. 1).

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Multimedia SDR-based Cooperative Communication Wireless communication systems are challenged to attain the demands of multimedia applications for high data rates and power efficiency. However, multipath fading affects the wireless channel which may cause degradation of the system performance. Cooperative communication emerged as an effective diversity technique to resist the multipath fading and to enhance the system performance. In this paper, an improved Signal to Noise Ratio combining (improved SNRC) is proposed. The proposed testbed of cooperative communication system is based on using NI USRP 2920 devices, single board computer (ODROID XU4), and open source software (GNU Radio) with FFmpeg which is a complete open source multimedia solution. The implemented experiments include voice communications and video streaming using GMSK modulation transmission to exploit cooperation benefits for multimedia communication. The relay terminal utilizes two different cooperative relaying techniques (Amplify and Forward (AF) and Selective Decode and Forward (SDF)). Performance analysis of the improved Signal to Noise Ratio combining (improved SNRC) is evaluated in comparison with the Equal Ratio Combining (ERC) in terms of bit error rate (BER) for voice communication and frame error rate (FER) for video streaming. The experimental results declare that improved SNRC outperforms ERC.

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Optimizing the Ordering of Tables With Evolutionary Computation The rearrangement of the rows and the columns in a table can considerably increase the conciseness of a presentation. Despite this well-known fact no general principle has been proposed for the rearrangement of rows and columns. In this article the principles of evolutionary computation are applied in order to find suitable configurations.

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Genome Editing in Human Pluripotent Stem Cells. Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), defined by their capacity for self-renewal and differentiation into all cell types, are an integral tool for basic biological research and disease modeling. However, full use of PSCs for research and regenerative medicine requires the ability to precisely edit their DNA to correct disease-causing mutations and for functional analysis of genetic variations. Recent advances in DNA editing of human stem cells (including PSCs) have benefited from the use of designer nucleases capable of making double-strand breaks (DSBs) at specific sequences that stimulate endogenous DNA repair. The clustered, regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas9 system has become the preferred designer nuclease for genome editing in human PSCs and other cell types. Here we describe the principles for designing a single guide RNA to uniquely target a gene of interest and describe strategies for disrupting, inserting, or replacing a specific DNA sequence in human PSCs. The improvements in efficiency and ease provided by these techniques allow individuals to precisely engineer PSCs in a way previously limited to large institutes and core facilities.

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Ion Track Shunt Effects in Multi-Junction Structures Charge collection processes are discussed for heavy ion hits across multiple p-n junctions in bipolar transistor or CMOS structures. The concept of a resistive-like ion track shunt bridging two like conductivity regions is introduced and a first-order-model developed for the charge transported along the ion track shunt. This model is shown to be consistent with charge collection measurements on multi-junction CMOS-like structures. It is found that the charge collection at a given p-n junction is influenced and can even be changed in sign by voltages present at a second p-n junction when the ion track penetrates both junctions. This has important consequences for the design of radiation hard integrated circuits and such ion track shunt effects become more important as device dimensions are scaled to smaller values.

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DETERMINANTS OF THE MEDICINE AND SOCIETY CONFLICT (LITERATURE REVIEW) Purpose – to analyze the data of literature sources as to the determinants and causes ofmedicine and society conflict.Conclusions. On the basis of literature review, the main determinants and causes ofconflict situations in medicine and society, which influence on the relations betweena doctor and a patient, and are of a personal nature, so far as they concern the greatestvalue of a person – his health, have been distinguished.

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Characteristics of national, divisional, and club male alpine ski racers. Forty-two Canadian male alpine ski racers of either club, divisional, or national team status were studied by group to evaluate the physiological parameters that distinguish these athletes. Measurements of physical characteristics, flexibility, muscular power and endurance, aerobic and anaerobic power, and isokinetic leg strength were made. Correlations of the test variables were performed to evaluate the test battery for validity. While there were few physiological differences between the national and divisional skiers, club skiers scored consistently lower (P less than 0.01) in maximum number of sit-ups, vertical jump, anaerobic endurance, muscular power, 2-mile run time, isokinetic leg strength at 30 degrees X s-1, and hamstring-to-quadriceps strength ratio. However, no significant differences between groups were observed in sum of the skinfolds, flexibility, and isokinetic strength at 180 degrees X s-1. There were also no differences in VO2max between club and national team skiers. Highly-significant correlations were found between selected test variables, which indicated that some of the physiological parameters shared common variance. It seems that many of these physiological tests do not discriminate between national and divisional skiers. Club skiers would, however, appear to benefit from training programs designed to develop leg strength, power, and anaerobic endurance.

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Explaining Convergence and Common Trends in the Role of the State in OECD Healthcare Systems This paper seeks to explain a convergence trend in the role of the state in OECD healthcare systems. By convergence we mean that healthcare systems become increasingly similar with regards to the public/private mix in financing and service provision, and with respect to their regulatory structure. In particular, we identify increasing similarities between the three system types we delineate as National Health Service, Social Health Insurance and Private Health Insurance systems. We argue that the specific healthcare system type is an essential explanatory factor. Systems tend to feature specific, type-related deficiencies, which cannot be solved by routine mechanisms. As a consequence, non system-specific elements and innovative policies are implemented which lead to the emergence of ‘hybrid’ systems indicating a trend towards convergence.

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Scleroderma‐like cutaneous lesions during treatment with paclitaxel and gemcitabine in a patient with pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Review of literature Chemotherapy‐induced skin sclerosis is generally not associated with other manifestations of systemic sclerosis. It is featured by skin sclerosis without visceral involvement (i.e., Raynaud's phenomenon, esophageal dysmotility, and pulmonary fibrosis), temporal association with chemotherapy administration, and the absence of detectable autoantibodies. The clinical course of scleroderma‐like changes induced by paclitaxel or gemcitabine are refractory to treatment and commonly progressive, even after discontinuation of the triggering drugs.

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Preparation and Physicochemical Evaluation of Nystatine Mucoadhesive Buccal Film A B S T R A C T A new type of drug delivery system known as mucoadhesive film has been developed for oral thrush treatment. Due to comfortable use of this drug delivery system, this would be encouragingly utilized, especially in babies and patients under chemotherapy. Nystatinmucoadhesive film (NMF) is a polymeric film which is adhered to front upper gum and back to the upper lip and releases the drug within 5-6 hours in desired concentration. Because of sustained-release nature and permanent contact of drug with infectious agent of Candida albicans, the disease healing process would happen more rapidly, and in the meantime the patients can go on with their usual activities such as eating, drinking and talking without feeling the film in their mouth cavity. NMF was prepared using Eudragit RL100 and HPMC as film-forming constituents, and glycerin, propylene glycol and poly ethylene glycol 400 as plasticizers, according to casting method. Finally, physical appearance, weight, in vitro drug release rate and adhesion were assessed. with respect to considered parameters, prepared films with HPMC did not show uniform appearance; however, prepared films with Eudragit RL100 showed more desirable results and later showed longer drug release time with approximate time of 3.5 hours. Prepared NMF with dimensions of 2×1 Cm containing 10 mg nystatin using Eudragit RL100 polymer with mixture of glycerin, propylene glycol as plasticizer, not only showed desirable pharmaceutics characteristics but also exponential value (n) of0.779 showed non-Fickian behavior of drug release.

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QTL Mapping Identifies Novel Source of Resistance to Fusarium Wilt Race 1 in Citrullus amarus. Fusarium wilt race 1, caused by the soilborne fungus Fusarium oxysporum Schlechtend.: Fr. f. sp. niveum (E.F. Sm.) W.C. Snyder & H.N. Hans (Fon), is a major disease of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) in the United States and throughout the world. Although Fusarium wilt race 1 resistance has been incorporated into several watermelon cultivars, identification of additional genetic sources of resistance is crucial if a durable and sustainable level of resistance is to be continued over the years. We conducted a genetic mapping study to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with resistance to Fon race 1 in segregating populations (F2:3 and recombinant inbred lines) of Citrullus amarus (citron melon) derived from the Fon race 1 resistant and susceptible parents USVL246-FR2 and USVL114, respectively. A major QTL (qFon1-9) associated with resistance to Fon race 1 was identified on chromosome 9 of USVL246-FR2. This discovery provides a novel genetic source of resistance to Fusarium wilt race 1 in watermelon and, thus, an additional host-resistance option for watermelon breeders to further the effort to mitigate this serious phytopathogen.

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Electromagnetic and ∇B-effects on the modified two-stream instability The electrostatic modified two-stream instability excited by transverse currents in an inhomogeneous magnetized plasma is studied in the domain where electromagnetic corrections become important . The effects due to ∇B, the distortion in the magnetic field caused by transverse currents, are also included. They are found to affect growth rates and instability conditions for both flute (k‖ = 0) and non-flute type modes significantly.

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[Characteristics and Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Urban Soils of Major Cities in China]. The rapid urbanization in China may lead to heavy metal pollution in urban soil, threatening the health of residents. By collecting literature data published in the last 15 years, the characteristics and risks of heavy metals in the urban soils of 52 cities in China were analyzed. The results showed that the average ω(Pb), ω(Cd), ω(Cu) and ω(Zn) in the urban soils of China were 58.5, 0.49, 42.1, and 156.3 mg·kg-1, respectively, and the average Igeo values were ordered as follows Cd(1.10) > Zn(0.36) > Pb(0.28) > Cu(0.13). The high concentrations of heavy metals in the urban soils were mainly found in cities located in coastal economically developed provinces (such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, etc.) and resource-based provinces (such as Hunan, Henan, Inner Mongolia, etc.). The cities of Kaifeng, Yangzhou, Hohhot, Taiyuan, and Xiangtan had relatively high Igeo values for heavy metals in the soils. The concentrations of heavy metals in soils from industrial areas and roadsides were significantly higher than those from residential areas and parks, suggesting that heavy traffic and developed heavy industry were the main causes of heavy metal accumulation in the urban soils. No significant correlations between the average concentrations of heavy metals in urban soil and urban economic and environmental indicators[such as permanent population, GDP, ρ (PM10), ρ(PM2.5), and SO2 emissions] were found. The concentrations of heavy metals in urban soils showed large spatial heterogeneity, and hence the average concentrations may not reflect the overall accumulation level

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in a city. The non-carcinogenic risks for children posed by heavy metals in urban soils were generally low, and the main risk contributor was Pb. However, the exposure to heavy metals in soils in cities with developed smelting industries is worthy of attention.

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Mouth occlusion pressure as a useful indicator for weaning from mechanical ventilation. We studied the usefulness of the neuromuscular inspiratory drive (P0.1) and P0.1 normalized by ventilation (sP0.1) as indicators for weaning from mechanical ventilation. The patients were classified into two groups on the basis of outcome: a successful group who could have weaning and an unsuccessful group who could not be free from mechanical ventilation. The unsuccessful group showed significantly greater P0.1 (6.35 +/- 2.95 cmH2O) than successful group (2.81 +/- 1.21 cmH2O). The patients who failed in weaning also showed an increase in sP0.1 which would mean an increase in respiratory impedance. These results suggest that P0.1 and sP0.1 might be useful to follow the time course during weaning from mechanical ventilation.

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Clear cell adenocarcinoma of the endometrium is a biologically distinct entity from endometrioid adenocarcinoma Clear cell adenocarcinoma (CCA) of the endometrium has a poor prognosis, although the biologic features of this rare tumor are not clear. In this study, we analyzed the expression of biologic markers relating to carcinogenesis, tumor growth, and progression. Thirteen cases of CCA were compared with cases of endometrioid adenocarcinoma (EMA) of the endometrium. Immunohistochemical staining for p53; Ki-67; cyclins A, D1, and E; E-cadherin; progesterone receptor (PR)-A and PR-B; P-glycoprotein; MLH1; and MSH2 was performed. Labeling indices of p53, Ki-67, and cyclins A, D1, and E in CCA were 46.4 ± 24.3%, 52.1 ± 20.5%, 37.9 ± 21.4%, 12.3 ± 27.9%, and 8.2 ± 22.9%, respectively. E-cadherin was expressed in only 1 case (7.7%) of CCA, as compared to 39 cases (61.0%) of EMA. No CCAs were positive for PR-A and PR-B. P-glycoprotein was detected in seven cases (53.8%). Loss of either MLH1 or MSH2 expression occurred in eight cases (61.5%). High-level expression of p53, cyclin A, and P-glycoprotein, and low-level or no expression of cyclin E, E-cadherin, PR-A, and PR-B was observed in CCA compared with EMA. The mechanism of cell-cycle regulation in endometrial CCA is different from that in EMA and may influence its malignant potential. Endometrial CCA is a distinct entity from EMA.

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Application of Bayesian Neural Networks to Biological Data Mining: A Case Study in DNA Sequence Clas Biological data mining is the activity of nding signiicant information in protein, DNA and RNA molecules. The signiicant information may refer to motifs, clusters, genes, protein signatures and classi-cation rules. This paper presents an example of biological data mining: the recognition of promoters in DNA. We propose a two-level ensemble of classiiers to recognize E. Coli promoter sequences. The rst-level classiiers include three Bayesian neural networks that learn from three diierent feature sets. The outputs of the rst-level classiiers are combined in the second level to give the nal result. To enhance the recognition rate, we use the background knowledge (i.e., the characteristics of the promoter sequences) and employ new techniques to extract high-level features from the sequences. We also use an expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm to locate the binding sites of the promoter sequences. Empirical study shows that a precision rate of 95% is achieved, indicating an excellent performance of the proposed approach.

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Exact outlet b.c. for steady supersonic flows - Application to cascades This article presents a new methodology for the construction of outlet boundary conditions for the numerical simulation of supersonic flows whose velocity component normal to the boundary remains subsonic. The methodology is based upon the full non-linear system of equations for steady two-dimensional supersonic irrotational flows. It allows the correct flow pattern recognition independently of the location of the outlet boundary for both smooth and discontinuous flow fields. I t is presented within the context of high pressure ratio nozzle vanes and supersonic compressor cascades. Comparisons with both analytical solutions and experimental results have demonstrated the correctness of the proposed approach for very short computational domains.

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Jordan derivations on semiprime rings I. N. Herstein has proved that any Jordan derivation on a 2- torsion free prime ring is a derivation. In this paper we prove that Herstein's result is true in 2-torsion free semiprime rings. This result makes it possible for us to prove that any linear Jordan derivation on a semisimple Banach algebra is continuous, which gives an affirmative answer to the question posed by A. M. Sinclair in (5). Preliminaries. Throughout this paper all rings will be associative. Let R be a ring. The center of R will be denoted by Z(R). We shall write (a, b) for ab — ba. A ring R is said to be 2-torsion free, if whenever 2a — 0, with a e R, then a = 0. A ring R is called a prime ring if aRb = (0) implies a = 0 or b = 0. A ring R is called a semiprime ring if aRa = (0) implies a = 0. Let R be any ring. An additive mapping ': R —y R is called a derivation if (ab)' = a'b + ab' holds for all pairs a,b e R. An additive mapping ': R —> R is called a Jordan derivation if (o2)' = a'a + aa' holds for all a e R. Obviously, every derivation is a Jordan derivation. The converse is, in general, not true. A well-known result of I. N. Herstein (2) states that every Jordan derivation on a 2-torsion free prime ring is a derivation. A brief

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proof of this result can be found in (1). The main purpose of this paper is to present a generalization of Herstein's result. More precisely, we shall prove that every Jordan derivation on a 2-torsion free semiprime ring is a derivation. In particular, every Jordan derivation on a 2-torsion free semisimple ring is a derivation, which generalizes a result of A. M. Sinclair (see (5)). From the fact that every linear derivation on a semisimple Banach algebra is continuous, and from our generalization of Herstein's result, it follows immediately that every Jordan derivation on a semisimple Banach algebra is continuous, which gives an affirmative answer to the question posed by A. M. Sinclair in (5). In the last part of the paper two characterizations of 2-torsion free prime rings are obtained.

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Autologous ectopic grafting of cryopreserved testicular tissue preserves the fertility of prepubescent monkeys that receive sterilizing cytotoxic therapy. Boys faced with future sterility as a result of the need of a sterilizing cancer therapy might avoid this fate by engraftment of cryopreserved immature testicular tissue after therapy is completed. Efforts to address this important survivorship issue have been encouraged by reports of the long-term survival and proliferation of human spermatogonia after xenotransplant of cryopreserved immature testicular tissue into immunocompromised murine hosts. However, spermatogenic arrest at the pachytene spermatocyte stage that occurs in this situation has been associated with a failure in sperm production. In this study, we used a prepubescent simian model to address the possibility that testicular tissue engraftment is insufficiently supported in the model to allow suitable maturation of germ cells. Briefly, we carried out autologous orthotopic grafting of cryopreserved testicular tissue from four prepubescent monkeys and one pubescent rhesus monkey after testicular irradiation and castration of the host animal. Five months after implantation of scrotal grafts, we determined that 3% to 7% of the autografts could be recovered with spermatogenesis proceeding through spermatozoa formation in 13% to 17% of the seminiferous tubules formed in the grafts. In contrast, Sertoli cell-only tubules were detected in parallel xenografts transplanted into immunocompromised mice. Our results show that cryopreservation of testicular tissue from prepubescent primates can maintain the fully functional capacity of spermatogonia to produce sperm, but that host conditions are critical for spermatogenic maturation. Furthermore, our results establish an initial perspective on the quantity of cryopreserved

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material needed to ensure success in preserving fertility through testicular tissue grafts.

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99Tcm-tetrofosmin: Evaluation of fractionated cold kits and two new methods of quality control The fractionation of Myoview™ into 1 : 5 was followed by storage at −80°C for 3 months. The kits were reconstituted with 3.5 GBq 99Tcm-pertechnetate and the average radiochemical purity (RCP) was maintained at 96.5±1.6% (n = 24) for 24 h. There was no difference in biodistribution between the 1 : 5 fraction and the full kit, especially with respect to myocardial uptake. These observations show that it is possible to fractionate and store Myoview™ kits at −80°C and produce a product that is stable over 3 months. This provides a cost-effective method for using 99Tcm-tetrofosmin. Two new methods of determining RCP were also examined and found to give results that were not significantly different from the recommended manufacturer's method. A mini paper chromatography (MPC) method using Whatman 17 paper and a solvent mixture of ethyl acetate : acetone (1 : 9) and an Amprep SAX cartridge method using absolute ethanol as the solvent were found to be more rapid and reliable methods of quality control for this product.

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Statistical analysis of network traffic inter-arrival Self-similarity with Long Range Dependence (LRD) in network traffic has been modeled using aggregation from On-Off sources. The model requires that each of the On and Off period distribution follow Power-tail distribution like Pareto distribution. This paper characterizes of burst inter-arrival time of network traffic using Bellcore Morristown Laboratory Data [1] and an Academic Institute LAN trace. It is shown that, Log-Normal distribution is a better fit for the data compared to Pareto. Current work analyzes statistically both the data from spatial as well as temporal view point.

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Acid-promoted rearrangement of carbonate functionality anchored to the lower rim of a Calix A unique calix[4]arene lower-rim intramolecular rearrangement, resulting in molecular asymmetry arising from the upper- and lower-rim substitution pattern, produces a new class of inherently chiral calix[4]arenes in a partial cone conformation. This was aided by molecular rigidification arising from pi-pi and C-H.pi interactions between bulky lower-rim substituents, with the corresponding circular dichroism spectra exhibiting the most intense bisignate Cotton effects yet observed for calix[4]arenes not bearing a chiral center.

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Multiobjective Scheduling of Dual-Blade Robotic Cells in Wafer Fabrication As a kind of robotic cells, cluster tools are widely used for semiconductor wafer fabrication processes since they provide a reconfigurable and efficient environment. With recent advances in new semiconductor materials, the circuit line width has continuously being shrunk down, which brings new challenges for manufacturers. They require that a wafer should be moved away from a processing chamber as soon as possible after its processing is finished. To ensure high-quality integrated circuits in a wafer, its post-processing residency time must be minimized. It is also highly desirable to maximize the throughput of robotic cluster tools. This article aims at scheduling such tools with multiple objectives subject to wafer residency time constraints. To do so, new algorithms are proposed to calculate robot waiting time delicately upon the analysis of particular events of robot waiting for dual-blade robotic tools and optimally schedule such tools. The numerical results of industrial examples show that the proposed algorithms can provide an effective method to find schedules for dual-blade cluster tools such that multiple objectives are optimized.

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