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Objective: This research aimed to explore the changes in the observed abdominal sagging index (ASI) and reproductive performance of Roman male and female geese during the breeding period.Methods: The 339 six-month-old breeding geese (109 male; 230 female) were used in this study, in which five male and five female geese were slaughtered on a monthly basis to record the ASI.Results: The short diameter of the testes of the male goose when the female goose lays eggs and in the second, third, and fourth months was significantly wider than in the fifth months (19.0, 20.8, 21.4, and 19.6 vs 12.7 and 14.0 mm/bird; p = 0.0105). On the other hand, the testicular weight of the male goose in the second and third months after the female goose lays eggs was significantly higher than that in the second and fifth months after laying (0.33% and 0.37% vs 0.11% and 0.19%; p = 0.0212). During the exploring period, the length and weight of the fallopian tube, the weight of the ovary, the number of follicles in 2 to 3 cm, the number of follicles in 3 to 4 cm, the fallopian tube weight in the carcass weight percentage, and the ovary weight in the carcass weight percentage all demonstrated a significant curve response. Further, female ASI was positively correlated with reproductive tract length (r = 0.815; p

Protein kinase C‐related kinase 1 (PRK1) or PKN is a protease and lipid activated protein kinase that acted downstream of the RhoA or Rac1 pathway. PRK1 comprises a unique regulatory domain and a PKC homologous kinase domain. The regulatory domain of PRK1 consists of homologous region −1 (HR1) and −2 (HR2). PRK1‐(HR1) features a pseudosubstrate motif that overlapped with the putative cardiolipin and known RhoA binding sites. In fact, cardiolipin is the most potent lipid activator for PRK1 in respect of its either auto‐ or substrate phosphorylation activity. This study was thus aimed to characterize the binding region(s) of cardiolipin that was previously suggested for the regulatory domain of PRK1. The principal findings of this work established (i) PRK1‐(HR1) folded into an active conformation where high affinity binding sites (mainly located in HR1a subdomain) were accessible for cardiolipin binding to protect against limited Lys‐C digestion, (ii) the binding nature between acidic phospholipids and PRK1 (HR1) involved both polar and nonpolar components consistent with the amphipathic nature of the known cardiolipin‐binding motifs, (iii) identification of the molecule masses of the Lys‐C fragments of PRK1‐(HR1) complexed with cardiolipin molecule, and (iv) appreciable reductions in the secondary structural contents at 222 nm measured by circular dichroism analyses demonstrated the binding of cardiolipin elicited the disruptive effect that was most evident among all phospholipids tested, suggestive of a functional correlation between the extents of helical disruption and PRK1 activation.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can cause great damage to the elderly patients and lead to high mortality. The clinical presentations and auxiliary examinations of the elderly patients with COVID-19 are atypical, due to the physiological ageing deterioration and basal pathological state. The treatment strategy for the elderly patients has its own characteristics and treatment protocol should be considered accordingly. To improve the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of COVID-19 in the elderly, the Expert Committee of Geriatric Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, China Society of Geriatrics established the "Expert consensus for the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 in the elderly" . We focused on the clinical characteristics and key points for better treatment and prevention of COVID-19 in the elderly. (1) For diagnosis, atypical clinical presentation of COVID-19 in the elderly should be emphasized, which may be complicated by underlying disease. (2) For treatment, strategy of multiple disciplinary team (mainly the respiratory and critical care medicine) should be adopted and multiple systemic functions should be considered. (3) For prevention, health care model about integrated management of acute and chronic diseases, in and out of hospital should be applied.新型冠状病毒肺炎在老年人中病死率高、危害性大。由于增龄导致的生理功能下降及基础疾病导致的病理状态，老年新型冠状病毒肺炎的临床表现、辅助检查等具有不典型性，治疗手段和防控措施须考虑该人群的特殊性。为进一步做好老年新型冠状病毒肺炎诊治和防控工作，中国老年学和老年医学学会老年病学分会呼吸和危重病专家委员会编写了本共识，针对老年新型冠状病毒肺炎的临床特点、诊治要点提出意见建议，强调：（1）诊断应强调新型冠状病毒肺炎在老年人中的临床不典型性、基础疾病导致病情的复杂化；（2）治疗须兼顾多系统功能，实施以呼吸和危重症学科为主的多学科综合救治；（3）防控需建立"院中-院外全程照护"和"急慢性疾病一体化管理"体系，并形成常态化防控，以提高老年新型冠状病毒肺炎诊治能力和防控水平。.

Mendelian randomization (MR) approach follows the Mendel's law of inheritance, which is called "Parental alleles randomly assigned to the offspring", and refers to use genetic variants as an instrumental variable to develop causal inference between the exposure factor and the outcome from observational study. In recent years, with the rapid development of genome-wide association study (GWAS) and various omics data,the disclosure of a large number of aggregated data provides an opportunity for the wide application of MR approach in causal inference. We introduce three methods widely used in MR and then apply them to explore causal relationship between blood metabolites and depressive. The advantages and disadvantages of three methods in causal inference are compared in order to provide reference for the application of MR in observational studies.孟德尔随机化方法，遵循孟德尔遗传定律，"亲代等位基因随机分配给子代"，以遗传变异作为工具变量，以此推断观察性研究中暴露因素与研究结局的因果关联。近年来，随着全基因组关联研究（GWAS）及各种组学数据的飞速发展，大量汇总数据的公开，为孟德尔随机化方法在因果推断中的广泛应用提供契机。本文针对目前常用的三种孟德尔随机化方法进行阐述，并将其应用于探索血液代谢物与抑郁症的因果关联，比较三种方法在因果推断的优缺点，以期为孟德尔随机化在观察性研究中的应用提供参考。.

This paper reviews the status of the use of grafting in two solanaceous crops of global importance, tomato and eggplant, for the control of biotic and abiotic stresses. Flooding and soil-borne diseases cause severe crop losses of tomato during the hot and wet summer months in the lowland tropics. Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC) recommended since 2003 the use of eggplant rootstocks VI046103 (EG195) and VI045276 (EG203) for grafting tomato scions to provide a high degree of tolerance and resistance against flooding, bacterial wilt, root-knot nematodes and other soil-borne diseases. These two eggplant rootstocks and the tomato rootstock VI043614 (Hawaii 7996) are widely used in Southeast and East Asia for successful tomato production in both the tropical lowlands and highlands, providing significant economic returns to farmers. Given the rapid evolution of plant pathogens that might cause a breakdown of the limited rootstocks currently available, as well as the challenges of other abi...

We investigated the effect of phytosterols on rumen fermentation in vitro using gas syringes as incubators. Phytosterols were dissolved in ethyl acetate (8.3%) and added at various concentrations to the common diet in rumen fluid. In vitro gas production (GP) was recorded after 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 h incubation. Incubation was stopped at 6, 12, and 24 h and the inoculants were then tested for pH, dry matter digestibility (DMD), microbial protein yield (MCP), lactic acid, NH3-N, and volatile fatty acids (VFAs). GP was consistently higher than the control; particularly, treatments at 12, 18, and 24 h reached extremely significant levels (P < 0.01). Compared to the control group, the pH of ruminal fluid was slightly lower after incubation, and DMD and MCP increased with increasing phytosterol level except for the content of MCP at 6 h, which changed only minimally. Lactate was significantly lower after treatment compared to the control at 12 h (P < 0.01) and 24 h (P < 0.05), while NH3-N at 12 h (P < 0.05) and 24 h (P < 0.01) after treatment decreased significantly. Acetate, propionate, butyrate, and total VFA for all treatments were higher than those of the control, particularly for butyrate at 6 h (P < 0.01). These results suggest that phytosterols modify rumen fermentation by inhibiting released harmful products and promoting the release of beneficial product, which may be useful for improving nutrient utilization and animal health.

The attainment of the Millennium Development Goals is at severe risk, owing to rising malnutrition and high child stunting and mortality rates, greater poverty, a large increase in the incidence of noncommunicable diseases, and lack of progress in women's empowerment. Here, the role of vegetable home, school, community, and disaster recovery gardens as a pro-poor and pro-environment intervention in the developing world is reviewed. This includes the contribution of vegetable gardens in improving food and nutritional security, generating additional income, providing employment, contributing to better health, and helping to empower disadvantaged groups in society. The implications of global research in the tropics and subtropics over the last 20–30 years are assessed over a wide geographic and linguistic range. The effectiveness and sustainability of such interventions are considered in the light of their contribution to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals. Suggestions for potential new direc...

The objective of the study was to assess if long-chain alcohols (alcohols) and long-chain fatty acids (acids), along with long-chain alkanes, could be useful as markers in estimating the composition of mixtures containing herbages found in the Inner Mongolia typical steppe in China. Four herbage species, Stipa daicalensis, Stipa grandis, Artemisia frigid and Cleistogenes squarrosa, were collected during the growing season to characterize the alcohol and acid profiles of these herbages. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to examine between-species differences in terms of their patterns of alcohols, acids and alkanes. Results confirmed earlier studies that alcohols and acids with even-numbered carbon chains were predominant and the total concentrations of alcohols or acids were generally higher than those obtained for alkanes. The results of PCA indicated that different marker types provided different discriminatory information. Alcohols and alkanes provided complementary discriminatory information, resulting in the clearest separation between the four species analysed. In choosing which markers to use, the results indicate that using more marker types does not always imply better estimates of the composition of mixtures.

Interactions between glassy polymer chains and the uniformly dispersed carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in nanocomposites were investigated with surface-grafted multiwalled CNTs dispersed in two model polymer systems, polystyrene (PS) and poly(phenylene oxide) (PPO), representing respectively brittle and ductile polymers. Although significant mechanical reinforcement in the both systems was observed, drastically different microscopic interactions, engendered from variations in the fundamental behavior of entangled chains, were noted during the nanoplastic flow of crazing or shear yielding in the nanocomposites. As revealed by a local stress analysis based on atomic force microscopy, “extensibility” of the entanglement network determines not only the mode of deformation leading to either crazing or shear yielding but also how the stretched chains interact with individual nanotubes. The results bear important implications on our understanding toward the fundamental behavior of entangled macromolecules in the glassy ...

In this paper, we establish existence theorems of quasivariational inclusion problems; from them, we establish existence theorems of mathematical programs with quasivariational inclusion constraint, bilevel problems, mathematical programs with equilibrium constraint and semi-infinite problems.

Raman, X-ray diffraction and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) measurements of x Ba(Ni 1/3 Ta 2/3 )O 3 + (1 − x )Ba(Mg 1/3 Ta 2/3 )O 3 samples with x = 0–0.03 were performed to reveal the nickel doping effect on the microwave properties. EXAFS result clearly shows that the nickel is located on the Mg lattice site. We also found that, as the nickel concentration increases, microwave dielectric constant decreases with the Ta O and Ni O bond distances. X-ray diffraction shows that the 1:2 ordered structure is degraded with the increasing of nickel concentration. The stretching phonon of the TaO 6 octahedra, that is A 1g (O) phonon near 800 cm −1 , are strongly correlated to the microwave properties of x Ba(Ni 1/3 Mg 2/3 )O 3 + (1 − x )Ba(Mg 1/3 Ta 2/3 )O 3 samples. The large Raman shift and the large width of the A 1g (O) imply rigid but distorted oxygen octahedral structure, therefore, the effect of nickel doping lowers the dielectric constant and the Q × f value of Ba(Mg 1/3 Ta 2/3 )O 3 ceramic.

Five Ba(Co 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 samples sintered at different temperatures (form 1350 to 1550 °C), one Ba(Mg 1/3 Ta 2/3 )O 3 and a Ba(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 sample were examined by Raman scattering to reveal the correlation of the 1:2 ordered perovskite structure with the microwave properties, such as dielectric constant and Q factors. The Ba(Co 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 sample sintered at 1400 °C, which possesses the highest microwave Q value and the lowest dielectric constant among five Ba(Co 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 samples, has the narrowest width and the highest frequency of the stretch mode of oxygen octahedron (i.e. A 1g (O) near 800 cm −1 ). We found that the dielectric constant is strongly correlated with the Raman shift of A 1g (O) stretch modes, and the width of A 1g (O) stretch mode reflects the quality factor Q × f value in the 1:2 ordered perovskite materials. This concludes that the oxygen octahedron play an important role of the material's microwave performance. Based on the results of Q × f values and the lineshapes of A 1g (O) stretch mode, we found that the propagation of microwave energy in Ba(Mg 1/3 Ta 2/3 )O 3 and Ba(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 shows weak damping behavior, however, Ba(Co 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 samples sintered at different temperature exhibit heavily damped behavior.

SummaryThe aim of this study was to identify immunoreactive domains on human ribosomal P0, P1 and P2 proteins, other than the C-22 peptide, to develop a novel ELISA using a combination of these proteins and to compare this ELISA with one using the C-22 peptide. Human recombinant P0, P1, P2 and mutant P0 lacking the homologous C-22 peptide (N-P0) were produced in bacteria and tested by ELISA and immunoblotting using sera from 48 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), 48 with an unrelated inflammatory disorder (Crohn's disease) and 47 healthy controls. ELISA with P0, P1 and P2, premixed at equimolar concentrations, gave higher OD readings than each protein tested individually. Eighteen SLE sera tested positive by ELISA with premixed P0, P1, P2 but only 3 tested positive with the C-22 peptide. Twenty-two SLE sera reacted positively, as determined by immunoblotting, with 5 different P protein combinations: P1P2, P0P1P2, P1, P0P1, P0 and P1. Only sera reactive with all three P proteins reacted with the C-22 peptide, with absent or minimal reactivity with N-P0. Native antigens yielded sensitivity (6/48, 13%) similar to the C-22 peptide assay. An ELISA with premixed P1 and P2 gave higher OD values than the arithmetic means with P1 or P2. Fifteen SLE patients had antibodies to double stranded (ds)-DNA, of which 6 also had antibodies to P0P1P2 by ELISA but 12 reactive with P0P1P2 did not have discernable ds-DNA antibodies. Ribosomal P autoantibodies react mainly with epitopes N-terminal to a homologous C-22 peptide. An ELISA with premixed P0, P1 and P2 has 5-fold greater sensitivity (38%) for SLE than an assay with the conventional C-22 peptide (7%). The combined sensitivity for SLE for antibodies to P0P1P2 and ds-DNA is 56%, higher than C-22 and ds-DNA, 38%. Only one of the SLE patients had neuropsychiatric lupus.

The secondary structure of the C-terminal fragment (10 kDa) of rat hsc70 (a. a. #546–646) was analyzed according to circular dichroism spectra. In the pH range 5–9 and at concentrations of Na+ up to 0.18 M, the protein is estimated to contain 32-34% a helix, 18–16% of β sheet, approximately 25% for both turns and disordered structures. This protein is most stable at pH between 6 and 7 in solution with 0.055 M Na+ concentration. However, all Tm are relatively large (57–73 °C) and alterations from one condition to another are small. Thus, the C-fragment (10 kDa) of hsc70 is a stably folded protein under physiological conditions.

It has recently been reported that thin films of perfluoropolyethers can be bonded to a variety of substrates under illumination with 185-nm ultraviolet light. In the present work, the authors examine the mechanism through which the bonding of the perfluoropolyethers to the substrate takes place. The perfluoropolyethers undergo dissociative electron attachment caused by photoelectrons that are generated by the interaction of the ultraviolet light with the substrate. This dissociative electron attachment results in the formation of a negative ion and a radical. It is suggested that subsequent radical propagation and termination steps then cross-link the perfluoropolyether and bond it to the substrate. >

The first case of Q fever in Taiwan was reported in 1993. The disease is considered to be emerging in Taiwan, but the route of transmission has remained unclear. The annual number of confirmed Q fever cases has been increasing up to more than 100 cases since 2005, comparing with less than 30 before 2003. The purpose of this study was to determine the seroprevalence and risk factors of Coxiella burnetii infection in veterinary-associated populations in southern Taiwan. A total of 228 serum samples of high risk individuals engaging in veterinary-related work or animal-farm work, were collected between March and June in 2007. The study individuals were interviewed by a structured questionnaire designed for Q fever investigation. Serum samples from different animal species were also obtained for Q fever analysis in the same study areas. Serological test was conducted by indirect immunofluorescence antibody assay (IFA). The result demonstrated the overall seroprevalence of Q fever was 26.3% in individuals engaging in veterinary and animal-related work in southern Taiwan. After multiple logistic regression analysis, goat exposure was significantly associated with seropositivity of Q fever in the study population in southern Taiwan (adjusted odds ratio: 2.62; 95% CI: 1.06-6.46). In addition, the highest seroprevalence (43.8%) of Q fever was identified in goats (P0.05). Finally, this study documented that people with prior knowledge of Q fever were less likely to be seropositive for C. burnetii. It was concluded that goat exposure was the most important risk factor associated with C. burnetii infection and appropriate health education could be useful to prevent high risk individuals from the infection in southern Taiwan.

An experimental Mandarin dictation machine for inputting Mandarin speech (spoken Chinese language) into computers is described. Because of the special characteristics of the Chinese language, syllables are chosen as the basic units for dictation. The machine is designed based on a hierarchical language recognition approach in which acoustic signals are first recognized as a sequence of syllables, possible word hypotheses are then formed from the syllables, and the complete sentences are finally obtained. This approach is implemented by two subsystems. The first recognizes the syllables using speech signal processing techniques, the second subsystem then identifies the exact characters from the syllable and corrects the errors in syllable recognition. The detailed syllable recognition algorithms, word formation rules, parser, grammar, and the syntactic checking algorithms are described. With newspaper text in the form of isolated syllables as input, the preliminary test results indicate that such a dictation machine is not only practically attractive, but technically feasible. >

It is shown how reinforcement learning can be made practical for complex problems by introducing hierarchical learning. The agent at first learns elementary skills for solving elementary problems. To learn a new skill for solving a complex problem later on, the agent can ignore the low-level details and focus on the problem of coordinating the elementary skills it has developed. A physically-realistic mobile robot simulator is used to demonstrate the success and importance of hierarchical learning. For fast learning, artificial neural networks are used to generalize experiences, and a teaching technique is employed to save many learning trials of the simulated robot. >

The design and implementation of the task control architecture (TCA), a general-purpose framework plus facilities for building and controlling mobile robots, are presented. TCA is designed to support capabilities needed by many autonomous mobile robot systems, including concurrent planning, execution, and perception; reacting to changes in the environment; error recovery; and handling multiple tasks. The facilities that TCA provides for implementing these capabilities, including distributed processing, explicit representation and manipulation of hierarchical plans, concurrent monitoring of selected conditions, and context-dependent exception handling, are described, along with a mobile manipulator that uses the architecture to operate with multiple goals in a dynamic and uncertain environment. TCA has been implemented and is used to run several mobile robot testbeds. >

The clinical profiles of infective endocarditis (IE) might have changed in recent years, owing to the advent of transesophageal echocardiography, the introduction of new diagnostic criteria, and the increased frequency of intravenous drug abuse. In this retrospective study, we sought to identify factors affecting the in-hospital outcome of IE patients in a single tertiary referral center in the 1990s (1990-1997). Eighty-eight episodes of IE in 80 consecutive patients admitted from January 1990 through June 1997 were evaluated. Clinical variables that were significantly associated with in-hospital mortality in univariate analyses were entered into a multiple logistic regression model. A total of 22 patients (25%) died. Fatal episodes were significantly more likely than non-fatal episodes to involve older patients (or = 50 years), use of coumadin, short interval between symptom onset and hospitalization (15 days), noncardiac shock, and complications of the heart, central nervous system, and kidneys. White blood cell counts and C-reactive protein concentrations were also significantly higher in fatal than in non-fatal episodes of IE. Multivariate analysis showed that in-hospital mortality was associated with noncardiac shock, neurological complications, cardiac complications, and older age (or = 50 years). Compared with previous reports, our findings suggest that the clinical profiles of IE have undergone some changes in the 1990s. The most important prognostic predictors of in-hospital mortality in patients with IE were noncardiac shock and neurologic complications.

Short Doppler-derived mitral deceleration time of early filling has been proved to be an independent predictor of poor prognosis in patients with left ventricular dysfunction. However, the prognostic value of Doppler-derived mitral deceleration time in postinfarction patients without overt left ventricular dysfunction is poorly understood. A total of 27 survivors of acute myocardial infarction with left ventricular ejection fractions of 35% or more, as determined by radionuclide ventriculography, were prospectively studied. Doppler study was performed 5 to 7 days after the index infarction. The patients were divided into two groups. Group A included 10 patients whose mitral deceleration time was 125 msec or less and group B consisted of 17 patients whose mitral deceleration time was 125 msec or more. The two groups were similar in terms of age and gender distribution and there were no statistically significant differences in coronary risk factors, peak creatine kinase concentration, location of infarction, Killip classification, thrombolytic therapy, left ventricular ejection fraction, or medications. After a mean follow-up period of 30 months, the rate of congestive heart failure (New York Heart Association, NYHA, class II or above) was significantly higher in group A (5/10) than in group B (1/17) (p0.01). These results suggest that a short mitral deceleration time could be a useful early predictor of the potential development of future congestive heart failure in postinfarction patients with left ventricular ejection fractions of 35% or more.

Pulmonary embolism can be a catastrophic event leading to early death or serious hemodynamic instability. Thrombolytic therapy, in addition to heparin therapy, may improve the clinical condition and reduce the chance of recurrent pulmonary embolism in some cases. However, the acceptable "time window" for thrombolytic therapy is not well documented, though it has been used successfully as late as 14 days after pulmonary embolism. Successful delayed thrombolytic therapy beyond this "time window" in patients with massive pulmonary embolism has not been reported. We report a case of massive pulmonary embolism in which thrombolytic therapy was delayed more than 1 month after symptom onset. A 56-year-old woman was taken to National Cheng Kung University Hospital because of an episode of recurrent syncope, followed by progressive shortness of breath of 1 month's duration. Hypoxemia and hemodynamic instability were noted on admission. Echocardiography and a lung perfusion scan provided strong evidence of pulmonary embolism. Subsequent pulmonary angiography confirmed the diagnosis of multiple pulmonary emboli. The patient received a standard dose of intravenous tissue plasminogen activator 7 days after admission because of persistent symptoms and hypoxemia. Her clinical condition dramatically improved after treatment. Follow-up imaging studies showed resolution of the emboli. She was discharged in good condition. This case suggests that delayed thrombolytic therapy in patients with massive pulmonary embolism can still be beneficial in selected cases, even if given more than 2 weeks after symptom onset.

Amebic pericarditis is an extremely rare complication of liver abscess and an uncommon etiology of sterile pericardial effusion with cardiac tamponade. The association of mediastinal abscess in this clinical setting has not been reported in the literature. Herein, we describe a case of amebic liver abscess complicated with mediastinal abscess and amebic pericarditis with cardiac tamponade. A 44-year-old man was admitted to our hospital because of shortness of breath for the previous 2 days. Cardiac tamponade was diagnosed and emergency pericardiectomy was performed. Chocolate-like pus was found in the pericardial sac and mediastinal space during surgery. Abdominal computed tomography revealed an ill-defined hypodense lesion over the left lobe of the liver, suggesting a liver abscess. Amebic liver abscess and pericarditis were diagnosed on the basis of a high serum titer of amebic antibodies on hemagglutination test. The patient was treated with metronidazole for 2 weeks and discharged in good condition. This case should alert clinicians to the possibility of amebic pericarditis in patients with cardiac tamponade associated with chocolate-like sterile pus in the pericardium and mediastinum. To establish the diagnosis of amebic pericarditis, one should investigate the presence of a liver abscess, a high serum titer of amebic hemagglutination antibodies, and the presence of Entamoeba histolytica trophozoites in the pericardium or pericardial aspirate.

A prospective study was designed to investigate potential changes of left atrial (LA) spontaneous echo contrast with time and the effects of antithrombotic therapy on its presence in 77 patients with chronic nonrheumatic atrial fibrillation (AF), using serial transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). During a mean follow-up period of 20 +/- 15 months (range 6 to 77), a total of 197 TEE studies were performed in these patients. Baseline TEE revealed that LA spontaneous echo contrast was absent in 43 patients (group 1) and present in 34 (group 2). LA thrombus was found in 8 of group 2 but in none of the group 1 patients. During the follow-up period, only 2 of the group 1 patients were receiving antithrombotic agents; the patients in group 2 without LA thrombus were treated with either warfarin or aspirin, whereas those with LA thrombus were treated with warfarin. On the latest TEE study, LA spontaneous echo contrast was observed in 19 of the group 1 patients (44%) and was persistently found in all of the group 2 patients. During the study period, no patient was found to develop new LA thrombus formation and only 4 episodes of transient ischemic attack were recorded in 4 patients (embolic event rate = 3.1% per year). Of these, 2 were observed in group 1 and the remaining 2 were from group 2 and under aspirin therapy (event rate = 2.2% and 4.7% per year, respectively). In the subgroup of patients with LA thrombus receiving warfarin therapy, follow-up TEE revealed complete resolution of the thrombi in 6 and partial resolution in the remaining 2 in spite of the persistence of LA spontaneous echo contrast; none of these patients developed clinical thromboembolic events during the study period. Thus, future occurrence of LA spontaneous echo contrast could be observed by serial TEE at a substantial rate in patients with nonrheumatic AF who have no LA spontaneous echo contrast; follow-up TEE should be recommended for these patients to detect early the potential occurrence of LA spontaneous echo contrast if preventive antithrombotic therapy is not considered. Although warfarin therapy is associated with resolution of LA thrombus, neither warfarin nor aspirin is effective for suppressing the presence of LA spontaneous echo contrast in nonrheumatic AF.

Arsenic is a ubiquitous element in nature and mainly transported in the environment by water. The general population is exposed to inorganic and organic arsenic through air, water, food and beverages. Inorganic forms of arsenic are much more toxic than the organic ones. Elevated arsenic exposure through ingestion has been observed among patients treated with arsenic-containing drugs, people who drank high-arsenic well water, and vintners who consumed arsenic-contaminated wine. Workers involved in the processing of copper, gold and lead ores; in the production and use of arsenic-containing pesticides; in the manufacturing of glass, semiconductors, and various pharmaceutical substances; in using arsenic as pigments and dyes; and in chimney-sweeping may have high exposure to air-borne inorganic arsenic (World Health Organization, 1981). Most inhaled and ingested inorganic arsenic is well absorbed through the gastrointestinal tract and lungs into the bloodstream. The absorbed inorganic arsenic is widely distributed in a number of organs, converted by the liver to less toxic methylated forms, and efficiently excreted in urine (Vahter, 1994; Buchet and Lauwerys, 1987).

A thin layer of iron coating and subsequent post-annealing (Fe-coating/post-annealing) is seen to significantly enhance the electron field emission (EFE) properties of ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) films. The best EFE properties, with a turn on field (E0) of 1.98 V/μm and current density (Je) of 705 μA/cm2 at 7.5 V/μm, are obtained for the films, which were Fe-coated/post-annealed at 900 °C in H2 atmosphere. The mechanism behind the enhanced EFE properties of Fe coated/post-annealed UNCD films are explained by the microstructural analysis which shows formation of nanographitic phase surrounding the Fe (or Fe3C) nanoparticles. The role of the nanographitic phase in improving the emission sites of Fe coated/post-annealed UNCD films is clearly revealed by the current imaging tunneling spectroscopy (CITS) images. The CITS images clearly show significant increase in emission sites in Fe-coated/post-annealed UNCD films than the as-deposited one. Enhanced emission sites are mostly seen around the boundaries of the Fe (or Fe3C) nanoparticles which were formed due to the Fe-coating/post-annealing processes. Moreover, the Fe-coating/post-annealing processes enhance the EFE properties of UNCD films more than that on the microcrystalline diamond films. The authentic factor, resulting in such a phenomenon, is attributed to the unique granular structure of the UNCD films. The nano-sized and uniformly distributed grains of UNCD films, resulted in markedly smaller and densely populated Fe-clusters, which, in turn, induced more finer and higher populated nano-graphite clusters.

In DNA or RNA duplexes, the six-bond C3'-O3'-P-O5'-C5'-C4'-C3' backbone linkage connecting adjacent residues contains six torsion angles (epsilon, zeta, alpha, beta, gamma, delta) but only four protons. This seriously limits the ability to define the backbone conformation by NMR using purely 1H-1H distance geometry (DG) methods. The problem is further compounded by the inability to assign two of the four backbone protons, namely the poorly resolved H5' and H5'' protons, and invariably leads to DG structures with poorly defined backbone conformations. We have developed and tested a reliable method to constrain the beta, gamma, and epsilon (and indirectly alpha and zeta) backbone torsion angles by lower-bound NOE distances to unassigned H5'/H5'' resonances combined with either 1H line widths or the conservative use of sigma J measurements; the method relies only on 1H 2-D NMR data, does not involve any structural assumptions, and leads to much improved backbone convergence among DG structures. The C4'-C5' torsion angle gamma is constrained by lower-bound NOE distances from H2' and from H6/H8 to any H5'/H5'', as well as by sigma JH4, coupling measurements in the 3.9-4.4 ppm region; delta is constrained by H1'-H4' NOE distances and by H3'-H4' and H3'-H2'' J couplings in COSY data; epsilon is partially constrained by H3' line width and/or further constrained by subtracting the minimum possible sigma JH3'-H from the observed sigma JH3' (COSY) to arrive at the maximum possible JH3'-P, which is then converted to H3'-P distance bounds. The angle beta is partially constrained via H5'-P and H5''-P distance bounds consistent with the maximum H5'-P and H5''-P J couplings derived from the observed H5' and H5'' line widths, while alpha and zeta are indirectly constrained by lower distance bounds on the observed (n)H1' to (n + 1)H5'/H5'' NOEs combined with the prior partial constraints on beta, gamma, delta, and epsilon. The combined effects of these additional constraints in determining distance geometry structures have been demonstrated using a 12-base duplex, [d(GCCGTTAACGGC)]2. Coordinate RMSDs per atom between structures refined with these constraints from random-embedded DG structures, from ideal A-DNA, and from B-DNA starting structures were less than 0.4 A for the central 8 base pairs indicating good convergence. All backbone angles for the central 8 base pairs are very well constrained with less than 10 degrees variation in any of the 48 torsion angles.

The dipyridamole thallium-201 single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and resting gated blood pool ventriculography were sequentially conducted in 31 consecutive patients with angiographically proven coronary artery disease. The functional significance of various thallium redistribution patterns was assessed. The patients with an entirely complete (CR) or partial (PR) redistribution pattern had a higher global left ventricular ejection fraction than those with combined PR and no redistribution (NR), while patients with an entirely CR pattern did not have a statistically better ejection fraction than those with PR. Furthermore, myocardial segments with normal perfusion (N) and those with CR or PR had a higher regional ejection fraction than those with NR in the infero-apical area and the septal area. The regional ejection fraction was statistically higher in patients with CR than in those with PR in the septal area and higher, though not statistically significant, in the infero-apical area. The functional difference between groups with N and CR was not significant. Thus, we conclude that the redistribution patterns of dipyridamole thallium SPECT are closely correlated with systole function. Myocardium, in the presence of redistribution, will have a better functional performance in coronary artery disease.