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700 | nonsevere hypoglycemic episodes are in the Table. Heterogeneity of reporting precluded meta-analysis of severe hypoglycemic episode results; none of the 6 trials that reported this outcome showed a difference between treatment groups. No trials reported on macrovascular and microvascular complications. Conclusion In patients with type 2 diabetes, rapid-acting insulin analogues do not differ from regular human insulin for mortality or glycemic control. Rapid-acting insulin analogues vs regular human insulin (RHI) in patients with type 2 diabetes Outcomes Number of trials (n) Weighted event rates At 24 wk Insulin analogues RHI RRI (95% CI) Mortality 6 (2519) 0.4% 0.2% 66% (53 to 555) Mean difference (CI) Glycemic control (HbA1c) 9 (2608) 0.03% (0.16 to 0.09) Nonsevere hypoglycemic episodes (mean episodes /patient/mo) 7 (2667) 0.08 (0.00 to 0.16) Hb = hemoglobin; other abbreviations defined in Glossary. RRI and CI calculated from RHI event rate and odds ratio in article. Commentary The recent Cochrane review by Fullerton and colleagues found that rapid-acting analogue insulins did not reduce HbA1c more than RHI. The quality of some of the included trials may be questionable, but the results are similar to those of a 2014 report that found that 7 of 9 RCTs of patients with type 2 diabetes showed no difference in HbA1c between analogue insulins and RHI (1). These results are in contrast to the repeated recommendations from specialty organizations and specialists to use analogue insulins (2). Why? Perhaps it is based on the small pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic differences between analogue insulins and RHIs. However, with 20% to 30% intraindividual | 116863470 |
701 | day-to-day variability in response to insulin, these minor pharmacokineticpharmacodynamic differences are clinically irrelevant. For instance, most of us were taught that RHI should be injected 20 to 30 minutes before a meal. However, a crossover study revealed no difference in glucose levels for 6 weeks after regular insulin was given either 20 minutes or just before meals (3). The cost of insulin tripled from 2001 to 2010 and doubled yet again between 2012 and 2016, with analogue insulins costing 2.5 times as much as RHI in the USA. Because of these increased costs, 25% of patients who require insulin are not taking the full amount of their prescribed doses (4). The results of the review by Fullerton and colleagues show that there is no reason not to use RHIs, which are less costly than analogue insulins. | 116863470 |
702 | Terminators of transcription with RNA polymerase from Escherichia coli: what they look like and how to find them. We present here a compilation of prokaryotic transcription terminator sequences (ref. 1-152). The compilation includes 49 independent terminators, 52 speculated independent terminators, 27 sites shown to function in vivo, and some 20 proven or speculated rho-dependent terminators. In addition to the well-known features of independent terminators (dyad symmetry and T-run), two consensus are found: CGGG(C/G) upstream and TCTG downstream of the termination point. A subset of the collection of sequence has been used to construct a computer algorithm to locate independent terminators by sequence analysis. | 6218720 |
703 | Blogs in a Changing Social Media Environment: Perspectives on the Future of Blogging in Scandinavia In this paper, we investigate the change in the online landscape of blogging in the Scandinavian context through a mixed methods approach. The literature on blogs has emphasized the necessity of learning about why and how people blog as it can help us understand how information is created and shared online (Chau & Xu, 2012). Despite the rich literature on blogs, few studies have addressed the change in the landscape and in the paths of blogger participation. To gain a broader view on the perceptions of the future of blogging, we draw on findings from a focus group interview and in-depth one-on-one interviews with longterm bloggers as well as a blog reader survey. By organizing our findings with Schmidt’s (2007) analytical framework, our research furthers knowledge on how the changes in external expectations such as commercial entities and blog communities affect the rules and relations of bloggers. We argue that the growth and shifting landscape of blogging as core type of technology-mediated social participation system carries the potential to dramatically change the practice of online personal sharing and online communities of practice among bloggers. | 31913520 |
704 | Autocatalytic Pyrolysis of Wastewater Biosolids for Product Upgrading. The main goals for sustainable water resource recovery include maximizing energy generation, minimizing adverse environmental impacts, and recovering beneficial resources. Wastewater biosolids pyrolysis is a promising technology that could help facilities reach these goals because it produces biochar that is a valuable soil amendment as well as bio-oil and pyrolysis gas (py-gas) that can be used for energy. The raw bio-oil, however, is corrosive; therefore, employing it as fuel is challenging using standard equipment. A novel pyrolysis process using wastewater biosolids-derived biochar (WB-biochar) as a catalyst was investigated to decrease bio-oil and increase py-gas yield for easier energy recovery. WB-biochar catalyst increased the py-gas yield nearly 2-fold, while decreasing bio-oil production. The catalyzed bio-oil also contained fewer constituents based on GC-MS and GC-FID analyses. The energy shifted from bio-oil to py-gas, indicating the potential for easier on-site energy recovery using the relatively clean py-gas. The metals contained in wastewater biosolids played an important role in upgrading pyrolysis products. The Ca and Fe in WB-biochar reduced bio-oil yield and increased py-gas yield. The py-gas energy increase may be especially useful at water resource recovery facilities that already combust anaerobic digester biogas for energy since it may be possible to blend biogas and py-gas for combined use. | 206572720 |
705 | English for Secretarial Program: Target and Learning Needs of 'Cinta Kasih Tzu Chi' Vocational School Students English is one of compulsory subjects in vocational high schools. It is a required school subject as students of vocational school graduates are prepared to work based on their major and skills. In addition, in the workplace context, English is the common foreign language used in and among divisions in the workplace. To help the students use the language appropriately, schools need to prepare them with adequate learning materials. Thus, reliable sources of learning, one of which is English coursebooks, should incorporate appropriate language input for the students specifically devised for vocational school students. Unfortunately, most of the coursebooks contain materials which do not meet target and learning needs of the students who study in vocational schools. Therefore, this study aimed at examining their target and learning needs of English, particularly for those taking secretarial program. In order to achieve the objective of the study, a questionnaire consisting of target and learning needs items was distributed to the subjects of the research. The findings of this research revealed that the target needs of the students who majored in the secretarial program are to be able to communicate in English both in oral and written texts, vocabulary enhancement related to the workplace, and to pass the national exam. As for the learning needs, most of the students are keen on learning English from authentic materials integrated in all language skills.Keywords: materials development, target and learning needs, ESP | 201393820 |
706 | Development of fast breeder reactor fuel reprocessing technology at the Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation For the past two decades, a broad range of research development (R D) programs to establish fast breeder reactor (FBR) system and its associated fuel cycle technology have been pursued by the Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation (PNC). Developmental activities for FBR fuel reprocessing technology have been primarily conducted at PNC Tokai Works where many important R D facilities for nuclear fuel cycle are located. These include cold and uranium tests for process equipment development in the Engineering Demonstration Facilities (EDF)-I and II, and laboratory-scale hot tests in the Chemical Processing Facility (CPF) where fuel dissolution and solvent extraction characteristics are being investigated with irradiated FBR fuel pins whose burn-up ranges up to 100,000 MWd/t. An extensive effort has also been made at EDF-III to develop advanced remote technology which enables to increase plant availability and to decrease radiation exposures to the workers in future reprocessing plants. The PNC and the United States Department of Energy (USDOE) entered into the joint collaboration in which the US shares the R Ds to support FBR fuel reprocessing program at the PNC. Several important R Ds on advanced process equipment such as a rotary dissolver and a centrifugal contactor system aremore » in progress in a joint effort with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Consolidated Fuel Reprocessing Program (CFRP). In order to facilitate hot testing on advanced processes and equipment, the design of a new engineering-scale hot test facility | 108997320 |
707 | is now in progress aiming at the start of hot operation in late 90's. 31 refs., 2 tabs.« less | 108997320 |
708 | Active and Sedentary Video Game Time This study used survey methodology to measure opinions of 13- to 15-year-olds (N = 176) about sedentary and active video games and the relative amount of time spent with those games, and evaluated correlations between time spent with those two types of games and the body mass index (BMI) of the respondent. Results showed no evidence of any correlation between BMI and relative time devoted to video game usage by type of game (active versus sedentary), nor any support for a correspondence between overall levels of time spent with video games and BMI. Yet, the data did point to a nonlinear association in which those who devoted more than 50% of the total time they spend with video games on sedentary games had a higher BMI than those who spent less than 50% of their video gaming time with sedentary games. Important gender differences also emerged in the adolescents’ opinions of active versus sedentary games. | 45896470 |
709 | Regional nodal irradiation in the setting of sentinel node biopsy : The need for axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) in patients with invasive breast cancer (IBC) has been a topic of great debate in the last decade. The role of axillary management in patients with sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) negative or micrometastatic disease is well established after multiple trials demonstrated no survival benefit with the addition of ALND (NSABP B32, IBCSG 23-01, AATRM048); yet, there remains controversy in the management of SLNB positive disease. ALND has traditionally been the standard of care following positive SLNB, however, results from recent studies have identified that further surgical exploration of the axilla may be overtreatment in these patients. In order to de-escalate treatment, non-surgical options such as regional nodal irradiation (RNI) and neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) have been increasingly explored. Trials evaluating the role of RNI following positive SLNB have suggested that RNI is non-inferior to ALND and provides superior outcomes with an improved toxicity profile (AMAROS, MA.20, EORTC 22922). NAC has been explored in the treatment paradigm in patients with locally advanced disease, however, the role of SLNB and RNI in this setting remains unequivocal. This review aims to provide an update on the role of RNI following SLNB in IBC using an evidence-based approach. Ongoing clinical trials will clarify the role of axillary management after NAC in cN1 patients. In the Alliance A011202 trial, the role of ALND versus axillary nodal irradiation is addressed. Patients with clinical T1–3, N1 breast cancer treated with NAC and subsequent positive | 236763870 |
710 | SLNB are randomized to receive ALND or axillary nodal irradiation along with radiotherapy to the whole breast or chest wall. Both groups will receive radiotherapy to the supraclavicular fossa. Patients in the ALND arm will receive radiotherapy to the undissected axilla. The target accrual is 1,660 patients and the primary study endpoint is invasive breast cancer recurrence-free interval (IBC-RFI) (NCT01901094). The NSABP B-51/RTOG 1304 trial is investigating the role of RNI in the same patient population who achieve pCR at ALND following NAC. Patients who present with clinical T1–3 tumors and N1 disease who achieve pCR post NAC are randomized to receive axillary RNI versus no further axillary treatment. Patients who receive RNI will also receive radiation to the whole breast or chest wall. The target accrual is 1,636 patients with the primary study endpoint of IBC-RFI (NCT01872975). | 236763870 |
711 | Coupling Efficiency of Helical Coil Hyperthermia Applications Experimental measurements have been made of the coupling efficiency of helical coil applicators operating under conditions simulating the regional hyperthermic heating of human extremities. We have found that for both saline and layered fat-muscle arm-size phantoms, the coupling efficiency ranged from 56 to 86 percent depending upon the specific coil-phantom combination employed. Helical coil applicators, therefore, seem to be inherently efficient devices for extremity heating. | 27006020 |
712 | Reviving Pan-Arabism in Feminist Activism in the Middle East This essay is a preliminary attempt to explore the potential of a feminist, Pan-Arab ideology in relieving some of the tensions in feminist movement building in the Middle East and North Africa region. In its current formulation, regional feminisms suffer from compounded inefficiencies due to fragmentations in grassroots, civil society organizing; an overreliance on the state and state actors including NGOs and discourses of neoliberal development; and a narrow focus on a human rights approach for feminist action. Nonetheless, the present also offers a number of opportunities that are often omitted in our analysis of these disabling tensions. These include women’s growing salience and their increasing presence in public, political spaces of mobilizing, organizing and resistance, which has facilitated communication and negotiation with and within state apparatuses. Opportunities also exist thanks to the enabling and connective nature of the Internet for the purpose of transnational feminist organizing. Crucially, it is the idea that a single, organized and unified movement will gather more support, and collect greater influence than would be the case if these movements remained in their divided and atomized states. Ultimately, this piece is an exercise of feminist imagination – one that envisions the ways in which a regional feminism can emerge based on an active struggle against patriarchy in all its manifestations. | 225827220 |
713 | Leveraging Reinforcement Learning for User Pairing in Full Duplex Networks In this article we employ a reinforcement learning solution called Upper Confidence Bound (UCB) over the framework of Multi-Armed Bandit (MAB) to solve User Equipment (UE) pairing problem in Full Duplex (FD) network. In the context of the total data rate maximization problem, our proposed solution is capable of learning the best UE pair iteratively by exploring and exploiting the solution space. By the presented simulation results, we show that our proposed algorithm is more robust to the absence of knowledge about interUE Channel State Information (CSI). In the complete absence of CSI about inter-UE channel gains, our proposed solution overperforms the Maximum Rate (MR) solution by 26%. Keywords— Reinforcement Learning, Full-Duplex, Multiarmed bandit. | 229382670 |
714 | The Brauer–Manin obstruction on del Pezzo surfaces of degree 2 branched along a plane section of a Kummer surface Abstract This paper discusses the Brauer–Manin obstruction on double covers of the projective plane branched along a plane section of a Kummer surface from both the practical and the theoretical points of view. Theoretical highlights include the determination of a complete set of generators for the Brauer group; on the practical side, we give several surfaces with a Brauer–Manin obstruction and verify that the Brauer–Manin obstruction is the only one for a collection of several thousand surfaces of this type. | 120941720 |
715 | UiTM Share Ride: Requirements Validation, Design and Development of a Campus Ride-Sharing Mobile Application The excessive number of cars entering university campus and limitation of parking areas have resulted in difficulty of finding parking spaces for many university staff and students. It is a typical issue occurring in most of university campuses all around the world. Carpooling or ride-sharing is viewed as the practical approach to solve this problem. The suggestion to share rides will lessen the amount of vehicles entering university campuses thus reducing parking space problem and decrease fuel emission for a cleaner and healthier environment. Thus, development of a campus ride-sharing mobile application will be a good medium for university staff and students to share their rides and solve this pressing issue in many campuses. This research has attempted to validate the system requirements for UiTM Share Ride mobile application, followed by designing and developing the mobile application using Android platform for UiTM’s staff and students. Four phases have been undertaken in order to complete the research, which are preliminary study, requirements validation, user design, and followed by application construction. The outcome is a UiTM Share Ride mobile application, which can manage ride sharing requests among passengers and drivers in UiTM communities that will eventually solve the issue of congestion in the university campus. | 216103820 |
716 | Iron, Lead, and Children's Behavior and Cognition. Iron deficiency (ID) is the most common micronutrient deficiency in the world, with consequences of ID and ID anemia (IDA) in young children including behavioral and cognitive deficits. In turn, lead exposure is one of the most common environmental toxicants affecting children. Elevated blood lead levels (BLLs) in young children are also associated with behavioral and cognitive deficits. The metabolic and physiological connections between iron and lead, including a common route of entry into the body and similar neural targets, suggest a considerable overlap in their effects on functional outcomes. Very few studies have examined the existence of increased susceptibility to lead neurotoxicity in children with ID, but there is evidence that ID and BLL are independently associated with cognition and behavior. Children's susceptibility to both ID and elevated BLLs will likely depend on the timing and severity of both exposures, something that should be investigated systematically. | 10821920 |
717 | Acquiring accidental aspergillosis Aspergillus is an all-pervasive mold with the potential to cause severe invasive infections in the immunocompromised. A rare cutaneous manifestation of Aspergillus infection, primary cutaneous aspergillosis (PCA), occurs in just 1-5% of invasive aspergillosis cases. Prompt treatment is indicated as PCA may progress to a disseminated state. We present a unique case of an immunocompetent individual diagnosed with PCA two weeks after trauma and subsequent surgery. | 245080720 |
718 | Socio-technical regimes and sustainability transitions Sustainability is increasingly becoming a core focus of geography, linking subfields such as urban, economic, and political ecology, yet strategies for achieving this goal remain illusive. Socio-technical transition theorists have made important contributions to our knowledge of the challenges and possibilities for achieving more sustainable societies, but this body of work generally lacks consideration of the influences of geography and power relations as forces shaping sustainability initiatives in practice. This paper assesses the significance for geographers interested in understanding the space, time, and scalar characteristics of sustainable development of one major strand of socio-technical transition theory, the multi-level perspective on socio-technical regime transitions. We describe the socio-technical transition approach, identify four major limitations facing it, show how insights from geographers – particularly political ecologists – can help address these challenges, and briefly examine a case study (GMO and food production) showing how a refined transition framework can improve our understanding of the social, political, and spatial dynamics that shape the prospects for more just and environmentally sustainable forms of development. | 145198610 |
719 | FREIGHT-HANDLING TECHNOLOGIES AND INDUSTRIAL BUILDING DESIGN: FREIGHTHOUSE AND WAREHOUSE FACILITIES OF THE CHICAGO JUNCTION RAILWAY, 1900–30 Abstract Among the first US railway companies to use the electric tractor and elevator in freight-handling buildings, the Chicago Junction Railway (CJR) primarily served industries in the rapidly growing Central Manufacturing District. CJR freight-handling services were initially provided in single-storey, and subsequently multi-storey, brick and mill buildings, using hand trucks, with only limited storage and warehousing space available. Labour cost savings, and changes in the scale and flexibility of freighthouse operations, possible with the electric tractor and elevator, allowed the CJR to meet the demand for increased freight-handling and warehousing capacity by augmenting older facilities with multi-storey, integrated freighthouse and warehouse buildings, latterly built with steel-reinforced concrete. | 110027660 |
720 | Rethinking Relationships, Reconfiguring Teacher Research: Teachers as Ethnographers of Culture, Childhood, and Classrooms Abstract In this article, we employ multiple lenses to examine a state-funded teacher research institute designed to meld ethnographic and teacher research with anthropological and sociological studies of childhood. Planned as support for the work of teachers in reservation schools, the institute's classes, book talks, methods exercises, and subsequent classroom-based research were intended to help teachers understand learning as a constructive meaning-making activity carried out by their students. However, we anticipated neither the difficulties that we would encounter in recruiting Native American teachers nor those that teachers would meet in carving out time to conduct ethnographic research in their classrooms. This article is an attempt to let go of our preconceptions about the way that the institute should have unfolded and to privilege the richness of the teachers' unexpected discoveries. | 144584260 |
721 | Triumph of the Null: Structure and Conflict in the Command of German Land Forces, 1939-1945 On 8 October 1943, the Organization Branch of the German Army General Staff officially confirmed a remarkable division of responsibilities within the High Command.1 The branch published a notice stating that the Chief of the General Staff was responsible only for the Field Army's operations in the east. Operations in the other theatres west, north, south and south-east were under the control of the Armed Forces Operations Staff, an element of the Armed Forces High Command.2 In other words, the Chief of the General Staff had lost control of a significant portion of the army's field forces, while the Operations Staff, which originally had been created to provide broad strategic guidance, functioned instead as a parallel operational headquarters. This development is revealing. It was the result of a process that owed more to personal and organizational ambition and rivalry than to military necessity and reason, and it reduced the Wehrmacht's operational effectiveness.3 The structure of the German command system has not received much attention in the literature on the Second World War. General and popular histories rarely mention it; a few even seem unsure of the difference | 159950260 |
722 | Statistical Inference for Lorenz Curves with Censored Data Lorenz curves and associated tools for ranking income distributions are commonly estimated on the assumption that full, unbiased samples are available. However, it is common to find income and wealth distributions that are routinely censored or trimmed. We derive the sampling distribution for a key family of statistics in the case where data have been modified in this fashion. | 123884760 |
723 | NASA's Lucy Mission to the Trojan Asteroids The Lucy mission, which is part of NASA's Discovery Program, is the first reconnaissance of the Jupiter Trojans, objects that hold vital clues to deciphering the history of the Solar System. Due to an unusual and fortuitous orbital configuration, Lucy will perform a comprehensive investigation that visits seven of these primitive bodies, covering both the $\mathbf{L}_{4}$ and $\mathbf{L}_{5}$ swarms and all the known taxonomic types. In particular, Lucy will perform flybys of 3548 Eurybates and its satellite Queta ( $\mathbf{L}_{4}$ , C-type), 15094 Polymele ( $\mathbf{L}_{4}$ , P-type), 11351 Leucus ( $\mathbf{L}_{4}$ , D-type), 21900 Orus ( $\mathbf{L}_{4}$ , D-type), and the 617 Patroclus-Menoetius binary ( $\mathbf{L}_{5}$ , P-types). Eurybates and the binary are of particular interest. Eurybates is the largest member of the only major disruptive collisional family in the Trojan swarms. The Patroclus-Menoetius binary, which consists of two roughly equal mass objects in a circular mutual orbit, is likely a leftover from the first generation of planetesimals in the Solar System. | 236711910 |
724 | Could homeopathic medicine be utilised as a treatment for teething? Despite much debate, teething is commonly believed to include a cluster of distressing symptoms. Over the centuries various treatments have been used and fallen into disrepute. Homeopathy has a track record of consistent and effective management of teething, treating the whole child regardless of the source of the distress. This article explores the literature on teething and calls for more research to be directed towards homeopathy's holistic approach towards managing teething symptoms. | 41380760 |
725 | Growth and survival signalling in B16F10 melanoma cells in 3D culture The two‐way communication between the ECM (extracellular matrix) and the cytoplasm via the integrins has many functions in cancer cells, including the suppression of apoptosis. As cells in a 3D (three‐dimensional) architecture resemble the in vivo situation more closely than do cells in more conventional 2D cultures, we have employed a substratum that prevents cell adhesion and induces cell aggregation to determine why highly metastatic B16F10 melanoma cells resist anoikis. We compared the behaviour of B16F10 cells in 2D [on tPS (tissue culture polystyrene)] and 3D culture {on polyHEMA [poly(2‐hydroxyethylmethacrylate)]} configurations. For this, we analysed cell morphology, proliferation, apoptosis and the activation status of several proteins involved in cell proliferation and survival [RhoA, FAK (focal adhesion kinase), Akt, ERK1/2 (extracellular‐signal‐regulated kinase 1/2)]. B16F10 cells in 3D architecture were able to proliferate as cell aggregates for 3 days, after which the number of cells decreased. The normal Swiss 3T3 cells used as an anoikis‐sensitive control did not proliferate on the anti‐adhesive substratum. Rho A was activated in B16F10 aggregates throughout their time in culture, whereas it was not in Swiss 3T3 aggregates. An absence of apoptotic activity was correlated with the proliferation of B16F10 cells in aggregates: caspase 3 was significantly activated only after 3 days in culture on polyHEMA. FAK and Akt were transiently activated, and their inactivation was correlated with the induction of apoptosis. ERK1/2 were activated throughout the 3D culture. No survival protein was activated in Swiss 3T3 aggregates. Data obtained from cells | 31316860 |
726 | in 3D culture suggest that B16F10 cells are resistant to anoikis through the activation of the FAK and Akt signalling pathways. | 31316860 |
727 | The effect of fatigue on multijoint kinematics, coordination, and postural stability during a repetitive lifting test. Because of the inability of strength tests to accurately discriminate between low back pain patients and healthy subjects, a multifactorial evaluation of low back pain patients is warranted. It is postulated that measurements of endurance, kinematics, postural stability, and coordination, in addition to strength, are necessary to fully document the patients' functional capabilities. This research study was conducted in order to understand the effects of fatigue on the above factors. Twelve healthy male subjects performed a repetitive lifting test in which a submaximal load was lifted at a maximal rate. Knee, hip, and trunk motion was measured using videography and electrogoniometry, postural stability was measured using a forceplate, and coordination parameters were determined using phase-plane analysis. Fatigue was documented by a 31% reduction in lifting power. At the end of the endurance test, there was less knee and hip range of motion and greater spine peak flexion, while the coordination measures demonstrated that there was greater hip and lumbar spine extension earlier in the lifting phase. The postural stability declined as the test endured. Utilization of these measures may guide physical therapists in their rehabilitation of low back pain patients. | 25230160 |
728 | Erythroplakia of the oral cavity Erythroplakia of the oral cavity is a specific disease entity which must be differentiated from other specific or nonspecific inflammatory oral lesions, although this can only be done in most cases by biopsy. A series of 58 cases of oral erythroplakia has been retrieved from 65,354 consecutively accessioned biopsy‐surgical specimens. The disease was found to have no apparent sex predilection (31 males and 27 females) and was most frequently seen during the 6th and 7th decades. The most common site of occurrence in females was the mandibular alveolar mucosa‐mandibular gingiva‐mandibular sulcus, whereas this was the least common site in males. The floor of the mouth was the most common site in males, followed by the retromolar area in both males and females. The histologic findings emphasized the serious nature of the disease, since 91% of the specimens were either invasive carcinoma, carcinoma in situ, or severe epithelial dysplasia. | 42468360 |
729 | Hepatitis C virus in sickle cell disease. PURPOSE To determine the prevalence of hepatitis C virus antibodies (anti-HCV) in patients with sickle cell disease. PATIENTS AND METHODS Between 1983 and 2001, 150 patients from the Howard University Hospital Center for Sickle Cell Disease were screened for HCV antibody (52% women, 48% men, mean age 34 years). Frozen serum samples from 56 adult sickle cell patients who had participated in previous surveys (1983-92) of HIV and HTLV-1 serology and who were tested in 1992 for anti-HCV antibody--when commercial ELISA test (Ortho) became available--were included in this paper. Of the 150 patients in the study, 132 had sickle cell anemia genotype (SS), 15 had sickle cell hemoglobin-C disease (SC) and three had sickle beta thalassemia. Clinical charts were reviewed for history of blood transfusion, IV drug abuse, homosexuality, tattooing, iron overload, and alcohol abuse. RESULTS Antibodies to HCV were detected in 53 patients (35.3%). Of the 55 patients who had frozen serum samples tested in 1992, 32 (58%) were reactive for anti-HCV, while only 21 of the 95 patients (22%) tested after 1992 were positive for HCV antibodies (P<0.001). Thirty-nine of 77 patients (51%) who received more than 10 units of packed red blood cells were positive for HCV antibody, and only 14 of 61 patients (23%) who received less than 10 units of packed red blood cells transfusion were positive for HCV antibodies (P<0.001). None of the 12 patients who never received transfusion were positive for HCV antibody. In the 53 anti-HCV positive patients, the mean alanine | 36643860 |
730 | amino-transferase (ALT) value was 98- and 81 U/L, respectively, for males and females. These values were normal for the HCV-antibody negative patients. The aspartate amino-transferase (AST) and the total bilirubin were also higher in the anti-HCV positive patients compared to patients in the anti-HCV negative group. Forty-four patients (57.1%) who were transfused more than 10 units developed iron overload defined by a serum ferritin level higher than 1,000 ng/ml. A total of 20 of the patients with iron overload underwent liver biopsies. Seven of these 20 patients (35%) were HCV positive. These patients often had more severe liver disease and higher degree of iron deposition. CONCLUSION The prevalence of HCV antibody and iron overload is directly related to the number of blood transfusions in patients with sickle cell disease. The prevalence of HCV infection has decreased significantly, since blood donor screening for HCV became available. Chronic HCV infection and iron overload place sickle cell patients at risk for significant liver disease. | 36643860 |
731 | Adaptive nested terminal sliding mode control for a hypersonic vehicle with mismatched uncertainties This paper tackles the tracking control of flexible hypersonic vehicle (FHV) with mismatched uncertainties by utilizing the adaptive nested terminal sliding mode control method. The controllers of velocity loop and altitude loop are designed separately based on the control-oriented model which is obtained by simplification of the FHV model. It's noted that the previous sliding mode control is sensitive to mismatched uncertainties, which weakens the use of sliding mode strategy. Therefore, the nested terminal sliding mode control is applied in FHV, to provide a virtual control in every step until the real control law is obtained, which can deal with the mismatched uncertainties problem and achieve finite-time stability. What's more, the lumped uncertainties including the derivative of virtual control law are estimated by adaptive algorithm, which can solve the problem of “explosion of complex” and the upper bounds of uncertainties are not required to be known in advance. Simulation results show that the proposed control method can guarantee the accurate tracking of velocity and altitude effectively. | 22248910 |
732 | Arithmetic, Geometry, Cryptography and Coding Theory Copying and reprinting. Material in this book may be reproduced by any means for educational and scientific purposes without fee or permission with the exception of reproduction by services that collect fees for delivery of documents and provided that the customary acknowledgment of the source is given. This consent does not extend to other kinds of copying for general distribution, for advertising or promotional purposes, or for resale. Requests for permission for commercial use of material should be addressed to the Acquisitions Department, American Math-also be made by e-mail to reprint-permission@ams.org. Excluded from these provisions is material in articles for which the author holds copyright. In such cases, requests for permission to use or reprint should be addressed directly to the author(s). (Copyright ownership is indicated in the notice in the lower right-hand corner of the first page of each article.) ∞ The paper used in this book is acid-free and falls within the guidelines established to ensure permanence and durability. | 118012160 |
733 | Abstract B28: Targeted inhibition of EGFR and glutaminase induces metabolic crisis in EGFR-mutant lung cancer Cancer cells exhibit increased use of nutrients, including glucose and glutamine, to support the bioenergetic and biosynthetic demands of proliferation. We tested the small-molecule inhibitor of glutaminase CB-839 in combination with erlotinib on epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) as a therapeutic strategy to simultaneously impair cancer glucose and glutamine utilization and thereby suppress tumor growth. Here, we show that CB-839 cooperates with erlotinib to drive energetic stress and activate the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) pathway in EGFR (del19) lung tumors. Tumor cells undergo metabolic crisis and cell death, resulting in rapid tumor regression in vivo in mouse NSCLC xenografts. Consistently, positron emission tomography (PET) imaging with 18F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (18F-FDG) and 11C-glutamine (11C-Gln) of xenografts indicated reduced glucose and glutamine uptake in tumors following treatment with CB-839 + erlotinib. Therefore, PET imaging with 18F-FDG and 11C-Gln tracers can be used to noninvasively measure metabolic response to CB-839 and erlotinib combination therapy. Citation Format: Milica Momcilovic, Sean T. Bailey, Jason T. Lee, Clara Magyar, Daniel Braas, Thomas Graeber, Francesco Parlati, Susan Demo, Konstyantyn Krysan, Tonya C. Walser, Steven M. Dubinett, Saman Sadeghi, Heather R. Christofk, David B. Shackelford. Targeted inhibition of EGFR and glutaminase induces metabolic crisis in EGFR-mutant lung cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Fifth AACR-IASLC International Joint Conference: Lung Cancer Translational Science from the Bench to the Clinic; Jan 8-11, 2018; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2018;24(17_Suppl):Abstract nr B28. | 92438310 |
734 | Experimental research on the wet bonding properties between RFRP and concrete In this work, an improved wet bonding method was developed for strengthening of fiber-reinforced polymer. A self-made roughened carbon fiber–reinforced polymer sheet (hereinafter referred to as RFRP sheet) was externally attached to the surface layer of a nano-kaolin-modified concrete test piece to form an RFRP–concrete wet-bonded test piece. Then, the pull-off bond test and the single shear test were performed on 32 and 30 test pieces, respectively. The performance of the wet bonding interface of RFRP–concrete in the normal and tangential directions was investigated by changing the length of glass fiber cellosilk in RFRP bonding resin, the diameter of RFRP porous pelelith rock, and the ratio of nano-kaolin. In addition, by comparing the scanning electron microscopy images of untreated fiber-reinforced polymer sheet and the concrete block without nano-kaolin, the mechanism of the adhesion enhancement of the RFRP–concrete interface was explained. The results show that the differentiation between fiber-reinforced polymer–concrete wet bonding failure and RFRP–concrete wet bonding failure was mainly based on the large-scale concrete with peeled off concrete surface. RFRP effectively enhanced the wet adhesion performance of the interface with concrete in both normal and tangential directions. The interface bonding ability increased by 900% and 42%, respectively, compared with the control test pieces. The diameter of pelelith rock was found to be the most important factor affecting the shear wet bonding performance of the RFRP–concrete interface. The second important factor was the ratio of nano-kaolin. The optimum conditions for the best tangential anti-peeling ability of | 210254860 |
735 | the RFRP–concrete structure were found to be the addition of 5-mm-diameter pelelith stone, 3% nano-kaolin, and glass cellosilk of 89 mm length. When the RFRP and the concrete were wet-bonded, the uncured cement mortar effectively filled the holes of the original pelelith rock and acted as a mechanical lock, thereby increasing the bonding stress. | 210254860 |
736 | Plasma Lipids and Lipoproteins in Friedreich's Ataxia and Familial Spastic Ataxia — Evidence for an Abnormal Composition of High Density Lipoproteins SUMMARY: A systematic study of plasma lipids and lipoproteins was carried out in II cases of Friedreich's ataxia and 6 cases of familial spastic ataxia (Charlevoix-Saguenay disease) using II healthy normolipidemic volunteers of comparable age and sex as controls. No differences were noted in the fatty acid profile of the total lipid fraction, in the total cholesterol and phospholipids or in the percentage distribution of the individual phospholipid classes. The triglycerides were significantly higher in Friedreich's ataxia, but remained within the normal range. Although no systematic abnormalities could be detected in the electrophoretic pattern of plasma lipoproteins or in the apolipoprotein profile on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, major differences were found in the high density lipoprotein (HDL) fraction. Their total amount was reduced and their composition was abnormal in both neurological diseases. In Friedreich patients, the relative proportion of cholesterol and triglycerides was increased while the relative protein content was greatly reduced. In Charlevoix disease, a similar abnormality was seen except for the excess of triglycerides. The proportion of phospholipids in HDL was the same in the three groups of patients. In addition, the low density lipoprotein (LDL) fraction was slightly reduced in both diseases. This anomaly of the HDL fraction could indicate that the HDL apolipoprotein moiety has a greater affinity for cholesterol and triglycerides in Friedreich's ataxia than its normal counterpart. | 19768360 |
737 | A Suboptimal Model Explained the Spatiotemporal Control of Human Eye Movements in Visual Search Efficient eye movement planning in both space and time is vital for visual perception. Previous studies showed that human eye movements were consistent with an optimal searcher during visual search; however, we found that such a model could not fully explain the spatial control of eye movements and it completely ignored the temporal control aspect. Here, we first measured the temporal course of human visibility map, and then measured eye movement dynamics during a visual search task. We further built a continuous-time eye movement model that determined both fixation duration and location. When the participants’ saccade amplitude bias and memory capacity limitations were introduced, this model could describe multiple aspects of human visual search behavior much better than the optimal searcher with fixed fixation duration. Interestingly, this model predicted that the human visual memory capacity is approximately 8 fixations. The results showed that human performed suboptimal in visual search, and implied that human may use a mixed control strategy to select fixation location. This strategy may have adaptive advantages considering the limitations of the human brain and statistics of the natural environment. | 204151810 |
738 | Optimal Exercise of Executive Stock Options and Implications for Firm Cost This paper conducts a comprehensive study of the optimal exercise policy for an executive stock option and its implications for option cost, average life, and alternative valuation concepts. The paper is the first to provide analytical results for an executive with general concave utility. Wealthier or less risk-averse executives exercise later and create greater option cost. However, option cost can decline with volatility. We show when there exists a single exercise boundary, yet demonstrate the possibility of a split continuation region. We also show that, for constant relative risk averse utility, the option value does not converge to the Black and Scholes value as the correlation between the stock and the market portfolio converges to one. We compare our model's option cost with the modified Black and Scholes approximation typically used in practice and show that the approximation error can be large or small, positive or negative, depending on firm characteristics. | 1259210 |
739 | The L 1 – Norm Density Estimator Process The notion of an L1–norm density estimator process indexed by a class of kernels is introduced. Then a functional central limit theorem and a Glivenko–Cantelli theorem are established for this process. While assembling the necessary machinery to prove these results, a body of Poissonization techniques and restricted chaining methods is developed, which is useful for studying weak convergence of general processes indexed by a class of functions. This should be of independent interest. None of the theorems impose any condition at all on the underlying Lebesgue density f . Also, somewhat unexpectedly, the distribution of the limiting Gaussian process does not depend on f. AMS Subject Classifications: 60F05, 60F15, 60F17, 62G07 | 2770360 |
740 | Are the arginine vasopressin V1a receptor microsatellites related to hypersexuality in children with a prepubertal and early adolescent bipolar disorder phenotype? OBJECTIVE To examine family-based transmission of the number of 5' flanking arginine vasopressin V1a receptor (AVPR1A) microsatellites, which include [(GATA)(14)] and complex [(CT)(4)-TT-(CT)(8)-(GT)(24)] repeats, in probands with a prepubertal and early adolescent bipolar disorder phenotype (PEA-BP). Preferential transmission of the number of AVPR1A microsatellite repeats to hypersexual and uninhibited people-seeking probands was hypothesized, based on reports from preclinical work in the literature. METHODS Probands were 83 participants in an ongoing controlled study of PEA-BP. The PEA-BP phenotype was defined by DSM-IV mania with at least one of the cardinal symptoms of mania (elation and/or grandiosity) to avoid diagnosing mania only by symptoms that overlapped with those for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Comprehensive assessment of the probands included separate Washington University in St. Louis Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (WASH-U-KSADS) interviews of parents about their children and of children about themselves. Hypersexuality and uninhibited people-seeking were assessed from the corresponding WASH-U-KSADS items. Microsatellite genotyping of the AVPR1A repeats was conducted using fluorescently labeled primers and detected by laser-induced fluorescence. Alleles were determined with the assistance of semi-automated allele-calling software. There were 32 complete, biological trios (28 informative families) for the GATA repeat and 34 complete, biological trios (30 informative families) for the complex repeat. Data were analyzed using case-control and family-based association methods. RESULTS Preferential transmission of AVPR1A GATA or complex repeats was not significant for hypersexuality or uninhibited people-seeking, using the transmission disequilibrium | 1713260 |
741 | test. Similarly, case-control analyses found no significant associations between hypersexuality or uninhibited people-seeking and the number of AVPR1A GATA or complex repeats. For p < 0.05, there was about 80% power to detect odds ratios of 5.0 and 4.0 (in the family-based analyses) and 3.5 and 2.6 (in the case-control analyses), for allele frequencies of 0.1 and 0.5, respectively. CONCLUSION Preferential transmission of AVPR1A to hypersexual or uninhibited people-seeking probands was not supported. | 1713260 |
742 | Dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction with in situ derivatization coupled with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry for the determination of 4-methylimidazole in red ginseng products containing caramel colors. A rapid analytical method was developed for the determination of 4-methylimidazole from red ginseng products containing caramel colors by using dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction with in situ derivatization followed by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry. Chloroform and acetonitrile were selected as the extraction and dispersive solvents, and based on the extraction efficiency, their optimum volumes were 200 and 100 μL, respectively. The optimum volumes of the derivatizing agent (isobutyl chloroformate) and catalyst (pyridine), pH, and concentration of NaCl in the sample solution were determined to be 25 and 100 μL, pH 7.6, and 0% w/v, respectively. Validation of the optimized method showed good linearity (R2 > 0.999), accuracy (≥89.86%), intra- (≤6.70%) and interday (≤4.17%) repeatability, limit of detection (0.96 μg/L), and limit of quantification (5.79 μg/L). The validated method was applied to quantify 4-methylimidazole in red ginseng juices and concentrates, 4-methylimidazole was only found in red ginseng juices containing caramel colorant (42.91-2863.4 μg/L) and detected in red ginseng concentrates containing >1% caramel colorant. | 51696310 |
743 | Determining Domestic Formaldehyde Levels in Ankara, Turkey This cross-sectional study was carried out in October, 2001, with the aim of measuring formaldehyde levels in 399 homes representative of those in the central districts of Ankara province. Measurements were carried out with a Formaldemeter 400 in the living rooms and kitchens of these homes. The average formaldehyde levels in living rooms and kitchens were 0.064 and 0.060 ppm, respectively. The correlations between formaldehyde levels and type of house, construction materials, and method of ventilation were assessed. Formaldehyde levels were found to be significantly higher in apartments than in detached houses (living room: X2 = 38.7, p < 0.001; kitchen: X2 = 43.2, p < 0.001), significantly higher in reinforced concrete homes than in brick and mortar homes (living room: X2 = 43.1, p<0.001; kitchen: 2 = 34.9, p < 0.001), and significantly higher in homes using mechanical methods of ventilation than in homes with natural ventilation only X2 = 6.2, p < 0.05). People living in homes with formaldehyde levels higher than 0.10 ppm had a significantly higher incidence of watering eyes, dry throats, and running noses than people living in homes with lower levels. The correlation between kitchen formaldehyde levels and the type of fuel used in the kitchen was assessed, and homes using natural gas in the kitchen (53.4%) were determined to have significantly higher levels than homes using bottled propane (46.6%) (X2 = 48.8, p < 0.001). The results of the study show a significant correlation between formaldehyde levels and the type of home | 110636960 |
744 | and construction materials, and between formaldehyde levels and residents' complaints of watering eyes, dry throats, and running noses. This study was carried out during the warm season. The results suggest that a similar study should be conducted during the winter, when heating is used and ventilation is less adequate. | 110636960 |
745 | Status of a computer-aided system for cytogenetic specimen preparation and analysis In recent years the demand for cytogenetic analysis has been increasing dramatically. How ever, the basic steps in the process of specimen preparation and analysis are not amenable to large scale processing of samples. Elements of a semi automated system for the preparation and analysis of human chromosomes are described. The system is divided into two sections. The first inputs blood samples and performs the various steps required to produce microscope slides suitable for staining and cytogenetic analysis. The second section inputs these slides, locates cells for analysis, and arranges the individual chromosomes into a karyotype which forms the basis for clini cal diagnosis. The system is currently undergoing an evaluation in a clinical and research cytogenetics laboratory. The hardware and software of the system are described and some preliminary results are presented. | 5470910 |
746 | WT1 transcription factor impairs cardiomyocyte specification and drives a phenotypic switch from myocardium to epicardium. During development, the heart growths through addition of progenitor cells to the poles of the primordial heart tube. In the zebrafish, wilms tumor 1 transcription factor a (wt1a) and b (wt1b) are expressed in the pericardium, at the venous pole of the heart. From this pericardial layer, the proepicardium emerges. Proepicardial cells are subsequently transferred to the myocardial surface and form the epicardium, covering the myocardium. We found that while wt1a/b expression is maintained in proepicardial cells, it is downregulated in those pericardial cells contributing to cardiomyocytes from the developing heart. Sustained wt1 expression in cardiomyocytes reduced chromatin accessibility of specific genomic loci. Strikingly, a subset of wt1a/b-expressing cardiomyocytes changed their cell adhesion properties, delaminated from the myocardium and upregulated epicardial gene expression. Thus, wt1 acts as a break for cardiomyocyte differentiation and ectopic wt1 expression in cardiomyocytes can lead to their transdifferentiation into epicardial like cells. | 247597460 |
747 | Breast Tumor Cell‐derived FGF‐5 Induces MEKK1‐dependent Chemokine Expression in Mammary Fibroblasts; Implications for Tumor Microenvironment Breast tumors contain both transformed epithelial cells and non‐transformed stroma cells, and accumulating experimental evidence strongly suggests that this heterogeneous tumor microenvironment influences tumor growth and metastasis. Previously, we demonstrated that MAPK/ERK kinase kinase 1 (MEKK1) regulates gene expression in fibroblasts and breast tumor cells, and that transgene‐induced breast tumor metastasis is markedly inhibited in MEKK1‐deficient mice. In this work, we utilized expression array analysis of heterotypic cell cultures to determine the role of MEKK1 in stroma gene expression induced by breast tumor cells. We discovered that the breast tumor cell line MDA‐MB 231 constitutively expresses fibroblast growth factor 5 (FGF‐5), and that exposure to either tumor cell‐conditioned media or recombinant FGF‐5 induces chemokine expression in mammary fibroblasts. We demonstrate that FGF‐5‐induced expression of C‐C Motif Chemokine Ligand 5 (CCL5/RANTES) is markedly reduced in MEKK1‐deficient mammary fibroblasts, and that CCL5 expression requires MEKK1 kinase activity but is independent of MEKK1 ubiquitin ligase activity. Furthermore, we report that FGF‐5 initiates MEKK1 kinase activation and signaling in mammary fibroblasts. Finally, we show that breast tumor cell chemotaxis induced by fibroblasts is markedly inhibited by exposure to the CCL5 receptor antagonist Maraviroc, and that MEKK1‐deficient mammary fibroblasts are significantly less effective at promoting tumor cell chemotaxis than cells that express MEKK1. Overall, our findings suggest that MEKK1 is a key regulator of the stroma cell response to tumor cell‐derived FGF‐5. We conclude that MEKK1 is part of the signaling mechanism regulating a tumor/stroma paracrine | 249776160 |
748 | loop that influences function of both transformed cells and stroma cells within breast tumors. Future studies in our lab will investigate the utility of the FGF‐5/CCL5 signaling axis as a set of targets that can be therapeutically inhibited to reduce tumor growth and progression. | 249776160 |
749 | Clinal Distribution of a Chromosomal Rearrangement: A Precursor to Chromosomal Speciation? Abstract Geographically structured genetic variants provide an effective means to assess sources of natural selection and mechanisms of adaptation to local environments. Correlated selection pressures along environmental gradients favor subdivision of genomes through chromosomal rearrangement. This study examines populations of Drosophila americana to evaluate selection pressures affecting chromosomal forms distinguished by a centromeric fusion. Analyses of chromosomal polymorphism throughout the Mississippi River Valley in the central United States reveal the presence of a distinct latitudinal cline for the chromosomal rearrangement. The cline has a width of 623 km centered at 35.97°N and displays a characteristic sigmoid shape consistent with a balance between selection and dispersal. Extreme low temperature during January, an indicator of winter severity, was identified as the environmental variable that most accurately predicts arrangement frequency. An intriguing relationship identified between the chromosomal cline and operational sex ratio indicates that these alternative arrangements of the X chromosome may influence sex-specific survival. A hypothesis for the cline is presented wherein variation associated with the alternative chromosome forms influences distinct overwintering strategies. The resulting subdivision within the genome embodies a transitory stage of a speciation process in which locally adapted gene complexes provide a foundation for species formation. | 10780660 |
750 | Thematic Review Series on the Living History of Lipids From the outset, lipids have been diffi cult to study, as exemplifi ed by J. L. W. Thudichum’s often cited naming of sphingosin[e] “in commemoration of the many enigmas which it presented to the inquirer” ( 1 ). Even today, when one can clone, express, and knock out (and in) genes for enzymes that metabolize, transport, and utilize lipids for cell structure, signaling, and other functions, our knowledge about the properties of these compounds in the milieu in which they function, biological membranes, fat droplets, micelles, and lipoproteins, is still rudimentary. Much of what we know about lipids, and might be inclined to assume was easy to discover, arose from incredibly hard work, cleverly designed experiments, astonishing coincidences, and, sometimes, colossal accidents. This series of thematic reviews is intended to give glimpses into these stories. The authors will try to present the events and personalities as living histories where, when possible, read | 86355660 |
751 | INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR CONTROLLING THE INFLUENCE OF TECHNOGENIC FACTORS ON THE SECURITY OF THE POPULATION WITHIN THE URBOSYSTEM Purpose. Determining the levels of environmental pollution by electromagnetic sources and providing recommendations on how to prevent the impact of negative factors on human health. Design/methodology/approach. Particular attention is paid to the spread of electromagnetic fields within the urban system of Kremenchuk, namely from household sources, which include cellular communications and WiFi wireless communications. These products have recently become extremely widespread, without taking into account their total impact on the environment and human health. Therefore, the authors tried to conduct experiments both in the homes of city residents and in their leisure cities. Determination of levels of pollution by electromagnetic sources is carried out using numerical values of energy flux density in μW/cm2, for this purpose is carried out using direct instrumental measurement with the device ATT-2592. This device is designed to determine the level of the electromagnetic background, the principle of which is based on the isotropic method of measurement. Conclusions. An algorithm for organizing observations of the level of background characteristics of the electromagnetic field (EMF) within the urban system is proposed. Limitations/consequences of research. The proposed algorithm is universal and can be used in various fields of production and management to determine the levels of environmental pollution by electromagnetic sources. Practical consequences. An algorithm for determining the levels of environmental pollution by electromagnetic sources within the urban system has been developed. Originality/meaning. According to the study, there is no acute negative impact on the health | 250205610 |
752 | of residents of a certain group in the urban system, however, the issues of chronic negative impact remain relevant due to the fact that 8% of families surveyed WiFi router is located at a distance of 1 m from the child's bed. | 250205610 |
753 | Preliminary evidence for the feasibility of at-home online cognitive training with older adults. Increased levels of cognitive activity may improve general cognitive function in older adults and potentially increase cognitive reserve, protecting against the onset of dementia associated with syndromes like Alzheimer's disease. To test the efficacy of cognitive training administered online, 18 participants (11 cognitively healthy; 7 mild cognitive impairment) were recruited from a clinical population of older adults to complete an online training intervention (CogniFit™). Before and after training, participants completed a separate battery of assessment measures, including measures of quality of life and competency at everyday activities, as well as a series of tests assessing cognitive function. Participants generally adhered to the online training protocol and completed a computerized assessment battery pre- and post-training. However, participants with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) were somewhat less likely to adhere to the protocol, suggesting that more direct contact is needed with this population in intervention research. Furthermore, participants demonstrated significant improvement on a measure of working memory and also in processing speed across several assessments, though these data are tentative, as no control data exist. These results, along with the generally good adherence observed, suggest that online cognitive training is feasible for this population and a potentially valuable tool for the wider dissemination of cognitive training. | 7236110 |
754 | What can NuSTAR do for X-ray bursts? Unstable thermonuclear burning on the surface of accreting neutron stars is commonly observed as type I X-ray bursts. The flux released during some strong bursts can temporarily exceed the Eddington limit, driving the neutron star photosphere to such large radii that heavy-element ashes of nuclear burning are ejected in the burst expansion wind. We have investigated the possibility of observing with NuSTAR some X-ray bursters selected for their high burst rate and trend to exhibit so-called superexpansion bursts. Our main ambition is to detect the photoionization edges associated with the ejected nuclear ashes, and identify the corresponding heavy elements. A positive identification of such edges would probe the nuclear burning processes, and provide a measure of the expansion wind velocity as well as the gravitational redshift from the neutron star. Moreover, we expect that the high sensitivity of NuSTAR in hard X-rays will make it possible to study the behavior of the accretion emission during the bursts, which is an important parameter to constrain the properties of the X-ray burst emission and thermonuclear burning. detecting one or more burst in a reasonable NuSTAR exposure; and 3. whether the source is known or suspected to be an UCXB system. The one target that satisfies all of these criteria is the source 4U 1820-30, which, in its low state, has a burst recurrence time of a few hours. The only other known or suspected UCXB to have a short enough recurrence time is 4U 1728-34 (aka GX 354-0, or the Slow | 86864310 |
755 | Burster). A recent detection of a 10.77 minute periodic signal [6] provides good evidence for a He-rich donor. We propose target of opportunity observations of these two sources, so as to get the best chance to catch bursts. Exposures of 60 ks each should make possible to catch 5 6 X-ray bursts per target. | 86864310 |
756 | Discussion. Free flap breast reconstruction in advanced age: is it safe? T average life expectancy of the U.S. population continues to increase and with it there is a corresponding increase in the incidence of disease directly correlated with increasing age, such as prostate cancer in males and breast cancer in females. Statistics reveal that by age 80 a woman has a 1 chance in 9 of developing breast cancer.1 The treatment for a substantial number of these women includes mastectomy, and many of them will request breast reconstruction, including procedures performed with the transfer of autologous tissue. For patients requesting breast reconstruction with their own tissue, the microsurgical transfer of abdominal wall tissue constitutes the most popular option for such transfers. The safety corresponding to and the associated medical morbidity of these procedures as a function of age are reported by Drs. Selber and Serletti and their colleagues in the foregoing article. The study is a retrospective analysis derived from a prospectively maintained database spanning more than 15 years of the senior author’s (J.M.S.) practice. The patients were analyzed for important medical comorbidities, including body mass index and smoking status, and recognized risk factors, such as the presence of cardiac disease and other systemic problems known to be associated with the development of medical complications. Several important points are made by the authors from the analysis of their experience. The authors correctly state that a refinement in such elective free flap transfers that involve only the body surface has in fact occurred, and they appropriately differentiate | 205966310 |
757 | these elective procedures from nonelective operations performed in patients with a higher level of preexisting medical comorbidity, such as patients with head and neck cancer and especially patients with peripheral vascular surgery whose treatments may entail microsurgical reconstructive procedures and who have a higher incidence of coexisting medical problems. Next the authors emphasize the importance of preoperative patient optimization, most significantly including a careful medical evaluation of the cardiopulmonary system. They make the point that patients with any significant history of cardiac disease must be carefully evaluated before surgery by a cardiologist, who is the best medical specialist to evaluate and define preoperative cardiac risk2 and to optimally manage or “fine tune” the patient for surgery. They also state that they exclude patients from microvascular breast reconstruction who are deemed to be at too high a risk, instead offering these patients implant breast reconstruction. The authors comment on the expanded role of the anesthesia service in the preoperative assessment of patients, outlining their use of formal preoperative anesthesia consults in selected patients. This is an increasingly common and important practice in most large medical centers, including my own at the University of Pittsburgh. In addition, the authors emphasize the importance of precisely controlling blood pressure during surgery and outline their protocol for doing so specifically with reference to their use of vasopressors. I continue to believe that the American Society of Anesthesiologists classification assigned to the patient by the anesthesiology service is a very valuable predictor of postoperative morbidity following all types of surgery. The presence | 205966310 |
758 | of a systemic disease (i.e., breast cancer) automatically raises the patient to an American Society of Anesthesiologists 2 status. Therefore, I am somewhat puzzled that the authors list the mean American Society of Anesthesiologists classification scores as 1.9 and 2.1. In my analysis of the effect of age on predicting medical morbidity following free microvascular flap reconstructive procedures, I found a positive correlation between both advanced age and preoperative American Society of Anesthesiologists status on the incidence of medical complications,3 but the anesthesiology classification was a more accurate predictor of postoperative medical complications than age. This was the same conclusion | 205966310 |
759 | Redox-Active Ligand Assisted Multielectron Catalysis: A Case of CoIII Complex as Water Oxidation Catalyst. Water oxidation is the key step in both natural and artificial photosynthesis to capture solar energy for fuel production. The design of highly efficient and stable molecular catalysts for water oxidation based on nonprecious metals is still a great challenge. In this article, the electrocatalytic oxidation of water by Na[(L4-)CoIII], where L is a substituted tetraamido macrocyclic ligand, was investigated in aqueous solution (pH 7.0). We found that Na[(L4-)CoIII] is a stable and efficient homogeneous catalyst for electrocatalytic water oxidation with 380 mV onset overpotential in 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.0). Both ligand- and metal-centered redox features are involved in the catalytic cycle. In this cycle, Na[(L4-)CoIII] was first oxidized to [(L2-)CoIIIOH] via a ligand-centered proton-coupled electron transfer process in the presence of water. After further losing an electron and a proton, the resting state, [(L2-)CoIIIOH], was converted to [(L2-)CoIV═O]. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations at the B3LYP-D3(BJ)/6-311++G(2df,2p)//B3LYP/6-31+G(d,p) level of theory confirmed the proposed catalytic cycle. According to both experimental and DFT results, phosphate-assisted water nucleophilic attack to [(L2-)CoIV═O] played a key role in O-O bond formation. | 207189610 |
760 | Reducing beef consumption might not reduce emissions: response to Phalan et al. (2016) Phalan et al. contest our findings (De Oliveira Silva et al., 2016) (henceforth RdOS) on the relationship between livestock consumption and emissions. First, they doubt the likelihood of avoiding expansion of pastureland while increasing production and suggest that deforestation may still happen due to cropping area expansion, i.e. “net change (in deforestation) is not the same as gross change”. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. | 205143960 |
761 | COVID-19 vaccine trials: The potential for “hybrid” analyses Background: Although several COVID-19 vaccines have been found to be effective in rigorous evaluation and have emerging availability in parts of the world, their supply will be inadequate to meet international needs for a considerable period of time. There also will be continued interest in vaccines that are more effective or have improved scalability to facilitate mass vaccination campaigns. Ongoing clinical testing of new vaccines also will be needed as variant strains continue to emerge that may elude some aspects of immunity induced by current vaccines. Randomized clinical trials meaningfully enhance the efficiency and reliability of such clinical testing. In clinical settings with limited or no access to known effective vaccines, placebo-controlled randomized trials of new vaccines remain a preferred approach to maximize the reliability, efficiency and interpretability of results. When emerging availability of licensed vaccines makes it no longer possible to use a placebo control, randomized active comparator non-inferiority trials may enable reliable insights. Methods: In this article, “hybrid” methods are proposed to address settings where, during the conduct of a placebo-controlled trial, a judgment is made to replace the placebo arm by a licensed COVID-19 vaccine due to emerging availability of effective vaccines in regions participating in that trial. These hybrid methods are based on proposed statistics that aggregate evidence to formally test as well as to estimate the efficacy of the experimental vaccine, by combining placebo-controlled data during the first period of trial conduct with active-controlled data during the second period. Results: Application of the | 235216610 |
762 | proposed methods is illustrated in two important scenarios where the active control vaccine would become available in regions engaging in the experimental vaccine’s placebo-controlled trial: in the first, the active comparator’s vaccine efficacy would have been established to be 50%–70% for the 4- to 6-month duration of follow-up of its placebo-controlled trial; in the second, the active comparator’s vaccine efficacy would have been established to be 90%–95% during that duration. These two scenarios approximate what has been seen with adenovirus vaccines or mRNA vaccines, respectively, assuming the early estimates of vaccine efficacy for those vaccines would hold over longer-term follow-up. Conclusion: The proposed hybrid methods could readily play an important role in the near future in the design, conduct and analysis of randomized clinical trials performed to address the need for multiple additional vaccines reliably established to be safe and have worthwhile efficacy in reducing the risk of symptomatic disease from SARS-CoV-2 infections. | 235216610 |
763 | ECG data compression for a portable ECG recorder and transmitter The ECG digital signal processing evolved in last decade and the need to store and transmit ECG signal data is continuously increasing. This paper involves analysis of an enhanced ECG compression and de-compression method. The method is evaluated on the basis of different compression and quality parameters like compression ratio (CR), percent root mean square difference (PRD), Signal to noise ratio (SNR), quality score (QS), etc. The compression algorithm includes three sequential processing phases: 1. Pre-processing and classification, 2. Linear transformation, 3. Entropy coding. The compression method is implemented by deciding a particular signal processing / coding algorithm for each of these phases. The de-compression technique is the inverse process of compression and it reconstructs the original signal with negligible loss of information. Finally, the described method is compared with existing ECG compression algorithms. | 1146860 |
764 | Effects of stimulus-onset asynchrony on the dichotic performance of children with auditory-processing disorders. Dichotic stop-consonant-vowel identification was investigated in two experiments using two groups of learning-disabled children demonstrating clinical manifestations of auditory-processing disorders, and two groups of matched, control subjects. Two-item, forced-choice paradigms were used in both experiments. Overall (total) dichotic performance for the two learning-disabled groups was significantly lower than that of the control subjects in all dichotic conditions. This lower performance was attributable to the number of trials in which both stimulus items were correctly identified. Analysis of trials in which only one response was correct showed no differences between the groups in terms of magnitude or direction of ear-advantage (right). In conditions where stimulus onsets were separated by 30, 90, and 150 msec, analysis of one-correct trials demonstrated more accurate identification of the temporally lagging stimulus for all subjects. However, as the onset-time separation increased, the control group's identification of leading and lagging items approached equality. The learning-disabled group, on the other hand, showed little increase in identification of temporally leading items even when stimuli were separated by 150 msec. These data suggest learning-disabled children with auditory-processing disorders may have a reduced temporal efficiency in processing rapidly varying acoustic patterns associated with stop-consonants that is observable when speech perceptual mechanisms are stressed through dichotic competition. | 23710660 |
765 | Lessons learned from radiation disasters The triple catastrophe that began in Japan on March 11, 2011 was unprecedented. In the wake of the devastating earthquake and tsunami, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant crisis deteriorated to a Level 7 nuclear accident, the most severe level reserved by the International Atomic Energy Association for accidents involving significant re- leases of radioactive material having the potential for extensive environmental contamination and health consequences. The evacuation zone encompassed 50,000 people living within 20 km of the facility. However, as occurred after the Chernobyl accident, additional communities with high levels of contamination were subsequently identified and evacuated. | 70997660 |
766 | An Assessment of the Sensitivity and Reliability of the Relative Reduction Factor Approach in the Development of 8-hr Ozone Attainment Plans Abstract The updated regulatory framework for demonstrating that future 8-hr ozone (O3) design values will be at or below the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) provides guidelines for the development of a State Implementation Plan (SIP) that includes methods based on photochemical modeling and analytical techniques. One of the suggested approaches is the relative reduction factor (RRF) for estimating the efficacy of emission reductions. In this study, the sensitivity of model-predicted responses towards emission reductions to the choice of meteorology and chemical mechanisms was examined. While the different modeling simulations generally were found to be in agreement on whether predicted future-year design values would be above or below the NAAQS for 8-hr O3 at a majority of the monitoring locations in the eastern United States, differences existed for a small percentage of monitors (~ 6.4%). Another issue investigated was the ability of the attainment demonstration procedure to predict changes in monitored O3 design values. A retrospective analysis was performed by comparing predicted O3 design values from model simulations using emission estimates for 1996 and 2001 with monitored O3 design values for 2001. Results indicated that an average gross error of ~5 ppb was present between modeled and observed design values and that, at ~27% of all sites, model-predicted and observed design values disagreed as to whether the design value was above or below the NAAQS. Retrospective analyses such as the one presented in this | 10380260 |
767 | study can provide valuable insights into the strengths and limitations of modeling and analysis techniques used to predict future design values over time periods of a decade or more for the purpose of developing SIPs. Furthermore, such analyses could provide avenues for improvement and added confidence in the use of the RRF approach for addressing attainment of the NAAQS. | 10380260 |
768 | Science in the Making ONE OF THE reasons science seems remote and mysterious to non-scientists, even as we are daily ever more surrounded with its products, is that its story is so rarely told in terms of human lives. Conventional scientific articles, for example, give us welldigested final results, but deliberately conceal the process and the excitement. They give us little feeling for the experience of science, for the life of a person who is at home in that world. There have been a few mavericks in the history of science who have not hidden behind the featureless mask of objectivity. One of them is Johannes Kepler, who founded modern astronomy in the early 17th century. Kepler published his theories and findings in long, rambling books which openly revealed his philosophical biases and the meandering, sometimes stubbornly mistaken paths of his thinking. Students of science ever since have been the beneficiaries of his openness and garrulousness. Kepler explained his approach in the preface to his greatest work, A New Astronomy, which he published in 1609: | 87582960 |
769 | Hybrid Approach Combining Machine Learning and a Rule-Based Expert System for Text Categorization This paper discusses a novel hybrid approach for text categorization that combines a machine learning algorithm, which provides a base model trained with a labeled corpus, with a rule-based expert system, which is used to improve the results provided by the previous classifier, by filtering false positives and dealing with false negatives. The main advantage is that the system can be easily fine-tuned by adding specific rules for those noisy or conflicting categories that have not been successfully trained. We also describe an implementation based on k-Nearest Neighbor and a simple rule language to express lists of positive, negative and relevant (multiword) terms appearing in the input text. The system is evaluated in several scenarios, including the popular Reuters-21578 news corpus for comparison to other approaches, and categorization using IPTC metadata, EUROVOC thesaurus and others. Results show that this approach achieves a precision that is comparable to top ranked methods, with the added value that it does not require a demanding human expert workload to train. | 15122710 |
770 | Primary actinomycosis of breast—A diagnosis on cytology Primary actinomycosis of breast is a rare disease with only a few cases reported in the literature. We present a case of a 25‐year‐old lactating woman with primary actinomycosis of breast which was diagnosed on cytology. The patient presented with lump in left breast with dull aching pain. Fine‐needle aspiration cytology smears showed acute suppurative inflammation with presence of fluffy basophilic colonies on Hematoxylin and Eosin staining and branched, Gram positive filamentous bacilli on Gram staining. The bacilli were non‐acid fast with 1% Zeihl Neelsen stain. A diagnosis of actinomycosis was suggested on cytology. Histopathological examination revealed an abscess with few Gram positive basophilic granules surrounded by eosinophilic Splendore‐Hoeppli material thus confirming the diagnosis of actinomycosis. Meticulous search for microorganisms with the aid of special stains should be done on cytology smears before labeling an inflammatory lesion as nonspecific. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2016;44:693–695. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. | 22790160 |
771 | A Distributed Slot Assignment Scheme for Wireless Ad Hoc Networks A distributed dynamic slot assignment scheme for multi-channel Time Division Multiplex Access (TDMA) based wireless Ad Hoc networks is presented in this paper.As exclusive control channels are introduced,hidden terminals are enable to receive packet whereas transmit packets are avoided. Similarly,exposed terminals are enable to transmit packets while receive packets are avoid.Thus high efficient of slot spatial reused may be achieved.The performance of the slot assignment scheme is studied via simulation experiment. | 8752360 |
772 | Enhanced Vendor-managed Inventory through Blockchain Vendor-managed inventory (VMI) is a commonly used collaborative inventory management policy in which manufacturers/vendors manage the inventory of retailers and take responsibility for making decisions related to the timing and extent of inventory replenishment. Several prerequisites exist for successfully implementing a VMI strategy like information sharing, trust, systems integration and long-term collaboration. However, in nowadays supply chain networks are becoming more complex, highly disjointed and geographically spread. As a consequence, the implementation of a VMI strategy may be a difficult task. In this paper, we propose a new interaction mechanism between retailers and vendors, which aims to improve their supply chain strategy and inventory policies based on a trustless and distributed mechanism. In particular, we use an autonomous trustless framework based on smart contracts and blockchain technology for governing the relationship between multiple vendors and multiple retailers. Finally, a use-case VMI scenario is presented along with several functional smart contracts. Tests performed using a local private blockchain illustrate the applicability of the proposed architecture along with the significant benefits for each participant. | 208212460 |
773 | Abstracts for the Digital conference 'Sustainable Development Goals in the Era of COVID-19: The Role of Science, Technology and Innovation' The participation of business in partnership initiatives for sustainable development has intensified significantly since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. By 2014, there were about 1,000 voluntary commitments and multilateral partnerships in various fields of activity involving partners from the corporate sector , among which the best-known initiatives are “Sustainable Energy for All” (SE4All), “Every Woman, Every Child” (Every Woman Every Child - EWEC), Business Fights Poverty, Partnerships for Small Island Developing States, and others.<br><br>In our opinion, it seems appropriate to propose the classification of existing partnership models in the interests of achieving the SDGs with the participation of representatives of the corporate sector.<br> | 233757560 |
774 | What Did Jozef Boguslavsky Say About Sergei Durov and Fedor Dostoevsky in Siberian Diary? The article examines the chapter Sergei Durov and Fyodor Dostoevsky from the Siberian Diary of the Polish revolutionary Jozef Boguslavsky, who was confined in the Omsk prison at the same time as F. M. Dostoevsky. The Siberian Diary was included in Polacy z Wilna i ze Żmudzi na zesłaniu. Pamiętniki Józefa Bogusławskiego i księdza Mateusza Wejta (Poles from Vilnius and Zemaitija in exile. The Memoirs of Jozef Boguslavsky and priest Mateusz Veit). Some fragments of this book and other Polish sources were translated into Russian for the first time by the author of the article, including the recollections about Sergey Durov and Fyodor Dostoevsky. The interrelation between the Siberian Diary by Y. Boguslavsky, Notes from a Dead House by F. M. Dostoevsky, and S. Tokazhevsky’s Seven Years of Hard Labor and The Convicts is also analyzed in the paper. | 219057910 |
775 | β-catenin expression in benign and malignant pleural disorders. Benign and malignant pleural processes display a large and overlapping spectrum of morphological appearances, and can be difficult to distinguish, histologically, from each other. β-catenin, a participant in the wingless-type (Wnt) transduction pathway, is involved in the pathogenesis of malignant mesothelioma and has received limited evaluation for its ability to serve as a diagnostic aid for distinguishing between individual pleural disorders. We performed immunohistochemistry for β-catenin on 10 pleural malignant mesotheliomas, 10 examples of mesothelial hyperplasia and 18 cases of organizing pleuritis. Although differences were noted in staining intensity between the mesothelioma and mesothelial hyperplasia groups, extensiveness and cellular location were similar. Staining intensity (mean +/- s.d.) in mesotheliomas (2.00 +/- 0.67) was significantly less intense than in mesothelial hyperplasia cases (3.00 +/- 0.00) (p=0.0005). Stromal cell staining was cytoplasmic in all cases, and endothelial cell staining was membranous, submembranous and cytoplasmic. Nuclear expression of β-catenin was not observed in any of the cases studied. This lack of nuclear staining in the stromal cells of organizing pleuritis differs markedly from the previously reported high frequencies of nuclear β-catenin expression in other pleural spindle cell proliferations (desmoid tumors and solitary fibrous tumors). In summary, the current study adds to previous work indicating a role for β-catenin in the genesis of pleural conditions including organizing pleuritis, mesothelial hyperplasia and malignant mesothelioma. Although IHC for β-catenin does not appear to be conclusive for separating benign from malignant mesothelial proliferations, it may be valuable for assisting in the differential diagnosis of mesothelial | 41217010 |
776 | and spindle cell proliferations in the pleura. | 41217010 |
777 | Double heterozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia: Case series, genetics and Cascade screening of families Background: Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an autosomal dominant disorder of lipoprotein metabolism characterized by high levels of LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) in the blood. Studies identified more than 1,000 mutations of the LDLR gene in FH patients with incidence rates between 1: 500 and 1: 300. The mutation that occurs primarily in: LDLR, apoB, PCSK9, LDLRAP1 genes, 80% of which were detected the LDLR gene mutation. Nowaday, FH disease has not been paid much attention, leading to a delay in treatment. Objectives: identify mutations in other family members of the patient FH. Subjects and Methods: 14 family members of FH patients were gene analyzed, identified mutations on exons 4, 9 LDLR genes. Results: 11/15 family members carrying heterozygous mutations on exon 4 and exon 9 of LDLR gene. Patient and 1 family member detected and treated late, leading to complications of myocardial infarction. Conclusion: Therefore, Cascade screening of patient's family members has an important role in early detection, genetic counseling and treatment, even in cases where pedigree members do not have xanthomas and no increase or slight increase in blood lipids. This is the basis for early counseling and treatment for members with mutations, reducing the risk of coronary artery diseases in the future. | 245700710 |
778 | STRATEGIC AREAS OF DEVELOPMENT THE RAILWAY INDUSTRY IN THE CONDITIONS OF EUROINTEGRATION PROCESSES The article develops and substantiates strategic directions of development of the railway industry in the conditions of European integration processes, which requires the adoption of fundamental decisions in changing the management system of the industry. On the basis of the analysis of the results of the railway transport, the reasons for reducing the profit of passenger traffic were determined, and the measures proposed to increase the efficiency of its activities, taking into account the current world trends in the organization of work of this type of transport. The main reason for the critical state of Ukrainian railways is that in the sector no structural reforms, which have been carried by European countries and most CIS countries. Failure to adopt, in the near future, the cardinal measures aimed at replacing outdated technical equipment, the system of transport management, tariff policy, may lead to the impossibility of ensuring the need for passenger and cargo transportation. | 169278060 |
779 | Overconfidence Among Beginners: Is a Little Learning a Dangerous Thing? Across 6 studies we investigated the development of overconfidence among beginners. In 4 of the studies, participants completed multicue probabilistic learning tasks (e.g., learning to diagnose “zombie diseases” from physical symptoms). Although beginners did not start out overconfident in their judgments, they rapidly surged to a “beginner’s bubble” of overconfidence. This bubble was traced to exuberant and error-filled theorizing about how to approach the task formed after just a few learning experiences. Later trials challenged and refined those theories, leading to a temporary leveling off of confidence while performance incrementally improved, although confidence began to rise again after this pause. In 2 additional studies we found a real-world echo of this pattern of overconfidence across the life course. Self-ratings of financial literacy surged among young adults, then leveled off among older respondents until late adulthood, where it begins to rise again, with actual financial knowledge all the while rising more slowly, consistently, and incrementally throughout adulthood. Hence, when it comes to overconfident judgment, a little learning does appear to be a dangerous thing. Although beginners start with humble self-perceptions, with just a little experience their confidence races ahead of their actual performance. | 10392160 |
780 | The Hellenistic pottery from Failaka: with a survey of Hellenistic pottery in the Near East mentioned, but arches and vaulting are not. In 32 well-illustrated pages there is no room for argument, and other views are possible on (for instance) planning (p. 3), lifting (pp. 12-13), and the origins of the orders (p. 20). But this is a responsible and authoritative account which, given its low price, is likely to be widely used. One warning is perhaps, therefore, in order; Athenian building methods are often, but by no means always, the same as elsewhere in the Greek world, and specifically local features are not generally so identified; the restricted terms of reference given by the title must always be kept in mind. | 230021310 |
781 | What's in a Name When It Isn't a Word? 17-Month-Olds' Mapping of Nonverbal Symbols to Object Categories. Infants begin acquiring object labels as early as 12 months of age. Recent research has indicated that the ability to acquire object names extends beyond verbal labels to other symbolic forms, such as gestures. This experiment examines the latitude of infants' early naming abilities. We tested 17-month-olds' ability to map gestures, nonverbal sounds, and pictograms to object categories using a forced-choice triad task. Results indicated that infants accept a wide range of symbolic forms as object names when they are embedded in familiar referential naming routines. These data suggest that infants may initially have no priority for words over other symbolic forms as object names, although the relative status of words appears to change with development. The implications of these findings for the development of criteria for determining whether a symbol constitutes an object name early in development are considered. | 145787510 |
782 | Region-Building in the Baltic Region: Legacy of the Inter-War Period and Modern Dynamics The article is devoted to the analysis of historical retrospective and modern dynamics of region-building in the Baltic region. The cultural and historical foundation of regionalization processes in this area was laid over the centuries, although the framework was finally shaped in the 20th century: the Hanseatic League, the first attempts to create regional unions during the interwar period, the “northern cooperation” and the signing of the Helsinki Convention during the Cold War. In the post-bipolar period, the Baltic region continues to maintain its political and socio economic heterogeneity. Today, the key institution of multilateral cooperation uniting all countries of the region is the Council of the Baltic Sea States, whereas, from the EU perspective, the main self-sufficient instrument of regionalization is the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. At the same time, both formats rely in specific projects implementation on “horizontal actions” and network cooperation on the grass-roots level, which makes regional interaction practical to the greatest possible extent, largely depoliticized and stable in the long run. | 226861110 |
783 | Role of Computed Tomography and Mediastinoscopy in Preoperative Staging of Lung Carcinoma One hundred fifty-three patients with bronchogenic carcinoma were evaluated prospectively by CT and mediastinoscopy. Nodes larger than 5 mm were considered potentially metastatic. All results were correlated with surgical findings. Computed tomography is more sensitive (89%) in the detection of mediastinal metastases than mediastinoscopy (67%). Computed tomography has a poor predictive value (47%): however, a negative examination is highly accurate (89%). Within a group of 100 node sites, 72% of the nodes involved by tumor were larger than 1 cm in diameter. Squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma have the highest percentages of sensitivity by CT. The very low incidence of metastatic involvement in nodes under 5 mm allows one to forego mediastinoscopy in the presence of a negative CT. | 34052010 |
784 | Development of person counting system using distributed touch sensor The authors describe a person counting system using a distributed touch sensor on stairs. The sensor has 96*84 detecting elements on four treads. The size of each sensor element is 10 mm*12.7 mm. Footprint images can be successively obtained from the sensor. The system counts the number of persons from these images.<<ETX>> | 70997010 |
785 | The Vulnerability Effect of International Tourism on a Destination’s Economy ABSTRACT This study investigates how international tourism influences economic vulnerability for 69 economies, consisting of 36 low- and lower-middle-income economies (LMEs), and 33 upper-middle-income and high-income economies (UHEs). By applying assorted panel data estimations, the study finds that, first, international tourism increases the economic vulnerability of destination countries, and second, an analysis of two subsamples confirms the increasing effect of international tourism on economic vulnerability for UHEs. Surprisingly, the ratio of visitor spending to GDP impacts economic vulnerability negatively in LMEs, while the effect of the ratio of visitor spending to exports is positive. Some important policy implications have been raised. Lastly, the results have been checked for robustness by different estimators and strategies. | 237712470 |
786 | First direct observation of reactive carbenes in the cavities of cation-exchanged Y zeolites. [reaction: see text] Herein we report the first direct observation of reactive carbenes within the cavities of cation-exchanged Y zeolites. Chloro(phenyl)- and bromo(phenyl)carbenes were generated upon laser photolysis of 3-halo-3-phenyldiazirines incorporated within dry zeolites and the absolute reactivity of the carbenes was investigated as a function of counterbalancing cation and coincorporated quenchers in order to elucidate the behavior of these intermediates within zeolites. Product analysis performed upon thermolysis of the diazirine in Y zeolites yielded products that were identified as those derived from the carbene. | 1923570 |
787 | The association of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus with perceived quality of life in a biethnic population: the San Luis Valley Diabetes Study. OBJECTIVES This study evaluated the association between quality of life and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) status, and whether this association differs between Hispanics and non-Hispanic Whites. METHODS Between 1986 and 1989, cross-sectional data on perceived quality of life (PQOL) were collected from 223 persons with NIDDM and 753 non-diabetic subjects. RESULTS After adjustment, persons with NIDDM rated their PQOL significantly lower than did control subjects. The relationship of diabetes and PQOL did not differ by ethnicity. The number of complications of diabetes was not associated with lower PQOL scores. CONCLUSIONS Control and treatment strategies should reflect an understanding of the impact that diabetes has on social functioning, leisure activities, and physical and mental health. | 21862170 |
788 | Hyporheic exchange in gravel bed rivers with pool‐riffle morphology: Laboratory experiments and three‐dimensional modeling We report the first laboratory simulations of hyporheic exchange in gravel pool‐riffle channels, which are characterized by coarse sediment, steep slopes, and three‐dimensional bed forms that strongly influence surface flow. These channels are particularly important habitat for salmonids, many of which are currently at risk worldwide and which incubate their offspring within the hyporheic zone. Here we perform a set of laboratory experiments examining the effects of discharge and bed form amplitude on hyporheic exchange, with surface‐subsurface mixing measured directly from the concentration decay of a conservative tracer (fluorescein) injected into the surface flow. Near‐bed pressure measurements were also used to predict hyporheic exchange from a three‐dimensional pumping transport model. Comparison of the predicted and observed hyporheic exchange shows good agreement, indicating that the major mechanism for exchange is bed form–induced advection. However, the effect of bed forms is modulated by discharge and the degree of topographic submergence. We also tested the performance of the hydrostatic pressure as a proxy for the observed near‐bed pressure in driving hyporheic exchange, which would facilitate field measurement and analysis of hyporheic flow in natural rivers. We found agreement with measured hyporheic exchange only for low bed form amplitudes and high flows. | 14661420 |
789 | Trophic interactions among vertebrate guilds and plants shape global patterns in species diversity Trophic interactions play critical roles in structuring biotic communities. Understanding variation in trophic interactions among systems provides important insights into biodiversity maintenance and conservation. However, the relative importance of bottom-up versus top-down trophic processes for broad-scale patterns in biodiversity is poorly understood. Here, we used global datasets on species richness of vascular plants, mammals and breeding birds to evaluate the role of trophic interactions in shaping large-scale diversity patterns. Specifically, we used non-recursive structural equation models to test for top-down and bottom-up forcing of global species diversity patterns among plants and trophic guilds of mammals and birds (carnivores, invertivores and herbivores), while accounting for extrinsic environmental drivers. The results show that trophic linkages emerged as being more important to explaining species richness than extrinsic environmental drivers. In particular, there were strong, positive top-down interactions between mammal herbivores and plants, and moderate to strong bottom-up and/or top-down interactions between herbivores/invertivores and carnivores. Estimated trophic interactions for separate biogeographical regions were consistent with global patterns. Our findings demonstrate that, after accounting for environmental drivers, large-scale species richness patterns in plant and vertebrate taxa consistently support trophic interactions playing a major role in shaping global patterns in biodiversity. Furthermore, these results suggest that top-down forces often play strong complementary roles relative to bottom-up drivers in structuring biodiversity patterns across trophic levels. These findings underscore the importance of integrating trophic forcing mechanisms into studies of biodiversity patterns. | 51725320 |
790 | Effect of family medicine residents on use of diagnostic investigations: in a rural community emergency department. OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of the presence of family medicine residents on the use of laboratory and imaging investigations in a rural emergency department (ED). DESIGN A retrospective cross-sectional electronic chart audit was completed. Background characteristics, as well as type and number of ordered investigations, were compared between study groups. SETTING Strathroy Middlesex General Hospital in Strathroy, Ont, a rural community hospital that sees approximately 20 000 ED visits per year. PARTICIPANTS A total of 2000 sequential ED visits, including adult and pediatric patients. The test group consisted of patients seen while a resident was present in the ED. The control group consisted of patients seen while no residents were present in the ED. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Twenty-two distinct categories of common ED investigations were studied. RESULTS There was no statistically significant difference between study groups for 19 of the 22 categories of investigations. There were significant differences in 3 categories: an increased number of D-dimer assays for patients seen while there were no residents in the ED (1.7% of patients vs 0.5% of patients, P = .03) and increased computed tomography and ultrasound imaging for patients seen while a resident was in the ED (4.8% vs 1.8%, P = .0012, and 5.3% and 1.7%, P < .001, respectively). These differences are likely not owing to resident involvement but are explained by a difference in test availability between groups. CONCLUSION The study was underpowered for most categories of studied | 19129120 |
791 | investigations. However, the trends demonstrated in this study suggest that the presence of family medicine residents in a rural community ED does not substantially affect the overall use of diagnostic investigations. | 19129120 |
792 | Clinical value of planar and tomographic dual-isotope scintigraphy using 99mTc-methylene diphosphonate and 131I in patients with thyroid cancer Purpose131I whole-body scintigraphy is a highly sensitive method for the detection of differentiated thyroid tumours and metastases. However, a lack of anatomical landmarks and the physiological excretion of the tracer complicates the evaluation of the images. Therefore, we determined whether additional bone scintigraphy in combination with 131I scintigraphy, simultaneously acquired via planar and tomographic techniques, positively contributes to the treatment plan in patients with non-conclusive 131I images. MethodsTwenty-one patients with differentiated thyroid cancer and known metastases or unclear findings in the 131I whole-body scan underwent dual-isotope scintigraphy (DIS) within 2–7 days after application of 5000–8000 MBq 131I. Dual-energy planar and tomographic data were acquired simultaneously and the results compared with other imaging modalities. ResultsIn 48% of the cases (10 of 21), DIS supplied important additional information that either altered the treatment plan or staging of the patients. In 28% (six of 21), DIS provided new information that was not known before, but did not change the staging of the patients. In five cases (24%), DIS did not add any new data regarding the extent of the disease. ConclusionsThe simultaneous acquisition of 131I and 99mTc-methylene diphosphonate provides clear landmarks and facilitates the localization of functioning metastases from differentiated thyroid cancer as well as improves the fusion with morphological images. It can be performed easily and also transferred to other isotope combinations. | 24598170 |
793 | Contemporary issues in dental education in Australia. Australia has witnessed a proliferation of dental workforce training opportunities over the last 15 years, including dentists, dental therapists, dental hygienists and prosthetists. The reasons for this have not been examined critically. Universities have welcomed the opportunities to increase the student base but do not seem to have examined the advisability of continued expansion or its impact on the delivery and costs of health services. Nor have they enquired expressly whether they have any responsibility in these matters. Public health benefits should constitute a significant element of curriculum design. There seems to have been a general acceptance of the premise that more is necessarily better. Ironically, these developments have occurred in the face of significant recurrent cost increments and serious academic staff shortages. The schools have responded with alterations to curriculum content. Student cohort composition, course structures, educational focus, postgraduate training and research have been affected. The primary purpose of this review is to highlight the issues which currently drive workforce training and curriculum content and to suggest that some current practices should be re-examined as a starting point for setting defined common objectives within the Australian dental educational spectrum. Salient issues which require examination include course standards and accreditation, workforce mix, dental health demands, public service obligations and staffing profiles. | 36413470 |
794 | A Control Strategy Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning Under the Combined Wind-Solar Storage System In a deregulated environment, the renewable energy producers will face the challenge of how to increase their revenues under uncertainties of power generation and time-varying electricity price. In traditional power network scheduling, prediction and optimization are two independent processes, which easily leads to information loss and modeling error. To deal with the uncertainty and realize an end-to-end controller, this article proposes an energy storage system control model (ESSCM) in the scene of the combined wind-solar storage system. The proposed ESSCM using deep reinforcement learning (DRL) algorithm is trained by interacting with the massive environment of a power grid without requiring the assumption on the uncertainties. It learns from scratch to realize the coordination operation of with wind power and photovoltaic power in a combined system, further maximize the benefits of the combined system in the electricity market. One state-of-the-art DRL algorithm, namely double deep Q-network, is used to formulate the proposed ESSCM. Numerical results illustrate that the proposed approach can effectively accommodate the uncertainty and bring high revenues to the combined system. | 238926520 |
795 | DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC METHOD FOR SIMULTANEOUS ESTIMATION OF DICLOFENAC POTASSIUM AND FEBUXOSTAT IN TABLET DOSAGE FORMS. In the present study deals the simultaneous estimation of Diclofenac potassium and Febuxostat in combined tablet dosage form have been developed using 0.1 N NaOH as a solvent. Two method is developed one is s i multaneous equation method at 275 nm and 314.5 nm. The second is the Q – analysis (absorption rat i o) method, which involves the formation of absorbance equation at 293 nm (isoabsorptive point) and at 314.5 nm the (max i mum absorption of Febuxostat). Beer’s law Obeyed in concentration range of 6-30 ig/ mL and 3-15 ig/ mL for Diclofenac potassium and Febuxostat respectively. The accuracy of the methods was assessed by recovery studies was found to be 99.60 ± 0.389 and 99.74 ± 0.213 for simultaneous equation method and 99.74 ± 0.166 and 99.72 ± 0.200 for Q analysis (absorption ratio) method for Diclofenac potassium and Febuxostat respectively. These methods are simple, accurate and rapid; those require no preliminary separation and can therefore be used for routine analysis of both drugs in quality control l aborator i es. | 98247120 |
796 | An integrated African pastoral care approach to unaccompanied refugee minors based on Verryn’s Child interventions The African proverb ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ has been compromised and exposed by the migration of Unaccompanied Refugee Minors (URMs) from Zimbabwe to South Africa. Written from African women’s perspective, this article explores the response and approach of Bishop Paul Verryn to URMs. The article theologises Verryn’s response to URMs in conversation with African values, themes or sayings that relate to childcare, mainly from a Zimbabwean Ndebele context, and through the lens of the African saying ‘It takes a village to raise a child’. In the findings, three crucial socio-ecclesial themes emerge from Verryn’s response which I refer to as the three Cs, namely, collaboration, consultation and contextuality. These are discussed through the lens of African women’s theology in relation to African values of childcare and its implications for pastoral care in a context of displaced children, and accompanied or unaccompanied minors (child migrants). | 210439670 |
797 | The role of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in ischaemic diabetic lower extremity ulcers: a double-blind randomised-controlled trial. OBJECTIVE ischaemic lower-extremity ulcers in the diabetic population are a source of major concern because of the associated high risk of limb-threatening complications. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of hyperbaric oxygen in the management of these ulcers. METHOD eighteen diabetic patients with ischaemic, non-healing lower-extremity ulcers were recruited in a double-blind study. Patients were randomly assigned either to receive 100% oxygen (treatment group) or air (control group), at 2.4 atmospheres of absolute pressure for 90 min daily (total of 30 treatments). RESULTS healing with complete epithelialisation was achieved in five out of eight ulcers in the treatment group compared to one out of eight ulcers in the control group. The median decrease of the wound areas in the treatment group was 100% and in the control group was 52% (p=0.027). Cost-effectiveness analysis has shown that despite the extra cost involved in using hyperbaric oxygen, there was a potential saving in the total cost of treatment for each patient during the study. CONCLUSION hyperbaric oxygen enhanced the healing of ischaemic, non-healing diabetic leg ulcers and may be used as a valuable adjunct to conventional therapy when reconstructive surgery is not possible. | 16197120 |
798 | Genetically distinct Acidovorax citrulli strains display cucurbit fruit preference under field conditions. Strains of Acidovorax citrulli, the causal agent of bacterial fruit blotch (BFB) of cucurbits, can be assigned to two groups, I and II. The natural association of group I and II strains with different cucurbit species suggests host preference; however, there are no direct data to support this hypothesis under field conditions. Hence, the objective of this study was to assess differences in the prevalence of group I and II A. citrulli strains on cucurbit species in the field. From 2017-2019, we used group I and II strains to initiate BFB outbreaks in field plots planted with four cucurbit species. At different times, we collected symptomatic tissues and assayed them for group I and II strains using a group-specific PCR assay. Binary distribution data analysis revealed that the odds of melon, pumpkin, and squash foliage infection by group I strains were 21.7, 11.5, and 22.1 times greater, respectively, than the odds of watermelon foliage infection by the group I strain (p < 0.0001). More strikingly, the odds of melon fruit infection by the group I strain were 97.5 times greater than watermelon fruit infection by the same strain (p < 0.0001). Unexpectedly, some of the group II isolates recovered from the 2017 and 2019 studies were different from the group II strains used as inocula. Overall, data from these experiments confirm that A. citrulli strains exhibit a preference for watermelon and melon, which is more pronounced in fruit tissues. | 211231670 |
799 | Insulin-Like Growth Factor Type-I Receptor-Dependent Phosphorylation of Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase 1/2 but not Akt (Protein Kinase B) Can Be Induced by Picropodophyllin The initial event upon binding of insulin-like growth factor 1 to the insulin-like growth factor type-I receptor (IGF-1R) is auto-phosphorylation of tyrosine residues within the activation loop of the kinase domain followed by phosphorylation of other receptor tyrosine residues and the subsequent activation of the intracellular signaling cascades. We found recently that the cyclolignan picropodophyllin (PPP) inhibits phosphorylation of IGF-1R and phosphatidyl-3 kinase/Akt (protein kinase B) signaling molecules without interfering with the highly homologous insulin receptor. Furthermore, PPP causes regression of tumor grafts and substantially prolongs the survival of animals with systemic tumor disease. It is of interest that we show here that short treatments with PPP activate the intracellular extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling. Our data suggest that PPP induces IGF-1R ubiquitination and in turn activates ERK1/2. The PPP-induced ERK activation requires IGF-1R because PPP is not able to induce ERK phosphorylation in IGF-1R-negative cells or in cells in which the receptor is knocked down by small interfering RNA. Moreover, in the absence of Mdm2, an E3 ligase that has been shown previously to be involved in IGF-1R ubiquitination, the phosphorylation of ERK did not occur. Thus, apart from inhibiting the receptor activity, PPP can induce IGF-1R ubiquitination and stimulate ERK in an Mdm2-dependent manner. This response could contribute to the apoptotic effect of PPP. | 22296420 |
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