An experiment to determine the effect of the knowledge of letter names on success in beginning reading

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

Does Dehydroepiandrosterone Influence the Expression of Urticaria?—a Mini Review

Chronic urticaria is a challenging problem since the exact cause and mechanism involved in the disease development have still remained unknown. This disease is associated with mast cells activation and immunoinflammatory processes. Interestingly, dysfunctions of the neuroendocrine–immune system due to stress and other factors seem to appear as a very interesting theory for urticaria pathogenesis. Dehydroepiandrosterone and its sulfate derivative (DHEA-S) appear to have regulatory effects in immune homeostasis and are regulated by the nervous system, and it is suggested that they may be an integral element of neuroimmunomodulation. Our studies showed substantially decreased serum concentration of DHEA-S in patients with chronic urticaria. However, current knowledge prevents answering whether lower circulating DHEA-S concentration is a primary phenomenon or just an accompanying one which appears as a response of different systems to the course of the illness and may not be of any importance for the pathogenesis of urticaria whatsoever. This review is a summary of clinical research on the role of DHEA in chronic urticaria

Role of product characteristics for the adoption of fruit and fruit product innovations

The aim of this study was the identification of those product characteristics that are important for the adoption of fruit and fruit product innovations by consumers. Sixteen focus group discussions were held in four European countries (Greece, The Netherlands, Poland, and Spain). Different aspects of six innovative fruit products were discussed, revealing those characteristics that were important for the adoption of each of them. It was observed that the participants did not perceive fruit innovations as a homogenous group, but assigned them to different groups, which led to a number of categories of fruit innovation. Three categories concerned the level of preparation of fruit. These were fresh, prepared, and processed fruit product innovations. Another two categories, radical and evolutionary innovations, related to the level of novelty of the fruit innovation. Characteristics important for the adoption of each of these categories are given.The results will be used for further, more quantitative, research

Walsh - Hadamard Transformation of a Convolution

A convolution is mathematical operation used in signal processing, in the homomorphous signal processing and digital image processing (e.g. image interpolation). In regard of computational complexity of the convolution in the time domain, it used to calculate in the other domain. Exp. x(n) * h(n) R X(W) × H(W), resp. X(W) × H(W), shows that a convolution in the time domain corresponds to multiplication in the Z domain, respectively frequency domain. This paper shows utilization of Walsh-Hadamard orthogonal transformations for convolution

Shaping Successful and Unsuccessful CD8 T Cell Responses Following Infection

CD8 T cells play a vital role in the immunological protection against intracellular pathogens. Ideally, robust effector responses are induced, which eradicate the pathogen, and durable memory CD8 T cells are also established, which help confer protection against subsequent reinfection. The quality and magnitude of these responses is dictated by multiple factors, including their initial interactions with professional antigen-presenting cells, as well as the cytokine milieu and availability of CD4 T cell help. These factors set the transcriptional landscape of the responding T cells, which in turn influences their phenotypic and functional attributes as well as ultimate fate. Under certain conditions, such as during chronic infections, the development of these usually successful responses becomes subverted. Here we discuss advances in our understanding of the cellular and molecular determinants of T cell quality, and the formation of effector, memory, and exhausted CD8 T cells, during acute and chronic infections

Solitons and Black Holes in a Generalized Skyrme Model with Dilaton-Quarkonium field

Skyrme theory is among the viable effective theories which emerge from low-energy limit of quantum chromodynamics. Many of its generalizations include also a dilaton. Here we find new self-gravitating solutions, both solitons and black holes, in a Generalized Skyrme Model (GSM) in which a dilaton is present. The investigation of the properties of the solutions is done numerically. We find that the introduction of the dilaton in the theory does not change the picture qualitatively, only quantitatively. The model considered here has one free parameter more than the Einstein-Skyrme model which comes from the potential of the dilaton. We have applied also the turning point method to establish that one of the black-hole branches of solutions is unstable. The turning point method here is based on the first law of black-hole thermodynamics a detailed derivation of which is given in the Appendix of the paper.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures; v2: typos corrected, comments adde