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We have implemented direct-write and toggle switching in the precessional limit on micron-sized magnetic tunnel junctions. We have measured the amplitudes and duration of orthogonal applied magnetic fields leading to reliable switching for pulse durations as short as 178 ps. We have shown that the final magnetization state can be well understood by solving the Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert equation in the macrospin approximation. We finally have compared the size of the writing window in two scenarios of orthogonal field timing: synchronous pulses or imbricated pulses (easy-axis field lasting longer than hard-axis field). Imbricated pulses lead to sizable increase of the writing window. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reversal process of the free layer of two spin valves (SVs) with crossed anisotropy was studied as a function of temperature by transmission electron microscopy. In situ magnetizing experiments were carried out using the Fresnel imaging mode at room temperature, 100 °C, and 200 °C. The two SVs studied had slightly different synthetic antiferromagnetic (SAF) structures, the magnetic layers being thicker in one than the other. It was found that the SV with the thinner SAF layer was less thermally stable. Moreover, a change in the reversal process was observed at elevated temperature while no changes were seen for the SV with thicker SAF. Insight into why the reversal mode varied in the way it did was obtained using a modified Stoner–Wohlfarth model. © 2004 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 10‐year‐old neutered female soft‐coated wheaten terrier and a 10‐year‐old, entire female Pomeranian were presented for vomiting and anorexia. Using ultrasound, an oval structure with a stellate, kiwifruit‐like appearance typical of a gall bladder mucocoele was observed in the caudal abdomen of the soft‐coated wheaten terrier and adjacent to the liver in the Pomeranian. There was also a moderate volume of abdominal effusion in both dogs. Cytology of the peritoneal fluid indicated a sterile exudative process but varied between the two dogs, with an absence of bile pigment in the soft‐coated wheaten terrier and marked bile peritonitis in the Pomeranian. An entire free‐floating ectopic mucocoele was confirmed via exploratory laparotomy with concomitant gall bladder rupture and common bile duct obstruction. Both dogs recovered completely after surgery. This is the first report of cases of gall bladder rupture with entire free‐floating gall bladder mucocoeles in dogs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a major public health problem worldwide. There is limited literature on a model to project the number of people with CKD. This study projects the number of residents with CKD in Singapore by 2035 using a Markov model. Methods. A Markov model with nine mutually exclusive health states was developed according to the clinical course of CKD, based on a discrete time interval of 1 year. The model simulated the transition of cohorts across different health states from 2007 to 2035 using prevalence, incidence, mortality, disease transition, and disease detection rates. Results. From 2007 to 2035, the number of residents with CKD is projected to increase from 316,521 to 887,870 and the prevalence from 12.2% to 24.3%. Patients with CKD stages 1-2 constituted the largest proportion. The proportion of undiagnosed cases will decline from 72.1% to 56.4%, resulting from faster progression to higher CKD stages and its eventual detection. Conclusion. By 2035, about one-quarter of the Singapore residents are expected to have CKD. National policies need to focus on primary disease prevention and early disease detection to avoid delayed treatment of CKD which eventually leads to end-stage renal disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This research aims to survey the efforts of researchers in response to the new and disruptive technology of skin cancer apps, map the research landscape from the literature onto coherent taxonomy, and determine the basic characteristics of this emerging field. In addition, this research looks at the motivation behind using Smartphone apps in the diagnosis of skin cancer and in health care and the open challenges that impede the utility of this technology. This study offers valuable recommendations to improve the acceptance and use of medical apps in the literature. Methods: We conducted a comprehensive survey using the keywords 'skin cancer,' 'apps,' and 'Smartphone' or 'm-Health' in different variations to find all the relevant articles in three major databases: Web of Science, Science Direct, and IEEE Xplore. These databases broadly cover medical and technical literature. Results: We found 110 articles after a comprehensive survey of the literature. Out of the 110 articles, 46 present actual attempts to develop and design medical apps or share certain experiences of doing so. Twenty-eight articles consist of analytical studies on the incidence of skin cancer, the classification of malignant cancer or benign cancer, and the methods of prevention and diagnosis. Twenty-two articles comprise studies that range from the evaluative or comparative study of apps to the exploration of the desired features for skin cancer detection. Fourteen articles consist of reviews and surveys that refer to actual apps or the literature to describe medical apps for a specific specialty, disease, or skin cancer and provide a general overview of the technology. New research direction: With the exception of the 110 papers reviewed earlier in results section, the new directions of this research were described. In state-of-the-art, no particular study presenting watermarking and stenography approaches for any type of skin cancer images based on Smartphone apps is available. Discussion: Researchers have attempted to develop and improve skin cancer apps in several ways since 2011. However, several areas or aspects require further attention. All the articles, regardless of their research focus, attempt to address the challenges that impede the full utility of skin cancer apps and offer recommendations to mitigate their drawbacks. Conclusions: Research on skin cancer apps is active and efficient. This study contributes to this area of research by providing a detailed review of the available options and problems to allow other researchers and participants to further develop skin cancer apps, and the new directions of this research were described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contents: Persistent Müllerian duct syndrome (PMDS) is a sex‐limited disorder in which males develop portions of the female reproductive tract. Important consequences of PMDS are cryptorchidism and its sequelae of infertility and increased risk of testicular cancer. Anti‐Müllerian hormone (AMH) and its receptor (AMHR2) induce the regression of the Müllerian ducts in male embryos. In Miniature Schnauzer dogs, the genetic basis has been identified as an autosomal recessive nonsense mutation in AMHR2, but the allele frequency of the mutation is unknown. Thus, the primary objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of the AMHR2 mutation in North American Miniature Schnauzers, in order to ascertain the value of genetic testing in this breed. An additional objective was to determine whether mutations in AMH or AMHR2 were responsible for PMDS in a Belgian Malinois; this would aid development of a genetic test for the Belgian Malinois breed. Genomic DNA from 216 Miniature Schnauzers (including one known PMDS case) was genotyped for the AMHR2 mutation, and DNA from a single PMDS‐affected Belgian Malinois was sequenced for all coding exons of AMH and AMHR2. The Miniature Schnauzer cohort had an AMHR2 mutation allele frequency of 0.16 and a carrier genotypic frequency of 0.27. The genetic basis for PMDS in the Belgian Malinois was not determined, as no coding or splicing mutations were identified in either AMH or AMHR2. These findings support a benefit to AMHR2 mutation testing Miniature Schnauzers used for breeding or with cryptorchidism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The swiftlets (Aves, Apodidae, Collocaliini) have been known as producers of edible nests for four centuries. Among the genus Aerodramus Oberholser 1912 ecological evidence and museum specimens support the existence of two wild species making 'white' edible nests: grey-rumped swiftlet Aerodramus inexpectatus (Hume, 1873), a species occurring on islands, rocky stacks and maritime cliffs from the Andaman Islands to the north-east coast of Borneo, and brown-rumped swiftlet A. fuciphagus (Thunberg, 1812), occurring at inland sites only in Borneo, but at inland and island localities in Sumatra, Java, and Nusa Tenggara Barat, Indonesia. Housefarm swiftlets, which make similar white nests, were first recorded as spontaneous occupiers of buildings in Java, Indonesia, in the late 19th century, presumably from A. fuciphagus stock. In Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, the first observations of nesting in buildings were made later, from 1931 to 1947. Subsequent human intervention has greatly expanded the numbers and range of house-farms, first in Java and elsewhere in Indonesia by fostering eggs in the nests of Linchi Swiftlets Collocalia linchi, and latterly by the use of recorded vocalisations to attract birds into purpose-made buildings. During the 20th and early 21st centuries, house-farm swiftlets and 'house-farming' have largely replaced wild colonies as sources of white nests. Previous genetic evidence based on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has supported species level separation of the two wild white-nest species but more recent genetic studies have questioned this conclusion. The present study has focused on mitochondrial genetics with new samples of swiftlets from house-farms in Peninsular and Bornean Malaysia, and wild grey-rumped swiftlets Aerodramus inexpectatus on the islands of Mantanani Besar, Sabah, and Seringgis, Terengganu. GenBank data were used to extend comparisons to include house-farm swiftlet mtDNA from southern Thailand and Vietnam. Re-analysis of the three previous studies of genetic diversity in house-farm swiftlets coupled with the new supplementary data of mitochondrial cytochrome-b shows that the multiple maternal lineages observed within the house-farm swiftlets of Malaysia can also be detected more widely across the Southeast Asian region. In conclusion, we argue that housefarm swiftlets exhibit behavioural characters that could be considered evidence of domestication. We hope to see further studies using fuller genome sequencing to give improved insights into the phylogenetics of the progressive domestication of house-farm white-nest swiftlets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cathode performance of various LSCM-based composites for high temperature H2O electrolysis has been studied by examining their electrochemical behavior under current loading using three-electrode electrolysis cells with Pt as counter and reference electrodes. Experimental results among pure LSCM, LSCM-GDC, LSCM-YSZ and LSCM-(GDC-YSZ) have shown that LSCM-GDC exhibits the highest H2O electrolysis performance. The ratio between LSCM and GDC is further optimized and it is shown that the LSCM-GDC with 50-50 wt.% for each component exhibits the highest performance. Benchmarking with a 60-40 wt.% Ni-YSZ cathode have shown that the optimized LSCM-GDC cathode exhibits better performance for H2O electrolysis with a lower area specific resistance. Under a cathodic current of -0.1 A cm−2, the optimized LSCM-GDC cathode shows much slower degradation, about 10 times slower as compared to the Ni-YSZ cathode when exposed to 10 ppm of SO2 for up to 72 h. All the above electrochemical tests have been conducted at 800 °C and 70/30 pH2O/pH2. Without the use of reducing agent, the optimized LSCM-GDC cathode also shows promising performance for co-electrolysis of H2O and CO2 at high current densities and stable performance with 5 ppm of SO2 in the feedstock gas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have previously demonstrated that the kynurenine pathway (KP), the major biochemical pathway for tryptophan metabolism, is dysregulated in many inflammatory disorders that are often associated with sexual dimorphisms. We aimed to identify a potential functional interaction between the KP and gonadal hormones. We have treated primary human macrophages with progesterone in the presence and absence of inflammatory cytokine interferon-gamma (interferon-γ) that is known to be a potent inducer of regulating the KP enzyme. We found that progesterone attenuates interferon-γ-induced KP activity, decreases the levels of the excitotoxin quinolinic acid, and increases the neuroprotective kynurenic acid levels. We also showed that progesterone was able to reduce the inflammatory marker neopterin. These results may shed light on the gender disparity in response to inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]