Gliosarcoma (GSC) is a rare histological variant of glioblastoma (GBM). Due to limited evidence regarding clinical, genetic and radiographic characteristics of GSC, this study aimed to analyze independent outcome predictors of GSC, and to address the differences between GSC and GBM concerning the baseline characteristics and patients’ survival. Patients treated between 2001 and 2018 for the diagnosis of GBM and GSC were included in this study. Patients’ records were reviewed for demographic, clinical, genetic and radiographic characteristics. Univariate, multivariate and propensity score matched analyses were performed. In the GSC sub-cohort (N = 56), patients’ age, preoperative clinical status, midline tumor location and tumor size were found to be in...

Background: Prospective cohorts have the potential to support multifactorial, health-related research, particularly if they are drawn from the general population, incorporate active and passive follow-up and permission is obtained to allow access by researchers to data repositories. This paper describes Phase I of the Alberta9s Tomorrow Project cohort, a broad-based research platform designed to support investigations into factors that influence cancer and chronic disease risk. Methods: Adults aged 35-69 years living in Alberta, Canada, with no previous cancer diagnosis other than nonmelanoma skin cancer were recruited to the project by telephone-based random digit dialling. Participants were enrolled if they returned a Health and Lifestyle...

We systematically and comprehensively tested almost 100 feature groups in four commonly used automatic event classifiers to find the combinations that maximize the classification performance for long-period and volcano-tectonic seismic events at Cotopaxi volcano, Ecuador. The feature groups tested fall into the following categories: time, fast-Fourier, wavelet transform, intensity-statistics, shape, and texture. An analysis of the relevance of feature groups highlights and finds that each classifier performs similar to one another when using the best combination of features, as determined by the mean of the area under the curve metric, with no statistically significant differences between them. The feed-forward back-propagation neural network and random fore...

Both Machiavelli and Shakespeare were drawn to Livy's and Plutarch's stories of the legendary field commander turned political inept, Caius Martius, who was honored with the name Coriolanus after sacking the city of Corioles. The sixteenth-century ‘coriolanists’ are usually paired as advocates of participatory regimes and said to have used Coriolanus's virulent opposition to power-sharing in early republican Rome as an occasion to put plebeian interests in a favorable light. This article objects to that characterization, distinguishing Machiavelli's deployment of Coriolanus in his Principe and Discorsi from Shakespeare's depiction of Coriolanus and his critics on stage. The essay that follows puts Machiavelli'...

This study aims at contributing to the production of drinking water by solar distillation process. Salt raw water and brackish water were used in this process. The objective of this work was to attend rural or isolated households by offering a social and simple utilization technology with low cost materials and good quality water production. The solar drinking water purification has a four-sided pyramidal glass cover allowing the action of sun rays during the day. Water level in the evaporation pan, cover inclination, and water quality were assessed at two points: a) between the parallels 27°10’ and 27°50’S latitude and meridians 48°25’ and 48°35’W longitude, from 2003 to 2005, with maximum production of 6.2 L m-2 day, and monthly averages from 3...

One detecting method for young child being left on school bus based on the FSR (Force Sensing Resistor) sensor array was put forward and the alarm system was designed, which aimed at the frequent occurrence of safety accidents of young children being left on school bus in summer. Four square or circular FSR sensors were combined parallel together and placed on one seat of school bus as one module. Two strip shape FSR sensors were combined parallel together and placed on the ground between seats and on the aisle of school bus as one module. A certain number of modules placed on seats or aisle were combined parallel together and then connected with one input terminal of microcontroller. The resistance of each FSR module is inversely proportional to the pressur...

Previous studies have demonstrated a dihydropyridine-insensitive, receptor-activated calcium influx pathway in cultured human airway smooth muscle (ASM) cells. To further define the biophysical characteristics of this pathway, the relationship between membrane potential and cytosolic free calcium ([Ca2+]i) was studied with the combined methods of the patch-clamp technique and single cell calcium imaging. The nystatin perforated-patch method was used to maintain normal intracellular calcium buffering and receptor-activated signal transduction processes in voltage-clamped cells. Single voltage-clamped human ASM cells responded to exposure to histamine (200 microM) with an initial transient rise in [Ca2+]i followed by a secondary sustained elevation that was de...

Paint removal is an important part of ship and marine engineering ship processing. Aluminum alloy is extremely vital in the field of shipbuilding, due to its high strength and strong corrosion resistance ability. Therefore, the cleaning quality of aluminum alloy is a key factor in the service life of the ship. In this paper, the research about continuous wave (CW) laser cleaning technique is employed to clean the paint on the substrate of aluminum alloy. The track width and depth of laser ablated craters are measured to study the removal rates. The analysis of CW laser cleaning is performed to explain the removal process that is theoretically based on the cleaning model, temperature, and the thermal stress profiles. The parametric and morphological studies i...

Chemischer InformationsdienstVolume 15, Issue 41 Preparative Organic Chemistry ChemInform Abstract: THE EFFECTS OF ADDITIVES ON THE THERMAL DECOMPOSITION OF AZODICARBONAMIDE A. S. BHATTI, A. S. BHATTISearch for more papers by this authorD. DOLLIMORE, D. DOLLIMORESearch for more papers by this authorR. J. GODDARD, R. J. GODDARDSearch for more papers by this authorG. O'DONNELL, G. O'DONNELLSearch for more papers by this author A. S. BHATTI, A. S. BHATTISearch for more papers by this authorD. DOLLIMORE, D. DOLLIMORESearch for more papers by this authorR. J. GODDARD, R. J. GODDARDSearch for more papers by this authorG. O'DONNELL, G. O'DONNELLSearch for more papers by this author First published: October 9, 1984 https://doi.org/10.1002/chin.198441108AboutPDF Tool...

The stability of a falling liquid film flowing down an inclined channel is revisited. The classical Kapitza criterion for the onset of long wave instability ignored the presence of the adjacent gas phase and provided the critical liquid Reynolds number, Recr=5/6cot(β) for the flow destabilization. In the current study, the impact of the adjacent gas on Recr is studied via solution of the Orr-Sommerfeld equations in both the liquid and gas phases. The particular case of zero net (recirculating) gas flow is investigated, though this case is shown to be relevant to a wider range of concurrent and countercurrent gas flows. The results obtained confirm the recent finding that Kapitza instability may be fully suppressed in sufficiently small channels. However, in...

This paper discusses methodological issues related to the implementation of experimental studies that investigate the processing of literal and metaphorical expressions. The first and central aim of the paper is to discuss methodological questions arising from current experimental research on figurative language, such as use of heterogeneous stimuli and their suitability for investigating research questions related to the processing of figurative language. At the center of the methodological discussion is the contextual and cognitive dominance of literal and metaphorical meanings in polysemous words as an important variable in experimental research on figurative language. In this paper, we discuss its importance and propose a possible way of controlling for ...

Oligoproline-containing peptides, GPPG and GPPPG, were designed and developed for nanoparticle-based delivery platforms, and their degradation is triggered by reactive oxygen species (ROS). Peptides containing more than two consecutive proline residues were found to be cleavable in 1 mM of ROS generated by hydrogen peroxide in the presence of CuSO4, which corresponds to plant cells under photosynthetic conditions. The nanoparticles formed by the peptides were also ROS-degradable and efficiently encapsulated a hydrophobic dye. The hydrophobic cargo in the peptide nanoparticles was released into the cytosol of plant leaf cells in response to the ROS generated in chloroplasts by light irradiation. Furthermore, local laser irradiation enabled the peptide nanopar...

There is growing recognition that removal of gender inequality and women empowerment are central to realizing development goals. Attainment of gender equality would further promote economic growth, reduce poverty, improve maternal and child health in related sustainable development goals. The Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data provide an opportunity to study women empowerment in Namibia, while examining possible determinants and geographical disparities. We developed five separate indices: self-esteem, decision making, contraception use, sexual relations and occupation and earnings index using scoring and factor analysis. We then constructed an overall empowerment index and fitted an ordinal hierarchical regression model to estimated the effects of dem...

In a water-scarce, coal-producing region of Colombia, frictions are intensifying over the environmental impact of the diversion of a creek. Through ethnographic observation, this article examines the different positions on what this article refers to as the Bruno Creek Controversy and the enactments of scientific expertise deployed to influence decision making. On the one hand, there are officials from the mining company, who believe the risks associated with the creek diversion are negligible and manageable, potentially offset by interventions implemented under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs. On the other hand, a group of activists, equipped with local knowledge and partnered with experts, claims the project would cause unacceptable damage, ...

The Milligen Formation at the type area in the Wood River Valley of south-central Idaho has been dated as Devonian rather than Mississippian. For this reason the McGowan Creek Formation was defined for use in east-central Idaho for Lower Mississippian rocks that formerly were called Milligen. In the area between the Wood River Valley and the region where McGowan Creek rocks are present, the lowest formation in the Mississippian Copper Basin Group also has been assigned to the Milligen. Because these rocks differ in age and lithology from the Devonian Milligen and Mississippian McGowan Creek rocks, a revision in nomenclature is required. The Little Copper Formation is proposed as the new name for these rocks. The type section, the basal part of the type secti...

Superficial sediment samples of the Santos Estuary (SE Brazil) were analyzed for benthic foraminifera (dead fauna), aliphatic hydrocarbons (AHs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), total organic carbon, total nitrogen, and trace metals. The foraminiferal fauna results were related to estuarine hydrodynamics and pollution parameters. The residual circulation of the estuary drives the transport of particles into the Santos channel. Thereby, tidal currents promote an advective transport of the species, including Pararotalia cananeiaensis, Discorbis sp. and Pseudononion japonicum from the Santos Bay to the upper estuary. Additionally, the dredging of the Santos channel leads to the suspension of sediments, favoring the post mortem transport. Enrichment fac...

Syncope is a common presentation to the emergency department accounting for up to 3% of all presentations. We assessed the characteristics and clinical outcomes of patients presenting to a tertiary hospital with syncope. A retrospective cohort study was performed assessing 400 consecutive patients presenting to a tertiary hospital emergency department with a primary diagnosis of syncope over a 6-month period. Patients with syncope had a mean age of 66±23 and were more likely to be female (61.5%). A substantial proportion have had history of prior syncope (22.5%). A total of 43% of patients had no diagnosis proffered after a presentation to the emergency department with syncope. A further 62% of these patients had at least one high risk feature. Despite thes...

A limitation in the use of calcium phosphate (CaP) is that in its raw form, it comprises blocks or granules, which are limited in their utility for orthopedic surgery and a number of commercial bone grafts are supplied within an aqueous based carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) putty. Our hypothesis was that CMC combined with a porous silicate-substituted CaP (SiCaP) scaffold would have no negative effect on bone formation after implantation in an ovine femoral condyle. Defects were either (a) empty or filled with (b) SiCaP granules, (c) CMC-SiCaP Putty or (d) a SiCaP press-fit dry block. Scaffolds were identical in composition and remained in vivo for 4, 8, and 12 weeks. Bone apposition rates, bone area, percentage of bone-implant contact and graft area were quan...

Objective To determine whether pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis (POMS) and adults-onset multiple sclerosis (AOMS) patients are different in initial disease severity and recovery and to investigate the associations with peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) transcriptional profiles. Methods Clinical and radiological severity of first and second relapses and 6-month recovery were analyzed in 2153 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and compared between POMS (onset at 8-18years old) and AOMS (onset at 19-40 years old) patients. PBMCs transcriptomes of 15 POMS and 15 gender-matched AOMS patients were analyzed 6 months after the first relapse and compared to 55 age-matched healthy controls. Differentially Expressed Genes (DEGs) with a false discovery rate ≤...

Summary An elementary theory of thermal diffusion applicable to gaseous and liquid systems has been developed. This is based on the difference of diffusional characteristics of a molecule considered as diffusing through two different temperature regions, when the pressure is constant throughout. For gaseous systems, the resultant expression is shown to be in general accordance with experimental variation of temperature, mass, and diameter factors, and is further developed to include isotopic separation, change of sign of separation with concentration, and general force law considerations. A similar approach to thermal diffusion in solution, combined with the convection effect of a “cascade” system, gives an expression which is in general agreement with t...

Flexible job shop scheduling problem with combined processing constraint is a common scheduling problem in assembly manufacturing industry. However, traditional methods for classic flexible job shop scheduling problem (FJSP) cannot be directly applied. To address this problem, the concepts of `combined processing constraint' and `virtual operation' are studied and introduced to simplify and transform FJSP with combined processing constraint into FJSP. A Multi-agent system (MAS) for FJSP is used for fitting the requirement of building complex, flexible, robust and dynamic manufacturing scheduling. On this basis, a novel adaptive real-time scheduling method for MAS is further proposed for better adaptability and performance. This method solves the previously c...

In late August 1996, a wildfire swept across the sagebrush-dominated foothills above Boise, Idaho. Fire impacts on infiltration and inter-rill erosion were examined 1 year following the fire with simulated rainfall. Densely vegetated north-facing slopes were compared with sparsely vegetated south-facing slopes under both burned (moderate and high severity) and unburned conditions. Both fire severity and slope aspect strongly influenced the impact of fire on infiltration capacity and soil erodibility. South-facing slopes had the least infiltration and the greatest rates of erosion following the fire. Infiltration rate was significantly less and cumulative sediment yield was significantly greater on severely burned south slopes as compared with those experienc...

Drought prediction is a very challenging work due to high degree of uncertainty in the climate system. Geopotential height has been investigated as one of the dominant variables that can be used to predict drought events. This paper discussed the use of high resolution satelite based (reanalysis) data as the predictor of drought events, resulting on a high dimensional dataset. To deal with this, dimension reduction has been carried out by using Principle Component Analysis (PCA), prior to the development of the downscaling models which incorporate the past SPI (Standardized Precipitation Index) combined with the geopotential height at some specific atmosperic levels i.e. 500hPa, 850hPa, 900hPa, 975 hPa and 1000hPa. The SPI, as the drought risk measure is der...

Rationale: Current practices regarding mechanical ventilation in patients treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for acute respiratory distress syndrome are unknown.Objectives: To report current practices regarding mechanical ventilation in patients treated with ECMO for severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and their association with 6-month outcomes.Methods: This was an international, multicenter, prospective cohort study of patients undergoing ECMO for ARDS during a 1-year period in 23 international ICUs.Measurements and Main Results: We collected demographics, daily pre- and per-ECMO mechanical ventilation settings and use of adjunctive therapies, ICU, and 6-month outcome data for 350 patients (mean ± SD pre-ECMO PaO2/FiO2 7...

BackgroundPostoperative pulmonary complications are common. Between patients there are differences in lung and chest wall mechanics. Individualised mechanical ventilation based on measurement of transpulmonary pressures would be a step forward. A previously described method evaluates lung and chest wall mechanics from a change of ΔPEEP and calculation of change in end-expiratory lung volume (ΔEELV). The aim of the present study was to validate this PEEP-step method (PSM) during general anaesthesia by comparing it with the conventional method using oesophageal pressure (PES) measurements.MethodsIn 24 lung healthy subjects (BMI 18.5–32), three different sizes of PEEP steps were performed during general anaesthesia and ΔEELVs were calculated. Transpulmonar...

In the past decades, with the rapid development of modern technologies, a special kind of fault, the intermittent fault (IF) has become a serious threat to system securities. Although fruitful research results have been obtained for fault diagnosis, most of them are concerned with permanent faults. Furthermore, up to now, there has been no overview on the diagnosis techniques for IFs in dynamic systems. In fact, IFs are common in a variety of fields, whereas their research is far from mature and many open issues still remain to be solved. Therefore, in this overview, our main objective is to attract direct attentions from more researchers and engineers into the fascinating area of IF diagnosis. In this paper, the concept, research background, challenges and ...

Silicon (Si) accumulation in shoots differs greatly with plant species, but the molecular mechanisms for this interspecific difference are unknown. Here, we isolated homologous genes of rice Si influx (SlLsi1) and efflux (SlLsi2) transporter genes in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) and functionally characterized these genes. SlLsi1 showed transport activity for Si when expressed in both rice lsi1 mutant and Xenopus laevis oocytes. SlLsi1 was constitutively expressed in the roots. Immunostaining showed that SlLsi1 was localized at the plasma membrane of both root tip and basal region without polarity. Furthermore, overexpression of SlLsi1 in tomato increased Si concentration in the roots and root cell sap but did not alter the Si concentration in the shoots....

Purpose: The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence, incidence rate and lifetime risk of developing atrial fibrillation in a large Swedish male population-based study. Methods: The study is a part of "The Study of Men Born in 1913", a longitudinal prospective cohort study of men born in 1913 and living in the city of Gothenburg in Sweden. We studied a random-sampled population of 855 men who were 50 years old in 1963 and followed them up for 41years with repeated examinations and from Swedish national hospital discharge register until the age of 91. Results: Altogether 176 men (20.6%) developed atrial fibrillation. The prevalence of atrial fibrillation increased from 0.4% at age of 50 years, to 7.0% at age of 75 years, resulting in a lifetime preva...

Veterinary RecordVolume 187, Issue 8 p. e57-e57 Electronic Page ‘Temporary remote prescribing should end’ Josh Loeb, Josh LoebSearch for more papers by this author Josh Loeb, Josh LoebSearch for more papers by this author First published: 07 October 2020 https://doi.org/10.1136/vr.m3905Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Shar...

Gap junction intercellular communication (GJIC) is necessary for ovarian function, and it is temporospatially regulated during follicular development and ovulation. At outermost layer of the antral follicle, theca cells provide structural, steroidogenic, and vascular support. Inter- and extra-thecal GJIC is required for intrafollicular trafficking of signaling molecules. Because GJIC can be altered by hormones and endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), we tested if any of five common EDCs (bisphenol A (BPA), bisphenol S (BPS), bisphenol F (BPF), perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), and triphenyltin chloride (TPT)) can interfere with theca cell GJIC. Since most chemicals are reported to repress GJIC, we hypothesized that all chemicals tested, within environme...

Although the inverse farm size-productivity relationship (IR) is sometimes used to motivate arguments in favour of smallholder-led agricultural development, it remains unclear what drives this relationship. It may be attributed to market imperfections that compel small farms to use land more intensively than large farms. Using a three-wave longitudinal household survey from Tanzania, we examine whether the intensity of the IR is related to local factor market activity for land, labour, credit, and animal and machine traction. The IR holds in Tanzania when family labour is either not counted or valued at its shadow cost, though it disappears when family labour is valued at the prevailing local agricultural wage rate. Moreover, the IR is significantly weakened...

An increasing number of studies exploit the occurrence of unexpected events during the fieldwork of public opinion surveys to estimate causal effects. In this paper, we discuss the use of this identification strategy based on unforeseen and salient events that split the sample of respondents into treatment and control groups: the Unexpected Event during Survey Design. In particular, we focus on the assumptions under which unexpected events can be exploited to estimate causal effects and we discuss potential threats to identification, paying especial attention to the observable and testable implications of these assumptions. We propose a series of best practices in the form of various estimation strategies and robustness checks that can be used to lend credib...

ABSTRACT Forensic entomology is a frequently used tool to estimate the time interval between death and the discovery of the corpse. Succession of arthropods associated with cadaveric decomposition was monitored in a rural area of the Municipality of Florencia, Department of Caquetá, Colombia. Three pigs (Sus scrofa) were used as study models. Insect sampling, and monitoring of carcasses and environmental conditions were carried out every five hours. The total time from death to skeletonization was of 545 hours (22.7 days). A total of 30833 insect individuals were collected. Specimens were distributed in nine orders, 46 families, 95 genera and 106 species. Diptera was the most abundant, with 23215 individuals (75.3%), followed by Coleoptera, with 3711 indivi...

Abstract Serine-threonine kinase11 (STK11) is a tumor suppressor gene which plays a key role in regulating cell growth and apoptosis. It is widely known as a multitasking kinase and engaged in cell polarity, cell cycle arrest, chromatin remodeling, energy metabolism, and Wnt signaling. The substitutions of single amino acids in highly conserved regions of the STK11 protein are associated with Peutz–Jeghers syndrome (PJS), which is an autosomal dominant inherited disorder. The abnormal function of the STK11 protein is still not well understood. In this study, we classified disease susceptible single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in STK11 by using different computational algorithms. We identified the deleterious nsSNPs, constructed mutant protein structure...

We demonstrate a new micro/nanofluidic system for continuous and automatic monitoring of protein product size and quantity directly from the culture supernatant during a high-cell-concentration CHO cell perfusion culture. A microfluidic device enables clog-free cell retention for a bench-scale (350 mL) perfusion bioreactor that continuously produces the culture supernatant containing monoclonal antibodies (IgG1). A nanofluidic device directly monitors the protein size and quantity in the culture supernatant. The continuous-flow and fully automated operation of this nanofluidic protein analytics reduces design complexity and offers more detailed information on protein products than offline and batch-mode conventional analytics. Moreover, chemical and mechanic...

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the influence of magnesium aluminometasilicate (Neusilin US2) on ibuprofen stability at higher temperatures. Seven binary mixtures of the drug and the silicate were prepared. They were examined by thermogravimetry (TGA), quadrupole mass spectrometry (QMS) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results confirmed that in the presence of the magnesium aluminometasilicate ibuprofen free acid reacted to form a higher melting, less volatile salt. The presence of the salt was additionally confirmed by FT-IR and H NMR spectra. It leaded to the conclusion that Neusilin US2 had a beneficial effect on the drug stability. The drug to silicate ratio to protect the highest amount of the drug from evaporation by using ...

In arid and semi-arid regions, water-quality problems are crucial to local social demand and human well-being. However, the conventional remote sensing-based direct detection of water quality parameters, especially using spectral reflectance of water, must satisfy certain preconditions (e.g., flat water surface and ideal radiation geometry). In this study, we hypothesized that drone-borne hyperspectral imagery of emergent plants could be better applied to retrieval total nitrogen (TN) concentration in water regardless of preconditions possibly due to the spectral responses of emergent plants on nitrogen removal and water purification. To test this hypothesis, a total of 200 groups of bootstrap samples were used to examine the relationship between the extract...

Approximately 17% of the Scottish population lives in a remote or rural location. Current research is contradictory as to whether living a rural location leads to poorer outcomes or affects survival from colorectal cancer (CRC). We aimed to assess if living in a rural location influences outcome of CRC patients in 21st century UK medicine. A prospective single-centre observational study was conducted. All patients who underwent resection for colorectal cancer 2005–2016 in NHS Grampian were included. Patients were split into two groups for comparison (urban post-code vs rural) using the Scottish government two-tier classification system. Tumour location, one-year survival, lymph node involvement and extra-mural vascular invasion was recorded and compared be...

Spaceflight missions to the International Space Station (ISS) expose astronauts to microgravity, radiation, isolation, and elevated carbon dioxide (CO2), among other factors. Head down tilt bed rest (HDBR) is an Earth-based analog for spaceflight used to study body unloading, fluid shifts, and other factors unrelated to gravitational changes. While in space, astronauts need to use mental rotation strategies to facilitate their adaptation to the ISS environment. Therefore, spatial working memory is essential for crewmember performance. Although the effects of HDBR on spatial working memory have recently been studied, the results are still inconclusive. Here, we expand upon past work and examine the effects of HDBR with elevated CO2 (HDBR + CO2) on brain activ...

In order to determine the prevalence of hepatitis B virus infection in Royal Australian Navy personnel and to formulate policies for their education, screening and vaccination, a voluntary survey was undertaken. Seven hundred and forty-eight subjects completed a questionnaire that provided details of age, sex, rank, ethnic origin, service abroad, length of service, history of tattooing, liver disease and blood transfusions. Serum was assayed by radioimmunoassay for the presence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen (antiHBs) and antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (antiHBc). The presence of markers of hepatitis B virus infection was correlated with factors by means of the chi 2 test of independence. Fourteen (74%) o...

O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar os teores e o aporte de nutrientes ao piso florestal num povoamento de Pinus taeda L. e sua relação com a temperatura do ar e pluviosidade, implantado em área anteriormente ocupada por campo nativo, na cidade de Cambará do Sul, RS, através da queda de serapilheira, avaliado durante um período de três anos, contados a partir do quinto ao sétimo ano de idade do povoamento. A serapilheira foi coletada mensalmente através de coletores de 1,0 m² (1,0 x 1,0 m), durante o período compreendido de abril/2004 a março/2007. Após cada coleta, as amostras de serapilheira foram analisadas quimicamente, quanto aos teores de macro e micronutrientes. Os teores de K, Mg e Cu correlacionaram-se positivamente (p < 0,05) com a ...

Roadway designs intend to provide a safe facility addressing mobility concerns, accommodating the physical and social environment and within financial constraints. Sometimes, trade-offs among these may be needed to deliver the desired project and designers need tools to estimate the safety implications from such decisions. The work completed here aimed to develop a set of recommendations to be used in evaluating safety implications from design element trade-offs. The effort focused on developing crash-prediction models and accident modification factors (AMFs) for multilane rural roads regarding lane width, shoulder width, and median width and type. The available data limited these models to four-lane roadways with 12-ft lanes. Separate models were developed ...

Burnout is most often referred to as a syndrome of characteristic mental and somatic symptoms, which are the result of chronic stress most often associated with professional work.The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of burnout syndrome among physiotherapists and its determinants related to sex, age, education, workplace, occupational activity, work experience and financial situation.Eighty-six professionally active full-time physiotherapists participated in the study. Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) was used to measure burnout.In the examined group of physiotherapists, we observed a low level of Emotional Exhaustion (x¯= 15.99) and Depersonalization level (x¯= 4.31), while Personal Accomplishment was moderate but approaching high level (x¯= ...

Abstract The optical limiting characteristics of the Cobalt (Co) metal-doped PVA films have been measured using two laser beams at 632.8 nm and 533 nm wavelength. Different weight percentages of Co metal were stirred with PVA solution to get polymeric composite films by casting method. The crystallinity degree and the intermolecular structure of the samples have been tested by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and FT-IR spectroscopy. The semi-crystalline order of the pure PVA reduced with more adding of Co-metal due to the interaction of dopant ions with one pair of electrons of oxygen in the hydroxyl (-OH) group of the matrix as confirmed by the FTIR spectra. Moreover, the formation of the Co clusters with different size and non-uniform distribution on the composit...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the fresh semen quality of swamp buffalo raised in Lembang Artificial Insemination Center with respect to different age. The semen was collected from one swamp buffalo bull at three different stages (5, 6, and 7 years old). The evaluation of semen quality was conducted directly upon collection. Semen color, consistency, and mass sperm motility were analyzed descriptively, while semen volume, pH, sperm concentration and individual sperm motility were analyzed using analysis of variance followed by least significant difference test. The results showed that the dominant physical characteristics of swamp buffalo's semen were milky white color with moderate consistency and fast mass sperm motility (++). There was a highly...

We consider a linearized compressible flow structure interaction (FSI) PDE model with a view of analyzing the stability properties of both the compressible flow and plate solution components. In our earlier work, we gave an answer in the affirmative to question of uniform stability for finite energy solutions of said compressible flow-structure system, by means of a ``frequency domain'' approach. However, the frequency domain method of proof in that work is not ``robust'' (insofar as we can see), when one wishes to study longtime behavior of solutions of compressible flow-structure PDE models which track the appearance of the ambient state onto the boundary interface (i.e., $\kappa =1$ in flow PDE component (2)). Nor is a frequency domain approach in this ea...

E-cigarette use among young adults is a major public health concern. Approximately 17.7–40% of college students have tried or are currently using e-cigarettes. While a few studies have examined e-cigarette use among youth, opportunity exists to understand psychosocial factors that influence college students’ e-cigarette behavior. The main purpose of this study is to examine the associations between the constructs of self-efficacy, knowledge, depression and anxiety symptoms, and e-cigarette use among college students. A retrospective cross-sectional survey (20-items) design was used for data collection. Bivariate analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to evaluate associations between the independent variables and the dependent variable. A tot...

Deep learning (DL) based autoencoder is a promising architecture to implement end-to-end communication systems. One fundamental problem of such systems is how to increase the transmission rate. Two new schemes are proposed to address the limited data rate issue: adaptive transmission scheme and generalized data representation (GDR) scheme. In the first scheme, an adaptive transmission is designed to select the transmission vectors for maximizing the data rate under different channel conditions. The block error rate (BLER) of the first scheme is 80% lower than that of the conventional one-hot vector scheme. This implies that higher data rate can be achieved by the adaptive transmission scheme. In the second scheme, the GDR replaces the conventional one-hot re...

Herein, hydrophobic PVDF membranes were facilely transformed into highly hydrophilic and underwater superoleophobic ones via one-step dip-coating in tannic acid (TA)/sodium periodate (NaIO4)-mixed solution. The employment of NaIO4 could not only facilitate TA oxidation and deposition, but also introduce abundant hydrophilic carboxyl groups on membrane surface. Consequently, compared with the pristine PVDF membrane, the modified membrane showed much higher hydrophilicity and underwater oleophobicity with water contact angle decreasing from 121° to 32°, oil contact angle increasing from 116° to 162° and a tilt angle of just 2°. In contrast to the two-step modification (deposition of TA followed by post-oxidation by NaIO4), our approach endowed the membran...

Background The H2FPEF score is a validated algorithm for the diagnosis of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). We investigated the associations of the H2FPEF score with echocardiographic parameters and prognosis in patients with HFpEF admitted for acute heart failure. Methods and Results In total, 4312 patients at 3 tertiary centers were identified. Among 1335 patients with HFpEF, the H2FPEF score was available in 1105 patients (39% male) with a median age of 77 years (interquartile range 69–82). The median H2FPEF score was 4 (interquartile range 3–6). Patients with higher H2FPEF scores had worse left atrial (LA) size, peak atrial longitudinal strain of the left atrium, mitral E/e’ ratio, and peak tricuspid regurgitation velocity. Pe...

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne pathogen that caused a large outbreak in the Americas in 2015 and 2016. The virus is currently present in tropical areas around the globe and can cause severe disease in humans, including Guillain-Barré syndrome and congenital microcephaly. The tropical yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, is the main vector in the urban transmission cycles of ZIKV. The discovery of ZIKV in wild-caught Culex mosquitoes and the ability of Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes to transmit ZIKV in the laboratory raised the question of whether the common house mosquito Culex pipiens, which is abundantly present in temperate regions in North America, Asia and Europe, could also be involved in ZIKV transmission. In this study, we investigated th...

Abstract Background The use of biological dressings has recently emerged in the management of burns and wounds. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the Nile tilapia skin as a biological dressing for full-thickness cutaneous metacarpal wounds in donkeys. The study was conducted on nine clinically healthy donkeys ( n = 9). Here, fish skin dressings were obtained from fresh Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus and sterilized by immersion in silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) solution for 5 min, with no change in collagen content. Bilateral, circular full-thickness excisional skin wounds (2 cm in diameter) were created on the dorsal aspect of the mid-metacarpals of each donkey. Wounds on the right metacarpals (treated wounds, n = 9) were dressed with sterile f...

Abstract The production of long-chain hydrocarbons from CO2 and water using solar light is a big challenge for the catalysis society. Cobalt nanostructures have been reported to catalyze the production of C3-C15 alkanes in a cobalt-water-CO2 three-phase system under white light, yet the proposed photocatalytic mechanism still lacks evidence. In this work, cobalt micro- and nanostructures with different sizes and morphologies are used as model catalysts to reproduce this reaction. Despite different activity, selectivity and stability, the catalysts are found to follow the same reaction mechanism: a CO2 assisted galvanic replacement reaction to produce H2 followed by a thermal catalytic CO2 hydrogenation to produce alkanes; meanwhile, the Co catalysts are grad...

ABSTRACT The preparation and characteristics of rigid polyurethane foams (RPUFs) based on recycled polyol obtained by glycolysis of waste RPUF scraps from end‐of‐life refrigerators were investigated. To deactivate the amine adducts derived from isocyanates, the recycled product obtained after depolymerization was chemically modified via addition polymerization of propylene oxide. Two kinds of recycled polyols with different hydroxyl values and viscosity were blended with conventional virgin polyether polyol to prepare the RPUFs. The effects of the recycled polyols on the physical properties of RPUFs such as cell structures, compressive strength, thermal conductivity, and limiting oxygen index were discussed. It was found that the RPUFs from recycled poly...

Abstract In order to solve the problem of edge cracking of the as‐sintered 2024 aluminium alloy during cold rolling, the initiation mechanisms of edge cracking were studied. The results indicate that the “herringbone” crack parallel to the rolling direction and the “zigzag” crack perpendicular to the rolling direction easily formed during cold rolling. The former mainly occurred during the early stage of cold rolling and was related to the poor plasticity of the as‐sintered alloy and the stress state at the end of the rolled plate, whereas the latter appeared in a sample with a rolling reduction of more than 60%, mainly because the grains at the edge of the sample were subjected to three‐direction shear stress, which results in cracking along t...

The properties and oxidation of in-cylinder soot from a diesel engine fueled with n -heptane were explored under the simulated exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) condition, via CO 2 addition to the intake air of the engine. A self-developed total cylinder sampling system was employed to obtain the soot samples at the EGR ratios of 0 and 25%, and this study only focused on the soot oxidation that occurred in the soot oxidation-dominated (SOD) phase. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were performed to determine the local combustion characteristics related to soot oxidation. Soot oxidation rates were evaluated based on in-cylinder soot mass traces and CFD results. Soot properties were characterized in terms of nanostructure, carbon chemical state, and...

Energy transitions’ trend towards sustainable systems has prompted energy systems to shift from being fossil-fuel-based to rely on renewable energy. These transitions have led the power system to occupy the center of modern infrastructures, so assuring its security has become a priority for policy makers. This work presents a tool based on a multidimensional index, the Power System Security Index (PSIx), for the evaluation of policies affecting the security of the supply of electrical energy. The developed frame is applied to the current power system of Argentina, and it is compared to the system in year 2002. Availability of resources and infrastructure are the strengths of the country, while economic, governability, and research, development and innovati...

The Cytolethal Distending Toxin (CDT) is produced by many Gram-negative pathogenic bacteria responsible for major foodborne diseases worldwide. CDT induces DNA damage and cell cycle arrest in host-cells, eventually leading to senescence or apoptosis. According to structural and sequence comparison, the catalytic subunit CdtB is suggested to possess both nuclease and phosphatase activities, carried by a single catalytic site. However, the impact of each activity on cell-host toxicity is yet to be characterized. Here, we analyze the consequences of cell exposure to different CDT mutated on key CdtB residues, focusing on cell viability, cell cycle defects, and DNA damage induction. A first class of mutant, devoid of any activity, targets putative catalytic (H16...

On 7 April 1923, Joseph Conrad appeared on the cover of Time magazine. The occasion was Conrad's first and only visit to America, which began a few weeks later and was widely anticipated throughout the country. Time matched America's romantic excitement with a romantic presentation of Conrad. On the cover, above a caption reading "Joseph Conrad: Toward New Adventure," a handsome portrait constructs Conrad in the image of a valiant ship's captain: stately, sage, fully bearded, and commanding. This imperial construction is meant both to replicate the sea topoi of Conrad's fiction and to anticipate the governing metaphor of the feature article that follows: Conrad as the modern Columbus. From its opening paragraph, the article makes clear exactly what New World...

Popliteal Entrapment Syndrome is a rare cause of claudication in the young population. These patients are typically referred to multiple specialists prior to their diagnosis and optimal treatment. Ultrasound has commonly been used as an adjunct to clinical diagnosis in most outpatient clinics. We describe additional techniques of using intravascular ultrasound for diagnosis when angiography is performed. More importantly, this video highlights the intraoperative use of ultrasound to ensure an adequate and optimal myectomy when treating popliteal entrapment syndrome as well as an ability to survey the arterial wall for intimal injury with B mode duplex. Patients are most commonly diagnosed clinically with popliteal entrapment syndrome. During the time of angi...

Abstract This article describes mathematical modelling of reliability, safety and risk indicators related to load bearing structural elements. The number of this type of cranes used at a modern iron and steel enterprise constitutes more than half of the total number of cranes. Therefore, the concerned issue and the problems addressed in this case represent current interest. Due to the impossibility of conducting a laboratory or a full-scale experiment, a numerical experiment is conducted using model distribution. Benchmark data used for calculations and based on previous studies performed by the author and available statistical data about incidents and damages are systematized and proposed. Hypotheses about addition and multiplication of damages related to e...

ABSTRACT Pseudomonas aeruginosa OprF forms 0.36-nS channels and, rarely, 2- to 5-nS channels in lipid bilayer membranes. We show that a protein comprising only the N-terminal 162-amino-acid domain of OprF formed the smaller, but not the larger, channels in lipid bilayers. Circular dichroism spectroscopy indicated that this protein folds into a β-sheet-rich structure, and three-dimensional comparative modeling revealed that it shares significant structural similarity with the amino terminus of the orthologous protein Escherichia coli OmpA, which has been shown to form a β-barrel. OprF and OmpA share only 15% identity in this domain, yet these results support the utility of modeling such widely divergent β-barrel domains in three dimensions in order to reve...

ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVArticleNEXTCarboxylation. II. The Reaction of Oxalyl Chloride with Unsaturated HydrocarbonsM. S. Kharasch, Stephen S. Kane, and Herbert C. BrownCite this: J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1942, 64, 2, 333–334Publication Date (Print):February 1, 1942Publication History Published online1 May 2002Published inissue 1 February 1942https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ja01254a033https://doi.org/10.1021/ja01254a033research-articleACS PublicationsRequest reuse permissionsArticle Views515Altmetric-Citations28LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to...

Adventitious root cultures of medicinal plants are considered as a source of raw material for pharmaceutical industries. Tripterygium wilfordii Hook. f. is a traditional medicinal plant used for treating various inflammations. Celastrol is the major bioactive compound in the roots of T. wilfordii and it possesses activities against arthritis, lupus, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and obesity. Direct adventitious roots were initiated from leaf explants of T. wilfordii in 1/2 salt strength Murashige and Skoog medium (MS) solid media supplemented with 0.25 mg/L indole-3-butyric acid and 0.25 mg/L 1-naphthylacetic acid and then used to establish root suspension cultures. Optimization experiments showed that MS liquid media with 2 mg/L 1-naphthylacetic acid was o...

The content of macro-and trace elements in honeybee pollen loads collected from the Al-Ahsa oasis, Saudi Arabia during spring, summer, autumn, and winter in 2018/2019 were determined. After critical screening and observation, we found that the major pollen floral resources were rapeseed, sunflower, summer squash, and date palm. The highest values of sodium (Na), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), phosphorus (P) and manganese (Mn) were found in pollen loads trapped during spring and winter. The highest levels of copper (Cu) and iron (Fe) were found from pollen loads harvested during autumn, while the highest content of zinc (Zn) was found in pollen loads collected during the summer. Higher concentrations of the essential elements (Na, K, Ca, Mg and ...

We performed laparoscopic surgery for three cases of colorectal cancer using an 8K ultra-high-definition endoscopic system, which offers 16-fold higher resolution than the current 2K high-definition endoscope. The weight of the camera has been successfully reduced to 370 g. To maximize the advantages of the 8K ultra-high-definition endoscope, surgery was performed by darkening the room and placing a large 85-in. display as close to the surgeon as possible. As a result, the autonomic nerve was preserved, and the membrane structure could be clearly observed. Moreover, we were able to feel the stereoscopic effect near the 3-D image. This suggests the possibility of improved curability and function preservation with the 8K endoscope. Although there are some disa...

Abstract Background The five Nordic countries with a population of 27M people form a rather homogenous region in terms of health care. The management of Head and Neck Cancer (HNC) is centralized to the 21 university hospitals in these countries. Our aim was to survey the current status of organization of palliative care for patients with HNC in the Nordic countries as the field is rapidly developing. Materials and methods A structured web-based questionnaire was sent to all the Departments of Otorhinolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery and Oncology managing HNC in the Nordic countries. Results All 21 (100%) Nordic university hospitals responded to the survey. A majority (over 90%) of the patients are discussed at diagnosis in a multidisciplinary tumor board ...

Eggless/SETDB1 (Egg), the only essential histone methyltransferase (HMT) in Drosophila, plays a role in gene repression, including piRNA-mediated transposon silencing in the ovaries. Previous studies suggested that Egg is post-translationally modified and showed that Windei (Wde) regulates Egg nuclear localization through protein-protein interaction. Monoubiquitination of mammalian SETDB1 is necessary for the HMT activity. Here, using cultured ovarian somatic cells, we show that Egg is monoubiquitinated and phosphorylated but that only monoubiquitination is required for piRNA-mediated transposon repression. Egg monoubiquitination occurs in the nucleus. Egg has its own nuclear localization signal, and the nuclear import of Egg is Wde-independent. Wde recruits...

The authors examined leisure-time physical activity (LTPA), body mass index (BMI), and perceived physical ability as body dissatisfaction antecedents, and analyzed their relationship to well-being. The sample comprised 501 university students. Data were collected using a self-administered survey. Path analysis revealed that LTPA positively predicted perceived physical ability. BMI and perceived physical ability predicted body dissatisfaction (positively and negatively, respectively). Body dissatisfaction negatively predicted subjective vitality, whereas perceived physical ability positively predicted subjective vitality. These results support the inclusion of LTPA in intervention programs that seek to promote more satisfactory physical perceptions and psycho...

Introduction The accuracy of blood pressure (BP) measurement is a prerequisite for the reliable diagnosis and management of hypertension. Objectives This survey evaluated the use of office and out-of-office BP measurements and the antihypertensive pharmacological treatment in expert pediatric diabetes centers. Methods A questionnaire was distributed in 78 reference pediatric diabetes centers of the SWEET international consortium. The methodology, devices, indications, and interpretation of office BP measurements (OBPM), 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) and home BP monitoring (HBPM), and the preference for antihypertensive drug treatment was assessed. A grading score was developed to evaluate centers for overall BP measurement performance. Results Fift...

This paper presents the results of a pot experiment aimed at the assessment of the agronomic and economic effectiveness of ammonium sulphate from an agro bio-refinery (Bio-AS). The Bio-AS was obtained by means of the ammonia stripping process from effluent after struvite precipitation from a liquid fraction of digestate. The agronomic effectiveness of Bio-AS in a pot experiment with maize and grass in two different soils, silty loam (SL) and loamy sand (LS), was investigated. The fertilising effect of Bio-AS was compared to commercial ammonium sulphate fertilizer (Com-AS) and control treatment (without fertilisation). The crop yields were found to depend on both soil type and nitrogen treatment. Crop yields produced under Bio-AS and Com-AS exceeded those und...

The design of a novel Schönflies-motion generator (SMG) is the focus of the paper. Schönflies motions are characterized by four degrees of freedom: three independent translations and one rotation about one axis of fixed orientation. The two driving modules of the manipulator are intended to produce, each, two independent motions, pan and tilt. The design philosophy and the layout of the SMG are discussed, along with the design procedure, which includes: (i) part-modelling and visualization, with animation of the device; (ii) evaluation of the main parameters and the characteristics of the different structural realizations, as well as the selection of one single structure meeting best the design specifications; (iii) the design of the main components for th...