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The purpose of this article is to examine refugee-background high school students’ experiences in an adolescent support program, Teen Response, and its impact on students’ educational and career pathways. Teen Response, offered by a non-profit refugee organization working with a large metropolitan school district and community partners, is in a mid-size midwestern urban community in the United States. Employing a mixed-method approach utilizing surveys and focus groups, we studied nineteen newly resettled refugee-background high school students who participated in the study over nine months. Three overarching themes emerged from the data 1) Teen Response program strategies, 2) growth in self-efficacy, and 3) being an advocate for self and others. This article focuses on the Teen Response program strategies identified as impactful by research participants. It contributes to the knowledge of the design of effective adolescent programs and their impact on refugee-background adolescent development.&nbsp

本文报道1例疑似胃神经内分泌肿瘤的胃底腺型胃癌，回顾分析其临床、内镜、病理特征，旨在提高胃底腺型胃癌的诊断水平以及减少误诊、漏诊。.

A new dynamical core, known as the Finite Volume Cubed-Sphere (FV3) and developed at both NASA and NOAA, is used in NOAA’s Global Forecast System (GFS) and in limited area models (LAMs) for regional weather and air quality applications. NOAA has also upgraded the operational FV3GFS to version 16 (GFSv16), and includes a number of significant developmental advances to the model configuration, data assimilation, and underlying model physics, particularly for atmospheric composition to weather feedback. Concurrent with the GFSv16 upgrade, we couple the GFSv16 with the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model to form an advanced version of the National Air Quality Forecast Capability (NAQFC) that will continue to protect human and ecosystem health in the U.S. Here we describe the development of the FV3GFSv16 coupling with a “state-of-the-science” CMAQ model version 5.3.1. The GFS-CMAQ coupling is made possible by the seminal version of the NOAA-ARL Atmosphere-Chemistry Coupler (NACC), which became the next operational NAQFC system (i.e., NACC-CMAQ) on July 20, 2021. NACC-CMAQ has a number of scientific advancements that include satellite- based data acquisition technology to improve land cover and soil characteristics, and inline wildfire smoke and dust predictions that are vital to predictions of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations during hazardous events affecting society, ecosystems, and human health. The GFS-driven NACC-CMAQ has significantly different meteorological and chemical predictions than the previous operational NAQFC, where evaluation of NACC-CMAQ shows generally improved near-surface ozone and PM2.5 predictions and diurnal patterns, both of which are extended to a 72-hour (3-day) forecast with this system.

Plant cytosolic lipid droplets (LDs) are covered with a layer of phospholipids and oleosin and were extensively studied before those in mammals and yeast. Oleosin has short amphipathic N- and C-terminal peptides flanking a conserved 72-residue hydrophobic hairpin, which penetrates and stabilizes the LD. Oleosin is synthesized on endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and extracts ER-budding LDs to cytosol. To delineate the mechanism of oleosin targeting ER-LD, we have expressed modified-oleosin genes in Physcomitrella patens for transient expression and tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) BY2 cells for stable transformation. The results have identified oleosin motifs for targeting ER-LD and oleosin as the sole molecule responsible for budding-LD entering cytosol. Both the N-terminal and C-terminal peptides are not required for the targeting. The hairpin, including its entire length, initial N-portion residues, and hairpin-loop of three Pro and one Ser residues, as well as the absence of an N-terminal ER-targeting peptide, are necessary for oleosin targeting ER and moving onto budding LDs and extracting them to cytosol. In a reverse approach, eliminations of these necessities allow the modified oleosin to enter the ER lumen and extract budding LDs to the ER lumen. Modified oleosin with an added vacuole signal peptide transports the ER-luminal LDs to vacuoles. The overall findings define the mechanism of oleosin targeting ER-LDs and extracting budding LDs to the cytosol as well as reveal potential applications.

Particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 2.5 μm (PM2.5) is a critical air pollutant with important impacts on human health. It is essential to provide accurate air quality forecasts to alert people to avoid or reduce exposure to high ambient levels of PM2.5. The NOAA National Air Quality Forecasting Capability (NAQFC) provides numerical forecast guidance of surface PM2.5 for the United States. However, the NAQFC forecast guidance for PM2.5 has exhibited substantial seasonal biases, with overpredictions in winter and underpredictions in summer. To reduce these biases, an analog ensemble bias correction approach is being integrated into the NAQFC to improve experimental PM2.5 predictions over the contiguous United States. Bias correction configurations with varying lengths of training periods (i.e., the time period over which searches for weather or air quality scenario analogs are made) and differing ensemble member size are evaluated for July, August, September, and November 2015. The analog bias correction approach yields substantial improvement in hourly time series and diurnal variation patterns of PM2.5 predictions as well as forecast skill scores. However, two prominent issues appear when the analog ensemble bias correction is applied to the NAQFC for operational forecast guidance. First, day-to-day variability is reduced after using bias correction. Second, the analog bias correction method can be limited in improving PM2.5 predictions for extreme events such as Fourth of July Independence Day firework emissions and wildfire smoke events. The use of additional predictors and longer training periods for analog searches is recommended for future studies.

The National Air Quality Forecasting Capability (NAQFC) upgraded its modeling system that provides developmental numerical predictions of particulate matter smaller than 2.5 μm in diameter (PM2.5) in January 2015. The issuance of PM2.5 forecast guidance has become more punctual and reliable because developmental PM2.5 predictions are provided from the same system that produces operational ozone predictions on the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) supercomputers. There were three major upgrades in January 2015: 1) incorporation of real-time intermittent sources for particles emitted from wildfires and windblown dust originating within the NAQFC domain, 2) suppression of fugitive dust emissions from snow- and/or ice-covered terrain, and 3) a shorter life cycle for organic nitrate in the gaseous-phase chemical mechanism. In May 2015 a further upgrade for emission sources was included using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2011 National Emission Inventory (NEI). Emissions for ocean-going ships and on-road mobile sources will continue to rely on NEI 2005. Incremental tests and evaluations of these upgrades were performed over multiple seasons. They were verified against the EPA’s AIRNow surface monitoring network for air pollutants. Impacts of the three upgrades on the prediction of surface PM2.5 concentrations show large regional variability: the inclusion of windblown dust emissions in May 2014 improved PM2.5 predictions over the western states and the suppression of fugitive dust in January 2015 reduced PM2.5 bias by 52%, from 6.5 to 3.1 μg m−3 against a monthly average of 9.4 μg m−3 for the north-central United States.

Background Brugada syndrome (BrS) is a sudden arrhythmic death. The prevalence of BrS is higher in the Southeast Asian populations than that in Caucasian patients. A previous genome-wide association study (GWAS) has reported 13 SNPs significantly associated with BrS. However, no study was performed to validate whether these SNPs are enriched in BrS patients in Han Chinese (HC). Purpose Evaluating the common variants previously reported in Caucasian BrS patients could be generalized to HC BrS patients in Taiwan Methods We genotyped 200 unrelated BrS patients using Affymetrix TWB Array (N=653,291 SNPs, a customized array for HC in Taiwan). The controls are obtained from the Taiwan Biobank (N ≈ 16,000) using the same array. An imputation workflow was shown in Figure 1. To confirm the accuracy of the imputed genotype of each variant, Sanger sequencing was performed in 10% of randomly selected cases. Results Among the 3 most important common variants (rs11708996 in SCN5A, rs10428132 in SCN10A and rs9388451 in HEY2/NCOA7) reported in the previous GWAS mainly conducted in Caucasian BrS patients, 2 of them (rs10428132 and rs9388451) were successfully replicated in the HC population in Taiwan (P Figure 1 Conclusions The preliminary results indicated that 85% of common variants of SCN10A and HEY2/NCOA7 previously reported in Caucasian BrS patients are replicated in BrS patients in the HC population but not the common variant of SCN5A (rs11708996). Furthermore, the common variants of SCN10A and HEY2/NCOA7 related to cardiac depolarization or repolarization may also contribute to the development of BrS. Acknowledgement/Funding NTUH 106-S3469, NTUH106-S3458 and NTUH 106-018

Closed field unbalanced magnetron sputtering was used to deposit diamond-like carbon (Ti-C:H) coatings on Ti6Al4V alloy and gas nitrided Ti6Al4V alloy. Four different specimens were prepared, namely untreated Ti6Al4V alloy (Ti6Al4V), gas nitrided Ti6Al4V alloy (N-Ti6Al4V), Ti-C:H-coated Ti6Al4V alloy (Ti-C:H/Ti6Al4V) and Ti-C:H-coated gas nitrided Ti6Al4V alloy (Ti-C:H/N-Ti6Al4V). The tribological properties of the four specimens were evaluated using a reciprocating wear tester sliding against a Si3N4 ball (point contact mode) and 316L stainless steel cylinder (line contact mode). The wear tests were performed in a 0.89 wt.% NaCl solution. The results showed that the nitriding treatment increased the surface roughness and hardness of the Ti6Al4V alloy and improved the wear resistance as a result. In addition, the Ti-C:H coating also improved the tribological performance of Ti6Al4V. For example, compared to the untreated Ti6Al4V sample, the Ti-C:H coating reduced the wear depth and friction coefficient by 340 times and 10 times, respectively, in the point contact wear mode, and 151 times and 9 times, respectively, in the line contact wear mode. It is thus inferred that diamond-like carbon coatings are of significant benefit in extending the service life of artificial biomedical implants.

Subcellular lipid droplets (LDs) in diverse plant cells and species are coated with stabilizing oleosins of at least five phylogenic lineages and perform different functions. We examined two types of inadequately studied LDs for coated oleosins and their characteristics. The epidermis but not mesophyll of leaves of vanilla (Vanilla planifolia) and most other Asparagales species contained solitary and clustered LDs (

A crack open may lead to the failure because of rupture or leak in the pipeline. In this paper, the dynamic crack opening displacements (CODs) of a partially debonded pipeline subjected to P and SV waves are predicted, and a mathematical model is proposed. The debonded region around the pipeline is modelled as an interface crack with non-contacting faces. The wave fields in the bonded and debonded areas are expressed by wave function expansion method, and the expanded coefficients are determined by satisfying the boundary conditions with consideration of cracks. The CODs in the debonding area are represented by Chebyshev polynomials. Some examples are illustrated to analyse the CODs under different thicknesses of pipeline and different wave frequencies. In the region of high frequency, the value of CODs is more sensitive to the crack size. The difference between the CODs in the compression direction and shear directions is also examined. Comparison with existing results is given to validate this dynamic model.

Ti–C:H coatings are deposited on untreated Ti6Al4V alloy samples and high-temperature gas-nitrided Ti6Al4V alloy samples by means of CFUBMS. Therefore, four types of specimen, i.e., Ti6Al4V, nitrided Ti6Al4V (N-Ti6Al4V), T–C:H-coated Ti6Al4V (Ti–C:H/Ti6Al4V) and T–C:H-coated nitrided Ti6Al4V (Ti–C:H/N-Ti6Al4V) are considered. The microstructure, adhesion and hardness of the Ti–C:H coatings are examined using a Raman spectrometer, scratch tester and nanoindenter, respectively. The tribological properties of the coated and uncoated samples are investigated using a reciprocating sliding wear tester in NaCl solution. The corrosion performance of the four specimens is evaluated by means of potentiodynamic polarization tests. Finally, the biocompatibility of the various samples is investigated using purified mouse leukaemic monocyte macrophage cells (Raw 264.7). Overall, the results show that the gas-nitriding treatment increases both the hardness and the surface roughness of the samples. Moreover, of the various samples, the Ti–C:H/Ti6Al4V sample exhibits excellent tribological properties and the best corrosion resistance and biocompatibility performance.

BACKGROUND: The fixed-dose combination of EBR 50 mg, an NS5A inhibitor, and GZR 100 mg, an NS3/4 protease inhibitor (EBR/GZR), is a highly effective and well-tolerated all-oral, once-daily regimen in diverse populations of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype (GT)1-, 4-, or 6-infected patients, including PWID on OAT. However, data on HCV reinfection rates after successful treatment are limited. AIMS: To determing the rate of reinfections following sucessful HCV therapy with EBR and GZR in PWID receiving OAT METHODS: The double-blind, placebo-controlled CO-STAR study evaluated the efficacy of EBR/GZR for 12 weeks in treatment-naïve HCV GT1-/4-/6-infected patients receiving OAT. Patients were randomized 2:1 to an immediate treatment group (ITG) or a deferred treatment group. HCV reinfection was evaluated among ITG patients with undetectable HCV RNA at end of treatment (EOT). In patients with recurrent viremia following EOT, population sequencing and phylogenetic analysis were performed on baseline and post-treatment samples to distinguish relapse from reinfection. RESULTS: Three hundred one patients were randomized, with 201 in the ITG (76% GT1a; 20% cirrhotic; 8% HIV+). Baseline OAT included methadone (81%) and buprenorphine (19%), and 46% had detectable illicit drugs, excluding marijuana. Post-treatment viremia was detected in 18 patients, with 12 virologic failures and 6 probable reinfections (5 through follow-up week (FW)12 and 1 at FW24). Three patients identified as reinfections had subsequent clearance of HCV RNA. Estimated reinfection incidence per 100 person-years from EOT through FW12 is 10.5 (95% CI: 3.42, 24.6), and from EOT through FW24 is 3.4 (95% CI: 1.3,7.5). Follow-up analysis to determine if any probable reinfections were due to relapse of nondominant baseline variants rather than reinfection will be presented. CONCLUSIONS: Several HCV reinfection cases were detected among PWID on OAT following successful EBR/GZR therapy. Further follow-up is required to determine the natural course of HCV reinfection in the setting of interferon-free HCV treatment and the impact of viral persistence following reinfection on long-term response rates in this population. FUNDING AGENCIES: Merck Pharmaceuticals

Plant cells contain subcellular lipid droplets with a triacylglycerol matrix enclosed by a layer of phospholipids and the small structural protein oleosin. Oleosins possess a conserved central hydrophobic hairpin of approximately 72 residues penetrating into the lipid droplet matrix and amphipathic amino- and carboxyl (C)-terminal peptides lying on the phospholipid surface. Bioinformatics of 1,000 oleosins of green algae and all plants emphasizing biological implications reveal five oleosin lineages: primitive (in green algae, mosses, and ferns), universal (U; all land plants), and three in specific organs or phylogenetic groups, termed seed low-molecular-weight (SL; seed plants), seed high-molecular-weight (SH; angiosperms), and tapetum (T; Brassicaceae) oleosins. Transition from one lineage to the next is depicted from lineage intermediates at junctions of phylogeny and organ distributions. Within a species, each lineage, except the T oleosin lineage, has one to four genes per haploid genome, only approximately two of which are active. Primitive oleosins already possess all the general characteristics of oleosins. U oleosins have C-terminal sequences as highly conserved as the hairpin sequences; thus, U oleosins including their C-terminal peptide exert indispensable, unknown functions. SL and SH oleosin transcripts in seeds are in an approximately 1:1 ratio, which suggests the occurrence of SL-SH oleosin dimers/multimers. T oleosins in Brassicaceae are encoded by rapidly evolved multitandem genes for alkane storage and transfer. Overall, oleosins have evolved to retain conserved hairpin structures but diversified for unique structures and functions in specific cells and plant families. Also, our studies reveal oleosin in avocado (Persea americana) mesocarp and no acyltransferase/lipase motifs in most oleosins.

In this research, Zr/a-C:Zr/Zr-C:H-x films with various pulsed-direct current power frequency in the range of 30–110 kHz (x in the term Zr-C:H-x is the pulse frequencies in the deposition process) are deposited on AISI M2 substrates by a closed-field unbalanced magnetron sputtering system. The tribological properties of the films are investigated under rod-on-disc line contact wear modes using a reciprocating tribometer. The tribological behaviour of various wear pairs is discussed based on hardness (H), elastic modulus (E), adhesion property, initial Hertzian pressure and transformed layer on various contact surfaces of wear pairs. The experimental results display that the Zr-C:H-70 film with the maximum hardness and plastic deformation resistance (H3/E2) exhibits excellent tribological properties under line contact wear mode.

Cytoplasmic lipid droplets (LDs) of neutral lipids (triacylglycerols [TAGs], sterylesters, etc.) are reserves of high-energy metabolites and other constituents for future needs. They are present in diverse cells of eukaryotes and prokaryotes. An LD has a core of neutral lipids enclosed with a monolayer of phospholipids and proteins, which play structural and/or metabolic roles. During the past 3 decades, studies of LDs in diverse organisms have blossomed after they were found to be involved in prevalent human diseases and industrial uses. LDs in plant seeds were studied before those in mammals and microbes, and the latter studies have since moved forward. Plant LDs carry a hallmark protein called oleosin, which has a long hydrophobic hairpin penetrating the TAG core and stabilizing the LD. The oleosin gene first appeared in green algae and has evolved in enhancing promoter strength, tandem repeats, and/or expression specificity, leading to the appearance of new LD organelles, such as tapetosomes in Brassicaceae. The synthesis of LDs occurs with TAG-synthesizing enzymes on the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), and nascent TAGs are sequestered in the acyl moiety region between the bilayers of phospholipids, which results in ER-LD swelling. Oleosin is synthesized on the cytosol side of the ER and extracts the LD from the ER-LD to cytosol. This extraction of LD to the cytosol is controlled solely by the innate properties of oleosin, and modified oleosin can redirect the LD to the ER lumen and then vacuoles. The breakdown of LDs requires lipase associating with core retromer and binding to peroxisomes, which then send the enzyme to LDs via tubular extensions. Two groups of LD-associated proteins, caleosin/dioxygenase/steroleosin and LD/oil body-associated proteins, participate in cellular stress defenses via enzymic activities and binding, respectively. The surface of LDs in all plant cells may be an inert refuge for these and other proteins, which exert functions on diverse cell components. Oleosin-LDs have been explored for commercial applications; successes in their uses will rely on overcoming conceptual and technical difficulties.

The analysis aimed to identify the treatment gaps in current fracture liaison services (FLS) and to provide recommendations for best practice establishment of future FLS across the Asia-Pacific region. The findings emphasize the unmet need for the implementation of new programs and provide recommendations for the refinement of existing ones. The study’s objectives were to evaluate fracture liaison service (FLS) programs in the Asia-Pacific region and provide recommendations for establishment of future FLS programs. A systematic literature review (SLR) of Medline, PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library (2000–2017 inclusive) was performed using the following keywords: osteoporosis, fractures, liaison, and service. Inclusion criteria included the following: patients ≥ 50 years with osteoporosis-related fractures; randomized controlled trials or observational studies with control groups (prospective or retrospective), pre–post, cross-sectional and economic evaluation studies. Success of direct or indirect interventions was assessed based on patients’ understanding of risk, bone mineral density assessment, calcium intake, osteoporosis treatment, re-fracture rates, adherence, and mortality, in addition to cost-effectiveness. Overall, 5663 unique citations were identified and the SLR identified 159 publications, reporting 37 studies in Asia-Pacific. These studies revealed the unmet need for public health education, adequate funding, and staff resourcing, along with greater cooperation between departments and physicians. These actions can help to overcome therapeutic inertia with sufficient follow-up to ensure adherence to recommendations and compliance with treatment. The findings also emphasize the importance of primary care physicians continuing to prescribe treatment and ensure service remains convenient. These findings highlight the limited evidence supporting FLS across the Asia-Pacific region, emphasizing the unmet need for new programs and/or refinement of existing ones to improve outcomes. With the continued increase in burden of fractures in Asia-Pacific, establishment of new FLS and assessment of existing services are warranted to determine the impact of FLS for healthcare professionals, patients, family/caregivers, and society.

People with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection who have failed treatment with an all-oral regimen represent a challenging treatment population. The present studies evaluated the safety and efficacy of grazoprevir, ruzasvir, and uprifosbuvir, with or without ribavirin, in participants who had failed an NS5A inhibitor-containing regimen. C-SURGE (PN-3682-021) and C-CREST Part C (PN-3682-011 and -012) were open-label, multicenter studies. Participants who had previously relapsed following an NS5A inhibitor-containing all-oral regimen were retreated with grazoprevir 100 mg, ruzasvir 60 mg, and uprifosbuvir 450 mg alone for 24 weeks or with ribavirin for 16 weeks. The primary efficacy endpoint was sustained virologic response (HCV RNA below the limit of quantitation [15 IU/mL]) 12 weeks after treatment completion (SVR12). In C-SURGE, SVR12 was achieved by 49/49 (100%) and 43/44 (98%) genotype (GT)1 participants in the 24-week no ribavirin arm and the 16-week plus ribavirin arm (lost to follow-up, n = 1), respectively. In C-CREST Part C, SVR12 was achieved by 23/24 (96%) participants treated for 16 weeks with ribavirin (GT1, 2/2 [100%]; GT2, 13/14 [93%]; GT3, 8/8 [100%]). One participant with GT2 infection discontinued study medication after a single dose of grazoprevir, ruzasvir, and uprifosbuvir plus ribavirin due to serious adverse events of vomiting and tachycardia. The presence of baseline resistance-associated substitutions had no impact on SVR12. No participant who completed treatment in either study experienced virologic failure.Grazoprevir, ruzasvir, and uprifosbuvir, with or without ribavirin, for 16 or 24 weeks was safe and highly effective in participants with HCV infection who had previously failed NS5A inhibitor-containing therapy. (Hepatology 2017;66:1794-1804).

Ambient vibration tests are conducted widely to estimate the modal parameters of a structure. The work proposes an efficient wavelet-based approach to determine the modal parameters of a structure from its ambient vibration responses. The proposed approach integrates the time series autoregressive (AR) model with the stationary wavelet packet transform. In addition to providing a richer decomposition and allowing for an improved time–frequency localization of signals over that of the discrete wavelet transform, the stationary wavelet packet transform also has significantly higher computational efficiency than the wavelet packet transform in terms of decomposing time-shifted signals because the former has a time-invariance property. The correlation matrices needed in determining the coefficient matrices in an AR model are established in subspaces expanded by stationary wavelet packets. The formulation for estimating the correlation matrices is shown for the first time. Because different subspaces contain signals with different frequency subbands, the fine filtering property enhances the ability of the proposed approach to identify not only the modes with strong modal interference, but also many modes from the responses of very few measured degrees of freedom. The proposed approach is validated by processing the numerically simulated responses of a seven-floor shear building, which has closely spaced modes, with considering the effects of noise and incomplete measurements. Furthermore, the present approach is employed to process the velocity responses of an eight-storey steel frame subjected to white noise input in a shaking table test and ambient vibration responses of a cable-stayed bridge.

The success of newly recruited medical school department chairs has become increasingly important for achievement of organizational goals. An effective onboarding program for these chairs can greatly facilitate early success, as well as satisfaction of the new hire with the position and the school. Onboarding programs can include traditional orientation items such as payroll signup and parking details, but should focus heavily on sharing organizational structure, culture, and how things get done. The goals of onboarding will be well served by implementation of three roles in the process. An Orientation Navigator can assist the new chair in the orientation phase, completing new employee documents and navigating the day-to-day challenges of working at the location. A Peer Mentor, generally a sitting chair, serves as both "buddy" and mentor, providing moral support as well as ensuring that the new chair gains an understanding of the people and processes important for getting things done. A Transition Mentor serves over a longer term as a sounding board and coach outside the peer group, assisting in a variety of ways to promote the chair's growth, development, and success as a leader. Finally, any onboarding process is significantly compromised without the active participation of the dean, meeting regularly with the chair to clarify expectations, promote assimilation, and solve problems. Successful onboarding begins with a mindfulness of the needs of the newly hired chair, and a well-designed and well-implemented plan will have wide-ranging benefits for the chair and the organization.

The transcriptional repressor Slug is best known to control epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and promote cancer invasion/metastasis. In this study, we demonstrate that Slug is temporally regulated during cell cycle progression. At G1/S transition, cyclin E-cyclin-dependent kinase 2 mediates the phosphorylation of Slug at Ser-54 and Ser-104, resulting in its ubiquitylation and degradation. Non-phosphorylatable Slug is markedly stabilized at G1/S transition compared with wild-type Slug and greatly leads to downregulation of DNA synthesis and checkpoint-related proteins, including TOP1, DNA Ligase IV and Rad17, reduces cell proliferation, delays S-phase progression and contributes to genome instability. Our results indicate that Slug has multifaceted roles in cancer progression by controlling both EMT and genome stability.

In a general k-level uncapacitated facility location problem (k-GLUFLP), we are given a set of demand points, denoted by D, where clients are located. Facilities have to be located at a given set of potential sites, which is denoted by F in order to serve the clients. Each client needs to be served by a chain of k different facilities. The problem is to determine some sites of F to be set up and to find an assignment of each client to a chain of k facilities so that the sum of the setup costs and the shipping costs is minimized. In this paper, for a fixed k, an approximation algorithm within a factor of 3 of the optimum cost is presented for k-GLUFLP under the assumption that the shipping costs satisfy the properties of metric space. In addition, when no fixed cost is charged for setting up the facilities and k=2, we show that the problem is strong NP-complete and the constant approximation factor is further sharpen to be 3/2 by a simple algorithm. Furthermore, it is shown that this ratio analysis is tight.

International audience; The Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) is a large-scale double beta decay experiment utilizing cryogenic bolometers that is currently being commissioned at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS) in Italy. Its primary focus is to search for the neutrinoless double beta decay of 130Te with a projected sensitivity to Majorana neutrino masses near the inverted mass hierarchy region. The detector is composed of 988 5x5x5-cm3 TeO2 crystals of natural isotopic composition arranged in 19 towers of 52 crystals each, all housed in a common dilution refrigerator. A single CUORE-like tower, CUORE-0, was assembled and operated as a stand-alone detector for a period of approximately two years. In this report, the results from CUORE-0 and the current status and physics potential of CUORE are presented.

Direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs) represent the standard of care for patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Combining DAAs with different mechanisms may allow for shorter treatment durations that are effective across multiple genotypes. The aim of the C-SWIFT study was to identify the minimum effective treatment duration across multiple genotypes. C-SWIFT was an open-label, single-center trial in treatment-naive patients with chronic HCV genotype (GT)1 or 3 infection. All patients received elbasvir (EBR) 50 mg/grazoprevir (GZR) 100 mg with sofosbuvir (SOF) 400 mg for 4-12 weeks. Patients with GT1 infection who failed therapy were eligible for retreatment with EBR/GZR+SOF and ribavirin for 12 weeks. The primary efficacy endpoint was sustained virological response [SVR]12 (SVR of HCV RNA