Anion-Dependent Construction of Two Hexanuclear 3D-4F Complexes with a Flexible Schiff Base Ligand

Two hexanuclear 3d-4f Ni-Eu and Cu-Eu complexes [Eu4Ni2L2(OAc)(12)(EtOH)(2)] (1) and [Eu4Cu2L2(OAc)(12)]center dot 2H(2)O (2) are reported which are formed from the salen type Schiff-base ligand H2L (H2L = N,N'-bis(3-methoxysalicylidene)butane-1,4-diamine). In both complexes, four Eu3+ cations are bridged by eight OAc- groups and the chain is terminated at each end by two ML (M = Ni and Cu) units. The structures of 1 and 2 were determined by single crystal X-ray crystallographic studies and the luminescence properties of the free ligand and metal complexes in solution were measured.HHMI Undergraduate Science Education Award 52005907National Science Foundation CHE-0629136, CHE-0741973, CHE-0847763Welch Foundation F-1631, F-816Hong Kong Baptist University FRG/06-07/II-16Hong Kong Research Grants Council HKBU 202407Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD)Open Foundation of Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Fine Petrochemical Technology KF1005UT-CNM and UT-AustinChemistr

Annexin II-binding immunoglobulins in patients with lupus nephritis and their correlation with disease manifestations

Correspondence: Tak Mao Chan ([email protected]) and Susan Yung ([email protected]) Annexin II on mesangial cell surface mediates the binding of anti-dsDNA antibodies and consequent downstream inflammatory and fibrotic processes. We investigated the clinical relevance of circulating annexin II-binding immunoglobulins (Igs) in patients with severe proliferative lupus nephritis, and renal annexin II expression in relation to progression of nephritis in New Zealand Black and White F1 mice (NZBWF1/J) mice. Annexin II-binding Igs in serum were measured by ELISA. Ultrastructural localization of annexin II was determined by electron microscopy. Seropositivity rates for annexin II-binding IgG and IgM in patients with active lupus nephritis were significantly higher compared with controls (8.9%, 1.3% and 0.9% for annexin II-binding IgG and 11.1%, 4.0% and 1.9% for annexin II-binding IgM for patients with active lupus nephritis, patients with non-lupus renal disease and healthy subjects respectively). In lupus patients, annexin II-binding IgM level was higher at disease flare compared with remission. Annexin II-binding IgG and IgM levels were associated with that of anti-dsDNA and disease activity. Annexin II-binding IgG and IgM levels correlated with histological activity index in lupus nephritis biopsy samples. In NZBWF1/J mice, serum annexin II-binding IgG and IgM levels and glomerular annexin II and p11 expression increased with progression of active nephritis. Annexin II expression was present on mesangial cell surface and in the mesangial matrix, and co-localized with electron-dense deposits along the glomerular basement membrane. Our results show that circulating annexin II-binding IgG and IgM levels are associated with clinical and histological disease activity in proliferative lupus nephritis. The co-localization of annexin II and p11 expression with immune deposition in the kidney suggests pathogenic relevance

Are large clinical trials in orthopaedic trauma justified?

© 2018 The Author(s). Background: The objective of this analysis is to evaluate the necessity of large clinical trials using FLOW trial data. Methods: The FLOW pilot study and definitive trial were factorial trials evaluating the effect of different irrigation solutions and pressures on re-operation. To explore treatment effects over time, we analyzed data from the pilot and definitive trial in increments of 250 patients until the final sample size of 2447 patients was reached. At each increment we calculated the relative risk (RR) and associated 95% confidence interval (CI) for the treatment effect, and compared the results that would have been reported at the smaller enrolments with those seen in the final, adequately powered study. Results: The pilot study analysis of 89 patients and initial incremental enrolments in the FLOW definitive trial favored low pressure compared to high pressure (RR: 1.50, 95% CI: 0.75-3.04; RR: 1.39, 95% CI: 0.60-3.23, respectively), which is in contradiction to the final enrolment, which found no difference between high and low pressure (RR: 1.04, 95% CI: 0.81-1.33). In the soap versus saline comparison, the FLOW pilot study suggested that re-operation rate was similar in both the soap and saline groups (RR: 0.98, 95% CI: 0.50-1.92), whereas the FLOW definitive trial found that the re-operation rate was higher in the soap treatment arm (RR: 1.28, 95% CI: 1.04-1.57). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that studies with smaller sample sizes would have led to erroneous conclusions in the management of open fracture wounds. Trial registration: NCT01069315 (FLOW Pilot Study) Date of Registration: February 17, 2010, NCT00788398 (FLOW Definitive Trial) Date of Registration: November 10, 2008

Nine ways to implement the binomial method for option valuation in MATLAB

In the context ofa real-life application that is of interest to many students, we illustrate how the choices made in translating an algorithm into a high-level computer code can affect the execution time. More precisely, we give nine MATLAB programs that implement the binomial method for valuing a European put option. The first program is a straightforward translation of the pseudocode in Figure 10.4 of The Mathematics of Financial Derivatives, by P. Wilmott, S. Howison, and J. Dewynne, Cambridge University Press, 1995. Four variants of this program are then presented that improve the efficiency by avoiding redundant computation, vectorizing, and accessing subarrays via MATLAB's colon notation. We then consider reformulating the problem via a binomial coefficient expansion. Here, a straightforward implementation is seen to be improved by vectorizing, avoiding overflow and underflow, and exploiting sparsity. Overall, the fastest of the binomial method programs has an execution time that is within a factor 2 of direct evaluation of the Black--Scholes formula. One of the vectorized versions is then used as the basis for a program that values an American put option. The programs show how execution times in MATLAB can be dramatically reduced by using high-level operations on arrays rather than computing with individual components, a principle that applies in many scientific computing environments. The relevant files are downloadable from the World Wide Web

Innovation in Hong Kong construction

published_or_final_versionabstractReal Estate and ConstructionMasterMaster of Science in Construction Project Managemen

The environmental improvement due to the relocation of base load gas production plant from Ma Tau Kok to Tai Po industrial estate

published_or_final_versionEnvironmental ManagementMasterMaster of Science in Environmental Managemen

Large-eddy simulation and wind tunnel study of flow over an up-hill slope in a complex terrain

This study examines the accuracy of large-eddy simulation (LES) to simulate the flow around a large irregular sloping complex terrain. Typically, real built up environments are surrounded by complex terrain geometries with many features. The complex terrain surrounding The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology campus was modelled and the flow over an uphill slope was simulated. The simulated results, including mean velocity profiles and turbulence intensities, were compared with the flow characteristics measured in a wind tunnel model test. Given the size of the domain and the corresponding constraints on the resolution of the simulation, the mean velocity components within the boundary layer flow, especially in the stream-wise direction were found to be reasonably well replicated by the LES. The turbulence intensity values were found to differ from the wind tunnel results in the building recirculation zones, mostly due to the constraints placed on spatial and temporal resolutions. Based on the validated mean velocity profile results, the flow-structure interactions around these buildings and the surrounding terrain were examined

Large-eddy simulation and wind tunnel study of flow over an up-hill slope in a complex terrain

This study examines the accuracy of large-eddy simulation (LES) to simulate the flow around a large irregular sloping complex terrain. Typically, real built up environments are surrounded by complex terrain geometries with many features. The complex terrain surrounding The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology campus was modelled and the flow over an uphill slope was simulated. The simulated results, including mean velocity profiles and turbulence intensities, were compared with the flow characteristics measured in a wind tunnel model test. Given the size of the domain and the corresponding constraints on the resolution of the simulation, the mean velocity components within the boundary layer flow, especially in the stream-wise direction were found to be reasonably well replicated by the LES. The turbulence intensity values were found to differ from the wind tunnel results in the building recirculation zones, mostly due to the constraints placed on spatial and temporal resolutions. Based on the validated mean velocity profile results, the flow-structure interactions around these buildings and the surrounding terrain were examined