Computergestützte Analyse und Hit-Songwriting

From USC & GS chart 4273; Surveyed in 1907; Details at Hondagua by Manila R.R. Co

Sequential improvement in paediatric medulloblastoma outcomes in a low-and-middle-income country setting over three decades

Background: Medulloblastoma (MB) is the commonest malignant brain tumour of childhood. Accurate clinical data for paediatric MB in the LMIC setting is lacking. Sequential improvements in outcome seen in high income countries are yet to be reflected in LMIC. Aim: Quantification of paediatric MB outcomes in the LMIC setting over three decades of advances in multidisciplinary intervention. Setting: Cape Town, South Africa Methods: This was a retrospective study of 136 children with MB diagnosed between 1985 and 2015. Modified Chang criteria were used for risk stratification. The primary study objective was overall survival (OS), quantified by analysis of epidemiological, clinical and pathological data. Results: OS improved significantly during the most recent decade (2005-2015) when compared with the preceding two decades (1985-1995 and 1995-2005). Despite reduced dose craniospinal irradiation for standard risk cases, OS was significantly greater than during the preceding two decades. High-risk disease was identified in 71.4% of cases and was associated with significantly inferior OS compared with standard risk cases. Improved OS was positively correlated with therapeutic era, 3-D conformal radiotherapy technique, older age at diagnosis, classic and desmoplastic histology, extent of resection and absence of leptomeningeal spread on imaging. Conclusion: Advances in multidisciplinary management of MB in our combined service are associated with improved survival. Access to improved imaging modalities, advances in surgical techniques, increased number of patients receiving risk-adapted combination chemo- and/or radiotherapy as well as craniospinal irradiation using a linear accelerator with 3D planning, are considered as contributing factors

The Effects of Acute Ammonia Toxicity on Certain Blood Chemistries in Sheep

Protein has always been in short supply in the world. This will be even more evident when the world’s population reaches the projected 5.8 billion by the year 2000. Rosenfeld noted that not only will there be more mouths to feed, but there is also a decrease in cropland due to increased housing and industry. For these reasons, along with the monetary benefits, urea has been added to feeds for ruminants to prevent the waste of valuable protein. The Board on Agriculture and Renewable Resources cited several factors which may cause urea toxicity to develop: (1) lack of an adequate adaption period to urea-containing diets, suggesting that it was important to start feeding urea at low levels and increase gradually over a period of several days, especially if high levels of urea are fed; (2) fasting prior to urea consumption; (3) the feeding or urea in diets composed primarily of poor-quality roughages; (4) the feeding of diets that promote a high pH in ruminal fluid; and (5) low water intake. Errors in formulation and improper mixing of urea with other diet ingredients are probably the major factors causing urea toxicity in the feeding of ruminants. Toxicity occurs when excess ammonia produced by hydrolysis of urea accumulates in body fluids and tissues. Symptoms of acute ammonia toxicity in the ruminant appear to be progressive as follows: the animal becomes nervous and uneasy, salivates excessively, and demonstrates muscular tremors: these symptoms are followed by incoordination, respiratory difficulty, frequent urination and defecation; the front legs begin to stiffen, and the animal becomes prostrate; violent struggling, bellowing and terminal tetanic spasms occur on most animals; the jugular pulse is marked, and bloating is common; death occurs within 0.5 to 2.5 hours after the initial symptoms are observed. Treatment for urea toxicity is usually effective if applied before tetanic spasms occur. Therefore, it is important to be able to correctly diagnose toxicity. Blood ammonia levels can be used as a diagnostic tool but are difficult to determine. The purpose of this study was to measure the changes occurring in certain blood chemistries during acute ammonia intoxification. It was hoped that this study would provide information which would provide rapid diagnosis and a more effective treatment of urea toxicity. This information may also be used to develop more effective ways to use urea supplements, and therefore conserve the world’s supply of protein

Using the Web-based Cognitive Training for Children as an educational intervention: a replication study

The Web-based Cognitive Training for Children was designed to help improve 4th grade students\u27 problem-solving abilities in fractions by teaching inductive reasoning skills, especially for those who may have difficulty in acquiring skills for fractions through regular classroom instruction. The purposes of this study were to further evaluate the effectiveness of the WCTC by addressing concerns raised in an initial pilot study and to investigate the comparative effects of the WCTC program with students who are identified as low, medium, and high performers. Participants were six 4th grade classes. Using a block randomization design, three classes with 73 students were assigned to the training group to receive training in inductive reasoning skills using the WCTC program, and three classes with 70 students were assigned to the control group to practice fraction problems on educational web sites. A pretest-posttest design was employed in this study. Results indicate that the WCTC program is effective in improving students\u27 problem-solving abilities with fractions, with the middle performance group demonstrating the greatest gains in performance. The influence of other factors such as reading achievement were also examined. The information gained in this study provides empirical evidence concerning the instructional effectiveness of the WCTC program as an educational intervention

Role of the complement in experimental sepsis

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142122/1/jlb0467.pd

#IU: Considering the Context of Online Threats

The United States Supreme Court has failed to grapple with the unique interpretive difficulties presented by social media threats cases. Social media make hateful and threatening speech more common but also magnify the potential for a speaker\u27s innocent words to be misunderstood People speak differently on different social media platforms, and architectural features of platforms, such as character limits, affect the meaning of speech. The same is true of other contextual clues unique to social media, such as gifs, hashtags, and emojis. Only by understanding social media contexts can legal decision-makers avoid overcriminalization of speech protected by the First Amendment. This Article therefore advocates creation of a procedural mechanism for raising a context defense to a threats prosecution prior to trial. Comparable privileges protect defamation defendants from having their opinions misconstrued as defamatory and allow them to have their liability resolved at an early stage of litigation, often avoiding the anxiety and expense of trial. This Article contends that criminal defendants in threats cases should have a similar defense that permits them to produce contextual evidence relevant to the interpretation of alleged threats for consideration by a judge at a pretrial hearing. In cases that cannot be resolved before trial, the context defense would entitle a defendant to produce contextual evidence at trial and have the jury instructed regarding the role of context in separating threats from protected speech. Although adoption of the context defense would be especially helpful in correctly resolving social media cases, its use in all threats cases would provide an important safeguard against erroneous convictions of speech protected by the First Amendment

Open-End Winding Induction Motor Drive Based on Indirect Matrix Converter

Open-end winding induction machines fed from two standard two-level voltage source inverters (VSI) provide an attractive arrangement for AC drives. An alternative approach is to use a dual output indirect matrix converter (IMC). It is well known that IMC provides fully bidirectional power flow operation, with small input size filter requirements. Whilst a standard IMC consists of an AC–DC matrix converter input stage followed by a single VSI output stage, it is possible to replicate the VSI to produce multiple outputs. In this chapter, an open-end winding induction machine fed by an IMC with two output stages is presented. Different modulation strategies for the power converter are analyzed and discussed

Einblicke in die Mechanismen der Ischämischen Fernpräkonditionierung: Ein experimenteller in vivo/in vitro Ansatz

Short repeated cycles of peripheral Ischemia/Reperfusion (I/R) can protect remote organs (e.g. heart) from subsequent prolonged I/R injury; a phenomenon known as Remote Ischemic Preconditioning (RIPC). A RIPC-mediated release of humoral factors might play a key role in this protection and vascular endothelial cells are potential targets for the secreted factors. In the present study, RIPC-plasma obtained from healthy male volunteers was tested for its ability to protect Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVEC) from hypoxia-induced cell damage. An enzymatic oxygen depletion system was established for HUVEC. Subsequently, 10 healthy male volunteers (25.20 ± 3.39 years) were subjected to a RIPC-protocol consisting of 4 cycles of 5 min inflation/deflation of a blood pressure cuff located at the upper arm. Blood was collected and plasma was retrieved before (T0; control), directly after (T1) and 1 h after (T2) the RIPC procedure. HUVEC were subjected to 24 h of hypoxia and simultaneously incubated with 5 % of the respective RIPC-plasma. Implementation of the oxygen depletion system resulted in augmented cell damage in terms of increased LDH-activity in the cell culture medium of HUVEC (hypoxia versus normoxia, p≤0.0007). Hypoxia-induced cell damage was significantly reduced by RIPC-plasma T1 (p=0.02 versus T0). Western blotting revealed that the protective effect of plasma T1 was accompanied by accumulation of intracellular HIF1alpha (p=0.01 versus T0) and increased phosphorylation of ERK-1/2 (p=0.03 versus T0). Phosphorylation of Akt (p=0.85 versus T0) and STAT5 (p=0.10 versus T0) remained unchanged. Analysis of the protective RIPC-plasma T1 by Sandwich ELISA showed significantly reduced levels of hVEGF (p=0.01 versus T0). However, Spearman rank correlation suggested no significant correlation of hVEGF levels and cell damage (r=-0.48, p=0.17). In conclusion, RIPC-plasma protects endothelial cells from hypoxia-induced cell damage. Humoral as well as intracellular mediators such as HIF1alpha and pERK-1/2 may be involved in RIPC-mediated protection of HUVEC.Kurze, wiederholte Zyklen peripherer Ischämie/Reperfusion (I/R) können entfernt liegende Organe (z.B. Herz) vor einem nachfolgenden I/R-Schaden schützen; ein unter dem Namen Ischämische Fernpräkonditionierung (Remote Ischemic Preconditioning, RIPC) bekanntes Phänomen. Die RIPC-vermittelte Freisetzung humoraler Faktoren sowie vaskuläre Endothelzellen als deren Zielstrukturen, könnten in der Protektion eine zentrale Rolle spielen. In der vorliegenden Studie wurde RIPC-Plasma gesunder, männlicher Probanden auf die Fähigkeit untersucht, humane Endothelzellen (Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells, HUVEC) vor einem hypoxischen Zellschaden zu schützen. 10 gesunde, männliche Probanden (25.20 ± 3.39 Jahre) wurden einem RIPC-Protokoll mit 4 Zyklen 5 min Inflation/Deflation einer Blutdruckmanschette am rechten Oberarm unterzogen. Plasma wurde aus Vollblut gewonnen, welches vor (T0; Kontrolle), direkt nach (T1) und 1 h nach (T2) dem RIPC-Protokoll abgenommen wurde. Inkubiert mit RIPC-Plasma wurden HUVEC einer enzymatisch-induzierten 24 h Hypoxie ausgesetzt und nachfolgend analysiert. Die Anwendung des Hypoxiemodells induzierte einen Zellschaden im Sinne einer erhöhten LDH-Aktivität im Zellkulturmedium (Hypoxie versus Normoxie, p≤0.0007). Inkubation mit Plasma T1 reduzierte den hypoxischen Zellschaden signifikant (p=0.02 versus T0). Western blotting zeigte unter dem protektiven Effekt von Plasma T1 eine intrazelluläre Akkumulation von HIF1alpha (p=0.01 versus T0) und eine erhöhte Phosphorylierung von ERK-1/2 (p=0.03 versus T0). Die Phosphorylierung von Akt (p=0.85 versus T0) und STAT5 (p=0.10 versus T0) blieb unverändert. Im protektiven RIPC-Plasma T1 zeigten sich mittels Sandwich ELISA signifikant reduzierte Level von hVEGF (p=0.01 versus T0). Eine Spearman Rank Korrelation ergab keine signifikante Korrelation des hVEGF-Levels mit dem induzierten Zellschaden (r=-0.48, p=0.17). Zusammengefasst schützt RIPC-Plasma Endothelzellen vor einem hypoxischen Zellschaden, wobei humorale als auch intrazelluläre Mediatoren wie HIF1alpha und pERK-1/2 eine Rolle spielen könnten