http://www.isrn.comThe latest articles from International Scholarly Research Network© 2012, International Scholarly Research Network. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/ma/2012/403028/The main purpose of this paper is to derive some coefficient inequalities and subordination properties for certain subclasses of analytic functions involving the Salagean operator. Relevant connections of the results presented here with those obtained in earlier works are also pointed out.Zhi-Gang Wang, Feng-Hua Wen, and Yong SunCopyright © 2012 Zhi-Gang Wang et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/obgyn/2012/230742/The purpose of this study was to review the literature regarding the action of the cytokines interleukin 10 (IL-10) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in pregnancy and to emphasize the factors that are of interest to clinical obstetrics. The literature highlights several actions of IL-10 and TNF-α during pregnancy. The actions of these cytokines seem to be antagonistic and dependent on the balance between them, which is orchestrated by the specific immunosuppressive action of IL-10. TNF-α has a characteristic inflammatory action, and it is an additional diabetogenic factor in pregnancy. The loss of the control of the production of these cytokines, with increase of TNF-α, is related to the risk for developing obstetric complications, particularly recurrent fetal loss, gestational diabetes mellitus, hypertensive syndromes, and fetal growth restriction. However, study results are controversial and are not clearly defined. These issues are attributed to the heterogeneity of the studies, particularly regarding their sample sizes and sources, the evaluation methods, and the multiplicity of factors and conditions that influence cytokine production. These questions are fundamental and should be addressed in future investigations to obtain more consistent results that can be applied to obstetric practice.Jusciele Brogin Moreli, Ana Maria Cirino Ruocco, Joice Monaliza Vernini, Marilza Vieira Cunha Rudge, and Iracema Mattos Paranhos CalderonCopyright © 2012 Jusciele Brogin Moreli et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/urology/2012/109858/Objectives. Outcome assessment of the Marshall coughing test (MT) during cervix reposition maneuver (CRM) in women with urinary stress incontinence (USI) with/without genital prolapse (GP). Study Design. 268 patients, divided into USIg (n=132) with isolated USI and USIGPg (n=136) with USI and GP stage I/II, additionally divided into USIGP(A) (n=78) with USI and GP stage I and USIGP(B) (n=58) with USI and GP stage II, were evaluated with pelvic organ prolapse quantification (POPQ), MT, and CRM. Results. (a) 7.58% had (+) MT with CRM in USIg; (b) in up to 96.15% MT became negative during CRM in USIGP(A); (c) in 51.72% MT became positive only during CRM, as a sign for occult USI in USIGP(B); (d) point Aa (POPQ), which is bladder neck(BN) projection on the anterior vaginal wall, was situated higher in rest position (RP), but moved lower during the Valsalva maneuver (VM) in USIg versus USIGPg (P<0.05). Conclusion. CRM could be useful arm in selection of (1) patients with isolated USI and great chance for postoperative failure; (2) patients with USI+GP stage I, who need GP repair during antistress surgery; (3) patients with USI + GP stage II, who need antistress procedure during vaginal hysterectomy.Vesna AntovskaCopyright © 2012 Vesna Antovska. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/dentistry/2012/373870/Proper occlusal plane is an essential consideration when multiple long span posterior restorations are designed. The determination of the occlusal plane can have a profound effect on the short and long term success of a restorative case. Purpose of Study. (1) To determine the appropriate occlusal curve for individual patients. (2) To compare the deviation of the clinical occlusal curve with the ideal ones. Materials and Methods. A total of 20 subjects were examined and study models were made of their maxillary and mandibular dentition. Inter-occlusal records were made and the casts were articulated in semiadjustable articulator. An ideal occlusal plane was created. The distance of the farthest cusp tip from the Broadrick curve was measured along the long axis of the tooth for each individual. Paired t-tests were used to compare the findings between subjects and controls. Results. A statistically significant difference P<0.05 was found in the deviation from the Broadrick curve between patients who have lost posterior teeth and the control group who had a full dentition with no missing teeth. Conclusion. Proper utilization of the broadrick flag on a semi-adjustable articulator will allow for a correct determination of the occlusal plane.Supriya Manvi, Shaveta Miglani, C. L. Rajeswari, G. Srivatsa, and Sarvesh AroraCopyright © 2012 Supriya Manvi et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/chromatography/2012/487138/Two concentration methods for fast and routine determination of caffeine (using HPLC-UV detection) in surface, and wastewater are evaluated. Both methods are based on solid-phase extraction (SPE) concentration with octadecyl silica sorbents. A common “offline” SPE procedure shows that quantitative recovery of caffeine is obtained with 2 mL of an elution mixture solvent methanol-water containing at least 60% methanol. The method detection limit is 0.1 μg L−1 when percolating 1 L samples through the cartridge. The development of an “online” SPE method based on a mini-SPE column, containing 100 mg of the same sorbent, directly connected to the HPLC system allows the method detection limit to be decreased to 10 ng L−1 with a sample volume of 100 mL. The “offline” SPE method is applied to the analysis of caffeine in wastewater samples, whereas the “on-line” method is used for analysis in natural waters from streams receiving significant water intakes from local wastewater treatment plants.Sònia Moret, Manuela Hidalgo, and Juan M. SanchezCopyright © 2012 Sònia Moret et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/otolaryngology/2012/647271/Purpose. The aim of this study is the investigation of the effectiveness of intratympanic steroids therapy (IST) in patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSHL) who had not responded to intravenous treatment, evaluating the overall hearing recovery and comparing the results with different variables. Materials and Methods. Our study consisted of 55 patients with refractory ISSHL who, at the end of 10 days of therapy with intravenous steroids, had puretone 4-frequency average (PTA) of worse than 30 dB. The patients received 0.5 mL of methylprednisolone by direct intratympanic injection. The procedure was carried out up to 7 times within a 20-days period. Statistical analysis was carried out. Results. Overall 29 patients (52.7%) showed improvement in PTA, 24 (43.8%) had no change in hearing, and 2 (3.5%) worsened. There was a significant statistical correlation between hearing recovery and time to onset of symptoms, severity of hearing loss and frequency of hearing loss. Conclusions. IST is an effective and safe therapy in sudden sensorineural hearing loss cases that are refractory to standard treatment. The earlier IST, the hearing losses less than 90 dB and the involvement of the low frequencies seem to influence positively the hearing recovery.Emanuele Ferri, Antonio Frisina, Anna Chiara Fasson, Enrico Armato, Giacomo Spinato, and Maurizio AmadoriCopyright © 2012 Emanuele Ferri et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/ps/2012/161364/The effect of free quenching on the mechanical, thermal, and thermophysical properties of polystyrene has been investigated. Three different thermal treatments were investigated: a first quenching from the melt state to different temperatures, a second quenching from Tg+7°C, and finally an annealing. The results have shown that a slight improvement of the impact strength can be obtained after a second quenching at 40°C, and a correlation between the mechanical and thermal properties is observed. The improvement of this property was obtained at the expense of other properties such as the elastic modulus, density, hardness, and the heat distortion temperature (HDT). The little improvement of the impact strength after the second quenching is probably linked to the existence of a relaxation mode located around 40°C. However, no effects have been shown on the thermophysical properties.F. Rouabah, D. Dadache, and N. HaddaouiCopyright © 2012 F. Rouabah et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/microbiology/2012/749694/Biofouling is a problem common in all systems where microorganisms and aqueous environment meet. Prevention of biofouling is therefore important in many industrial processes. The aim of this study was to develop a method to evaluate the ability of material coating to inhibit biofilm formation. Chitosan-coated polypropylene nonwoven textile was prepared using dielectric barrier discharge plasma activation. Resistance of the textile to biofouling was then tested. First, the textile was submerged into a growth medium inoculated with green fluorescein protein labelled Pseudomonas aeruginosa. After overnight incubation at 33°C, the textile was observed using confocal laser scanning microscopy for bacterial enumeration and biofilm structure characterisation. In the second stage, the textile was used as a filter medium for prefiltered river water, and the pressure development on the in-flow side was measured to quantify the overall level of biofouling. In both cases, nontreated textile samples were used as a control. The results indicate that the chitosan coating exhibits antibacterial properties. The developed method is applicable for the evaluation of the ability to inhibit biofilm formation.D. Erben, V. Hola, J. Jaros, and J. RahelCopyright © 2012 D. Erben et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/ac/2012/989174/Ethyl carbamate (EC, urethane, C2H5OCONH2) is a genotoxic carcinogen and is regularly found in fermented food products including alcoholic beverages. In this study, the rapid method of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy in combination with partial least squares (PLS) regression is applied for the first time to the analysis of ethyl carbamate in stone fruit spirits (n=119) and unrecorded alcohols (n=27) (analysis time only 15 min per sample). The PLS procedure was validated using an independent set of samples (n=43, R2=0.89, RMSE=0.14 mg/L) in comparison to reference GC/MS/MS results. The NMR method was found to outperform other screening techniques based on NIR or FTIR regarding sensitivity and selectivity. The major advantage over GC/MS/MS, besides the reduced time of instrumental analysis, is that no sample preparation besides addition of buffer with internal standard is required, while for GC/MS/MS labour-intensive sample extraction is necessary prior to measurement.Yulia B. Monakhova, Thomas Kuballa, and Dirk W. LachenmeierCopyright © 2012 Yulia B. Monakhova et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/otolaryngology/2012/915910/Stridor is the main symptom of upper airway obstruction in infants. It can be congenital or acquired, acute or chronic. Pathologies can be located from the nose down to the trachea. Common causes include laryngomalacia, vocal cord palsy, subglottic stenosis, tracheal anomaly, laryngeal cleft, vascular and lymphatic malformation, laryngeal papillomas, craniofacial abnormalities and even head and neck tumours. In this paper, we will discuss our approach to infants with stridor including assessment with flexible and rigid endoscopy and treatments to various conditions in a tertiary centre. Causes of stridor in infants undergoing rigid laryngotracheobronchoscopy in Queen Mary Hospital, University of Hong Kong Medical Centre between 2005 and 2011 will be retrospectively reviewed. Treatments according to various conditions will be discussed. Successful management of these neonates requires accurate diagnosis, early intervention, and multidisciplinary care by ENT surgeons, paediatricians, and paediatric anaesthetists.Wong Birgitta Yee-Hang, Hui Theresa, Lee So-lun, Ho Wai-Kuen, and Wei William IgnaceCopyright © 2012 Wong Birgitta Yee-Hang et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/psychiatry/2012/839324/Schizophrenia is the most severe and most debilitating mental illness, which is one of the first ten causes of disability in youth and elderly people. Regarding many consequences that schizophrenia brings for individual and social functioning of ill people, their assessment of the quality of their lives seems to be interesting. The aim of this study is to evaluate the incidence and severity of anxiety and depression as well as analysis of the impact level of anxiety and depression on life quality of people with schizophrenia. A group of patients with schizophrenia from psychiatric centers was involved in a study. A set of methods, included: author's questionnaire, the quality of life scale WHOQOL-BREF, and the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS). Anxiety disorders occurred in more than 78% of respondents, while depressive disorders in more than half of respondents. The more severe anxiety and depressive disorders, the lower values were observed in all tested components of quality of life. The study of quality of life of the mentally ill patients should be conducted on a continuous basis in order to explore the current factors influencing the improvement of their psychophysical welfare. It is necessary to promote prohealthy mental lifestyle.Marta Makara-Studzińska, Małgorzata Wołyniak, and Karolina KryśCopyright © 2012 Marta Makara-Studzińska et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/ph/2012/607697/The aim of the paper was to determine the association between children's BMI, health behaviors, and HOMA-IR. 1065 students (535M) aged 9.5±2.1 y from 6 schools were examined. Questionnaires for healthy habits were completed. As all components could not contribute equally to overweight/obesity (OW/OB), a multiple regression analysis was done with BMI as the dependent variable. Those components which were associated with BMI were totaled to establish the score. Data also included Tanner, lipids, insulin, and glucose. 165 (15.5%) of the children were OB (BMI > 95%ile per CDC norms), and 152 (14.3%), OW (85 ≤ BMI < 95%ile). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed a positive association between children's OW/OB and HOMA-IR (OR, 2.42 (95% CI 1.97–2.98)), and an inverse association with healthy score (OR, 0.66 (95% CI 0.52–0.85)) adjusted for Tanner and gender. Our results suggest that this is an easy score that could be used to predict children's OW/OB; however additional longitudinal studies should be done to confirm these findings.V. Hirschler, C. G. Molinari, and C. GonzalezCopyright © 2012 V. Hirschler et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/cb/2012/597876/Actin depolymerizing factor (ADF)/cofilin, an actin-binding protein ubiquitously expressed in a variety of organisms, is required for regulation of actin dynamics. The activity of ADF/cofilin is dependent on serine 3 phosphorylation by LIM kinase (LIMK), which is regulated by the Rho small GTPase signaling pathway. ADF/cofilin is strongly associated with several important cell biological functions, including cell cycle, morphological maintenance, and locomotion. These functions affect several biological events, including embryogenesis, oncology, nephropathy, and neurodegenerations. Here, we focus on the biochemical and pathophysiological role of ADF/cofilin in mammals.Cheng-Han Tsai and Yi-Jang LeeCopyright © 2012 Cheng-Han Tsai and Yi-Jang Lee. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/ai/2012/918362/The language tools offered in common word processors use dictionaries and simple grammatical rules. They cannot detect errors such as a wrong preposition, interchanged words, or typos that result in a dictionary word. However, by comparing the user's text to a large repository, it is possible to detect many of these errors and also to suggest alternatives. By looking at full sentences, it is often possible to get the correct context. This is important in detecting errors and in order to offer valuable suggestions. These ideas have been implemented in a prototype system. We present examples in English and Norwegian, but the method, that of following a “majority vote,” can be applied to any written language.Kai A. OlsenCopyright © 2012 Kai A. Olsen. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/obgyn/2012/637094/Methotrexate was developed in 1949 as a synthetic folic acid analogue to compete with folic acid and thus interfere with cell replication. While initially developed as a potential treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a serendipitous observation led to methotrexate's use to effect the dramatic cure of a case of advanced choriocarcinoma. This prompted the exploration for the potential of methotrexate to treat other conditions involving disordered trophoblastic tissue. Methotrexate has subsequently revolutionized the treatment of two pregnancy-related conditions—gestational trophoblastic neoplasia and ectopic pregnancy. This article reviews the development of modern treatment protocols that use methotrexate to medically treat these two important gynaecological conditions.Monika M. Skubisz and Stephen TongCopyright © 2012 Monika M. Skubisz and Stephen Tong. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/nanotechnology/2012/627420/It is important to control the degradation rate of a tissue-engineered scaffold so that the scaffold will degrade in an appropriate matching rate as the tissue cells grow in. A set of potential tissue engineering scaffolds with controllable rates of degradation were fabricated from blends of two biocompatible, biodegradable L-tyrosine-based polyurethanes (PEG1000-HDI-DTH and PCL1250-HDI-DTH) using the electrospinning process. The scaffolds were characterized by mat morphology, fiber diameter, diameter distribution, pore size, and hydrolytic degradation behavior. The majority of the scaffolds, despite having radically different chemical compositions, possessed no statistical difference with pore sizes and fiber diameters. The degradation pattern observed indicated that scaffolds consisting of a greater mass percentage of PEG1000-HDI-DTH decayed to a greater extent than those containing higher concentrations of PCL1250-HDI-DTH. The degradation rates of the electrospun scaffolds were much higher than those of the thin cast films with same compositions. These patterns were consistent through all blends. The work demonstrates one practical method of controlling the degradation of biopolymer scaffolds without significantly affecting an intended morphology.Michael Spagnuolo and Lingyun LiuCopyright © 2012 Michael Spagnuolo and Lingyun Liu. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/ac/2012/198683/Busulfan is used in preparative regimens for bone marrow transplantation and timely busulfan plasma concentration reporting is critical for subsequent dose adjustment. We compared two sensitive methods for pharmacokinetics studies including LC-MS assay and HPLC precolumn derivatization assay. Chromatographic separation was performed on a Gemini C18 column. Liquid-liquid extraction with ethyl acetate was used for plasma sample preparation. Busulfan and internal standard ([2H8]-busulfan) were detected as ammonium adducts at m/z 264.2 and 272.2 for LC-MS assay. For HPLC assay, the extraction from plasma was derivatized with 2-naphathalenethiol using synthesized internal standard (1,6-(methanesulfonyloxy)octane). The Ex and Em wavelength was 255 nm and 370 nm. The limit of detection was 15.6 ng/mL and 7.8 ng/mL for HPLC and LC-MS assay and good linearity ranging from 31.25–1000 ng/mL for HPLC and 15.6-1000 ng/mL for LC-MS assay. The intra and interday assay precision were less than 9.2% and 12.0% for LC-MS and HPLC assay. The pharmacokinetic parameters were estimated using noncompartmental pharmacokinetic model with WinNonlin. Busulfan AUClast showed an average difference of 0.7% between the two methods. The LC-MS method is accurate, reproducible, and requires less specimen, sample preparation and analysis time over the HPLC assay, making busulfan monitoring faster and easier in clinical practice.Hongxia Lin, Susan Goodin, Roger K. Strair, Robert S. DiPaola, and Murugesan K. GounderCopyright © 2012 Hongxia Lin et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/immunology/2012/324235/Radiotherapy (RT) and interferon-alfa-2b (IFN α-2b) have individually been used for adjuvant therapy stage III melanoma with high-risk pathologic features. We hypothesized that concurrent adjuvant RT and IFN α-2b may decrease the risk of regional recurrence following surgery with acceptable toxicity. A prospective multicenter phase I/II study was conducted to evaluate hypofractionated RT with concurrent IFN. Induction IFN α-2b, 20 MU/m2/d, was administered IV ×5 consecutive days every week for 4 weeks. Next, RT 30 Gy in 5 fractions was given with concurrent IFN α-2b, 10 MU/m2 SQ 3 times per week on days alternating with RT. Subsequent maintenance therapy consisted of adjuvant IFN α-2b, 10 MU/m2 SQ 3 times per week to a total of 1 year. To fully evaluate patterns of failure, long-term follow-up was conducted for up to 10 years. A total of 29 consenting patients were enrolled between August 1997 and March 2000. The maximum (worst) grade of acute nonhematologic toxicity during concurrent RT/IFN α-2b (and up to 2 weeks post RT) was grade 3 skin toxicity noted in 2 patients (9%). Late effects were limited. Probability of regional control was 78% (95% CI: 55%–90%) at 12 months. The median follow-up (range) was 80 (51–106) months among ten survivors (43%). The median overall survival was 34.5 months while the median failure-free survival was 19.9 months. Postoperative concurrent hypofractionated RT with IFN α-2b for advanced stage III melanoma appears to be associated with acceptable toxicity and may provide reasonable in-field control in patients at high risk of regional failure.Steven E. Finkelstein, Andy Trotti, Nikhil Rao, Douglas Reintgen, Wayne Cruse, Lynn Feun, Vernon Sondak, Daohai Yu, Weiwei Zhu, Clement Gwede, and Ronald DeContiCopyright © 2012 Steven E. Finkelstein et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/spectroscopy/2012/174952/A new interference phenomenon is reported, which has so far not been observed with either matter or light. In a nanometer-sized version of Feynman's famous two-slit “thought” experiment with single electrons, the width of a quasi-monochromatic line has been found to oscillate with the detection angle. Since this experiment resembles the original double-slit experiment by Young with light (1807), photon interferences were investigated in order to determine the wavelength distribution as a function of the position in the interference field. In addition to the well-known oscillating dependence of the intensity with a succession of dark and bright fringes, a periodic dependence with respect to the detection position has also been observed for the width of the wavelength distribution, revealing a larger analogy between electron and photon interferences.Maxime Vabre, Sylvain Girard, Hervé Gilles, Burcu S. Frankland, Florent Porée, Philippe Leprince, Jean-Yves Chesnel, Raul O. Barrachina, and François FrémontCopyright © 2012 Maxime Vabre et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/pharmaceutics/2012/125864/β-Glucans extracted from barley, which mainly contains β-(1,3-1,4)-D-glucan, are used extensively as supplements and food additives due to their wide biologic activities, including a reduction in blood lipid level. In this study, the antioxidant activity of β-glucan was examined to assess potential new benefits associated with β-glucan, because oxidative stress is considered one of the primary causal factors for various diseases and aging. β-Glucan extracted from barley was found to possess significant antioxidant activity. The amount of antioxidant activity was influenced by different physiologic properties (e.g., structure and molecular size) of β-glucan, which varied depending on the source and extraction method used. The antioxidant activity of β-glucan was significantly higher than that of various polymers that are used as food additives. These results indicate that β-glucan has promise as a polymeric excipient for supplement and food additive with antioxidant and other benefits, which may contribute to enhancing health and beauty.Kyoko Kofuji, Ayumi Aoki, Kazufumi Tsubaki, Masanori Konishi, Takashi Isobe, and Yoshifumi MurataCopyright © 2012 Kyoko Kofuji et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/thermodynamics/2012/106051/Experimental and analytical results are presented regarding the temperature evolution in 100Cr6 steel under uniaxial loading. Differently heat-treated conditions of the material are studied at different strain rates. In the annealed state, the materials exhibits a pronounced initial yield stress as it passes from the elastic region to the plastic through discontinuous yielding. In contrast, the quenched and tempered material yields continuously. The focus of the paper is on the temperature decrease during elastic deformation that precedes the more pronounced heating due to inelastic dissipation once the elastoplastic limit stress is surpassed. The applicability of the maximum temperature decrease in the elastic regime as a replacement for the commonly used 0.2%-strain measure to define the elastoplastic limit is discussed. For 100Cr6 steel, the 0.2%-strain measure is found, in some cases, to overestimate the initial yield stress by 50 MPa. The drop in temperature corresponding to the shift from elastic to inelastic material behavior is experimentally determined and compared to predictions by the Kelvin formula which in the current study give a maximum 50% error.Håkan HallbergCopyright © 2012 Håkan Hallberg. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/ss/2012/375842/The aim of this research is to evaluate the reliability and accuracy of the Hydrus-1D model to simulate the measured dynamics of water flow in a silt loam soil profile located in an abandoned crop area. The paper includes a physical and chemical characterization of the soil, and hydraulic properties characteristics as well. Several techniques and devices were used to develop the experiment in both, field and laboratory scales. The last part of the study was the Hydrus-1D simulation using real rain events and evapotranspiration rates. In summary, it could predict accurately the water dynamics of this “natural” scenario.Carles M. Rubio and Rafael PoyatosCopyright © 2012 Carles M. Rubio and Rafael Poyatos. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/education/2012/830938/Scholars in training, including qualitative researchers, are often cautioned about their relationship to their research participants with the notion that “getting too close” can distort findings. However, with many participants, especially those with whom issues of trust are problematic due to their personal experiences, researchers cannot gain rich data without creating an authentic and close relationship. In this longitudinal study, a female Bosnian youth and an academic researcher grapple with issues of trust, friendship, and research in an effort to determine ways to create valid research findings over years of relationship building.Jasenka Besic and J. Lynn McBrienCopyright © 2012 Jasenka Besic and J. Lynn McBrien. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/pharmacology/2012/590626/The development of pharmacodynamic (PD) biomarkers in oncology has implications for design of clinical protocols from preclinical data and for predicting clinical outcomes from early clinical data. Two classes of biomarkers have received particular attention. Phosphoproteins in biopsy samples are markers of inhibition of signalling pathways, target sites for many novel agents. Biomarkers of apoptosis in plasma can measure tumour cell killing by drugs in phase I clinical trials. The predictive power of PD biomarkers is enhanced by data modelling. With pharmacokinetic models, PD models form PK/PD models that predict the time course both of drug concentration and drug effects. If biomarkers of drug toxicity are also measured, the models can predict drug selectivity as well as efficacy. PK/PD models, in conjunction with disease models, make possible virtual clinical trials, in which multiple trial designs are assessed in silico, so the optimal trial design can be selected for experimental evaluation.Robert C. JacksonCopyright © 2012 Robert C. Jackson. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/neurology/2012/468706/Background. Stroke is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in young adults especially in developing countries. This two-centre prospective study aimed at reviewing the pattern, types, and case fatality of stroke in the young adults in Northwestern part of Nigeria. Methods. Consecutive patients aged 18–40 years admitted to the medical wards of two tertiary hospitals from June 2008 to August 2010 were recruited. Relevant clinical data were obtained from the patients.The survivors were followed up in neurology clinics for 6 months. Results. A total of 71 patients aged 18–40 yrs, (mean age was 31.9±6) comprising 52(73%) males and 19(23%) females were enrolled. Forty two (59.1%) patients had infarctive stroke. The risk factors included hypertension (74.7%) patients, smoking (50.7%), hypercholesterolemia (9.9%), non-hypertensive cardiac diseases (8.5%), HIV (8.5%), diabetes mellitus (4.2%) cocaine and amphetamine (2.8%), and sickle cell disease (2.8%). Only twelve (17%) patients presented within the first 6 hours of onset of stroke. Seventeen (23.9 %) patients died, case fatality in the first 24 and 72 hrs was 4.2% and 19.7%, respectively. Conclusion. Our data suggests that stroke in young adults is not as uncommon as previously suggested. Hypertension, smoking, hypercholesterolemia, cardiac diseases and HIV are the most common risk factors.L. F. Owolabi and A. IbrahimCopyright © 2012 L. F. Owolabi and A. Ibrahim. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/urology/2012/383642/Purpose. The aim of this study is to show you the results we obtained through the integration of the Urology Department into the Ambulatory Surgery Unit for the very first twelve years. Scope. We will explain both the criteria we followed for patients to join in and the surgical and anesthetic procedures we used with those 1544 patients who were ambulatory subjected to urological diseases. After those patients were treated, they reached up to 95% of reasonable results. Conclusions. Most of urological patients liable to have surgical treatment are bound to be included in an ambulatory surgery program, which implies neither a worse healthcare service standard nor a worse satisfaction in patients.Pedro Navalón, Yoni Pallás, Victor Navalón, Felipe Ordoño, and Elisa MonllorCopyright © 2012 Pedro Navalón et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/geometry/2012/317253/We obtained the relation between the Riemannian connection and the quarter-symmetric metric connection on a para-Sasakian manifold. Further, we study ϕ-recurrent and concircular ϕ-recurrent para-Sasakian manifolds with respect to quarter-symmetric metric connection.K. T. Pradeep Kumar, Venkatesha, and C. S. BagewadiCopyright © 2012 K. T. Pradeep Kumar et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/mp/2012/506863/We show the existence of two sticky particles models with the same velocity function ut(x) which is the entropy solution of the inviscid Burgers' equation. One of them is governed by the set of discontinuity points of u0. Thus, the trajectories t↦Xt coincide; however one has different mass distributions ∂xut=du0∘Xt-1 and λ∘Xt-1. Here, λ denotes the Lebesgue measure.Octave MoutsingaCopyright © 2012 Octave Moutsinga. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/cn/2012/369293/This paper presents several applications of multiobjective optimization to antenna design, emphasizing the main general steps in this process. Specifications of antennas usually involve many conflicting objectives related to directivity, impedance matching, cross-polarization, and frequency range. These requirements induce multiobjective problems, which are formulated, solved, and analyzed here for three distinct antenna designs: a bowtie antenna for ground-penetrating radars, a reflector antenna for satellite broadcast systems, and a meander-line antenna for radio-frequency identification tags. Both stochastic and deterministic methods are considered in the analysis.X. L. Travassos, D. A. G. Vieira, and A. C. LisboaCopyright © 2012 X. L. Travassos et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/re/2012/635396/Depletion of fossil fuel and the inability to meet the rising demand of electricity are some drawbacks for the economic development of Bangladesh. Carbon emission done by developed world is also troubling the country. This paper focuses on the potential of micro-hydropower plant in Bangladesh due to its numerous rivers and canals providing off-grid power to the remote areas and also to the areas that are still outside the main grid network. This paper reflects on the current energy scenario in Bangladesh, the need to explore green energy thus proving how the establishment of widespread micro-hydropower plant can help overcome the current power crisis and play a role in the economic progress of the country. The existing potential sites are mentioned and the means to identify new sites are outlined by performing hydrology studies, topographic studies, head calculations, turbine selection, and so forth.Jahidul Islam Razan, Riasat Siam Islam, Rezaul Hasan, Samiul Hasan, and Fokhrul IslamCopyright © 2012 Jahidul Islam Razan et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/oncology/2012/652682/Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma represents approximately 30%–40% of all diagnoses of non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and may represent up to 80% of all lymphomas that arise in the palatine tonsils. Several studies have attempted to correlate clinical, laboratorial, and tissue factors with the prognosis of the lymphomas, such as the International Prognostic Index, the tissue expression of some proteins, and the lymphocyte count at the time of diagnosis, as well as to correlate Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection with worse prognoses. Patients with palatine tonsil DLBCL, from Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, were studied in order to identify prognostic factors. Twenty-four patients with DLBCL were studied. The factors that negatively influenced the patients’ survival rates were the lymphocyte count at the time of diagnosis <1.000/mm3 and the Bcl-2 protein expression. There was no CD5 expression in these lymphomas, and neither was there an association with EBV infection.Marinho Marques, Estela Luz, Michael Hummel, Maria das Graças Vieira, Regina Célia Bahia, Maria Cristina Oliveira, Eduardo Martins Netto, Ivana Luz, and Iguaracyra AraújoCopyright © 2012 Marinho Marques et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/otolaryngology/2012/872982/Salivary gland tumours most often present as painless enlarging masses. Most are located in the parotid glands and most are benign. The principal hurdle in their management lies in the difficulty in distinguishing benign from malignant tumours. Investigations such as fine needle aspiration cytology and MRI scans provide some useful information, but most cases will require surgical excision as a means of coming to a definitive diagnosis. Benign tumours and early low-grade malignancies can be adequately treated with surgery alone, while more advanced and high-grade tumours with regional lymph node metastasis will require postoperative radiotherapy. The role of chemotherapy remains largely palliative. This paper highlights some of the more important aspects in the management of salivary gland tumours.Victor Shing Howe To, Jimmy Yu Wai Chan, Raymond K. Y. Tsang, and William I. WeiCopyright © 2012 Victor Shing Howe To et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/education/2012/534085/The growing epidemic of overweight children has led to a higher prevalence of youth being diagnosed with diabetes, particularly type 2 diabetes. The current study modified the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) for use with 7th–10th graders in a school setting. The DPP is an evidence-based lifestyle intervention program that has been translated successfully in various adult settings. Yet the feasibility of modifying the DPP for use with middle and high school students has not been documented. A multidisciplinary university research team collaborated with a local charter school to include a modified DPP as part of the curriculum for one semester. Pre- and posttests included food knowledge, health locus of control, BMI, and performance on the 12-minute Cooper walk/run test. Findings suggest tentatively that the modified DPP was successful at increasing food knowledge and awareness of more rigorous physical activity as well as their association to improved health outcomes. Equally as important, results demonstrate that it is feasible to conduct interventions targeting healthy weight among adolescents in school-based settings by incorporating them in the curriculum.Lori L. Candela, Antonio P. Gutierrez, Janet S. Dufek, LeAnn G. Putney, and John A. MercerCopyright © 2012 Lori L. Candela et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/ss/2012/310727/Knowledge to increase the microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) as a bulk of free-living microbes in paddy soil is limited. The potential benefit of these microorganisms was evaluated, in this study, under different nitrogen sources and two paddy soils. The results revealed that pots treated with organic matter recorded the maximum value of the total N uptake and MBN, followed by the Urea treated pots. Pots amended with sludge exhibited a higher microbial N forming ability than those amended with straw compost under both soils. But ammonium concentration in soil increased with straw compost application. Under fresh soil treatment, microbial N uptake rate and proportion of plant nitrogen derived from microbial nitrogen sources (Pfix) were higher than autoclaved soil. A positive correlation was found between the Pfix and the total N in rice shoot in both soils. Finally, we can say that MBN was governed not only by the soil nitrogen content but also by the type of the nitrogen source. The addition of sludge to fresh soil increased total MBN and consequently could be indirectly beneficial to rice production especially in poor soils. Thus, soil microbes contribute to plant growth by serving the available nitrogen during the season.Haytham M. El-SharkawiCopyright © 2012 Haytham M. El-Sharkawi. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/nanotechnology/2012/539601/Elimination of bacteria and other microbes effectively is important to our daily life and a variety of medical applications. Here, we introduce a new kind of trimolybdate nanowires, namely Ag2−x(NH4)xMo3O10⋅3H2O, that carry a large amount of Ag atoms in the lattice and Ag-rich nanoparticles on the surface. These nanowires can eliminate bacteria of E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and unknown microbes in raw natural water with high efficiency. For example, they can inactivate more than 98% of E. coli with a nanowire concentration of only 5 ppm in the solution. The excellent sterilization performance is attributed to the combined effects of Ag ions, Mo ions, and Ag-rich nanoparticles of the Ag2−x(NH4)xMo3O10⋅3H2O nanowires. These nanowires are not dissolvable in deionized water but can be dissolved by the metabolic materials released from bacteria, making them attractive for many biological applications.Jiongwei Xue, Jianwen Ye, Yujie Jiang, Mo Chen, Huayong Pan, Shengyong Xu, Wei Wang, and Jie TangCopyright © 2012 Jiongwei Xue et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/ss/2012/984783/The present study was aimed at large scale processing of organic waste (grass-T1, water hyacinth-T2, water hyacinth + grass-T3) in three different combinations through biodung and vermicomposting. The results indicated that the pre-digestion of organic waste through anaerobic and aerobic decomposition was most effective in T3. The temperature of the biodung units rose to a maximum of 37.5±1.5°C and then declined gradually to a constant temperature of 35.25±1.75°C, bringing about reduction of organic waste free from harmful microbes. The temperature during the process of vermicomposting was observed to be 28.26±2.19°C in T1 followed by 27.31±0.80°C in T2 and 26.94±0.68°C in T3. The pH in three units was near neutral (6.81±0.18). C : N ratio was reduced to the required level (12.41±3.71). Vermicomposting in T3 resulted in high productivity of vermicompost followed by T2 and T1 which was due to preferential palatability of earthworms Eisenia foetida towards mixed composting material in T3. The results indicated that the vermicompost is highly rich in nutrient and the percentages of these nutrients in the compost vary as the process proceeded until their ideal concentrations for the promotion of plant growth reached.Abdullah Adil Ansari and Jerome RajpersaudCopyright © 2012 Abdullah Adil Ansari and Jerome Rajpersaud. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/surgery/2012/715743/Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a devastating tumor of the upper aerodigestive tract with no significant change in treatment modality or improvement in survival over the last several decades. Biomarkers are important biological molecules that can be utilized in tumor detection, prognosis, and as targeted therapies. There are several important biomarkers and potential targets in the forefront, including biomarkers of tumorigenesis, signal transduction molecules, proteins involved in angiogenesis, and oncogenic viruses. The clinical applications of these biomarkers are in various states from in vitro and in vivo models, phase II and III clinical trials, to accepted modes of treatment in patients with HNSCC. Given the potential improvement in prognosis that biomarkers and their targeted therapies may have on the treatment of HNSCC, their investigation is both important and essential.Eric J. Yavrouian and Uttam K. SinhaCopyright © 2012 Eric J. Yavrouian and Uttam K. Sinha. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/ma/2012/609754/We consider a nonlinear hyperbolic partial differential equation in a general form. Using a Gronwall-type lemma we prove results on the Ulam-Hyers stability and the generalised Ulam-Hyers-Rassias stability of this equation.Nicolaie Lungu and Cecilia CrăciunCopyright © 2012 Nicolaie Lungu and Cecilia Crăciun. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/endocrinology/2012/625809/The authors discuss the strategy of use of incretin hormones in type 2 diabetes treatment in the context of cardiovascular complications. The results of the phase III study on human GLP-1 (Glucagon-like peptide-1) analogue-liraglutide have been presented under common acronym LEAD (Liraglutide-Effect and Action In Diabetes). The liraglutide therapy improved glycemic control with low hypoglycemia risk and decreased glycated hemoglobin by an average 1,13%. Decreases in systolic pressure and significant body weight loss were observed. Not only did the index describing beta cells function HOMA-B improve but also did the ratio of insulin to proinsulin. Summing up, incretin hormones beneficially influence blood glucose level, moreover, their use decreases blood pressure and body weight which might indicate their positive influence on cardiovascular system in diabetic patients.Ida Kinalska, Dorota Bednarska-Chabowska, Joanna Adamiec-Mroczek, and Lukasz HakCopyright © 2012 Ida Kinalska et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/urology/2012/456821/Background. Most physicians use digital rectal examination (DRE) to help detect prostate cancer and to estimate the prostates’ size. The accuracy of DRE is known to be limited. We evaluate the ability of doctors to palpate the whole prostate with DRE. Methods. At time of transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) the distances from the anus to the apex and base of prostates were measured. The TRUS’s distances were compared to the mean index finger length of our clinic doctors. Results. The ability of the urologist to reach and examine the apex, half, three quarters and the whole prostate was in 93.7%, 66.3%, 23.2% and 3.2% of cases respectively. Conclusions. In most cases it was impossible to palpate the whole prostate. Anatomical location and volume of the examined prostate, as well as the length of his own index finger limit DRE and allow the examination of only a small portion of the prostate.Dmitry Koulikov, Ariel Mamber, Alon Fridmans, Wael Abu Arafeh, and Ofer Z. ShenfeldCopyright © 2012 Dmitry Koulikov et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/rheumatology/2012/360201/Objective. Articular cartilage shows changes with age that are considered to be the most important factors in the development and progression of osteoarthritis. The studies on age changes in articular cartilage have been traditionally based on individual observations but this approach is limited by its subjectivity and bias, yielding considerable variability. So the present study was conducted to observe various age related changes in morphology of femoral articular cartilage using computerized morphometric analysis. Design. The articular cartilage specimens were divided into two groups according to age: group 1 (n=16) below 40 years (16–40 years) and group 2 (n=12) above 40 years (41–86 years) of age. 5 μm thick paraffin sections were stained with H&E and analyzed using Image Pro Express image analysis software for quantitative analysis of articular cartilage. Various parameters, that is, total thickness of the cartilage, area of lacunae in each zone, area of subchondral cavities, and number of chondrocytes per 10,000 μm2 area in each zone were measured. Results. Significant difference with age was found in the total thickness and area of lacunae in zone 3. Conclusions. Not much difference is observed in articular cartilage morphology with age. So ageing is not the only risk factor in development of osteoarthritis.Neeru Goyal and Madhur GuptaCopyright © 2012 Neeru Goyal and Madhur Gupta. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/geometry/2012/217132/This paper deals with the study of super quasi-Einstein manifolds admitting W2-curvature tensor. The totally umbilical hypersurfaces of S(QE)n are also studied. Among others, the existence of such a manifold is ensured by a nontrivial example.Shyamal Kumar Hui and Richard S. LemenceCopyright © 2012 Shyamal Kumar Hui and Richard S. Lemence. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/me/2012/428671/The very first step in the simulation of ice accretion on a wind turbine blade is the accurate prediction of the flow field around it and the performance of the turbine rotor. The paper addresses this prediction using RANS equations with a proper turbulence model. The numerical computation is performed using a commercial CFD code, and the results are validated using experimental data for the 3D flow field around the NREL Phase VI HAWT rotor. For the flow simulation, a rotating reference frame method, which calculates the flow properties as time-averaged quantities, has been used to reduce the time spent on the analysis. A basic grid convergence study is carried out to select the adequate mesh size. The two-equation turbulence models available in ANSYS FLUENT are compared for a 7 m/s wind speed, and the one that best represents the flow features is then used to determine moments on the turbine rotor at five wind speeds (7 m/s, 10 m/s, 15 m/s, 20 m/s, and 25 m/s). The results are validated against experimental data, in terms of shaft torque, bending moment, and pressure coefficients at certain spanwise locations. Streamlines over the cross-sectional airfoils have also been provided for the stall speed to illustrate the separation locations. In general, results have shown good agreement with the experimental data for prestall speeds.Ece Sagol, Marcelo Reggio, and Adrian IlincaCopyright © 2012 Ece Sagol et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/agronomy/2012/234656/The aim of the present study was to assess the influence of phosphorus levels and phosphorus solubilizing fungi on yield and nutrient uptake by wheat. The dry matter production by wheat at tillering, ear emergence, and harvest was significantly higher with 90 kg P2O5 ha−1 and was at par with 60 kg P2O5 ha−1. Application of Aspergillus awamori gave the highest dry matter accumulation at tillering, ear emergence, and harvest stage of crop growth. Increasing levels of phosphorus increased the grain and straw yield significantly up to 60 kg P2O5 ha−1 of wheat crop. However, the maximum grain and straw yield were obtained at 90 kg P2O5 ha−1, which was at par with 60 kg P2O5 ha−1. The combined application of 60 kg P2O5 ha−1 with A. awamori recorded significantly higher grain and straw yield. Increasing level of P application (0 to 90 kg P2O5 ha−1) and inoculation with A. awamori and A. niger significantly increased uptake of N, P, and K in wheat at all stages of crop growth. The maximum nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium uptake was recorded at harvest (grain and straw) followed by ear emergence and tillering when seeds were inoculated with Aspergillus awamori.Amita Sharma, U. S. Rawat, and B. K. YadavCopyright © 2012 Amita Sharma et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/bioinformatics/2012/619427/Chemical entities are ubiquitous through the biomedical literature and the development of text-mining systems that can efficiently identify those entities are required. Due to the lack of available corpora and data resources, the community has focused its efforts in the development of gene and protein named entity recognition systems, but with the release of ChEBI and the availability of an annotated corpus, this task can be addressed. We developed a machine-learning-based method for chemical entity recognition and a lexical-similarity-based method for chemical entity resolution and compared them with Whatizit, a popular-dictionary-based method. Our methods outperformed the dictionary-based method in all tasks, yielding an improvement in F-measure of 20% for the entity recognition task, 2–5% for the entity-resolution task, and 15% for combined entity recognition and resolution tasks.Tiago Grego, Catia Pesquita, Hugo P. Bastos, and Francisco M. CoutoCopyright © 2012 Tiago Grego et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/metallurgy/2012/639319/Most aluminum profiles’ production by deep-drawing and extrusion processes require certain degree of structural homogeneity because of the segregated second-phase particles in the as-cast structure. Rolled texture and directionality in properties often give rise to excessive earring, breakout, and tears. This study investigates the effect of heat treatment (artificial aging) on the anisotropic behavior of AA6063 alloy between rolling direction (0°) through 90° directions. The results show significant reduction in property variability in the aged samples along the rolling direction 0°, and 90° directions compared with the as-cast samples. This gave rise to improved % elongation, impact toughness, and substantial reduction (33.3%) in hardness. These results are capable of achieving huge savings in die conditioning and replacement with improved quality and sale of deep-drawn AA6063 alloy profiles for sustained profitability.S. O. Adeosun, O. I. Sekunowo, M. A. Bodude, A. A. Agbeleye, S. A. Balogun, and H. O. OnovoCopyright © 2012 S. O. Adeosun et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/spectroscopy/2012/706398/Mn3O4 nanoparticles were prepared by a simple chemical route using cetyltetramethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as a template agent. Mn3O4 nanocrystals present an octahedral shape, and their crystallite size varies between 20 and 80 nm. They were characterized by XRD, SEM, DTA/TG, and IR spectroscopy. XRD studies confirm the presence of a highly crystalline Mn3O4 phase. The Rietveld refinement of the X-ray diffraction data confirms that Mn3O4 nanoparticles crystallize in the tetragonal system with space group I41/amd. DTA/TG and XRD measurements demonstrate the phase transition toward a spinel structure between 25 and 700∘C. The electrical conductivity increases between 80 and 300∘C, suggesting a semiconducting behaviour of Mn3O4. Both dielectric dispersion (ε′) and dielectric loss (ε′′) were investigated from 80 and 300∘C in the frequency range of 10 Hz–13 MHz. The dielectric properties showed typical dielectric dispersion based on the Maxwell-Wagner model.Hassouna Dhaouadi, Ouassim Ghodbane, Faouzi Hosni, and Fathi TouatiCopyright © 2012 Hassouna Dhaouadi et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/optics/2012/847532/Fractional diffusion equations describe an anomalous diffusion on fractals. In this paper, by means of the successive approximation method and other analysis technique, we present a local positive solution to Cauchy problem for a fractional diffusion equation with singular nonlinearity. The fractional derivative is described in the Caputo sense.Ailing Shi and Shuqin ZhangCopyright © 2012 Ailing Shi and Shuqin Zhang. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/ma/2012/376832/The purpose of this paper is to present some fixed point theorem in dislocated quasimetric space for expansive type mappings.R. D. Daheriya, Rashmi Jain, and Manoj UghadeCopyright © 2012 R. D. Daheriya et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/vs/2012/378607/Steroid hormones are found to play a major role in the genesis and progression of mammary tumors. The aim of this study was to immunohistochemically detect the presence of estrogen receptor alpha (ERα), estrogen receptor beta (ERβ), and progesterone receptor (PR) and also to study the association between these markers in 29 cases of benign (11) and malignant (18) canine mammary tumors. ERα immunostaining was noticed in only one case of carcinosarcoma specifically in the nuclei of epithelial and a few myoepithelial cells. ERβ immunostaining was noticed in the nuclei and cytoplasm of epithelial cells and smooth muscles lining the blood vessels. Immunoexpression of ERβ was 82% in benign tumors and 78% in malignant tumors. PR immunostaining was expressed in the nuclei of epithelial cells in both benign and malignant tumors. Among the 15 PR+ cases, 6 (55%) were of benign type, and 9 (50%) were of malignant type. The most common group of hormone receptor was the ERα−/PR+/ERβ+ (46%) in benign tumors and ERα−/PR−/ERβ+ (38%) in malignant tumors. Although there was no significant association between ERα and PR with ERβ, the findings indicated that ERβ was consistently expressed in both benign and malignant tumors, irrespective of ERα and PR status.Leena Rajathy Port Louis, Khub Chandra Varshney, and Madhavan Gopalakrishnan NairCopyright © 2012 Leena Rajathy Port Louis et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/sn/2012/864694/Data collection is one of the most important tasks in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) where a set of sensors measure properties of a phenomenon of interest and send their data to the sink. Minimizing the delay of the data collection is important for applications in which certain actions based on deadline are needed, such as event-based and mission-critical applications. Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) scheduling algorithms are widely used for quick delivery of data with the objective of minimizing the time duration of delivering data to the sink, that is, minimizing the delay. In this paper, we propose a new centralized TDMA scheduling algorithm that is based on nodes congestion for general ad hoc networks. In the proposed algorithm, the scheduling is obtained using colouring of the original network. Colouring the original network is accomplished based on congestion degree of nodes. The simulation results indicate that the performance of our algorithm is better than that of node-based and level-based scheduling algorithms. We will also show that the performance of our proposed algorithm depends on the distribution of the nodes across the network.Vahid ZibakalamCopyright © 2012 Vahid Zibakalam. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/otolaryngology/2012/850629/Vestibular hearing in human is evoked as a result of the auditory sensitivity of the saccule to low-frequency high-intensity tone. The objective was to investigate the relationship between vestibular hearing using cervical vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMPs) and speech processing via word recognition scores in white noise (WRSs in wn). Intervention comprised of audiologic examinations, cVEMPs, and WRS in wn. All healthy subjects had detectable cVEMPs (safe vestibular hearing). WRSs in wn were obtained for them (66.9 ± 9.3% in the right ears and 67.5 ± 11.8% in the left ears). Dizzy patients in the affected ears, had the cVEMPs abnormalities (insecure vestibular hearing) and decreased the WRS in wn (51.4 ± 3.8% in the right ears and 52.2 ± 3.5% in the left ears). The comparison of the cVEMPs between the subjects revealed significant differences (P < 0.05). Therefore, the vestibular hearing can improve the speech processing in the competing noisy conditions.Seyede Faranak Emami, Akram Pourbakht, Kianoush Sheykholeslami, Mohammad Kamali, Fatholah Behnoud, and Ahmad DaneshiCopyright © 2012 Seyede Faranak Emami et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/microbiology/2012/590385/The bacterial composition along the intestinal tract of Danio rerio was investigated by cultivation-independent analysis of the 16S rRNA gene. Clone libraries were constructed for three compartments of the intestinal tract of individual fish. 566 individual clones were differentiated by amplified 16S rRNA gene restriction analysis (ARDRA), and clone representatives from each operational taxonomic unit (OTU) were sequenced. As reported in other studies, we found that Proteobacteria was the most prominent phylum among clone libraries from different fish. Data generated from this pilot study indicated some compositional differences in bacterial communities. Two dominant classes, Gammaproteobacteria and Bacilli, displayed different levels of abundance in different compartments; Gammaproteobacteria increased along the intestinal tract, while Bacilli decreased its abundance along the proximal-distal axis. Less obvious spatial patterns were observed for other classes. In general, bacterial diversity in the intestinal bulb was greater than that in the posterior intestine. Interindividual differences in bacterial diversity and composition were also noted in this study.Chuan-Ching Lan and Donald R. LoveCopyright © 2012 Chuan-Ching Lan and Donald R. Love. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/cb/2012/295341/This study sought to examine the expression of genes implicated in phosphate transport and pathological calcification in osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) and investigate the biological effects of phosphate. Results revealed that several genes, which were implicated in phosphate transport and pathological calcification, were differentially expressed in OA FLS and RA FLS. Phosphate stimulated the expression of matrix metalloproteinse-1, matrix metalloproteinse-3, cyclooxygenase-2, and interleukin-1β in a dose-dependent manner. Phosphate also induced OA FLS cell death but not RA FLS cell death at higher concentration. Calcification inhibitors, phosphocitrate (PC), and ethane-1-hydroxy-1,1-diphosphonate (EHDP), effectively inhibited these detrimental biological effects of phosphate. These findings suggest that abnormal expression of genes implicated in phosphate transport and pathological calcification may contribute to the progression of OA through the induction of extracellular matrix-degrading enzymes, proinflammatory cytokines, cell death, and calcium deposits. Calcification inhibitors such as PC and EHDP are potent inhibitors of these detrimental biological effects of phosphate.Yubo Sun, David R. Mauerhan, Deepthi Chaturvedi, Edward N. Hanley Jr., and Helen E. GruberCopyright © 2012 Yubo Sun et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/dentistry/2012/247351/Pain is the most common symptom of oral diseases. Pain perception in children is highly variable and unreliable due to poor communication. Therefore we designed a study to compare pain measurement techniques, that is, visual analogue scale (VAS) and Wong-Baker faces pain rating scale (WBFPS) among Delhi children aged 3 to 14 years undergoing dental extraction. Method. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 180 patients aged 3 to 14 years who had undergone dental extraction. Children were assessed for their pain sensitivity using visual analogue scale (VAS) and Wong-Baker faces pain rating scale (WBFPS ). Result and Conclusion. Pain threshold tends to decline, and the self-management of pain becomes more effective with increasing age. Genderwise result shows that communication ability of boys and girls is similar in all age groups.Amit Khatri and Namita KalraCopyright © 2012 Amit Khatri and Namita Kalra. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/oncology/2012/249124/Purpose. to evaluate the outcome of patients with Hodgkin’s lymphoma who underwent autologous transplantation at KHCC bone marrow transplant program. Patients and Methods. Over 6 years, 63 patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin’s lymphoma underwent high dose chemotherapy followed by autologous transplant. There were 25.4% patients in complete remission (CR), 71.4% with chemotherapy responsive disease at the time of transplant. Prior to conditioning regimen, 56% received two chemotherapy lines, and, 44% received more than two lines. Results. The main outcomes of the study are the rate of complete remission at day 100, overall survival (OS), relapse-free survival (RFS), The impact of the following variables on OS and RFS: (a) disease status at the time of transplant, (b) number of chemotherapy lines prior to conditioning, (c) age group, (d) time of relapse < or >12 months were investigated. The CR at day 100 was 57%. The median overall survival for the whole group was 40.6 months; the median RFS was 20 months. The only factor which significantly impacts the study outcomes was the number of chemotherapy lines prior to conditioning on OS in favor of patients received two lines. Conclusion. In our study only the number of chemotherapy lines received before conditioning had statistically significant impact on OS.Fawzi Abdel-Rahman, Ayad Hussein, Mohammad Aljamily, Abdulhadi Al-Zaben, Nilly Hussein, and Ala'a AddasiCopyright © 2012 Fawzi Abdel-Rahman et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/appmath/2012/630702/Given only the signs of signal plus noise added repetitively or sign data, signal amplitudes can be recovered with minimal variance. However, discrete derivatives of the signal are recovered from sign data with a variance which approaches infinity with decreasing step size and increasing order. For industries such as the seismic industry, which exploits amplitude recovery from sign data, these results place constraints on processing, which includes differentiation of the data. While methods for smoothing noisy data for finite difference calculations are known, sign data requires noisy data. In this paper, we derive the expectation values of continuous and discrete sign data derivatives and we explicitly characterize the variance of discrete sign data derivatives.L. M. Houston, G. A. Glass, and A. D. DymnikovCopyright © 2012 L. M. Houston et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/ac/2012/281929/A simple fluorometric method, using N1-methylnicotinamide chloride (NMNCl) as a fluorogenic reagent, has been developed, adapted, and validated for the quantitative estimation of drugs containing α-methylene sulfoxide functional groups. The proposed method has been applied successfully to the determination of sulindac (1), omeprazole (2), lansoprazole (3), pantoprazole (4), and rabeprazole (5) in the pure form, laboratory-prepared mixtures, pharmaceutical dosage forms, spiked human plasma samples, and in hospitalized patient's or volunteer's blood. For the standard solutions of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, the method showed linearity over concentration ranging between 1–50 μg/mL, 50–1200 ng/mL, 100–1500 ng/mL, 10–1500 ng/mL, and 20–2200 ng/mL, respectively. For the spiked human plasma of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, the linearity was shown over concentration ranging between 1–50 μg/mL, 75–1200 ng/mL, 100–1400 ng/mL, 10–1500 ng/mL, and 50–2100 ng/mL, respectively. The method showed good accuracy, specificity, and precision in both laboratory-prepared mixtures and spiked human plasma samples. The proposed method is simple, does not need sophisticated instrumentation, suitable for quality control application, bioavailability, and bioequivalency studies. Besides, the sensitivity and detection limits are comparable to sophisticated chromatographic methods.Khaled M. Elokely, Mohamed A. Eldawy, Mohamed A. Elkersh, and Tarek F. El-MoselhyCopyright © 2012 Khaled M. Elokely et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/mp/2012/209678/The velocity field and the adequate shear stress corresponding to the rotational flow of a fractional Maxwell fluid, between two infinite coaxial circular cylinders, are determined by applying the Laplace and finite Hankel transforms. The solutions that have been obtained are presented in terms of generalized Ga,b,c(·,t) and Ra,b(·,t) functions. Moreover, these solutions satisfy both the governing differential equations and all imposed initial and boundary conditions. The corresponding solutions for ordinary Maxwell and Newtonian fluids are obtained as limiting cases of our general solutions. Finally, the influence of the material parameters on the velocity and shear stress of the fluid is analyzed by graphical illustrations.M. Imran, A. U. Awan, Mehwish Rana, M. Athar, and M. KamranCopyright © 2012 M. Imran et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/biomathematics/2012/818492/In this paper, we established a multiscale mechanistic model for studying drug delivery, biodistribution, and therapeutic effects of cancer drug therapy in order to identify optimal treatment strategies. Due to the specific characteristics of cancer, our proposed model focuses on drug effects on malignant solid tumor and specific internal organs as well as the intratumoral and regional extracellular microenvironments. At the organ level, we quantified drug delivery based on a multicompartmental model. This model will facilitate the analysis and prediction of organ toxicity and provide important pharmacokinetic information with regard to drug clearance rates. For the analysis of intratumoral microenvironment which is directly related to blood drug concentrations and tumor properties, we constructed a drug distribution model using diffusion-convection solute transport to study temporal/spatial variations of drug concentration. With this information, our model incorporates signaling pathways for the analysis of antitumor response with drug combinations at the extracellular level. Moreover, changes in tumor size, cellular proliferation, and apoptosis induced by different drug treatment conditions are studied. Therefore, the proposed multi-scale model could be used to understand drug clinical actions, study drug therapy-antitumor effects, and potentially identify optimal combination drug therapy. Numerical simulations demonstrate the proposed system's effectiveness.Lei Tang, Jing Su, De-Shuang Huang, Daniel Y. Lee, King C. Li, and Xiaobo ZhouCopyright © 2012 Lei Tang et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/oncology/2012/274739/Background. Oral intake of many patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer (LAHNC) decrease during chemoradiotherapy (CRT). Although prophylactic percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) is recommended, not a few patients complete CRT without using PEG tube. Patients and Methods. The subjects were patients with LAHNC who received CRT. We retrospectively investigated the incidence and duration of nutritional support during and after CRT, and predicting factors of nutritional support. For patients who required nutritional support, we also checked the day of initiation and the duration of nutritional support. Results. Of 53 patients, 29 patients (55%) required nutritional support during and/or after CRT. While no clear relation between requirement of nutritional support and variables including age, T stage, N stage, clinical stage and chemotherapy regimen, there could be some relationships between tumor primary sites and the requirement and duration of nutritional support. 17 (77%) of 22 patients with oropharynx cancer(OP) required nutritional support and prolonged for 4.4 months, and 11 (46%) of 24 patients with hypopharynx cancer(HP) required nutritional support and prolonged for 21.9 months. Conclusion. Nutritional support is indicated many HNC patients treated with CRT and primary sites may have some relation to its indication and duration.Hiroto Ishiki, Yusuke Onozawa, Takashi Kojima, Shuichi Hironaka, Akira Fukutomi, Hirofumi Yasui, Kentaro Yamazaki, Keisei Taku, Nozomu Machida, Narikazu Boku, Takayuki Hashimoto, and Tetsuo NishimuraCopyright © 2012 Hiroto Ishiki et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/agronomy/2012/607476/Fifteen introduced and native warm-season perennial grasses were evaluated for yield, yield distribution, and quality in south-central Oklahoma. These grasses have production potential for forage and/or biofuel. Each was harvested one to four times per year. “Alamo” switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) had a two-year average dry matter yield of 17690 kg ha-1. Over 1/3 of this production occurred in May with a crude protein (CP) range of 97–115 g kg-1. Alamo’s high yield potential and early spring growth make it attractive for spring forage production and fall biomass production. Other grasses with two-year average dry matter yields over 11200 kg ha-1 and 1/3 of yearly production occurring early in the growing season that have potential dual purpose use include “Selection 75” kleingrass (Panicum coloratum), “Midland 99” bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon), johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense), “Carostan” flaccidgrass (Pennisetum flaccidum), and “Ermelo” weeping lovegrass (Eragrostis curvula).James K. Rogers, Frank J. Motal, and Jagadeesh MosaliCopyright © 2012 James K. Rogers et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/biophysics/2012/124803/Objective. To develop a conceptual model for lung cancer rates to describe and quantify observed differences between Sweden and USA contra Japan. Method. A two-parameter lognormal distribution was used to describe the lung cancer rates over time after a 1-year period of smoking. Based on that risk function in combination with smoking prevalence, the calculated age-standardized rates were adjusted to fit reported data from Japan, Sweden, and the USA by parameter variation. Results. The risk of lung cancer is less in Japan than in Sweden and in the USA at the same smoking prevalence and intensity. Calculated age-specific rates did also fit well to reported rates without further parameter adjustments. Conclusions. This new type of cancer model appears to have high degree of predictive value. It is recommended that data from more countries are studied to identify important life-style factors related to lung cancer.Örjan Hallberg and Olle JohanssonCopyright © 2012 Örjan Hallberg and Olle Johansson. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/me/2012/635268/A study of circular piezoelectric micro speakers is presented for applications in the audio frequency range, including values for impedance, admittance, noise figures, transducer gain, and acoustic frequency responses. The micro speakers were modelled based on piezoelectric micro ultrasonic transducer (pMUT) design techniques and principles. In order to reach the audio frequency range, transducer radii were increased to the order of one centimetre, whilst piezoelectric layer thicknesses ranged the order of several μm. The micro actuators presented might be used for a variety of electroacoustic applications including noise control, hearing aids, earphones, sonar, and medical diagnostic ultrasound. This work main contribution is the characterization of the design space and transducer performance as a function of transducer radius, piezoelectric layer thickness, and frequency range, looking towards an optimized fabrication process.J. Mendoza-López, S. Sánchez-Solano, and J. L. Huertas-DíazCopyright © 2012 J. Mendoza-López et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/appmath/2012/980153/This paper introduces the Tukey family of symmetric h and asymmetric hh-distributions in the contexts of univariate L-moments and the L-correlation. Included is the development of a procedure for specifying nonnormal distributions with controlled degrees of L-skew, L-kurtosis, and L-correlations. The procedure can be applied in a variety of settings such as modeling events (e.g., risk analysis, extreme events) and Monte Carlo or simulation studies. Further, it is demonstrated that estimates of L-skew, L-kurtosis, and L-correlation are substantially superior to conventional product-moment estimates of skew, kurtosis, and Pearson correlation in terms of both relative bias and efficiency when heavy-tailed distributions are of concern.Todd C. Headrick and Mohan D. PantCopyright © 2012 Todd C. Headrick and Mohan D. Pant. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/thermodynamics/2012/202715/Investigation of the influence of coflow and partial air premixing on liquid petroleum gas (LPG) flames in a lab-scale co-flow burner is presented. Primary air is supplied along with LPG in the inner core, and secondary air is supplied through the annulus region of the burner. Digital images are analyzed to study the flame shape, color, height, radius, and qualitative laminar flame speed. Concentrations of product gases and emission species are measured using a digital gas analyzer. Results indicate that in a dual air stream configuration, the partial premixing is optimum at % primary air value of around 45%.R. Sreenivasan, Sumit Kumar Koli, and Vasudevan RaghavanCopyright © 2012 R. Sreenivasan et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/mp/2012/234516/Using nonpolynomial cubic spline approximation in x- and finite difference in y-direction, we discuss a numerical approximation of O(k2+h4) for the solutions of diffusion-convection equation, where k>0 and h>0 are grid sizes in y- and x-coordinates, respectively. We also extend our technique to polar coordinate system and obtain high-order numerical scheme for Poisson’s equation in cylindrical polar coordinates. Iterative method of the proposed method is discussed, and numerical examples are given in support of the theoretical results.R. K. Mohanty, Rajive Kumar, and Vijay DahiyaCopyright © 2012 R. K. Mohanty et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/ecology/2012/815016/We examined models for population growth curves, contrasting integrated versions with various other forms. A sizable number of data sets for birds and mammals were considered, but the main comparisons were based on 27 data sets that could be fit to the generalized logistic curve. Akaike's information criterion was used to rank fits of those data sets to 5 integrated models. We found that the integrated models gave the best fits to the data examined. The difference equations examined gave much poorer fits as judged by AICc and coefficients of variation. We conclude that the integrated models should be used when possible.L. L. Eberhardt and J. M. BreiwickCopyright © 2012 L. L. Eberhardt and J. M. Breiwick. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/ceramics/2012/943734/Bismuth layered structure SrBi2Ta2O9 ceramic is prepared by the microwave sintering technique via solid state route at 1100°C for 30 mins. X-ray diffraction analysis is used to analyze the phase purity, which identifies the orthorhombic structure with A21am space group. The fracture surface of the sintered pellet is visualized by scanning electron microscopy. Impedance spectroscopy is used to analyze the sample behavior as a function of frequency and temperature. Impedance and modulus study reveals the temperature-dependent non-Debye type relaxation phenomenon. The Nyquist plot shows a single arc representing the grain effect in the material, and the conductivity increases with increase in temperature. The Nyquist plot is fitted with an equivalent circuit, and the simulated parameters are well agreed with the calculated parameters. Arrhenius plot shows two different activation energies at below and above 300°C which identifies the phase transition of SrBi2Ta2O9 ceramic. The fatigue property is explained by the basis of activation energies, which shows that SBT sintered by microwave technique is more fatigue resistant than conventional sintering.V. Senthil, T. Badapanda, A. Chandra Bose, and S. PanigrahiCopyright © 2012 V. Senthil et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/ss/2012/516947/Aquatic plants with their high relative growth rates efficiently absorb nutrients from their surrounding media, thereby providing a simple and inexpensive solution for nutrient-polluted aquifers. The present study determined the P accumulation efficiencies of four different aquatic plants namely, Eleocharis plantaginea, Eichhornia crassipes, Pistia stratiotes, and Hydrilla verticillata from the 6043 ha Kabar Wetland (86°05′ E to 86°09′ E, 25°30′ N to 25°32′ N). The aim of the study was to select the most efficient P accumulator. Water, sediment, and plant samples from Kabar were monthly analyzed for P content for 13 months from July 2009 to July 2010. Pistia stratiotes L. accumulated the highest amount of tissue P (1.06±0.22 mg/g dw). The maximum capacity of luxury uptake of P under greenhouse conditions as exhibited by Pistia was further tested. Pistia individuals tolerated up to 50 mg/L phosphate medium and accumulated 6.12±0.95 mg/g dw P after 35 days under greenhouse conditions. Up to 91% phosphate was removed from the surrounding medium within 60 days at 50 mg/L supply. Tissue P levels increased with increasing phosphate levels in the surrounding media but variation with incubation period was statistically insignificant. Our studies present Pistia as more efficient than other common wetland species like Eichhornia, Phragmites, Typha, and so forth when grown in the sub-tropics and confirm its ability to ameliorate P-polluted subtropical wetlands.Shardendu Shardendu, D. Sayantan, Deepti Sharma, and Sufia IrfanCopyright © 2012 Shardendu Shardendu et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/vs/2012/185461/Pheromones in the urine regulate aggression of male mice and castrated males produce less of these pheromones. We tested the hypothesis that pheromones in the urine of sexually mature-intact (SMI) males placed in the cage bedding of an individually housed male mouse or in a mouse restrainer would contribute to a significant increase in mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), and activity. Sexually mature male C57BL/6 mice were implanted with a biotelemetry transmitter to measure MAP, HR, and activity. Urine (200 μL) from SMI mice placed in the cages of singularly housed male mice caused significant changes above baseline values for MAP (21±4 mmHg), HR (145±25 bpm), and activity (9±2 counts) when compared to urine from castrated mice-induced MAP (11±3 mmHg), HR (70±15 bpm), and activity (5±1 counts). Pretreatment with terazosin significantly reduced the change in MAP (9±3 mmHg), heart rate (90±15 bpm), and activity (4±2 counts) responses to urine from SMI males. Saline did not significantly increase MAP, HR, or activity in any group. During restraint, urine from SMI mice caused a significant change in MAP (5±0.4 mmHg) and HR (17±1 bpm); urine from castrated mice did not cause a significant increase in MAP and HR. Our results demonstrate that a significant increase in MAP, HR, and activity occurs when male mice are exposed to urine pheromones from SMI males. In summary, pheromones in the urine of SMI male excreted in the cage bedding and mouse restrainers contribute to a significant increase in cardiovascular responses in the absence of direct physical contact with a different male mouse or animal handler.Dexter L. Lee and Justin L. WilsonCopyright © 2012 Dexter L. Lee and Justin L. Wilson. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/education/2012/263891/The study sought to find out the relative effectiveness of three classroom interaction strategies which are known to affect students' learning outcomes in Mathematics. 484 senior secondary school three (SSSIII) students randomly selected through judgmental and stratified random sampling from government-owned secondary schools in Ikere and Ado-Ekiti local government areas of Ekiti state participated in the study. The instrument was a self-constructed one, validated and used for collecting data and titled “Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT).” The experimental treatment lasted for four weeks, and the data collected were analyzed using one-way ANOVA, ANCOVA, two-way ANCOVA, and Tukey HSD post hoc pairwise comparisons analysis. The findings showed that the students' learning outcomes in Mathematics were better promoted by the cooperative and competitive strategies but rather minimally by both individualistic and conventional strategies.E. O. Oloyede, O. F. Adebowale, and A. A. OjoCopyright © 2012 E. O. Oloyede et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/immunology/2012/530179/Background. Despite surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, the prognosis of relapsed grade III gliomas remains poor. After promising results of immunotherapy in grade IV gliomas, we investigated its safety and efficacy in recurrent grade III gliomas. Methods. Thirty-nine patients received vaccines containing dendritic cells loaded with autologous tumor lysate after tumor resection. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were compared with those obtained after temozolomide (TMZ) treatment as found in the literature. Results. Median PFS and OS were 4.6 and 20.5, 3.4 and 18.8, 7.8 and 13.3 months in recurrent grade III astrocytoma, oligodendroglioma, and oligoastrocytoma, respectively. Compared with TMZ, no grade III/IV toxicity was reported and median OS tended to be higher although there was no difference in median PFS. The perceived benefit of immunotherapy was more pronounced in astrocytic tumors. Conclusions. We provide the first description of immunotherapy in recurrent grade III glioma as safe, promising, and feasible.Iris Elens, Steven De Vleeschouwer, Femke Pauwels, and Stefaan Van GoolCopyright © 2012 Iris Elens et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/pharmaceutics/2012/738432/Developing innovative delivery strategies remains an ongoing task to improve both efficacy and safety of drug-based therapy. Nanomedicine is now a promising field of investigation, rising high expectancies for treating various diseases such as malignancies. Putting drugs into liposome is an old story that started in the late 1960s. Because of the near-total biocompatibility of their lipidic bilayer, liposomes are less concerned with the safety issue related to the possible long-term accumulation in the body of most nanoobjects currently developed in nanomedicine. Additionally, novel techniques and recent efforts to achieve better stability (e.g., through sheddable coating), combined with a higher selectivity towards target cells (e.g., by anchoring monoclonal antibodies or incorporating phage fusion protein), make new liposomal drugs an attractive and challenging opportunity to improve clinical outcome in a variety of disease. This review covers the physicochemistry of liposomes and the recent technical improvements in the preparation of liposome-encapsulated drugs in regard to the scientific and medical stakes.Dimitrios Bitounis, Raphaelle Fanciullino, Athanassios Iliadis, and Joseph CiccoliniCopyright © 2012 Dimitrios Bitounis et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/appmath/2012/695167/Membraneless fuel cells are examples of microelectromechanical systems (MEMSs) that can be considered as alternate energy sources. Applications include microfluidic-based devices like miniaturized laboratories, sensors, or actuators to be used in medicine or agronomy. This paper presents a mathematical model for this type of cells based on the governing physical laws. It includes fluid dynamics, electric charge distribution and electrostatics modeled by the Navier-Stokes, Nernst-Planck, and Poisson equations, respectively. A robust numerical algorithm is proposed to solve the model. Two cases are discussed: allowing electrochemical reactions on one of the electrodes and the simpler situation of null exchange current density. An initial characterization for the behavior of membraneless fuel cells is achieved concerning to prevalence of velocity and electric field, use of non-Newtonian fluids, relationship to initial conditions for some variables, general profile for conductivity and electric density, and linear dependence on current density under specific conditions.Ciro-Filemon Flores-RiveraCopyright © 2012 Ciro-Filemon Flores-Rivera. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/nanotechnology/2012/689023/The decreasing sizes in complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) transistor technology require the replacement of SiO2 with gate dielectrics that have a high dielectric constant (high-k). When the SiO2 gate thickness is reduced below 1.4 nm, electron tunneling effects and high leakage currents occur which present serious obstacles for device reliability. In recent years, various alternative gate dielectrics have been researched. Following the introduction of HfO2 into the 45 nm process by Intel in 2007, the screening and selection of high-k gate stacks, understanding their properties, and their integration into CMOS technology have been a very active research area. This paper reviews the progress and efforts made in the recent years for high-k dielectrics, which can be potentially integrated into 22 nm (and beyond) technology nodes. Our work includes deposition techniques, physical characterization methods at the atomic scale, and device reliability as the focus. For most of the materials discussed here, structural and physical properties, dielectric relaxation issues, and projections towards future applications are also discussed.Chun Zhao, C. Z. Zhao, M. Werner, S. Taylor, and P. R. ChalkerCopyright © 2012 Chun Zhao et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/agronomy/2012/781012/The purpose of this study was to monitor population fluctuations of various species of Diptera during the growing season of durum wheat, in years 2009 and 2010. The most abundant Hymenoptera species was also included in the study as a control species. The species studied were Cephus pygmaeus, Haplodiplosis marginata, Mayetiola destructor, and Chlorops pumilionis. Samplings of insects were taken in eight periods to cover the late stages of durum wheat. Measurements were made every about 100 m in the field, with five wheat plants per sample, from 10 different places. Total insect individuals on each wheat plant were counted. Maximum number of individuals per plant reached 6-7 insects, except for C. pumilionis which showed only 3–5 individuals. Year X sampling period interaction was also found in some cases, indicating different populations' fluctuations across years. The relatively low populations found in our study may indicate low level of danger on crop production, but the unstable populations of the most multitudinous insect species H. marginata and C. pygmaeus may cover a possible danger, especially for species H. marginata which, in specific years, can be found in great numbers causing severe damages on wheat crops. Combination of pests may result in significant damages and a total recording procedure must be practiced.P. N. Deligeorgidis, N. P. Deligeorgidis, C. G. Ipsilandis, A. Vardiabasis, M. Vayopoulou, L. Giakalis, and G. SidiropoulosCopyright © 2012 P. N. Deligeorgidis et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/allergy/2012/627545/Resolution of egg allergy occurs in the majority of egg allergic children. Positive specific IgE antibodies to ovomucoid (OVM) have been suggested to be of greater predictive value for persistent egg allergy than specific IgE to egg white. The performance of OVM-specific IgE antibody levels in a cohort of children referred for a routine egg challenge was compared with egg white specific IgE levels in predicting a positive egg challenge. 24/47 subjects had persistent egg allergy. Receiver operating characteristic analysis showed that OVM-specific IgE testing was the most useful test for the diagnosis of persistent egg allergy. The optimal decision points for the prediction of persistent egg allergy were >0.35 kUA/L for specific IgE levels to both EW and OVM, and ≥3 mm for SPT. Children with specific IgE levels suggestive of persistent egg allergy need not be subject to an egg provocation challenge, reducing both costs and risks to the child.D. E. Marriage, M. Erlewyn-Lajeunesse, D. J. Unsworth, and A. J. HendersonCopyright © 2012 D. E. Marriage et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/endocrinology/2012/292041/Adequate oxygen stress induced by low-dose irradiation activates biodefense system, such as induction of the synthesis of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase. We studied the possibility for alleviation of oxidative damage, such as diabetes and nonalcoholic liver disease. Results show that low-dose γ-irradiation increases SOD activity and protects against alloxan diabetes. Prior or post-low-dose X- or γ-irradiation increases antioxidative functions in livers and inhibits ferric nitrilotriacetate and carbon tetrachloride-induced (CCl4) hepatopathy. Moreover, radon inhalation also inhibits CCl4-induced hepatopathy. It is highly possible that low-dose irradiation including radon inhalation activates the biodefence systems and, therefore, contributes to preventing or reducing reactive oxygen species-related diabetes and nonalcoholic liver disease, which are thought to involve peroxidation.Takahiro Kataoka and Kiyonori YamaokaCopyright © 2012 Takahiro Kataoka and Kiyonori Yamaoka. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/obgyn/2012/916914/There are analyzed some of the main aspects related to the causality of preeclampsia, privileging two types of models: the clinic model and the epidemiologic model, first one represented by the hypothesis of the reduced placental perfusion and the second one considering the epidemiologic findings related to the high levels of psychosocial stress and its association with preeclampsia. It is reasoned out the relevance of raising the causality of the disease from an interdisciplinary perspective, integrating the valuable information generated from both types, clinical and epidemiologic, and finally a tentative explanatory model of preeclampsia is proposed, the subclinical and sociocultural aspects that predispose and trigger the disease are emphasized making aspects to stand out: the importance of reduced placental perfusion as an indicator of individual risk, and the high levels of physiological stress, as a result of the unfavorable conditions of the psychosocial surroundings (indicator of population risk) of the pregnant women.Jaime Salvador-Moysén, Yolanda Martínez-López, José M. Ramírez-Aranda, Marisela Aguilar-Durán, and Alberto Terrones-GonzálezCopyright © 2012 Jaime Salvador-Moysén et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/cb/2012/524781/Hydroquinone is used as a skin-lightening agent, it is also present in different chemical products and cigarette smoke. It is believed to inhibit melanin production in melanocytes by inhibiting the key enzyme tyrosinase. In the present study, we show that hydroquinone had severe effects on microtubules and actin filaments in cultured Xenopus laevis melanophores as studied by immunohistochemistry. It affected the intracellular transport of melanosomes, induced bundling of microtubules and disassembly of actin filaments at 10 and 50 μM, and at 100 μM proper adhesion to the substrate was lost. Effects occurred at lower concentrations than what previously has been stated to be cytotoxic, and the results show that tyrosinase is not the only cellular target. The cytoskeleton is of utmost importance for the function of all cells and across species. Our data has therefore to be considered in the discussions about the use of hydroquinone for bleaching of skin.Sara Aspengren, Elisabeth Norström, and Margareta WallinCopyright © 2012 Sara Aspengren et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/ceramics/2012/672601/Microporous ceramic matrix membranes were prepared with complementary proportions of locally available zeolitic aluminosilicate materials and other abundant lateritic clay minerals. The membranes cast as circular disks (22.78 mm diameter and 2.11 mm thickness) were treated with silver nitrate solution to discourage microbial growth on their surface and then sintered at 900±5°C for about 20 hours. Antimicrobial microfiltration process showed 87.24% to 100% bacterial rejection depending on the material combination ratio. Elemental characterization of the membrane materials was done using ion beam analysis (IBA) technique of particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE), while the physicochemical behaviour of the ceramic membranes was carried out through the analysis of the filtered water samples using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), total dissolved solids (TDS), microbial, and pH analyses. Compositional characterization of raw materials showed comparatively low contents of impurities, such as Fe and Ca, in the raw materials, but with high SiO2/Al2O3 ratios for the raw material which is important for zeolitic material synthesis. Regularly porous microstructure of mean pore diameter of between 50 nm and 100 nm was observed from the analyzed images obtained from ZEISS Supra 40 scanning electron microscope.E. Ajenifuja, O. O. Akinwunmi, M. K. Bakare, J. A. Ajao, I. F. Adeniyi, and E. O. B. AjayiCopyright © 2012 E. Ajenifuja et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/appmath/2012/568278/The present problem is concerned with the thermal diffusion mass transfer effects on MHD free convective flow of dusty gas through a porous medium induced by the motion of a semi-infinite flat plate moving with velocity decreasing “exponentially with time”. The effects of various parameters like magnetic parameter M thermal diffusion effect as soret number S1, permeability parameter K1, Schimdt number Sc are taken into account. The velocity profile, temperature field, and concentration of incompressible dusty gas and dust particles for several parameters are discussed numerically and explained graphically.Rajesh Kumar, Devendra Kumar, and R. K. ShrivastavCopyright © 2012 Rajesh Kumar et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/mp/2012/843962/We investigate the local Hopf bifurcation in Genesio system with delayed feedback control. We choose the delay as the parameter, and the occurrence of local Hopf bifurcations are verified. By using the normal form theory and the center manifold theorem, we obtain the explicit formulae for determining the stability and direction of bifurcated periodic solutions. Numerical simulations indicate that delayed feedback control plays an effective role in control of chaos.Junbiao GuanCopyright © 2012 Junbiao Guan. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/neurology/2012/642345/The current therapy for glioblastoma multiforme involves total surgical resection followed by combination of radiation therapy and temozolomide. Unfortunately, the efficacy for such current therapy is limited, and newer approaches are sorely needed to treat this deadly disease. We have recently described the isolation of bacterial proteins and peptides with anticancer activity. In phase I human clinical trials, one such peptide, p28, derived from a bacterial protein azurin, showed partial and complete regression of tumors in several patients among 15 advanced-stage cancer patients with refractory metastatic tumors where the tumors were no longer responsive to current conventional drugs. An azurin-like protein called Laz derived from Neisseria meningitides demonstrates efficient entry and high cytotoxicity towards glioblastoma cells. Laz differs from azurin in having an additional 39-amino-acid peptide called an H.8 epitope, which allows entry and high cytotoxicity towards glioblastoma cells. Since p28 has been shown to have very little toxicity and high anti-tumor activity in advanced-stage cancer patients, it will be worthwhile to explore the use of H.8-p28, H.8-azurin, and Laz in toxicity studies and glioblastoma therapy in preclinical and human clinical trials.Arsenio M. Fialho, Prabhakar Salunkhe, Sunil Manna, Sidharth Mahali, and Ananda M. ChakrabartyCopyright © 2012 Arsenio M. Fialho et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/ss/2012/739051/Leaching of F- from biotite was investigated at room temperature by performing a series of short-term leach tests. The leaching of F- from biotite structure strongly depends on its weathering stage. Results of this study suggest that high concentration of F- is leached from highly weathered biotite, compared to fresh biotite. Results of dissolution experiments confirm that the organic acids in soil promote the leaching of F- from biotite compared to inorganic acids. Citric acid which is a week organic acid enhances leaching of F- from biotite structure compared to strong inorganic acid HNO3, independent of the weathering stage of biotite. Strong positive correlation between K+ and Fe2+ with F- in biotite treated with citric acid suggests that F- readily leachs into the solution through an ionic exchange and complex formation. Organic acids involve sorption and complex formation processes leading to release of F- into the solution. Our studies suggest that in the presence of organic acids F- is leached readily into water percolating through the soil. Therefore, shallow groundwater replenished by the water table may achieve high F- concentrations by this leaching process.K. U. K. S. Kularatne and H. M. T. G. A. PitawalaCopyright © 2012 K. U. K. S. Kularatne and H. M. T. G. A. Pitawala. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/mb/2012/146748/Faithful transmission of genetic information through generations ensures genomic stability and integrity. However, genetic alterations occur every now and then during the course of genome duplication. In order to repair these genetic defects and lesions, nature has devised several repair pathways which function promptly to prevent the cell from accumulating permanent mutations. These repair mechanisms seem to be significantly impacted by posttranslational modifications of proteins like phosphorylation and ubiquitination. Protein ubiquitination is emerging as a critical regulatory mechanism of DNA damage response. Non-proteolytic, proteasome-independent functions of ubiquitin involving monoubiquitination and polyubiquitination of DNA repair proteins contribute significantly to the signaling of DNA repair pathways. In this paper, we will particularly highlight the work on ubiquitin-mediated signaling in the repair processes involving the Fanconi anemia pathway, translesional synthesis, nucleotide excision repair, and repair of double-strand breaks. We will also discuss the role of ubiquitin ligases in regulating checkpoint mechanisms, the role of deubiquitinating enzymes, and the growing possibilities of therapeutic intervention in this ubiquitin-conjugation system.Soma Ghosh and Tapas SahaCopyright © 2012 Soma Ghosh and Tapas Saha. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/cn/2012/430684/We describe the study and development of a 2-meter-wide HF RFID gate providing omnidirectional detection of transponders. Common commercial HF RFID gate structures provide a maximum reading range around 150 cm. Moreover, this value is in most cases guaranteed only for the maximum coupling direction, with lower values for the other 2 orientations. The proposed structure raises the value of the reading range up to 200 cm for every orientation of the transponder, with even better results (220 cm) when the transponder is in the position of maximum coupling. This result has been achieved through numerical simulations, focused on the study of the geometry of the antenna system and on the realization of the matching circuit and then confirmed with the physical implementation of the system.Giuliano Benelli, Stefano Parrino, and Alessandro PozzebonCopyright © 2012 Giuliano Benelli et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/cn/2012/185472/A reliable and efficient highway broadcast model based on gain prediction is proposed to solve excessive information retransmission and channel conflict that often happen to flooding broadcast in vehicular ad hoc network. We take accountofthe relative speeds, the intervehicle distance, and the coverage difference of the neighboring vehicles into predicting the gain of every neighbor, and further select the neighbor with the maximum gain as the next hop on the every direction of road. Simulations show that the proposed model is clearly superior to the original flooding model and a recent variant based on mobility prediction in packet arrival rate, average delay, forwarding count, and throughput.Deng Chuan and Wang JianCopyright © 2012 Deng Chuan and Wang Jian. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/oc/2012/208284/Two new macrocyclic hydrazone Schiff bases were synthesized by reaction of succindihydrazide and adipdihydrazide with acetylacetone. Hydrazones have been characterized by elemental analyses and IR, mass, 1H NMR, and 13C NMR spectral data. Hydrazones have been studied by liquid-liquid extraction towards the s-metal ions (Li+, Na+, and K+) and d-metal ions (Cu2+ and Cr3+) from aqueous phase to organic phase. The effect of chloroform and dichloromethane as organic solvents over the metal chlorides extraction was investigated at 25 ± 0.1°C by using flame atomic absorption. We found differences between the two solvents in extraction selectivity.Farouk Kandil, Mohamad Khaled Chebani, and Wail Al ZoubiCopyright © 2012 Farouk Kandil et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/chromatography/2012/293830/The high-performance liquid chromatography—mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) qualitative analysis method in negative mode of detection was used to record the presence of orellanine in the stomach contents of rats after ingestion of Cortinarius orellanus. Intoxication with orellanine causes acute renal failure (ARF), which is characterized by sudden loss of the ability of the kidneys to excrete wastes. The detection method presented here can be used as a platform for future development of analytical procedures for detecting orellanine in cases of human intoxication by toadstools. The presence of orellanine in animal stomach contents was analytically recorded and compared with standard orellanine, which was donated by the R&D Department of Jupiter Ltd, Norway. The MS fragmentation described in the literature and the MS fragmentation of standard samples of isolated orellanine verified the presence of orellanine in the stomach contents of laboratory animals. The presence of a diglucoside of orellanine, which was described as part of the toxic orellanine complex by Spiteller et al., in the stomach contents of animals, was also verified using HPLC-MS.Ilia Brondz and Anton BrondzCopyright © 2012 Ilia Brondz and Anton Brondz. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/ai/2012/643473/A significant attention of researchers has been drawn by automated textile inspection systems in order to replace manual inspection, which is time consuming and not accurate enough. Automated textile inspection systems mainly involve two challenging problems, one of which is defect classification. The amount of research done to solve the defect classification problem is inadequate. Scene analysis and feature selection play a very important role in the classification process. Inadequate scene analysis results in an inappropriate set of features. Selection of an inappropriate feature set increases the complexities of the subsequent steps and makes the classification task harder. By taking into account this observation, we present a possibly appropriate set of geometric features in order to address the problem of neural network-based textile defect classification. We justify the features from the point of view of discriminatory quality and feature extraction difficulty. We conduct some experiments in order to show the utility of the features. Our proposed feature set has obtained classification accuracy of more than 98%, which appears to be better than reported results to date.Md. Tarek Habib and M. RokonuzzamanCopyright © 2012 Md. Tarek Habib and M. Rokonuzzaman. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/biophysics/2012/786596/Oncogenes are rich in guanine and capable of forming quadruplex structure. Promoter regions oncogenes such as Bcl2 and KRAS NHPPE are rich in guanine content and they can form quadruplex structures. Alterations in the mode and nature of molecular binding to DNA, certainly has effect on the posttranscriptional activities. Recent experiments indicate that structure of quadruplex complex and ligand has predominant role on ligand-quadruplex DNA interaction. In order to understand the nature of each ligand interaction with quadruplex DNA, Bcl2, KRAS NHPPE quadruplex DNA interaction with three porphyrin was studied using spectroscopy, microcalorimetry and mass spectrometry. Our studies, indicate that mode of ligand interaction varies with structure, environment and concentration of ligand. Fluorescence quenching experiments show that TMPyP4 interaction is ligand concentration dependent. Job plots and ITC experiments demonstrate that four molecules of TMPyP4 and two molecules of TMPyP3, TMPyP2 interact with each quadruplex complex. Through ITC titrations, ligand binding constant are higher for TMPyP4 (≈107 M−1) compared to TMPyP3, TMPyP2 (≈105 M−1). ESI-MS experiments confirm the stoichiometry of TMPyP4 : 39Bcl2 is 4 : 1 at saturation and it is 2 : 1 in case of KRAS NHPPE quadruplex.Narayana Nagesh and Arumugam Ganesh KumarCopyright © 2012 Narayana Nagesh and Arumugam Ganesh Kumar. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/ecology/2012/487370/Few studies have used molecular methods to correlate the abundance of specific microbial taxonomic groups with changes in soil properties impacted by long-term agriculture. Community qPCR with 16S rRNA gene sequencing to examine the effects of long-term crop-management practices (no-till vs. conventional tillage, and continuous wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) vs. sorghum-wheat-soybean rotation (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench-Triticum aestivum L.-Glycine max L. Merr) on bacterial and fungal relative abundances and identify the dominant members of the soil microbial community. The qPCR assays revealed that crop rotation decreased bacterial copy numbers, but no-till practices did not significantly alter bacteria or fungi relative to conventional tillage. Cyanobacteria were more abundant while Actinobacteria were less numerous under continuous wheat. Acidobacteria and Planctomycetes were positively correlated with soil microbial biomass C and N. This study highlights ways cropping systems affect microbial communities and aids the development of sustainable agriculture.Justin P. Ng, Emily B. Hollister, Ma. del Carmen A. González-Chávez, Frank M. Hons, David A. Zuberer, Jacqueline A. Aitkenhead-Peterson, Richard Loeppert, and Terry J. GentryCopyright © 2012 Justin P. Ng et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/pharmaceutics/2012/407154/MicroRNAs are short, endogenous RNAs that direct posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression vital for many developmental and cellular functions. Implicated in the pathogenesis of several human diseases, this group of RNAs provides interesting targets for therapeutic intervention. Anti-microRNA oligonucleotides constitute a class of synthetic antisense oligonucleotides used to interfere with microRNAs. In this study, we investigate the effects of chemical modifications and truncations on activity and specificity of anti-microRNA oligonucleotides targeting microRNA-21. We observed an increased activity but reduced specificity when incorporating locked nucleic acid monomers, whereas the opposite was observed when introducing unlocked nucleic acid monomers. Our data suggest that phosphorothioate anti-microRNA oligonucleotides yield a greater activity than their phosphodiester counterparts and that a moderate truncation of the anti-microRNA oligonucleotide improves specificity without significantly losing activity. These results provide useful insights for design of anti-microRNA oligonucleotides to achieve both high activity as well as efficient mismatch discrimination.Andrés Muñoz-Alarcón, Peter Guterstam, Cristian Romero, Mark A. Behlke, Kim A. Lennox, Jesper Wengel, Samir EL Andaloussi, and Ülo LangelCopyright © 2012 Andrés Muñoz-Alarcón et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/obgyn/2012/854064/Background. Since cryoprecipitate, fibrinogen concentrate, or recombinant activated factor VII is not approved by public medical insurance in Japan, we retrospectively assessed blood product usage in patients with obstetric hemorrhage at our tertiary obstetric center. Material and Methods. 220 patients with obstetric hemorrhagic disorders who underwent blood product transfusion in our institution during a 5-year period were reviewed for the types and volumes of blood products transfused. Results. There was a significant positive correlation (P< 0.001) between the volume of RCC (red blood cell concentrate) transfused and that of FFP (fresh frozen plasma), irrespective of underlying obstetric disorders. The median of FFP to RCC ratio in each patient was 1.3–1.4, when 6 or more units of RCC were transfused. Conclusions. In transfusion for massive obstetric hemorrhage in terms of appropriate supplementation of coagulation factors, the transfusion of RCC : FFP = 1 : 1.3–1.4 may be desirable.Shigetaka Matsunaga, Hiroyuki Seki, Yoshihisa Ono, Hideyoshi Matsumura, Yoshihiko Murayama, Yasushi Takai, Masahiro Saito, Satoru Takeda, and Hiroo MaedaCopyright © 2011 Shigetaka Matsunaga et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/rehabilitation/2012/490950/A visual-to-auditory sensory substitution device initially developed for the blind is known to allow visual-like perception through sequential exploratory strategies. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test whether processing the location versus the orientation of simple (elementary) “visual” stimuli encoded into sounds using the device modulates the brain activity within the dorsal visual stream in the absence of sequential exploration of these stimuli. Location and orientation detection with the device induced a similar recruitment of frontoparietal brain areas in blindfolded sighted subjects as the corresponding tasks using the same stimuli in the same subjects in vision. We observed a similar preference of the right superior parietal lobule for spatial localization over orientation processing in both sensory modalities. This provides evidence that the parietal cortex activation during the use of the prosthesis is task related and further indicates the multisensory recruitment of the dorsal visual pathway in spatial processing.Paula Plaza, Isabel Cuevas, Cécile Grandin, Anne G. De Volder, and Laurent RenierCopyright © 2012 Paula Plaza et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/urology/2012/458238/The progression of normal cells to a tumorigenic and metastatic state involves the accumulation of mutations in multiple key signaling proteins, encoded by oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. Recently, members of the TRP channel family have been included in the oncogenic and tumor suppressor protein family. TRPM1, TRPM8, and TRPV6 are considered to be tumor suppressors and oncogenes in localized melanoma and prostate cancer, respectively. Herein, we focus our attention on the antioncogenic properties of TRPV1. Changes in TRPV1 expression occur during the development of transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of human bladder. A progressive decrease in TRPV1 expression as the TCC stage increases triggers the development of a more aggressive gene phenotype and invasiveness. Finally, downregulation of TRPV1 represents a negative prognostic factor in TCC patients. The knowledge of the mechanism controlling TRPV1 expression might improve the diagnosis and new therapeutic strategies in bladder cancer.Giorgio Santoni, Sara Caprodossi, Valerio Farfariello, Sonia Liberati, Angela Gismondi, and Consuelo AmantiniCopyright © 2012 Giorgio Santoni et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/chromatography/2012/892806/This paper investigates Raman spectroscopy as a quick and reliable method to quantify the alpha (α) and gamma (γ) polymorphic forms of indomethacin compared to differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Binary mixtures with different ratios of α and γ indomethacin were prepared and analyzed by Raman and DSC. The Raman method was found to be more reliable and superior compared to DSC. The partial conversion of the alpha to gamma polymorphic form during the DSC measurement was the major limitation for the use of full DSC as a quantitative method and resulted in difference between the calculated and measured enthalpy of both polymorphic forms.Eman Atef, Harsh Chauhan, Dev Prasad, Dunesh Kumari, and Charles PidgeonCopyright © 2012 Eman Atef et al. All rights reserved.http://www.isrn.com/journals/education/2012/912783/Few previous studies have compared students' epistemological beliefs in mathematics with those in science. To ascertain the discipline and gender differences on students’ epistemological beliefs, this study conducted a survey with 495 Taiwanese ninth graders in junior high school. Findings show that female students express the stronger belief that science learning occurs in a quick fashion as compared with the view that mathematics learning occurs in a quick fashion , both male and female students express the stronger belief that mathematics knowledge is certain as compared with the view that science knowledge is certain, and male students express the stronger belief that science knowledge is simple and the ability to learn science is fixed as compared with the view that mathematics knowledge is simple and the ability to learn mathematics is fixed. Male students were also in more agreement in their belief about quick learning, certain knowledge, simple knowledge, and the innate ability of mathematics, as well as certain knowledge, simple knowledge, and the innate ability of science, than were female students. This study also revealed that students’ beliefs about knowledge are domain-specific, but some evidence of domain-general beliefs also exists.Chun-Yi Lee and Yuan YuanCopyright © 2012 Chun-Yi Lee and Yuan Yuan. All rights reserved.